As the Gaza Ceasefire holds - for now..... Points of view as to what it may mean going forward , where things may develop next in the geopolitical chessboard.

Gaza ceasefire for now , what comes next and where ?

Middle East in high suspense for Gaza operation sequels

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis November 25, 2012, 8:53 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  US   Russia-Iran   Gaza operation   Syria   Turkey   Awacs   Israel 

AWACs

While Israel’s Pillar of Cloud was still in full spate over the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, the United States, Russia, Iran, Israel and Turkey were each respectively putting their next moves in place in a broader radius, DEBKAfile reports.
Saturday, Nov. 17, America acted to shore up its naval and Marine forces in the region. Washington gave its approval for NATO to post Patriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey opposite the Syrian border together with advanced AWACs electronic warning aircraft. Both weapons systems are to be manned by US military crews. Next, the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group took up position opposite the Israeli and Syrian shores, adding another section to the menacing ring forming around Syria.
Moscow, Iran and Damascus, for their part, decided that the same coalition that laid a trail of disaster for its allies in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Jihad Islami, were now about to pounce on Iran’s best friend, Bashar Assad, by moves to enforce protected asylums and no-fly zones in Syria.
In Tehran and Moscow, the Gaza offensive was not perceived as a lone Israeli operation but rather as the ground-breaker for a broader offensive by the US, Turkey and Qatar and the product of their combined intelligence brains rather than of military war planners.
Iran had been systematically building up the Gaza Strip as its “southern front” to fight enemies who attacked its nuclear facilities. The obliteration of a large portion of the military infrastructure Hamas and Jihad Islam had accumulated left this plan in shambles. Moscow and Tehran fully expect Washington to next turn the attention of the intelligence team which engineered the dashing of Iran’s hopes in Gaza to Syria and Hizballah, exploiting Tehran’s momentary weakness.
Moscow reacted by posting the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s naval task force opposition the Gaza, i.e. Israeli coast Friday, Nov. 11, purportedly to rescue distressed Russian citizens “should the Israeli-Palestinian fighting worsen in Gaza.”

 Their arrival was announced Nov. 23, two days after a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza.
The Russian task force includes the missile cruiser Moskva, the destroyer Smetlivy, the large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the tugboat MB-304 and the large oil tanker Ivan Bubnov.

DEBKAfile’s military sources say its real mission concerns forthcoming events in Syria rather than a worsening of hostilities in Gaza. Indeed it has been stationed facing the USS Iwo Jimawhich is in position opposite the Israeli and Syrian coasts.
As for Tehran, Saturday, Nov. 24, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad phoned the Hamas Prime Minister of the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, and Jihad Islami leaders to assure them that Iran will continue to supply them with munitions as before and refill their depleted arsenals within weeks.
This assurance was widely publicized by Tehran as deterrence for the US-Egyptian-Israeli plan to shut down Iran’s arms smuggling routes through Sinai to the Gaza Strip. The promise by US President Barack Obama to send US troops to Sinai for this mission finally persuaded Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to suspend Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip last Thursday, Nov. 21 after eight days and accept a ceasefire.
The week ahead holds three major events, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.
1.  Iran is not expected to let its Gaza debacle go by without response – probably by some act of military or terrorist violence. Israeli intelligence closely watched Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani putting his head together on how to go about  punishing Israel with Bashar Assad in Damascus on Friday, Nov. 23, and with Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut the next day.
2.  A fresh war escalation is on the cards in Syria in response to the deployment of US-manned Patriots and AWACs on Turkey’s border with Syria. Syria may decide to vent its ire against Israel.
3.  Egypt’s pro-democracy, liberal and anti-Muslim Brotherhood forces are arrayed for a major battle against President Mohamed Morsi for his assumption of extraordinary powers. This contest has the potential for undoing the fragile ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Part of the deal was for Morsi to personally monitor and arbitrate the implementation of the secret understandings for Gaza and Sinai that were negotiated between the US, Egypt and Israel in order to open the door to the ceasefire.

and.....




http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/11/24/iran-and-obama-are-the-winners/

Iran and Obama are the Winners

–

By M. I. BHAT

—

How long Israel-Hamas truce could last is anybody’s guess given the past experiences with such ceasefire agreements. Netanyahu says he gave “peace a chance” while Hamas sees “victory” in the truce. As was pointed out earlier, Israel was unusually eager this time for truce no sooner it launched attack on Gaza, prompted, as is evident by now, by its intelligence failure on Hamas’ military capabilities. That is encouraging to imagine hesitance on Israeli side for another attack on Gaza in the immediate future.

