“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

No-one wants war.   If you look throughout modern history you will find a seemingly consistent view of conflict from the peaceful nations who often are forced to bear witness to regional conflicts driven by evil regimes.
The evil nations, who hold an ideological hatred, use the reflexive nature of conflict avoidance, held by most civilized nations, to advance their goals.    It has always been thus.
In 1938 Czechoslovakia suffered from the avoidance principle espoused by the British and the French; the Czechs became victim to Germany.
In 2013 while the globe is indeed smaller and more closely attached, the same mindset carries toward a league of nations watching Israel play the role of Czechoslovakia, and Iran taking the place of Germany.
What Germany needed in 1937/1938 was time and a British/French unwillingness.   What Iran needs in 2013 is time, and a U.S. unwillingness.    The key difference is this: in 1938 Czech could not defend herself…. In 2013, Israel can.
So Iran needs something else.
Something which President Obama just gave them. (more…)

Secretary Kerry, at the request, advice and consent of President Obama, has signed the United States up for the U.N arms treaty.

Defying warnings from the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State John F. Kerry signed the United Nations Small Arms Trade Treaty Sept. 25 at the UN headquarters in New York City  (link)

One of the central components of the Treaty is to require domestic regulation of “small arms and light weapons.”  The treaty’s Article 5 requires nations to “establish and maintain a national control system,” including a “national control list.” (more…)

Sounds like David Cameron and Barack Obama have similar dispositions toward terrorism and Islam.   If they coordinate messaging, and work at it hard enough, the narrative stemming from the Kenyan Mall Massacre could be considered “angry shoppers resort to violence“….

[…]  The attack saw men, women and children slaughtered if they could not recite the Koran or name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.  (link)

(Londonistan)  Speaking on Sunday, Cameron said he had offered the Kenyan authorities “every assistance” in a call to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who lost members of his own family in the attack.
The prime minister stressed that the perpetrators did not represent the majority of Muslims but had carried out the atrocity “in the name of terror, violence and extremism”.
He added: “These appalling terrorist attacks that take place, where the perpetrators claim they do it in the name of a religion – they don’t. They do it in the name of terror, violence and extremism and their warped view of the world.”   (read more)
Meanwhile, in the real world, a good approach continues in Egypt…. (more…)

(UK Independent)  While the Assad regime in Damascus has denied responsibility for the sarin gas missiles that killed around 1,400 Syrians in the suburb of Ghouta on 21 August, information is now circulating in the city that Russia’s new “evidence” about the attack includes the dates of export of the specific rockets used and – more importantly – the countries to which they were originally sold.
They were apparently manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1967 and sold by Moscow to three Arab countries, Yemen, Egypt and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. These details cannot be verified in documents, and Vladimir Putin has not revealed the reasons why he told Barack Obama that he knows Assad’s army did not fire the sarin missiles; but if the information is correct – and it is believed to have come from Moscow – Russia did not sell this particular batch of chemical munitions to Syria. (more…)

I keep wondering when Edward Snowden’s risk to U.S. intelligence will surface in the discussions surrounding Russia, the U.S. and Syria.   {{crickets}}

Russia must be getting some value from harboring Snowden.   Snowden holds many understandings of the U.S. approaches to intelligence gathering, and I’ve yet to see any discussion about what advantage Putin may have from such knowledge.
It just seems odd.

UNITED NATIONS — Careful not to blame either side for a deadly chemical weapon attack, U.N. inspectors reported Monday that rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin had been fired from an area where Syria’s military has bases, but said the evidence could have been manipulated in the rebel-controlled stricken neighborhoods.
The U.S., Britain and France jumped on evidence in the report – especially the type of rockets, the composition of the sarin agent, and trajectory of the missiles – to declare that President Bashar Assad’s government was responsible.
Russia, Syria’s closest ally, called the investigators’ findings “deeply disturbing,” but said it was too early to draw conclusions. The Syrian government’s claims that opposition forces were responsible for the attack “cannot be simply shrugged off,” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted. (more…)

Riddle Me This:

If the Syrian “Rebels” are not *TERRORISTS* then why does President Obama need to provide a Terrorist Waiver for the ‘Armed Control Export Act’ to provide them weapons?

WASHINGTON DC – President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to “vetted” opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.
Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., in 2001. Assad’s regime is backed by Iran and Hezbollah. (more…)

Syria’s Bashir al-Assad was questioned about “opposition” in his country by Charlie Rose for a 60 minutes interview.   Assad’s response was very direct.   Assad replied: “Opposition?  What  did you call the people who flew the airplanes into your World Trade Center twin towers”… “did you call them ‘the opposition'”? 

(UK Telegraph) Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country’s civil war.
Opposition forces battling Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria now number around 100,000 fighters, but after more than two years of fighting they are fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands.
The new study by IHS Jane’s, a defence consultancy, estimates there are around 10,000 jihadists – who would include foreign fighters – fighting for powerful factions linked to al-Qaeda..
Another 30,000 to 35,000 are hardline Islamists who share much of the outlook of the jihadists, but are focused purely on the Syrian war rather than a wider international struggle. (more…)

Tonight on CBS they put together a really good presentation about Syria.   The construct of the broadcast was to put the Syrian issues to the viewer with three interviews.

The first interview with Bashir Assad, Syria’s President.   The Second segment/interview with U.S. President Barack Obama.   The last segment with recently retired CIA #2, and White House advisor, Mike Morell.
If you want a great construct, which was actually quite free of bias in presentation, I think you will enjoy it.    Good, honest and factual airing of the surrounding issues.   If you are not too familiar with the issues, the format will assist an understanding.   If you are really familiar with the story, and up on current events – you’ll like the Morell interview.

CLICK HERE

Well done CBS.
After you watch please share your thoughts on current Syrian affairs.

Willing, and arguably desperate to get out from under his own inept Syrian bus, Dear Leader proclaims victory and moves along.   Next Up – Asia
The White House on Saturday released a statement from President Obama after it was announced that Secretary of State John Kerry had helped broker a deal with Russia for the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons.

Here’s the full statement:

“I welcome the progress made between the United States and Russia through our talks in Geneva, which represents an important, concrete step toward the goal of moving Syria’s chemical weapons under international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed. This framework provides the opportunity for the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons in a transparent, expeditious, and verifiable manner, which could end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but to the region and the world. The international community expects the Assad regime to live up to its public commitments. (more…)