Is There An End Game To Our Wars In Muslim Lands?

(Is This An Outcome We Can Confidently Predict ? )

Are we planning, as I have said in previous blogs, to wander the Middle East like the Crusaders, supporting client sultanates, emirates caliphates ad infinitum and leaving in our wake failed states and utter chaos as those secular societies so fragile in their social constructions and relationships revert, under the weight of anarchy, back to tribalism, religious apartheid and tyrannical theocratic entities, or is there an end in sight to Christendom's military interventions in Muslim lands?; especially in the Middle East, North Africa and in the near future, the Caucasuses?

Show me a Muslim country where recent Western military intervention has brought stability, peace, security and economic prosperity to it's Arab people.

Why are we dumping all the secular dictators who were happy to do the bidding of the West or, as in the case of ex-Presidents Morsi and Mubarak, leaving them to rot in prison ?

Will someone of wisdom please explain to me the logic of our choice of bloodthirsty religious fanatics intending to take their Muslim people back to the 8^th century above their predecessor secular benevolent and (in instances) tyrannical dictators in North Africa and the Levant?

Do we really believe that Salafist-Wahhabist Saudi Arabia and (current) Salafist-ruled Turkey offer a better deal for their own people (let alone Christendom) than the ones which were in place under their predecessors?

Am I completely out of touch with reality or has something really gone seriously wrong with Western Foreign Policy?

Let's see now, Christianity is illegal in Saudi Arabia and, as I am tired of repeating for the past 20 or more years (and in many blogs) Saudi Arabia has been solely responsible for all the hate generated by Salafism and Wahhabism – which created Osama Bin Laden who, in his earlier days of 'innocence' thought he could influence the Saudi Royal Household but was so horrified when they invited U.S. bases onto (the equivalent for him) 'Vatican City' – the Holy soil of Saudi Arabia, that, after this fact, he turned against his homeland and subsequently planned in earnest against the 'apostates' in Jeddah and against the United States.

So Al Qaeda and ISIL are the offspring of Saudi ideologies.

The Syrian 'Moderates'

Analysts and Fellows of renowned Institutes and Houses will go on television and talk about Syrian 'moderates' – but these 'moderates'  have no popular support because, in reality, they do not exist. You have a hotchpotch  of militias who all have one thing in common, their absolute fanatical hatred of President Assad, their determination to destroy the Ba'athist Party in Syria and create a different kind of totalitarian regime – equally based on terror – but this time directed against everyone (men, women and children) who were in any way connected to the Ba'athist Party or worked for any Government Department or worked for any organisation or agency in any way supported by the Assad regime. Now considering the fact that you could not get a job, or be a civil servant, or doctor or teacher, or nurse unless you were in the main supportive of the Ba'athist Party (or, at the very least, not actively campaigning or working against it), this means they (the 'Moderates') are planning for the same chaos as exists in Iraq today.  And I am at present talking about the 'moderates' - I have not even got started to talk about Al Qaeda and ISIL or whatever further horrors they might have in mind for the unfortunate Muslim people of the region.  (I say Muslim because any Christian from Turkey to North Africa, with the means, would be advised to evacuate before they are driven out or, as in Egypt, into semi-servitude and Islamic 'slavery' as seen under ISIL.)

Why Would The European Union Wish to Commit Economic Suicide In Favor of Militarism? 

I really do not believe that Christendom's politicians in Western Europe, conscious as they are of nearly 1000 years of bloody conflict in the Holy Land, would actively, by themselves, plan for such horrors.

I can imagine countries from behind what was known as 'The Iron Curtain' where racism, fascism and neolithic perceptions of existence hold very strong, being eager participants in such modern Crusades to show their 'colors' but those with a longer history of religious conflict over the centuries take a more measured view of unfolding events in these regions.

Germany:

The Economic Powerhouse of Europe and Financial Super Giant In The World – Would It Really Sacrifice All For Militarism?

