West Asia News and Discussions

[RamaY]

Marriage in Islam is a contract. The marriage can lost one hour, two hours or one night or few years. The man can say triple Talaq any time for any reason. The woman will get only some (pre-agreed upon) payment.

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

Nikah al-Misyar (Arabic: ‏نكاح المسيار‎ or more often zawaj al-misyar Arabic: زواج المسيار‎ "traveller's marriage") is a Nikah (marriage) carried out via the normal contractual procedure, with the specificity that the husband and wife give up several rights by their own free will, such as living together, equal division of nights between wives in cases of polygyny, the wife's rights to housing, and maintenance money ("nafaqa"), and the husband's right of homekeeping, and access etc.[1]

Essentially the couple continue to live separately from each other, as before their contract, and see each other to fulfil their needs in a permissible (halaal) manner when they please.

[pentaiah]

Marriage in Islam is a contract. The marriage can lost one hour, two hours or one night or few years. The man can say triple Talaq any time for any reason. The woman will get only some (pre-agreed upon) payment.

Hence it is

Oral to start with

[RamaY]

Oral to start with

So will be the strategic partnership with KSA.

[shyamd]

As revealed a long time ago on BRF about the opening up of Jordan supply lines - as usual this is now "breaking news". Apparently, NYT has to get US govt clearance to publish this stuff.
Saudis Step Up Help for Rebels in Syria With Croatian Arms

By C. J. CHIVERS and ERIC SCHMITT
Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to antigovernment fighters in Syria in a drive to break the bloody stalemate that has allowed President Bashar al-Assad to cling to power, according to American and Western officials familiar with the purchases.

The weapons began reaching rebels in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan, officials said, and have been a factor in the rebels’ small tactical gains this winter against the army and militias loyal to Mr. Assad.

The arms transfers appeared to signal a shift among several governments to a more activist approach to assisting Syria’s armed opposition, in part as an effort to counter shipments of weapons from Iran to Mr. Assad’s forces. The weapons’ distribution has been principally to armed groups viewed as nationalist and secular, and appears to have been intended to bypass the jihadist groups whose roles in the war have alarmed Western and regional powers.

For months regional and Western capitals have held back on arming the rebels, in part out of fear that the weapons would fall into the hands of terrorists. But officials said the decision to send in more weapons is aimed at another fear in the West about the role of jihadist groups in the opposition. Such groups have been seen as better equipped than many nationalist fighters and potentially more influential.

The action also signals the recognition among the rebels’ Arab and Western backers that the opposition’s success in pushing Mr. Assad’s military from much of Syria’s northern countryside by the middle of last year gave way to a slow, grinding campaign in which the opposition remains outgunned and the human costs continue to climb.

Washington’s role in the shipments, if any, is not clear. Officials in Europe and the United States, including those at the Central Intelligence Agency, cited the sensitivity of the shipments and declined to comment publicly.

But one senior American official described the shipments as “a maturing of the opposition’s logistical pipeline.” The official noted that the opposition remains fragmented and operationally incoherent, and added that the recent Saudi purchase was “not in and of itself a tipping point.”

“I remain convinced we are not near that tipping point,” the official said.

The official added that Iran, with its shipments to Syria’s government, still outstrips what Arab states have sent to the rebels.

The Iranian arms transfers have fueled worries among Sunni Arab states about losing a step to Tehran in what has become a regional contest for primacy in Syria between Sunni Arabs and the Iran-backed Assad government and Hezbollah of Lebanon.

Another American official said Iran has been making flights with weapons into Syria that are so routine that he referred to them as “a milk run.” Several of the flights were by an Iranian Air Force Boeing jet using the name Maharaj Airlines, he said.

While Persian Gulf Arab nations have been sending military equipment and other assistance to the rebels for more than a year, the difference in the recent shipments has been partly of scale. Officials said multiple planeloads of weapons have left Croatia since December, when many Yugoslav weapons, previously unseen in the Syrian civil war, began to appear in videos posted by rebels on YouTube.

Many of the weapons — which include a particular type of Yugoslav-made recoilless gun, as well as assault rifles, grenade launchers, machine guns, mortars and shoulder-fired rockets for use against tanks and other armored vehicles — have been extensively documented by one blogger, Eliot Higgins, who writes under the name Brown Moses and has mapped the new weapons’ spread through the conflict.

He first noticed the Yugoslav weapons in early January in clashes in the Dara’a region near Jordan, but by February he was seeing them in videos posted by rebels fighting in the Hama, Idlib and Aleppo regions.

Officials familiar with the transfers said the arms were part of an undeclared surplus in Croatia remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars. One Western official said the shipments included “thousands of rifles and hundreds of machine guns” and an unknown quantity of ammunition.

Croatia’s Foreign Ministry and arms-export agency denied that such shipments had occurred. Saudi officials have declined requests for interviews about the shipments for two weeks. Jordanian officials also declined to comment.

