News for today's 2018

THE ALAWITES AND ISRAEL

8:18 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgttWgftzJYlYVwZaKEAdkajUm3P1k3oz_cVHOlqYmfjgNJhayUHD45lpG9LTOpyI8fZcZ2kWcmEiSaDal6nydh2oGtBj5MSj-2dkFmp8dc1eM6Cr3Gw0736-HRNt-kfbcHS4e8xgZEGdXi/s1600/alawite_state_by_xumarov-d4oqpfl-750x380.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgttWgftzJYlYVwZaKEAdkajUm3P1k3oz_cVHOlqYmfjgNJhayUHD45lpG9LTOpyI8fZcZ2kWcmEiSaDal6nydh2oGtBj5MSj-2dkFmp8dc1eM6Cr3Gw0736-HRNt-kfbcHS4e8xgZEGdXi/s400/alawite_state_by_xumarov-d4oqpfl-750x380.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IT IS GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT AMONG THE ARAB REGIMES SYRIA IS THE MOST IMPLACABLE ENEMY OF ISRAEL</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The current uprising in SYRIA is challenging the regime which has held power in the country since the 1960s. While it is impossible not to feel both sympathy for the protesters and distress at the tactics employed by the government to keep its hold on power, it is important to keep in mind the bigger picture:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The fall of the current regime would greatly increase the likelihood that SYRIA will precipitate a war against ISRAEL. While similar arguments have been made about other recent uprisings in the MIDDLE EAST, the ethnic composition of SYRIA and the history of the ruling regime there exacerbate this possibility.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is generally believed that among the ARAB regimes SYRIA is the most implacable enemy of ISRAEL. This is a misperception. In fact, the SYRIAN regime is the only one which actually prefers – both practically and ideologically – that there be a <b>Jewish</b> state in the MIDDLE EAST, both now and in the future.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Background Information</span></u></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">See <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/syria-and-dogs-of-war.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/syria-and-dogs-of-war.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">UNDERSTAND THE ALAWITES</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since the 1960s, SYRIA has been controlled by the <b>Alawites</b>, under the leadership of the Assad family. In order to understand the workings of the SYRIAN regime, therefore, it is necessary to better understand the <b>Alawites</b> – a highly distinctive non-Muslim sect with no theological or territorial objections to a <b>Jewish</b> state.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The <b>Alawites’ </b>religious beliefs suggest that they are pro-<b>Jewish</b> and anti-<b>Sunni</b>. They believe that two of God’s incarnations were Joshua Ben-Nun, the original <b>Jewish</b> conqueror of the Land of ISRAEL, and the fourth Caliph, Ali, who was murdered by the <b>Sunnis.</b> They believe in reincarnation, regard the <b>Pillars of Islam as purely symbolic</b>, do not fast during Ramadan or make pilgrimage to Mecca, have no mosques or indeed any public worship, celebrate Christmas, Easter and Epiphany, and traditionally wear crosses like <b>Christians</b>. In all of these respects they differ not only from <b>Sunnis</b> but also from <b>Shiites.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">FRENCH MANDATE AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR: THE ALAWITES PETITIONED THE FRENCH FOR AN INDEPENDENT STATE</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg95d7d55Ls0zsDshBzpqp8dXeyOwGULWtyk3SRBFbhwLPbeUrx5TuVvOmKLoLcpV6XVdo8tRyKOlKuUFrqA-YvOP_bEjD3rEIrgWYy_Nk7FgzgRHevJdfE0yy2r0uU05BKr2BFu-CypXF/s1600/syria-stamp_1965064c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg95d7d55Ls0zsDshBzpqp8dXeyOwGULWtyk3SRBFbhwLPbeUrx5TuVvOmKLoLcpV6XVdo8tRyKOlKuUFrqA-YvOP_bEjD3rEIrgWYy_Nk7FgzgRHevJdfE0yy2r0uU05BKr2BFu-CypXF/s320/syria-stamp_1965064c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Persecuted as heretics by the dominant <b>Muslims</b>, the <b>Alawites</b> took refuge in the mountains of northwestern SYRIA, where they maintained a precarious autonomy. Following the establishment of the FRENCH Mandate after the First World War, the FRENCH set up an autonomous region for the <b>Alawites</b>in their homeland. The <b>Alawites</b>petitioned the FRENCH for an independent state, but their petitions were rejected and the territory was added to the <b>Sunni</b>-dominated state of SYRIA. The <b>Alawites </b>attempted to rebel against the <b>Sunnis </b>in 1946 and again in 1952, but they were put down. Undaunted, they established footholds in the officers’ corps of the SYRIAN army and the <b>Ba’ath Party</b>. They took advantage of the confusion following the collapse of the UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC to seize power in the 1960s, and they have controlled SYRIA ever since.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">PROJECT AN IMAGE OF CHAMPIONING ARABISM BY UNRELENTINGLY REJECTING ISRAEL AND FLIRTING WITH ISRAEL'S AVOWED ENEMIES</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The <b>Alawites</b> are outnumbered in SYRIA by their traditional and theological enemies, the <b>Sunnis,</b> by a margin of 70 to 12 percent. Thus, in order to legitimize their rule among the <b>Sunni</b>majority, they must publicly project an image of championing <b>Arabism</b> by unrelentingly rejecting ISRAEL and flirting with ISRAEL'S avowed enemies. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Consequently, when the ARAB states actually had some hope of defeating ISRAEL militarily, before the EGYPTIAN government entered into peace negotiations with ISRAEL in the second half of the 1970s, the <b>Alawites</b>had to actually go to war with ISRAEL in 1973 to <b>'keep up appearances'</b>. However, for the last 30 years they have adopted a much safer strategy of <b>demonstrative public rhetoric against ISRAEL</b> and any ARAB regimes which have signed peace treaties with ISRAEL, combined with broadly-publicized support for non-governmental <b>Muslim</b> groups that resist ISRAEL.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: See </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">NEW ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST REGIME IN SYRIA IN ORDER TO REACTIVATE SAUDI ARABIA’S AND USA ARAMCO  TRANS ARABIAN OIL PIPELINE? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz-and-syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz-and-syria.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ASIDE FROM THE 1973 WAR, SYRIA HAS ALMOST COMPLETELY AVOIDED ANY DIRECT CLASHES WITH ISRAEL</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nonetheless, this is all just a show. Aside from the 1973 war, they have almost completely avoided any direct clashes with ISRAEL. When confronted with a serious threat from their real enemies, the <b>Sunnis</b>, the <b>Alawites</b> have shown their true colors: In 1976, at the beginning of the LEBANESE Civil War, when it looked as though the <b>Palestinian</b>-led coalition might take control of LEBANON, SYRIA’S army went into LEBANON to save the <b>Maronite Christians</b> from defeat. Also, in February 1982, in response to a series of terrorist attacks by the <b>Muslim Brotherhood,</b> the SYRIAN army invaded the city of Hama, the stronghold of the <b>Brotherhood,</b> killing roughly 30,000 people and cowing the <b>Sunnis </b>into submission.