Baghdad accuses Kurd's of smuggling oil to Turkey, vows revenge

 Baghdad decries Kurdish region's oil move:  It is just the latest chapter in a long-running tussle between the federal government and the Kurdistan region over natural resources.The three-province region's plan to sell oil it has exported to Turkey "is considered ... an explicit violation of the requisites of the Iraqi constitution", the Oil Ministry said in an English-language statement.

The federal State Oil Marketing Organisation "is the exclusive, sole official body authorised to enter into contracts for the export of hydrocarbon resources, including crude oil and gas", the statement said. Any other exports are "considered as 'smuggled crude' and in violation of the valid laws", it said, also criticising Turkey for facilitating the move by Kurdistan.

Kurd's want their oil!

 The uprisings of the Arab Spring are spilling over into an awakening of Kurdish people and their national self-definition. The Kurds number some 30 million people scattered around Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and the Caucasus. The civil war in Syria has provided certain Kurdish armed groups with the opportunity to further arm themselves and enact a round of attacks against the Turkish Army, hoping to create a second autonomous Kurdish region in the Middle East.

The first being Northern Iraq. Characteristically, Massoud Barzani, current president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, said, "The Kurdish nation will be united and the day of self-determination is coming." Since the end of 2011, as the war in Syria was building, Kurdish guerrilla groups in Turkey, such as PKK, intensified their attacks. Since then, hundreds of military attacks by Kurds have managed to inflict great casualties on the Turkish Army

Remember, the Kurds want their oil and their freedom. That is only one small fact Bush ignored to attack Iraq so he could help Israel and instigate war with Iran.

Remember, the Kurds are Sunni and al-Maliki Shiite. Al- Maliki and Iran see Hashimi and the Kurds as a threat to their dominance in the new middle east order. The Kurds wanting a free Kurdistan are now a people without a country"

Kurds are a dispossessed people whose natural homeland stretches across much of the Middle East. A substantial number of Kurds live in Iran, which is as close to a mortal enemy of the United States as there is in the world today. American support for reclaiming those colonial possessions of Teheran and the incorporation of those lands into Kurdistan would roughly double the area of the Iraqi Kurds.

A significant, but smaller, number of Kurds live in Syria, an enemy of America and was a supporter both of the Iraqi insurgency and of international terrorism. If the Baathist regime did not give up its Kurdish lands, then the Kurds, with American military support, should smash the Syrian Army and force as humiliating a peace treaty as possible on Damascus.

The majority of the thirty million or so Kurds, however, live in Turkey – almost one quarter of the population of Turkey. That, more than anything else, has stayed our hand so far. Kurdistan with the southeast quarter of Turkey is a fairly large nation. Traditionally, Turkey has been an ally of America, but that has been changing fast and Turkish support for American policies has always been based entirely on cynical self-interest.

We owe Turkey – neutral in World War Two and our enemy in World War One – nothing. Our support for Turkey costs us the goodwill of Greeks, Armenians and other European nations that suffered through centuries of Turkish oppression. It also has cost of much of the goodwill of Kurds, who would otherwise welcome the presence of a superpower that was not intolerant, not Arab, and sought nothing but friendly relations with it.

Another important reason for supporting a true Kurdistan is that the Kurds are a genuinely diverse people. Although they were forced to covert to Islam, today only about seventy percent of the Kurds are Moslem, and many of those only nominally, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians (or a faith much akin to that) and Bahai have lived within the long-persecuted Kurdish community with their first allegiance as Kurds, and there is no single branch of Islam that clearly dominates the Kurdish community.

Kurdistan could then be a democracy with an Islamic majority that was genuinely inclusive of all faiths, both needing the support of all Kurds to survive (much like Israel) and also because of centuries of living largely underground, tolerant of all Kurds. There is little doubt that it would become an affluent nation as capable of defending itself as Israel is today, and that along with the establishment of a truly free and democratic Lebanon, would create three strong, free and prosperous democracies which would naturally become allies or at least friends.

The dismemberment of Iran, which would lose ten percent of its population, and the humiliation of Syria, which would be forced into a very precarious position, would be great peripheral benefits. The downside has always been the impact on Turkey.

Oil-rich area

Iraq's ethnic Kurds maintain an autonomous region that comprises three of the country's 18 provinces. In recent months, the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad, which includes some Kurds in prominent positions "or there were", has accused Kurdish leaders of attempting to expand their territory by deploying their militia, known as pesh merga, to areas south of the autonomous region. Among other things, the Kurds and Iraq's government are at odds over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the autonomous region, and over how Iraq's oil revenue ought to be distributed.

What a mess the already volatile Middle East has become since Bush was told by God to attack Iraq to get into the Middle East to straighten it out. He freed up Iran to instigate wherever she can in order to have her idea of a new Middle East order not ours. Will we ever find a balance again?

Many of us have said numerous times that Bush was advised before hand that if he attacked Iraq he would destabilize the middle east. He knew before he ignored all good advice that the neighbors would get involved and they are. He knew that it was most likely that Iraq would be divvied up between the Kurds, the Sunni's, and the Shiite and it will be. In the past I have written extensively the entire middle east would blow and then the entire world would be involved in war.