Danijela Barisic, a spokeswoman for Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that since the Arab Spring began, Croatia had not sold any weapons to either Saudi Arabia or the Syrian rebels. “We did not supply arms,” she said by telephone.

Igor Tabak, a Croatian military analyst, said that after a period when many countries in the former Yugoslavia sold weapons from the Balkan wars on black markets, Croatia, poised this year to join the European Union, now strictly adheres to international rules on arms transfers.

“I can’t imagine bigger quantities of weapons being moved without state sanctioning,” he said. “It is not impossible, but it is just very improbable.” He added that it was possible that such weapons could be moved by the intelligence services, though he offered no evidence that that was the case.

Syria’s rebels have acquired their arms through a variety of means, including smuggling from neighboring states, battlefield capture, purchases from corrupt Syrian officers and officials, sponsorship from Arab governments and businessmen, and local manufacture of crude rockets and bombs. But they have remained lightly equipped compared with the government’s conventional military, and have been prone to shortages.

An official in Washington said the possibility of the transfers from the Balkans was broached last summer, when a senior Croatian official visited Washington and suggested to American officials that Croatia had many weapons available should anyone be interested in moving them to Syria’s rebels.

At the time, the rebels were advancing slowly in parts of the country, but were struggling to maintain momentum amid weapons and ammunition shortages.

Washington was not interested then, the official said, though at the same time, there were already signs of limited Arab and other foreign military assistance.

Both Ukrainian-made rifle cartridges that had been purchased by Saudi Arabia and Swiss-made hand grenades that had been provided to the United Arab Emirates were found by journalists to be in rebel possession.

And Belgian-made rifles of a type not known to have been purchased by Syria’s military have been repeatedly seen in rebel hands, suggesting that one of Belgium’s previous rifle customers had transferred the popular weapons to the rebels.

But several officials said there had not been such a visible influx of new weapons as there has been in recent weeks.

By December, as refugees were streaming over Syria’s borders into Turkey and Jordan amid mounting signs of a wintertime humanitarian crisis, the Croatian-held weapons were back in play, an official familiar with the transfers said.

One Western official familiar with the transfers said that participants are hesitant to discuss the transfers because Saudi Arabia, which the official said has financed the purchases, has insisted on secrecy.

Jutarnji list, a Croatian daily newspaper, reported Saturday that in recent months there had been an unusually high number of sightings of Jordanian cargo planes at Pleso Airport in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital.

The newspaper said the United States, Croatia’s main political and military ally, was possibly the intermediary, and mentioned four sightings at Pleso Airport of Ilyushin 76 aircraft owned by Jordan International Air Cargo. It said such aircraft had been seen on Dec. 14 and 23, Jan. 6 and Feb. 18. Ivica Nekic, director of the agency in charge of arms exports in Croatia, dismissed the Croatian report as speculation.

C. J. Chivers reported from New York, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Washington, and Dan Bilefsky from Paris.

[RamaY]

Who is having the revelations, the source (Allah) or the messenger (prophet)?

KSA is arming secular opposition in Syria

Looks like KSA needs some Paki medicine..

[pentaiah]

NYT of today is the Radio Bejing of 1960s
Any questions ask Judith Miller

[RoyG]

Brihaspatiji,

With Russian and Iranian help it looks like Assad has blunted the FSA advance into the major cities and is flushing them out of some bases and medium sized towns in the country side. Assad is looking more comfortable now and the rebels will probably now come to the negotiating table. So much for all the hullabaloo being raised by a few on BRF who treat western propaganda like the holy bible.

[Austin]

RoyG , Russia does not help Assad with any arms and as such no one even in West is accusing of it , Iran does and it has far major stake if unfriendly regiem takes over.

Russian FM has clearly mentioned that they are more worried about Syria's fate then Assad and perhaps thats the right approach. Ofcourse Russia like China does provide diplomatic support.

[shyamd]

Brihaspatiji,

With Russian and Iranian help it looks like Assad has blunted the FSA advance into the major cities and is flushing them out of some bases and medium sized towns in the country side. Assad is looking more comfortable now and the rebels will probably now come to the negotiating table. So much for all the hullabaloo being raised by a few on BRF who treat western propaganda like the holy bible.

Which bases and medium sized towns have the army regained?

[Agnimitra]

I am not saying all - that is impossible to verify. But I know that many syrian sunni women are getting their marriages arranged in egypt, jordan etc via catalogues or what not. In fact I havent heard of the syrian shia women being sold as "slaves" until you mentioned it.

No, I meant to compare with Iraq's case. Reports about Iraqi women indicate that the women being trafficked were mainly Shi'a. I was wondering whether that's also the case with Syria.

[shyamd]

^^ Yup in Iraq's case sounds about right - I agree with you.

