The Alarm Clock Bomb
When the revolutionary fires of the "Arab Spring" burned close to the core of Western interests in the Middle east in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, note how quickly the protests were quashed. The Saudis had no qualms about using their police and army units to fend off trouble, and in fact, they sent a full armor brigade of US made M1-A1 Abrams tanks into Bahrain to flatten that popular uprising. One mustn't disturb the long entrenched oligarchies in our precious Gulf States. The spice must flow...
Now, with the flames igniting in Syria, it is not Western interests at stake, but the axis of Syria, Iran and their two primary supporters on the world stage, Russia and China. The loose "co-prosperity sphere" forged by the two giants has economic and strategic roots growing in the soil of Iran, and the Iranians have long had cooperative agreements with Syria and a connection to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Assad's regime.
The moment I saw the uprisings begin in Syria I knew it was going to become a bloody affair, and I also knew that we were not going to see tough military action by Europe, NATO or the US. Three words sum up the reason why this is so: the Syrian Army. Unlike Libya which had a few brigades run by Gadaffi's sons, Syria's army has long been scaled to stand off against the formidable military forces of Israel. It presently has 220,000 regulars and another 300,000 reservists arrayed in twelve division sized formations, which include 8 armored divisions and 3 mechanized divisions and a special Republican Guard unit, with three more divisions in reserve. Note how quickly Western nations were to direct military action against Libya, which had no large geopolitical backers and a fledgling army that was easy to find and target from the air. Note how Western nations huff and puff now, but don't expect air strikes on Syria any time soon, though Assad's actions will be every bit as brutal Gadaffi's.
When you draft resolutions in the UN against Syria and both China and Russia veto them, you have a problem. Of course, all of this ties neatly into the "Iranian problem." The neo-cons that engineered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan always said in the end "real men go to Tehran," and the West has wanted to break the back of the Iranian regime and restore Western oil and gas company influence there ever since the Shah fell and Ted Koppel's "America Held Hostage" show took off to eventually become "Nightline."
The recent assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists were mirrored in this week's "terrorist attack" against Israeli embassy personnel overseas--and they used the exact same methods to make that connection obvious. Israel has been wanting to turn its air force loose over Iran for years now, and seems driven by the sound of a ticking alarm clock they think will go off and rouse them from their nightmare of an Iranian bomb by making that prospect a grim reality.
There's a poem by the Russian poet Kudryavitsky called "The Alarm Clock Bomb" that comes to mind here.
The Alarm-Clock Bomb
The alarm-clock bomb rings uplike an uninvited guestand offers you an experienceof ravaged Nirvana.There's nothing you can doexcept sing it the pointless song,'May there always be me.'Sometimes the alarm-clock looms up first,quietly ticking in the doorway.It's better that you hear it...
That clock is slowly ticking in the Middle East, and it's better if you hear it first before that jarring alarm goes off and we get a war there that is almost certain to bring the interests of the West into direct conflict with those of Russia and China. Yes, it's better if you hear it...
Now, with the flames igniting in Syria, it is not Western interests at stake, but the axis of Syria, Iran and their two primary supporters on the world stage, Russia and China. The loose "co-prosperity sphere" forged by the two giants has economic and strategic roots growing in the soil of Iran, and the Iranians have long had cooperative agreements with Syria and a connection to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Assad's regime.
The moment I saw the uprisings begin in Syria I knew it was going to become a bloody affair, and I also knew that we were not going to see tough military action by Europe, NATO or the US. Three words sum up the reason why this is so: the Syrian Army. Unlike Libya which had a few brigades run by Gadaffi's sons, Syria's army has long been scaled to stand off against the formidable military forces of Israel. It presently has 220,000 regulars and another 300,000 reservists arrayed in twelve division sized formations, which include 8 armored divisions and 3 mechanized divisions and a special Republican Guard unit, with three more divisions in reserve. Note how quickly Western nations were to direct military action against Libya, which had no large geopolitical backers and a fledgling army that was easy to find and target from the air. Note how Western nations huff and puff now, but don't expect air strikes on Syria any time soon, though Assad's actions will be every bit as brutal Gadaffi's.
When you draft resolutions in the UN against Syria and both China and Russia veto them, you have a problem. Of course, all of this ties neatly into the "Iranian problem." The neo-cons that engineered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan always said in the end "real men go to Tehran," and the West has wanted to break the back of the Iranian regime and restore Western oil and gas company influence there ever since the Shah fell and Ted Koppel's "America Held Hostage" show took off to eventually become "Nightline."
The recent assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists were mirrored in this week's "terrorist attack" against Israeli embassy personnel overseas--and they used the exact same methods to make that connection obvious. Israel has been wanting to turn its air force loose over Iran for years now, and seems driven by the sound of a ticking alarm clock they think will go off and rouse them from their nightmare of an Iranian bomb by making that prospect a grim reality.
There's a poem by the Russian poet Kudryavitsky called "The Alarm Clock Bomb" that comes to mind here.
The Alarm-Clock Bomb
The alarm-clock bomb rings uplike an uninvited guestand offers you an experienceof ravaged Nirvana.There's nothing you can doexcept sing it the pointless song,'May there always be me.'Sometimes the alarm-clock looms up first,quietly ticking in the doorway.It's better that you hear it...
That clock is slowly ticking in the Middle East, and it's better if you hear it first before that jarring alarm goes off and we get a war there that is almost certain to bring the interests of the West into direct conflict with those of Russia and China. Yes, it's better if you hear it...
No comments have been added yet.