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information: See </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">GEO STRATEGIC NIGHTMARE</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TO BE OR NOT TO BE? </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZgNS3bffU_HsOnWvE9o-tFE79sadkULTxMwb2M_7NyDSv7QOUyqA36OKGmBsiOqW5G1u0hamkVBMQJk28ypQdlNAcU_RfLPshnS4bdfdMUhzV9YOrKIPJRB1-dB9GygL5kCFPInyZpro/s1600/the-alawite-boook-10-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZgNS3bffU_HsOnWvE9o-tFE79sadkULTxMwb2M_7NyDSv7QOUyqA36OKGmBsiOqW5G1u0hamkVBMQJk28ypQdlNAcU_RfLPshnS4bdfdMUhzV9YOrKIPJRB1-dB9GygL5kCFPInyZpro/s320/the-alawite-boook-10-1.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The <b>Alawites</b> are a purely ancestral religious group and like other groups of this type – <b>Jews, Maronites, Armenians</b> and <b>Druze</b>– their basic loyalty is to their own particular group rather than any larger unit they may seem to be part of. Even if members of these groups happen to speak <b>Arabic</b>, they do not necessarily understand or publicly present themselves as being '<b>Arabs</b>', doing so only when it seems to be politically expedient. Thus <b>Arabic</b>-speaking <b>Jews, Maronites</b>, and <b>Armenians</b> almost never present themselves as being '<b>Arabs</b>', while <b>Druze</b> judiciously do this in SYRIA and LEBANON but not in ISRAEL. Similarly, <b>Alawites,</b>overwhelmingly concentrated in SYRIA, naturally find it convenient and in fact indispensable to publicly claim to be <b>Arabs</b>, but this does not reflect their real loyalties.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SHIITES “MINORITIES” OF IRAN AND LEBANON JOIN FORCES WITH ALAWITE MINORITIES IN SYRIA </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Isolated by their idiosyncratic religion, the <b>Alawites </b>have, since the IRANIAN Revolution, turned to the most reliable allies they could find – the <b>Shiites</b> of IRAN and LEBANON. These groups could be convinced that the <b>Alawite</b> religion was relatively similar to their own, and were also generally isolated and desperately in need of allies. <b>The defiant attitude which these allies have shown toward ISRAEL and the UNITED STATES is of incalculable benefit, as well, to the image of the SYRIAN regime in the eyes of the Sunni masses in SYRIA</b>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ALAWITES THEMSELVES ARE NOT THEOLOGICALLY ANTI-ISRAEL</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nonetheless, it must be emphasized that the <b>Alawites</b>themselves are not theologically anti-ISRAEL and have no interest in imperialistic religion. A number of points emerge from this understanding of the SYRIAN <b>Alawite </b>regime. ISRAELI policymakers would be well-advised to take heed and plan their strategies accordingly:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">FROM ISRAEL’S PERSPECTIVE, IT IS FAR BETTER FOR THE ALAWITES TO MAINTAIN POWER IN SYRIA THAN FOR A SUNNI REGIME TO TAKE CONTROL THERE</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">. </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6FU7B9EcyMjSBB-EnuJuJN2nIT-btbQ9xbNRvice_0atxUSayMgmm1l9GbORKcQJzBH5-Uq80T6AlXtMPIAb-kWZTgY_eOMY9lB2gMnLNwda-P3QN7QHA_LjxKOXFKWfOAJNHi7a8Ije3/s1600/250px-Alawite_falconer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6FU7B9EcyMjSBB-EnuJuJN2nIT-btbQ9xbNRvice_0atxUSayMgmm1l9GbORKcQJzBH5-Uq80T6AlXtMPIAb-kWZTgY_eOMY9lB2gMnLNwda-P3QN7QHA_LjxKOXFKWfOAJNHi7a8Ije3/s200/250px-Alawite_falconer.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The <b>Alawites</b> are currently governing and politically stifling a population of 14 million <b>Arabic-</b>speaking <b>Levantine Muslims</b>. <b>These Muslims are particularly dangerous to ISRAEL because they are of the same ethnicity as the Palestinians</b> — this is not just a matter of modern pan-<b>Arab</b> ideology. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If a <b>Sunni</b> regime were to rule SYRIA, any wide-scale ISRAELI-<b>Palestinian</b>clash, such as Operation Cast Lead, would likely trigger an emotional response, pulling SYRIA into an international war with ISRAEL, regardless of the consequences. This represents a much more serious danger to ISRAEL than the fall of the Mubarak regime in EGYPT, where popular attachment to the <b>Palestinians</b> is much more superficial.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WHILE AN OPEN ALLIANCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE ALAWITE REGIME IS IMPOSSIBLE</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, it is possible for the leaders of the two countries to develop tacit understandings, whereby they would essentially coordinate actions to support their countries' common goal of combating <b>Sunni </b>hegemony and radicalism.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SYRIA WILL NOT ACCEPT A PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL, NO MATTER WHAT THE CONDITIONS ARE</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">,</span>because it would delegitimize the regime. The <b>Sunni</b> regimes of EGYPT and JORDAN, on the other hand, could accept such treaties because there is a well established tradition within <b>Sunni </b>Islam of religious thinking being subordinate to the political decisions of its leaders. The <b>Alawites</b> do not have this luxury<b>.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IT IS CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE SYRIA FROM ITS ALLIANCE WITH IRAN AND HIZBALLAH</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">.</span>The <b>Alawites</b> cannot openly ally with ISRAEL and they are not foolish enough to switch to a partnership with the <b>AMERICANS, who have repeatedly demonstrated themselves to be unreliable allies.</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ALAWITES DO NOT HAVE SUCH APOCALYPTIC WORLDVIEWS AS RADICAL SHIITES</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">. </span>The stronger the <b>Alawites</b> are, relative to their <b>Shiite</b> allies, the more they will be able to dictate the terms of the alliance, which will inevitably have a moderating influence because they do not have the same apocalyptic worldview as the radical <b>Shiites.</b> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">JUST ONE YEAR AFTER SYRIA ENDED ITS 29-YEAR OCCUPATION OF LEBANON, WAR BETWEEN HIZBALLAH AND ISRAEL BROKE OUT IN 2006</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">For example, the situation in LEBANON from 1976 until 2005, when SYRIAN occupying forces were able to keep the situation there under control, was preferable from ISRAEL’S standpoint to the current situation, as there are no longer internal checks on Hizballah. It is no accident, then, that war broke out between Hizballah and ISRAEL in 2006, just one year after SYRIA ended its 29-year occupation of LEBANON.</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE ALAWITE REGIME IS IMMEASURABLY STRENGTHENED ON THE SUNNI STREET BY ISRAELI AND AMERICAN ACCUSATIONS THAT IT IS PART OF THE 'AXIS OF EVIL'</span></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, that it supports <b>Hizballah</b> and <b>Hamas</b>, etc. It is therefore in ISRAEL’S interest to publicly make such accusations (whether or not they happen to be true).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: See </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">INCREASED IRANIAN INFLUENCE IN SYRIA PROVOKED ISRAEL TO CHANGE ITS LONGSTANDING TACTICS REGARDING SYRIA<b> </b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/syria-israel-iran-and-usa.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/syria-israel-iran-and-usa.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By John Myhill via</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BESA Perspectives </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>

