In this first month of 2016, we can be grateful that World War III didn’t start over Russia’s intervention in Syria that saw Turkey, a NATO member, shoot down a Russian jet. If Russia had retaliated, the other NATO members – U.S., U.K., Germany, France etc. – would have been obligated to join the fight. But it’s not over yet. The chaos in Syria – and the Middle East, in general – is now spilling over to Europe and the rest of the world. Millions of refugees, fanatic jihadists, hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, powerful nations colliding with another … all add up to a nightmarish powder keg.
The driving forces behind this bedlam are the perfect storm of confluence of geopolitics, oil, war-profiteering and religion. If that is not enough, there are several countries and jihadist groups involved in this conflict, with bewildering relationships that are often temporary, conflicting and totally Machiavellian.
Among the countries involved, the key outside players who have been trying to bring down the Syrian government are the U.S. and its six dwarfs: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, Israel and Britain. The seventh dwarf is really a collection of nations that occasionally offer help, but are not deeply involved in the Syrian project. Germany, Kuwait, Bosnia, Canada etc. would fall under the category of “seventh dwarf.”
Now, what in the world would all these countries have against a tiny country of Syria that most people can’t even locate on the map? Part I of this analysis will look into the three motives of seven countries that essentially form the Coalition of Regime Change.
Motive #1: Oil & Gas Pipelines
While analyzing political problems, you always have to follow the money. In the Middle East, you wouldn’t be wrong following oil instead. In this case, Qatar and Saudi Arabia want to lay pipelines for both oil and natural gas, connecting them to Europe. These suggested pipelines, as shown in the picture below, have to go through Jordan, Syria and Turkey before entering Europe. Syria said No, and hence Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey decided to do whatever it takes to get rid of Syria’s President. Syria, instead, wants to help its ally, Iran, build a competing pipeline (shown in the picture as well).
There is also oil interest from the Israeli side. Israel has been occupying Golan Heights, a piece of southern Syria, for many decades. Lo and behold, billions of barrels of oil were found in Golan Heights a few years ago. With the right puppet in Syria, Israel can have all that oil to itself. And it doesn‘t hurt that the rights to exploit this oil goes to Genie Energy, an American company whose board of directors consist of a Rothschild, Dick Cheney, Rupert Murdoch and Larry Summers – a veritable dream team of globalists.
After the civil war and chaos lead to barbaric terrorist groups taking over large parts of Syria, Turkey has been profiting a lot from the sale of ISIS’ oil. Having taken over a few oil refineries in Iraq and Syria, ISIS sells oil at a Walmart discount to Turkey which ends up selling most of that oil to Israel. That’s why even Putin has now openly said that Turkey attacked the Russian jet because the Russian planes are getting rid of ISIS’ oil trucks by the hundreds. Erdogan keeps playing innocent – “What? Me? ISIS oil?” – but his son owns one of the largest energy/shipping companies in Turkey, and Erdogan’s son-in-law is the Energy Minister. Many articles have been written on this topic that shows extensive evidence of Turkey-ISIS link, and Russia has released plenty of videos showing miles and miles of oil tankers entering and leaving Turkey from the ISIS-controlled areas, but Turkey and the U.S. pretend innocence. Enough said.
Motive #2: Religion
There are two main divisions of Islam, Sunni and Shiite, that have been at odds with each other for centuries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are Sunni countries; Iran is a powerful Shiite country, Iraq is 70% Shiite, and Syria is a ruled by a minority Shiite group (called Alawite). Looking at the pipeline map again, one can see that Iran, Iraq and Syria will form a so-called “Shiite Arc.” For the Saudis, who still think it is 800 A.D., such a Shiite coalition is an abomination. In fact, according to fundamental Sunni Muslims – ISIS, Al Qaeda, Taliban and the Saudis – Shiites are not even Muslims. A tragic example of this religious hatred: for the last six months, Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen (a country with a large Shiite population), killing thousands of civilians.
Saudi Arabia has an ultra-conservative version of Islam called Wahhabism that became popular along with discovery of oil in that region after World War I. After all, when there are trillions of dollars at stake, you need a powerful tool to control the people, or else they may rise up and want a portion of that wealth.
Unlike America that wields its power through military bases, Saudi Arabia exercises enormous influence over Muslims all over the world through building and funding mosques and Islamic religious “schools” to the tune of billions of dollars. The schools are called madrassas, and let’s just say that the kids are not going to learn much math and science. In some areas of the world, these schools are outright abominable, indoctrinating kids with virtues of suicide bombing and jihad. There are more than 10,000 madrassas in Pakistan alone.
Thus, in this authoritarian and undemocratic country, strange and inhumane things happen: more than 200 people get beheaded in public every year, women get stoned to death for adultery, people are hanged and bodies displayed in public, gays and atheists get death sentence and even a 14-year-old peaceful protestor can be sentenced to crucifixion.
However, since Saudi Arabia buys billions of dollars of American, British and French weapons every year, the Saudi King can have glitzy dinners with the CEOs of General Electric and Lockheed Martin, fund think-tanks who will pen pro-Saudi articles in the New York Times, and everyone will look the other way. Saudi Arabia even got a leadership role in the UN Human Rights Council. No, this is not from The Onion.
Recently, the German Vice Chancellor spoke out against Saudi Arabia’s funding of Wahhabi mosques and schools. Otherwise, the Western leaders keep mum, except in internal communications – revealed by Wikileaks – when, for example, Hillary Clinton said, “Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups.” Of course, she would never say that in public. (LeT is a terrorist group in Pakistan.)
