Sadly we will get some Muslim extremist after Assad is overthrown. We blew it in the beginning because Obama openly said on public TV that he wanted the CIA to go and deal with Assad and help rebels on the ground. You can not say in advance that you will send the CIA. The CIA is supposed to be SECRET which means you Never say they are coming. The whole reason we have a CIA is for secret missions. If we can solve it in the open than we should send diplomats or overt troops like the military.

Wait what? How does Obama mentioning the CIA mean we will be getting a muslim extremist? And no matter the type of Gov't Syria gets when Assad falls, it probably won't like us very much considering how we sat and watched them get slaughtered for 2 years. And personally, I cant blame them.

Shhhh! Nobody knows about the US's CIA.

Assad is not destroying his own country; the terroists are with the cheering of Hillary, Obama, and Americas NATO puppet/yes men.

I don't get it; President Clinton siding with the Muslims in Serbia, both the Bush Presidents siding with terroists in Iraq & Afghanistan, and now Obama siding with terroists in Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt and Syria. Everywhere American politicians go, yelling, "they just want democracy" and "he's killing his own people" they leave a big mess behind and Sharia Law rules again. Hint, hint...the American military industrial complex is making trillions.

Read up on Hezbollah. They're now a political party controlling Lebanon. Who are these insurgents and where do they come from? Somebody must know something because they are getting support. Syria is like Main Street to Lebanon, courtesy of Iran. Russia, China, Iran are supporters of Assad. It should only take 1/2 a second to realize that to upend the progress Hezbollah has made, one must begin to cut off their supply lines. Not to mention Iranian sanctions. Obama must have accomplished this between vacations.

Just when I though I knew everything, BBC made a documentary 'Inside the Saudi Kingdom' which enlightened me greatly. As they say, the more you know the dumber you know you are. Mom, you gotta watch this.

Ask yourself why most all industrialized nations on the planet have no interest in meddling in any of the aforementioned, and why should we.

CIA has never been secret. You must have mixed this in with Secret Service, totally different. CIA has a website that is frequently cited. Their covert operations may be secret for a short period, but the cat comes out. Their history of worldwide involvement is documented, the information is out there, somewhat jaw dropping activities.

And yes, what was the speech? Who are the rebels? And perhaps most importantly, what does Israel want us to do? /s

The time of the Dictator is over. The World is too small a place now to support the likes of them. It is evidence with the passing of several Dictators in the past decade. One by one they are eliminated, but each not leaving of their own free will, but by being overthrown. Even still not without a high price in deaths. Soon Assad will be just another memory and a passing one at that. Life will flourish when he is finally removed from office.

Sad part is no one knows who will take over power. Look at Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood are just terrorists in suits with the same thinking as Bin laden. Syria will end up with some extreme group who are no better than Assad, except Syria won't be under Iran's control.

When the military makes money so does our government in the form of billions and billions, people go to work and pay taxes and to help our economy out.

Wait what? How does Obama mentioning the CIA mean we will be getting a muslim extremist? And no matter the type of Gov't Syria gets when Assad falls, it probably won't like us very much considering how we sat and watched them get slaughtered for 2 years. And personally, I cant blame them.

So what? ANYONE or ANY GROUP which takes over Syria is likely to be TEN TIMES bigger a blow hole than Assad ever was. And they would hate us EVEN MORE for sticking our noses in their civil war which we have NO BUSINESS being in. Let them keep fighting. They deserve each other.
Any intervention on our part would have had NO BENEFIT. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Goose egg.

HOTTICKET-2304234

Wait what? How does Obama mentioning the CIA mean we will be getting a muslim extremist? And no matter the type of Gov't Syria gets when Assad falls, it probably won't like us very much considering how we sat and watched them get slaughtered for 2 years. And personally, I cant blame them.

So what? ANYONE or ANY GROUP which takes over Syria is likely to be TEN TIMES bigger a blow hole than Assad ever was. And they would hate us EVEN MORE for sticking our noses in their civil war which we have NO BUSINESS being in. Let them keep fighting. They deserve each other.
Any intervention on our part would have had NO BENEFIT. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Goose egg.

Umm, HOTTICKET, we arent sticking our noses in their civil war. We haven't put one foot in their country nor have we stopped Assad from using his jets and helocopters. In fact, it's because we haven't stuck our noses into it as you put it that the civil war has gone on so long and so many have died. Read a bit before you type, might help.

"Assad's forces blasted rockets into the Jobar neighborhood near the city center on Saturday to try to drive out rebel fighters, a day after bombarding rebel-held areas in the eastern suburb of Daraya."

Why are you in such a big hurry for Assad to go?

Nobody can do a better job in killing seventh century bigoted Sunni Islamists better than a tenth century Shiite ruler.

At least permit them to do Allah's battles.

If they don't battle among themselves, they will be on us.

These days Islamists are into the business of clean, kill; clean, kill; and kill all infidels (a broad term)!

Hope you remember the video on Mohammed's case and Benghazi attack.

First he says that he wants to reconcile, then calls the people against him, terrorists. yeah, this guy is sincere, lol not. How does one's Ego get so inflated that they think they are more important then a nation? 60,000 dead is more then died in viet nam over 10 years. that's alot of people.

you right wingers are always ranting about "freedom" this "freedom" that. then when people in the mid east Want freedom, you call them, terrorists, extremists , etc. make up your dam minds for a change.

And what the hell does Obama have to do with this? answ: Not a dam thing. If he helps you will condemn him, if he don't you will condemn him. How did republicans become so unhappy that nothing is ever good for them? i feel sorry for you. Why do you guys hate America so so much?????