THE ALAWITES AND ISRAEL

IT IS GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT AMONG THE ARAB REGIMES SYRIA IS THE MOST IMPLACABLE ENEMY OF ISRAEL The current uprising in SYRIA is challeng...

Use Zoom.it to display group photos on a blog (e.g. Google Teacher Academy NY cohort)

3:11 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Often when you are at a life-changing professional development event, such as the recent Google <span style="font-size: small;">T</span>eacher Academy in New York, you want to have a group photo to remember the occasion and the people - and you may want to display it on a blog or website. </span>Zoomit is the perfect tool to use for this. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here is the example and then I'll tell you how to go about it:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><script src="http://zoom.it/RVea.js?width=auto&height=400px"></script> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. First you need to put your photo somewhere on the web so as to obtain a web link. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Open http://zoom.it/ and add your photo link to the prescribed space at the bottom of the page. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Click on 'Create' and your photo appears. You can now zoom in and out. The best is to have a good quality photo for this. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Get the embed code and put the photo on to your blog or website. </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why not try Zoom.it?     </span></div>

30 days of web tools Website reviews Use Zoom.it to display group photos on a blog (e.g. Google Teacher Academy NY cohort)

Often when you are at a life-changing professional development event, such as the recent Google T eacher Academy in New York, you want to ha...

