Return to sender

Reports from Lebanon state that Assad is shipping his WMDs, including chemical weapons, are back to Iraq, from whence they came prior to the U.S.’ invasion of that country.

Because it took Bush II months to convince his friends in the EU to join in the attack, Saddam Hussein was able to transfer his WMDs to Syria. By the time the “inspectors” arrived on the scene, there were no WMDs to be found, much to the delight of the liberals.

Now Putin and Obungler – and that’s the proper order – are giving Assad a little over a week to tell the world where WMDs remain in Syria.

Some WMDs will be found; almost everyone agrees that Syria has such weapons so failing to find something would seem suspicious.

Meanwhile, Putin is delivering Israel-range missiles to the Syrians – government or rebels, the result will be the same for Israel no matter who ends up with the launch codes.

And, “meanwhile,” Obungler is claiming the U.S.’ threat of an attack on Syria caused Assad to buckle. There may be a job for him at Comedy Central; the entire Muslim middle east thumbed its nose at Obungler, and Israel (one hopes) realizes that it is on its own.

The whole idea of U.S. missiles taking out Syria’s – government or rebels – chemical weapons is ludicrous – at best.

The U.S. lacks the intelligence to know where the weapons are stashed. The U.S. lacks the intelligence to know when the weapons are relocated, and to where.

The bottom line is: The U.S. lacks intelligence in the Muslim world. – and that includes the Muslims in the U.S.

President Faux Pas managed to put himself – and us as well – between a hammer and an anvil/rock and a hard spot by making threats he apparently had no intention of carrying out. Unfortunately, as the chief executive’s reputation goes, so goes the nation or organization over which the chief executive presides, or pretends to preside.

Bush I did almost as much damage to America’s standing among the nations when he failed to finish what he started in Iraq. Bush II, in a slightly less faux pas declaring the war in Iraq over long before the shooting stopped. (Carter, of course, topped them all.)

Indeed, if it were not for peanut farmer, Obungler would win the “worst president in modern times” award hands down. (With Obamacare still in flux, Carter may yet be elevated out of his bottom-most spot.)

With all the spy power – drones, satellites – one would think the weapons shift back to Iraq – and then onward to Iran - could be seen and interdicted. It won’t happen on Obungler’s watch.

Perhaps President Faux Pas is preparing for his post-White House career: using his abundant hot air to send balloons into the sky. For this we are paying $400,000 a year PLUS perks.

 

Changed your passwords lately?

Islamist* dance

 

According to a report in the Global Security Newswire headed Assad Sets Conditions on Relinquishing Chemical Arms, the Syrian president said his nation would give up its chemical arms “only if the United States ends any weapons deliveries to opposition forces and ceases its ‘threatening’ behavior.”

Put conditions on everything and do nothing.

Sounds like Bashar Al Assad’s buddy in Iran, Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini, a/k/a Grand Ayatollah and his nuclear games.

And then there is the terrorist Abu Mazen of the so called Palestinian Authority who demands that Israel make concessions and, when the Israeli prime minister du jour caves under US and leftist pressure, the terrorist adds more demands.

It’s the Islamist dance.

* Iranians are quick to tell us they are not Arabs; Muslims yes, Arabs no, hence “Islamist.”

What is particularly interesting about Assad’s two-step is that while he is pressing for to halt the weapons flow to the insurgents, he will continue to receive weapons from his allies – Iran and Russia. These weapons can be used against both the locals and Israel.

What I fail to understand is what he calls Obungler’s “threatening’ behavior.” The incumbent at 1600 Pennsylvania has emasculated the country and truly made it what the Chinese called it decades ago: a paper tiger of no consequence.

On the other hand, most Israelis – except perhaps Obungler’s alter ego in the prime minister’s office, and the left wing – now understand that they cannot depend on the United States for anything, certainly not as long as the White House and State Department are Islamist sympathizers.

Obungler managed to put his foot in his mouth and embarrassed the United States by making threats he won’t carry out.

