Syria and The Tavern

President O'Barmy will get his way. The lefties who raged against Bush in Iraq will be silent. But in the Tavern we had a small hubbub and some views. Best get in now before the talk is drowned out by wailing sirens and explosions out beyond the City of God.

The situation was summed up by one astute customer who put the Question:

If several bikie gangs rode into the next town and started shooting at one another, which side would you join?

For make no mistake here, the 'sides' in Syria are not the sort of folk we would welcome into the Tavern gardens. I very much doubt that God is on anyone's side there, although I cannot speak for Allah.

Many in the bars were trying hard to make sense of exactly what's happening in Syria.  Its war-torn streets are a confused three-way interplay of conflicting secular and Islamic factions, but one hand seems to be lurking ominously behind it all. 

Goodness and Grace 

do NOT reside there.

 

Fortunate for the chaps and chapesses in the Tavern we were joined by a thirsty crew from the Mercury who had been busy trying to make some sense too.   They pointed a big finger at that hand.

 

Iran is not only backing Syria's President Assad, they explained, but also through the complex interplay of the Middle East it is also supporting many of those who are fighting against him. We listened and joined in looking.

It's an environment of warring Islamic factions - Sunni v Shiite.

It's also a battlefield of Islam versus Christianity, religion versus secularism and rich versus poor. It is rife with ludicrous factions. Not that we have not seen such before, of course.

Add to all this the unevenly distributed oil wealth of the region, and you get the mess we see today.

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/world/syria8217s-civil-war-is-the-outcome-of-a-complex-interplay-of-islamic-faction-fighting-and-iranian-influence/story-fnj3ty5y-1226710212595

It is this complex web of "bad guys v bad guys" that makes a decision to take sides even more complex for the West - of which Britain has already baulked at the prospect of another drawn out and confused war in the vein of Iraq and Afghanistan.

If the US takes sides, who will benefit?

Arming the rebels will end up assisting the likes of Al-Qaeda. Ignoring Assad means allowing Iran to have its way.

In fact, whatever the outcome, only Iran seems set to benefit the most. So just how do the sides stack up?

On One side. The 'Regime'.
President Assad: Besieged Syrian dictator President Bashar Assad was a reluctant Head of State. He was a Doctor in London until his Brother died and Bashar was cajoled into the Political job. His wife, a 'nonebrity' with expensive tastes and little thought beyond her wardrobes  seems the more keen to be in a top-dog position than he does. Money.

His Syrian Army has been regaining ground in recent months. The army, while split by the civil war, still boasts a force of some 300,000 soldiers along with a credible force of modern Russian supplied fighter aircraft, tanks and anti-aircraft systems.

Amid the ongoing fighting, both President Assad and his opponents have been accused of resorting to the use of chemical weapons.

These allegations have proved a tipping point in the eyes of the West. After years of reluctance in actively taking sides, the use of weapons of mass destruction has set the United States firmly against Assad - despite his protests that the attacks were a political ploy by his retreating opponents.

"Get'ya rockets here. Buy one, get one free at the Offendy Effendi Bargain Store"

This left many in the Tavern scratching their heads.

One customer tried an astute but scathing parody;

Chemical weapons are lethal. More so than bullets and bombs which often just bounce off people we are to suppose. Rockets of course can be deflected with cricket bats. That’s another problem with Arabs: no middle-order batsmen.  

Yes, we have to have special fear of chemicals floating in the air. As for using them on one’s own population, well that’s just barbaric.  

Just look at the huge outcry and threats to invade when the FBI used chemical weapons on the looney church people at Waco. Listen, you might still just hear the echo. 

That really drew a Red line. The UK PM has ‘talks’ with his French counterparts, I heard.  They wanted to 'intervene' in America. Not.

They are supposed to be used on some other country’s people, not in Texas !! READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.  

Then there is the women and children bizzo. We don’t bother about the dead men of course. But women and children ?? They are supposed to be refugees, not be amongst the men’s dead bodies. What is the world coming to.

As for Weapons of Mass Destruction, I though that's what Pressure Cookers were, since the Boston bombing. O'Barmy hisself said so.