[Philip]

How magnanimous of the great Tony B.Liar himself to almost admit his mistake! The co-architect of the invasion and destruction of Iraq-based upon an abominable lie, has the gall to say after a million+ were killed,the cradle of civilisation raped and devastated,that it
was "not what I'd hoped"

Tony Blair: Life in Iraq 10 years on is not what I'd hoped

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 11911.html

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has admitted that life in Iraq is still not what he hoped 10 years after the UK joined a US-led invasion of the country.

In an interview with BBC2’s Newsnight programme to mark a decade since the invasion, Mr Blair warned that controversy of the Iraq war should not prevent firm action in Syria and Iran.

The former prime minister said there were new “ugly” choices to be made and it would be a “profound mistake” to think the UK could stay out of the region's struggles.

Mr Blair also admitted that life for many in Iraq was still “not nearly what it should be”, despite a strong economy and “significant improvements in many parts of the country”.

He added that the country still faced a “long, hard struggle” to combat deadly terrorist attacks and conceded that the death toll among civilians and UK forces had been “very, very high.”

But in making the decision to go to war, Mr Blair said he faced a scenario where either way “the consequences are difficult and the choice is ugly”.

“Just think what would be happening if these Arab revolutions were continuing now and Saddam, who was probably 20 times as bad as Assad in Syria, was trying to suppress an uprising in Iraq.”

“So when you say 'Do you think of the loss of life and the trouble there's been since 2003?’ of course I do and you would be inhumane not to…but think what would have happened if he'd been left there.”

Mr Blair said he had “long since given up trying to persuade people it was the right decision” and instead wanted to underline that it was a “complex and difficult” one.

“Because I think if we don't understand that, we won't take the right decision about what I think will be a series of these types of problems which will arise now over the next few years.

“You've got one in Syria right now, you've got one in Iran to come. The issue is: how do you make the word a safer place?”

“We are in the middle of this struggle, it is going to take a generation, it is going to be very arduous and difficult. But I think we are making a mistake, a profound error, if we think we can stay out of that struggle.

“We are affected by it whether we like it or not.”

And now this worm,this pestilential parasite who feeds off the spoils of neo-imperialism and rapacious intervention,has the audacity to advocate the same treatment to Syria and Iran! This war criminal should instead be on trial at the hague for war crimes and suffer the same fate as Saddam did.

[RajeshA]

OT

How magnanimous of the great Tony B.Liar himself to almost admit his mistake! The co-architect of the invasion and destruction of Iraq-based upon an abominable lie, has the gall to say after a million+ were killed,the cradle of civilisation raped and devastated,that it was "not what I'd hoped"

That is all Judeo-Christianist and AIT-Nazi view! Bharat is the Mother of Civilizations! Indians are still to learn this anew!

[brihaspati]

http://www.wistv.com/story/21223125/act ... d-in-syria
16th Feb.

What is clear is that most Sunni activists and rebels expect an armed showdown between the two communities. Some say they see no place for Shiites in the area's future.

"We have warned them that everything in Fua is a target and that everyone who wants to save himself from the problems should leave," said activist Maher Abdel-Ghani, who often works with Islamic extremist rebel battalions.

"God willing, we'll soon liberate the whole area and there will be nothing left called Fua or Kifarya," he said. "Those two villages will be erased because they have harmed us a lot."

I met some Syrian women studying in Europe, last week. Surprisingly [well not so surprising but yet according to GCC propaganda...] all five were Sunni's and on Syrian [not FSA but Assad gov] gov sponsorship. All were adamant that their men were fighting a "liberation" war against Shias and that their whole generation were prepared to be "martyrs". I pointed out that many chose to be refugees rather than become martyrs. Interestingly, all the women were on student visas, and had applied for refugee status at their current residence country citing the war. So they themselves were not that inclined it appeared - to be martyrs.

I raised the issue of certain groups - allegedly patronized by Saudi based clerics - of having declared that kanize-s, specifically for sex, should be and could be taken from the "enemy", and what they felt as "women" towards such things. They said, it was sanctioned by the true version of the divine law as followed by the main Sunni schools, and hence fair enough.

Its not just Syria, its almost everywhere - wherever the Sunni preachers have been allowed to survive and flourish, and I get to see this not-so-unexpected brainwashing of even young women. Women are taught to look at degradation, enslavement and sexual slavery of other women, and hence their own as and when it becomes a reality - as something that is divinely enforced. It does not matter if the brainwashed product of Gulf sourced Sunni mullahcracy live, or get educated, in "free" countries.

So, yes - all the women and girls - the younger the better, [from what I know from people who deal with traffickers from the right side of the law - the preferred age-range is between 8-18, 20 is considered too old for the more kinky stuff demanded by Saudi laadkas and clergy] of the Shia outposts in Syria will be fair game. Young boys are also in great demand in related circles.

The deeper one delves into the Saudi mullahcracy's tastes and predilections, one cannot escape the feeling of a very hot and humid and putrid psychology, in which extreme overt repression, combines with a long tradition of over-indulgence, and almost overwhelming obsession with sex, making for a very twisted mind. And a tactical approach covered for by a seemingly knowing theology - very very aware of what exactly to cover for under the name of divine sanction, so all guilt that would have risen in otherwise normal human beings - are shifted on to the supposed orders of a suprahuman authority.