Then he comes crawling to the Congress in hopes it will share the blame for his stupidity.

“Well,” he tells the world, “I can’t do anything until Congress gets back from its latest vacation.”

Meanwhile, one on-line poll shows that at least 91 percent of all respondents do NOT think the U.S. should attack Syria.

Is Syria a threat to the U.S.? Not hardly. Certainly it can be a jumping off point for Islamist terrorists, but the U.S. has its own homegrown Islamist terrorists (or is Islamist and terrorist redundant?).

Does Syria have anything the U.S. wants? No.

“Well,” we are told by Obungler & Friends, “the U.S. must act for humanitarian reasons.”

OK. So …

1. Why wait until now? Syria’s civil war is more than 2 years old.
2. Why didn’t Obungler threaten Sudan (see UN Human Rights Council and Darfurian Voices
3. Why doesn’t Obungler press for a Kurdish state? Kurds are victims in Syria, Turkey, and elsewhere.
4. Why doesn’t Obungler point the finger at the Muslims in Aza or in Lebanon/Syria who randomly fire rockets at Israeli civilians and Hamas in Aza who murder Egyptian policemen at their posts.
5. What about North Korea? In September 2011, the Harvard International Review published an article which argued that North Korea was violating the UN Genocide Convention in every possible way, through its systematic killing of half-Chinese babies and religious groups.[
6. And Somalia. The Social Science Research Council (2007) reported genocidal killings committed against Somalia's Bantu population and Jubba Valley dwellers from 1991 onwards noting that "Somalia is a rare case in which genocidal acts were carried out by militias in the utter absence of a governing state structure

Why is it that chemical weapons are bad, but bullets, bombs, missiles, and other killing devices are OK?

Never mind that Obungler allowed the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya go unpunished. Shades of Jimmy (Peanut Brain) Carter.

While North Korea is not an Islamist state, it uses the Islamist delaying tactic to keep the U.S. at bay while the North threatens the South.

I am reminded of the Arpege perfume commercial: Promise her anything, but give her Arpege. Promise the U.S. anything, and like an ingénue, the U.S. will believe and will coninue to believe the promises even after they are broken time and time again.

Obungler has done somethiing right – by accident. So far he has only used his hot air against Syria. At the same time, he has made the U.S. a laughing stocvk among nations that understand only force, a heavy hand.

The Arabs and Persians and Koreans all respect only a heavy hand. Unfortunately, the day when Teddy Roosevelt could “speak softly and carry a big stick” (with the so-called “Great White Fleet”) are long gone.

America’s political fall from power didn’t start with Obungler – it goes back to charmin’ Jack and his “youth in Asia” plan (incorrectly applied to LBJ) – but the current president certainly has exasperated matters.

Turns out there is a post script to this. Since the above was cobbled together he other day, Assad has added more conditions, including that Israel must join in renouncing use of chemical weapons and allow unbiased (that's a joke) UN inspectors to review whatever chemical weapons Israel might possess. Meanwhile, Assad's stockpile gets moved around - likely to Iran.

Lines for war

According to a Global Security Newswire on-line article, Obama Adviser: Syrian Transitional Body ‘Only Sustainable’ Way to End Bloodshed, the president’s national security adviser insisted in a Monday speech that the creation of a post-Assad transitional authority in Syria would be the ‘only’ long-term means of ending bloodshed in the Middle Eastern nation’s ongoing civil war.”

Syria’s civil war – likewise the problems in Libya, Pakistan, India, Lebanon, and probably a great deal of Africa as well – can be laid at the door of fat-headed Europeans who knew better than the locals when it came to drawing borders.

Consider tribal loyalties – hardly.

Consider religious affiliations – never; the people are “heathens” anyway, so who cares.

Draw lines where it is convenient for the European conquerors.

Consider the Kurds.