Ummmmmmmmmm, BRENDA - hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks, but WE ARE sticking our noses in this war and have been for a long time. We have been funneling weapons to these FSA Terrorist Jihadist thugs, have covert ops on the groud supporting those thugs over there AND have installed Patriot Missiles on the Turkish border there with OUR troops manning them, not to mention the hundreds of millions of OUR money we have poured in that rathole.

So before you tell someone to "read a bit" before typing, you might want to get an effing clue.

this fight is none of our countries business.our nato obligation is to help turkey protect it borders.we desperately need to relearn how to butt out

"Assad outlines new peace initiative..." oxymoronic

The Assad family has ruled in Syria for 63 years. There has been peace the entire time, and all races and religions were tolerated.

You may want to read up on the Hama masacre in 1982, when between 10,000 and 40,000 were killed when Assad senior put down a revolt against him in that city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre

The problem is that most of these rebels are not rebels at all, they are Islamic terrorists. They do not want a free and open society in Syria, they simply want control for themselves. Then they could institute their version of an Islamic republic ruled by their interpretation of Sharia law. I hope that Obama is not dumb enough to fall for this and get the US involved in the mess in Syria. Obama's naivety and poor foreign policy decisions have resulted in one country after another in the Middle east and North Africa falling under the control of the Islamists. They are going from being countries that were ruled by secular dictators, who were largely benign, to countries ruled by Islamists as Islamic republics. The only people that these secular dictators really "oppressed" were the Islamist fanatics that we now see taking control. They did this because they, unlike Obama, recognized the threat that these Islamists represented and were willing to do what they needed to do in order to keep them under control. Mubarak recognized the danger represented by the Muslim Brotherhood so he banned them. Obama turns around and supports them, falling for their line of garbage that they are moderates. As we are seeing very clearly by what is going on in Egypt, nothing could be further from the truth. Now that they are in control they are showing their true colors, and things are only going to get worse. Now Obama wants to help the MB take control in Syria. The reality is that most of the so-called rebels in Syria are being backed by the MB and if these rebels are successful we will see Syria as yet another Islamic republic under the control of the MB. As far as I am concerned, this is definitely not an improvement over Assad, who for all his faults has lead a largely secular government.

We have to keep away from Shiites vs Sunni mad battles.

Syria and Iran are not our business.

Let them kill each other and it will less nuisances on earth.

Assad is a dead man walking.

As to all the idiots ragging on Obama, this is what they do regardless of what's happening. They have conveniently forgotten about the biggest ass holes we have ever had in the White House, Bush and Cheney that have been an integral part of the attempted destruction of our democracy.

They blew TRILLIONS of dollars of our money on supporting the Military Industrial Complex and, in effect, have ruined our economy by killing consumerism. You can't have an economy if people have no money to spend. They are not your father's Conservative Republicans. You want to study real Conservatism, read up on Theodore Roosevelt. Get yourselves educated before you open your mouths.

Where were they when all that was going down?

Gee Sweetcheeks, er....HOTTICKET xxxxxxxxx, I thought you were a loudmouth ignoramus, thanks for confirming it! Spewing your opinions as though they were facts doesn't make you right, far from it. Your name being all in "caps" should have been the first clue, sigh.....

HOTTICKET-2304234

Ummmmmmmmmm, BRENDA - hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks, but WE ARE sticking our noses in this war and have been for a long time. We have been funneling weapons to these FSA Terrorist Jihadist thugs, have covert ops on the groud supporting those thugs over there AND have installed Patriot Missiles on the Turkish border there with OUR troops manning them, not to mention the hundreds of millions of OUR money we have poured in that rathole.

So before you tell someone to "read a bit" before typing, you might want to get an effing clue.

I would like you to post what website told you that we have covert ops on the ground working hand in hand with the rebels. Also show the website that says we are giving them weapons and to whom we are giving them to. Until then, your speaking out the wrong end.

Assad = Useless Murderer and Moron

Pippo Schillaci, where were they when all that was going down? Prying their heads out of their a$$es. As you can see for yourself some still are.

If there was a rebellion, or a secessionist group in the US or in a Western country, which demanded the leader abdicate, what would be the Western reaction? Hardly think, they would be calling for the leaders of the US, Britain, Germany, Canada, Japan, etc, to leave, and say, that the governments have no right to defend themselves. Yet, this is exactly what the US and Western nations are saying in Syria, and in the Middle East.

Hello Brenda, hotticket is right. We have been funding the rebels. We have given them "moral", political, and financial cover. We seem to never learn, these rebels that we are funding include Al Qaeda who we arm today and will be fighting tomorrow. American soldiers at some point will more than likely be killed by the weapons we are giving the rebels today. Enclosed is one of many articles that outline the geopolitics in the region which gives a broader explanation as to why we are in the middle east and interfering in Syria.

Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War

Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War

…by F. William Engdahl

Pipeline Roulette

On October 3, 2012 the Turkish military launched repeated mortar shellings inside Syrian territory.

The military action, which was used by the Turkish military, conveniently, to establish a ten-kilometer wide no-man’s land “buffer zone” inside Syria, was in response to the alleged killing by Syrian armed forces of several Turkish civilians along the border.

