Day: May 13, 2014

There Is Always Syria

Inkwell Institute

Middle East Desk

Syria?  Oh yeah that scandal from 2 years ago.  Sadly it has slipped from the headlines basically because there is more political gain out of Benghazi.  There is no more GOP sprinting to the cameras to get in a dig at the president’s manhood….all we have now is just an endless conflict that few care about….at least for now.

Since I do love international relations I spend a lot of time reading and analyzing situations that most avoid……I do it so my readers don’t have to and they can still remain informed……You Are welcome!

Now back to Syria…….there have been a few stories that have good news attached to it….like that about 90% of the chemical weapons are being destroyed as I type.  On the other hand….the government has won some decisive victories all over the country…..leading the US to decide to give missiles to the rebels to try and equalize the sides of the conflict.

Personally, I think it is a horrible idea……when all this is history, how many of those weapons could be used against the US and her interests?  You know kind of like what happened in Afghanistan once we pulled out after the soviets went home.

And then there is the rebels that are affiliated with AQ…………..what about those guys?

Really crappy news has been reported….well not so much here in the good old US of A………….

Rebel-on-rebel fighting in Syria’s oil-rich Deir Ezzor Province continues to escalate, and al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) seems to be getting the better of its rivals overwhelmingly, and making more territorial gains.

Fighting in the province kicked off early this month, with an attack on rival rebel faction Jabhat al-Nusra in Bukamal. That city was particularly important for AQI, because it includes an Iraq border crossing.

AQI’s expanding Deir Ezzor corridor gives them a virtually contiguous territory from Abu Ghraib, just 20 miles from the Baghdad, to the northern Syria province of Aleppo.

AQI seems to be fighting less and less with the Syrian military itself and focusing on the other rebels, who are both closer targets and usually holding more strategic prizes. As the war drags on, it seems AQI is carving out a de facto country of its own in the area.

Well the good news that is in the Eastern part of the country……a minor setback, right?

What’s happening elsewhere?  how about in the South?

Officials with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), one of the US-subsidized moderate rebel factions, warns that al-Qaeda faction Jabhat al-Nusra is gaining major ground in the area around the southern city of Deraa.

The Nusra Front has been directly challenging the FSA in Deraa, along the Jordanian border, capturing an FSA commander who has since confessed to deliberately throwing a battle over a nearby town to the Assad government to prevent Nusra keeping it.

The FSA, of course, sees an easy solution in having the US give them even more money and better weapons to fight Nusra, though since they continue to lose ground to pretty much every other rebel faction the gravy train may be drying up.

The dominant rebel faction early in the civil war, the FSA has since been supplanted by myriad Islamist factions, and Western nations looking to get in on the war have been courting groups like the Islamic Front as more likely proxies in recent days, reflecting their view that Islamist groups that are at the very least not formally al-Qaeda backed are the closest they can get to “usable” allies.

OOPS!  Things are disintegration quicker than we are told…….what to do?  What to do?

Now that is a difficult one to answer…..but I can tell you this……ignoring the problem will NOT make it go away…..we destroyed the AQ sanctuary in Afghanistan……a bad loss for the extremist…..but it looks like they are finding a new one……and as usual we will react after the fact…….we are opening a large can of worms.

Since American politics has become pathetic and silly I will focus on news….not the moronic theatrics of the pundits.

 

Boko Haram leader Shekau is dead say Nigeria officials, as nation rolls its eyes (+video) – CSMonitor.com

I am so disappointed with yesterday’s attempt to educate my readers on Boko Haram…….sad that if it does not have a hash tag or is streaming…..NO one cares…….it also illustrates just how little the world cares about sub-Saharan Africa…

This piece shows just how many games a government can play to avoid taking responsibility…..this is just sad.

 

Boko Haram leader Shekau is dead say Nigeria officials, as nation rolls its eyes (+video) – CSMonitor.com.