1986 CIA World Factbook

The Encyclopedia of the Middle East notes that There are about 26-36 million Kurds in the world, with the largest concentration, 10-15 million, in Turkey. The map below shows the major areas of Kurdish concentration. The settlements in outlying districts away from the central area of Kurdistan, reflect in part attempts at resettlement and ethnic cleansing by various Turkish and Iranian Muslim rulers. Alone among the major peoples of the Middle East, the Kurds were denied self determination after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

A glance at the map shows that the Kurds are a widely disbursed people, but there IS a concentration; the majority of Kurds live in an area that includes parts of Northern Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

Kashmir is another example.

Rather than create an independent state populated by Kashmiri peoples in India, Pakistan, and China, the Brits drew lines of convenience – for them.. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) map follows. The BBC map cuts off Kashmir from the rest of India and offered it to Pakistan and China.

BBC map

Obungler wants the Syrians to create a “Syrian Transitional Body” but who will populate this group?

Syria is divided along religion and tribal lines. Add to the indigenous population the imports from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and “Palestinians” who fled Israel to clear a path for the glorious Arab armies that would drive the Jews into the sea.

Map by Fragile States Resource Center

To see how lines could be drawn to reduce intra-religious conflict, the populations of the adjacent states (Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and even Israel) need to be displayed together with the Syrian map. See the second Kurdish map as an example of cross-border populations.

Syria and Lebanon are both ancient nations, but their modern borders are the result of French and British map makers who ignored the reality on the ground.

Which begs the question: Who will be represented on Obungler’s “Syrian Transitional Body?” Will imports Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah be included? Will the Kurds, the Druze, the Jews still in Syria – and there are Jews in Syria. How about Christians?

If the so-called Palestinians cannot sit down with Israelis, why would Obungler think Shia, Sunni, and Alawi sit down to draw up an agreement – never mind including the other groups.

Who will be an “honest broker” among the parties? The Arab League? Hardly; it, too, is fragmented along religious lines. “Infidels” would be wasting their time as well as generating increased hostility toward the nations they represent.

Bottom line: Obungler should drop the whole Syria issue and hope the world will forget how his speech writers got him between a hammer and an anvil/rock and a hard spot.

The United States has no business interfering, in any way, in Syria’s civil war. For the U.S. and other non-Muslim countries, interference is a lose-lose situation. Besides, the French and Brits caused enough trouble in the area by drawing maps of their convenience.

Syrian conundrum

The Syrians say:

Speaking to an Arabic-language radio station operated by the United States, Syria's Deputy Information Minister Halaf Al-Maftah said that Israel would face not only Syria in the event that the US, Britain and France attempted to unseat Bashar al-Assad. A coalition consisting of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria would respond to any attack against Assad with a response against Israel. In addition, terrorist groups in Syria and Lebanon would attack Israel with full force. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171311

"The war effort lead by the United States and their allies will serve the interests of Israel and secondly Al-Nusra Front," an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria, said Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171333

From Iran,

Iran will unleash a barrage of hundreds of missiles against Israel and U.S. targets in Iraq if Iran or Syria are attacked, an Iranian Web site threatened on Monday, in comments linked to an alleged Israeli air strike on a secret Syrian nuclear facility. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/iran-threatens-missile-strike-israel-us-targets-if-syria-attacked#sthash.oddzxr0O.dpuf

It is worth noting that Iran has threatened to attack Israel each of the several times the IDF has hit – usually Russian – military material in Syria. The IDF has not attacked any Russian assets, e.g., ships in port.

And in Russia, Putin warns the U.S. and its “allies” that it will act in Assad’s behalf if its proxy, Syria, is attacked.

On the other side

Several EU countries are rattling their sabers and massing as if they are preparing to attack Syria, but from Iraq experience, Obungler & Company must have to wonder “how much for how long.”

In Washington, between vacations, Obungler and his State Department secretary continue to talk; making threats against Syria and promises to protect Israel “in the event of.”

Hopefully someone in Jerusalem – despite State’s opposition, Jerusalem IS Israel’s capital – has studied U.S. history. If so. They will know not to put a lot of faith in U.S. promises. Consider Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Afghanistan all over again

Obungler seems determined to align the U.S. with Assad’s enemies.