There is widespread speculation that the one Syrian mortar that killed five Turkish civilians well might have been fired by Turkish-backed opposition forces intent on giving Turkey a pretext to move militarily, in military intelligence jargon, a ‘false flag’ operation.[i]

Turkey’s Muslim Brotherhood-friendly Foreign Minister, the inscrutable Ahmet Davutoglu, is the government’s main architect of Turkey’s self-defeating strategy of toppling its former ally Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.[ii]

According to one report since 2006 under the government of Islamist Sunni Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his pro-Brotherhood AKP party, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood.[iii] A well-informed Istanbul source relates the report that before the last Turkish elections, Erdogan’s AKP received a “donation” of $10 billion from the Saudi monarchy, the heart of world jihadist Salafism under the strict fundamentalist cloak of Wahabism. [iv]

Since the 1950’s when the CIA brought leading members in exile of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to Saudi Arabia there has been a fusion between the Saudi brand of Wahabism and the aggressive jihadist fundamentalism of the Brotherhood.[v]

The Turkish response to the single Syrian mortar shell, which was met with an immediate Syrian apology for the incident, borders on a full-scale war between two nations which until last year were historically, culturally, economically and even in religious terms, closest of allies.

That war danger is ever more serious. Turkey is a full member of NATO whose charter explicitly states, an attack against one NATO state is an attack against all. The fact that nuclear-armed Russia and China both have made defense of the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime a strategic priority puts the specter of a World War closer than most of us would like to imagine.

In a December 2011 analysis of the competing forces in the region, former CIA analyst Philip Giraldi made the following prescient observation:

NATO – Has it become a geopolitical energy army now?

NATO is already clandestinely engaged in the Syrian conflict, with Turkey taking the lead as U.S. proxy. Ankara’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has openly admitted that his country is prepared to invade as soon as there is agreement among the Western allies to do so.

The intervention would be based on humanitarian principles, to defend the civilian population based on the “responsibility to protect” doctrine that was invoked to justify Libya. Turkish sources suggest that intervention would start with creation of a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border and then be expanded. Aleppo, Syria’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, would be the crown jewel targeted by liberation forces.

Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi’s army.

Iskenderum is also the seat of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. French and British special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers. [vi]

____________________________________

Israel mobile artillery on the move during exercise

Little noted was the fact that at the same day as Turkey launched her over-proportional response in the form of a military attack on Syrian territory, one which was still ongoing as of this writing, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) undertook what was apparently an action to divert Syria’s attention from Turkey and to create the horror scenario of a two-front war just as Germany faced in two world wars.

The IDF made a significant troop buildup on the strategic Golan Heights bordering the two countries, which, since Israel took it in the 1967 war, has been an area of no tension.[vii]

The unfolding new phase of direct foreign military intervention by Turkey, supported de facto by Israel’s right-wing Netanyahu regime, curiously enough follows to the letter a scenario outlined by a prominent Washington neo-conservative think tank, the Brookings Institution.

In their March 2012 strategy white paper, Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings geo-political strategists laid forth a plan to misuse so-called humanitarian concern over civilian deaths, as in Libya in 2011, to justify an aggressive military intervention into Syria, something not done before this.[viii]

The Brookings report states the following scenario:

Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Assad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training.[ix]

This seems to be precisely what is unfolding in the early days of October 2012. The authors of the Brookings report are tied to some of the more prominent neo-conservative warhawks behind the Bush-Cheney war on Iraq.

Their sponsor, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, includes current foreign policy advisers to Republican right-wing candidate Mitt Romney, the open favorite candidate of Israel’s Netanyahu.

Haim Saban – A lot to smile about

The Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy which issued the report, is the creation of a major donation from Haim Saban, an Israeli-American media billionaire who also owns the huge German Pro7 media giant.

Haim Saban is open about his aim to promote specific Israeli interests with his philanthropy. The New York Times once called Saban, “a tireless cheerleader for Israel.”

Saban told the same newspaper in an interview in 2004, “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.” [x] The scholars at Saban as well as its board have a clear neo-conservative and Likud party bias.

They include, past or present, Shlomo Yanai, former head of military planning, Israel Defense Forces; Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel and founder of the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a major Likud policy lobby in Washington.

Visiting fellows have included Avi Dicter, former head of Israel’s Shin Bet; Yosef Kupperwasser, former Head, Research Department, Israeli Defense Force’s Directorate of Military Intelligence.

Resident scholars also include Bruce Riedel, a 30 year CIA Middle East expert and Obama Afghan adviser; [xi] Kenneth Pollack, another former CIA Middle East expert who was indicted in an Israel espionage scandal when he was a national security official with the Bush Administration. [xii]

Why would Israel want to get rid of the “enemy she knows,” Bashar al-Assad, for a regime controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood? Then Israel’s security would seemingly be threatened by the emergence of hard-line Muslim Brotherhood regimes in Egypt to her south and Syria to her North, perhaps soon also in Jordan.

The geopolitical dimension

Will the little people fight and die over oil for the big people?

The significant question to be asked at this point is what could bind Israel, Turkey, Qatar in a form of unholy alliance on the one side, and Assad’s Syria, Iran, Russia and China on the other side, in such deadly confrontation over the political future of Syria? One answer is energy geopolitics.

What has yet to be fully appreciated in geopolitical assessments of the Middle East is the dramatically rising importance of the control of natural gas to the future of not only Middle East gas producing countries, but also of the EU and Eurasia including Russia as producer and China as consumer.

Natural gas is rapidly becoming the “clean energy” of choice to replace coal and nuclear electric generation across the European Union, most especially since Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear after the Fukushima disaster. Gas is regarded as far more “environmentally friendly” in terms of its so-called “carbon footprint.”

The only realistic way EU governments, from Germany to France to Italy to Spain, will be able to meet EU mandated CO2 reduction targets by 2020 is a major shift to burning gas instead of coal. Gas reduces CO2 emissions by 50-60% over coal.[xiii]

Given that the economic cost of using gas instead of wind or other alternative energy forms is dramatically lower, gas is rapidly becoming the energy of demand for the EU, the biggest emerging gas market in the world.