Why should Germany, the most successful economic country in Western Europe and one of the world's giant economies, destroy it's valuable trade with Russia, The Middle East and elsewhere in favor of the production of armaments as opposed to luxury BMWs, Mercedes, washing machines and fridges, and with a technology so advanced and respected worldwide that it outclasses and outperforms and outsells nearly everyone else - except China (which successfully offers industrial products and household goods at competitive prices but not at a similar quality.)

Why would Germany wish to commit economic Hara-kiri in this regard?

Why would Britain, one of the most successful trading islands in the history of the world, similarly, wish to snuff itself out in favor of the production of armaments as the sole export as opposed to goods and financial services worldwide – in the lucrative Middle East and North Africa?   Let's be clear about something.   It is now so dangerous for Westerners doing business in all of these regions as to make their physical presence a liability rather than an asset.   Their only mission now is to 'do the deal' then 'get the Hell outta Dodge City' - not too much time spent these days wandering the Souq nor sightseeing without bodyguards.

Not only are Westerners in North Africa and The Middle East more fearful than ever of kidnap or murder, but they are also seen as an extension of the new oppression ordinary Arab people are experiencing under their new 'Islamic' 'liberators' and whose home countries are likewise blamed as sharing responsibility with the United States for the denial of their 'Arab Spring' in favor of this much more brutal oppression ( now more Mediaeval in nature) their new Prison Cell Guards (Islamic 'liberators') are imposing under strict Saudi-style Islamic law.

Is this our legacy to the majority of people in today's Arab world?

To take them back to The Dark Ages by offering them chaos as an alternative to the preceding benevolent dictatorships?

We are Parachuting Democracy Into The Levant and North Africa on the Backs of Sectarianism and Religious Bigotry – Because That Is What Saudi Arabia and It's Muslim Allies Stand For

Don't let anyone try to fool you by telling you that the West is there in the name of the Arab people and democracy.

We have never supported democracies for one man one vote in this part of the world since we created all these sultanates, emirates, states and kingdoms in the Gulf, North Africa and the Middle East, but placed as many as were possible into the hands of local tyrants and minority tribal groups to rule from afar, under Western protection. If you believe this to be inaccurate, check your history books.

Where Did ISIL Come From?

How could lSIL, in less than 6 months, seize territory bigger than that of the United Kingdom?

How come the CIA did not pick up on such a powerful group?

Who trained them in insurgency tactics?; because they are just as good as the very best graduates from top counter-insurgency schools in the the world – in Britain, Russia, Israel or The United States.

OK, let's work on the supposition that none of the above gave them training, how come they have been able to occupy strategic towns villages and vital crossroads on the borders of Syria, Turkey and almost half encircle the Iraqi capital city,Baghdad?

The obvious answer is that the disaffected Sunni minority (completely disenfranchised by Mr Paul Bremer III, when acting Pro-Consul, in his successful mission to totally dismantle the Ba'athist State of Iraq.) If indeed this is the case, we still loose in the above scenario because the Ba'athist Party, their families having been impoverished, denied the means of financial survival, having also been, metaphorically speaking, stripped naked, dragged in chains through the streets of every city, town an village in Iraq and spat upon (all with Mr Bremer's approval) by any Shia who cared, will never again trust any U.S. supported or backed or funded administration and will certainly not heed the call to arms against ISIL, their Sunni-brother 'liberators' who are restoring their dignity as Muslims, as Iraqis and as Arabs.

Is This Just An American Illness and Is It Infecting Europe?

American politicians (the ones who should know better) seem to think that everyone else in the world has no history, has no pride in their history, in their culture or in their origin.   More fatally than this they seem to have several blind spots when it comes to nations, races and tribes taking revenge for long-standing grievances. Historical grievances can run through the centuries.     History teaches us that.     Let me give you just one example of this.

Vengeance Can Be Extended Into Centuries

Alexander The Great [Alexander III of Macedon, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας] during the Persian Wars, put entire towns to the sword – men, women and children and babies because, several hundred years earlier, their Greek ancestors had 'defected' to support Persia, subsequently fled after the defeat of their Persian protectors, then set up communities in exile in territories still remaining under the protection of the Persian Empire and beyond the military and political empire of Hellenic forces.

