In a follow-up to my previous post on the dangerous situation in the Mideast, here are a few more items for readers to consider.
The first link reports that the Assad regime in Syria is now using North Korean pilots to attack the Syrian rebels as Assad increasingly fears his own pilots will defect. The second link reports that Turkey intercepted and seized a convoy of trucks coming across the Syrian border, and that these trucks were loaded with sulfur, a precursor to the manufacturing of mustard gas–a chemical weapon. The drivers fled as a brief gun battle ensued. The world community wants to believe all of Syria’s chemical weapons and its materials for making chemical weapons have been destroyed. This belief seems very naive given the fact that Assad doesn’t even control large swaths of his own nation so materials dumps located in rebel-held areas are outside of Assad’s control. This begs the question: Was it the Assad regime or Syrian rebels that were trying to “infiltrate” a convoy of chemical weapons compounds into Turkey? Also, where were these trucks going to deliver their cargo?
The third link and fourth link detail the fighting that has been occurring in the very dangerous Sinai Peninsula between the Egyptian military on one side and the Hamas and radical Islamists on the other side. Remarkably, the Egyptians have reportedly located and destroyed 440 smuggling tunnels which Hamas forces built between Gaza and Egypt. There are indications of Israeli-Egyptian cooperation in this effort, but such efforts have been decidedly low-key. Any such cooperation definitely helps both nations, so I have little doubt that it is occurring behind the scenes.
Most Importantly, relations between the Israeli government and the Obama -led US government are deteriorating very quickly due to Obama’s efforts to cozy up to the Iranians regarding the issues of the West’s economic sanctions on Iran and Iran’s nuclear weapons programs. There are media reports that France has held up an agreement from happening between Obama and Iran. I think we may have reached the point where the Israelis no longer trust Obama on anything, and increasingly are focused on taking independent action against Iran without any help from the USA. Given the revelations on the US’s massive NSA spying on its allies, there is likely to be little intelligence sharing between the USA and Mideast nations. From the Israeli viewpoint, Israeli survival is not negotiable and military action may have to be taken against Iran at a certain point whether Obama likes it or not. Indeed, the last link, using Hurricane-ranking language to describe present US-Israeli relations, states that “we may actually be facing a rare Category 5 flare-up, a ‘superstorm’ of US-Israeli relations.” Obama’s alienation of the Israelis creates a very dangerous situation in the Mideast, and it increases the chances of new alliances forming in the Mideast, as my previous post discussed.
- http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/11/06/report-from-syria-n-korean-pilots-chemwar-advisors-housed-in-posh-quarters/
- http://www.worldtribune.com/2013/11/05/turkey-seizes-convoy-said-to-be-transporting-cw-materials-from-syria/
- http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-kills-32-hamas-fighters-in-sinai-campaign-daily-reports/
- http://shoebat.com/2013/10/07/fighting-brotherhood-egypt-allowed-israel/
- http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/10/israel-us-relations-iran/3488455/