The U.S., before Obunger’s elevation from community organizer to the White House, aligned itself with the Taliban to oust the Russians – then a world power with which to be reckoned – from the poppy fields of Afghanistan.

The U.S. armed the Muslims. It trained them and it gave them military and financial support.

In return, when the Russians were sent packing, the U.S. proxy Taliban turned on its masters and bit the hands that had fed it while driving Afghanistan back into an Islamic dark ages.

According to a Syrian official (ibid.), the rebel “Al-Nusra Front is an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria.” Taliban. Al Qaeda. The connection is patently obvious. Both are Muslim terrorist groups.

My enemy’s friend is my enemy

A number of Muslim states, including Islamist-leaning Turkey, are encouraging the infidels (EU, U.S.) to attack Syria on their behalf; and if Iran should suffer “collateral damage,” for the Muslims – Saudia, the Gulf Corporation – well, so much the better. Infidels are expendable.

In south Florida:

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL 27th Congressional District, has been telling the media that she is confident there will be no U.S. “boots on the ground” in Syria. As Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia, there is some hope that her prediction is accurate. But she is, after all, a Republican.

Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-FL 24th Congressional District, apparently is concerned only with her own district’s issues. Her committees all are domestic.

Sen. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-FL 23rd Senate District, despite being Jewish and the Democratic party’s chair, remains silent on the middle east and all U.S. foreign intrigue.

Final question: Who used the chemicals? Where’s the proof?

The U.S. intelligence operations are often not – intelligent.

The U.S. has time and time again gathered second hand information from sources that have little, if any, direct knowledge of reality. When it does get information, the information has to be filtered by sundry organizations that pick and choose information that meets the organization’s agenda.

The bottom line for the U.S. is that, despite the fact that chemical weapons have been used – by some group against other groups, the U.S. cannot be certain who is to blame. If it targets Assad – and Obungler claims not to want “regime change” – and it was the insurgents who used the chemicals, the U.S. will be blamed for (a) interfering in Syrian domestic affairs and (b) killing innocents; collateral damage cannot be avoided.

No matter what Obungler orders, the U.S. will be excoriated by Muslims of all types.

There was, and there remains, value in the Monroe Doctrine.

”America’s rabbi” needs lesson in history

 

Shmuley Boteach:
Arm Syrian rebels

R. Shmuley Boteach, trying to put words in Obama’s mouth, would have the president tell Syria’s Assad “(W)e have decided to arm the rebels in their fight.” ( http://tinyurl.com/n2n76x3)

Never mind conflicting reports about who is killing who in Syria; Boteach wants to arm the rebels who, by the way, have been accused of cannibalism – and of bragging about it.

Does Boteach really think the U.S. can buy the rebels friendship IF the rebels prevail, and as of today, 19 June 2013, that’s questionable.

Does Boteach really think if the rebels, a fragmented bunch at best, will be able to control the country and, in particular, the cease fire along the Israel-Syria border. Certainly not based on some of the rebels’ published promises.

Perhaps the real question is: Does Boteach think at all?

Obviously Boteach, who frequently reminds his readers that someone called him “America’s rabbi” and that “Newsweek and The Washington Post call ‘the most famous Rabbi in America’, is the international best-selling author of 29 books,” is ignorant of history.

He apparently fails to realize that America cannot buy friends or, for that matter, cannot defuse Muslim anger by paying off the Islamists. He pointedly ignores the lessons of Afghanistan where the U.S. armed the Taliban to fight the then Soviet Union, only to have the U.S.-provided weapons turned against U.S. soldiers.

He fails to recognize the purpose of the Monroe Doctrine – a doctrine developed to keep the U.S. out of foreign wars, “civil” or otherwise.

Botach rails against the Russian head of state’s endorsement of the Assad administration. “It’s a travesty that Russia was invited to the G8 summit, especially as Putin shamelessly disregards the pleas of the international community to withdraw his support from the criminal regime. This summit is meant to facilitate the collaboration between civilized nations for a better future. If we can’t stop the ongoing slaughter or, at least, bar Russia’s participation from the summit until they change their policy, then the forum becomes guilty of passive complicity.”