On hindsight, it seems Netanyahu, compared to some of his colleagues, became less strident in his anti-Hamas utterances soon after the military assault got underway, though not in the intensity of military attacks on Gaza, which he didn’t limit to usual killing of Gazan civilians and destroying their infrastructure but also included selective targeting of non-Western international media personnel and their resources.

Netanyahu is unlikely to have agreed to ceasefire but for the long range rockets Hamas fired deep into Israel. They proved game changer, not merely unsettling Israeli public and initiated exodus, though limited, of scared expatriate workers but also leaving political and military leadership unnerved about the likely outcome of threatened ground assault. Hamas’ claim about “more surprises” for Israel should it launch ground assault could not have been just hype for moral boasting.

For Israel scared population is not the same as the dead Gazans are for Hamas – for the former it saps moral, for the later it energizes to go an extra-mile to avenge. This should explain Israel’s immediate willing to ceasefire and long range rockets (and what more?) in the hands of Hamas.

Whether Iran provided Hamas merely long-range rocket-technology, as it claims, or real off-the-shelf pieces is immaterial. What is material is that after helping Hezbollah secure itself against frequent Israeli depravations, it has made another Israeli victim feel bold enough, if not fully secure, to confront it with a real sting.

In the process, Iran has punched a big hole in the Israel’s overinflated hot air ego-balloon – inflated by America’s active military (both hardware and intelligence) support not just in peace time but even during its wars against Palestinians/Arabs since 1967 Arab-Israel war.

This is definitely a great achievement for Iran, boosting its stock on the Arab streets to the detriment of Arab monarchs and Sunni protagonists who have become Zionist tools against Shia Iran. And at the same time Iran has severely sweakened Israel on one of its war fronts.

Iran’s win doesn’t end there.

The way war ended has greatly helped Obama, too, which has significantly improved opportunities for him to resolves Iran’s nuclear issue diplomatically.

Here is possibly how.

It is no secret how difficult Israel’s drumbeaters in America and Netanyahu, in particular — personally and through his cheerleaders in US Congress — made Obama’s life from the day he came to office. He was greeted with Operation Cast Lead by Ehud Olmert and then Netanyahu didn’t let any forward movement on the Middle East peace process by refusing even temporary freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank. On Iran, Netanyahu, on the back of Republicans, kept Obama on tenterhooks through threats (of war on Iran, demands for “redlines”) and theatrics (in UNGA). Not satisfied, Netanyahu finally made a direct hit at Obama, supporting and financing his opponent Republican Mitt Romney.

It is in this context that people interpreted Obama’s open and strong defense of Netanyahu’s latest attack on Gaza as the abject surrender to Netanyahu and Zionist lobbies.  However, some details have emerged that tell a different story.

Writing in the New York Times, Helene Cooper and Mark Landler  in their article “Obama, Showing Support for Israel, Gains New Leverage Over Netanyahu” tell how intensely Obama was working for a ceasefire right from the moment Israeli attack began, talking frequently to President Morsi on phone, including through the night after he (Obama) was hardly done with summit meeting in Cambodia, securing nod from Morsi for Secretary Clinton’s visit to the region for participating in the ceasefire negotiations. They think Obama’s public defense of Israeli attack on Gaza was directed at gaining “new leverage over Netanyahu” with the Israeli public.

Could we say same holds for the cancellation of just cancelled WMD-Free Middle East Conference?”

Well, we should expect to show it up soon as the Israeli elections come closer.