I know that Syria, Turkey, and Iran are fighting Kurds that are looking for Autonomy but never really thought that a free Kurdistan would encompass areas of Iran and Turkey as well as Iraq. knowing the close American Kurdish relationship I really have to rethink what Bush's real goal was here and despite kurdish hopes I see them as being able to take no lands from any country except maybe Iraq but to continue to be a nuisance..


James m Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

In Syria: Suspected chemical substance dropped from planes but no one broke the worlds red line, so?

Report in Syria: Suspected chemical substance dropped from planes: Videos uploaded by the Qatari news network show casualties having difficulties breathing treated in makeshift hospitals. One video showed a healthcare professional drawing attention to the white foam coming out of an injured man's mouth. 

The issue of possible chemical attacks by President Bashar Assad's government has become a crucial factor that could lead to the United States and other western powers stepping up their involvement in the Syrian civil war. Al-Arabi newspaper published statements by a Lebanese source claiming that Hezbollah is prepared for any military development. According to the source, this is in light of the meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Hezbollah chief. 

 Iran says use of chemical arms by anyone in Syria is Red Line: In calling chemical weapons use a "red line" for Iran, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi did not indicate what action Tehran - one of Assad's staunchest political and military allies - might take in the case that a poison gas attack by either side in the conflict were to be proven.

"We have always emphasized that the use of chemical weapons on the part of anyone is our red line," Salehi said, according to the ISNA news agency. "Iran is opposed to the use of any kind of weapon of mass destruction, and not just their use but their production, accumulation, and use." Salehi also reiterated calls for the United Nations to investigate assertions by the Syrian government that Syrian insurgents had used chemical weapons.

Wait a minute! You mean Russia is officially allied with Hezbollah a terrorist group when it comes to Syria? What the hell is that?

* Step toward possible military intervention in Syria: The Pentagon is sending about 200 troops to Jordan, the vanguard of a potential U.S. military force of 20,000 or more that could be deployed if the Obama administration decides to intervene in Syria to secure chemical weapons arsenals or to prevent the 2-year-old civil war from spilling into neighboring nations.

For months there have been tit for tat accusations of chemical weapon use. Personally I believe it to be the Assad regime. However you know we are going to end up right in the middle of this. From the beginning of the chaos in Syria we have been saying that Iran more specifically the IRG (Iran Revolutionary Guard) was in Syria helping if not leading the way in trying to quell the uprising along with Hezbollah.

You know Assad's only other regional friend Iran is dictating that this slaughter is a necessity though Syria knows how to brutalize its people all to well. Iran will not allow a Democracy at her doorstep further isolating her.

'Iran building militias in Syria in case Assad falls': The Post quoted a senior Obama administration official as saying that Iran was backing as many as 50,000 militiamen. “The immediate intention seems to be to support the Syrian regime. But it’s important for Iran to have a force in Syria that is reliable and can be counted on,” the official stated.

Now that we know how involved Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are in the slaughtering that is going on around the country that is beginning to look like the beginning of their fight not nearing the end.You have to be very concerned about what is happening in Syria especially.

Russia, China, and Iran are not going to allow Syria to fall to Democracy. What we saw after the voter fraud in Iran was mild compared to what the IRG will do if this movement spreads to Iran. I really wish Bashar would step down but Iran is the elephant in the room any way you look at it. The total middle east breakdown we have written about numerous times is well under way. We can only hope we keep it from erupting into WW3.

By attacking and defeating Iraq we freed Iran up to pursue her version of new middle East order by interfering wherever she could while Bush was doing the same thing with his Middle East Democratization program. I think you can see how successful Bush and Cheney were with chaos creating Middle East Democracy program but you are barely seeing the results they created in Iran and throughout the Middle East.

The goal absolutely is to be the country who decides which direction the new Middle East (dis)order will take. Bush started it by attacking Iraq to get into the middle east to destabilize it and start the new middle east order the idiot said God told him to do now it will be up to Iran and Saudi Arabia at least up front fight it out whether this goes the Iranian Shiite way or the Saudi Arabian Sunni way and do not forget Israel!

*The total middle east breakdown Sunni against Shiite is well under way. Iraq can't afford to help Iran as Iraq is busy blowing itself. I have changed my thought on this and think this developing middle east sectarian war could be a good thing if the United States, Russia, and China can remain on the side lines but it doesn't look like it, so?.

We are told chemical weapons are being moved into Hezbollah's control. If that is true you know they are using them to control the "vermin" 

All world leaders that are controlling this proxy war say that using chemical weapons is a red line but both sides are using them. If the rebel's have them, many are Islamists who will use them.

Now we hear Obama who does not want another war' is moving the line back saying small amounts will not be acted on. We will keep monitoring the situation so larger amounts will not be used.

We are told once again that Russia has the right to continue to fill old weapons contracts.They have since this civil war started supplied millions of weapons and rounds along with advanced missile defense systems and other advanced weapons that must be manned by Russian's who of course will defend their own.

 A civilian Russian aircraft was just fired on by 2 missiles. The plane was missed as the pilot was able to avert them.

No one is safe, we are allowing Syria to be turned into a free fire zone where no one is responsible for doing anything. Russia has been fired on and don't forget they have the submarine base in Tartus they are not going to let go.