Even as he notes that the “summit is meant to facilitate the collaboration between civilized nations for a better future” he would banish the Russian to prevent any communication between his point of view and any others’ points of view. My way or the highway attitude.

Syria is NOT the United States’ problem.

Syria is NOT the G-8’s problem.

Syria MIGHT be a problem to be handled by the Arab League, although the Arab League is hard pressed to do anything other than ask non-Muslims to protect their assets.

Syria certainly is not a problem for the UN’s Blue Bonnets who are best known for turning tail and disappearing when someone says Boo!.

Hopefully, no matter what side or sides finally prevail, Syria will not become a problem for Israel, Jordan, or Turkey. Iran and Iraq – they are contributing to the problem as are Hamas and Hezbollah.

I know Boteach is running for political office.

If he really wants to get the U.S. involved in Syria’s internal problems, I hope he is soundly defeated. I understand he’s running for a local spot, but his “buddy” at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will use a Boteach win to claim America’s rabbi and America are behind him (POTUS) in what would be Obama’s latest misadventure.

Shmuley Boteach is not this scrivener’s rabbi and, the last time I checked my passport it showed I am very much an American.

Blind in one eye

& can’t see out of the other

The fools on the Hill:  IMO – nothing “humble” about it – U.S. politicians (a) are blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other, (b) are Polyannas, (c) they are just plain “stoo-pid,” or (d) “all of the above.”

SYRIA: The fools inside the beltway want to supply arms, albeit “small” arms, to the Syrian “rebels.”

The U.S. has no business meddling in Syria’s internal affairs; its civil war. Yes, I know Iran is sending troops and I know terrorists organizations (Hamas and Hezbollah) are sending fighters, and yes, I know Russia is promising, but apparently not yet delivering, arms to the regime.

That STILL does not justify U.S. involvement in Syria.

Does anyone remember that the U.S. outfitted the Taliban in Afghanistan? Does anyone remember what the Taliban did with the U.S.-provided weapons when the Taliban kicked the Russians out? If you forgot or never cared to know, the Taliban first turned the weapons on the Afghans and then, when the U.S. sent in troops to protect the non-Taliban Afghans, the weapons were turned on U.S. boys who really had no business in Afghanistan.

The U.S. (mostly) removed Sadam Hussein from power in Iraq. To what end? So that Iraqis, with a little help from there Iranian and Islamist friends, could plant IEDs along the roadways and so that Iraqi police and army “trainees” could murder U.S. soldiers. Does anyone really think Syria would be different? The idea that “cutting the head off the snake” would resolve all the problems obviously is a bad idea. Ben Laden is gone, but Al-Qaida carries on with renewed vigor.

U.S. politicians are living in La-La land if they think removing a strong leader – a dictator such as Syria’s Bashar Hafez al-Assad, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, or Libya’s Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi - will suddenly turn the people they controlled into Friends of America? It failed to work in North Africa. It failed to work in Iraq. It failed to work in Afghanistan and Pakistan. America has no friends in Egypt. Saudia is a false friend at best. “Palestine” – both Hamas’ “Palestine” and Hezbollah’s “Palestine” both consider the U.S. an enemy, yet Washington’s fools, of both parties, continue to support it at the expense of its lone ally in the area.

IRAN just held a free and democratic election for a new Iranian president. The winner was, according to many western sources a “moderate,” cleric Hasan Rowhani.

Unlike the U.S., Iranian politicians are elected by direct vote, in theory a true democracy.

However, in Iran “democracy” is tempered, and tampered with, by the ayatollahs and, in the end, the Shi’ite Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Iran's “supreme ruler.” Rowhani, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before him, is only a mouthpiece for Khamenei, so no matter how “moderate” the liberal press declares Rowhani to be, he is only as “moderate” as the Shi’ite’s grand ayatollah.