Huge gas resource discoveries in Israel, in Qatar and in Syria combined with the emergence of the EU as the world’s potentially largest natural gas consumer, combine to create the seeds of the present geopolitical clash over the Assad regime.

_______________________

Syria-Iran-Iraq Gas pipeline

Is our navy fighting for oil interests?

In July 2011, as the NATO and Gulf states’ destabilization operations against Assad in Syria were in full swing, the governments of Syria, Iran and Iraq signed an historic gas pipeline energy agreement which went largely unnoticed amid CNN reports of the Syrian unrest.

The pipeline, envisioned to cost $10 billion and take three years to complete, would run from the Iranian Port Assalouyeh near the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, to Damascus in Syria via Iraq territory. Iran ultimately plans then to extend the pipeline from Damascus to Lebanon’s Mediterranean port where it would be delivered to EU markets. Syria would buy Iranian gas along with a current Iraqi agreement to buy Iranian gas from Iran’s part of South Pars field.

South Pars, whose gas reserves lie in a huge field that is divided between Qatar and Iran in the Gulf, is believed to be the world’s largest single gas field. [xiv] De facto it would be a Shi’ite gas pipeline from Shi’ite Iran via Shi’ite-majority Iraq onto Shi’ite-friendly Alawite Al-Assad’s Syria.

Iran and Qatar – head to head – but with Qatar having big brother

Adding to the geopolitical drama is the fact that the South Pars gas find lies smack in the middle of the territorial divide in the Persian Gulf between Shi’ite Iran and the Sunni Salafist Qatar.

Qatar also just happens to be a command hub for the Pentagon’s US Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF.

In brief Qatar, in addition to owning and hosting the anti-Al-Assad TV station Al-Jazeera, which beams anti-Syria propaganda across the Arab world, Qatar is tightly linked to the US and NATO military presence in the Gulf.

Qatar apparently has other plans with their share of the South Pars field than joining up with Iran, Syria and Iraq to pool efforts.

Qatar has no interest in the success of the Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, which would be entirely independent of Qatar or Turkey transit routes to the opening EU markets.

In fact it is doing everything possible to sabotage it, up to and including arming Syria’s rag-tag “opposition” fighters, many of them Jihadists sent in from other countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Libya.

Further adding to Qatar’s determination to destroy the Syria-Iran-Iraq gas cooperation is the discovery in August 2011 by Syrian exploration companies of a huge new gas field in Qara near the border with Lebanon and near to the Russian-leased Naval port of Tarsus on the Syrian Mediterranean.[xv]

Pepe Escobar

Any export of Syrian or Iranian gas to the EU would go through the Russian-tied port of Tarsus. According to informed Algerian sources, the new Syrian gas discoveries, though the Damascus government is downplaying it, are believed to equal or exceed those of Qatar.

As Asia Times’ knowledgeable analyst Pepe Escobar pointed out in a recent piece, Qatar’s scheme calls for export of its huge gas reserves via Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba, a country where a Muslim Brotherhood threat to the dictatorship of the King is also threatening.

The Emir of Qatar has apparently cut a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood in which he backs their international expansion in return for a pact of peace at home in Qatar.

A Muslim Brotherhood regime in Jordan and also in Syria, backed by Qatar, would change the entire geopolitics of the world gas market suddenly and decisively in Qatar’s favor and to the disadvantage of Russia, Syria, Iran and Iraq. [xvi] That would also be a staggering negative blow to China.

As Escobar points out,

“it’s clear what Qatar is aiming at: to kill the US$10 billion Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, a deal that was clinched even as the Syria uprising was already underway. Here we see Qatar in direct competition with both Iran (as a producer) and Syria (as a destination), and to a lesser extent, Iraq (as a transit country). It’s useful to remember that Tehran and Baghdad are adamantly against regime change in Damascus.”

He adds, “if there’s regime change in Syria – helped by the Qatari-proposed invasion – things get much easier in Pipelineistan terms. A more than probable Muslim Brotherhood (MB) post-Assad regime would more than welcome a Qatari pipeline. And that would make an extension to Turkey much easier.” [xvii]

_____________________________

The Israeli Gas dilemma

Was the peak oil hype nothing more than a price rigging psy ops?

Further complicating the entire picture is the recent discovery of huge offshore Israeli natural gas resources.

The Tamar natural gas field off the coast of northern Israel is expected to begin yielding gas for Israel’s use in late 2012. The game-changer was a dramatic discovery in late 2010 of an enormous natural gas field offshore of Israel in what geologists call the Levant or Levantine Basin.

In October 2010 Israel discovered a massive “super-giant” gas field offshore in what it declares is its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). [xviii]

The find is some 84 miles west of the Haifa port and three miles deep. They named it Leviathan after the Biblical sea monster.

Three Israeli energy companies in cooperation with the Houston Texas Noble Energy announced initial estimates that the field contained 16 trillion cubic feet of gas—making it the world’s biggest deep-water gas find in a decade, adding more discredit to “peak oil” theories that the planet is about to see dramatic and permanent shortages of oil, gas and coal.

To put the number in perspective, that one gas field, Leviathan, would hold enough reserves to supply Israel’s gas needs for 100 years.[xix]

Energy self-sufficiency had eluded the state of Israel since its founding in 1948. Abundant oil and gas exploration had repeatedly been undertaken with meager result. Unlike its energy-rich Arab neighbors, Israel seemed out of luck.

Then in 2009 Israel’s Texas exploration partner, Noble Energy, discovered the Tamar field in the Levantine Basin some 50 miles west of Israel’s port of Haifa with an estimated 8.3 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of highest quality natural gas. Tamar was the world’s largest gas discovery in 2009.

