NATO's Expanding Presence in "Fortress Persian Gulf"

What Are the Possible Consequences of Turkey-Qatar Military Cooperation?

February 15, 2016 (Martin Berger - NEO) - A short while ago Turkey and Qatar announced that they have an agreement in place to further deepen their military cooperation within the framework of the “struggle against common enemies“, which implies the construction of two new military bases: a Turkish one in Qatar and a Qatari base in Turkey.

As it was made clear by the Turkish Ambassador to Qatar, Ahmet Demirok, Ankara is planning to construct a multi-purpose military installation that will become home to some 3,000 soldiers. By taking this step Turkey expects to become a state that is directly influencing security in the Persian Gulf. In the future, this base will also provide Turkish armed forces with an outpost for operations in the Red Sea, North Africa, along with the access to the waters of the Pacific, which Turkey lost back in 1950.

Just as with the creation of the British military base in Bahrain, and the French military base in the UAE, this deal is but a step in the implementation of Washington’s plan of enhancing the role of its allies in ensuring regional security in the Persian Gulf, that its satellites are to take at their own expense. It is expected that in late February, the US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Charles Johnson is going to visit Turkey to offer local authorities American technologies that should allow Ankara to enhance its own national security, including reconnaissance balloons, explosives spotting devices, and so on. It is believed that Secretary Jeh Charles Johnson is going to discuss the strengthening of the fight against ISIL along with “the mutual interests” the US and Turkey can protect with the Turkish base in Qatar.

Turkey has been a NATO member since the 1950s.

Of course, experts that have been watching closely Turkey’s and Qatar’s policies in recent years, won’t be surprised by this chain of events. In an effort to regain the influence that the Ottoman Empire enjoyed in the Middle East, President RecepTayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party have been using every pretext to justify the future deployment of its troops in the Persian Gulf through the “sincere” desire to intensify “the fight against common threats“, while making Turkey’s military presence in the region official.

However, a military agreement between Qatar and Turkey is of vital strategic importance for both states, since by coincidence or not, they share regional interests. Turkey and Qatar have been supporting similar extremist and even terrorist groups used extensively in the fight against the Syrian government. Both states have also been deeply involved in the political struggle for influence in Egypt, by sponsoring the Muslim Brotherhood organization and former President Mohamed Morsi, along with promoting Wahhabi ideas not only in North Africa and the Middle East, but also in Central Asia.


It should be noted that Qatar and Turkey are the original creators of ISIL, and they have been investing heavily in the strengthening of this terrorist organization ever since. While Qatar provided a certain share of its financial wealth with ISIL, Turkey has spent significant time on the recruitment and training of ISIL militants for them to then wreak havoc in Iraq and Syria. Turkey did its best to provide its terrorist creation with sophisticated smuggling networks that allowed ISIL to ship stolen oil and drugs across the globe. The Islamic State repaid their masters with a constant stream of Muslim refugees heading to Europe in a bid to save their lives. After all, Turkey is the first to benefit from the flow of migrants that are supposed to conquer a foothold in new lands, planting the seeds for future victories of a new Ottoman Empire.

Bilateral military cooperation between Turkey and Qatar received a significant boost back in December 2014 when the parties signed a military agreement that received a whole new meaning a year later. This secret agreement was expanded during the visits of Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan to Doha last December, when Ankara managed to secure Doha’s promise to compensate a portion of its losses from the cessation of Russian tourism to Turkey, believed to have caused a whopping 3 billion dollars in economic damage, along with the promise that Qatar will be providing Ankara with gas supplies, should Russia decide to terminate its supplies. In addition, Qatar has agreed to pay all the costs that will be attributed to the construction of Turkey’s military base on its territory, believed to be as high as 1 billion dollars.

The real question is what is Qatar getting in return? – Although both countries have sought to hide the answer from the general public, it is still fairly obvious.

First of all, Qatar will greatly enhance its military and political independence from its neighbor – Saudi Arabia, which has been repeatedly trying to distance itself from Qatari policies and even condemned Doha for the financial support it has been providing to radical extremists. Moreover, there’s little doubt that it will untie Doha’s hands in the business of sponsoring radical movements in the Islamic world, which have been labeled by numerous experts as extremist or even terrorist groups. Qatar will be able to train future members of such groups on its military base in Turkey, as well as using Turkish extremists on its territory for the same purposes, raising new radical hordes for military engagements in Syria or other countries. Such grim predictions are not only made by international experts, but by the members of the Turkish opposition, the Republican People’s Party as well.

According to the French agency Intelligence, Saudi Arabia has opposed the construction of the Turkish military base in Qatar since its first announcement, as has the UAE.. The Arab world seems to be frankly worried by the strengthening of the military cooperation between Turkey and Qatar, since this basically means that radical movements like the Muslim Brotherhood will be getting even more active, equating to greater adversity for a number of regional players. Under these circumstances, taking into account the well-known unpredictability of Erdogan’s behavior, in the near future we may witness the worsening of Turkey’s relations with a number of Arab states and the further destabilization of the region.

Martin Berger is a Czech-based freelance journalist and analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.

 
http://journal-neo.org/2016/02/15/what-are-the-possible-consequences-of-turkey-qatar-military-cooperation/

Qatar's Isolation a Geopolitical Trick?

Image: The West enjoys portraying Qatar as a modern nation-state
on the rise. Under the carefully managed facade lies barbarism and
institutionalized support for international terrorism in support of the
West's hegemonic goals across the planet - not to mention the fact that
it is ruled by an unelected, autocratic, hereditary dictatorship. 

March 13, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci - New Eastern Outlook) - The sudden shift in Qatar's standings in the Middle East has left much of the world perplexed, suspicious, and skeptical. Others are hopeful that it indicates a fraying in an axis that has been sowing violence and destabilization across much of North Africa and the Middle East for years. 

The Irish Times reported in its article, "Saudi Arabia threatens to blockade Qatar over terrorism," that: 

Saudi Arabia has threatened to blockade neighbouring Qatar by air, land and sea unless Doha cuts ties with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, closes global channel al-Jazeera, and expels local branches of the US Brookings Institution and Rand Corporation think tanks. 