Always State The Obvious

I will return to my first love, my passion for international relations, there is not going to be nay thing worth reporting in politics for the Congress will play the Benghazi game until their summer break so they can go back home and spend time on their knees in front of wealthy donors………..

You know it always amuses me when our beloved country states the obvious.  From the beginning of the Syrian conflict people have been telling the government that we should be more discerning when we give our aid, especially when it involves the use of weapons.  But as always the mental midgets like Sen. McCain seems to think that the answer to all conflicts is for American to throw arms at it and it will always be much better.

I have not been alone in my stated opposition to such irresponsible use of our resources.  Now it seems that our dynamite intel gathering organization, the CIA, has issued a statement…….

Here is a tweet from Foreign Policy’s Twitter feed:

If you have to worry that your proxy militias will turn your own weapons against you, maybe it’s not such a good idea to give them weapons in the first place. Just a thought.

That is something akin to Homer Simpson’s reaction when he finally realizes the errors of his ways…..Doh!

But wait!

Now there is more to the story………this from the UK’s Independent written by Patrick Cockburn…………

It is only a matter of time before jihadis in al-Qa’ida-type groups that have taken over much of eastern Syria and western Iraq have a violent impact on the world outside these two countries. The road is open wide to new attacks along the lines of 9/11 and 7/7, and it may be too late to close it.

Those who doubt that these are the jihadis’ long-term intentions should have a look at a chilling but fascinating video posted recently by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), formerly al-Qa’ida in Iraq. It shows a group of foreign fighters burning their passports to emphasise their permanent commitment to jihad. Many of the passports thrown into the flames have grass-green covers and are Saudi; others are dark blue and must be Jordanian. Some of the fighters show their faces while others are masked. As each one destroys his passport, sometimes tearing it in half before throwing it into the fire, he makes a declaration of faith and a promise to fight against the ruler of the country from which he comes.

Threats, such as those made by the group burning their passports, are creating something near panic among Iraq’s neighbours, who were slow to take on board last year that Syrian armed opposition had come to be dominated by al-Qa’ida or its clones. A report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), “The Rising Cost of Turkey’s Syrian Quagmire”, published last week, cites a Turkish official saying: “The armed al-Qa’ida element will be a problem for the Turks. As a secular country, we do not fit with their ideology. What happens if they can’t get what they want in Syria? They will blame Turkey and attack it.” Bear in mind that the thousands of foreign jihadis who have poured into Syria and Iraq mostly got there by crossing the 510-mile-long Turkish-Syrian border. The head of an influential Turkish think tank is quoted by ICG as saying that “When Turkey starts arresting them [jihadis], which it will do, we know what will happen. There will be bombs all over Turkey.”

There is a storm brewing and it shall not bode well for the us and the western allies……and sorry but it seems the US is aiding them in their desire to attack the West……How?  By recognizing some as “foreign missions”……HUH?

The Obama Administration has announced today that it will recognize the DC office of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) as an official diplomatic mission, dubbing them the “legitimate representative of the Syrian people.”

Top SNC figure Ahmad Jarba touted the move as a major blow to the Assad government’s legitimacy, though since the SNC is itself a relatively trivial rebel faction, a secular bloc in Turkey with no real support among the assorted Islamist fighters dominating the rebellion, the move doesn’t seem nearly so significant.

The State Department followed up the move with a promise for another $27 million in aid for the SNC. Such subsidies are effectively the group’s only source of revenue, as it continues to lobby for more subsidies on the notion that it will eventually be installed by the US or other powers as the new government of Syria.

The State Department’s statement on the matter also angrily condemned the upcoming Syrian election as unacceptable. The remaining territory of the Syrian government will be voting in early June, though President Assad is expected to win by a huge margin.

There are so many twists and turns in this situation that it gets confusing even for someone with international experience…….and then this came to my sight……….

American-made anti-tank missiles are surfacing in Syria as part of a “pilot program” to boost rebel groups but make sure the powerful weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.