Iran’s rush to nuclear weapons will go on full speed ahead, even under the “moderate” who "just happens" to be Iran’s top nuclear negotiator.

The only way Iran will see political change is if the general populace throws out the ayatollahs from political power. Given the ayatollahs control of the military, a regime change is unlikely sans outside interference.

Like Syria, Iran is – not yet – the U.S.’ problem, although it is becoming an increasing danger to the U.S.’ only reliable ally in the region. Greece, Turkey, and Jordan all have their own problems to manage, and Lebanon has been Syrian controlled for decades and is a non-state of no consequence. Egypt and North Africa are in turmoil and Iraq, for all practical purposes, is in Iran’s political pocket.

AND THEN THERE’S RUSSIA that wants to be seen as a major player, a superpower returning as the phoenix rising from the ashes. As before, for every move the fools of the Kremlin make, the fools in Washington think they must make a counter-move. Russia is supporting Assad therefore the fools along the Potomac feel they must support the anti-Assad forces. With support from both parties - at last, cross aisle cooperation, even if it IS detrimental to the nation in the long term, is in play – the politicians from Chelm are preparing to arm our future enemies to fight a war in which the U.S. has no political, geographical, financial, or other interests. The U.S. “must” counter the Russians in a game of checkers . . . forgetting that in the end the game will be Chinese checkers and both Russia and the U.S. will lose.

Where is the Arab League?

Hiding behind their keffiyeh?

The Daily Tip http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.ewJXKcOUJlIaG/b.7711637/k.BEA8/Home.htm has two Syria-related items today (13 June 2013) that make me wonder: Where are the diplomats and brave fighters of the Arab Legion when they are needed to restore quiet to Syria?

The two “threatening” items:

The Lebanese army is threatening to retaliate against future Syrian attacks on Lebanese territory, after Damascus launched a helicopter gunship attack on the Lebanese border town of Arsal and injured two. Lebanese President Michel Sleiman called the attack “a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” and the U.S. State Department issued a condemnation. Arsal, a majority Sunni town near the Lebanese-Syrian border, has been targeted multiple times in recent months by the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and by the regime’s allies. The renewed crisis comes as Hezbollah is under increasing criticism, perhaps most pointedly in the Arab world, for dragging Lebanon into the violence in Syria. The Iran-backed terror group has vowed to fight in Syria until the regime succeeds in putting down the country’s more than two year rebellion. Hezbollah’s material and logistical support for the Assad regime, which has now repeatedly attacked Lebanon, sits uneasily alongside claims made in corners of the foreign policy community to the effect that Hezbollah is an indigenous Lebanese organization protecting Lebanese sovereignty and pursuing Lebanese interests.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned Wednesday that spillover from Syria’s civil war is threatening the increasingly fragile four-decade ceasefire between Syria and Israel. Observers are raising alarms about the potential collapse of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) – the U.N. peacekeeping mission which has monitored the Golan Heights region between the two countries since 1974 – in the aftermath of an Austrian decision to withdraw its troops from the force. Vienna’s contribution of around 300 troops constituted nearly one-third of the entire mission. Following Austria’s announcement, Ban Ki-moon said he was seeking hundreds of new troops from member countries, but he did not say if any volunteers had stepped forward. Both sides in the Syrian conflict have directly threatened to attack Israel from across the border that the Jewish state shares with Syria. The Bashar al-Assad regime has given Palestinian terror groups a green light to launch attacks, and the regime’s Hezbollah allies have threatened to open a “new front” on the Golan. Jihadists battling the regime have also vowed to attack Israel. Israeli officials have indicated that they will not tolerate attacks on civilian and military targets originating from Syrian territory.

Just what 21 states make up the Arab League?

Algeria

Bahrain

Djibouti

Egypt

Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Libya

Mauritania

Morocco

Oman

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Somali

Sudan

Syria

Tunisia

United Arab Emirates

Yemen

Several of these states came to aid in the invasion of Israel in 1948, either by sending in armies or by volunteers ready to drive the Jews to the sea, yet they cannot come together to cause a cessation of fighting in their member countries. (Nor can they come together to suppress Iran’s nuclear effort, even knowing Iran might very well use nuclear weapons against Arab League members - as well as Israel).