 A lot of understanding nods of heads.

Russia: Russia risks losing its last major Soviet Union-era naval base in the Mediterranean Sea if the Syrian regime is overthrown. To support President Assad, Russia has been feeding the Syrian Army with equipment and training while riding shotgun in representative bodies such as the United Nations Security Council.

Hezbollah: Also adding to the mix is Lebannon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah which provides significant material support for Hamas in its struggle against Israel. Hezbollah is sending its troops and supplies over the border to back Syria's Shiite population.

"Got the Gun, where shall we go?"

On the 'other' side: The 'Rebels'.
Free Syrian Army: A force claiming some 80,000 fighters, the grand name masks the true mix of militant radicals and secular separatists that would otherwise be shooting each other instead of their common foe. The FSA is largely made up of elements of the Sunni Wahhabis Islamic movement.

It is the most 'internationally acceptable body' and, as such, tends to be the organisation through which foreign aid is distributed. It also counts Saudi Arabia and Qatar as its key backers.

Herein lies yet another 'grouping' of 'forces: The 'Doo-Gooder' brigade who find these Arab thugs and murderers to be an 'Internationally Acceptable body'. The NGO sheikdown merchants on $100,000 a year pretending to be good Samaritans but are mostly mugging populations back 'home' and robbing their charity donations.

Those 'home' populations in the western "peace-loving democracies' are robbed blind by the taxman and their monies are sent to line the pockets of 'Aid recipients', the middlemen who generally live high on the hog whilst their people suffer.


Syrian Islamic Liberation Front: While fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner, this confused faction is united only by the common goal of increasing the influence of Islam and getting rid of Assad. It claims to have a force of 35,000 men.

Syrian Islamic Front: This is another large alliance of Syrian rebel factions, this time among those of the Sunni Salafists Islamists. It claims to have 25,000 men-at-arms and appears to be more internally disciplined than other Syrian rebel factions such as the FSA. However, the SIF is demanding the formation of an Islamic state with sharia law. This group appears to be more internally disciplined than other Syrian rebel factions.

Hamas: This Palestinian body - backed by Hezbollah and Iran in its struggle against Israel - has thrown its weight behind many of the factions fighting against President Assad.

Al-Qaeda: This international network of extremist Islamic terrorists is the most extreme element of the radical Sunni group. Its members in Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Iraq all provide support in the form of manpower, money and weapons.

Muslim Brotherhood: Egypt's Islamic support base of Egypt's deposed US-backed President Mohamed Morsi - the Muslim Brotherhood - has been using its international network to support several rebel factions in Syria - including Hamas. Shiite Iran has been making overtures to this largely Sunni movement to support the growing popularity of Islam within the North African country.

Then we have...the West.

The United States, itself comprised of a number of quite lunatic factions and its key Western allies finds itself in an unenviable position when it comes to taking sides.

Not that such will stop them.

Trust me. I made up my war record. Still making something from nothing.

Many rebel groups represent a repressed ethic and religious majority within Syria. But many also represent terrorist organisations against which the West has been struggling for decades.

President Obama has now clearly chosen to throw

his weight behind the Syrian rebels

- to the silence from his lefty supporters who elected him to do precisely the opposite -  particularly now US intelligence agencies have been convinced chemical weapons have been used against them.

Mind you it does not take much to convince US Intelligence. They seem to have trouble with words of three syllables and parrot the mutterings of every foreign johnny with a score to settle.

False Allegations are as rife in the US intelligence agencies

as in the Family Court.

 

The Drummer Lady, Joyanna, had something to say about the American track-record too:

http://nobodysopinion.org/2013/09/03/nobody-asks-who-exactly-benefits-from-wars-in-the-middle-east/

Let's go back to the first gulf war. Daddy Bush told us we were going over there to protect a defenseless country named Kuwait, and Saddam was a bad guy. Remember, we backed that 'bad' guy with chemical weapons, military hardware, and millions of dollars to help those poor tribal lords in Afghanistan, fight Russia. We did the very same thing with bin Laden. 

How did that turn out for us?