The anti-tank missiles, called TOWs, are sophisticated weapons designed to kill enemy tanks and blow up reinforced bunkers.

The new program is meant to aid the rebels fighting the Syrian government’s armored forces but make sure the weapons don’t reach radical Islamist groups also fighting the regime of Bashar Assad, said a former senior government official who has been informally briefed on the program. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss intelligence matters.

Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, would not comment on specific weapons or types of support, but told USA TODAY there has been “a limited expansion” of support to rebel groups.

This is just a great illustration of the complete idiocy of our foreign policy leaders…..they are worried that some of the weapons could come back to bite us in the ass and we send them more that can be used……..where is the logic in all of this?

This Is How To Handle A Scandal

Scandals around every corner……It has been one right after another and so far there has been nothing to point to other than the hate for the prez……amazing just how much weight hate can generate……in the land of mental midgets.

Oh goodie, yet another attempt to find something to use against the prez and sec of state over the deaths in Benghazi……cool, let’s waste more money doing nothing, something our leaders are great at accomplishing…….NOTHING!

Personally, I want someone held responsible for all the deaths in Iraq……in a search for something that did not exist……..I know that is an old issue and we should move on…….since my right wing friends cannot remove beyond 4 deaths……… I feel that the many thousands that died in Iraq and their families should get the same chance at closure that they are seeking for the families of those killed in Libya……..whatcha think?

This will not happen because we cannot have our prez being second guessed, right?  Remember you thought that!

There are many things that I like about the British system…….very limited money in campaigns, limited amount of time for campaign and my all time fave….truth in campaign ads……something we desperately need in this country because at election time the airways are ruled by lies and innuendos…..it is pathetic that Americans make their choice of leaders on the backs of lies then they whine about it later……truly a pathetic bunch.

But recently I read something about their, meaning the UK,  involvement in Iraq (sorry finally got around to the theme of this post)……….a report issued by UK’s Independent……..

A government defence minister has warned that the inquiry into the war in Iraq will not be “very kind” to Tony Blair.

Andrew Murrison, Minister for International Security, today said that the findings of the Chilcot Inquiry into the 2003 Iraq War should be released as soon as possible.

“I don’t think it’s going to be very kind to Tony Blair, I don’t think it can be given his involvement in this in 2003,” he told The Huffington Post. “I’m not clear why it hasn’t been published already. It is not clear why such an inquiry should take quite so long.”

Mr Murrison added that he would be “disappointed” if the inquiry’s chairman, Sir John Chilcot, was “succumbing to pressure” to delay publication from Tony Blair.

But he added: “Nothing that I’ve seen of Chilcot would lead me to suggest he would be any way influenced by pressure.”

The minister, who served in the war as a Royal Navy medical officer, was one of 15 Conservative MPs who voted against supporting the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Chilcot Inquiry was established in 2009 by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown to address controversies over Britain’s handling of the war.

However the publication date is still unclear and could be delayed until after the 2015 general election.

It comes days after Boris Johnson accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair of being too “eel-like” to ever face criminal prosecution for taking Britain to war in Iraq.

He also told LBC Radio that he felt “guilty” for voting in favour of military action in 2003 during his tenure in Parliament.

He added: “If Chilcot does turn up something that warranted a police inquiry that’s a separate matter that would have to be proceed accordingly.”

Bravo!  Hang the bastards!

It is about time that we as Americans start demanding accountability for the actions of our elected leaders………we will continue to be involved in bullsh*t actions as long as there is no accountability…..make them pay for their lies and misdeeds.

Wonder how many of my Right wing brethren will agree  with me……many as long as we are talking about Benghazi….not so many if we are talking about the lies that caused us to invade Iraq……..funny how that will work out…..but not funny…ha ha ha.

Our election process is a REAL scandal…..at least I can admire the English for trying to do the right thing.