Beyond the possibility of influencing Netanyahu’s reelection, Cooper and Landler argue Netanyahu may have yielded far more to Obama in wider Middle East. Quoting Middle East experts, they write:

“All of this … means that Mr. Obama may have buttressed his own standing with the Israeli public, and is now in a far better position to start pressing Mr. Netanyahu on issues from the Israeli siege of Gaza to Iran to the dormant Middle East peace process, where he has had little leverage.” (italics mine).

Obama thus needs to thank Iran for finding an opportunity so soon to turn tables on Netanyahu.

However, it is also a fact that Obama hadn’t been silent and simply waiting for such an unexpected opportunity.

Obama rebuffing Netanyahu by refusing him meeting during latter’s US visit for UNGA meeting is well known; so are his remarks, “You’re sick of him, but I have to deal with him every day.” What is not in the main news, though, is how Obama has been going about dismantling the alleged plot, linking Netanyahu with neocons and some senior US army officers, to overthrow Obama administration in case of his re-election.

Obama has been using blunt axe in recent months against some high profile senior military and intelligence officers, dismissing some, demoting or letting retire others. Contrary to the officially stated position on these sackings (like “sweetheart” dalliance or “expense padding”), knowledgeable people (e.g., here and here) link them with their complicity in the alleged coup plot.

(As a related aside: So much drastic is happening to the US military but curiously the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, doesn’t appear visible anywhere. He seems to have taken low profile since his plane was attacked on Bagaram air base in Afghanistan in August 20012 soon after he flew from Israel where he is said to have told Netanyahu “No” to war on Iran. The attack was thought inexplicable given                                                                                                                                                                                      the: “The rocket detection systems, early warning blimps with ground penetrating synthetic aperture radar and the continual coverage by UAV drones using infrared detection, $2 billion in technology on this one perimeter alone.”)

Whether the alleged coup was really plotted or not, time will reveal. However, what is well known is that some Israeli lobbyists, like of WINEP, have been openly advocating false flag operation to provoke America into war on Iran. Also, what is no secret is that one such attempt was actually made during Bush43’s presidency in 2007 by the US Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff and Commander Lynn Chow, most likely on the then Vice-President Dick Cheney’s order. The plan fortunately was leaked in time by former National Security Advisor to Presidents Clinton and Bush 43, Gwyneth Todd, working for at the time for Cosgriff, thus saving may be millions more Muslims from Zio-neocon planned butchery – at least until now. Five years later, coinciding with the time when many army and intelligence officers were made to fall like dominos, in September Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Patrick Leahy, Directed the Department of Defense to conduct an inquiry into this false flag plot.

The latest development, that appears in the same vein, is the announcement of the ‘Presidential Memorandum — National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs.’ The memorandum primarily envisages “to provide direction and guidance to promote the development of effective insider threat programs within departments and agencies to deter, detect, and mitigate actions by employees who may represent a threat to national security.”

Who could be the “employees who may represent a threat to national security?”

Answer probably lies in the conclusions of the yet-to-be publically announced recent report entitled “Preparing For A Post Israel Middle East” prepared, according to Franklin Lamb, by all of the 16 American intelligence agencies comprising the US Intelligence Community. One of the conclusions specifically seems relevant to the “Insider threat Policy” memo:

“Gross Israeli interference in the internal affairs of the United States through spying and illegal US arms transfers. This includes supporting more than 60 ‘front organizations’ and  approximately 7,500 US officials who do Israel’s bidding and seek to dominate and intimidate the media and agencies of  the US government which should no longer be condoned.”

If “Insider Threat Programs” guidelines are implemented effectively, it should starve Zionist lobbyists dry and put Israel in its rightful lowly place and let US administration see Middle East problem from its correct perspective (which is primarily rooted in illegal occupation and land grab).

Anyway, having put Netanyahu and his American backers, accomplices and conspirators on the defensive, Obama should feel free enough to move ahead to seek a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear issue in the short term and mend US-Iran relations on the long term. However, on the Middle East, he could initially feel some resistance from wounded Netanyahu.