This betrayal was one which was never forgiven by the Greeks and was passed down, even in folklore and word, as a historical grievance to be someday avenged.

Alexander believed that it was his historic destiny to avenge this wrong – by slaughtering not only every person but every living farm animal of these 'traitor' communities because their ancestors had transgressed by treason.   For the eager student of history, I refer you to research the Persian Wars for yourself.

As we are going back to Mediaeval times in our conduct of world affairs it seems the right and appropriate moment to resurrect such knowledge.

America is dealing with such a region where historical grievances are long-lasting and in many instances, unforgiven.

For mankind the Tigris-Euphrates are cornerstones of what we have evolved into.

What Has All The Above Got To Do With The Present Day Crisis?

Well I would say that it's a fool who will say that ISIL will be defeated without the ground presence of NATO, the United States or Western (European) troops.

It's a fool who will tell you that the Iraq Sunnis will be placated by just changing the government in Baghdad and the new Shia - dominated administration by simply 'throwing  a few 'bones' or 'crumbs' from the table (especially after their most recent experiences under U.S. occupation) to the Sunnis and Kurds.  It could have been different but the politicians who are making the decisions in Washington have no understanding of anything except money and power.   Certainly they have no understanding of ordinary people as they regard them, in many instances, as the equivalent of lepers, to be kept at a distance from themselves, the chosen and anointed ones, at least by corporate America.

This is not dissimilar from the Roman Empire before it's decline – which took place over a period of hundreds of years and not overnight.   All the signs are there.   Even the most technologically advanced superpowers for their age were ultimately unable to prevent the rise of rival potentiates to the throne.

Historical Reference – The Great Library of Alexandria

For the ancient Egyptians, there were certain sections in the Great Library of Alexandria which were off-limits to visiting foreigners.

At it's height, the Great Library of Alexandria contained almost one million hand-written books, which, for it's time, was a wonder of the ancient world.  Scholars would take several years to travel to Egypt and then spend anywhere between 5-12 years in study of it's books which contained all the stored knowledge of known mankind.   It was the equivalent of the Internet for it's day.

You could think of it's off-limits Top Secret sections to knowledge today about, say, how to 'weaponize' viruses for mass infections, techniques for the weaponization of nuclear materials, or develop EMP or nuclear or magnetic resonance devices for mass population densities usage.

The books in the Top Secret off-limit sections of The Great Library contained technical knowledge about metallurgy, chemistry, ship construction, trajectory mathematics.  Those were the most obvious.   Others, I am now guessing, were about the mathematics of optics, trigonometry, refraction, planetary and celestial movements for navigation during day and night, agriculture and water conservation for irrigation, medical techniques and the usage of plants and spices for medicinal therapeutic purposes.   All are topics which gave the Egyptian Empire that cutting military technological edge over it's potential rivals.   The crime for smuggling books out of the Library was gouging out of eyes, removal of the skin from the victim, disembowelment, dismemberment - all as slow as possible and all designed to strike fear and terror into the populace at large and visiting scholars so as to deter would-be-smugglers or theft of such top secret knowledge.   And even with such horrific punishments, they still did not deter.   Books continued to be smuggled out of the Library – finding their way to very receptive (and financially thankful) Greek island States who yearned for the knowledge and power of the Egyptian Empire.

Why The West (NATO - with Saudi-Turkish Armed Forces Key Components) Should Not Commit Ground Forces To Iraq nor Syria

The air campaign alone cannot defeat ISIL so it is inevitable that the next stage will be ground troops.

In fact an initial over-reliance on the air campaign in the absence of a diplomatic channel leaves the West with no option.