[brihaspati]

RoyG mahashay,

as you can see, there is no profound declaration of taking new "significant" towns and "cities" and "suburbs" from the so-called "rebel" side either. The way towns and villages and suburbs of Damascus were being taken every afternoon, should have meant no towns, villages, and all suburbs of Damascus would have been taken by this time. Maybe they all have been taken already and hence no need for new declarations of new takings from the rebel side.

But that means even the Assad we hear about is a false Assad, put up by the rebel side itself - since Damascus the only city left in real-Assad hands should already have been taken completely.

[brihaspati]

People should look up the track of sex-trafficking throughout the ME. The main flow has always been from the eastern portion to the western portion. Syria, Turkey and Jordan form the main destination, and even more so the main transit auction market for girls. The buyers come from KSA, and UAE, as well as some degree of domestic consumption within the transit markets. From here the choicest meat goes on to Alpine pleasure gardens, to the west too. But the main concentration of the flow of girls for sale, all point to a hub around the western side of the Gulf.

If ever a proper Indian regime arises, it should look into crushing forever and eliminating forever each and every root of the slaver culture that has its nest on that peninsula. And delegitimize, make it immensely unpleasurable to be a theologian of apologetics for sex-slavery. Many women and girls and boys from India and the subcontinent are used as chattel, simply because economics, auction for human flesh, kinky and twisted psychosexuality, and theological cover, all converge around the Gulf.

[shyamd]

RoyG mahashay,

as you can see, there is no profound declaration of taking new "significant" towns and "cities" and "suburbs" from the so-called "rebel" side either. The way towns and villages and suburbs of Damascus were being taken every afternoon, should have meant no towns, villages, and all suburbs of Damascus would have been taken by this time. Maybe they all have been taken already and hence no need for new declarations of new takings from the rebel side.

But that means even the Assad we hear about is a false Assad, put up by the rebel side itself - since Damascus the only city left in real-Assad hands should already have been taken completely.

O B ji, with all your knowledge surely you can offer us a better explanation and provide real analysis of regime gains.
Maybe a good idea would be to tell us about regime military campaigns

[Pranav]

Assad Pulls Ahead in Syrian War. Putin, Khamenei Are Co-Victors
DEBKAfile Video February 26, 2013, 3:42 AM (GMT+02:00)

March 5 has been set as the date for peace talks to open in Moscow between the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime, DEBKAfile reveals here exclusively. Opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib is waiting to meet the Assad regime’s representative, possibly Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, in the Russian capital by the end of February to set up the talks. Bashar Assad has taken his resignation off the agenda and insists on reserving the option to run again for president in 2014. He is backed in this by President Vladimir Putin. And even the Syrian opposition appears to have tacitly bowed to this precondition – an admission that the rebel movement has reached its limit and Assad’s genocidal, no-holds-barred tactics have paid off. With all their acclaimed victories, rebel forces know that their desperate bid to conquer Damascus was repulsed by the Syrian army’s superior fire power and heavy armor. They were thrown back from the heart of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. And they failed to gain control of Assad’s chemical arsenal. Ferocious fighting failed to bring the big Syrian Air Force bases into rebel hands. Now, most of the fighting opposition to the Assad regime is ready to negotiate terms for a ceasefire as the opening gambit for a political settlement. They face their enemy standing firm as the unvanquished ruler of Syria and commander-in-chief of its armed forces at the cost of Syria 80-100,000 Syrian lives and a ravaged country. In so doing, Assad has cemented the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah alliance. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s’s sphere of influence now stretches from the Persian Gulf up to the Mediterranean – his reward for the billion dollars worth of aid per month he poured into buttressing Assad. His other ally, Hassan Nasrallah, whose Hizballah operatives fought shoulder to shoulder with Syrian troops, emerges as the strongman of Lebanon. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s staunch backer in diplomacy, arms and moral support, congratulates himself for picking the winning side in Syria’s civil war and, moreover, frustrating US and NATO designs to remove the Syrian ruler from power. Those are the winners. And the losers are the United States, the Gulf emirates and Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey. Barack Obama’s vision of a democratic, liberal “Arab Spring” has collapsed. Al Qaeda is a ubiquitous presence as transitional governments struggle to their feet – or not - in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Israel finds a tighter than ever Syrian-Hizballah-Iranian noose closing around its borders as Tehran’s nuclear weapons program marches on. Turkey gambled heavily on bringing about Assad’s overthrow as the key to its bid for regional power– and missed.

[shyamd]

^^ lol all that, when the israeli's have begun making overtures to the Syrian rebels - via druze officials in Bulgaria. Kurds have reached a truce agreement with Nusra and FSA

US 'considers sending armour and vehicles to Syria rebels'

The US is considering a shift in policy towards the Syria conflict and may send rebels body armour and armed vehicles, as well as possibly provide military training, according to reports.