Russia has als sold Syria a pretty advanced missile defense system along with numerous varied advance systems manned by Russians who are ordered to defend themselves. Hezbollah and Iran are already openly involved.

It looks like Syria is going to be the excuse for a Iran, United States war that will only fuel this proxy civil war. I still have hopes we can keep this regional and not a world war.

 James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

U.S. Army unit deployed to Jordan to "prepare for a number of scenarios" as Syria is out of control

 Israel military official: Syria has used chemical weapons many times : Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of research and analysis in Israeli military intelligence, said that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical weapons multiple times. 

"Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used," he said. He said sarin, a lethal nerve agent, was probably used. He also said the Syrian regime was using less lethal chemical weapons, and that Russia has continued to arm the Syrian military with weapons such as advanced SA-17 air defense missiles.

No coincidence in the timing of that statement. Israel knows we have already announced that the use of chemical weapons was a red line and the west would have to act to remedy the situation and secure the WMD. Israel knows A U.S. Army headquarters element has been deployed to Jordan to, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel put it, "prepare for a number of scenarios" and help the country defend its border with Syria. I happen to agree but the timing for Israel is perfect for Israel.

*Britain, France claim Syria used chemical weapons: In letters to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the two European powers said soil samples, witness interviews and opposition sources support charges that nerve agents were used in and around the cities of Aleppo, Homs and possibly Damascus, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The European accounts are in part aimed at countering accusations by the Syrian government that opposition forces had fired chemical weapons during fighting in the town of Khan al-Asal near Aleppo on March 19, killing 26 people, including Syrian troops. 

* US Soldiers Deployed To Jordan To Defend Border With Syria: A U.S. Army headquarters element has been deployed to Jordan to, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel put it, "prepare for a number of scenarios" and help the country defend its border with Syria.Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he ordered the deployment last week. But he added that U.S. military intervention in Syria's civil war should be an option of last resort: 

“The best outcome for Syria -- and the region -- is a negotiated, political transition.” However, Hagel told the panel, if Syrian president President Bashar al-Assad crosses the red line painted by Obama, things could change:President Obama has made clear that if Assad and those under his command use chemical weapons, or fail to meet their obligations to secure them, there will be consequences, and they will be held accountable. 

* Step toward possible military intervention in Syria: The Pentagon is sending about 200 troops to Jordan, the vanguard of a potential U.S. military force of 20,000 or more that could be deployed if the Obama administration decides to intervene in Syria to secure chemical weapons arsenals or to prevent the 2-year-old civil war from spilling into neighboring nations.

For months there have been tit for tat accusations of chemical weapon use. Personally I believe it to be the Assad regime. However you know we are going to end up right in the middle of this. From the beginning of the chaos in Syria we have been saying that Iran more specifically the IRG (Iran Revolutionary Guard) was in Syria helping if not leading the way in trying to quell the uprising along with Hezbollah.

You know Assad's only other regional friend Iran is dictating that this slaughter is a necessity though Syria knows how to brutalize its people all to well. Iran will not allow a Democracy at her doorstep further isolating her.

'Iran building militias in Syria in case Assad falls': The Post quoted a senior Obama administration official as saying that Iran was backing as many as 50,000 militiamen. “The immediate intention seems to be to support the Syrian regime. But it’s important for Iran to have a force in Syria that is reliable and can be counted on,” the official stated.

Now that we know how involved Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are in the slaughtering that is going on around the country that is beginning to look like the beginning of their fight not nearing the end.You have to be very concerned about what is happening in Syria especially.

Russia, China, and Iran are not going to allow Syria to fall to Democracy. What we saw after the voter fraud in Iran was mild compared to what the IRG will do if this movement spreads to Iran. I really wish Bashar would step down but Iran is the elephant in the room any way you look at it. The total middle east breakdown we have written about numerous times is well under way. We can only hope we keep it from erupting into WW3.

By attacking and defeating Iraq we freed Iran up to pursue her version of new middle East order by interfering wherever she could while Bush was doing the same thing with his Middle East Democratization program. I think you can see how successful Bush and Cheney were with chaos creating Middle East Democracy program but you are barely seeing the results they created in Iran and throughout the Middle East.

The goal absolutely is to be the country who decides which direction the new Middle East (dis)order will take. Bush started it by attacking Iraq to get into the middle east to destabilize it and start the new middle east order the idiot said God told him to do now it will be up to Iran and Saudi Arabia at least up front fight it out whether this goes the Iranian Shiite way or the Saudi Arabian Sunni way and do not forget Israel!

*The total middle east breakdown Sunni against Shiite is well under way. Iraq can't afford to help Iran as Iraq is busy blowing itself. I have changed my thought on this and think this developing middle east sectarian war could be a good thing if the United States, Russia, and China can remain on the side lines but it doesn't look like it, so?.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Another Step toward military intervention in Syria:

 

 *Britain, France claim Syria used chemical weapons: In letters to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the two European powers said soil samples, witness interviews and opposition sources support charges that nerve agents were used in and around the cities of Aleppo, Homs and possibly Damascus, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The European accounts are in part aimed at countering accusations by the Syrian government that opposition forces had fired chemical weapons during fighting in the town of Khan al-Asal near Aleppo on March 19, killing 26 people, including Syrian troops. 