The threat was issued by Riyadh before it withdrew its ambassador to Doha and branded as “terrorist organisations” the brotherhood, Lebanon’s Hizbullah and al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Jabhat al-Nusra. 

Although the kingdom has long been the font of Sunni ultra-orthodox Salafism and jihadism, it now seeks to contain radical movements and media and other organisations giving them publicity.

The Irish Times would then go on to point out the bizarre contradiction of the Saudis' move, reminding readers that:

While the law and decree are meant to curb jihadi operations on Saudi soil as well as counter non-jihadi dissidence, these legal instruments appear to contradict government policy on foreign jihad. 

While 400 Saudis have returned home from Syrian battlefields, another 1,000-2,000 are believed to be fighting with jihadi groups funded by the government as well as wealthy Saudis, Kuwaitis and Qataris.

What then could the reason be for this clearly hypocritical, conflicting foreign policy shift? Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have also joined Saudi Arabia in isolating Qatar leaving many to speculate over a wide range of possibilities. 

1. An Axis in Need of  Renewed Credibility? 

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, and the United States have been inexorably linked geopolitically, financially, and even militarily for decades. In recent years, this axis has worked in tandem to destabilize, destroy, and reorder North Africa and the Middle East through a combination of covertly-backed political uprising (the US-engineered Arab Spring), terrorism, proxy-war (Syria), and outright invasion (Libya). The proxy networks used to carry out this vast geopolitical reordering includes the terrorist organization Al Qaeda and its various regional franchises, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood which provides the sociopolitical scaffolding upon which Al Qaeda builds its support, its ranks, and its material resources.

With Libya left decimated and in the hands of Western-aligned proxies, and Syria emerging from a prolonged proxy-war the victors over Western-backed militants, the spanning and vulnerable axis may no longer be needed to operate in such an overt manner upon the global stage. 

Continue reading at New Eastern Outlook... 

Tahrir turbulence: Washington & SCAF as obstacles to change in Egypt

Nile Bowie

Russia Today

As figures in Egypt’s powerful military collude with the political opposition to form a civilian interim government, what kind of political and economic solutions will the new regime offer, and is Washington’s hidden hand at play?

Political polarization has reached new heights in Egypt following the dramatic overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader. Recent polls taken before the June 30 protests showed that SCAF’s approval rating had reached 94 percent while the Muslim Brotherhood’s rating was at 28 percent and the opposition’s at 38 percent. It’s strange that Egypt’s anti-Morsi activists would place their trust in SCAF given its extensive crackdown on civilian protesters since the revolution began, and certainly no one can deny that the Muslim Brotherhood was isolated during its final days. It is highly unlikely that Morsi would ever be reinstated at this point, and the interim government can be expected to pursue austerity measures, economic restructuring, and a foreign policy in step with Western-Gulf states. Morsi had something that the current rulers of Egypt do not – democratic legitimacy – and despite that only 34 percent of Egyptians took part in the vote, the result should have been respected by the military. Morsi was by no means a democrat, but the Muslim Brotherhood captured the majority in parliament, and their persecution and total exclusion from the interim government is unacceptable.

After sweeping away two presidents since 2011, the original goals of the revolution, embodied in the popular slogan “Bread, Freedom, Social Justice and Human Dignity,” haven’t come close to materializing. For all intents and purposes, life for the average Egyptian is more difficult now than under Hosni Mubarak, and although Morsi’s shortcomings may not have justified a military coup, his tenure was a spectacular failure. Although many perceive Morsi and Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) as being hijackers of the 2011 revolution, the bottom line is that the revolutionary fervor emanating from Tahrir Square is not directed against one party or political figure, but against economic conditions and neo-liberal tendencies that have largely remained unchanged throughout the ebb and flow of Egyptian politics in recent times.

Continue reading >>

Nile Bowie is a Malaysia-based political analyst and a columnist with Russia Today. He also contributes to PressTV, Global Research, and CounterPunch. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Struggle for Influence in Syria

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Struggle for Influence in Syria

By Eric Draitser

StopImperialism.com

This week’s resignationof Ghassan Hitto, the so-called “Prime Minister in waiting” of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, coupled with the July 6^th election of Ahmed Assi al-Jarba to head the umbrella coalition of US-supported proxy groups attempting to topple the Assad government, has revealed further cracks in the edifice of the imperialist assault on Syria.

Qatar's Man in the Middle 

Ghassan Hitto, the Syrian expatriate and technocrat from Texas, was seen by most informed observers as the darling of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar.  As noted by AFP shortly after Hitto’s election:

Some coalition members described Hitto as a consensus candidate pleasing both the opposition’s Islamist and liberal factions.  But some of the 70-odd Coalition members withdrew from the consultations before the vote could take place, accusing opposition heavyweight Muslim Brotherhood of imposing Hitto as a candidate. 

Indeed, the imposition of Hitto as the political face of the foreign-backed opposition was seen by many inside the opposition and around the world as a power-play by Qatar to control the direction of the conflict in Syria and establish Doha as the real center of power in a post-Assad Syria.

This connection between Hitto, the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar was the source of much tension within the opposition.  The NY Times reported that:

 [Hitto] faced several challenges: he was seen by some rebels and activists as out of touch with the country, and some members of the often-squabbling coalition complained that he was a favorite of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and of its main foreign backer Qatar.  Many in the opposition say Qatar wields too much influence in the movement.

What became clear during the course of Hitto’s short tenure as the public face of the foreign-backed opposition was that he was less a political leader than a proxy of Qatar and the United States.  This despite what can only be called competition between its allies in Doha and Riyadh who at times collaborate and at other times compete for power and influence among the extremist jihadi elements throughout the Middle East and North Africa.  Essentially then, Hitto must be understood as a placeholder, a man whose responsibility was not to lead, but simply to act as a foothold for the al-Thani regime and the Muslim Brotherhood within the leadership of the opposition.  The goal was of course to have Hitto in place for the potential fall of Assad, so that Qatar could immediately secure its control over the country in a post-Assad scenario.

