A couple of weeks back we wrote a fairly vague article titled Some Cataclysm This Way Comes where we wrote that something unpleasant is brewing and then spent time speaking of how wars start from the smallest of things and can become worldwide actions. Things are heating up as the Syrian debacle winds itself down and Iran takes control over much of the Syrian territory. The most important area in Syria is a triangle initially identified by Mark Langfan in an article here (map below). The area is marked by the three cities of At Tanf, Abu Kamal, and Ar Rusafah. The area was, and some still is, held by Daesh, also called Islamic State. It is important because it controls the Iraqi-Syrian border through which Iran is now able to pass any and all military and other equipment they require freely and without interference and far from prying eyes. Of course, everything is visible both day and night to the satellites and to their eyes in the stratosphere which can read the book left open in your lap while you watch the children play. Their sight is almost as sharp at night as in midday. These are owned by the major players who are currently both diddling in the same sandbox called Syria. As was in the good old days, they are not on the same side but at least they are not entirely opposing one another. While President Vladimir Putin is supporting Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, President Donald Trump has been backing the Kurds. Both sides are fighting against Islamic State while Bashir al-Assad and his Iranian allies are attempting to destroy every Sunni group backed by Saudi Arabia. It is hoped that President Putin has at least taken the precaution of telling his “friends” to leave the Kurdish troops, the Peshmerga and civilians alone even if they are apparently Sunni, after all the Sunni did not particularly like the Kurds either. Then there are the side players, which obviously includes the Saudi Royals as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who has already felt the wrath of Russian President Putin and thus has altered his target from al-Assad to the Kurdish civilians and their Peshmerga fighters. Soon he may hear from President Trump or perhaps President Trump would have President Putin make a polite request that Erdoğan simply pass on everything Syria if he would like to be on everybody involveds’ good side. The real mess in Syria includes Iraq which is also attempting to cleanse their nation of Sunnis one way or another. All of this is to realize the Iranian dream we have been mentioning for quite some time, the Shiite crescent from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Iran has accomplished its objective over the past eight years with the blessings and condoning eyes of the Obama administration. All that is left is to clean the route up and secure it for the rest of time granting them free access to the Israeli border whenever they so desire. What is reassuring for Israel is that Iran has other fish they so dearly desire to fry first and that also gives the world time to wake up to what is coming as Iran wants to control the world. That is correct, we have one more contestant who desires world conquest and apparently, President Erdoğan appears to have signed on as he has been providing troops to Qatar, the possible flash point at the moment.
Syrian Triangle as Reported by Mark Langfan
Currently Qatar has been playing a game of nerves using their media outlets to attack the Saudi Royal Family calling into question their religious observance and morals. They have accused the Saudis of allying with Israel and being the stooge of the United States. They have used Al-Jazeera, the print, on-line and television in these attacks. This started when right before President Trump made his visit to Saudi Arabia where he met with fifty Arab national leaders. There had been an agreement reached with Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to purchase weapons and Qatar broke from the deal followed by Bahrain and UAE leaving Saudi Arabia holding the bag for the entire deal. Soon after the meeting with President Trump, Saudi Arabia led the Gulf States in pulling their ambassadors from Qatar and started to apply diplomatic and economic pressure on Qatar. Qatar has not even given the slightest sign of backing down. Additionally, one can be assured that Iran will back their friends in Qatar. Additionally, Turkey has chosen to side with Iran as well and has sent troops to Qatar. Where this will lead is anybody’s guess, and there are too many twists coming to even guess at this point. Iran is not likely ready to press too far quite yet as they have too many fronts, where they are facing opposition. They are not only stuck in the Syrian civil war but also the war in Yemen. Iran has their eyes on Saudi Arabia, and particularly the oil fields as well as Mecca and Medina, the Islamic Holy Cities. Their plan is and always has been to have two fronts, Iraq and Yemen. They also require such an attack to be made when they can apply their full force and all of this requires that they finish their wars in Yemen and Syria. The time to worry will come when the civil wars in Syria and in Yemen jump to a higher level of violence, and it will be a significant increase. When that increase brings the wars to a close, then Iran will begin their plans to replace Saudi Arabia as the main force within the Arab Middle East. That will be the start of the Iranian hopes to make Shiite Islam the dominant form of Islam replacing Sunni. After Saudi Arabia, the next target will most likely be Egypt, the most populous Arab state.
Obama wanted to have Iran take charge from Saudi Arabia and rule the Middle East. This will, at some point, run directly into President Trump and his backing of the Kurdish communities. What is the saddest part is the Kurds are pawns in a far larger game and they only desire one thing, their own land and to be left in peace. Unfortunately, and this is something Israel knows all too well, peace in the Middle East is a luxury bought with eternal vigilance and a very competent and well armed military. The only thing the Middle East respects is the ability to use and dispense force, and it will spread to North Africa if not stopped early. The coming struggle for the Middle East will likely be sparked through Qatar using some border infringement, real or falsely started just as the war with Poland was initiated by the Nazis which led to World War II. This all rolls back to another of our themes, there are still national leaders who have the concept of world conquest as an achievable goal and that they will be the ones who will finally accomplish the feat. Yes, I know that the nations of the Western World have long given up on world conquest while many leaders in the remainder of the world have not yet surrendered on that concept. Among the nations which still consider world conquest as something they believe could be in their future in the recent times have included Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey, The USSR, China, who may still have that idea, Iran, which definitely believes the world will become their oyster, and we are sure that there are or will be others as also in the recent past include, please do not laugh, Venezuela. The nations believing they should rule the world are a slightly longer list, but there are some crazies out there who believe they will conquer the world and we would be remiss if we did not mention our favorite certifiable dictator in North Korea, Kim Jong-un. We will need to wait and see but for the safety of the world and sanity’s sake, could somebody please change the leadership in Iran before they cause some growing conflagration? Please.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 