Finally, could the withdrawal of one of the two US aircraft carriers from the Persian Gulf — stated reason: “unexpected repairs” – then be actually meant as the first signal in the direction of lowering psychological and military pressures on Iran– or, perhaps a first return gesture in the way of thanks to Iran from Obama.

If these observations and “optimistic” (or misplaced?) inferences hold any water, the best thing would be that all this is happening well before Obama is to begin his second term. He has full four years to work unfettered by re-election politics to remedy the United States and to let the Muslim world cool.

http://www.infowars.com/us-created-syrian-opposition-led-by-big-oil-rep/

US-Created “Syrian Opposition” Led by Big Oil Rep

As in Libya, Syrian “opposition” is led by long-time servants of Western corporate-financiers.

Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
November 25, 2012

A year ago, it was reported that Libya’s new NATO-installed prime minister, Abdurrahim el-Keib, was in fact a long-time US resident, having taught at the University of Alabama and was formally employed by the Petroleum Institute, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE and sponsored by British Petroleum (BP), Shell, France’s Total, the Japan Oil Development Company, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. El-Keib is listed as a “Professor and Chairman” in his Petroleum Institute profile which also describes extensive research conducted by him sponsored by various US government agencies and departments over the years.

His long history of serving and working in coordination with Western governments and corporations made him and his collaborators the ideal candidates to prepare Libya for its place within the Wall Street-London international order.

Now it is revealed that the US-handpicked opposition, announced in Doha, Qatar earlier this month, is led by a similarly compromised figure, Moaz al-Khatib. The corporate-financier-funded Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reported of al-Khatib that: 

Moaz al-Khatib, an oil sector engineer and former imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, has garnered substantial praise since his designation, while Riad Seif and Suhair al-Atassi bring their own credibility to the coalition. They have now set up shop in Cairo and have received the full endorsement of France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council as the “sole representative” of the Syrian opposition. The European Union and the United States have endorsed the group in a more general fashion.

Even more importantly, from Syrian citizens of various affiliations with whom I have met recently, it is clear that al-Khatib and his associates seem to draw praise for their opposition to the regime—as an imam, al-Khatib refused to follow the speeches imposed by the regime and was imprisoned—their resistance, and their tolerance. These endorsements are a first achievement, but a number of steps are necessary before Moaz al-Khatib becomes the real head of the Syrian opposition and enters into a substantive relationship with EU leaders.

However, this resounding praise should be kept in the context that among the Carnegie Endowment’s sponsors are in fact many “oil sector” giants including British Petroleum (BP), Chevron, Exxon, and Shell.

VoltarieNet’s Thierry Meyssan reported in an article titled, “The many faces of Sheikh Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib” that:  

Completely unknown to the international public only a week ago, Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib has been catapulted to the presidency of the Syrian National Coalition, which represents pro-Western opposition in the Damascus government. Portrayed by an intense public relations campaign as a highly moral personality with no partisan or economic attachments, he is in truth a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and an executive of the Shell oil company.

Indeed, al-Khatib had worked at the al-Furat Petroleum Company for six years, according to the BBC,which is partnered with Shell Oil. Al-Khatib is also said to have lobbied for Shell in Syria between 2003-2004, and has likewise taught classes in both Europe and the United States, this according to his biography featured on his own website.

Video: The smirking crypto-sectarian extremist, and new Western proxy of the recently re-contrived “Syrian National Council,” Moaz al-Khatib admits that he’s been promised legitimacy and weapons despite openly declaring his intention of overthrowing the secular nation-state of Syria, and installing an “Islamic state.” Qatari state propaganda walks al-Khatib through the all-too-familiar talking points repeated by the US, UK, EU, Turkey and their Persian Gulf  collaborators. Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs sells the “legal” argument for circumventing the United Nations Security Council.    

