|
Syria: A Slight Breeze of Change
Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, in an NYT op-ed:
The greatest threat to American interests in the region is ISIS, not Mr. Assad. To fight this enemy, Mr. Obama needs to call on others similarly threatened: Iran, Russia, Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, Jordan, Turkey — and above all, the political leader with the best-armed forces in the region, Mr. Assad. Part of the deal would need to be that the Syrian regime and the rebels largely leave each other alone.
The Obama administration now seems to take the threat of the Islamic State for real as it increases the troop deployment to Iraq to secure an eventual embassy evacuation:
The deployment includes "a detachment of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, which will bolster airfield and travel route security," [Pentagon spokesman] Kirby said in a written statement.
…
The 300 troops are in addition to 300 U.S. advisers who will help train Iraq's security forces. They will bring the total of American forces in Iraq to about 800 troops.
From earlier deployments we can assume that there will be at least one additional contractor for each soldier deployed. All together it is quite a capable force and any attempt of a raid against the embassy would likely be defeated. But the threat thereof is now obviously a serious concern.
I take the Gelb op-ed as an early sign that at least some "serious people" in Washington are changing their position towards the Syrian government. Will others follow?
comment lifted:
“Obama Uses War Powers To Send More Troops To Iraq”
comment lifted:
the Oils wars are going to be Foggy and Complicated!
“For example, the U.S. is supposedly fighting a war on terrorism, but has been in an unofficial military alliance with ISIS and other al-Qaeda groups in Syria, since all of them were actively waging war on the Syrian government.”
who”>http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/01/regional-war-swallowing-the-middle-east/
who
are we fighting in Iraq? or are we just protecting the Oil wells?
“When ISIS invaded Iraq the governments of Syria and Iran immediately offered assistance, while Obama stalled.”
Obama did not rush to destroy ISIS? interesting
Iraq begged Obama to deliver promised fighter jets to fight ISIS, Obama chose instead to give extra military aid to the U.S. backed Syrian rebels, to the tune of $500 million. The Syrian rebels have been completely dominated by Islamic extremists for at least two years.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/01/regional-war-swallowing-the-middle-east/
Obama really does not care about un-employed USA citizens, poor condition of USA schools, and infrastructure! Yes! ISIS the so call terrorist need USA financial aid, not USA citizens? what a country!
What is Israel doing? are they fighting the Terrorist “ISIS” no!
“Israel, for its part, also ignored ISIS and instead bombed nine Syrian military targets. Israel has bombed Syria several times in the last year, rather than bombing ISIS or the other al-Qaeda groups attacking Syria. ”
Israel must like ISIS also? who knew
Putin is playing chess? what is Obama and our leaders doing? who knows?
“Obama will find it less possible to abstain, since Iran, Syria and Russia will gain wider regional influence at his expense, which is happening by the minute.”
Yes! Putin is supplying weapons to Iraq, Syria, and Iran! the SHIA love Russia!
More Money! More Money! For War!As the Syrian war was spilling into Iraq, Obama requested $5 billion more for Middle East war, as if the gargantuan military budget wasn’t already enough. According to The New York Times:
We all think the USA broke? Notthe Un-employed in the USA, and Poor USA students, your GOVT does not care about you! what so ever!!! 5 billion for more war in the Middle East.
the Oil wars are being fought for the 1% not the 99%!
the 99% can’t get 1 billion? WOW
Yes the Terrorist are winning!
http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/07/01/obama-uses-war-powers-to-send-more-troops-to-iraq/
http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/07/01/obama-uses-war-powers-to-send-more-troops-to-iraq/
Posted by: crone | Jul 1 2014 22:56 utc | 42
Copeland: maybe you find this more convincing?
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/superpower-and-caliphate
“…The Caliphate threatens, not only its immediate adversaries in the Shiite-dominated governments of Syria and Iraq, but the potentates of the Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and the Mother of All Monarchist Corruption in the Arab Sunni heartland, the Saudi royal family. The threat is not inferential, but literal, against “all emirates, groups, states and organizations” that do not recognize that ISIS in its new incarnation is the embodiment of Islam at war.
The jihadist die is cast, a point of no return for the U.S. strategy of projecting imperial power in the region through armed Islamic fundamentalist surrogates. The international jihadist network, which did not exist before the CIA, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan created it to undermine the leftist secular government of Afghanistan in mid-1979, has become a movement that can no longer be controlled. The physical contours of the ISIS caliphate, the movement’s dynamic new focal point, may prove indefensible, especially if the Americans decide they cannot avoid an all-out assault on their former asset. But, whatever the U.S. military response, the game plan that was hatched in 2011 for Libya, Syria, Iraq – for the whole region – is kaput, based as it is on the reliable deployment of jihadists as surrogates for NATO and Arab royals. Worse, the Arab oil potentates understand full well that their own regimes are now in grave danger from the indigenous monstrosity they have created. The Saudis, in particular, justify their family’s monopolizing of the Arabian peninsula’s great wealth as reward for safeguarding the holy sites of Islam. No doubt the “Islamic State,” with its movable borders and swiftly expanding pan-Arab and even pan-Muslim constituency, would be glad to assume these responsibilities – over the dead bodies of those Saudi princes who did not escape to London, Paris and New York. The same goes for all the royal lineages aligned with the West and, de facto, Israel.
“It is true that the United States retains nearly limitless power to create chaos in the region. Chaos is useful in preventing conventional governments and civil societies from achieving national goals that are inimical to imperialism. But chaos is not empty; it is a cauldron in which contradictions can become explosively acute. The jihadists are, at root, anti-imperialists – inalterably opposed to domination by the “Crusaders” of the West and Zionists. As we have previously asserted, the fundamentalist jihad, although profoundly reactionary, inevitably behaves much like a kind of nationalism – for some, it fills a political void left by the demise of yesteryear’s secular pan-Arab nationalism. ISIS now claims to be the expression of that nationalist-like yearning, as the “Islamic State.”
If you think all this is the work of the CIA, then thank them profusely for accelerating the epic unraveling of U.S. imperial strategy in the Muslim world. As during the days when America’s Egyptian stooge Mubarak was pushed from power, threatening an “Arab Spring” that might depose the oil monarchies, U.S. policymakers have no idea how to reposition themselves in the region. The Americans cannot replace the jihadists as foot soldiers of imperialism. Thus, a period of ad-libbing begins, which will surely involve ostentatious displays of U.S. military prowess, as the Americans remind themselves and everyone else that a superpower outranks a caliphate.
Posted by: bevin | Jul 3 2014 4:04 utc | 76
|