Two non-states are missing from the list and these two are adding fuel to the fires in Syria and Lebanon: Hamas and Hezbollah.

I guess all these brave Arab League nations are waiting for non-Muslims to do what the cowards are afraid to do - step in and risk a Muslim life to end the Muslim-killing-Muslim conflicts.

This lack of concern by the Arab League doe nothing for Islam's proclaimed "peaceful intent"; on the contrary, it shows Islam's true colors.

When the going gets tough The Blue Bonnets get going

 

UN "peacekeeper" withdrawal
starts, Austrians pack up tents

 

According to Israel HaYom, the Austria's are turning tail and pulling out of Syria where they were charged with maintaining a buffer zone between the Syrians and Israel. (http://tinyurl.com/lv5zryp)

"Danger to Austrian soldiers has risen to an unacceptable level," says its chancellor.

This is not the first time the Blue Bonnets have abandoned their mission. (On May 16, 1967 Nasser ordered a withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Forces (UNEF) stationed on the Egyptian-Israeli border, thus removing the international buffer between Egypt and Israel which had existed since 1957. http://tinyurl.com/ks22dfg )

According to the Jewish Press, Israel Minister of Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Yuval Steinintz (Likud) said that the lesson is very clear, “In any peace agreement, Israel cannot rely on international forces, but only on IDF soldiers.” He added that South Lebanon, under the UN’s watch, now has 40,000 missiles embedded there pointed at Israel. The UN did nothing to stop it. (http://tinyurl.com/l46hu2g )

UNDOF Peacekeepers on the Golan (UN Photo)

Meanwhile, as the Austrians get ready to retreat to increasingly Muslim Europe, the Philippines said today (7 Jun 2013) it still was studying whether to pull its UN peacekeeping force out of the Golan Heights, after the wounding of a Filipino soldier and the withdrawal of Austrian troops there. (http://tinyurl.com/mtmn9my )

Japan and Croatia already pulled out. Fiji has promised some replacement troops but they have not yet arrived. (http://tinyurl.com/jvlavsk )

India also has troops serving in the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has monitored a ceasefire between Israel and Syria since 1974. So far, there has been no reports of an Indian departure. (ibid.)

Granted, the Blue Bonnets were supposed to maintain the ceasefire between Syria and Israel, and as long as Assad was in total control, the border was less or more quiet. Now that his control is shared by rebels and Hamas and with terrorists (Hezbollah) Syria's internal war - hardly a "civil war" since there are many non-Syrians involved) - is spilling over Israeli, Turkish, and Jordanian borders. Lebanon has been a Syrian outpost for years and no longer counts as an independent nation.

It IS interesting to note that (apparently) there are NO Arab League nations involved in trying to stem the Sunni-Shiite war within Syria's borders.

According to The Arab League Web presence (http://tinyurl.com/7hfjwqz ), "The Arab League comprises of 22 members. The members are Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Comoros, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritiana and Yemen. The League is involved in political, economic, cultural and social programs to promote the interests of the member states. It has successfully settled some Arab disputes. It played a crucial role in limiting conflicts like the Lebanese civil war of 1958."

One has to wonder about the League's ability at "limiting conflicts" giving the conditions of several of its member states (currently including Algeria, Egypt, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Somalia, Sudan, and Tunisia).

Jordan, abutting Syria, wisely is keeping its troops at home as it faces discontent of its own. Turkey, not yet a League member state, also has reason to keep its troops within its borders as the natives become restless.

Given the number of so-called Palestinians in Syria and the fact that the Palestinian Authority is armed by the U.S., one has to wonder why Mahmoud Abbas, a/k/a terrorist Abu Mazen, doesn't send his troops into Syria to either (a) separate the warring factions or (b) extricate the "Palestinians" from the field of battle. "Palestine" is, after all, a League member.

