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Mystery Sponsor Of Weapons And Money To Syrian Mercenary "Rebels" Revealed
Previously, when looking at the real underlying national interests responsible for the deteriorating situation in Syria, which eventually may and/or will devolve into all out war with hundreds of thousands killed, we made it very clear that it was always and only about the gas, or gas pipelines to be exact, and specifically those involving the tiny but uber-wealthy state of Qatar.
Needless to say, the official spin on events has no mention of this ulterior motive, and the popular, propaganda machine, especially from those powers supporting the Syrian "rebels" which include Israel, the US and the Arabian states tries to generate public and democratic support by portraying Assad as a brutal, chemical weapons-using dictator, in line with the tried and true script used once already in Iraq.
On the other hand, there is Russia (and to a lesser extent China: for China's strategic interests in mid-east pipelines, read here), which has been portrayed as the main supporter of the "evil" Assad regime, and thus eager to preserve the status quo without a military intervention. Such attempts may be for naught especially with the earlier noted arrival of US marines in Israel, and the imminent arrival of the Russian Pacific fleet in Cyprus (which is a stone throw away from Syria) which may catalyze a military outcome sooner than we had expected.
However, one question that has so far remained unanswered, and a very sensitive one now that the US is on the verge of voting to arm the Syrian rebels, is who was arming said group of Al-Qaeda supported militants up until now. Now, finally, courtesy of the FT we have the (less than surprising) answer, which goes back to our original thesis, and proves that, as so often happens in the middle east, it is once again all about the natural resources.
The tiny gas-rich state of Qatar has spent as much as $3bn over the past two years supporting the rebellion in Syria, far exceeding any other government, but is now being nudged aside by Saudi Arabia as the prime source of arms to rebels.
The cost of Qatar’s intervention, its latest push to back an Arab revolt, amounts to a fraction of its international investment portfolio. But its financial support for the revolution that has turned into a vicious civil war dramatically overshadows western backing for the opposition.
In dozens of interviews with the FT conducted in recent weeks, rebel leaders both abroad and within Syria as well as regional and western officials detailed Qatar’s role in the Syrian conflict, a source of mounting controversy.
Just as Egypt and Libya had their CIA Western-funded mercenaries fighting the regime, so Qatar is paying for its own mercenary force.
The small state with a gargantuan appetite is the biggest donor to the political opposition, providing generous refugee packages to defectors (one estimate puts it at $50,000 a year for a defector and his family) and has provided vast amounts of humanitarian support.
In September, many rebels in Syria’s Aleppo province received a one off monthly salary of $150 courtesy of Qatar. Sources close to the Qatari government say total spending has reached as much as $3bn, while rebel and diplomatic sources put the figure at $1bn at most.
For Qatar, owner of the world’s third-largest gas reserves, its intervention in Syria is part of an aggressive quest for global recognition and is merely the latest chapter in its attempt to establish itself as a major player in the region, following its backing of Libya’s rebels who overthrew Muammer Gaddafi in 2011.
That, sadly, is not even close to half the story. Recall from Qatar: Oil Rich and Dangerous, posted nearly a year ago, which predicted all of this:
Why would Qatar want to become involved in Syria where they have little invested? A map reveals that the kingdom is a geographic prisoner in a small enclave on the Persian Gulf coast.
It relies upon the export of LNG, because it is restricted by Saudi Arabia from building pipelines to distant markets. In 2009, the proposal of a pipeline to Europe through Saudi Arabia and Turkey to the Nabucco pipeline was considered, but Saudi Arabia that is angered by its smaller and much louder brother has blocked any overland expansion.
Already the largest LNG producer, Qatar will not increase the production of LNG. The market is becoming glutted with eight new facilities in Australia coming online between 2014 and 2020.
A saturated North American gas market and a far more competitive Asian market leaves only Europe. The discovery in 2009 of a new gas field near Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Syria opened new possibilities to bypass the Saudi Barrier and to secure a new source of income. Pipelines are in place already in Turkey to receive the gas. Only Al-Assad is in the way.