Israel discovered huge gas in Levantine Basin with Noble Energy. Source: Noble Energy map

At the time, total Israeli gas reserves were estimated at only 1.5 tcf. Government estimates were that Israel’s sole operating field, Yam Tethys, which supplies about 70 percent of the country’s natural gas, would be depleted within three years.

With Tamar, prospects began to look considerably better. Then, just a year after Tamar, the same consortium led by Noble Energy struck the largest gas find in its decades-long history at Leviathan in the same Levantine geological basin. Present estimates are that the Leviathan field holds at least 17 tcf of gas. Israel went from a gas famine to feast in a matter of months.[xx]

Now Israel faces a strategic and very dangerous dilemma. Naturally Israel is none too excited to see al-Assad’s Syria, linked to Israel’s arch foe Iran and Iraq and Lebanon, out-compete an Israeli gas export to the EU markets. This could explain why Israel’s Netanyahu government has been messing inside Syria in the anti-al-Assad forces.

However, a Muslim Brotherhood rule in Syria led by the organization around Mohammad Shaqfah would confront Israel with far more hostile neighbors now that the Muslim Brotherhood coup by Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi has put a hostile regime on Israel’s southern border.

Dalia Mogahed

It is no secret that there is enmity bordering on hate between Netanyahu and the Obama Administration. The Obama White House and US State Department openly back the Muslim Brotherhood regime changes in the Middle East.

Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Turkey’s Davutoglu in August this year was reportedly aimed at pushing Turkey to escalate its military intervention into Syria, but without direct US support owing to US election politics of wanting to avoid involvement in a new Middle East debacle.[xxi]

State Department Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin has been accused by several Republican Congress Representatives of ties to organizations controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Dalia Mogahed, Obama’s appointee to the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, also a member of the US advisory council of the Department of Homeland Security, is openly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and an open foe of Israel as well as calling for the toppling of Syria’s al-Assad. [xxii]

Obama’s Washington definitely seems to be backing the Muslim Brotherhood horse in the race for control of the gas flows of the Middle East.

__________________________________

And the Russian role

Washington is walking a temporary tightrope hoping to weaken al-Assad fatally while not appearing directly involved. Russia for its part is playing a life and death game for the future of its most effective geopolitical lever—its role as the leading natural gas supplier to the EU.

This year Russia’s state-owned Gazprom began delivery of Russian gas to northern Germany via Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea from a port near St. Petersburg.

Strategically vital now for the future role of Russia as an EU gas supplier, is its ability to play a strategic role in exploiting the new-found gas reserves of its former Cold war client state, Syria. Moscow has long been engaged in promoting its South Stream gas pipeline into Europe as an alternative to the Washington Nabucco pipeline which was designed to leave Moscow out in the cold. [xxiii]

Already Gazprom is the largest natural gas supplier to the EU. Gazprom with Nord Stream and other lines plans to increase its gas supply to Europe this year by 12% to 155 billion cubic meters. It now controls 25% of the total European gas market and aims to reach 30% with completion of South Stream and other projects.

Rainer Seele, chairman of Germany’s Wintershall, the Gazprom partner in Nord Stream, suggested the geopolitical thinking behind the decision to join South Stream:

“In the global race against Asian countries for raw materials, South Stream, like Nord Stream, will ensure access to energy resources which are vital to our economy.” But rather than Asia, the real focus of South Stream lies to the West.

The ongoing battle between Russia’s South Stream and the Washington-backed Nabucco is intensely geopolitical. The winner will hold a major advantage in the future political terrain of Europe”. Erdogan – Knows Turkey is at the cross roads of history

Now a major new option of Syria as a major source for Russian-managed gas flows to the EU has emerged. If al-Assad survives, Russia will be in the position as savior to play a decisive role in developing and exploiting the Syrian gas.

Israel, where Russia also has major cards to play, could theoretically shift to back a Russian-Syrian-Iraqi-Iran gas consortium were Israel and Iran to reach some modus vivendi on the nuclear and other issues, not impossible were the political constellation in Israel to change after the coming elections.

Turkey, which is presently in a deep internal battle between Davutoglu and President Gül on the one side and Erdogan on the other, is dependent on Russia’s Gazprom for some 40% of gas to its industry.

Were Davutoglu and his faction to lose, Turkey could play a far more constructive role in the region as transit country for Syrian and Iranian gas.

The battle for the future control of Syria is at the heart of this enormous geopolitical war and tug of war. Its resolution will have enormous consequences for either world peace or endless war and conflict and slaughter.

NATO member Turkey is playing with fire as is Qatar’s Emir, along with Israel’s Netanyahu and NATO members France and USA. Natural gas is the flammable ingredient that is fueling this insane scramble for energy in the region.

TrustVerify, that was a LONG read, but interesting. So it is all about natural gas as the new fuel. This is not good, no matter who gets to control it. The method by which it is extracted is very toxic indeed. It may burn cleaner than other fuels, but it is the getting it out of the ground that is the problem. We are doing that here in the U.S. as well. They call it "fracking." They send millions of gallons of chemically-laced water into the ground to release the gas. The fracking water is deadly and has a way of finding its way into your drinking water. You need to see the film "Gasland" for the details. I guess it is time to translate that one into some middle eastern languages as well. Before you know it, they will be lighting their tap water on fire just like they can in Dimock Pennsylvania. Their cattle will die like in Bakken North Dakota.

With fracking, nobody wins. All will lose.

A few examples of what fracking does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtN98oAtfX8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN_YwQp4pzY

Hello Empress, I agree, it's so damaging to people and our ECO system! It's amazing to me that there is nothing we wouldn't do for energy. It reminds me of a movie I seen way back when called "Three Days of the Condor" where Cliff Robertson says at the end of the movie and I'm paraphrasing, that countries are battling for and people don't care how we get our energy as long as we get it.

