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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 24-Aug-2013
24-Aug-13 World View -- U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria

Web Log - August, 2013

24-Aug-13 World View -- U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria

Turkey's Erdogan adopts Muslim Brotherhood's four-fingered salute

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Turkey's Erdogan adopts Muslim Brotherhood's four-fingered salute
Syria chemical weapons attack generates international controversy
U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria

Turkey's Erdogan adopts Muslim Brotherhood's four-fingered salute

R4BIA symbol, and Erdogan's four-fingered salute on Friday (AA)

R4BIA symbol, and Erdogan's four-fingered salute on Friday (AA)

In a sign that relations between Turkey and Egypt are becoming increasingly unfriendly, Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been increasingly flashing the new "R4BIA" four-fingered salute that has been adopted as a victory sign by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) adopted the new salute after last week's clashes when security forces cleared out the massive sit-ins of MB supporters, resulting in nearly 1,000 deaths, mostly of MB supporters. Most of the clashes occurred in Cairo's Rabaa Square. In Arabic, the word "Rabaa" or "Rabia" means "fourth," and MB supporters are now publicizing the new four-fingered salute by carrying around bright yellow signs, and posting the signs on social networking sites.

Erdogan has flashed the four-fingered salute several times in the last week, showing his solidarity with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and his disapproval of Egypt's new government. Al-Arabiya (Dubai) and Anadolu Agency (Ankara)

Syria chemical weapons attack generates international controversy

To the surprise of no one except the sycophants of the psychopathic Bashar al-Assad, we're now in the third day following the horrific chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb in Syria, but the U.N. inspectors are still sitting in Damascus, forbidden by the regime to travel the 20 miles to the site to inspect it.

And we're hearing the usual garbage from the Russians. Of course it's the rebels, not the regime, who launched the attack, they're saying, and yes, we'd like to encourage the Syrians to allow the inspectors to visit the site. But those remarks, which have been widely touted as "a sign of hope" by the credulous mainstream media, did not come at the U.N. Security Council, nor from President Vladimir Putin, nor from Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. They came from a spokesman, who added:

"It draws attention to the fact that biased regional media have immediately, as if on command, begun an aggressive information attack, laying all the responsibility on the government."

So apparently the real victims here are not the hundreds of people who died horrifically on Wednesday from a chemical weapons attack. According to the Russians, the real victim is Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, who is being subjected to a horrific "information attack."

At any rate, Syria continues to block inspections by the U.N. inspectors. As everybody is well aware, each day that goes by not only causes the evidence to degrade, and also gives the al-Assad regime time to clean up any evidence that might incriminate it. Russia Today

U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria

Senior American Defense Department officials are acknowledging that the U.S. is considering various options for military intervention in Syria, including a list of targets for possible cruise missile strikes. At the same time, the U.S. Navy is putting more forces into the area, in preparation for a possible cruise missile strike.

There are two conflicting commonly held views with regard to U.S. or Western military intervention into Syria:

One view is that military intervention would inflame the situation, leading to a wider war.

The other view is that without military interview, the conflict will continue to worsen, leading to a wider war.

In this case, both views are correct.

As I've suggested in the past and will now make explicit, it's my opinion that a tipping point has been reached and passed, and it really no longer matters what steps are taken or not taken with respect to military intervention in Syria. Either way, the Syria conflict has launched a trend that will continue to strengthen until it leads to a much larger conflict.

It was in 2003 that I first wrote that the Mideast was headed for a major new war between Jews and Arabs, re-fighting the genocidal 1948 war that followed the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel. Since then, it was left to be answered how that new war would be triggered.

There were several possibilities. There was the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. There were several wars involving Israel, Fatah, and Hamas in Gaza. But all of those wars fizzled out within a few weeks.

The Syrian conflict might have fizzled out in 2011 if the U.S. and the West had intervened military at that time.

Or, it might have fizzled out by itself if it hadn't been for Russia's incredible military intervention, supplying massive amounts of heavy weapons and training to the al-Assad regime.

However now, 2 1/2 years later, the U.S. and the West have lost all credibility in the Mideast by allowing themselves to look like weak fools, while Russia continues its aggressive support for Syria, and is perceived to be the strong power.

Today, the Syria conflict is nowhere near fizzling. Even a year ago, if al-Assad had been eliminated, then the war might have fizzled. Actually, that would still be true today if it weren't for outside intervention.

But, in my opinion, a tipping point has been reached and passed, and even the elimination of al-Assad at this point would not end the Syria conflict, because outside forces, particularly Russia and al-Qaeda, as well as Iran and Hezbollah, are too committed to seeing it through to victory.

Then there are the refugees. Some two million Syrians have been displaced within Syria's borders. Hundreds of thousands of them are pouring into neighboring countries, overwhelming services there. The number of refugee children has just passed one million. Funds to feed all these refugees are scarce, and humanitarian agencies are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of the refugees. In Lebanon, sectarian conflicts are already growing, with two car bombs targeting Sunnis on Friday, and a major explosion targeting Shias a week ago.

At the same time, al-Qaeda is strengthening and growing. Russia's military intervention in Syria has resulted in ruthless attacks on Sunni Muslim families by the Shia/Alawite regime. So of course this is going to tremendously inflame al-Qaeda linked groups. Jihadists from throughout that part of the world, from Pakistan and Uzbekistan to Libya and Nigeria to Dagestan and Chechnya are getting training so that they can fight in Syria to defeat the Shia/Alawite regime, and then the go to Syria and get further training that they can take back home for more terrorist attacks.

That in turn has inflamed Shia jihadists. Iran has sent thousands of troops to Syria to fight against al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah has sent tens of thousands, and has scored some impressive victories that are further inflaming the al-Qaeda linked groups.

Another factor is this week's horrific chemical weapons attack. This is significantly increasing demands for military intervention in Syria, not only in the West but also in the Arab states.

All of these factors have created a growing trend line that, in my opinion, can no longer be stopped. Will the U.S. launch cruise missiles into Syria, or not? I sure don't know, but in the long run, I don't believe it will make any difference anyway. CNN and CBS News and LA Times

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 24-Aug-13 World View -- U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (24-Aug-2013) Permanent Link
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Turkey's Erdogan adopts Muslim Brotherhood's four-fingered salute

Syria chemical weapons attack generates international controversy

U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 24-Aug-2013
24-Aug-13 World View -- U.S. hints at cruise missile strikes against Syria