Posted on 01/04/2016 5:34:51 AM PST by Kaslin
Welcome to the first workday of 2016 and maybe the first day of World War III.
The last two World Wars started when a couple of countries got into it and everyone else began to choose up sides.
Over the weekend, the Saudi Arabian government executed 47 people including one senior Shiite cleric who had been an outspoken opponent of the Saudi rulers.
The Iranians immediately set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. The Saudis immediately emptied its embassy of diplomats, cut off diplomatic ties, and ordered the Iranian mission out of Riyadh within 48 hours.
As a reminder, the royal family of Saudi Arabia are Sunni Muslims (as are the other Royal families in the Gulf States). Iran's leadership are Shiite Muslims. The basic argument between the two sects is who is the legitimate successor to the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632 A.D.
Before you hit the SEND key about what a small difference that is remember the basic difference between Roman Catholics and Protestants is this: Is the Pope the head of the Christian religion?
The Iranians (Shiites) are on the opposite side of the Syrian civil war from the Saudis (Sunnis). They are also supporting opposite sides in Yemen.
According to the United States Institute of Peace:
"Iran has poured billions of dollars and tons of increasingly sophisticated weaponry into Hezbollah, the most successful example of the theocracy's campaign to export its revolutionary ideals."
In November of 2015, Vladimir Putin made a visit almost a pilgrimage to Iran. The BBC lede:
"Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran this week has been greeted with much enthusiasm in official circles."
And later in the piece:
"It is clear that for Tehran, getting Moscow on side for the campaign in Syria has been a big foreign policy coup."
For his part, Barack Obama, just now coming back from vacation, is firmly committed to his twin legacy issues: Global Warming and Gun Control.
The United States Department of State, according to USA Today, said it was "aware" of the severing of diplomatic ties. Reuters reported that John Kerry's Department's response to it all has been that the execution of the Shitte leaders "risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced."
I think any time you can use "exacerbate" in a sentence you should jump on the opportunity.
Also "ameliorate."
Most distressing in all this is, as I write this on Sunday evening, we have heard nothing from the White House. The published statements about having urged the Saudis not to chop people’s heads off don’t seem to reach the level of concern this situation appears to call for.
Two bystanders may become involved. Bahrain, the small island nation off west coast of Saudi Arabia, has long been a target of Iranian fifth column activity. The Arab Spring riots there were, if not fully paid for by the Iranians, were almost certainly given moral and tactical support.
Across the Arabian Peninsula, Israel is going to higher alert in case the Palestinians, Hezbollah, or anyone else thinks the Saudi executions would be a good reason to go to attack them.
It is not unlikely that secret discussions between Israel and Saudi Arabia have been stepped up to form a joint defense agreement against Iran and its allies.
The atmosphere in the Middle East is explosive. All it will take is a spark: An attack against Saudi oil fields or pipelines, a run at a senior member of the Saudi government, or an ISIS-inspired attack in Riyadh, or Jeddah or another major Saudi city.
The danger, then, will not be ameliorated by vague statements by the U.S. State Department.
It might well have been better described by William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar:
"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war."
"Iran has poured billions of dollars and tons of increasingly sophisticated weaponry into Hezbollah, the most successful example of the theocracy’s campaign to export its revolutionary ideals."
"Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran this week has been greeted with much enthusiasm in official circles."
"It is clear that for Tehran, getting Moscow on side for the campaign in Syria has been a big foreign policy coup."
So...when and where is Clown Prince nobama’s next golf outing?
We are witnesses to a shia-sunni world war.
ISIS, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Yeman government on one side with US support.
Iran, Iraq, Assad, Hezbollah and the Yeman rebels on the other with Russian support.
The Kurds, Christians and the Jews will do what they need to do to survive and will play either side.
Look at the middle East this way and it explains mucho.
Help me, is Obama shiite or suni?
“...the basic difference between Roman Catholics and Protestants is this: Is the Pope the head of the Christian religion?”
How stupid! Should bother reading any more?
And here’s how we play this one.
We do what is best for The United States Of America.
Not what’s best for George Soros or Saudi Arabia or Hillary Clinton or China or Barack Obama or Iran or Putin or France or England.
The one thing I can be sure of in this matter is that the Democrats will make it worse.
Israel, the US, and Turkey have lost all pretense of being against ISIS if they continue to support Saudi Arabia's brutal royal family.
Some freepers will lecture me about how I don't get it that Saudi Arabia is on our side and a better guardian of the oil. I don't buy that. Maybe I'm naïve, but the hypocrisy of working to topple regimes in Libya, Iraq, Egypt, and Syria (etc) when the Saudis are far more brutal makes me wonder why God would be on our side anymore.