While the global public is repeatedly told that the violence in Syria is the result of “pro-democratic” forces fighting against the “brutal regime” of President Bashar al-Assad, it is Moaz al-Khatib himself who inexplicably states that two certified autocracies, those of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are propping him up and that it is an “Islamic state” he hopes to create upon the rubble of a destroyed Syria.

Qatari state media front, Al Jazeera, credits the Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs for the very creation of al-Khatib’s new “opposition coalition. Al-Khatib, in an Al Jazeera interview, counts the two absolute monarchies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia as his “friends,” and admits – that while he cannot say who – “friends” have promised him weapons as he embarks on the creation of this “Islamic state.” Despite his assurances that his planned “Islamic state” will exhibit tolerance, festering extremist regimes such as Libya and Egypt, created with the same Western-backed formula now at work in Syria, have already proven such assurances are merely rhetoric aimed at placating public opinion long enough for Syria’s secular institutions to be irrevocably disfigured.

Already in Syria, al-Khatib’s “freedom fighters” are exposed as both foreign extremists – affiliates of Al Qaeda, as well as sectarian-driven Muslim Brotherhood militants that have plagued Syria’s sociopolitical landscape for decades. Clearly, al-Khatib has played a role in perpetuating this plague, clearly he plans to continue well into the foreseeable future – this time with Western, Turkish, Qatari and Saudi support.

and....





http://www.infowars.com/as-israel-gaza-charade-concludes-west-pivots-back-to-syria/

As Israel-Gaza Charade Concludes, West Pivots Back to Syria

Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
Nov 22, 2012

Reuters reported in their article, “Jubilant Palestinians mob Gaza streets,” regarding the ceasefire agreement “brokered” by Egypt that, “the agreement calls on Hamas and Israel to cease all forms of military activity, including Israel’s targeted killings of militants, and for an easing of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza.”

The article featured a photograph of cheering Palestinians in Gaza waving the Egyptian flag, reflecting both the true purpose and success of the Israeli-Gaza charade. Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s conveniently-timed visit to Gaza just days before hostilities erupted was designed to give the despotic Persian Gulf monarchy a boost in both legitimacy and credibility after the conclusion of this staged spectacle – as was highly publicized rhetoric made by Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Israel.

Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, all in fact partners with Israel and its Western sponsors in the subversion and overthrow of Syria, now have a renewed popular mandate across the Arab World, as a direct result of Israel’s premeditated, predictable failure in Gaza.

Already, Western pundits and policy makers are gloating over one additional result of the ceasefire, one already being spun into a narrative regarding the “new Middle East.” The Brookings Institution’s Doha Center director, Salman Shaikh, boasted in Tweets that the ceasefire deal handed in particular, Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar credit for both the support of Gaza and the cessation of hostilities. He would state specifically:

“IF truce holds and Gaza is opened up, Hamas would have ended Israel’s 5-year effort to isolate it in Gaza. Result of Egypt,Qatar,Turkey efforts. Regional spoilers will strike soon or they will be on the defensive.”

By “regional spoilers,” Shaikh meant Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as Syria, and Iran. And as Israel concedes to a humiliating ceasefire after another exercise in futile but destructive brutality, with some Israeli protestersallegedly incensed and taking to the streets in protest, one can almost make out the smirk on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s face, as his regional co-conspirators receive a PR boost that will be essential in the upcoming weeks as the West, including Israel, pivots back toward achieving the overthrow of neighboring Syria.

It should be noted that Shaikh, of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, has been heavily involved in the enumerating and documentation of Western designs against Syria – and is in fact based in the allegedly anti-Israeli nation of Qatar. He was the co-author of the Brookings Saban Center, Middle East Memo #21 “Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf), which articulated plans involving the carving out of “safe havens” within Syrian territory along the Turkish border and a coordinated campaign by both Turkey and Israel to pressure Syria’s borders to exact defections within Syria’s military ranks. The report was written in March 2012, and since then, both Turkey and Israel have demonstrably coordinated efforts to apply pressure on Syria’s borders.