Qatar along with the Turks would like to remove Al-Assad and install the Syrian chapter of the Moslem Brotherhood. It is the best organized political movement in the chaotic society and can block Saudi Arabia’s efforts to install a more fanatical Wahhabi based regime. Once the Brotherhood is in power, the Emir’s broad connections with Brotherhood groups throughout the region should make it easy for him to find a friendly ear and an open hand in Damascus.
A control centre has been established in the Turkish city of Adana near the Syrian border to direct the rebels against Al-Assad. Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud asked to have the Turks establish a joint Turkish, Saudi, Qatari operations center. “The Turks liked the idea of having the base in Adana so that they could supervise its operations” a source in the Gulf told Reuters.
The fighting is likely to continue for many more months, but Qatar is in for the long term. At the end, there will be contracts for the massive reconstruction and there will be the development of the gas fields. In any case, Al-Assad must go. There is nothing personal; it is strictly business to preserve the future tranquility and well-being of Qatar.
Some more on the strategic importance of this key feeder component to the Nabucco pipeline, and why Syria is so problematic to so many powers. From 2009:
Qatar has proposed a gas pipeline from the Gulf to Turkey in a sign the emirate is considering a further expansion of exports from the world's biggest gasfield after it finishes an ambitious programme to more than double its capacity to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG).
"We are eager to have a gas pipeline from Qatar to Turkey," Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the ruler of Qatar, said last week, following talks with the Turkish president Abdullah Gul and the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the western Turkish resort town of Bodrum. "We discussed this matter in the framework of co-operation in the field of energy. In this regard, a working group will be set up that will come up with concrete results in the shortest possible time," he said, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
Other reports in the Turkish press said the two states were exploring the possibility of Qatar supplying gas to the strategic Nabucco pipeline project, which would transport Central Asian and Middle Eastern gas to Europe, bypassing Russia. A Qatar-to-Turkey pipeline might hook up with Nabucco at its proposed starting point in eastern Turkey. Last month, Mr Erdogan and the prime ministers of four European countries signed a transit agreement for Nabucco, clearing the way for a final investment decision next year on the EU-backed project to reduce European dependence on Russian gas.
"For this aim, I think a gas pipeline between Turkey and Qatar would solve the issue once and for all," Mr Erdogan added, according to reports in several newspapers. The reports said two different routes for such a pipeline were possible. One would lead from Qatar through Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq to Turkey. The other would go through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey. It was not clear whether the second option would be connected to the Pan-Arab pipeline, carrying Egyptian gas through Jordan to Syria. That pipeline, which is due to be extended to Turkey, has also been proposed as a source of gas for Nabucco.
Based on production from the massive North Field in the Gulf, Qatar has established a commanding position as the world's leading LNG exporter. It is consolidating that through a construction programme aimed at increasing its annual LNG production capacity to 77 million tonnes by the end of next year, from 31 million tonnes last year. However, in 2005, the emirate placed a moratorium on plans for further development of the North Field in order to conduct a reservoir study. It recently extended the ban for two years to 2013.
Specifically, the issue at hand is the green part of the proposed pipeline: as explained above, it simply can't happen as long as Russia is alligned with Assad.
So there you have it: Qatar doing everything it can to promote bloodshed, death and destruction by using not Syrian rebels, but mercenaries: professional citizens who are paid handsomely to fight and kill members of the elected regime (unpopular as it may be), for what? So that the unimaginably rich emirs of Qatar can get even richer. Although it is not as if Russia is blameless: all it wants is to preserve its own strategic leverage over Europe by being the biggest external provider of natgas to the continent through its own pipelines. Should Nabucco come into existence, Gazpromia would be very, very angry and make far less money!
As for the Syrian "rebels", who else is helping them? Why the US and Israel of course. And with the Muslim Brotherhood "takeover" paradigm already tested out in Egypt, it is only a matter of time.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks arms transfers, Qatar has sent the most weapons deliveries to Syria, with more than 70 military cargo flights into neighbouring Turkey between April 2012 and March this year.
