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The Largest US Foreign Policy Blunder Since Vietnam
Zero Hedge ^ | 10/3/2015 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 10/03/2015 8:15:27 AM PDT by semantic

We attempted to cut through all of the Western and Russian media propaganda on the way to describing what Moscow’s involvement in Syria actually portends for the global balance of power. Here are a few excerpts that summarize what’s taking shape in the Middle East:

Putin looks to have viewed this as the ultimate geopolitical win-win. That is, Russia gets to i) expand its influence in the Middle East in defiance of Washington and its allies, a move that also helps to protect Russian energy interests and preserves the Mediterranean port at Tartus, and ii) support its allies in Tehran and Damascus thus preserving the counterbalance to the US-Saudi-Qatar alliance.

Meanwhile, Iran gets to enjoy the support of the Russian military juggernaut on the way to protecting the delicate regional nexus that is the source of Tehran’s Mid-East influence. It is absolutely critical for Iran to keep Assad in power, as the loss of Syria to the West would effectively cut the supply line between Iran and Hezbollah.

It would be difficult to overstate the significance of what appears to be going on here. This is nothing short of a Middle Eastern coup, as Iran looks to displace Saudi Arabia as the regional power broker and as Russia looks to supplant the US as the superpower puppet master.

In short, the Pentagon’s contention that Russia and Iran have formed a Mid-East “nexus” isn’t akin to the Bush administration’s hollow, largely bogus attempt to demonize America’s foreign policy critics in the eyes of the public by identifying an “axis of evil.” Rather, the Pentagon’s assessment was an attempt to come to grips with a very real effort on the part of Moscow and Tehran to tip the scales in the Mid-East away from Riyadh and Washington.

(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia; Syria
KEYWORDS: iran; nationalsecurityfail; obama; obamasyria; russia; russiairan; russiame; russiasyria; syria
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To: Hoodat

That is funny!


21 posted on 10/03/2015 8:40:41 AM PDT by HandyDandy (Don't make-up stuff. It just wastes everybody's time.)
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To: Enterprise
"The US, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, attempted to train and support Sunni extremists to overthrow the Assad regime. Some of those Sunni extremists ended up going crazy and declaring a Medeival caliphate putting the Pentagon and Langley in the hilarious position of being forced to classify al-Qaeda as "moderate."

The absurdity of this underscores the urgent need in the United States for regime change.

22 posted on 10/03/2015 8:40:50 AM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: semantic

“Blunder”? NO way, try “:planned”. Obama and his handlers have been arming, training, and funding muslims for war.


23 posted on 10/03/2015 8:42:40 AM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: semantic

This is exactly what I posted about yesterday, Obama has been checkmated...


24 posted on 10/03/2015 8:44:46 AM PDT by 100American (Knowledge is knowing how, Wisdom is knowing when)
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To: semantic

obama = benedict arnold


25 posted on 10/03/2015 8:46:50 AM PDT by zzwhale
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To: semantic

You make a strong (and decidedly chilling) assessment.


26 posted on 10/03/2015 8:51:13 AM PDT by fhayek
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To: sgtyork
"And they’ve scored a couple of runs off a pitcher with no arm."

LMAO!

27 posted on 10/03/2015 8:54:22 AM PDT by lormand (Inside every liberal is a dung slinging monkey)
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To: semantic
In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a larger state.

In other words, a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas can cause later a typhoon in the Japanese Sea.

Think about it, in mid-20th Century America an 18 year old hippie freshman slut in a Honolulu college has sex with an older Kenyan politician on a student visa, who has a wife and child back in Africa. ​ ​And from this "roll in the hay" comes the collapse and dissolution of America in the 21st Century.

Interesting isn't it, and it makes you a firm believer in the "butterfly effect."

28 posted on 10/03/2015 8:55:13 AM PDT by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: fhayek
It is a lesson repeated over and over. A Western nation elects liberals, the liberals employ isolationists policies, and the most aggressive tyrants fill the vacuum and commence to massive killings, murder and violence.