SYRIA AND THE DOGS OF WAR

2:57 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMeq3oPYQwM1x-lC_mZQJq146R5xnDGtgUpqjpK8q-BWYBnjcfZ525sd7C3Hqe4rRVFsDa6UQiaJ73TJeSiNFDG23llGbntAI71lcMAZEDmVRHk1_DQ97sVqHgV3NYnMfWbqPa9RzAhMb/s1600/the-alawite-boook-10-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMeq3oPYQwM1x-lC_mZQJq146R5xnDGtgUpqjpK8q-BWYBnjcfZ525sd7C3Hqe4rRVFsDa6UQiaJ73TJeSiNFDG23llGbntAI71lcMAZEDmVRHk1_DQ97sVqHgV3NYnMfWbqPa9RzAhMb/s320/the-alawite-boook-10-1.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alawite Symbol</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"> <span style="color: red;">SECTARIAN EQUATION</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Julius Caesar<br />Act 3, scene 1<br />William Shakespeare</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Blood and destruction,” “dreadful objects,” and “pity choked” was the Bard’s searing characterization of what war visits upon the living. It is a description that increasingly parallels the ongoing war in SYRIA, which is likely to worsen unless the protagonists step back and search for a diplomatic solution to the 17-month old civil war. From an initial clash over a monopoly of power by SYRIA’S Baathist Party, the war has spread to LEBANON, TURKEY, and IRAQ, ignited regional sectarianism, drawn in nations around the globe, and damaged the reputation of regional and international organizations.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ONCE LOOSED, THE DOGS OF WAR RANGE WHERE THEY WILL.</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Although the regime of Bashar al-Assad ignited the explosion with its brutal response to political protests, much of the blame for the current situation lies with those countries, seeing an opportunity to eliminate an enemy, that fanned the flames with weapons and aid: the UNITED STATES, TURKEY, SAUDI ARABIA, and QATAR, plus a host of minor cast members ranging from JORDAN to LIBYA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The results are almost exactly what RUSSIA and CHINA predicted when they warned about trying to force regime change without a negotiated settlement: an opening for radical Islamists, a flood of refugees, and growing instability in a region primed to erupt.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The war has claimed between 20,000 and 25,000 lives and wreaked havoc on a number of cities, including, Aleppo. Just who those casualties are is in dispute. While it is undoubtedly true that the Damascus government’s use of heavy weapons in urban areas has killed and wounded many civilians, the opposition has carried out extrajudicial executions of SYRIAN soldiers and Assad supporters as well.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT “FOREIGN FIGHTERS” ARE INVOLVED—MOSTLY ISLAMIC JIHADISTS FROM SAUDI ARABIA, IRAQ, LIBYA, JORDAN, AND TURKEY</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-qCSo9GK_te-tYAZWxmblGGljBaF6rspTX_xCjkgYKcN94Vh3zKQlDnGsAUnOBZpl26qaXabVIc7b3draU-nHDJCV9T1VL6z_RXUON3CafxSNfc7cx1nj5nW5cmnmw7GhIkb2KB8IOxt/s1600/127848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-qCSo9GK_te-tYAZWxmblGGljBaF6rspTX_xCjkgYKcN94Vh3zKQlDnGsAUnOBZpl26qaXabVIc7b3draU-nHDJCV9T1VL6z_RXUON3CafxSNfc7cx1nj5nW5cmnmw7GhIkb2KB8IOxt/s320/127848.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“This is an asymmetrical war, and there is a degree of expansion of violations of international law by both sides that seems to be escalating,” says <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/world/middleeast/relief-crisis-grows-as-refugees-stream-out-of-syria.html?_r=0">Kristalina Georgieva</a>, UN commissioner for crisis response.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The Damascus government has developed its own spin on the casualties, claiming they are not SYRIANS but “foreign fighters.” There is no question that “foreign fighters” are involved—mostly Islamic jihadists from SAUDI ARABIA, IRAQ, LIBYA, JORDAN, and TURKEY—but most of the insurgents are SYRIANS. Truth is always the first casualty in a war, particularly a civil one in which the protagonists are not always easy to define.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The fighting has produced a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/world/middleeast/syria.html">refugee crisis</a> that, while nowhere near the catastrophe generated by the 2003 U.S. invasion of IRAQ—when 4 million fled their homes—has still sent hundreds of thousands of people into neighboring countries. At last count, the UN had registered almost 250,000 refugees, some 80,000 in TURKEY, 70,000 in JORDAN, close to 57,000 in LEBANON, and over 16,000 in IRAQ.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SECTARIAN EQUATION </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5rEco6KL1RcPvKI3IWgyf65jNL-USGLlKf9flmSnK8FE0MJoN_YlP_NesBQs9VoWJnotBUQttUMzisq6qmkju65wiC99aiKtYmzYsbWgGgWerToPoGP_QkHCE16Fmm_ww-m7r7sjEPKit/s1600/640px-Alawite_flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5rEco6KL1RcPvKI3IWgyf65jNL-USGLlKf9flmSnK8FE0MJoN_YlP_NesBQs9VoWJnotBUQttUMzisq6qmkju65wiC99aiKtYmzYsbWgGgWerToPoGP_QkHCE16Fmm_ww-m7r7sjEPKit/s320/640px-Alawite_flag.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latakiya-sanjak-<b>Alawite</b>-state-French-colonial-flag.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The uprising has also become increasingly sectarian. SYRIA has one of the most complex mélanges of ethnicities and religious identities in the Middle East. Although most SYRIANS are Sunni Muslims, there are sizable minorities of Druze, a variety of Christian sects, and Alawite Muslims. <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#%21topic/communist-university/ObzHBfMQyzM">The Alawites</a>, among them the Assads, have dominated the SYRIAN military since FRENCH colonial days. The sect is associated with Shiism, although it has a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/storm-over-syria/?pagination=false">pre-Islamic history</a> that is deeply rooted in the country’s western mountains.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to reporting by foreign media, jihadists are playing an increasingly powerful role in the fighting. “The Islamist groups, which are superbly financed and equipped by the GULF STATES, are ruthlessly seizing decision-making power for themselves,” Randa Kassis, a member of the opposition SYRIAN National Council told <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/opposition-group-leader-randa-kassis-on-islamist-fighters-in-syria-a-844622.html"><i>Der Spiegel</i></a>. “SYRIANS who are taking up arms against the dictator but not putting themselves under the jihadists’ command are being branded as unpatriotic and heretics.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: red;"><i>DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS</i></span> REPRESENTATIVES RECENTLY STATED TO <i>REUTERS</i> THAT 60 PERCENT OF TREATED WOUNDED IN SYRIA WERE FOREIGN FIGHTERS.