* US Soldiers Deployed To Jordan To Defend Border With Syria: A U.S. Army headquarters element has been deployed to Jordan to, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel put it, "prepare for a number of scenarios" and help the country defend its border with Syria.Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he ordered the deployment last week. But he added that U.S. military intervention in Syria's civil war should be an option of last resort: 

“The best outcome for Syria -- and the region -- is a negotiated, political transition.” However, Hagel told the panel, if Syrian president President Bashar al-Assad crosses the red line painted by Obama, things could change:President Obama has made clear that if Assad and those under his command use chemical weapons, or fail to meet their obligations to secure them, there will be consequences, and they will be held accountable. 

* Step toward possible military intervention in Syria: The Pentagon is sending about 200 troops to Jordan, the vanguard of a potential U.S. military force of 20,000 or more that could be deployed if the Obama administration decides to intervene in Syria to secure chemical weapons arsenals or to prevent the 2-year-old civil war from spilling into neighboring nations.

For months there have been tit for tat accusations of chemical weapon use. Personally I believe it to be the Assad regime. However you know we are going to end up right in the middle of this. From the beginning of the chaos in Syria we have been saying that Iran more specifically the IRG (Iran Revolutionary Guard) was in Syria helping if not leading the way in trying to quell the uprising along with Hezbollah.

You know Assad's only other regional friend Iran is dictating that this slaughter is a necessity though Syria knows how to brutalize its people all to well. Iran will not allow a Democracy at her doorstep further isolating her.

 

'Iran building militias in Syria in case Assad falls': The Post quoted a senior Obama administration official as saying that Iran was backing as many as 50,000 militiamen. “The immediate intention seems to be to support the Syrian regime. But it’s important for Iran to have a force in Syria that is reliable and can be counted on,” the official stated.

Now that we know how involved Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are in the slaughtering that is going on around the country that is beginning to look like the beginning of their fight not nearing the end.You have to be very concerned about what is happening in Syria especially. 

Russia, China, and Iran are not going to allow Syria to fall to Democracy. What we saw after the voter fraud in Iran was mild compared to what the IRG will do if this movement spreads to Iran. I really wish Bashar would step down but Iran is the elephant in the room any way you look at it. The total middle east breakdown we have written about numerous times is well under way. We can only hope we keep it from erupting into WW3.

By attacking and defeating Iraq we freed Iran up to pursue her version of new middle East order by interfering wherever she could while Bush was doing the same thing with his Middle East Democratization program. I think you can see how successful Bush and Cheney were with chaos creating Middle East Democracy program but you are barely seeing the results they created in Iran and throughout the Middle East.

The goal absolutely is to be the country who decides which direction the new Middle East (dis)order will take. Bush started it by attacking Iraq to get into the middle east to destabilize it and start the new middle east order the idiot said God told him to do now it will be up to Iran and Saudi Arabia at least up front fight it out whether this goes the Iranian Shiite way or the Saudi Arabian Sunni way and do not forget Israel!

*The total middle east breakdown Sunni against Shiite is well under way. Iraq can't afford to help Iran as Iraq is busy blowing itself. I have changed my thought on this and think this developing middle east sectarian war could be a good thing if the United States, Russia, and China can remain on the side lines but it doesn't look like it, so?.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Kurds seize three towns in Syria's northeast: A free Kurdistan?

  

Kurds seize three towns in Syria's northeast:  KURDISH residents have taken control of three towns in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey after convincing pro-government forces to leave, a watchdog said. The region's Hasakeh province has seen heavy fighting in recent days between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels, with 46 combatants killed in two days as the opposition seized the border town of Ras al-Ain on Friday. 

 

The Kurds took control of the towns of Derbassiye and Tall Tamr late on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They were backed by militia from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has links with Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), it said.  

 

Remember, the Kurds want their oil as well as their freedom,they could be self supporting with that alone. That is only one small fact Bush ignored to attack Iraq so he could help Israel and instigate war with Iran.

Remember, the Kurds are Sunni and al-Maliki Shiite. Al- Maliki and Iran see Hashimi and the Kurds as a threat to their dominance in the new middle east order. The Kurds wanting a free Kurdistan are now a people without a country"

Kurds are a dispossessed people whose natural homeland stretches across much of the Middle East. A substantial number of Kurds live in Iran, which is as close to a mortal enemy of the United States as there is in the world today. American support for reclaiming those colonial possessions of Teheran and the incorporation of those lands into Kurdistan would roughly double the area of the Iraqi Kurds.

A significant, but smaller, number of Kurds live in Syria, an enemy of America and was a supporter both of the Iraqi insurgency and of international terrorism. If the Baathist regime did not give up its Kurdish lands, then the Kurds, with American military support, should smash the Syrian Army and force as humiliating a peace treaty as possible on Damascus.

The majority of the thirty million or so Kurds, however, live in Turkey – almost one quarter of the population of Turkey. That, more than anything else, has stayed our hand so far. Kurdistan with the southeast quarter of Turkey is a fairly large nation. Traditionally, Turkey has been an ally of America, but that has been changing fast and Turkish support for American policies has always been based entirely on cynical self-interest.