John Kerry, the Secretary of State, was expected to discuss the proposed policy change with officials during his nine-nation tour of European and Arab capitals, according to the Washington Post. US officials remain opposed to sending weapons to the rebels, it said.
Mr Kerry is to meet Syrian opposition leaders at a "Friends of Syria" conference in Rome on Thursday.
CNN published a similar story on its website, citing a source as saying that the United States was "looking to remove restrictions on 'dual-use' equipment" and, according to another source, that the administration was moving toward providing humanitarian aid directly to the Syrian Opposition Coalition.
Rebels have been fighting the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad since an uprising against his rule erupted in March 2011. The United Nations says the conflict has claimed 70,000 lives.
On Monday in London, Mr Kerry said President Barack Obama was evaluating more steps to "fulfil our obligation to innocent people," but did not give details or say whether Washington was reconsidering whether to arm the rebels. "We are determined that the Syrian oppositions is not going to be dangling in the wind," he said.

Mr Kerry also said the continued violence in Syria, which the United Nations estimates has killed 70,000 people, represented further evidence that it was time for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to relinquish his post. At the same time, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, called for support for Syria's opposition to be increased significantly in order to help bring the protracted conflict to an end.
The United States has provided millions of dollars for food, medical care and clothing for Syrians and refugees, but has not sent aid directly to the rebels or the political opposition.
Source: Reuters and AFP

[Pranav]

^^ lol all that when the israeli's have begun making overtures to the Syrian rebels.

US 'considers sending armour and vehicles to Syria rebels'
The US is considering a shift in policy towards the Syria conflict and may send rebels body armour and armed vehicles, as well as possibly provide military training, according to reports.

They are probably ramping up the foreign aid to the insurgency because things are going badly.

But what the insurgency really needs is a Libya-style air war.

[shyamd]

Okay - can you provide us with a source that Israel has ramped up aid to warzone areas? To date, I know some refugees were treated in Israeli hospitals.

Also, tell us what losses to territory the rebels have suffered to date.

Thanks

[Pranav]

Okay - can you provide us with a source that Israel has ramped up aid to warzone areas? To date, I know some refugees were treated in Israeli hospitals.

Also, tell us what losses to territory the rebels have suffered to date.

Thanks

The ramped up foreign aid appears to be coming from western nations, Gulf sheikhdoms etc.

[shyamd]

Prostitutes’: #Saudi #cleric insults recently-appointed #female #Shura members - Take a look: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2 ... 68123.html …

Turkish , Qatari support for FSA tantamount to a declaration of war against #Iraq: Iraqi minister http://goo.gl/bVWZf

No info on Indian police visit: ROP

Wed, 27 February 2013
By Kabeer Yousuf — MUSCAT — The Royal Oman Police (ROP) is yet to receive any intimation from the Indian police regarding its visit to the Sultanate in connection with the recent fake currency incident in which some Omani citizens were indicted and later released. “We have not received any information from the Indian police regarding their visit to investigate the fake currency issue,” a senior ROP official confirmed to the Observer. The source further added that a high-level investigation by the ROP is currently on and the details of which cannot be shared for matters of confidentiality.
“We are investigating the incident and we have identified the culprit but it is too early to comment anything on this issue.” There were rumours that the police in south Indian state of Kerala who are currently investigating the flow of fake currency into the state from some money exchanges in Oman will be visiting the Sultanate to widen their inquiry into the matter. They would be accompanied by the NIA (National Investigation Authority) officials. But the ROP has not yet received any information on this.
The money was carried by some unsuspecting citizens while they went to Kerala for medical and other personal purposes and they were detained while they tried to transact with the same but recognising their innocence, the Kerala police released them without charges. The intervention of the Omani Embassy in India, the Indian Embassy in Muscat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and prominent personalities in Oman and India played a crucial role in their release.
Later, an Asian national was identified for having sold fake currencies to leading money exchanges in Khabourah and North Batinah from the CCTV footages supplied by the money exchanges to the ROP and the Directorate-General of Criminal Investigations (CID) and an investigation is on into the matter. The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and the ROP urged money exchanges to strictly abide by the CBO rules and regulations pertaining to selling and buying foreign currency and to maintain a record of such transactions.

[shyamd]

Russia will expand their presence in Tartus and will station fleet there permanently like their black sea port. Reduces time to get to Indian Ocean Region.

[RamaY]

X-Post from PRC/US/India thread

Agree with your assessment SS. The US has made commitments in the region - moving troops there, constructing a base in Aus.

Enticing Russia has always been the goal - its just that they have done a shite job of it in the last 2 decades.

The west secured the west-asia using their hold on GCC by eliminating or checkmating their competitors (Iraq, Iran, Libya, Egypt and now Syria) in the region and making peace with the Sunni-Jihadi elements in the GCC periphery.

Sooner than later the entire west-asia will become a fortified sunni-empire under the name of OIC. It will receive technical and military support from West and trained slaves from Asia.