Assad.... Dead man talking.

I cannot believe this has been going on for as long at it has, and feel for the people of Syria. If only everyone did not have their hands in the cookie jar this would not be taking so long. How many countries are putting profits above human life atm? This country has done the same in the past so I will not bother to name them.

How many did Assad kill before this revolution broke out, the reason this started in the first place? Have 60,000 people been killed in Egypt over the past two years btw? As bad as the M.B. is at least they have not killed that many people...yet. Although with the new constitution and cabinet members I do not know. Ibrahim told the state news agency "We will strike with an iron fist against anyone that threatens the security of the nation and Egyptians,". That does not sound good imo and I hope that the military stays independent atm. The economy over there is in shambles, but the morons in charge only care about religion atm. You think that it could wait a couple years until they fixed some of the other major problems, but nooooo it is more important to set up a national "preferred" religion instead.

Hopefully Syria will elect or get better leaders then this. When was the last time we had a decent President here is the U.S. btw? How f***ing long has it been? Did both our major political parties not have "God" in their national conventions btw?

Syria has been fighting for over 60 years! They attacked Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973 and lost. They invaded a occupied Lebanon from 1976 until 2005. They created, controlled, and supplied Hezbollah which attacked Israel in the 1980's, 90's, and this century. They have constantly been at war, or using surrogates for war. I think the Assad family's days, of constant war, are coming to an end!

still waiting on the websites you are getting this info.

If there can be justice then the western and Zionist backed terrorists will be defeated.

Hello Brenda, why do expect other people to do your research? There are hundreds of articles illustrating the US involvement in this proxy war. I don't think if a shipment of arms being sent to Syria hit you on the head that you would believe it anyway. Enclosed are two articles out of many.

France, US arming Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles – report

RT.com

Syrian soldiers, who have defected to join the Free Syrian Army. (Reuters / Ahmed Jadallah)

A general in the opposition militia known as the Free Syria Army has told journalists that the rebels have received French and American military assistance, amid reports of worsening violence in the stricken nation.

­In Homs on Tuesday, a general claiming to be from the rebel group appeared on camera and told a journalist from Reuters news agency that “French and American assistance has reached us and is with us.” When asked to elaborate on the nature of the assistance he added, "We now have weapons and anti-aircraft missiles and, God willing, with all of that we will defeat Bashar [President Assad]."

The international community maintains it is committed to finding a political solution to the conflict and had rejected the idea of military intervention. However, there are growing suspicions that it has been supplying the opposition with weapons indirectly.

This is not the first report of the US covertly supplying the opposition with arms. In December, FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds said she believed the US had been training the Syrian opposition in neighboring Turkey and supplying arms to the country from Incirlik military base close to the Turkish-Syrian border.

In addition, Qatar and Saudi Arabia reportedly held secret meetings to offer financial support to the Syrian rebels to buy weapons.

Political foot-dragging

Thus far the international community has been unable to reach agreement on a resolution to the Syrian conflict. At an emergency meeting called by the UN in Brussels on Tuesday, the Syrian ambassador accused the UN Security Council of purposely stalling and fueling the flames of terrorism in the country.

The UN has shown consistent support for the opposition movement, with both the Security Council and General Assembly repeatedly calling for the ouster of President Assad.

The US Is Waging An All-Out Proxy War With Russia In Syria
Business Insider:

Geoffrey Ingersoll|Jan. 4, 2013, 12:25 PM|5,999|22

Let's call it what it is: a proxy war.

Ben Brumfield of CNN reported that U.S. troops arrived in Turkey today to man Patriot missile systems. The systems themselves are officially NATO property, but the people with the finger on the trigger are decidedly American.

From Brumfield's report:

In response [to Assad launching Scud-B missiles on Allepo], the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands deployed Patriot air defense missiles to the border region to intercept any Syrian ballistic missiles.

Just across the border, manning similar systems, Russian military officers "pose a challenge" to U.S. intervention, according to the Guardian. It's more than a "challenge," it means that if Assad drops chems, and the U.S. launches an assault, America will see Russia on the battlefield.

Though Russia denies sending troops and resources to Syria (actually, they called the idea "nonsense" and said their Navy ships were rescuing Russian nationals), the country has a long history of arms shipments to Syria — it's become almost reflexive.

There's little reason they shouldn't arm the Syrians after Obama came out last month and said that America has plans to ship heavy weapons systems from Libya to rebels in Syria.

The administration's announcement came following a thwarted attempt by Russia to fly supplies (and personnel) in to the embattled Assad regime using a Syrian jet liner. Turkey, likely reacting to pressure from the U.S., forced down the Syrian passenger plane over its air space in order to search them for "heavy weapons."

The U.S. is also training Syrian rebel commandos in Jordan, which explains why some reports of Russia arming Syria with 24 Iskander surface-to-surface ballistic missiles also noted that 12 of them were pointed at Jordan while the other dozen were pointed north at Turkey.

So there's a chance Russia and the U.S. will fill each other's crosshairs, unless the U.S. responds to chemical weapon use by allowing Russia enough time to exit prior to an assault.

Independent analysts have told BI that Russia is very focused on "self preservation," and that chemical weapons would trigger withdrawal of support — which is why Russia promptly denounces every report of chemical weapon use or preparation.

When the U.S. expressed concern, to put it lightly, that Assad's movement of chemical weapons constituted "mixing," "loading," and "preparation," Russia responded immediately, labeling the actions "securing" of the weapons, rather than prepping — and later referred to use of chemical weapons as "political suicide."