We owe Turkey – neutral in World War Two and our enemy in World War One – nothing. Our support for Turkey costs us the goodwill of Greeks, Armenians and other European nations that suffered through centuries of Turkish oppression. It also has cost of much of the goodwill of Kurds, who would otherwise welcome the presence of a superpower that was not intolerant, not Arab, and sought nothing but friendly relations with it.

Another important reason for supporting a true Kurdistan is that the Kurds are a genuinely diverse people. Although they were forced to convert to Islam, today only about seventy percent of the Kurds are Muslem, and many of those only nominally, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians (or a faith much akin to that) and Bahai have lived within the long-persecuted Kurdish community with their first allegiance as Kurds, and there is no single branch of Islam that clearly dominates the Kurdish community.

Kurdistan could then be a democracy with an Islamic majority that was genuinely inclusive of all faiths, both needing the support of all Kurds to survive (much like Israel) and also because of centuries of living largely underground, tolerant of all Kurds. There is little doubt that it would become an affluent nation as capable of defending itself as Israel is today, and that along with the establishment of a truly free and democratic Lebanon, would create three strong, free and prosperous democracies which would naturally become allies or at least friends.

The dismemberment of Iran, which would lose ten percent of its population, and the humiliation of Syria, which would be forced into a very precarious position, would be great peripheral benefits. The downside has always been the impact on Turkey.

Oil-rich area

Iraq's ethnic Kurds maintain an autonomous region that comprises three of the country's 18 provinces. In recent months, the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad, which includes some Kurds in prominent positions "or there were", has accused Kurdish leaders of attempting to expand their territory by deploying their militia, known as pesh merga, to areas south of the autonomous region. Among other things, the Kurds and Iraq's government are at odds over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the autonomous region, and over how Iraq's oil revenue ought to be distributed.

What a mess the already volatile Middle East has become since Bush was told by God to attack Iraq to get into the Middle East to straighten it out. He freed up Iran to instigate wherever she can in order to have her idea of a new Middle East order not ours. Will we ever find a balance again?

Many of us have said numerous times that Bush was advised before hand that if he attacked Iraq he would destabilize the middle east. He knew before he ignored all good advice that the neighbors would get involved and they are. He knew that it was most likely that Iraq would be divvied up between the Kurds, the Sunni's, and the Shiite and it will be. In the past I have written extensively the entire middle east would blow and then the entire world would be involved in war.

I know that Syria, Turkey, and Iran are fighting Kurds that are looking for Autonomy but never really thought that a free Kurdistan would encompass areas of Iran and Turkey as well as Iraq. knowing the close American Kurdish relationship I really have to rethink what Bush's real goal was here and despite kurdish hopes I see them as being able to take no lands from any country but to continue to be a nuisance..


James m Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Syria crisis: activists report 'bloodiest day yet' - live updates: Plus a second day of dramatic bombings

 

This is the latest in Syria, gloss the stories and read the links that interest you and make your own decision as to conclusion, mine follows.

 

2 explosions hit near army HQ in Syrian capital: Two massive explosions targeting the army command headquarters rocked the heart of the Syrian capital on Wednesday, setting off clashes and a huge fire inside the building in the heavily guarded area, state-run media and residents said. 

 

Information Minister Omran Zoubi said there were no casualties from the blasts, the latest to hit the city as the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime intensifies. But the explosioins appear to show the deep reach of the rebels determined to topple the regime. Witnesses said the explosions were followed by heavy gunfire, suggesting security forces clashed with gunmen in the area.

Military Source: Four Guards Martyred, 14 Military Members and Civilians ...: The armed terrorist gangs connected with abroad have carried out two terrorist bombings on Wednesday targeting the General Staff building, an official military source said. It pointed out that the initial investigations indicated that the two bombings in the surrounding of and inside the General Staff building are caused by two booby-trapped cars.

The source said the terrorist attack resulted in the martyrdom ohttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/sep/27/syria-bloodiest-day-yet-livef four guards of wounds they sustained in the explosions and the injury of 14 civilians and military members, in addition to causing material damages to the building and a fire in some of its parts. The source said that this terrorist act coincided with shooting random fire by some terrorists in the vicinity of the building and the neighboring streets to spread panic among the civilians, asserting that the authorities confronted the terrorists and pursued them in the surrounding area.

Syria crisis: activists report 'bloodiest day yet' - live updates: In a report for the Guardian from Aleppo on Sunday, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Aleppo referred to "a babble of different languages" heard among fighters in the city – Chechen, Tajik, Turkish, French, Saudi dialect and Urdu.
Reuters is more slightly cautious than CNN over activists' claims about Wednesday's death toll. It cites the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claiming that more than 300 people were killed, "in one of the bloodiest days".

Blasts Rock Military Headquarters in Damascus:  Suicide bombers struck a military headquarters in a busy square in central Damascus on Wednesday morning, the second insurgent assault on a government military installation in two days and the largest attack in the capital since July, when explosions killed several key aides to President Bashar al-Assad.

 This is looking really good but caution, Now that we know how involved Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are in the slaughtering that is going on around the country that is beginning to look like the beginning of their fight not nearing the end. I think France and Turkey are in for a surprise and will take this mess to the next level. 