Daddy Bush gave our military support to those adorable Sunni sheiks in Saudi Arabia in order to protect them, and their family, and their oil with the FIRST Gulf war.  Bush the elder put on a real patriotic display for...making himself look good and protecting the Sheiks.  The propaganda was so good...we didn't mind much, because we still had money.  

Then we had Clinton protecting  the Muslims in Kosovo in THAT civil war. Remember, there was another 'bad' guy...Milosevic.  Nobody Knows how necessary that was. Clinton kept away from bin Laden, refused the man nine times, because bin Laden had relatives in the Saudi family. He literally ignored the bombing of the Cole, (We will FIND the criminals who did this!) and the first bombing of the World Trade Center, which was done by the Muslim Brotherhood.  Clinton airlifted Bosnian refugees over here because he felt sorry for them.  

He dropped 80,000 into St. Louis. 

Expect more refugees from Syria to come over here because  the democrats are already demanding it

Oz. We are in the middle of an election which the Current Chairman Mouthy Kev is scurrying to be at the International Table. The more prosaic Jesuit Monk, Tony Abbott however is very likely to chuck Kevin out on his arse within the week and is unlikely to commit Australians to war with Syria.

He had better NOT.

Oz has a cringing habit of getting involved in wars which, frankly, are none of our damned business. I doubt very much that we would do so and so readily if the majority of our soldiers were women. But male Aussie lives are considered more disposable.

Our politicians and Senior Military leaders weep croc tears when a man is killed in some God-forsaken Arab-Afghan spot, but the media goes beresk when a woman dies.

The UK want's desperately to join the fight. Well, the MPs in Parliament, some of them, do. The Military does not. The people do not. But the UK will, as usual, want to get some action and a place at the Table.

France. Can anyone figure out the French mind? After nearly 1000 years of them explaining themselves to the rest of us, we are still no nearer to understanding them. Damned fine Air Force though that is as eager to 'test' its latest toys as the Americans and the British.

Then there is the Spectre itself:

IRAN is the largest Shiite Muslim power in the Middle East, it is striving to maintain the ascendancy of this religious faction within Syria's borders. While providing men and equipment to help prop up President Assad, the Islamic state has threatened retaliation against Israel if the West launches any attack on their ally.

But it also seems to be having a bet each way.

While openly supporting the regime backed by the same Shiite Muslim beliefs as itself, Iran's broader support for the ascendancy of militant Islam in all its forms throughout the Middle East seems to be fuelling the cogs of war on both sides of the Syrian conflict.

Properties awaiting in Desirable Neighbourhood. Renovators delight.
Tools supplied by friends.

On one hand it is openly sending mujahideen fighters, cash and equipment to support Assad's Syrian Army. It's puppet Hezbollah organisation in Lebanon is also fighting alongside Assad's forces.

On the other hand, its support for Hamas and to a lesser extend the Muslim Brotherhood, it can be said to be materially supporting many of those rebelling against the Assad Presidency it openly backs.

Complicated, innit?

NO. It is NOT Complicated

 

 

Go back to the original question;

 

 

If several bikie gangs rode into the next town and started shooting at one another, which side would you join?

 

 

You could ask Dirty Harry.

 

 

 

 

America, indeed much of the West, thinks it IS Dirty Harry.

 

But 'art' should not dictate life.

 

America in particular is NOT authorised to be a policeman; especially not a 'macho' who makes his own rules as he goes along.

 

Notice all the 'collateral' damage?

 

 

I mentioned Christianity near the start of this report from the Tavern. Few Media in the West care to even mention let alone report the mass killing of Christians and the burning, exploding Churches all over the Middle East. Chief amongst the killers are the Muslim Brotherhood, who President O'Barmy thinks are 'good guys' worthy of his support.

 

Who will rid us of this troublesome president?

 

These are bad times. Did Dirty Harry know he was out of bullets? He pulled the trigger. Was it to Kill a man just to gain knowledge?

This evil has been building for a while but the last 20 years has seen the steep decline. I talk not of the Middle East, but of the West. The Godless west of the Clintons and Blairs and their decendants. Even their 'opponents' are Godless.

 

 

Drink deep. The Taverner's tears washed the glass.

 

Pax Dei Vobiscum.