Perhaps Obama and John McCain will decide the U.S. should send troops into Syria - but on whose side? - since, as Obama claims, the war in Afghanistan is winding down and what can he do with all these troops except send them into yet another winless war for a people who loath Americans. (Who said the Dems and GOP couldn't agree on anything.)

Maybe the Austrians are right after all. If the Muslims of the Arab League are afraid to enter the fray, why should the Austrians? Why should the UN (Useless Nobodies) hang around.

If the "rebels" gain control, Israel can expect to be attacked.

If Assad survives Israel will be forced to eliminate the Russian missiles due in 2014 while preventing any more weapons transfer to Hezbollah.

For Israel, it is a lose-lose situation, but at least Israel's politicians have - so far - had sufficient intelligence to stay out of Syria's internal war.

Not enough causalities?

 

Obama to Hagel: Send 1st Armor to Jordan

 

According to Global Security Newswire, the U.S.(is) to Deploy More Forces Near Syria ( http://www.nti.rsvp1.com/gsn/article/us-deploy-more-forces-near-syria/?mgh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nti.org&mgf=1)

The GSN article reported that “The 1st Armored Division outpost could make ready for a broader U.S. military deployment that might exceed 20,000 personnel if President Obama deems forcible involvement in Syria to be necessary, Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He added, though, that ‘military intervention ... should be an option of last resort’.”

The 1st Armored Division troops would be used, we are told, “for a possible intervention aimed at locking down chemical warfare stocks in war-torn Syria.” (Emphasis mine.)

Aside from my old whine “Anyone remember the Monroe Doctrine?” I wonder why Obungler deems it necessary to

* Endanger U.S. troops in another nation’s civil war

* Why the Arab League doesn’t send Muslim soldiers to do something on either side; Syria is a member of the League

To the best of my knowledge, the troops we sent to Iraq still are being attacked by Iraqis who welcomed the defeat of their despot by gifting U.S. troops with IEDs.

To the best of my knowledge, the troops we sent to Afghanistan are still being murdered by Afghans both for our interference in their politics and our insistence that girls be educated (imagine that).

While Obungler did NOT get us involved in either Iraq or Afghanistan – we can thank the Bushes for that, the current POTUS seems determined to make a name for himself as the fool who interferes in yet another Muslim war, a war that the U.S. is bound to lose – another Vietnam.

Let’s be cynical.

What’s in it for the U.S.? What does Syria have that the U.S. wants?

Natural resources are, at best, minimal.

As it stands now, if – when – the insurgents/rebels, call them what you wish, take over the country, Israel will once again have an active northern border; probably more so than its border with Aza and the Sinai. Unlike the Aza/Sinai borders, there won’t be a powerful neighbor to help keep a lid on the terrorists. For all its anti-Israel rhetoric, Egypt HAS attempted to keep Hamas in check and HAS stepped up activities to reduce missile attacks from the Sinai. Is there an “Egypt” bordering Syria? Look at the map.

Iran certainly is not going to play a restraining role; it’s maniacal ayatollahs have their puppet, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, constantly calling for Israel’s demise.

Lebanon is controlled by Hezbollah that, like Iran, want to drive the Jews – and may some non-Jews, too – into the sea.

Jordon is afraid to interfere with Syria’s threat to Israel; it’s monarchy is in danger of falling even now as the “Palestinians” among its citizens agitate against the government; this, of course is nothing new.

Turkey, apologies and air kisses not withstanding, is on the far side of Syria and of no help for Israel, unless Syria’s rulers decide to attack it for providing sanctuary to escaping civilians.

The U.N. is a farce. If anyone says “Boo!,” the blue berets run, tails between their legs. U.N. “peacekeepers” are not worth a prutah.

Which means that Obungler will follow the disastrous actions of his predecessors and send in U.S. troops who will be despised by the locals and victims of snipers and IEDs, just like in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet another Vietnam.

(Join me in a chorus of Pete Seeger's “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”)