You have to be very concerned about what is happening in Syria especially. Russia, China, and Iran are not going to allow Syria to fall to Democracy. What we saw after the voter fraud in Iran was mild compared to what the IRG will do if this movement spreads to Iran. I really wish Bashar would step down but Iran is the elephant in the room any way you look at it. The total middle east breakdown we have written about numerous times is well under way. We can only hope we keep it from erupting into WW3.

In closing: You know Putin just got himself reelected as President, he did this so he could be at the helm of Russia as he like me knows 100% that world war is our future. He plans on marshaling China who is rapidly building a more formidable military and whoever he can to take on US hegemony.Russia watched helplessly as we had our way in Libya. Putin blames what is happening in Syria on our interference and Libya for training the protesters to fight against Bashar Al-Assad.

Putin is going to do everything possible to keep us from helping the Syrian people and I really feel for them. I do not see this going down the way Libya did and Iran and Russia are going to make sure it does not. I am afraid the Syrian people are going to be sacrificed, sacrificed in what is merely an opening salvo in this the wars for future dominance. I just heard that Russia is gathering forces to go into Iran via Armenia for a quick strike through Georgia. We have a showdown setting up that looks disastrous for the worlds future. It will be a miracle if we can keep this from turning into WW3!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

A Kurdish Spring in Turkey and Syria?

A Kurdish Spring in Turkey and Syria?: The uprisings of the Arab Spring are spilling over into an awakening of Kurdish people and their national self-definition. The Kurds number some 30 million people scattered around Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and the Caucasus. The civil war in Syria has provided certain Kurdish armed groups with the opportunity to further arm themselves and enact a round of attacks against the Turkish Army, hoping to create a second autonomous Kurdish region in the Middle East.

The first being Northern Iraq. Characteristically, Massoud Barzani, current president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, said, "The Kurdish nation will be united and the day of self-determination is coming." Since the end of 2011, as the war in Syria was building, Kurdish guerrilla groups in Turkey, such as PKK, intensified their attacks. Since then, hundreds of military attacks by Kurds have managed to inflict great casualties on the Turkish Army

Deadly attack on Turkish convoy: Security sources blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for the attack. The Turkish army responded to the attack with an immediate operation backed by air power in the larger Bingol area, the Turkish news agency Anatolia reports. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that 500 Kurdish rebels had been "rendered ineffective" by his forces in the space of a month. The government often uses the phrase to mean killed.

He specified that 123 militants had been killed over the past 10 days near the south-eastern border with Iraq. PKK attacks on Turkish targets recently escalated. Dozens of Turkish troops and civilians, including children, have been killed in recent bombings blamed on the group. The PKK has been fighting for an ethnic homeland in south-eastern Turkey since 1984.

Turkey launches military drill on Syrian border in apparent show of muscle ...: The Turkish government last week said Turkish Kurdish rebels have seized control of five towns along the border in collaboration with Syria’s Democratic Union Party, or PYD— an ethnic Kurdish grouping. Turkey alleges that many of the rebels migrated to civil-war engulfed Syria from bases in northern Iraq.

The Turkish military has targeted rebel bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq several times in the past, and the government hinted that it would not hesitate to do the same against any rebel position in Syria.

Remember, the Kurds want their oil and their freedom. That is only one small fact Bush ignored to attack Iraq so he could help Israel and instigate war with Iran.

Remember, the Kurds are Sunni and al-Maliki Shiite. Al- Maliki and Iran see Hashimi and the Kurds as a threat to their dominance in the new middle east order. The Kurds wanting a free Kurdistan are now a people without a country"

Kurds are a dispossessed people whose natural homeland stretches across much of the Middle East. A substantial number of Kurds live in Iran, which is as close to a mortal enemy of the United States as there is in the world today. American support for reclaiming those colonial possessions of Teheran and the incorporation of those lands into Kurdistan would roughly double the area of the Iraqi Kurds.

A significant, but smaller, number of Kurds live in Syria, an enemy of America and was a supporter both of the Iraqi insurgency and of international terrorism. If the Baathist regime did not give up its Kurdish lands, then the Kurds, with American military support, should smash the Syrian Army and force as humiliating a peace treaty as possible on Damascus.

The majority of the thirty million or so Kurds, however, live in Turkey – almost one quarter of the population of Turkey. That, more than anything else, has stayed our hand so far. Kurdistan with the southeast quarter of Turkey is a fairly large nation. Traditionally, Turkey has been an ally of America, but that has been changing fast and Turkish support for American policies has always been based entirely on cynical self-interest.

We owe Turkey – neutral in World War Two and our enemy in World War One – nothing. Our support for Turkey costs us the goodwill of Greeks, Armenians and other European nations that suffered through centuries of Turkish oppression. It also has cost of much of the goodwill of Kurds, who would otherwise welcome the presence of a superpower that was not intolerant, not Arab, and sought nothing but friendly relations with it.

Another important reason for supporting a true Kurdistan is that the Kurds are a genuinely diverse people. Although they were forced to covert to Islam, today only about seventy percent of the Kurds are Moslem, and many of those only nominally, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians (or a faith much akin to that) and Bahai have lived within the long-persecuted Kurdish community with their first allegiance as Kurds, and there is no single branch of Islam that clearly dominates the Kurdish community.