</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While the SYRIAN National Council and the Free SYRIAN Army disavow the more extreme jihadists, the latter hold the whip hand because of their support from SAUDI ARABIA and QATAR, the main source of weapons and funding. The rising number of car bombings is the signature of such al-Qaeda-affiliated groups as the al-Nusra Front. Speaking in JORDAN on September 9, al-Qaeda leader<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/09/syria-car-bomb-kills-17-aleppo_n_1868835.html">Abu Sayyaf </a>called for a jihad against the secular Assad regime.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">French surgeon <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/middleeast/syria-criticizes-frances-support-of-rebels.html">Jacques Beres</a>, a founder of the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders who recently returned from treating wounded in SYRIA, told <i>Reuters</i> that 60 percent of his patients were foreign fighters. “It’s really something strange to see. They are directly saying that they aren’t interested in Bashar al-Assad’s fall, but are thinking how to take power afterward and set up an Islamic state with Shariah law to become part of the world emirate.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The surge of extremism is not restricted to SYRIA. IRAQ has been convulsed by bombings aimed at the Shiite community, killing over 300 people between July 21 and August 18. On September 9, nearly 400 people were killed or wounded in 13 IRAQI cities. Alawites have been targeted in TURKEY and Shiites in LEBANON, the latter in a replay of sectarian attacks five years ago in Tripoli by the SAUDI-funded Fatah al-Islam.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Comment by <i>Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: <span style="color: blue;">It should be notes that many times Alawites are confused with Alevis from TURKEY. For more information see: </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Alawites in Syria and Alevis in Turkey: Crucial Differences</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3284/alawites-syria-alevis-turkey">http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3284/alawites-syria-alevis-turkey</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ANKARA IS DISCOVERING THAT THE DOGS OF WAR ARE RANGING UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE TO HOME</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While TURKEY’S Islamist Prime Minister Recep Erdogan is playing a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-syria-crisis-centre-idUSBRE86Q0JM20120727">key role</a> in the war by supplying the rebels, Ankara is discovering that the dogs of war are ranging uncomfortably close to home. IRAQI-based KURDS, who have long fought for an independent state made up from parts of TURKEY, IRAQ, SYRIA, and IRAN, have stepped up operations against the TURKISH military, and the TURKS are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/world/middleeast/turkey-strengthens-forces-on-syrian-border.html">apprehensive</a>that SYRIA’S KURDS might join in. TURKEY’S “Kurdish problem” might explain why Erdogan has toned down his rhetoric against SYRIA, though the explanation might also be simple politics—Ankara’s involvement in the SYRIAN civil war is not popular with the average TURK.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“TRIGGER HAPPY” FRENCH AND ITS RIPPLE EFFECT IN THE LIBYA SAGA</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The conflict has also damaged the UN, though that is mainly fallout from the organization’s role in the overthrow of the Gaddafi government in LIBYA. Moscow and Beijing backed UN Security Council intervention in LIBYA because they were assured that there would be an attempt to negotiate a political solution. <a href="http://www.fpif.org/articles/malis_war_the_wages_of_sin">The AFRICAN Union</a> (AU) had already begun such talks when the FRENCH started bombing and the war went full-tilt.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The AU is still unhappy with the UNITED STATES, FRANCE, and BRITAIN over LIBYA, and the AFRICAN organization’s warning that the collapse of LIBYA might fuel instability in other areas of the continent appears to be coming true. The current war in MALI is a direct result of the massive number of weapons that poured into the rest of AFRICA following the LIBYAN war, as well as the empowering of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an extremist group that played a role in overthrowing Gaddafi.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As intractable as the SYRIAN war looks, there is room for a political resolution, but only if the protagonists and their supporters stand down. The Damascus government will have to recognize that one-family rule went out with feudalism, and that its opponents have real grievances. On the other side, the opposition will have to drop its insistence that there will be no talks until the Damascus government resigns. A zero-sum approach by either side will simply translate into a continuing war.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWCfan7xcnPHRC0oWfFckHl0qlKNHcSEArtE0asaIUGAXjbHja3HqDtB1cdexG19RSzPvfUbDLKXWTdh5t7ycDHJyK5xKHVV7L0KLyClnSQGdnw_mfR-XTvp8YwCT1U7xhmpB7PYq8cba/s1600/SS72212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWCfan7xcnPHRC0oWfFckHl0qlKNHcSEArtE0asaIUGAXjbHja3HqDtB1cdexG19RSzPvfUbDLKXWTdh5t7ycDHJyK5xKHVV7L0KLyClnSQGdnw_mfR-XTvp8YwCT1U7xhmpB7PYq8cba/s400/SS72212.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> But this will also mean countries fueling the opposition with guns and supplies will have to back off as well. And those nations that constantly talk about the threat of “terrorism” need to confront the extremists’ financers.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“The US and ISRAELI obsession with IRAN has led Washington to turn a blind eye to the dangers posed by SAUDI policy,” writes <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3908aff0-b576-11e1-ab92-00144feabdc0.html#axzz26rNQMeZJ">Anatol Lievan</a>, a war studies professor at King’s College, London, which “has helped lay the basis for Islamist extremism in PAKISTAN and elsewhere.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Comment by <i>Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: <span style="color: blue;">These are not obsessions but calculated strategies by all parties involved in order to gain geopolitical and economic bargaining powers and other leverages, which will be agreed upon behind “closed doors”. Furthermore one should not forget that the USA (officially) and ISRAEL (unofficially) are close allies with SAUDI ARABIA. Thus they are fully aware of SAUDI policies.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Other countries affected by the war, including LEBANON and IRAN, need to be brought into the process as well.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Lastly, the role of regional and international organizations needs to be reconfigured. The LIBYA war damaged the AU, the ARAB LEAGUE, and the UN because the political process was hijacked by NATO and Gaddafi’s enemies. The UN can play a key role in bringing peace, but not if it serves the interests of one side over the other.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Conn Hallinan via fpif</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