The deciding factor.....who protects Christians? And about Israel? If they support Saudi Arabia's brutality, I have to wonder if they ever had any intention of living peacefully within their borders.
End of rant.
Like Hitler vs Stalin, best to stay out of it.
Hopefully we won’t have a Jap-like attack to pull us into it.
This is looking more and more like a combination of the Moslem “Twelvers” and the Biblical run-up to the Apocalypse.
A hash if you will of Religion, Local and Global Politics.
Frankly my worries through much of my adult life have been the run-up to Civil War II in the United States. Over the last few years I see them all merging into a world-wide ‘orgasm’ of violence with everyone against everyone else.
How it ends is anyone guess. Personally at this point I would be happy if the masterminds behind this mess would just stop it.
Russia calls on Iran, Saudi Arabia to show restraint, avoid any steps leading to mounting tensions, foreign ministry says - Interfax
you overlooked the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council all of which have arms and are Saudi Allies and Iranian enemies. The west shore of the gulf is where the money is, the business and financial assets of Islam.
Also, Israel is effective allied with the GCC against Iran and has been for some time.
Isis is a trivial zit compared to the GCC. Yemen is trivial also were it not the point from which Iran is attacking.
Christians don’t matter because they are so few and have no government nor arms to bring to bear
The Kurds have prevailed in Iraq and are not involved in the endeavor in question
This is what happens when the world’s policeman goes away. Thanks Barack. Concentrate on climate while the world burns itself up.
Islamic State militants attack key Libya oil facility - @AlArabiya_Eng
Reports of explosion in Shebaa against an Israeli patrol; Israelis responding with artillery shelling in al-Wazzani, Lebanon - @Nour_Samaha
As I understand it, “Hussein” (and its variants) is strictly Shiite. Any questions?
Putin would like nothing better than to see all of the Middle Eastern countries go at each other like rabid dogs.
Oil revenue for his country would shoot through the roof, and his pipelines are protected and inviolable.
And he can blame every single bit of it on Obama.
The Merry Minuet
The Kingston Trio
They’re rioting in Africa
They’re starving in Spain
There’s hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans
The Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs
South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don’t like anybody very much
But we can be tranquil and thankful
And proud for man’s been endowed
With a mushroom shaped cloud
And we know for certain that
Some lovely day someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away
They’re rioting in Africa
There’s strife in Iran
What nature doesn’t do to us will be done by our fellow man
This Sunni-Shi’ite dichotomy is much too oversimplified.
We really must call the bad guys behind Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS by a more specific name: Wahhabis.
The problem is that the bad guys run every country in the western side of the Arabian Gulf (or Persian Gulf if you prefer) and US foreign policy has backed Wahhabi rule in those countries since FDR’s time.
However, US foreign policy has been downright Orwellian with respect to Wahhabis. They are allies one year (mujahadeen freedom fighters, monarchs to whom American presidents bow and with whom they stroll hand-in-hand, etc.) and enemies the next. All the while, the Wahhabi monarchies educate their children in jihad, provide diplomatic and financial services to rogue states like Taliban Afghanistan and ISIL, directly finance terrorism abroad. Most of the 9/11 hijackers, suicide bombers, and IED specialists come from the Wahhabi monarchies.
"Iran has poured billions of dollars and tons of increasingly sophisticated weaponry into Hezbollah, the most successful example of the theocracy's campaign to export its revolutionary ideals."
And Obama and Kerry and the U.S. Useless Congress just poured $150 billion in lifted U.S. sanctions back into Iran, the most successful example of the Left in America's campaign to export "ass-kissing the enemy" as the new paradigm in U.S. foreign relations. Now Iran can purchase whatever or whoever it needs on the open market. It doesn't even need to pretend anymore.
Obama is shite. (not misspelled - LOL)
This Sunni-Shi’ite dichotomy is much too oversimplified.
We really must call the bad guys behind Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS by a more specific name: Wahhabis.
The problem is that the bad guys run every country in the western side of the Arabian Gulf (or Persian Gulf if you prefer) and US foreign policy has backed Wahhabi rule in those countries since FDR’s time.
However, US foreign policy has been downright Orwellian with respect to Wahhabis. They are allies one year (mujahadeen freedom fighters, monarchs to whom American presidents bow and with whom they stroll hand-in-hand, etc.) and enemies the next. All the while, the Wahhabi monarchies educate their children in jihad, provide diplomatic and financial services to rogue states like Taliban Afghanistan and ISIL, directly finance terrorism abroad. Most of the 9/11 hijackers, suicide bombers, and IED specialists come from the Wahhabi monarchies.
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