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Lies, Damnable Lies, and Syria, by Robert Gore

Posted by straightlinelogic 9 years, 4 months ago to Government
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Vladimir Putin has deftly illuminated the dissembling behind US policy in Syria. He is sending military advisers and weaponry to help Assad fight ISIS, and he has offered to work with the US. It would be sensible to make common cause with Russia against ISIS (“Putin: Friend or Foe in Syria?” by Patrick Buchanan, SLL, 9/18/15), but such an alliance would severely diminish the likelihood of realizing the neoconservative dream: deposing Assad, installing a puppet more to the liking of the US, the Sunni states, and Israel, and loosening Russia’s grip on Europe’s natural gas supply with the Qatari pipeline through Syria. So the neocons are left muttering about Russia’s dark designs in the Middle East, although Russia, unlike the US, learned its lesson in Afghanistan and has shown no desire to get stuck on the Middle East tar baby. Further mutterings about the dark designs of Assad ally Iran are thrown in for good measure, usually in the same breath as condemnation of the nuclear agreement.

This is an excerpt. For the rest of the article, please click the link above.
SOURCE URL: http://straightlinelogic.com/2015/09/19/lies-damnable-lies-and-syria-by-robert-gore/


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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 4 months ago
    I loved the whole article. It's hard to find only one passage to highlight. I liked the conclusion:
    "The looming danger is that one of these tough guys or gals, upon election, puts up rather than shuts up, for putting up could lead to world war. Then there would be no winners and a lot more dead three-year-olds."
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    • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
      Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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      • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago
        Have to agree completely and add some support. Going to war is not an 'if' it's a 'when.' Integral part of the Cycle of Repression, needed to divert attention, to artifically boost the failing economy, and to give El Jefe a stern war leader image as part of his/her legacy package.

        It usually involves setting up the target and that's easiest when administrations are changing but not always. False signals to Iraq from the US Ambassador for one thing.

        Wars aren't fought world wide anymore except on the nightly news. The coalitions for one side or another agree on a fairly confined battleground. WWI and WWII cured the world of world wars.

        The fear now is the nuclear deterrent is gone and nothing has replaced it. Mutally Assured Destruction. the next version when it returns will be Unilaterally Assured Destruction.

        USA being primarily a warlike nation and culture and population - the latter as long as it's fast and similar on TV to a video game and if they don't lose too much sleep or buying power or find their tickets to the game were cancelled - which is to say personally inconvenienced. Will be to wrapped up in booming economies and a few other red herrings.

        Just like always.
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  • Posted by blackswan 9 years, 4 months ago
    The alternative to messing around in the middle east is to build huge LNG plants in the US (supplied by the shale deposits), and export natural gas from here. The Russians (superb chess players) have effectively cut off the pipeline plan through Turkey, and their support of Assad will keep him in power, so the next best approach is to use our natural gas as a counterbalance to Russia's in Europe. The objective shouldn't be to REPLACE Russian oil and gas, but to COMPETE with Russian oil and gas. That will take the heat off Europe AND reduce the probability that Russia will seek other markets, that will destabilize other areas. A war in the middle east isn't necessary, and we should arm the Kurds, Yazidis and Christians to the teeth, so that they can deal with ISIS (which needs to be wiped out, given its bad behavior, but we should leave that to the Kurds, Yazidis and Christians in the region). Given the tribalism in the region, that might not be feasible without American boots on the ground, and I strongly suspect that the average American isn't that exercised about it to want to go there; I think they'll be satisfied if ISIS gets the snot beat out of them by the Kurds, Yazidis and Christians (who should form an alliance with Israel to stabilize the military situation in the region, and prevent another Muslim outburst of ethnic cleansing). Just my two cents, but it seems the best medium to long term solution to that mess. Each ethnic group will end up with its own sphere of influence (along with regional alliances to help protect its position), with enough power on each side to prevent more chaos. Imagine a Kurdish-Yazidi-Christian sphere (allied with Israel, the US, and possibly Jordan and Egypt), a Sunni sphere in western Iraq and eastern Syria, allied with Saudi Arabia and the gulf states, and a Shia sphere run by Assad in western Syria and Iran, and allied with Russia. Just as relative calm has been maintained along the Korean border for over 60 years, a similar outcome is possible, and we don't have to contemplate WWIII.
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    • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago
      That's not half bad. In fact it's more than half good to merit some serious study.

      I'm already in favor of Unilateral Assured Destruction from a pure military standpoint. MAD was lunatic but it kept the peace for forty or so years.

      Since under the present system we're going to have some more wars anyway why not get something out of it instead of winning then finding out we lost once again.

      And if the Jihadis attack anyway? Make the appointment for them. We gave peace a chance. It didn't work.

      Since I 've got my blocks back in place as I recall the Kurds ran that whole area back during the Crusades Their traditional area fits that plan perfectly. Just think of it as peace by diaspora. Now to solve the problem of arming the other side in advance.

      On the face of it and barring further research it's way ahead of whatever second place finish the State Department is planning for us.
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  • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 4 months ago
    Looking through Putin's point of view, the US dominates non-Iranian Middle East countries, gaining a toehold there somewhere would be expected.

    Assad won't be a threat in his lifetime again, even if he retains power and defeats ISIS, his country was destroyed by the fighting. I say six in one, half-dozen in the other, provide some aid to the Kurds and Turks, ship some weapons, and let them figure it out.

    The Iraqi military, after a decade of training and arming at our expense can't find its ass with both hands.
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