SYRIA AND THE DOGS OF WAR

Alawite Symbol SECTARIAN EQUATION Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 1 William Shakespeare “Blood and destruction,” “dreadful objects,” and “pit...

IWS Babe of the Week: Our HOT IWS Friends

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Each and every Sunday on the IWS website, we typically highlight a famous actress, actresses, or celebrities <strike>who may be trending and would provide good traffic for our website</strike> whom we truly love.<br /><br />However, today?<br /><br />Because of things that have transpired over the last few days, which will remain sub rosa until Wednesday's show, we'd like to<strike> excoriate</strike>, illuminate some of the hot babes who listen to, read, and/or otherwise take out cease and desist orders toward IWS Radio, and Jay and I.<br /><br />First up...<i>The Schmoopster.</i>  This chick has been adored, canonized, and well, at the same time, made fun of on more than one occasion by Jay and Matt...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBm-1_p7p3fZpqS70bNz4JxJzRPWrS8txZXcx9tC0tCAKGaPTQEDCNRVUK1U6iZ34Nu-Wo-Q1FrLiKZ8qDd32D7tyr-4w0WmyPfPCOWfIbLYFr3QsWWChrUvIwbwSdeqTdFxr9EvLBDgs/s1600/SchmoopBanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBm-1_p7p3fZpqS70bNz4JxJzRPWrS8txZXcx9tC0tCAKGaPTQEDCNRVUK1U6iZ34Nu-Wo-Q1FrLiKZ8qDd32D7tyr-4w0WmyPfPCOWfIbLYFr3QsWWChrUvIwbwSdeqTdFxr9EvLBDgs/s400/SchmoopBanner.jpg" width="381" /></a></div><br />On deck, we have the lovely Missalicious.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXhDJpQf678RM8Bhim2yAS1id6yTs3aIFn0lKOi6WXj97ZBn96rEbivmdczfTpGHfdxJJM4tKKWkdZSewu7HfyFv7VXcBX_aD_BF9cRQbeJm4ChQP1irL3kB2duvuWxqD6MXzBo8aoTg/s1600/Missy+Cali+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXhDJpQf678RM8Bhim2yAS1id6yTs3aIFn0lKOi6WXj97ZBn96rEbivmdczfTpGHfdxJJM4tKKWkdZSewu7HfyFv7VXcBX_aD_BF9cRQbeJm4ChQP1irL3kB2duvuWxqD6MXzBo8aoTg/s400/Missy+Cali+Love.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Now Missy has done a fundraiser for us.  She also offers plentiful advice to us, such as...<br /><br /><i>"If I knew when I agreed to do your show that there would be no bagels in the Green Room, I would have told to you two cheap bastards to forget it...Uuch."</i><br /><br />Of course there is always the uber-lovely <a href="http://www.artmustdie.com/"><i><span style="color: blue;">Jo</span></i></a>.  She is so damn hot...especially when she wears ponytails and cruises the High Schools in hopes of a tawdry and illegal affair...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZKNDj95pYcVwojMVk7D26OvnSOnMdvfdD8byCaKEVNjSb7iLoRWtE7A05VKhyshFNQZgUUZkL1tZLvIB_5YIAxaYgUcKFiv3tKGvhTNtQ3agsLwsZ6UY6WLTdwgWcTRqEbAksL3xXeA/s1600/jo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZKNDj95pYcVwojMVk7D26OvnSOnMdvfdD8byCaKEVNjSb7iLoRWtE7A05VKhyshFNQZgUUZkL1tZLvIB_5YIAxaYgUcKFiv3tKGvhTNtQ3agsLwsZ6UY6WLTdwgWcTRqEbAksL3xXeA/s400/jo2.jpg" width="312" /></a></div><br />And then, we have Jayman's BFF Warrior Kat.  Kat is a nurse, and if she ever said to me that this test requires that she quickly and painfully stick a needle into my scrotum, I would still answer, <i>"Oh Yeah, Baby. Do it three times for accuracy!!"</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VAj_CHUBOrGoT1dK3LgRz3ucoxuNKifh027UrF3Ui9SEn7aWOfeK7sOjmwufA4Iuezp-HWBsp2LNcbkOQwKYCNN3Orne_RSiHJUmsu6LkerBQCzGEM0vNCdk_aRx0FVTogoxlQnW3WA/s1600/Kat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VAj_CHUBOrGoT1dK3LgRz3ucoxuNKifh027UrF3Ui9SEn7aWOfeK7sOjmwufA4Iuezp-HWBsp2LNcbkOQwKYCNN3Orne_RSiHJUmsu6LkerBQCzGEM0vNCdk_aRx0FVTogoxlQnW3WA/s400/Kat.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><br />Hell...While we make fun of her often, we love when <i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://amidlifescrises.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Dana</span></a> </span></i>escapes her mythical Accounting Meeting and joins us most Wednesdays...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8Zo0x2xPEEJp2AwlXNep8m_fV9Y4nMWELx3zQSXrqYuXcY9xLrJke1Zrp2zK2EIqJJsZX4FHzRY3rUXouV01H_tVF6_VeQAwgPBDroBOG7pl9NqY22H-AL6dmNKsuEMMcX1opRxaEtw/s1600/Dana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8Zo0x2xPEEJp2AwlXNep8m_fV9Y4nMWELx3zQSXrqYuXcY9xLrJke1Zrp2zK2EIqJJsZX4FHzRY3rUXouV01H_tVF6_VeQAwgPBDroBOG7pl9NqY22H-AL6dmNKsuEMMcX1opRxaEtw/s400/Dana.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />And then of course...There is Tamara.  Tamra is one hard nosed, hard rocking chick, who...loves the animals and tries to save all of those whom she can...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLoabnq5RBJ9qkmUf8TaBpM6nuaHotv6zkey_LPw5A_j_GgvZrcZP_Y9eRGimr_X2fewMtfFh1kAligHN2rwisTO-I-i3ylfcoCWPiuEULe7hNUDM6Cb4Kmd8vs7-yWXIq90Mkmg3ltIg/s1600/Tamra+Tree+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLoabnq5RBJ9qkmUf8TaBpM6nuaHotv6zkey_LPw5A_j_GgvZrcZP_Y9eRGimr_X2fewMtfFh1kAligHN2rwisTO-I-i3ylfcoCWPiuEULe7hNUDM6Cb4Kmd8vs7-yWXIq90Mkmg3ltIg/s400/Tamra+Tree+BW.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Yeah, celebrity Bitches are perceived as hot many times, but seriously?<br /><br />Jay and I are blessed with boatload of hot chicks who listen to us, and more importantly, hot chicks whom we consider our friends.<br /><br />Annnnnnd....We will be broadcasting<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2012/10/21/when-we-were-18"> <i><span style="color: blue;">LIVE</span></i></a> today at NOON ET as we talk about when we were 18 years old.<br /><br />As Matt-Man's son Ryno will turn 18 on Wednesday we thought it to be the perfect time to re-live our glory days when we were 18.<br /><br />Join us LIVE today at NOON ET on <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2012/10/21/when-we-were-18"><span style="color: blue;"><i>BTR</i></span> </a>as we discuss our youth and you can listen and chime in as well by clicking <i><a href="http://http//www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2012/10/21/when-we-were-18">HERE.</a></i><br /><br /><i>Cheers!!</i></div>

IWS Babe of the Week: Our HOT IWS Friends

Each and every Sunday on the IWS website, we typically highlight a famous actress, actresses, or celebrities who may be trending and would ...