Perhaps it is Putin's turn to tell John Kerry he prefer if Qatar was not "supplying assistance to Syrian mercenaries"?
What is worse, and what is already known is that implicitly the US - that ever-vigilant crusader against Al Qaeda - is effectively also supporting the terrorist organization:
The relegation of Qatar to second place in providing weapons follows increasing concern in the West and among other Arab states that weapons it supplies could fall into the hands of an al-Qaeda-linked group, Jabhat al-Nusrah.
Yet Qatar may have bitten off more than it can chew, even with the explicit military Israeli support, and implicit from the US. Because the closer Qatar gets to establishing its own puppet state in Syria, the closer Saudi Arabia is to getting marginalized:
But though its approach is driven more by pragmatism and opportunism, than ideology, Qatar has become entangled in the polarised politics of the region, setting off a wave of scathing criticism. “You can’t buy a revolution,” says an opposition businessman.
Qatar’s support for Islamist groups in the Arab world, which puts it at odds with its peers in the Gulf states, has fuelled rivalry with Saudi Arabia. Qatar’s ruling emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, “wants to be the Arab world’s Islamist (Gamal) Abdelnasser,” said an Arab politician, referring to Egypt’s fiery late president and devoted pan-Arab leader.
Qatar’s intervention is coming under mounting scrutiny. Regional rivals contend it is using its financial firepower simply to buy future influence and that it has ended up splintering Syria’s opposition. Against this backdrop Saudi Arabia, which until now has been a more deliberate backer of Syria’s rebels, has stepped up its involvement.
Recent tensions over the opposition’s election of an interim prime minister who won the support of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood has also driven Saudi Arabia to tighten its relationship to the political opposition, a job it had largely left in the hands of Qatar.
What Saudi Arabia wants is not to leave the Syrian people alone, but to install its own puppet regime so it has full liberty to dictate LNG terms to Qatar, and subsequently to Europe.
Khalid al-Attiyah, Qatar’s state minister for foreign affairs, who handles its Syrian policy, dismissed talk of rivalry with the Saudis and denied allegations that Qatar’s support for the rebels has splintered Syria’s opposition and weakened nascent institutions.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he said every move Qatar has made, has been in conjunction with the Friends of Syria group of Arab and western nations, not alone. “Our problem in Qatar is that we don’t have a hidden agenda so people start fixing you one,” he says.
Sadly, when it comes to the US (and of course Israel), it does have a very hidden agenda: one that involves lying to its people about what any future intervention is all about, and the fabrication of narrative about chemical weapons and a bloody regime hell bent on massacring every man, woman and child from the "brave resistance." What they all fail to mention is that all such "rebels" are merely paid for mercenaries of the Qatari emir, whose sole interest is to accrue even more wealth even if it means the deaths of thousands of Syrians in the process.
A bigger read through of the events in Syria reveals an even more complicated web: one that has Qatar facing off against Syria, with both using Syria as a pawn in a great natural resource chess game, and with Israel and the US both on the side of the petrodollars, while Russia and to a lesser extent China, form the counterbalancing axis and refuse to permit a wholesale overthrow of the local government which would unlock even more geopolitical leverage for the gulf states.
Up until today, we would have thought that when push comes to shove, Russia would relent. However, with the arrival of a whole lot of submarines in Cyprus, the games just got very serious. After all the vital interests of Gazprom - perhaps the most important "company" in the world - are suddenly at stake.
Finally, one wonders just what President Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan were really talking about behind the scenes.
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BUT, the principal of it being about resources IS pertinent.
I challenge all that claim otherwise to logically explain how there could be a war if both/all sides had sufficient resources in which to conduct their affairs (allow growth*).
* Since this is a finite planet it is a GIVEN that growth would lead to a friction point as different agents of growth would ultimately collide on some front.
Escobar's article clearly points out cooperation between so-called opposing entities. This provides pretty good support for my thesis: as long as people have the resources they need there is little reason for tensions to exist.