Saudis Reclaiming Dominant Role?

Hitto’s resignation places even more significance on last week’s election of Ahmed Assi al-Jarba as head of the Syrian Opposition Coalition.  Whereas Hitto was understood to be a proxy of Qatar, Jarba can be correctly characterized as a proxy of Saudi Arabia.  As McClatchy News explains:

            

            Jarba is a chief of the Shammar tribe, one of the Arab world’s most powerful clans with members stretching from southern Turkey to Saudi Arabia...He was jailed early in the revolt against Assad…After being released from prison in August 2012, he fled to Saudi Arabia where his tribal connections put him into close touch with senior members of the Saudi intelligence services.

It should be noted that the innocuous-sounding phrase “close touch with senior members of Saudi intelligence” is a euphemism for Saudi agent, which is precisely what Jarba is.  Note the fact that, like Hitto, Jarba has already stated publicly his opposition to peace talks with the Assad government, thereby perpetuating the cycle of violence that benefits Riyadh and Doha and costs more innocent Syrians their lives. 

Jarba has said that “Geneva in these circumstances is impossible.”  However, one must consider precisely which “circumstances” he was referring to.  Keen political observers who have been following events in Syria for some time understand the “circumstances” to be the continued military defeats of the foreign-backed rebels and jihadis by the forces of the Assad government.  Jarba and his Saudi handlers understand quite clearly that they must first achieve substantive military victories on the ground before they can even pay lip service to peace talks.

It is precisely this desperate need for tactical victories by the rebels that has driven Saudi Arabia to become even more involved in fomenting this war.  Using Jarba as their proxy, the Saudis have attempted to launch a new and perhaps even deadlier phase of the war against Syria.  In his first two days as head of the coalition, Jarba has already announcedthat the rebels will soon receive “a new shipment of sophisticated weapons from Saudi Arabia” as well as proposing a truce during Ramadan. 

However, these announcements should be interpreted as cynical ploys designed to buy time for Saudi arms to reach their destination and for the rebels to train in their use.  Jarba said as much when he proclaimed to Reuters, “I will not rest until I procure the advanced weapons needed to hit back at Assad and his allies.  I give myself one month to achieve what I am intent to do.”  So, while proposing a one-month truce under the cover of religious piety in the observance of Ramadan, Jarba gives himself exactly that same one month window to procure advanced weapons.  The hypocrisy and duplicity needs no further explanation.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have a complicated relationship, at times friendly and at other times acrimonious.  Throughout the course of the destabilization and subversion of Syria, the two countries have collaborated in the funding, arming, and importation of jihadi elements from throughout the Muslim world.  They have both been linked to intelligence agencies of the imperial Western powers while maintaining close contact with terror networks foreign and domestic.  As such, both countries have played the indispensable role of intermediary between these disparate forces.  However, now that the threat to their terrorist proxies in Syria is an existential one, and Assad victories become ever more decisive, it seems the bond between the monarchies is fraying.  The recent changes in the political leadership of the so-called opposition merely reflect this.

Eric Draitser is the founder of StopImperialism.com.  He is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City.  You can email him at ericdraitser@gmail.com.

Is UK Defense Contractor Planning Syrian WMD False Flag?

Unconfirmed "leaked" documents indicate Washington-approved, Qatari-funded false flag attack using Libyan chemical weapons in Homs, Syria. 

January 28, 2013 (LD) - Documents allegedly "hacked" belonging to UK-based defense contractor Britam (official website here) appear to show the company considering an offer from Qatar to use Libyan chemical weapons in Homs, Syria in order to frame both the Syrian and Russian governments. The plan involves using Britam's Ukrainian mercenaries and Soviet-era chemical weapon shells brought in from Libya's large, Al Qaeda-linked, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) controlled arsenals.

The e-mail reads:

Phil

We've got a new offer. It's about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington. 

We'll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.

Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?

Kind regards

David

It should be remembered that this is not confirmed - and there is most likely no way that it can ever be confirmed. However, in light of recent, and continuous attempts by the Israelis and NATO to justify a military intervention in Syria based on fears of "chemical weapons," and considering how a nearly decade-long war and occupation was fought in neighboring Iraq under similar and patently false pretenses, every potential piece of evidence should be taken seriously.

It should also be remembered that during the Iraq War, British special forces were caught carrying out false flag attacks, dressed as sectarian extremists in Basra, Iraq, and shooting at Iraqi policemen. After the British soldiers were arrested, the British army attacked the police station they were being held at to free them. The precedence of Western nations using false flag operations, including terrorism, to achieve geopolitical objectives beyond their borders most certainly exists.

The Libyan Connection

Mention of acquiring chemical weapons from Libya is particularly troubling. Libya's arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists with NATO assistance in 2011 in the culmination of efforts to overthrow the North African nation . Since then, Libya's militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda's Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria.

In addition to small arms, heavier weapons are also making their way through this extensive network. The Washington Post in their article, "Libyan missiles on the loose," reported:

"Two former CIA counterterrorism officers told me last week that technicians recently refurbished 800 of these man-portable air-defense systems (known as MANPADS) — some for an African jihadist group called Boko Haram that is often seen as an ally of al-Qaeda — for possible use against commercial jets flying into Niger, Chad and perhaps Nigeria."

While undoubtedly these weapons are also headed to Niger, Chad, and perhaps Nigeria, they are veritably headed to Syria. Libyan LIFG terrorists are confirmed to be flooding into Syria from Libya. In November 2011, the Telegraph in their article, "Leading Libyan Islamist met Free Syrian Army opposition group," would report:

Abdulhakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," said a military official working with Mr Belhadj. "Mustafa Abdul Jalil (the interim Libyan president) sent him there."