TÜRKEI

8:20 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJrZ5PD9qAqtsJCMjZcIF-cbKKbtv6t0_mLtNx_tDNhjePsoaJuKFKEdVvlZ8apsgRaXhSEaj6ZHWlaOPgiSQFRyXIsHD3KEaYb8e6QeNU9Wg5MheU2qS9c3jt9IT1Jk-L_y83nDv3qK6/s1600/Ottoman_Empire_Coat_of_Arms_by_TurkForce.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJrZ5PD9qAqtsJCMjZcIF-cbKKbtv6t0_mLtNx_tDNhjePsoaJuKFKEdVvlZ8apsgRaXhSEaj6ZHWlaOPgiSQFRyXIsHD3KEaYb8e6QeNU9Wg5MheU2qS9c3jt9IT1Jk-L_y83nDv3qK6/s320/Ottoman_Empire_Coat_of_Arms_by_TurkForce.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b>Ottoman Em<span style="color: red;">pire Coat of Arms</span></b></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">MIT ALLER GEWALT</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Ankara ist auf der Suche nach seiner Rolle in der Region. Jetzt muss sich Erdogan mit den alten Feinden ISRAEL und KURDISTAN auseinandersetzen, will er seine Stellung im Nahen Osten wahren.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nachdem SYRIEN im vergangenen Juni einen türkischen Kampfjet abgeschossen hatte, wurden in ISRAEL Stimmen laut, denen zufolge der Abschuss den TÜRKEN gerade recht kam: Ankara suchte nur nach einer militärischen Legitimation, um selbst eine bewaffnete Intervention in SYRIEN zu starten. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In dieses Kalkül passte der Angriff natürlich perfekt. Und sollte der Zwischenfall nicht ausgereicht haben, dann gab es spätestens mit dem tragischen Vorfall vor einigen Tagen ausreichend Zündstoff für weitere Aggressionen: Fünf Zivilisten, darunter drei Kinder, wurden bei dem Angriff auf die TÜRKISCHE Grenzstadt Akçakale durch Mörsergranaten getötet.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Prompt entschuldigte sich SYRIEN und erklärte der UN, dass es sich um einen Unfall gehandelt habe. Trotzdem war der politische Schaden zu groß, um den Vorfall mit einem Pressestatement glattzubügeln: Das Parlament in Ankara segnete kurz darauf ein Gesetz ab, dass es der TÜRKEI erlaubt, „im Verteidigungsfall“ militärisch zu intervenieren, auch jenseits der eigenen Grenze.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ANKARA UND DAS STREBEN NACH EINFLUSS</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Klar ist, dass die TÜRKEN eine dominantere Rolle im SYRISCHEN Konflikt spielen wollen, sei es mit diplomatischen oder militärischen Mitteln. Diese Entscheidung ist von zentraler Bedeutung, weil sie signalisiert, worauf die TÜRKISCHE Strategie im NAHEN OSTEN hinausläuft. In letzter Zeit hatte Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan mit einer Art „neo-ottomanischen“ Plan auf sich aufmerksam gemacht, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.linkiesta.it/turchia-siria-ottomano" target="_blank"><span lang="DE-AT">den sein Außenminister Ahmet Davutoglu ausgearbeitet hatte</span></a></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">. Die TÜRKISCHE Strategie war es immer, sowohl wirtschaftlich als auch politisch an Einfluss zu gewinnen. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Mit Nachdruck hat die Regierung in Ankara beispielsweise die Handelsbeziehungen zu den südlichen Nachbarn intensiviert – und das nicht zufällig. Bis zur Eskalation des Konflikts vor eineinhalb Jahren sahen viele Beobachter SYRIEN als „die TÜRKEI vor 30 Jahren“, ein Land voller Potenzial. Dieses Potenzial wollte Ankara nutzen.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Politisch wollte man sich gleichzeitig als Musterbeispiel einer islamistisch-demokratischen Alternative zum IRAN darstellen. Die Abstecher türkischer Handelsflotten in den Gaza-Streifen zahlten auf diese Taktik ein: Primär waren die Fahrten als humanitäre Expeditionen zum Nutzen der Palästinenser geplant, aber natürlich wollte Ankara damit auch ISRAEL diskreditieren und für seine Vormachtstellung in der Region werben. Zudem hoffte man in der TÜRKEI darauf, die Beziehungen zu RUSSLAND zu verbessern: Neben Kooperation in Energiefragen (die TÜRKEI ist die Schlüsselstelle zwischen Ost und West) träumte Erdogan schon lange von engerer politischer Zusammenarbeit, ungeachtet der zahlreichen Kriege, die beide Länder in den vergangenen Jahrhunderten angezettelt haben.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">GESCHEITERTER NEO-OTTOMANISMUS </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Doch allen Bemühungen zum Trotz ist der Neo-Ottomanismus gescheitert. Es ist immer deutlicher geworden, dass der „ARABISCHE Frühling“ kaum frühlingshaft war, und außerdem eher „islamistisch“ als arabisch. Es ist ein Islamismus, aus dem sich kein konfessionsübergreifendes Bekenntnis zu Frieden und Liebe ableiten lässt, sondern der lokal (beinahe auf Stammesebene) verharrt. In ÄGYPTEN, TUNESIEN und LIBYEN werden vor allem Eigeninteressen verfolgt – auf die TÜRKEI schaut dort niemand. In den anderen Ländern der arabischen Welt, in den alten sunnitischen Königreichen, mit oder ohne Ölreichtum, regiert ohnehin schon seit dem Ende der „richtigen“ arabischen Revolution 1918 der Konservativismus.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCviYVViVOUwo4WMOrcSyy5FBQ6AJu_hudHkYZb-KppnqPG4NonTE9bxvatyTXKqgdOuy62AQPuTK6mtXeC6v02qJNMIvsXyz6_PXuk58NSgNvIMHmXJjFKCZh2cf9Wgxh1Bc8xlxZDRmV/s1600/flotilla02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCviYVViVOUwo4WMOrcSyy5FBQ6AJu_hudHkYZb-KppnqPG4NonTE9bxvatyTXKqgdOuy62AQPuTK6mtXeC6v02qJNMIvsXyz6_PXuk58NSgNvIMHmXJjFKCZh2cf9Wgxh1Bc8xlxZDRmV/s320/flotilla02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Ein Zwischenfall illustriert die Machtlosigkeit der TÜRKEI: Als ISRAEL die Handelsflotte auf dem Weg von der TÜRKEI nach Gaza stoppte, sprang aus der Kontroverse nicht einmal etwas für die TÜRKEI heraus. <b>Neben Friedensaktivisten waren auch mehrere Vertreter der Muslimbrüder an Bord</b>. Zwar gibt es auch unter den Islamisten gemäßigte Fraktionen, doch die Einstellung der Muslimbrüder ist zumindest zweifelhaft. Konservative Quellen </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/muslim-brotherhoods-flotilla" target="_blank"><span lang="DE-AT">aus den USA</span></a></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> und </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://jcpa.org/text/Turkey_Muslim_Brotherhood.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="DE-AT">aus ISRAEL</span></a></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> behaupten, dass es den Muslimbrüdern vor allem um das Knüpfen von Kontakten zur Hamas gegangen sei. Egal ob die Vorwürfe stimmen: ISRAEL war verärgert und die TÜRKEI konnte keine eigenen Erfolge vorweisen.