Come on, if I can get what I want by cooperating with Assad in a business deal to rapidly build a very secure pipeline through Syria, am I going to instead spend $3 billion of RESOURCES, to in fact reduce the chances of it occurring, or of being an economic and geopolitical success? (something that could get me hung as a war-criminal/terriss instead)
Sorry, your point, or Escobar's is simply not relevant to the situation.
Does anyone seriously think Assad would say to Qatar/Saudi's, "go away, we're not interested in your lucrative pipeline deal".
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
EDIT:
This pipeline causation theory is ultimately junk. It may look attractive to you Tyler, in a fairly narrow perspective that appears to look like a grand-scheme which makes economic, geopolitical and strategic sense, but it's clearly nonsense when examined more deeply, and in its context, and zh's call on this one is unfortunately surely not correct.
Mystery Sponsor Of Weapons And Money To Syrian Mercenary "Rebels" Revealed
The Emir of Quatar and the Emperor of China, Yes, Yes!!
The Emir is happy as long as he is permitted to be Emir with all the fun and privileges. But who owns Quatar this small extreme salty desert area with nearly no vegetation at all, nearly no wildlife because the conditions do not allow it to live over there. No water except salty tasting water. Accordingly with a very tiny native population plus many foreigners. Appx 80% are foreigners. All in all a bit more than 1 million people do live nowadays overthere.
How comes that this tiny extreme poor place which is hostile to living organisms be it humans or animals is suddenly a driver in international policy.
1) According to the US State department’s online fact sheet, “bilateral relations are strong,” both countries are “coordinating” diplomatically and “cooperating” on regional security, have a “defense pact,” “Qatar hosts CENTCOM Forward Headquarters,” and supports NATO and U.S. regional “military operations. Qatar is also an active participant in the U.S. – led efforts to set up an integrated missile defense network in the Gulf region. Moreover, it hosts the U.S. Combined Air Operations Center and three American military bases namely Al Udeid Air Base, Assaliyah Army Base and Doha International Air Base, which are manned by approximately 5,000 U.S. forces.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/23/the-us-qatar-alliance/
2) it hosts also a RAF base:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Al_Udeid
So basicaly its a fight between US/UK plus Israel on one side againsts Russia/Iran/China on the other side.
Battlefield is Syria, Victims are the Syrian people
Always the same story. Poor Emir, its part of its job to take the blame now. Cause things do not develop as expected he has to enter a new role in the puppet theatre. He is now acting as the mastermind behind the slaughterhouse excesses in Syria. He has to be happy that he is not pulled by his sponsors to The Hague in Netherlands the court dealing with crimes against humanity.
Quatar is officially the owner of unbelievable riches spread al over the world. But who owns this riches in real, The Cia or Rothschild gang or maybe 50/50.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Investment_Authority
http://www.qatarinvestmentfund.com/
http://www.qia.qa/index.html
http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/10/08/bbc-finds-crate-of-saudi-weapons-in-s...
Saudi Arabia doing the same.
http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2013/01/13/for-washington-there-i...
The US arming everyone in the region. The spending is out of control (basically an entire year's worth of sequester)
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/05/24/us-prepares-to-vet-syrian-rebels-for-...
Everyone invloved fully aware of the atrocities committed by the rebels with these arms.
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/morrowomrani.php?articleid=11477
And just to show that this policy is a CONTINUATION of the Bush years.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was quoted as saying that both the aid package and weapons sales reflected Washington's commitment "to provide for the security of our allies." She added that the deals were intended to "counter the negative influences of al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran."
Oh how ironic. That in order to counter Syria, you give weapons to al Qaeda, which is the only entity the us military is authorized to wage war against.
It runs deep. And for those of you really paying attention, this is the pre-war with Iran. The bloodthirsty, insane neocons are out to set the world on fire. All the while making their friends rich.
"The bloodthirsty, insane neocons are out to set the world on fire."