With a strategic defeat of Israel by what the Washington Post calls “a changed Middle East,” the Saudi-Qatari-Egyptian-Turkey axis, a united front of sectarian-hardliners long-sought by Wall Street and London to fight its regional enemies, will be better prepared to confront Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon – to accomplish what the US and Israel have themselves already tried but failed to achieve.

The Washington Post, easily recognized as a “right-wing” Neo-Conservative clearinghouse, and proponent of Israel, almost seemed to celebrate the united front that lined up behind Hamas in Gaza, against Israel. In their article, “Hamas finds greater support in a changed Middle East,” they state:

“Fenced in by an Israeli blockade and by the tacit consent of authoritarian Arab regimes that disdained Hamas’s Islamist politics, the group long relied on two international pariahs — Iran and Syria — for support.

But the outbreak of a revolt in Syria shattered ties between Hamas and the government of President Bashar al-Assad and forced a rift between Hamas and Shiite Iran. Hamas has since repositioned itself, gaining a new set of regional partners at a critical time.

Newly democratic Egypt and Tunisia, along with regionally influential Qatar and Turkey, have increasingly assumed the roles of Hamas’s new allies.”

Canada’s Globe and Mail  also featured an editorial citing the Israeli-Gaza conflict as a sign of waning Iranian-Syrian influence over Palestine, and the emergence of a “new Middle East.” Titled, “Gaza is testing the limits of Iran’s Mideast ambitions,”

Now, the focus is shifting away from Iran and to the “winners” of the Arab spring. Now, their commitment to a new foreign policy for a New Middle East will be tested. Will Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood pursue a more assertive policy vis-a-vis Israel compared to that of former president Hosni Mubarak? If there is more continuity than change in Egypt’s Israel policy, how will that affect Mr. Morsi’s apparent bid for regional leadership – or his hold on power at home?

Will Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s new role as the champion of the Sunni Arabs following his aggressive opposition to Mr. Assad survive if he fails to re-adopt his pre-Syria assertiveness against Israel’s Gaza policy? If he fails, will it prove that Mr. Erdogan’s Syria policy has weakened the “arc of resistance” and strengthened Israel regionally? Tehran certainly seems to hope that this will be the conclusion many in the region will reach.

Additional op-eds across the Western press are sure to be rolled out over the next week, hailing the “new Middle East’s” triumph during the Israeli-Gaza conflict. US President Barack Obama has already praised the Western-installed and backed regime in Cairo, Egypt, for its role in “mediating” the cease fire. Following the afterglow of this manufactured US-Israeli PR coup for its regional Arab and Turkish partners, a renewed push against Syria will ensue.

Israeli-Gaza Conflict – A Propagandist 2 for 1 Special.

While this “new Middle East” victory narrative is geared toward the Muslim World, and more specifically the Arab World in order to bolster support for a final push on Syria, another narrative is making its way through Neo-Conservative propaganda channels, including WorldNetDaily, Brietbart, and Fox News. Even as the West’s regional allies take full responsibility for bolstering Gaza during the recent conflict, it is being reported by Neo-Con fronts that not only did Gaza start the conflict, but that it was Iranian and Syrian weapons that enabled it.

Despite Hamas turning its back on both Iran and Syria, going as far as closing their offices in Damascus and rhetorically supporting the US-Israeli-Saudi backed terrorists now ravaging the country, the Western media has found a way to both diminish the role of Iran and Syria in the eyes of the Arab World, while continuing to demonize them as key aggressors against Israel in front of Western audiences.

On the Eve of Another Psy-Op Versus Syria.

Corporate-funded think-tank and purveyor of US foreign policy, the Brookings Institution, had in 2009 blueprinted the strategy with which the West would slowly strangle and topple the government of Iran. Throughout the pages of their report, “Which Path to Persia?” everything from sanctions, to purposefully provoking war with Iran, to stoking US-backed uprisings, to funding, training, and arming US State Department-listed terror organizations was plotted before being promptly executed.

Amongst those signing their names to this conspiracy to commit mass-murder against a sovereign nation was Michael O’Hanlon. One of O’Hanlon’s more recent works involves spelling out the “military options” the US has in regards to Syria in an op-ed aptly titled, “What Are Our Military Options in Syria?”