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">GELD STATT ABENTEUER</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">An diesem Beispiel wird auch deutlich, wie eng politischer und wirtschaftlicher Erfolg der TÜRKEI verzahnt sind – und welche Rolle ISRAEL spielt. Nach der Verschärfung der Sanktionen gegen den IRAN und nach dem Ausbruch mehrerer Bürgerkriege in der Region war ISRAEL das einzige Land, das weiterhin blühende Handelsbeziehungen mit der TÜRKEI hatte – und das, obwohl Erdogan sein Bestes tat, um eine enge Zusammenarbeit zu verhindern. Fröhlich </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/122840/premier-says-turkey-suspended-all-military-aareements-and-commercial-relations-with-israel.html" target="_blank"><span lang="DE-AT">erklärte er im September 2011</span></a></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, dass er dabei sei, „jedes militärische oder wirtschaftliche Abkommen mit ISRAEL zu suspendieren“. Der bilaterale Handel boomte trotzdem und stieg im Jahr 2011 sogar über die Marke von vier Milliarden US-Dollar. Mehr noch: Bis die israelischen Streitkräfte eines der nach Gaza fahrenden Schiffe, die „Mai Marmara“, am 31. Mai 2012 angriffen, wuchs der ISRAELISCH-TÜRKISCHE Außenhandel um mehr als ein Drittel. Tourismus ist da noch nicht einmal mit eingerechnet: Eine halbe Million junger ISRAELIS verbrachte ihren Urlaub bisher jedes Jahr in den TÜRKISCHEN Massenressorts voller Fastfood und Nachtclubs. Jetzt ist diese Zahl auf 60.000 gefallen – zum Missfallen der Unternehmer in Bodrum oder Antalya: Ihnen geht es um das Geld ISRAELISCHER Touristen, nicht um waghalsige maritime Abenteuer der eigenen Regierung. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Hintergrund Informationen</span></u></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">:</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Israeli Exports to Turkey rise 42% to equal exports to Germany</span></i></b></span><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil.html"><span lang="EN-US">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil.html</span></a></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html</a></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/turkey-israel-economic-relations-continue-despite-tensions-16-08.html">http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/turkey-israel-economic-relations-continue-despite-tensions-16-08.html</a></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The two countries recently signed a cooperation agreement relating to the protection of natural gas drilling sites</span></i></b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The visit comes against a backdrop of worsening relations between ISRAEL and TURKEY following the May 2010 <b>TURKISH flotilla incident, which is cited as the official reason for the rift between the countries but in reality it has always been because of the gas and oil findings</b>and TURKEY’s double edged strategies of recent past. </span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">DIE ÖKONOMISCHE SITUATION MACHTE ES NUN SOGAR NOTWENDIG, DIE HALTUNG GEGENÜBER DER KURDISCHEN MINDERHEIT ZU ÜBERDENKEN</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM0omjut_4DVNm-pyaHQPGjmJdofNkMUfwGHKIRKccLnrUjGubgfWhLjRcKaSVfPBlJdM0oEjl5NXdAx0nsHIqLZXCEinbA5ZczZEFe143Ougpxk_p7uSxlGdqIAQotKUZQogZuwY0Lzx/s1600/photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM0omjut_4DVNm-pyaHQPGjmJdofNkMUfwGHKIRKccLnrUjGubgfWhLjRcKaSVfPBlJdM0oEjl5NXdAx0nsHIqLZXCEinbA5ZczZEFe143Ougpxk_p7uSxlGdqIAQotKUZQogZuwY0Lzx/s400/photo+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Im Übrigen genießt die TÜRKEI einen Exportüberschuss gegenüber ISRAEL. Es wäre wenig durchdacht, diesen wachsenden Markt – einen der wenigen funktionierenden Märkte in der Region – zu gefährden. Die ökonomische Situation machte es nun sogar notwendig, die Haltung gegenüber der KURDISCHEN Minderheit zu überdenken. Die TÜRKEI versucht, sich vor allem mit den im IRAK lebenden KURDEN gut zu stellen, und überdenkt daher auch die Behandlung der KURDISCHEN Minderheit im eigenen Land. Dank der föderalen Struktur des IRAKS können nun auch Ölabkommen ausschließlich mit dem NORDIRAK getroffen werden, ohne sich mit den chaotischen Strukturen der Zentralregierung in Bagdad auseinandersetzen zu müssen. TÜRKISCHE Firmen beziehen das Öl von IRAKISCHEN Kurden, raffinieren es und verkaufen es dann zurück oder pumpen es in Richtung der eigenen Verbraucher.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Hintergrund Informationen</span></u></b><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">:</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/double-dealing-in-iraq-and-syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/double-dealing-in-iraq-and-syria.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY'S GAMBLE ON KURDISTAN OIL</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-erratic-foreign-policies-all.html"><span lang="EN-US">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/turkeys-erratic-foreign-policies-all.html</span></a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Doch allen TÜRKISCHEN Annäherungsversuchen zum Trotz haben KURDISCHE Organisationen – und vor allem die PKK – weiterhin wenig Sympathie für Ankara. Die PKK argumentiert, dass es trotz einiger Zugeständnisse keine Einigung bei den wirklich wichtigen Fragen von politischer Repräsentation und Autonomie gibt. Vorigen August hat die Organisation sogar eine TÜRKISCHE Polizeistation nahe Sirnak mit Granaten angegriffen – und das ist lediglich ein Beispiel für die seit Jahren wachsenden Spannungen. Es überrascht nicht, dass jetzt Gerüchte laut werden, SYRIEN habe die KURDISCHEN Rebellen unterstützt und ihnen beispielsweise Waffen geliefert oder Ausbildungslager organisiert.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">DIE TÜRKEI UND DIE REALPOLITIK</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Und RUSSLAND? Erdogan war sicherlich bewusst, dass er sich in der SYRIEN-Frage nicht auf Moskau verlassen kann, gerade wegen der russischen Interessen in der Region. Israel zu schwächen würde ihm deshalb nicht dabei helfen, die Fühler bis nach JORDANIEN oder ÄGYPTEN auszustrecken. Vielmehr würde es dazu beitragen, die Position der Hisbollah im SÜDLIBANON zu stärken – also genau die Gruppe, die Assad als IRANISCH-RUSSISCHE Puppe im Amt hält. Es ist kein Zufall, dass der IRAN Hisbollah neuerdings mit technischem Know-how für den Bau von Drohnen unterstützt, um damit über ISRAELISCHES Gebiet zu fliegen. Auch in SYRIEN sollen Hisbollah-Kämpfer </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/hezbollah-calls-for-ceasefire-to-extract-its-fighters-from-syria-rebels-report/" target="_blank"><span lang="DE-AT">für das Assad-Regime aktiv sein</span></a></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Insgesamt muss die TÜRKEI sich immer mehr von ihren „neo-ottomanischen“ Plänen verabschieden und der Realpolitik zuwenden. Für Erdogan gilt es, sich mit alten „Feinden“ ISRAEL und KURDISTAN auseinanderzusetzen, um den Schlüssel für den Nahostkonflikt zu finden. Eine solche Lösung ist politisch und wirtschaftlich heikel – umso mehr, seitdem wir </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21552216" target="_blank"><span lang="DE-AT">die Wahrheit</span></a></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> über die TÜRKISCHE Wirtschaft und die hohe Inflationsrate kennen. Es wird sich noch herausstellen, ob der Versuch, eine islamische Nationalidentität aufzubauen und das kemalistische Jahrhundert hinter sich zu lassen, eine realistische Perspektive ist.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>ByStefano Casertano</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Via The European</i><span lang="DE-AT" style="mso-ansi-language: DE-AT;"></span></div>

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