[Prem]

http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-press-offic ... ts-role/2/

(Though Internal politics of USA/ This Explains US Policy toward Sunniaudian West Asia etc)

In his State of the Union speech, Obama claimed that “We buy … less foreign oil than we have in 20.” It took a British publication, the Financial Times, to point to the disingenuousness of that claim, and to note that the situation has serious potential for bad economic and geopolitical consequences:By the end of November the US had already imported more than 450m (million) barrels of crude from Saudi Arabia, more than it imported from Riyadh in the whole of 2009, 2010 or 2011, according to figures from the US energy department. For the first time since 2003, Saudi imports accounted for more than 15 per cent of total US oil imports. The Gulf as a whole accounted for more than 25 per cent, a nine-year high. Other Gulf exporters are also seeing unusually strong US demand. By the end of November, Kuwait had shipped more oil to the US than in any year since 1998.Last time I checked, these countries were not automatically inclined to be our friends, especially given how the “Arab Spring” is devolving into a tyranny of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and potentially elsewhere. Meanwhile, oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is still 15 percent below where it was when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred, thanks almost entirely to the Obama administration’s deliberately slow permit approval process. If U.S. production were higher, the barrel price of oil and gas prices at the pump, both very inelastic goods, would be significantly lower.
Getting back to legalities and ethics, what about the offensive shenanigans at OFA? The outfit has turned into a presidential access toll booth for leftist high-rollers

[Aditya_V]

The more I look whether Republicans or Democrats, US and European elite are so tied to High Oil prices that they need to keep it High enough for good profits and alternative fuel will be kept unviable until oil starts running out.

[habal]

Yes, imagine there was Pushpaka Vimana that flew individuals (Kings i.e.) as a mode of transportation during Ramayana which flew without burning any fossil fuel but now all that the common can use to move around is that antiquated internal combustion engine or the gas turbine. The human civilization has been tied to fossil fuels, and we have become fossils and literally prisoners chained to internal combustion engines in this giant planet.

Prison Planet.

[shyamd]

Received via email - As mentioned last May about CIA training rebels in KASOTC Jordan.

US and allies are training rebels in fight against Assad

1 of 2

Published at 12:01AM, March 1 2013
The US and several of its European allies are overseeing training bases for the Syrian rebels in Jordan in an effort to bolster moderate groups fighting to overthrow President Assad.
The move is the most far-reaching US involvement yet in the Syrian crisis and reflects broader Western concerns that Islamic militants such as Jabhat al-Nusra are making the running in the battle against the regime.
According to intelligence officers and diplomats in the region, rebel fighters are being offered training ranging from the use of light arms to more complicated manoeuvres, such as how to secure chemical-weapons facilities.
The policy is seen as a means of keeping control over what happens to imported weapons. It has been suggested that some British military personnel are involved but a source at the Ministry of Defence has denied that.
One Western diplomat based in Amman confirmed that, although the training was taking place in Jordanian military installations, the operation itself was being organised and supervised by US instructors
“This is not a Jordanian initiative, this is an American initiative being carried out in Jordan,” the diplomat said.
“It is being co-ordinated carefully so as to provide the rebels — hopefully the right rebels — a boost in the fight against Assad.”
John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, spent much of yesterday talking to representatives of the Syrian opposition in Rome.
He was careful to avoid making any public commitment to military assistance but he did announce that Washington would be sending non-lethal aid directly to Syrian rebels for the first time.
This significantly upgrades the status of the military wing of the Syrian opposition, even if they are not — for the moment, at least — going to have access to the anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers that they have requested from the Americans.
Instead, they will receive an extra $60 million (£39 million) for food, sanitation and medical care. “We will be sending medical supplies and food to the Supreme Military Council, so there will be direct assistance,” Mr Kerry said.
The idea is to allow insurgents to gain credit in local communities for helping the civilian population caught in the crossfire. The well-organised al-Nusra militants, affiliated with al-Qaeda, have been scoring political points by handing out supplies.
Regional intelligence officers said that the US began providing training for the rebels five months ago — before the re-election of President Obama — after a strict set of guidelines were agreed upon by the US and its allies.
The Western diplomat based in Amman emphasised that the training given to rebels would focus on how to secure chemical weapons, rather than how to deploy them.
“We want to be clear about what is happening,” he said. “The Syrian rebels are being provided with some rudimentary training, the kind of thing you would get in basic training, perhaps a bit more.”
Israeli officials said that they were keeping a close eye on the training, which one diplomatic official said had been “co-ordinated with Israel” from the start.
“We wanted to know who was getting trained and on what. It you teach a rebel fighter basic manoeuvres and the use of light weapons, it is a world away from teaching him to fire a complicated anti-aircraft or anti-ship missile,” he said.
“It was made clear the rebels receiving training were being carefully vetted.”
Israeli officials have expressed concern that hardline groups fighting in Syria could turn their weapons, and training, on Israel in years to come.
In briefings to reporters, the officials said there was great attention being paid to any advanced weaponry entering Syria.
“We wouldn’t do anything to actively stop or interfere with weapons reaching the hands of rebels — but we are keeping a close eye,” an Israeli military official said.
“Especially if these rebel groups do succeed in capturing a chemical weapons stockpile.”