Kurdistan could then be a democracy with an Islamic majority that was genuinely inclusive of all faiths, both needing the support of all Kurds to survive (much like Israel) and also because of centuries of living largely underground, tolerant of all Kurds. There is little doubt that it would become an affluent nation as capable of defending itself as Israel is today, and that along with the establishment of a truly free and democratic Lebanon, would create three strong, free and prosperous democracies which would naturally become allies or at least friends.

The dismemberment of Iran, which would lose ten percent of its population, and the humiliation of Syria, which would be forced into a very precarious position, would be great peripheral benefits. The downside has always been the impact on Turkey.

Oil-rich area

Iraq's ethnic Kurds maintain an autonomous region that comprises three of the country's 18 provinces. In recent months, the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad, which includes some Kurds in prominent positions "or there were", has accused Kurdish leaders of attempting to expand their territory by deploying their militia, known as pesh merga, to areas south of the autonomous region. Among other things, the Kurds and Iraq's government are at odds over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the autonomous region, and over how Iraq's oil revenue ought to be distributed.

What a mess the already volatile Middle East has become since Bush was told by God to attack Iraq to get into the Middle East to straighten it out. He freed up Iran to instigate wherever she can in order to have her idea of a new Middle East order not ours. Will we ever find a balance again?

Many of us have said numerous times that Bush was advised before hand that if he attacked Iraq he would destabilize the middle east. He knew before he ignored all good advice that the neighbors would get involved and they are. He knew that it was most likely that Iraq would be divvied up between the Kurds, the Sunni's, and the Shiite and it will be. In the past I have written extensively the entire middle east would blow and then the entire world would be involved in war.

I know that Syria, Turkey, and Iran are fighting Kurds that are looking for Autonomy but never really thought that a free Kurdistan would encompass areas of Iran and Turkey as well as Iraq. knowing the close American Kurdish relationship I really have to rethink what Bush's real goal was here and despite kurdish hopes I see them as being able to take no lands from any country but to continue to be a nuisance..


James m Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Rebels claim control over most of Syria as Turkey deploys heavy weapons to Syrian border

This is the latest in Syria, gloss the stories and read the links that interest you and make your own decision as to conclusion, mine follows.

: The rebel Free Syrian Army said on Sunday that it now controls most of the war-torn country, a day after announcing that it has moved its command centre from Turkey to "liberated areas" inside Syria.

UN chief Ban Ki Moon and UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held talks about Syria on Saturday, agreeing the crisis was "a steadily increasing threat to regional peace and stability," according to a statement. Brahimi, who was appointed in early September, is due to brief the UN Security Council on Monday about his first round of talks with both the regime, including President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups.

Syria Rebels to Use Captured Territory for Training: Syrian Rebels to use captured territory for traning 

Syrian rebel fighters on the Turkish border are pushing ahead with a plan to turn territory in Idlib province that has been mostly under their control since early summer into a logistics and training base for fighters across the country.The move, which could draw the regime's attention back to this swath of northwestern territory, shows how Syria's rebels are trying to consolidate control over pockets of liberated land along the Turkish border even as war rages farther north in Aleppo.

Turkey deploys heavy weapons to Syrian border:Turkey deploys heavy weapons to border 

 The deployment is reportedly in an area where earlier this week Turkish civilians were wounded when stray bullets and shelling crossed the border from the Syrian province of al-Raqqa. The Turkish army moved three Howitzers and one anti-aircraft weapon to the border, the channel said.

Turkey, a member of NATO, has conducted a number of troop deployments in recent months along its 911-km (566-mile) border with Syria, where rebels are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Lebanese President Affirms Need to Control Borders... Lebanese Army: FSA Militia Members Attacked Army Center in Ersal:Lebanese President affirms need to control border 

Earlier  on Saturday, the Lebanese Army said that big numbers of gunmen affiliated to the so-called "Free Syrian Army'' militias attacked a center for the Lebanese army in Ersal area, but no casualties were reported. 

The army said in a statement that ''It is the second time in less than a week that members affiliated to the so-called 'Free Syrian Army' militias entered the Lebanese territories in Ersal area, attacking overnight a center for the Lebanese army,'' adding that no casualties were reported in the attack. The statement said that reinforcements were called in to the area and chased the gunmen who fled after the attack to the mountains and border towns and villages.

 This is looking really good but caution, Now that we know how involved Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are in the slaughtering that is going on around the country that is beginning to look like the beginning of their fight not nearing the end. I think France and Turkey are in for a surprise and will take this mess to the next level. 

You have to be very concerned about what is happening in Syria especially. Russia, China, and Iran are not going to allow Syria to fall to Democracy. What we saw after the voter fraud in Iran was mild compared to what the IRG will do if this movement spreads to Iran. I really wish Bashar would step down but Iran is the elephant in the room any way you look at it. The total middle east breakdown we have written about numerous times is well under way. We can only hope we keep it from erupting into WW3.

In closing: You know Putin just got himself reelected as President, he did this so he could be at the helm of Russia as he like me knows 100% that world war is our future. He plans on marshaling China who is rapidly building a more formidable military and whoever he can to take on US hegemony.Russia watched helplessly as we had our way in Libya. Putin blames what is happening in Syria on our interference and Libya for training the protesters to fight against Bashar Al-Assad.