"Peace in our time"

"By lifting sanctions, Iran will not be able to develop nuclear weapons"

John Kerry will be given a Nobel Peace Prize for this...but they better hurry with the awards ceremony.

29 posted on 10/03/2015 8:59:10 AM PDT by lormand (Inside every liberal is a dung slinging monkey)
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To: AlaskaErik

Yeah. Nixon fixed Vietnam real good didn’t he?


30 posted on 10/03/2015 9:01:43 AM PDT by null and void (The voter pool needs chlorine, or maybe formaldihyde...)
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To: AlaskaErik

How did a Republican president fix Vietnam? The Reds won in Vietnam


31 posted on 10/03/2015 9:13:35 AM PDT by WilliamIII
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To: 100American
Obama has redefined the meaning of the word 'checkmated'. In Obamaspeak, 'checkmated' means 'won'. Yesterday, he was telling us that Putin bombing Syria only shows how weak Putin is. Seriously, he really said it.

If you haven't done it in a while, read 1984 by George Orwell. The similarities with the ruling class in that book and the ruling class today are frighteningly similar. Today, we have bureaucrats who seriously do not give a damn how far America falls as long as they get to hold on to the perks of power.

32 posted on 10/03/2015 9:14:20 AM PDT by Hoodat (Article 4, Section 4)
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To: semantic

I think a key point that is ostensibly missing is that Putin is attempting to juxtapose the NATO countries in such a manner that they do not agree with each other.


33 posted on 10/03/2015 9:14:37 AM PDT by LjubivojeRadosavljevic
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To: DJ Taylor

Well said.


34 posted on 10/03/2015 9:16:12 AM PDT by Hoodat (Article 4, Section 4)
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To: lormand

Obama hasn’t been practicing “isolationism” in Syria. He’s been heavily engaged - on the wrong side. He’s arming Islamic rebels to take out Assad. Putin is opposing that.


35 posted on 10/03/2015 9:16:46 AM PDT by WilliamIII
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To: null and void

Do you think if Nixon had been elected in 1960 we would’ve even had a war in Vietnam?

Eisenhower had kept Vietnam at arms length. JFK’s need to project a tough image (especially after the Bay of Pigs and the Vienna summit with Khrushchev), led JFK to escalate in Vietnam and then disastrously overthrow Diem.

Then when LBJ took over, he was afraid that “losing Vietnam” would impact his radical domestic policy in 1964-65 (at which time he didn’t foresee just what a mess Vietnam would be. He knew it was bad, but not that bad.)


36 posted on 10/03/2015 9:17:06 AM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: Hoodat

Putin isn’t “bombing Syria”. He’s bombing Obama-backed Islamic jihadists who are creating chaos in Syria by trying to take down the Syrian government


37 posted on 10/03/2015 9:19:26 AM PDT by WilliamIII
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To: semantic

What is the threat to our homeland if the Russians are in Syria?

I’m struggling with finding a critically-thought out, logical answer to this question.


38 posted on 10/03/2015 9:19:48 AM PDT by ReaganGeneration2
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To: semantic

Marxist and Mohammedan totalitarians are carving up the world. Who can stop them? The republic? Collateral damage. We submit to our subjugator’s lies, slavery (economic), and are silenced in their pursuit of their agendas.

DEPOPULATE totalitarians from the body politic. DEFUND their collectives, foreign and domestic.


39 posted on 10/03/2015 9:20:46 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: Hoodat

I agree whole hardheartedly, I remember both 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and others who knew where this was headed Post WW2...

Bread and Circuses were provided to keep the populace compliant, all was well..

As to Checkmated yes in his mind he always wins..

And he has a point, stupid Americans looking for someone to keep the gravy train running followed the Pied Piper who told them it was all ok..

His nuts have been cut off and he does not even notice or care...

Watch and See...


40 posted on 10/03/2015 9:21:05 AM PDT by 100American (Knowledge is knowing how, Wisdom is knowing when)
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