Another Telegraph article, "Libya’s new rulers offer weapons to Syrian rebels," would admit

Syrian rebels held secret talks with Libya's new authorities on Friday, aiming to secure weapons and money for their insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

At the meeting, which was held in Istanbul and included Turkish officials, the Syrians requested "assistance" from the Libyan representatives and were offered arms, and potentially volunteers.

"There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria," said a Libyan source, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see."

Later that month, some 600 Libyan terrorists would be reported to have entered Syria to begin combat operations and have been flooding into the country ever since.

Image: Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as "foreign invasion." 

....

Washington Post's reported "loose missiles" in Libya are now turning up on the battlefield in Syria. While outfits like the Guardian, in their article "Arms and the Manpads: Syrian rebels get anti-aircraft missiles," are reporting the missiles as being deployed across Syria, they have attempted to downplay any connection to Libya's looted arsenal and the Al Qaeda terrorists that have imported them. In contrast, Times has published open admissions from terrorists themselves admitting they are receiving heavy weapons including surface-to-air missiles from Libya.

In Time's article, "Libya’s Fighters Export Their Revolution to Syria," it is reported: 

Some Syrians are more frank about the assistance the Libyans are providing. “They have heavier weapons than we do,” notes Firas Tamim, who has traveled in rebel-controlled areas to keep tabs on foreign fighters. “They brought these weapons to Syria, and they are being used on the front lines.” Among the arms Tamim has seen are Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, known as the SAM 7.

Libyan fighters largely brush off questions about weapon transfers, but in December they claimed they were doing just that. “We are in the process of collecting arms in Libya,” a Libyan fighter in Syria told the French daily Le Figaro. “Once this is done, we will have to find a way to bring them here.”

Clearly NATO intervention in Libya has left a vast, devastating arsenal in the hands of sectarian extremists, led by US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization LIFG, that is now exporting these weapons and militants to NATO's other front in Syria. It is confirmed that both Libyan terrorists and weapons are crossing the Turkish-Syrian border, with NATO assistance, and it is now clear that heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft weapons have crossed the border too.

 

The Guardian reported in their November 2011 article, "Libyan chemical weapons stockpiles intact, say inspectors," that:

Libya's stockpiles of mustard gas and chemicals used to make weapons are intact and were not stolen during the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, weapons inspectors have said.

But also reported that:

The abandonment or disappearance of some Gaddafi-era weapons has prompted concerns that such firepower could erode regional security if it falls into the hands of Islamist militants or rebels active in north Africa. Some fear they could be used by Gaddafi loyalists to spread instability in Libya.

Last month Human Rights Watch urged Libya's ruling national transitional council to take action over large numbers of heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, it said were lying unguarded more than two months after Gaddafi was overthrown.

On Wednesday the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the UN would send experts to Libya to help ensure nuclear material and chemical weapons did not fall into the wrong hands.

And while inspectors claim that Libya's chemical weapons are in the "government's" hands and not "extremists'," it is clear by the Libyan government's own admission, that they themselves are involved in sending fighters and weapons into Syria.

Bottom Line

It cannot be said for certain whether the e-mail allegedly sent by Britam is genuine, but the West is openly subverting Syria through the funding and arming of terrorists from across the Arab World. Terrorists are confirmed to be moving through NATO-member Turkey, with the Turkish government's explicit assistance. Heavy weapons are both being supplied and paid for by the West, and likewise brought across Syria's borders through NATO-member Turkey.

Despite this, the momentum of NATO's armed, proxy-aggression toward Syria has been broken multiple times. Threats of a no-fly zone are waning as NATO's proxies are neutralized with little left to establish a no-fly zone over. The fear now for NATO and its various partners across the region, from Israel to Erdogan in Turkey, to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, is that there will be nothing left of the so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) to intervene on behalf of.

With time running out and the Syrian people still stalwartly defending their nation, it is possible that the desperate measures described in the alleged e-mail from Britam have been considered - as the rhetorical groundwork to accommodate such measures has already been long-ago laid out by the complicit Western media.  The purpose of exposing this alleged e-mail is not necessarily to accuse Britam, but to remind readers to be vigilant. And should "chemical weapons" be used in Syria in an apparent joint Syrian-Russian operation, Britam, the United Kingdom, and Qatar should be the first suspects that come to mind.

West Savages Gaza - Slowly Burns Syria

Gaza destruction is one of many in an array of desperate measures to inject legitimacy into anti-Syria-Iran campaign ahead of final push.

November 20, 2012 (LD) - Even as nations like Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt protest the Western-backed and facilitated destruction of Gaza by Israel, they, along with these very Western nations they protest, including Israel, continue coordinating efforts with each other to topple and destroy Syria.

Weapons and aid that many Arabs would like to see sent to defend Gaza, are instead in the hands of terrorists killing fellow Arabs across the Levant in the pursuit of long-ago articulated US-Israeli-Saudi plans to reshape the Middle East for their collective hegemonic ambitions.

Israeli Attack on Gaza - A Feast for those Starving of Legitimacy

In fact, the Israeli attack on Gaza - an otherwise fruitless adventure assured to end in either an embarrassing early ceasefire for Israel, or another 2006 Lebanon-style strategic defeat - is designed to give Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, and others across the region currently working with the US, UK, EU, and Israel to destroy Syria, a renewed sense of legitimacy in the eyes of the Muslim World.

Not only are Muslim nations that are in league with the West benefiting from this "legitimacy windfall," so are international institutions like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The reputations of both have suffered for consistently backing and defending terrorists operating inside Syria as the general public increasingly becomes aware of the atrocities they are committing and their true, sectarian motivations. The nebulous Anonymous group, which has also lent tremendous support for Western-backed terrorists operating in Syria, has also used the Israeli-Gaza conflict to continue casting doubt as to where their real loyalty lies. 

Manipulative Roll-Out for US-Created "Opposition Council" 



The attack is one of many stunts playing out this month to strengthen the faltering, stalled campaign to implement long-planned Western-backed regime change in Syria - a plot aimed ultimately at the subsequent destruction of Iran.