It pays well. Reason it does is that all us out here keep funding them (so we can continue to get our oil [or other resources]).
u could ask Hillary, but at last inquiry, bitch ain't talkin'
- Ned
I am confused as to why Qatar got involved in Libya...thank you in advance for any enlightenment
They're just there to be give aid, which they purchase weapons from Lockheed Martin et al, so they can arm rebels to overthrow regimes throughout the region. In return, the Qatar royal family gets paid handsomely and a huge naval base for protection in the eventual war with Iran
Nailed it.
And, to ensure control over energy supplies... (control or be controlled; we're all playing a precarious game- it is certain that there will become a day in which oil can no longer quench our thirst for growth)
Anybody look at a map of the region? Qatar is a long fuckin' ways away from the Suez Canal. The whole Qatar angle doesn't make any sense at all.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=qatar&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:offic...
I know that others here disagree but I think this is, in fact, about sunni vs shia. Qatar is majority Sunni, Iran is the Twelver branch of Shia Islam. Syria is majority Sunni, but ruled by the Assad regime, which is the Twelver branch of Shia Islam. Qatar is terrified of Iran. Iran is allied with Assad. And that is why Qatar is funding the rebels in Syria. Sometimes things are what they appear to be.
From rt.com/op-edge/iran-pakistan-syria-pipeline-843/ (Pepe Escobar):
Religious and other angles are what's served up to the masses. TBTB are doing business, and it's not necessarily based on ideological underpinnings (though they have to be somewhat close to those moorings lest they couldn't maintain support for rule over their given populations).
It is called Blowing Smoke and the MSM are great at blowing it in the faces of the Taxpayers whose Dollars and Sons get used up in The Game.
Now, THAT makes sense.
Your tax dollars( well your great grand kids tax dollars) at work. Have a look at the illustrious group that our glorious leader has put the might of our nation behind.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/rebels-post-grisly-execution-video/
http://youtu.be/9cc-HC1CnJg
The biggest dilemma is that there are no good guys in this fight. Islam is a cancer on the world.
It's not our fight. Let them take care of it themselves.
Totally agree. If they "genocide" each other out of existence the world will be a better place. Harsh, I know. But sadly, true.
BS. What you see in Syria is a proxy war being fought by the West against the Syrian state and people. There is not much indigenous about it except that several thousand Syrian low lifes joined the mercenary ranks.
Fixed it, we don't want all the rest feeling violently superior and self-satisfied.
"Fictional hardline ideas" being a euphemism for religion? I am an atheist, but even I recognize that not all religions are equal in their perniciousness/toxicity.
No, not just with regard to religion, the reason you gave is one reason why I didn't specify.
Too many people excuse their ignorance of culture by making such statements.
Evolution is complex/complicated. Until you walk a mile in someone's moccasins...
Bottom line: it's about survival; either it's successful or it's not (and I argue that BAD SYSTEMS WILL ALWAYS FAIL, which provides me with some sense of comfort, a kind of belief in Karma I suppose).
I don't like ANY religion or ANY group's "set of rules;" HOWEVER, I recognize and respect ALL on the grounds that I UNDERSTAND that it ultimately comes down to the above stated "Bottom line."
Ultimately it comes down to action, a matter of deeds over creeds. From http://spunk.org/texts/intro/practice/sp001689.html
Though I'm probably closer to being labeled an atheist than anything else, I have chucked one good atheist friend because he was WAY too extreme. I still have some close Southern Baptist friends because they are NOT extreme: there is mutual respect based on the fact that we have PROVEN ourselves to each other based on our DEEDS. My old atheist friend just couldn't get the point I tied to make that when it really comes down to it that when people are forced into the here and now and are confronting a real survival issue the ideological baggage will get set aside.
Personally I think that's a really poor and a bit sad way to 'find god', in desperation, whatever. Terrible.
I'm no atheist, not even close. But I sure don't 'believe' in anything, whatsoever, especially in anything that any religion, or religious person or books says. That's totally unnecessary.
