I've told you 10,000,000 times not to exaggerate...
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Originally Posted by
JMA
We have been through this 1,000 times before...
Or maybe 11,000,000...
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who gets to decide what is in the US national interest. Only one person... the President of the USA. Yet time and time again we get the smart guys who believe that they are somehow able to decide what is in the US national interest.
Yet again, your presumption is inccorect.
George Friedman from Stratfor explains it well: LINK
The counternarrative - Rebels committing atrocities
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The Syrian government says the rebel armed groups backed and funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are committing “horrific crimes” against civilians in the capital, Damascus, and the city of Aleppo.
In two letters addressed to the head of the UN Security Council and the UN secretary general, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that the rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are using civilians in Aleppo as human shields, and killing anyone who does not support their crimes.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=333256
Interestingly enough, the exact same article can be found in the Terran Times http://tehrantimes.com/middle-east/1...c-crimes-syria
Also
SYRIA: Atrocities committed against Christians by US-NATO supported "Opposition" Rebels
GRAPHIC WARNING! ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY NATO’S FSA “FREEDOM FIGHTERS”
Which all support the counter-narrative that the rebels are not democratic freedom fighters:
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Evidence to justify this presumptive mainstream narrative is hard to find. Whilst the opposition includes democrats, many of the West's preferred leaders are of limited relevance inside Syria, having for years lived comfortably abroad. Syria's regional importance and sectarian complexity also render unreliable superficially attractive comparisons to potential democratic outcomes elsewhere.
To some extent, we can use our own senses to assess who those with power on the ground in Syria are. Watch rebel videos, broadcast daily by our media, and consider how often you've heard 'Allahu Akbar' shouting Sunni protesters or fighters make any mention of democracy, tolerance, human or women's rights - or indeed women playing any role at all. The rebels' agenda is to overthrow Assad.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl...49&MID=0&PID=0
Add to this the transition of the narrative from one of a democratic fight for freedom to jihad against the Alawites:
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Rebels say the conflict in Syria has angered many Sunni Arabs, who see it as an Alawite military campaign to ethnically cleanse Syria and create a pure Alawite state stretching from the Mediterranean coast to central regions of the country.
"The Alawites are acting with vengeance. They have been fooled by Assad into believing that this is a life or death war for them and if the Sunnis win they see themselves as being doomed," Salloum said.
"Look at their hatred," Salloum said, referring to a video widely circulated by Syrian activists that purportedly shows Alawite pro-Assad militiamen, known as shabbiha, using a knife to slit the throat of a handcuffed young rebel male in Idlib in what Sunnis say reveals deep seated sectarian grudges.
"The Alawites have taken over everything in Syria, political power, the economy, the state jobs, and now they want to continue enslaving our Sunni brothers and sisters, they tell them your God is Assad," said Bin Shamer.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mid...#axzz2291YCdJm
Oh what a tangled web ... and then there is the Iranian version of events along with the associated threats:
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Iran's foreign minister accused Israel of being behind "a conspiracy against Syria."
"It is completely ridiculous and delusive to believe that there is a possibility of creating a vacuum in the leadership in Syria," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said. "We call upon the people of the region to be fully aware and not to move in the wrong direction, because there will be severe consequences that will go beyond the borders of the region to the outside world."
http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-29/m...n-opposition/3
Add to that Russian interests in the port and China's and Russia's concerns that if human rights violations constitute reasons for foreign intervention then the idea of sovereignty is dead and they are in trouble. This situation is turning into a witches brew of interests with a multitude of players stirring the pot. Will they be able to keep it from boiling over beyond the borders of Syria?
Russia and Naval Considerations...
An interesting look at Russia's strategic interests in Syria beyond Assad ...
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In 2009, by decree of then President Medvedev, Russia established its National Security Strategy to 2020. The main objectives of this strategy are the ‘sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, and likewise the preservation of civil peace, political and social stability’.[7] To achieve these objectives Russia must guarantee the security of its borders, which requires a degree of influence over its neighbours, either through cooperative measures or otherwise.[8] In that vein, arms sales and economic assistance to Syria have continued to this day. These provide Russia some influence over the Assad regime and, it is hoped, some indirectly over Turkey. This influence, and the control it helps give Russia over the Black Sea, is a key factor explaining Russia’s actions in the Syrian crisis. Its actions regarding Syria fit into a broader pattern of manoeuvres designed to secure Russian control over the Black Sea, and thereby guarantee the security of Russia’s borders.
http://theriskyshift.com/2012/07/a-s...#ixzz22ElDe34n
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Russia's only existing naval base outside the Soviet Union is located in the Syrian port of Tartus. A squadron of Russian navy ships, including several assault ships carrying marines, is currently heading to Tartus in a show of support for a longtime ally whom Moscow protected from international sanctions and continued to supply with weapons.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/...1#.UBhLQkRNDR0
Meanwhile the British and the Russians both have ships in or headed to the Eastern Mediterranean:
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Barely mentioned by the mainstream media, the warships involved in the Cougar 12 naval exercise will also participate in the planned evacuation of "British nationals from the Middle East, should the ongoing conflict in Syria further spill across borders into neighboring Lebanon and Jordan.":
The British would likely send the HMS Illustrious, a helicopter carrier, along with the HMS Bulwark, an amphibious ship, as well as an advanced destroyer to provide defenses for the task force. On board will be several hundred Royal Marine commandos, as well as a complement of AH-64 attack helicopters (the same ones used in Libya last year). A fleet of French ships, including the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier, carrying a complement of Rafale fighter aircraft, are expected to join them.
Those forces are expected stay offshore and could escort specially chartered civilian ships meant to pick up foreign nationals fleeing Syria and surrounding countries. (ibtimes.com, 24 July 2012).
Sources in the British Ministry of Defense, while confirming the Royal Navy's "humanitarian mandate" in the planned evacuation program, have categorically denied "any intention of a combat role for British forces [against Syria]".
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.p...t=va&aid=32079
Russia 'sends six warships to Syria' but denies it has anything to do with growing tensions
Who says this conflict doesn't have the potential for rapid and uncontrolled expansion beyond Syria's borders written all over it. It is starting to look like Sarajevo circa 1914:eek:
A non-American veiw of what the future should hold
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Is Syria totally hopeless? There’s one shred of hope: if, and that’s a big if, the global powers that be — the five permanent members of the United Nations, the Arab League and Iran — could find the political will, they could unite, step in and get all the factions to stop the killing. They could then establish safe havens for all civilians, and launch an all-inclusive dialogue in which the Sunni majority and all minority groups are represented. Of course, Al Qaeda and other radical foreign militias must be kept out in the cold.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opini...-puzzle/533503
Not positive, but I am pretty sure Jakarta is not in Kansas ...
Oil in them there hills...
China may not give a rat's ass about Assad, but they are interested in Syrian oil.
Iran Aids Syrian Oil Exports to China, Report Says