Another ploy has been the US handpicking a so-called "Syrian opposition council" (and here) at a meeting in Doha, the capital of the despotic monarchical regime of Qatar. The opposition council is merely window dressing for a network of terrorists directly linked to Al Qaeda, funded and armed by the West since 2007, to violently overthrow the Syrian government. The council represents a collage of ineffectual, long-time servants of Western interests, rejected both within and beyond Syria's borders.

To multiply a sense of legitimacy for the newly Western-created council, each Western nation behind the front has taken turns over the last week, making "dramatic" announcements of recognition of the council as the "sole legitimate representatives of the Syrian people."

This would include an announcement from France by President François Hollande, who is facing all time low approval ratings for the blatant and continual betrayal of his campaign promises, which included withdrawing from, not accelerating, foreign entanglements. It remains to be seen what legitimacy Hollande can offer the council, when he himself faces a crisis of legitimacy in his own office.

Similar announcements have been made, piecemeal for dramatic drawn out effect, by the EU and the UK. This strategy mirrors regime change efforts aimed at Libya, which has left the nation decimated through a combination of NATO bombardment, sectarian genocide, tribal warfare, and the country in the hands of a clearly servile Western-client regime and terrorists hailing from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), one of the most notorious and prolific wings of Al Qaeda in the Arab World.  LIFG is now currently, with NATO aid, flooding arms, cash, and militants into Syria.

Treason Unfolds in Doha, Qatar.

That Doha, Qatar hosted the creation of this so-called "Syrian" opposition council is truly telling. While Qatar feigns indignation over the recent Israeli assault on Gaza, the despotic nation actually hosts the US corporate-funded think tank, the Brookings Institution, and its Doha and Saban policy centers (many of Saban Center's "fellows" and "directors" are based in Doha, Qatar, with the Doha Center itself funded by the State of Qatar). 

The Saban Center has been responsible for the "Which Path to Persia?" report, a self-indicting manifesto aimed at achieving Western hegemony across the Middle East, using both the US and Israel as a medium to do so - and by specifically attacking, subverting, and destroying both Syria and Iran.

The Saban Center was founded and named after Haim Saban, an Israeli-American media mogul and businessman ranked by Forbes as the 134th richest person in America. For Qatar to host such a collection of policy makers within its own capital, the very people manipulating both sides of a purposefully perpetuated conflict shamelessly admitted to be seeking the reassertion of Western interests across the region, goes far in explaining why the unelected, ruler-for-life, Sheik of Qatar can only muster harsh words for Israel's current assault on Gaza.

Qatar's paralysis is not of an operational dimension, but of a political one. Qatar has already demonstrated its operational capacity versus Libya - even deploying warplanes, special forces, and a significant amount of weapons and cash to terrorists who worked to subvert the West's adversary, Muammar Qaddafi. The Associated Press reported in their article, "Qatar Warplanes enroute for Libya no-fly zone duty," that:

Two Qatar Air Force fighter jets and a cargo aircraft were heading to Crete on Tuesday in the first sign of military operations by Qatar so far to help enforce a no—fly zone over Libya, officials said.

The Guardian reported in their article, "Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels," that:

Qatar has admitted for the first time that it sent hundreds of troops to support the Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

The Gulf state had previously acknowledged only that its air force took part in Nato-led attacks.

The revelation came as Qatar hosted a conference on the post-Gaddafi era that was attended by the leader of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who described the Qataris as having planned the battles that paved the way for victory.

The Guardian would also report in their article, "Libyan rebels receiving anti-tank weapons from Qatar," that:

Qatar is secretly supplying anti-tank weapons to the Libyan rebels as part of its strategy of working to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, it has emerged. Officials in Doha confirmed that the Gulf state's military had been shipping French-made Milan missiles to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Likewise, Qatar is complicit in the US-Israeli-Saudi enterprise of subverting and overthrowing the government of Syria, a plan exposed as early as 2007 by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article titled, "The Redirection."

In the report it specifically stated:

"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007) 

The report would also state: 

The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh#ixzz2ClyD2btH

The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations. -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)   

The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh#ixzz2ClyD2btH

Clearly Qatar has joined the House of Saud and the Israelis in this "new strategic embrace." So as bombs fall on Gaza, giving Qatar a chance to score points condemning Israel, it will continue using the summation of its operational capacity in pursuit of destabilizing and destroying Israel's enemy to the east, Syria. Nations including Turkey and Egypt, also feigning unconvincing support for Gaza are also huddled together with the Persian Gulf monarchies - in this "embrace." It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood was also implicated in 2007 as a co-conspirator with the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, Seymour Hersh stating:

"There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has already benefited the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

Turkey's Leadership Brings Nation to the Brink for Western Hegemony.

Turkey is implicated by the above mentioned Saban Center itself, as a necessary component in joint Turkish-Israeli cooperation to press Syria's borders to trigger dissent amongst Syria's military ranks.

Image: A Patriot missile system. NATO Source Alliance News Blog reported on November 4, 2012, "Turkey plans to officially request NATO deploy a Patriot missile defense system in its territories as a security precaution against a potential large-scale military offensive from Syria as Syrian shelling on the border raises tensions." Now this request is being re-purposed to enact a defacto "no fly zone" over northern Syria - illustrating the duplicitous nature of reports/initiatives coming out of NATO members as they once again attempt to creep their way toward unwarranted military intervention. 

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In Brookings' Saban Center report, "Assessing Options for Regime Change" it is stated (emphasis added):

In addition, Israel’s intelligence services have a strong knowledge of Syria, as well as assets within the Syrian regime that could be used to subvert the regime’s power base and press for Asad’s removal. Israel could posture forces on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Asad regime of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and training. Such a mobilization could perhaps persuade Syria’s military leadership to oust Asad in order to preserve itself. Advocates argue this additional pressure could tip the balance against Asad inside Syria, if other forces were aligned properly. -page 6, Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings Institution.

Image: The Brookings Institution, Middle East Memo #21 "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf)," makes no secret that the humanitarian "responsibility to protect" is but a pretext for long-planned regime change.