Morsi to visit India soon (end of the month), Minister of Kuwaiti Royal Court will visit India in April. Plans to operationalise a $2b fund and Joint committee meeting. ICGS ship is on tour of the GCC states - india Qatar defence meet due to take place soon.

[shyamd]

Iraqi Troops are reportedly shelling FSA positions. Asad military took back one of the Iraqi border crossing.

And as said 2 years ago - this is the GCC/US plan for the region:

#Iraq prime minister warns that overthrow of #Syria President Assad would spark a war in Iraq & #Lebanon, reports @AP http://apne.ws/12aJG3a

----------
By the way a prominent poster was claiming that most of the syrians chose to be refugees rather than fight - that person should actually quote some figures of the population to syria and those registered/unregistered who are refugees in neighbouring states to see if he is actually telling the truth.

-------------------------
Regime forces claiming victory in Hama - Aleppo area.
EA Live

1614 GMT: Regime Advance. The General Command of the Syrian Army has declared the capture of several villages along the Hama-to-Aleppo highway.

The Command said troops carried out "special operations", in cooperation with residents, restoring security and stability to the villages. It also said "security was...restored to the Defense Factories Establishment, Scientific Research Centers, and Aleppo International Airport".

Earlier today the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces had moved into Tel Shghaib on the Hama-Aleppo road. The securing of the villages would allow the Syrian military to restore ground support to troops in Aleppo, caught in stalemate since last July.

1604 GMT: Insurgents Down Helicopter. Back from a Saturday break to find the Free Syrian Army asserting that it has downed a regime helicopter near the Menneg airbase, besieged by insurgents for weeks, in Aleppo Province.

Claimed footage of the helicopter in flight, but on fire:

[RoyG]

Syrian army captures key Aleppo airport road

AFP | Mar 2, 2013, 08.17 PM IST


DAMASCUS: The Syrian army said on Saturday it has seized control of a key road linking the central province of Hama to Aleppo international airport, scene of weeks of fierce battles with rebel fighters.

The capture of the road will allow the army to deploy fresh reinforcements and send supplies to the area near the airport, where fighting has raged since mid-February.

"In collaboration with honourable citizens, troops carried out a special operation and restored security and stability to villages on the airport road," the military said in a statement published by state news agency SANA.

"This achievement shows the commitment of our forces to continue to fulfil their sacred national duty, repelling killings and aggression targeting our people and our country," said the statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report and said the army will now be able to deploy fresh troops and supplies in the area and the nearby Nayrab military airport.

Rebels launched last month an all-out assault on several airports in Aleppo province, including the international airport and Nayrab, which are located southeast of Syria's second-largest city.

They have since captured Al-Jarrah military airport as well as several other air defence complexes and nearby checkpoints.

But Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that if the army succeeds in keeping control over the road "it will change the course of battles" around Aleppo and Nayrab airports "and even Aleppo", Syria's second city.

While rebels have taken over large swathes of territory and a number of key military garrisons in Aleppo province, fighting in the city has been at stalemate for months.

Abdel Rahman said that clashes around the airport road continued despite the army's capture.

Aleppo international airport has been closed since the start of the year.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 767014.cms

[RoyG]

As I said before, Iraq would rather remain neutral but is being dragged into the conflict because of the spillover that may occur if the state collapses. Regime is looking more comfortable and hopefully stalemate holds. The capture of the highway and the adjoining townships seems like a big tactical win.

[RoyG]

ANNA by far gives us the best coverage of the conflict. Excellent footage!

[shyamd]

Scud missile lands in Iraq - Friday 1 March 2013

RT: Iraqi army helped Syrian government retake border checkpoint - reports
Published time: March 02, 2013 01:19

The Iraqi army has reportedly shelled Free Syrian Army positions inside Syria near the border with Iraq. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Iraq was helping Syrian government forces regain control of a border checkpoint seized by the insurgency.

U.S. official: Iraq continues to allow Iranian overflights to Syria

Despite regular U.S. objections, Iraq continues to allow Iranian flights to Syria to use its airspace and has not searched an Iranian plane since October, an American official says.

“We object very strongly to the overflights, which we believe carry weapons,” said a U.S. official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue. The decision of the Iraqi government to not inspect Iranian flights was brought up regularly with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, he added.

“We speak to him all the time,” the official said. “Yes we raise it with him.”

The Americans believe the flights provide key weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad whose forces have been at war with Syrian rebels for two years.

Maliki’s government told U.S. officials in the fall that the Iraqis would search Iranian aircraft going to Syria, but it has since conducted only two searches, both of them in October.