Putin is going to do everything possible to keep us from helping the Syrian people and I really feel for them. I do not see this going down the way Libya did and Iran and Russia are going to make sure it does not. I am afraid the Syrian people are going to be sacrificed, sacrificed in what is merely an opening salvo in this the wars for future dominance. I just heard that Russia is gathering forces to go into Iran via Armenia for a quick strike through Georgia. We have a showdown setting up that looks disastrous for the worlds future. It will be a miracle if we can keep this from turning into WW3!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Russia says Assad will not back down first but shouldn't he?

First, Russia knows damn well that Bashar Al-Assad is wantonly slaughtering as many people as they can. They have resorted to daily attacks on cities and citizens including Alawite's Assad's own sect using tanks and fighter jets. They have purposely resorted to strafing bread lines, killing doctors and bombing hospitals. It is ludicrous for Russia to say it is wrong to expect Assad to stop this first and withdraw its troops from the cities..

Assad will not back down first: Russia said Saturday it would be "naive" for outside powers to expect Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to withdraw his troops first from cities and then wait for the opposition to follow suit. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said such a demand on the regime amounted to a call for "capitulation" that Western and Arab nations had no right to make.

"When our partners say that the government must stop first and withdraw all its soldiers and weapons from cities - and only then call on the opposition to do the same - well, this is a completely unworkable scheme," said Lavrov. "Either people are naive or it is some sort of provocation," he noted in answering questions from students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

On top of that, we knew from day one that if there was to be success for the rebels against Assad who is killing hundreds of his own people every day that almost the entire military would have to defect and take on Assad. As of August 27 the FSA said more than 60,000 of all ranks and all disciplines from the highest ranking General on down have defected with many more waiting for their chance to defect.

Long Wait to Defect From Assads Forces: “We don’t go on patrol any more. We spend the days without leaving the barracks, following the news on TV. We have not fired a single bullet since the beginning of the revolution.” Some have suggested that the Democratic Unionist Party (PYD), the dominant political party among the Kurds of Syria, may have negotiated truce with Bashar Al Assad’s government. Party chairman Salah Muslim has denied to IPS that there has been any agreement.Many within Syria also suggest that Damascus has abandoned this region in an attempt to distance Kurds from the Free Syrian Army forces.

Furat says he has “no problem whatsoever with the PYD.” But he can hardly hide his anxiety. “I tried to flee to Turkey but the Syrian army captured me and I was detained for ten days. Today it would be impossible to get back home due the myriad of checkpoints manned by both rebels and the government. “Many comrades say they will wait at their positions and put down their weapons when the FSA arrives, but nobody knows what will happen when the rebels reach this area. I doubt I’ll get my salary this month, so I’ll try to cross to Turkey or Iraq at the first opportunity.” Another policeman, Dilhar, recalls his recent defection.

Add this to the 23,000 Assad's murderers have already killed along with some 500,000 that have already fled the country and rightly so unless they had the will to stay and fight Assad, plus the knowledge that some 2 1/2 million people need aid aid, food, medicine, and shelter. Don't you think Assad should back off first?

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had killed 27 people, while 12 soldiers died in the fighting. More than 23,000 people have died since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, according to the U.K. based observatory. Two explosive devices also rocked an area near a government military unit in Damascus, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported on its website, without saying where it got the information. Al Arabiya television, citing a rebel group, said the bombing targeted the Syrian army’s command.

More than 2.5 million people need aid, protection inside Syria as China says safe zone will not work: "More than two and a half million people, including the refugees from Palestine and Iraq, are now in great need of the assistance and protection inside Syria," Eliasson said. "This is more than double the number (UN) Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos reported to you in March." "The most pressing needs include water and sanitation, food and shelter, blankets and health care," he said. "Less than half of primary health care facilities and hospitals are now fully functional in Syria."

"The destruction of pharmaceutical plants and storage facilities is making drugs and equipment scarce," he said. "At the same time, the number of people in need of medical care increases." "Access to health facilities has become difficult or impossible in some areas due to violence, check points and fuel shortages," he said. "Food prices have tripled in some areas."


Syrian troops take town on refugee flight route: Syrian troops recaptured from rebels Thursday a border town used by refugees to cross to Jordan, activists said, an apparent bid by the regime to stem the flood of Syrians fleeing their country's civil war. Damascus meanwhile accused Cairo of stirring up violence in the country, as Syria lengthens the list of other Arab countries that it blames for its unrest. Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi called this week for Syria's president to step down in an indication of the increasing isolation of Damascus in the Arab world.

In the latest clashes, hundreds of Syrian soldiers backed by 20 tanks assaulted Tel Chehab, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activist Mohammed Abu Houran said. Rebels fought back but were pushed out. A Jordanian army officer living just across the border said by telephone that he had heard heavy shelling starting early in the morning, but that it had subsided by midday. "It sounded like the shelling came from tanks and armored vehicles," said the officer, who cannot be identified under standing army regulations. "God help the Syrian people."

This is no way to get the people on your side. Forcing them to stay in the cities without the basic necessities of life so you can eradicate them is not the way to success. Unless Russia comes out in the open to help Assad stay in power, despite Iran's, Russia's, and Hezbollah's help the rebels will persevere. It is what comes after that that is grossly disconcerting not only in rebuilding Syria but in preventing the devolution of the middle east into all out sectarian war and then WW3.



James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com