The West purposefully destabilized Syria, and is currently perpetuating extensive bloodshed through militant proxies funded, trained, and armed by the West and operating on Syria’s borders as well as within Syria itself. As the bloodshed mounts, the West is now insidiously using the carnage to justify more overt intervention to execute long planned regime change.

Just as it was spelled out and promptly executed in O’Hanlon’s “Which Path to Persia?,” the operation in Syria involves almost identical elements altered only slightly to suit Syria’s geopolitical predisposition. US-backed uprisings, armed militants, and sanctions have all already been set in motion with overt military options being all that is left on the table.

The military options O’Hanlon envisions to achieve the overthrow of Syria’s government include:

1. A punitive naval or air operation to encourage a coup against Assad
2. A broader Balkans-like campaign to help depose Assad
3. Creation of a safe zone for Syrian civilians

What Brookings is really saying…

What must be remembered is that O’Hanlon is not writing this for the consideration of the Pentagon. Instead, he is specifically writing this so that pundits and media outlets can repeat what is essentially extortion directed at Syria’s establishment. The purpose of this exercise is to prey on the fear of President Assad’s political allies and those across Syria’s business community who have so far stood behind their nation’s government.

It is hoped that the West can bluff their way into folding opposition by presenting them with a difficult and costly military campaign versus the alternative of “power sharing.” Unfortunately for US policy makers, Syria has already seen the dead end “power sharing” led to in Libya, a dead end Libya will remain in well into the foreseeable future. The rationale of businessmen capitulating to see UN sanctions relieved is also absurd considering the inevitable fracturing and perpetual destabilization that will wreck both the country and its economy should the current government fall.

Image: General Abdul Fattah Younis‘ reward for accepting offers to “power share” with the Libyan rebels was his assassination.

….

Syria’s opposition is entirely dependent on foreign fighters, foreign arms, foreign funds, and an international consensus that allows such foreign resources to continue flowing to them unabated. Already severe cracks have begun to show and now the West’s only chance is to psychologically break Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s power base through threats and perhaps even a limited military incursion. The catch is, should Syria remain united, order can be restored and nothing short of total war waged by the West could prevent it.

Syria Still has Only One Option.

Imperialism’s favorite trick throughout time has been to purposefully mire a targeted nation in internal strife to weaken it before preying on, and ruling over, both sides. This can be seen encapsulated in the following ancient Chinese stratagem:

When a country is beset by internal conflicts, when disease and famine ravage the population, when corruption and crime are rampant, then it will be unable to deal with an outside threat. This is the time to attack. -The 36 Strategies, #5 Loot a Burning House

While in reality it would likewise suit President Assad’s opponents, it is particularly important for those who have made the decision to stand by Syria’s ruling government to stay the course of restoring order and pursuing political solutions.

The West has gone too far, its credibility and operational capacity waning by the day, it has no choice but to continue pushing forward in hopes that all before it lack the fortitude to stand up and fight. The West will not stop until either Syria is divided and destroyed or the West itself crumbles in the midst of its untenable imperial conquest. Defection, capitulation, and failure are not options. Syria’s fate will be that of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, or worse if it falls. Unity has been and still is Syria’s only option.

and Russia setting up for coming events.....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-24/russia-sends-warships-gaza-coast

Russia Sends Warships To Gaza Coast

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/24/2012 13:53 -0500

• China
 
• Iran
 
• Israel
 
• Middle East

For the entire 8 day duration of Operation Pillar of Defense, there was one major geopolitical player who had been largely quiet and certainly absent from the scene: the same player whose unflinching position over the Syria conflict has so far prevented any intervention in the civil war torn country: Russia. The same Russia which has a military base in the Syrian port city of Tarsus, and thus in its own eyes, a very substantial "national interest" role to play in the middle east, one that is certainly opposing that of the US and the pro-NATO forces, a tension that will surely boil to the surface now that war between Iran and Israel is always at most "hours away" depending on who is asked, and which one day will be more than just a war of words. Today, Russia decided that it had kept quiet for too long over the Gaza conflict, with Voice of Russia reporting, courtesy of Al Arabiya, that Russian warships anchored off the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea will be put on military alertness should the conflict in Gaza escalate and brought in proximity, according Russian Navy Command source on Friday.