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Turkish leaders have clearly spent much time fabricating various excuses to meet Washington's demands in this regard by fabricating or taking advantage of violence Turkey itself is fostering along its own border with Syria. Israel has also begun putting pressure onto Syria's borders near the Golan Heights - in a verbatim manifestation of the Brookings-Saban Center plan.

Like Qatar, Turkey's leadership sheds crocodile tears for Gaza, while explicitly coordinating with Israel versus Syria, based on the Doha-based Saban Center's plans. 

Final Push Against Syria. 

As the US-Israeli-Saudi co-conspirators of Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, and others rack up anti-Israeli rhetorical points during the latest Israeli-Gaza conflict, they continue quietly collaborating with both the West and Israel against Syria. As the West attempts to prop up their newly reconstituted "opposition council" while galvanizing Qatari-Saudi-Egyptian backed sectarian extremists with over-the-top Israeli provocations, the stage is set for a final push against Syria.

Turkey's attempts to deploy Patriot missile batteries along the Turkish-Syrian border fulfills yet another objective articulated in the Doha-based US Brookings-Saban Center policy paper, "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf)" - to carve out a northern "safe haven" from which NATO-backed terrorists can operate - and provide a protected seat of power for the West's newly re-contrived "opposition council."

But while the West continues to posture and manipulate regional perceptions, Western aggression is already reaching its operational limits - and while it could embark upon a wider, more overt military confrontation with Syria, should both the Syrian people and Syria's allies remain committed to the defense of the nation's sovereignty, not only will this aggression fail, it will create momentum that will roll the West and its extraterritorial interests back significantly, if not entirely. Unity is still Syria's only option.

CONFIRMED: Turkey Running Proxy-Invasion of Syria

Admits hosting foreign fighters seeking to enter Syria, trucks in weapons to rearm terrorist groups.
by Tony Cartalucci

July 26, 2012 - The Washington Post has just published an article with the very misleading titled, "Turkey a hub for Syria revolution as illegal border crossing points abound," in which it describes "Salafi Muslims," who have "come to offer help from the countries of the Persian Gulf region" arming and joining the so-called "Free Syrian Army." The article also claims "weapons are ferried into Syria, delivered by Turkish military trucks and picked up by fighters on the other side in the dead of night."

A more apt title would be, "Turkey hosts invading Saudi and Qatari mercenary army."

This confirms earlier reports featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post, that not only are the Gulf States of Saudi Arabia and Qatar funding and arming militants via Turkey, but that the US is coordinating the logistical aspects of the operation as well. 

Likewise, CNN has attempted to spin concessions made by its own Ivan Watson, traveling with sectarian extremists into Syria, where it was admitted:

Meanwhile, residents of the village where the Syrian Falcons were headquartered said there were fighters of several North African nationalities also serving with the brigade's ranks.

A volunteer Libyan fighter has also told CNN he intends to travel from Turkey to Syria within days to add a "platoon" of Libyan fighters to armed movement.

 CNN has now added:

On Wednesday, CNN’s crew met a Libyan fighter who had crossed into Syria from Turkey with four other Libyans. The fighter wore full camouflage and was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle. He said more Libyan fighters were on the way.

The foreign fighters, some of them are clearly drawn because they see this as … a jihad. So this is a magnet for jihadists who see this as a fight for Sunni Muslims.

CNN then attempts to claim the "real" Syrian "revolutionaries" "do not want an Islamist political agenda to be mixed in with their revolution."



Photo: The face of Libya's "revolution" was literally Al Qaeda. Abdul Hakim Belhaj, commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) listed by the US State Department as a "Foreign Terrorists Organization," was armed and backed by NATO (including the US) in his efforts to topple the government of Libya. Belhaj more recently pledged (NATO) weapons, cash, and Libyan militants to the "Free Syrian Army."

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Unfortunately for CNN, despite its best efforts, it cannot qualify its claim that these foreign fighters are "unwanted," - for the so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) has long since exposed itself as a sectarian extremist front infiltrated with foreign fighters and foreign weapons, stretching back as far as 2007. 

Saudis and Qataris Attempt "Arab League-UN" Rescue of Faltering Mercenaries

Perhaps as a sign the Gulf States of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are stretched to the limits of their ability to covertly undermine Syria, they have announced plans to seek "UN General Assembly action" for a "political transition and establishment of a democratic government in Syria." For the despotic, unelected, grandiose nepotism of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to call for a "democratic government in Syria" is truly a move made as much out of desperation as it is one of farcical hypocrisy.

Image: In "progressive" Saudi Arabia, who is calling for a "democratic transition" in Syria, women are not even allowed to drive, let alone vote for their leaders - who with Qatar, are amongst the few remaining absolute monarchies on Earth.

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Both Gulf State nations are run by absolute monarchies - some of the only kind still left in the world. In Saudi Arabia, not only are elections out of the question, but women are in fact, prohibited from even driving. How the Saudis themselves are not subject to UN resolutions, open condemnations, sanctions of all kinds, and ultimatums over their own dictatorship is a true indication of the bankrupted, hypocritical, self-serving dysfunction that punctuates a Western corporate-financier dominated "international order." It is an "international community" that creates the illusion of urgency and injustice when it seeks to expand its interests into one nation, but conveniently ignores real injustice when it jeopardizes their interests elsewhere.


Turkey Supports Subversion of Syria, While Crushing Dissent at Home

Turkey itself has been waging a decades-long bloody campaign against its own armed uprising in predominately Kurdish areas bordering Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In fact, at one point, the US allowed Turkish tanks to cross into American-occupied Iraq to attack villages suspected of harboring armed Kurdish separatists in 2008, mirroring the very tactics Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now condemning Syria for. The Guardian reported in their 2008 article, "Iraq demands Turkey withdraw from border conflict with Kurds," that the conflict had been raging since 1984 and had cost the lives of 40,000 people.

Turkey has in recent weeks, violated Iraq's airspace in order to strafe and bomb Kurdish villages inside Iraqi territory. Iraq has lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council - a complaint likely to go unnoticed.