For example; if you do something, see something, feel something, are you not sometimes naturally immensely thankful to something indefinite and non apparent for that? Sometimes you can't help but be and deel thankful for what is going on.
That's real, and that shows you the real nature of things, of you, and what you're living in. And don't think I'm not a realist. Your don't even have to call that anything but it is still there and it is real, you are in fact thankful.
What religion did to that original pureness, was to turn it into what was called "Giving thanks", which was moved away from the personal purity, to a shallow socially ritualized prayer before a meal, etc., and thus it lost all of its genuineness, and its reality, and all that is right about being naturally thankful completely automatically.
That's why I have nothing whatsoever to do with religion, it destroys what's already there, kills it.
Mystery shopper, bitchez!
Qataris are despicable, Rolls-Royce and $1 an hour slave labor on the same street. Ban the World Cup !!
Are you still buying gas?
Time for Syria and Iran to send assassins to take care of Qatar's leaders... way cheaper than fighting a war.
Qatar is fucking insane... What about doing a Jordan-Iraq-Turkey pipeline instead? Way cheaper and less than dangerous than funding terrorists to take over Syria...
Yet again you have identified one of the numerous logical weaknesses of the pipeline thesis.
Watch out for the IRS Tylers!
I wonder when the next false flag will be.
U ain't gonna have to wait too much longer ......
So to recap the article : if Assad falls, Russia loses their monopoly in Europe's energy sector... screwing them royally... and they can't have that in the face of China's mounting power right on their border...
That's why it's likely that Russia will do everything it can so that Assad never falls... or worst/unlikely case, Russia sets up a puppet in Syria before the arabs or nato does so...
This whole thing is really a fight of survival for Russia's dictatorship... economy going down = people pissed off = revolution in Russia is to follow??
This is a very dangerous situation.
I have to chuckle a bit because Russia is the one that has the money AND the resources, while it is Europe that does not. As such I see more crumbling and "revolution" happening (more readily) in Europe than in Russia. This is NOT to disagree with the premise that Russia wants to maintain their "monopoly" (though they have a good sized chunk of the market they don't have a monopoly)- no producer wants to lose market share (as long as margins hold up).
In the short and mid-terms Russia will increase exports to China. In all time-frames I don't see what Europe will be able to do to compensate for the continuing down-shifting.
And, if Sybil Edmonds' hypothesis is correct, Russia could very well be willing to let go of Syria (based on a behind-the-scenes deal that Tel Aviv and D.C. would back off of Iran).
The question is really how much Americans are prepared to sacrifice for Israel. The US State Department is prepared to sacrifice every US interest for Israel, but as US insolvency mounts the real price Americans will be paying will come home because regions of the world will become closed to the USA. It is having now to weigh up the Middle East and North Africa against Asia. It cannot handle both regions and will have to retreat in one.
US squadrons are being dismantled in Europe and it is evident that over time Russia will be the main partner in Europe/Middle East for European states with Britain an outsider. China and Japan will occupy the USA for the future as it tries to avoid the Japan-India-China-Pakistan conflict
Given all Govts benefit from pipelines (which as been recently argued within a zh post) like that speculatively proposed for Qatar, then why would Assad not agree to such a pipeline, before trying a faux Arab Spring approach?
This is far too simplistic a story.
The predominant situation today is regional fractionation and extreme sectarian polarization. And whenever such divisive civil and regional battles occur, it ALWAYS creates so much hatred and blowback that it takes a minimum of a decade to settle down again, and sometimes it doesn't. So if you wanted a pipeline ASAP, why the hell would you do that? That's what people need to explain with this pipeline theory.
So the faux Arab-Spring revolution approach was hardly more efficient way, than diplomacy and engagement with Assad would have been for Qatar or Saudi's, or Turkey. There is a lot more going on here. If Qatar and Saudi's just wanted a pipeline to Europe, through Syria, then they definitely could have got it, and fairly easily, so the LNG pipeline argument does not explain much, especially spending 3 billion to incite such extreme hostiles right where you want the pipeline.