On to the next troublemaker: Qatar, the tiny rich country that owns Al Jazeera TV station, is also a Sunni country that, for decades, has financed Muslim Brotherhood – a fundamental Islamist organization that started in Egypt, spread its influence all over the Muslim world, and has spawned both moderate and violent jihadist groups. During the feverish days of anti-communism, the U.S. govt colluded with the Muslim Brotherhood – and even invited them to a White House meeting with President Eisenhower (picture below) – to overthrow anti-USA governments in the Middle East.
Shifting to north of Syria, Turkey used to be a very secular country, but under Erdogan, it has been sliding into orthodox Sunni Islam over the last decade. Thus, the new Islamic Turkey also has decided that a Sunni Syria will be a better alternative. Before openly turning against Assad, Erdogan demanded that half of the Syrian government be Sunni Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
Motive #3: Geopolitical Ambitions
The geopolitical ambitions are very complex and perhaps we have to sit in an occult meeting of the Bilderberg group to fully understand the real goals. Needless to say, there are forces that want to completely reorganize the Middle East as if it’s a board game. A New York Times article describes the goal of dividing 5 Middle Eastern countries into 14. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t say who is behind this brilliant peace-promoting idea. This article also shows how Syria will be divided up into three countries. And it’s no coincidence that the original rebel group “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) has a flag with three stars.
The Neocons in the U.S. have had their (delusional) plans for redrawing the Middle East for a long time, since the end of Cold War. As Wesley Clark said, he was told right after 9/11 that Dick Cheney and others had plans to invade Iraq and many more countries: “We’re going to take out 7 countries in 5 years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”
Going back decades to the 1950s, the CIA had attempted to overthrow the Syrian government and assassinate the leader. So, what was the modus operandi?
- Use Sunni extremist/terrorist group, Muslim Brotherhood, as a tool to overthrow the Syrian government.
- Use false flag attacks. Muslim Brotherhood would attack Syria’s neighboring countries. Then the U.S. would blame Syria, and wage an attack with the help of Iraq.
Any of this sounds familiar?
Other countries such as the UK, France and Israel have great interests in playing God with Syria as well. As for France, it will be a way to get back one of its former colony. France actually played a key role in the creation of FSA – the “moderate” rebels – back in 2011 when “Arab Spring” was everywhere (Arab Spring had no involvement from George Soros, wink-wink). Plus, getting Syria will also enable France to get a foothold in neighboring Lebanon, another former French colony.
As for Israel, nothing would please it more than fractured, tiny, unstable Muslim nations that Israel can kick around and control with ease. There are also hardcore Israeli elites who envision a “Greater Israel” that will encompass much more land from neighboring countries, including a big chunk of Syria.
As for the despotic Erdogan, the Turkish leader, he and some elites in his country have a dream of re-establishing some of the Ottoman Empire’s glory. World War I ended the Ottoman Empire which had vast control over the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia (which comprise many of the –stan countries). To transform Turkey from a regional power to a global power again, Erdogan’s plan is to extend his influence in neighboring and far way countries by appealing to the fundamentalist Islamic movements.
For example, Erdogan has been using Muslims in Chechnya and Crimea to stir troubles for Russia. He has also been using Muslims in Uyghur – a region in Western China, called Xinjiang in Chinese – to harass China. Turkey is now actively receiving Chinese Muslims from Uyghur and resettling them in Syria. These people will join the ranks of informal soldiers, ready to fight for Turkish ambitions both in Syria and China.
There are also other paramilitary groups in Turkey such as “Grey Wolves” which have committed several terrorist attacks since the 1960s, including terrorism against Russia in Chechnya and possibly a bombing in Bangkok just a few months ago. At the height of the Cold War, the CIA befriended – if not created – Grey Wolves, and used them to fight the “commies” and achieve other geopolitical goals in that region.
More shockingly, when the Russian jet was attacked by Turkey two months ago, one of the Russian pilots was slaughtered as he was coming down in a parachute, which is a war crime. Within an hour or two, a militia leader in that remote area appeared on local TV – affiliated with CNN and Fox (!) – and claimed credit for the shooting. Later, it was revealed that he is a member of the Grey Wolves.
Last but not the least, Turkey has a huge problem with Kurds who are one of the unluckiest people in the world. Millions of people – with unique language and culture – who don’t have a land of their own and are victims of callous and arbitrary maps drawn by the British and the French after World War I. If Turkey gets rid of Assad, it will be able to use the new leader to put down the Kurdish uprising.
On the pro-Assad side, both Russia and Iran have their national interests as well. Syria has been a staunch friend of Russia for decades and it hosts Russia’s only military (Naval) base that is not in the vicinity of Russian border. Losing that will be a huge blow to Russia’s access to the Middle East, Europe and the Mediterranean … and thus an enormous threat to its trade and geopolitical power. Russia has also close ties to Iran, and thus the “Shiite arc” will strengthen Russia’s influence in the Middle East.
As for Iran, losing Syria means losing access to Hezbollah – the proxy army – in Lebanon that borders Israel. It goes something like this: if Israel attacks Iran, Hezbollah will rain rockets on Israel. This is one reason how Iran has managed to not get attacked all these years even though Israel and the Neocons in the U.S. have been itching to obliterate Iran for the last twenty years. So, Syria under an ally such as Assad is almost an existential necessity for both Russia and Iran.
That concludes the discussion of the warring parties’ motives, but how did we end up with ISIS? What exactly has been happening in Syria in the last few years? How did we end up with millions of refugees? Where do we go from here? How do we defeat ISIS? Will there be peace and Kumbaya after we defeat ISIS in “Sy-raq”?
Stay tuned for Part II of this series.
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