One can only imagine the "threat" Syria would be portrayed as if it were to likewise strafe and bomb targets beyond its borders in pursuit of now admittedly foreign-armed, foreign fighters invading its country via Turkey. Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, would most likely invoke "Chapter V" of NATO's treaty, a mutual defense clause that makes an attack on one alliance member an attack on all members - thus opening up the door for more direct foreign military intervention. 

Turkey's ruling government led by PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is in fact undermining its own national security by running errands for NATO versus Syria. By supporting foreign terrorists invading neighboring Syria, it undermines the legitimacy of its own campaign against Kurdish rebels within its borders, not to mention beyond them. Turkey's current stance vis-a-vis Syria is not shared by all members of Turkey's government, and at this critical stage, now more than ever they need to make their voices heard both to the Turkish people and to the people of the world.

Carving Out "Safe Havens" for the US State Department's SNC

The ultimate goal of inundating Syria with foreign fighters and weapons while Saudi Arabia and Qatar farcically call for a "democratic transition" in Syria is to create a "safe haven" from which the US State Department coached and directed "Syrian National Council" (SNC) can rule from - further dividing and undermining the Syrian nation-state.

This geopolitical objective was first summarized in the Fortune 500-funded Brookings Institution's March 2012 Middle East Memo #21 "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf) and recently reiterated almost verbatim by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The US foreign-policy think-tank, Brookings Institution blueprinted designs for regime change in Libya as well as both Syria and Iran. In their report, "Assessing Options for Regime Change" it is specifically stated (emphasis added):

"An alternative is for diplomatic efforts to focus first on how to end the violence and how to gain humanitarian access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership. This may lead to the creation of safe-havens and humanitarian corridors, which would have to be backed by limited military power. This would, of course, fall short of U.S. goals for Syria and could preserve Asad in power. From that starting point, however, it is possible that a broad coalition with the appropriate international mandate could add further coercive action to its efforts." -page 4, Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings Institution.

Image: Also out of the Brookings Institution, Middle East Memo #21 "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf)," makes no secret that the humanitarian "responsibility to protect" is but a pretext for long-planned regime change.

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The Brookings Institution's "safe havens" and "humanitarian corridors" are meant to be established by NATO-member Turkey, who had been threatening to partially invade Syria in order to accomplish this. And while Turkey claims this is based on "humanitarian concerns," examining Turkey's abysmal human rights record in addition to its own ongoing armed campaign against the Kurdish people both within and beyond its borders, it is clear they are simply fulfilling the agenda established by their Western patrons on Wall Street and in the city of London.

There is still extreme danger that with Aleppo still under threat by foreign fighters and the so-called "Free Syrian Army," NATO is preparing cross-border provocations to justify the "limited military power" Brookings calls for in establishing its prescribed "safe havens." Fabricated "massacres," "humanitarian crisis," and false flag attacks involving chemical weapons are also pretexts the West might use for a limited military incursions into Syria in an attempt to cripple its military and lend its militant proxies a "safe haven" in Syria to rule over.

Bahrain: The Key to Saudi-Qatari Servitude

Neo-Con's pet project in Bahrain serves as point of leverage for Saudi-Qatari capitulation.
by Tony Cartalucci

April 11, 2012 - Like an axe poised above one's neck at execution, the despotic hereditary regimes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar have the specter of their own US-fueled "Arab Springs" looming over them, ever ready to be triggered. A constant reminder of this is the destabilized Sunni royal family in Bahrain, in the epicenter of Saudi and Qatari power.
Image: A map of eastern Saudi Arabia featuring the island nation of Bahrain situated between Qatar and the Saudi mainland. Bahrain, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is a despotic Sunni monarchy - selected by the West to be made an example of and to keep its neighbors in check and on board for the current "Arab Spring" blitzkrieg upturning the rest of the Arab World. (click image to enlarge)

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The Bahrain protests, like those of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Myanmar, North Korea, Thailand, and beyond, were trained, equipped, and supported by the US State Department. Leading opposition organizations, such as the US-based "Witness Bahrain" and Bahrain Center for Human Rights, are partnered directly with US State Department-funded fronts like the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) while a high-profile self-proclaimed leader of the protests, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was regional coordinator of "Frontline Defenders," a Ford Foundation, Freedom House, American Jewish World Service, Soros Open Society Institute-funded "human rights" advocacy group. Al-Khawaja is now carrying out a "hunger strike" while in prison.
Image: Screenshot from Front Line Defenders - yet another disingenuous "human rights" advocacy front funded by Fortune 500 corporate foundations, including the US State Department-funded Neo-Conservative-lined Freedom House, Wall Street speculator George Soros' Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, the Oak Foundation, and the Sigrid Rausing Trust. Note the "Hunger Strike for Freedom" banner on the right-hand side for Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja. The Bahrain protests are a carbon-copy Western destabilization as seen in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. (click on image to enlarge)

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Al-Khawaja has received the full support of of his Frontline Defender sponsors, including Freedom House who has even farcically changed their Twitter icon into a "Save Al-Khawaja" banner and has been relentlessly tweeting as of late in regards to the "pro-democracy" struggle in Bahrain. As noted, Freedom House is anything but a "human rights" advocacy organization, and is instead leveraging the cause of human rights for overtly self-serving corporate-financier global hegemonic objectives.

Video: Noam Chomsky in 1993 on the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Freedom House's umbrella organization: "It's about what you would expect from a bipartisan democracy campaign - it's an attempt to impose what is called democracy, meaning rule by the rich and the powerful, without interference by the mob but within the framework of formal electoral procedures."

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As covered in "NED & Freedom House are run by Warmongering Imperialists," Freedom House, in tandem with its umbrella organization, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (which funds directly the Bahrain Human Rights Society) are run by some of the most overt warmongers and corporate-financier interests imaginable and have demonstratively abused their positions within so-called "human rights" and "democracy promotion" organizations to outright topple targeted nations.