To my mind this theory sounds unlikely or else almost unbelievably incompetent in its planning and implementation.
And I don't buy the idea that Syria was going to topple easily with just a few gentle shoves in the right places. That had been tried before, it didn't even get close to working. And Hezbollah and Iran were always going to get involved. So that was never going to play out favourably towards the speculated aim. Look guys, the Assads have gone toe to toe with the IDF in the past, several times and survived, so how can anyone really imagine they'd cave in to a bunch of armed rebels merely demanding they step aside, or else?
Not a chance.
So for me the pipeline thesis (and that's all it is) is only a partial and unsatisfactory explanation for what's been going on, plus what soon will.
So, some dire headlines emerging from Lebanon, in just the past 12 hours:
The imminent Hezbollah-Nusra war
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/the-imminent-hezbollah-nu...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/bassil-christian-unity-more-impo...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syrias-banias-massacre-to...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/mena/iraq-violence-kills-12-as-pm-blames-sec...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/obama-erdogan-vow-to-up-p...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/hollande-russia-must-be-c...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/israel-warns-syria-to-sto...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/cia-chief-in-surprise-isr...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/iran-un-vote-against-assa...
And then this: Putin to meet UN chief Ban amid Syria crisis
But if Qatar was the causation of this bloody great mess I would not want to be in their shoes.
Perhaps the desired outcome is to replace the ruling elite in Cutter.
there's a twist +1
BULLSHIT!
Spoken like a westerner without a clue of what is actually going on.
An old Arab saying: "if you have money, you have friends!
Assad has no money and is an easy target. Something bigger is coming along!
The Russians would love to have a long term permanant warm water port, they ain't got too many at the moment.
The Chinese are part of this in order to further destabilize the region, where there is instability, there is opportunity. THE CHINESE ARE A HUGE PART OF THIS.
<-- press here
BULLSHIT!
Its really the Eskimos!!!! ... they're even broker!!! ... sneaky little bastards ... they're all over this!!
See how easy it is to provide no rational arguments of any kind?
Five years old, but a good description of LNG economics: http://shareholdersunite.com/the-ioc-files-useful-background-material/th...
I don't know why Qatar would spend $3 billion fomenting rebellion to have the ability to ship gas overland to Europe. Qatar is a textbook example of an ideal LNG exporter: fields close to the terminals, many decades of supply to amortize plant cost down to a pittance, self-financing, no reliance on a unreliable third-party regime. If anything, Qatar is causing more trouble for its own security with this meddling than any possible benefit.
It is Ismalic Sunni fanaticism that is driving both Qatar's and Saudi Arabia's support for the Syrian rebels, not economics. If they were following their economic self-interest, they would keep their mitts off Syria.
Israel is motivated by its desire for a secure northern border. She wants to assure that Assad arms do not fall into the hands of an 'unknown quantity'. I can't imagine Israel thinking that a Sunni-dominated Syria would grant Israel overflight permission to attack Iran without giving Iran a heads-up to the attack: no motivation there.
My assessment of the bottom line is that the U.S. does not have a dog in this race and should stay out. Two groups of blood-thirsty thugs are tearing themselves apart. Good on them.
We need to stay out of the Middle East ... we haven't made a right call there since 1991. We (our government) hasn't a real clue what's it's doing, who to support or why. Nixon made a deal with the devil (SA) and exchanged the gold standard for petro dollars and ever since we have been trying to manipulate the geopolitics of oil and it has only screw our economy and made us a ton of enemies. In 1969, the who Middle East (except Soviet surrogates) were our friends and we were able to deal straight up with them ... now, not so much.
*Turkmenistan tries to end TAPI[C] impasse as India mulls meeting...