Sure enough, there is a diplomatic reason for the escalation: evacuation preparedness. To wit: "The detachment of combat ships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the Guards missile cruiser Moskva, the patrol ship Smetliviy, large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the sea tug MB-304 and the big sea tanker Ivan Bubnov, got the order to remain in the designated area of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea for a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from the area of the Gaza strip in case of escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”, the spokesperson said. He added that ship crew members will continue routine combat training, maintenance of equipment and weapons along with other military services.

A missile cruiser, which just happens to be the flag ship of the Russian Black Sea naval fleet, and whose purpose is "to destroy hostile surface ships" in order to aid evacuation? Odd...

Naturally, only very naive people would buy this "explanation", which does nothing to mitigate the factor that Russia, too, is now implicitly involved in the Gaza conflict. How soon until China sends a few of its own warships to the region. Just in case China nationals needs evaluation too.

And if indeed evacuation is the catalyst, it may happen soon, because the tenuous cease fire between the two nations may not last long following another reflaring of hostilities between Israel and Gaza:

Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border fence Friday in several locations in southern Gaza, testing expectations Israel would no longer enforce a 300-meter-wide (300-yard-wide) no-go zone on the Palestinian side of the fence that was meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel. In the past, Israeli soldiers routinely opened fire on those who crossed into the zone.

In one incident captured by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side.

Some Palestinians briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of “God is Great” and “Mursi, Mursi,” in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, whose mediation led to the truce.

At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, “Go there, before I shoot you,” and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee, assuming a firing position. Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded by Israeli fire near the border.

Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. observer, said Israeli forces fatally shot Anwar Abdulhadi Qudaih in the head and injured at least 19 other Palestinian civilians in a border area east of Khan Younis.

During the incidents, Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the fence.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official at the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, told The Associated Press that the violence would have no effect on the ceasefire.

The crowds were mainly made up of young men but also included farmers hoping to once again farm lands in the buffer zone. Speaking by phone from the buffer zone, 19-year-old Ali Abu Taimah said he and his father were checking three acres of family land that have been fallow for several years.

“When we go to our land, we are telling the occupation (Israel) that we are not afraid at all,” he said.

Israel’s military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at different points, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but after the Palestinians refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. A Palestinian infiltrated into Israel during the unrest, but was returned to Gaza, it said.

As we previously showed the Brent market priced in a ceasefire for about 10 minutes last week, before sending Brent to its weekly high, on the realization that the peace between Israel and Gaza is merely lip service until at least one more foreign political entity figures out some way to benefit from a re-escalation of hostilities. Only this time the Russians will be there too.

 

Russian warships in position opposite Israel

DEBKAfile Special Report November 23, 2012, 4:58 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Russian warships   US warships   Israel   Syria 

The Russian Moskva missile cruiser

The Black Sea Fleet's naval task force, including the missile cruiser Moskva, the destroyer Smetlivy, the large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the tugboat MB-304 and the large oil tanker Ivan Bubnov, have received an order to remain in a designated area in the eastern Mediterranean ready to evacuate Russian citizens from the Gaza Strip should the Palestinian-Israeli conflict worsen.

This statement was issued Friday, Nov. 23, by a source in the Russian Navy’s Mai Command.

DEBKAfile’s military sources: The Russian statement is in effect a cover story for the naval task force’s real mission, which is to stand by for coming developments in relation to the Syrian conflict.

Moscow used the pretext first offered by Washington last week for the stationing of three US warships led by the USS Iwo Jima amphibious ready group opposite Israeli shores last week, i.e. as a precautionary measure for the evacuation of US citizens in a war emergency.

The Iwo Jima was meanwhile to be found Friday in waters opposite Syria.