Image: A screenshot of Freedom House's Twitter page as of April 11, 2012, shows a "Save Al-Khawaja" icon where Freedom House's own logo is usually seen. Freedom House, a notorious Neo-Conservative front, has been uncharacteristically focused on Bahrain lately in tandem with the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), the reincarnation of William Kristol's Neo-Conservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Coincidentally, pressuring Saudi Arabia and Qatar's neighboring monarchy seems to coincide with Washington's requests for Saudi and Qatari support with military operations versus first Libya, and now Syria.

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Joining Freedom House in a recent torrent of attention given to the often neglected protests in Bahrain, is the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) which is for all intents and purposes the Project for a New American Century's (PNAC) latest reincarnation. Notorious Neo-Conservatives William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Dan Senor, Eric Edelman, Ellen Bork, and Jamie Fly - all of whom operate in and out of Fortune 500-funded think-tanks like the Brookings Institution, Harvard's Belfer Center, and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) - constitute FPI's membership and churn out primarily pro-war endorsements, just as PNAC did before it. Their most recent work involved promoting the NATO-led evisceration of Libya and its handing over to Al Qaeda's Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). They now seek a repeat performance in Syria.

Video: "The Unfinished February 14 Uprising: What's Next for Bahrain?" US State Department funded POMED and Neo-Con meddlers of FPI converge to conspire over Bahrain's future in the US-engineered "Arab Spring."

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FPI in February of 2012 held an event titled, "The Unfinished February 14 Uprising: What's Next for Bahrain?" in partnership with the National Endowment for Democracy-funded propaganda front Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). Speakers included Neo-Con Elliott Abrams of the CFR and Joost Hiltermann of the Soros-funded International Crisis Group (ICG) which played a pivotal role in the destabilization of Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria.

Image: Screenshot of FPI's April 11, 2012 Tweet regarding its collaboration with NED-funded POMED in calling for the release of US-backed Bahraini opposition leader al-Khawaja from prison. FPI, in tandem with NED and Freedom House have been uncharacteristically interested in Bahrain lately, coincidentally, just as they need Saudi and Qatari backing for another push against Syria. Bahrain is Washington's point of leverage against these two Sunni monarchies. (click image to enlarge)

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The sense one gets from listening to the 90 minute FPI-POMED event is of stretching out the conflagration in Bahrain for as long as possible while ultimately threatening neighboring Saudi Arabia. And while Bahrain has, like Libya, Syria, and Egypt responded to street violence with security forces wielding deadly force, Bahrain is not spoken of in the same "dire" and "urgent" terms as Libya, Syria, or Egypt were. Panel members at the event note that the fate of Bahrain is tied directly to that of the Saudis, and that the survival of the Bahraini Al Khalifa royal family is "existentially" linked to the House of Saud. Certainly then, US subversion turned up sufficiently as to overthrow the Al Khalifa family would in turn "existentially" threaten the Sauds who are themselves sitting upon a powder keg of instability resultant from decades of despotic rule.

Saudi Arabia's stability is owed to its immense security apparatus, constructed, armed, and funded by the United States. In many instances, the US has cooperated operationally with Saudi security forces in maintaining internal order. To simply pull the legs out from under the Saudis, especially after allowing Bahrain to fall entirely, would be a simple matter. What then are the Saudis paying in return to keep this card from being played? Where does the "soft spot" of humanitarian concerns in Bahrain come from amongst Neo-Con warmongers within both Freedom House and FPI? Quite clearly in the case of Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Syria, it is a crass, clumsy pretext for naked military aggression. In Bahrain's case, it is much more nuanced.

Photo: Saudi troops were "allowed" to enter Bahrain and help crush US-backed uprisings. Little to no mention was made across Western media primarily because Saudi Arabia and neighboring Qatar had already fully committed to supporting Western ambitions in Libya.

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Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have provided immense resources to the West's "Arab Spring" blitzkrieg starting in Tunisia, across Libya and Egypt, and now embroiling Syria. Qatar provided troops, aircraft, arms, and cash for Libyan terrorists as they swept the government from power and has throughout the "Arab Spring" provided 24/7 propaganda via Qatari government run Al Jazeera, which masquerades as a news agency. Tellingly, "requests" for Saudi arms and support for US-led NATO operations against Libya came in tandem with news of a planned "day of rage" aimed at Saudi's ruling family. The date came and went with little consequence, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged full support against Qaddafi.

Similarly in Syria, both kingdoms are likewise providing arms and cash, and even "wages" for Syrian terrorists to take up arms against the Syrian government. And as the next step comes for Syria, backing NATO-member Turkey in establishing Washington prescribed "safe havens" and "humanitarian corridors" in a Libya-style escalation, the West has begun to predictably turn the screws on Bahrain.

Image: From the beginning, the uprising in Bahrain bore all the markings of the US-engineered "Arab Spring" sweeping the Arab World. Even the CIA-funded "Otpor-fist" would find its way into Bahrain's protests.

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It is quite clear then that Saudi and Qatari support for the US-engineered "Arab Spring" is born not out of altruism or fellowship, but out of fear for their own survival, with unrest already being triggered and encouraged by the West in at least Saudi Arabia, and with Bahrain resigned to a slow burn, briefly fanned by the West at junctures such as these, where a great amount of support is required against Syria to overcome recent setbacks. It is difficult to sympathize with either Qatar or Saudi Arabia, who have committed as much in the betrayal of their neighbors on behalf of Wall Street and London as they have against their own people. One wonders if amidst their spectacular betrayal of their Arab brothers, whether or not they realize they are next when Syria and Iran falls.

There are no seats at the tables on Wall Street or in London for the despotic regimes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, their self-preservation lies in both reforming themselves and balking foreign meddling in their backyard - not facilitating it.

Editor's Note: Bahrain is the home of the US Naval Forces Central Command and 5th Fleet meaning that the US has a significant military presence on the island nation and can at any time breath new life, support, funds, and even weapons into either the Bahraini opposition to inflame the protests or government forces to crush it. It is the ideal foreign-destabilization scenario.