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-05-04/news/39027199_1_gas-pipeline-framework-agreement-dauletabad-gas-fields
and this,... http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-03-090513.html
brief excerpt: *LAC vis-a-vis India v. China? {a revigorated old/new Pakistani friendly PM for America?}
"This keeps the issue alive and dynamic while challenging the India presence in a extremely strategic geography. The "Aksai Chin', as this disputed area is called, connects the 'Automonomous Province' of Xinjiang of Tibet via a strategic road. Another important connection here is the 'Karakoram Highway' that connects Pakistan to China. This opens up the possibility of connecting land-locked Xinjiang and Tibet to the 'Gwardarport' in Pakistan, thereby opening up trade links via the 'Arabian Sea."
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksai_Chin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakoram_Highway
'Pakistan [gives?] transfers operational control of strategic Gwadar Port to China?' [note: The Timing Chain... BELT !?!?!?] http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/26/gwad-f26.html
forgot to mention, location, location, and moar location,... [old news?] "Iran finds new gas field, says[?] 'one of the Biggest in Region' " [4/29/2012]
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/iran/120429/iran-claims-discovery-new-gas-field-says-one-the-bigge
and moar just in...[5/16/13] 'Iran installs South Pars gas field's biggest platform' --- 'Assad deals banking blow to Turkish firm in Syria'... i guess it's ON!!!
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=109027
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=109113
The circular firing squad is in place. All that's needed is for someone to give the order - 3-2-1 Fire
This article reads more like s Syrian propaganda piece than anything else ...
it is once again all about the natural resources.
it is once again all about controlling the source of the cheapest EROI natural resources that prop up the Bankster's petro-ponzi currencies
There. Tweaked it for ya
Yeah Europe, you're either going to be dependent on either Russian gas or Arab gas. Which one is worse? Russia twisting your arm or the Arabs twisting your arm?
I think its more complex than gas. Although it is part of the story. I like how someone described current conflicts as "mercenary wars".
if you think about it, all armies are becoming "volunteer".. or mercenary.. gone are days of "dying for your country"... although many still believe it that myth.
This is just the old and tired blood for oil line. The laws of economics decree that demand will help to create supply. the oil is in the Mideast and Russia and the demand is in Europe and the oil will be moved one way or another. It is all muslim politics and the Jews have no dog in the fight. Our president is a moron and wants to depose Assad though whatever replaces him will be a multiple worse. Russia does not have a record of dumping their buddies so the cost in blood to put the sunnis in charge will be very steep. Iran has no interest in letting assad fall either and can still be a decisive factor.
Thanks, Tyler. Great reporting.
Clearly, the Israeli bombardment in Damascus was answered with a stark threat to Israel from Assad's regime, thus it further worsened the balance against the western-driven FSA. This is the only explanation for NATO's willingness to engage Russia in an international peace conference regarding the Syrian crisis, in the hope to buy time for the FSA in order to save it from total defeat. This was discussed with the Russians by America's John Kerry and Britain's David Cameron, already leading to rumors about a backroom deal between the super powers to carry out the Balkanization plan for Syria. Details here: http://essential-intelligence-network.blogspot.com/2013/05/middle-east-on-brink.html
This is not going to end in a good way.
This is the equivalent of China or Russia backing a rebellion in Saudi Arabia. I wonder how the US would respond to that?
This thing could go nuclear if Everythinggate and the prospect of having the "homeland" turned into a wasteland doesn't prompt the U.S. military and/or the people to do what's necessary and forcibly eject the NWO clowns running the country, especially in the executive branch.
There is danger in underestimating Russia, time will tell who is the better chess player!
My money is on Putin
So far, the only actor left out in this drama is Mrs. Peacock in the library with a wrench.
War for resources? What an idiotic statement.
We, Americans, are able to overcome the environment. We need no resources. Give us a small patch of barren land and we will build the most thriving civilization ever. That is why we Americans are so great.
We need no resources. We have the ingenuiosity of man instead.
Signed: an American.
Don't worry, dude. It is 'AnAnonymist' way to shift the bill of wrongness onto others, so no harm in being wrong, others will digest it for you.
Classical Chinese citizenism world trick, paid shills, staged opposition, you'll see.
Signed: AnAnonymous
The Spice must flow.