The suicide would be that Russia would pull its support, and the U.S. (NATO) would have a free hand with Assad. It would also lose the proxy war for Russia, who has officially expressed its goal is to 'protect Syrian sovereignty' and in so doing wear down America's power (and its ability to provoke regime change).

From the BBC:

By standing up for Damascus, the Kremlin is telling the world that neither the UN, nor any other body or group of countries has the right to decide who should or should not govern a sovereign state.

Then there's also the fact that arms shipments to Syria are big bucks. Without Assad, with the rebel Free Syrian Army in place, those contracts would likely go to the West, and Russia would lose influence right in its own backyard

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-proxy-war-russia-syria-2013-1#ixzz2HGtEh2x3

And I am all for it as long as we don't put our troops on the ground. I would even do a no fly zone and drone hits. Anything that takes the mass murderer Assad out of office. If we are arming their troops it is the very least we could have done. Needless deaths like this should always be the concerns of the the super powers. This would have been done along time ago if we really got involved and with no American lives lost. Which is something I can't say for Bush and his boots on the ground technique.

With extremists who don't believe in any language but killing and terrorism?

Irony.

Nickyybn165 - you forgot to add about the $99 fee that the auction web site don't tell you about even if you buy nothing. I had to get my $99 reimbused by to my checking account "AFTER" finding out that it took it out of my account when I registered with the web site. Since they don't disclosed about the fee on the web site, in my book, they are crooks.

Not secular dictator = Islamic (terrorists) fundamentalists. Be careful what you wish for.

Now that's more like it Brenda, at least you have the guts to admit that you support the arming of the rebels which you know includes Islamists, The Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda among others, right?

Are you also willing to accept the liability for your support in the killing of thousands of innocent men, women and children? Your support makes you complicit in their deaths. And if the Universe has taught us anything it's that there is karmic repercussions for our actions. Good luck with that!

As for Bush's pre-emptive technique verse Obama's remote controlled war technique the results are the same, innocent people die! But you probably think that we are the chosen ones which gives us the right to lord as judge and jury over the rest of humanity, right?

Winddancer -

Good post. I believe the US troops and missiles in Turkey are a result of NATO alliance requirements rather than UN decisions, but I like the rest of it.

"It's just us "dumb" Americans who are out of the loop, sending our sons, husbands and fathers, being patriotic and distracted."

Don't forget mothers and wives (and partners).

Spot on Sane Central, How silly of me to have let that slip by. After all, being a female Marine veteran Military Police Officer myself, I can surely appreciate the dangers!

It should have said, sons, husbands, fathers, brothers, daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, partners and grandchildren. I was focusing on those in the front lines who get shot at, and thought to keep my writings brief as possible. But do understand,all listed have ended up giving their lives in the line of duty.

It just makes me so angry at our leaders at times, because it simply isn't necessary so often. If better choices had been made earlier, by our own leaders. This is what happens, when those in leadership positions, have never had to experience the actual field of battle.Nor expose their own flesh and blood to its dangerous anxious days and fit-full,sleepless nights. if they did so, no doubt they would hesitate long and hard before sending in any others children. We must always be vigilant over each new generation, that they be spared the horrors of war, unless absolutely essential. For it is an old, fat rich man's game, sending off the young and brave to die for anothers pride

Here we go again!

Old habits die hard. Even Benghazi attack has not woken up many!

Repetition of Iraqi wars, helping rebels in Libya and so on and on!

There was rebellion of Shiites against the despotic and highly corrupt Sunni ruler of Bahrain.

Brave Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League nations sent their forces and just quelled the Shiites rebellion in no time.

All of a sudden, these seventh century fountainheads of Sunni Islamic haters and killers, remembered “human rights violations” in Syria.

So the Sunni rulers of Arab League sent “human rights” group to Syria.

The head of the Saudi and their Arab League observers to Syria was a Sudanese Gen. The brave Gen was responsible for the genocides of at least 300000 Christians in Darfur!

Still House of Saud ruler and his 5000 princes and princesses and other Sunni rulers seventh century desert dances did not work.

Later they outsourced their dirty work to Turkey.

You see: Turkey is a strategic NATO ally and too much of Turkey’s seventh century Islamist Erdogan’s dances mean US, Britain and other NATO forces members have to pitch in.

What a way to outsource their dirty jobs to NATO forces just like Iraqi wars to save Kuwaiti, Saudi and other “oil rich” rulers!!!

Well said.. I also want to thank you for your service..

forward..........?

Only seventh century bigoted Sunni Islamists will understand what the tenth century Shiite ruler says!

Assad, like a typical follower of Islamic cult, has now agreed for peace with rebels!

No, he was just re-elected for 4 more years.

Zheng He...just another poor loser!

Too many toilets will be required in ME. May be: some "reconstruction" of toilets will be immediate need.

Zheng He, you can always go live in China or whatever Asian sewer you crawled out of and dig your own @!$%#ter.

You really miss Mittens don't you? I really don't think Mittens would care for a minority fellow like yourself but to each his own.

yet YOU keep bringing him back. ....psst ....he hasnt been pres since 2008...its 2013...get some new lib talking points. this is all in YOUR boys lap.

ScooterTramp, that's how bad he f-up the economy. You think we can forgot already? Your Georgie boy will be remembered for ever as being the worst piece of @!$%#te president we ever elected. Later loser.

we ever elected

chuckle

Later loser.

personal attacks?.... oh yeah ....sop lib logic.

and you call yourself a "lady" ???

I agree with U 100%, mountainlady.

No matter who replaces him, at least it's not SOS.

your right ....it gets worse......Iran, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc.

mountainlady

I hate to weigh in on the "terrorist" side but can't someone just shoot this moron and do the world a favor?

From the same person who has been ranting for a week about the NRA , Gun Groupies, etc.