The first inspection was of a plane coming back from Syria to Iran after dropping off its cargo. The Iraqi government said that inspection was an error, but the Americans remain deeply skeptical.

“Maybe, maybe not,“ the same U.S. official said, as he expressed frustration over the Iraqi government’s lack of action.

Two senior Iraqi politicians, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the issue’s sensitivity, confirmed separately that the Iranian aircraft were regularly carrying weapons to Syria with tacit support from Maliki.

“Just go to the Baghdad international airport and see how many Iranian aircraft are being inspected,” one of them said. The politician added that any previous inspection by the Iraqis had likely been coordinated with the Iranians.

Those within Maliki’s party said Iraq cannot prevent Iran from flying through its territory as long as its neighbor seeks permission. “This is under international law. We’ve done all that we can do. We cannot stop them from flying,” said lawmaker Hanan Fatlawi, from Maliki’s political bloc.

Iraqi’s Shiite Muslim majority remains deeply fearful of the Sunni Muslim-led uprising in Syria. They worry that if Assad falls, he will be replaced by a radical Sunni regime hostile to Iraq’s Shiite population and likely to encourage Iraq’s Sunnis to violence.

In an interview Wednesday with the Associated Press, Maliki warned that a rebel victory in Syria could trigger sectarian conflicts in his and other nations. “If the opposition is victorious, there will be a civil war in Lebanon, divisions in Jordan and a sectarian war in Iraq,” he said.

The Syrian conflict has degenerated into a regional proxy war, with Iran supplying weapons to Assad, who is friendly to Shiite-governed Iran, and Sunni Arab states backing the rebels, whether through official channels or private means.

Wounded Syria soldiers treated in Iraq: spokesman

Four wounded Syrian regime soldiers are being treated at a north Iraq hospital after clashes with rebels on the Syrian side of the border, the Iraqi defence ministry's spokesman said on Saturday.

"Four wounded Syrian soldiers were moved to Rabia Hospital, which is close to the Yaarubiyeh border crossing" from Syria into Iraq's Nineveh province, Mohammed al-Askari told AFP by telephone.

"There are clashes between the two sides inside Syrian territory, but as an Iraqi force this is unrelated to us and we did not interfere," although fire from both regime and rebel forces had hit Iraqi territory, Askari said.

Baghdad has pointedly avoided calling for the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is locked in a bloody civil war with rebels opposed to his regime, and has instead urged an end to violence by all parties.

But US officials have repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to halt Iranian flights to Syria via Iraqi airspace, which they say are carrying weapons to Assad's forces.

RoyG beg to differ. But the only thing going against the Iraq being complicit theory is the recent history - Bashar was the one who was allowing sunni extremists to fight the US/shia militia after the US invasion, the same routes that were used are now being used to supply the rebels. Most of the iraqi baathi "resistance" was based in Syria. But I guess things are different now as Iran sees Syria as an important partner with Hezbollah - things changed in 2007 - one second sunni militia was taking Iranian help next second they were fighting the iranian militia.

[RoyG]

[RoyG]

RoyG beg to differ. But the only thing going against the Iraq being complicit theory is the recent history - Bashar was the one who was allowing sunni extremists to fight the US/shia militia after the US invasion, the same routes that were used are now being used to supply the rebels. Most of the iraqi baathi "resistance" was based in Syria. But I guess things are different now as Iran sees Syria as an important partner with Hezbollah - things changed in 2007 - one second sunni militia was taking Iranian help next second they were fighting the iranian militia.

The problem with you're theory is why would Maliki want to throw his entire weight behind Iran and the regime in Syria unless it was to prevent a spillover? There isn't any incentive for him. Sunni's make up a significant portion of Iraq's population and the last thing he would want is civil war ripping the country apart like in Syria.

[brihaspati]

O shyamd ji,

By the way a prominent poster was claiming that most of the syrians chose to be refugees rather than fight - that person should actually quote some figures of the population to syria and those registered/unregistered who are refugees in neighbouring states to see if he is actually telling the truth.

Curious - can you point out the alleged post which allegedly claims that "most" "syrians" chose to be refugees rather than "fight"?

Hopefully this is not a trip-up due to any deep khujli at criticism of Saudi theologians and the prime importance of the Saudi zone of influence in the human-trafficking women-auctioning transiting-consuming of the women-children-slavery commodity?

[uddu]

The FSA is a rabid bunch of terrorists. Look at the way they fight. For each round fired they are shouting "Allahu Akbar"

They are also committing grave Human rights violations against civilians and soldiers.

Don't understand what the West will gain by supporting such a rabid lot?

[uddu]

This is even more fun.

Long live the Syrian Army.

[Austin]

Don't understand what the West will gain by supporting such a rabid lot?

Me think it has to do with Iran , to pressurise iran it necessary to take out syria , atleast it would be one less friendly regiem for Iran when it come to confrontation with US/Sunni regiems.

Since Obama is not keen to attack Iran directly they would use such pressure points against it.