So let us get this straight. YOUR stand is that its OK to shoot someone if you don't like em eh maoutainlady? As well as supporting the assassination of a world leader?...but again...only if YOU don't like him.

Labels. you de-humanize the population and then call for their deaths or demise. if they don't agree with you, they are terrorists, insurgents, maniacs etc. you don't know who to call enemy anymore. the commie loving Assad or the people who just want to farm and live. So what if all in Syria where christian, what would you be saying now? What if they where jewish?

how quickly you go from condemnation of a dictator to condemnation of the people. You guys just hate the fact that the planet is breaking out in freedom. freedom actually scares you.

Sometimes i read these posts and become embarrassed that some of my fellow Americans are that foolish and so uninformed and so controlled by their own hate.

Was Saddam's removal good for most of us or bad?

In the same way, if Assad is removed then it will be rule of Sunni Syrian rebels supported by Sunni hating and killing fronts like al Qaida, MB, Salaffi and some more label ones.

First it will be worse for sane Muslims, minority sect Muslims like Shiites, Christians, Kurds, females and other helpless ones.

At the same time, there will be battles within Sunni Islamists for control.

Has the winner been decided anywhere in Libya, Iraq and other places where Assads, Gadhaffis, Saddams were removed.

NRA? that stands for "not Really American".

I agree. Send him a drone.

Hey IA.ScooterTramp .... Thanks... so validating to know that someone is following my comments. Actually "shoot this moron" is a figure of speech. I am the last person on the planet, normally, to wish anyone harm but there are occasionally people who have cashed in their "human" ticket. This beady eyed maniac is killing people every day and it has gone on and on and on. I just want Syrians to stop dying for this guy. And this has no bearing whatsoever on out of control gun owners in the US.

Mariannayes992..Because I live in Thailand and can buy that crap for .10 cents on the dollar! I bought an Ipad last week for $15,U.S. We can't get Loews gift cards here...thank god.

Conrad, I cannot believe how ignorant the US people are on the mid-east. You hit the nail on the head. Israeli zionist are behind this 100%. Hezbollah was created when Israel invaded Lebanon and killed thousands of Palestinian refugees, mostly women and children. Israel wants control of the Latani river because their running out of water. No one ever heard of Arab violence until Israel became a state on land other people owned. What has Syria done to us? NOTHING. We have been supporting the terrorist against Assad since day one. Israel is a cancer that needs to be removed.

Conrad, maybe we should watch Al-Jazzeer just like you and cameljoe56. Sorry, I meant parkerjoe.

"No one ever heard of Arab violence until Israel became a state on land other people owned..."

You surely cannot be serious, can you? Ummm, I really hate to burst whatever bubble you're living in, but their very "religion" was, and is, based in violence. I'm guessing that you have never taking the time to simply read about the founding of Islam. Way to go "parkerjoe". It is fairly obvious that you not only are ignorant about many things in the m.e., but also a racist, anti-semitic as well. Thanks for making everyone in America appear to be a little bit dumber...

So you really think that Isreal can control 1.5 billion arabs? one by one the Arab countries become a little more free. eventually they will form some sort of coalition. eventually they will understand that they don't need guns or bombs to stop the apartheid gov. of Isreal.

When they come to the realization that a guy named Gandhi, defeated the great English empire with out a single weapon, they will be free. Just a matter of time.

Which is why republicans should put down the kool aide and let us tree hugging liberals get us to "energy Independence" . You right wingers have been fighting it since the jimmy charter days. Now look what it got you. We wanted to put a nickle tax on gas back then, which would have been used to keep gas from becoming 4 bucks. Grandma called that penny wise and pound foolish.

@"geopauljohn", do you honestly believe that peace in the m.e. will be achieved in our lifetimes? Our children's lifetimes? Do you not understand that EVERYTHING in the arabic world is defined and achieved by the rule of Islam? I am hoping you know what an infidel is, because they sure as h3ll do in the m.e. And it seems to me that Israel has done very well for herself, in spite of British obstructionism. And do you belive for one minute that they are going to take Gandhi for inspiration? You might as well tell the Chinese that they need to start listening to the Dahli Lama for a change! And for the record, the Dept. of Energy was founded to achieve energy independence during Jimbo's days, and just how well has that gone? Not very, if you ask me...

robertylevy, you forgot and a sharp blade up his a$$. That would be a good ending also.

got it...two votes for the "brotherhood"

So do stupid American Teabillies

Wow Rob.. you're so eloquent! Excellent point, and I love how you validate your comment with factual data! What party/political groups did you say you support? I'd like to know which groups, as I'm sure they must be so proud to have you as a representative!

@"airlar70", it should be very obvious what political affiliation this clown belongs to. Way to add to the discussion "rob99", or I guess in you case, the lack thereof.

Have you read about the "debates" in the Egyptian press? Hilarious! (If it weren't so sad.) The're talking about female "religious" genital mutilation!

backtobasics, can you tell me where you get your information on the 92% figure? These outside terrorist have slaughtered women and children in Syria, not the government. Read something else besides the one sided zionist newspapers. Syria is in the way of Israel bringing in a oil pipeline from the Caspian sea and so they need a government friendly to Israel. It will also stop a Syrian threat if Israel attacks Iran. We built a 42" pipeline from Iraq to Israel and now Israel gets free Iraqi oil off the blood of our soldiers and the blood of many Iraqi women and children. World wake up! Israel has a school now in the US to breed future politicians in favor of Israel. These students are paid up to 75,000 a year. Jews make up 2% of the US population and yet congress is over 30% jewish. Read "If Americans Only Knew" to find out the truth.

Sure, and read "Mein Kampf" while you are at it.