International Diplomacy Does Not Exist – Now It's The Law of The Jungle

An important fact to note here is that the conduct of international relations and protocol has become so much the law of the jungle (i.e. the United Nations an all other international bodies and NGOs have lost total credibility in the Arab world, that ISIL have not even considered the option of diplomacy.)  Looking at it, for a moment, from their perspective, one can understand why:

All laws and norms of international relations were violated to secure the invasion and destruction of Iraq, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and the destruction of Libya.  In my view, and I said this (publicly) from 2003, Mr Bin Laden should have been categorized as a common criminal and the matter so progressed by the United States in concert with the international community.  Then there is Libya. Whether you supported or opposed it, The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was a model of development for the African continent.  This fact is not lost by African intellectuals, philosophers and visionaries – who exist no less on this underdeveloped continent as they do everywhere else in the world.  Whoever writes future history will find great difficulty to deny the availability for all Libyan citizens, under the Gadhafi dictatorship, of sanitation and clean running water, free health, free education, free higher education, free hospital care to a standard equaled in many parts of the European Union and fledgling industrial development.  There is not now a single country on the African continent which can boast such an achievement and I would challenge the ability of any African country to reach such a goal within at least the next 500 years.  I expect it will take at least double this, if ever at all.   Whether you were a fan of Gadhafi or loathed him, the above cannot be hidden in the annals of African history.   The way in which he was removed sent a very clear signal to future insurgents in the Arab world and I believe that ISIL is only the first in a long line of fanatical groups which will not be prepared to negotiate with any Christians about their future political nor economic nor demographic shape of Muslim Caliphates, Emirates and Sultanates which, as I said in an earlier blog, are becoming increasingly more likely with every blunder and foray Christendom makes into Muslim lands of the Levant and North Africa.

Turkey – Near The Cusp of Civil War ?

I do not see the Salafist government in Turkey surviving and, when it goes, the effect on the West could be very profound - as NATO has thrown all it's backing behind Salafist President Erdogan and the theocratic agenda both himself and the Saudis have for the entire region in opposition to secularism.   President Erdogan has attempted to purge the armed forces of secularists and replace them with Salafist-leaning generals but my analysis suggests that the Turkish people, as a whole, will refuse to go back to the Mediaeval Islam and civil disobedience, with the potential for a civil war, is not as remote nor far distant as one might be led to believe in the absence of an honest analysis of events in the Western media.

NATO aside, A civil war in Turkey would be an absolute disaster for it's own people and would result in ISIL (or a successor outfit) strengthening it's grips over parts of what are now Turkey and Kurdistan regional areas straddling Syria, Iraq, Iran.   It would throw NATO's plans into chaos as Turkey might decide to withdraw it's support for military action against the Assad regime favoring instead negotiation with ISIL (yes, they will negotiate with some fellow-Muslims, where it suits their temporary interests. This is very clear.  Do not forget, Fuhrer and Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, negotiated with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain in 1938, resulting in The Munich Pact*.) This type of negotiation could well be paralleled with similar between ISIL and the Iraqi Government in Baghdad to deny the emergence of a powerful Kurdistan country straddling Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey with potential ambitions to further expand their borders.

The Gulf States and Saudi Arabia will have security crises, whatever outcome prevails and their only continued security will lie in further military cooperation with Christendom – which will fuel even more internal and regional dissent.

Historians and analysts in the future will, no doubt muse that things could have been different if Saudi Arabia had embarked, decades ago, on social and political reform. An analysis of the Saudi Royal family would suggest that reform will be offered only as a very last resort - whilst the Kingdom is collapsing in military and regional turmoil - and that such will be too little too late to prevent the disintegration of the House of Saud.

Interestingly, this is exactly my analysis for Iran, their bitter regional foe, which, I correctly said, would 'go it alone' with regard to getting rid of ISIL (see earlier blogs.)

Prime Minister Netanyahu, You Are Wrong ! (But Not For The Reasons You Gave At The United Nations Security Council ! )

Prime Minister Netanyahu recently said [I paraphrase]''don't trust Iran, don't be prepared to do a deal with Iran.'' He was, of course, not speaking for world security but for that of Israel.

As I have said earlier, the United States and it's allies have global responsibilities which outweigh provincial interests and intrigues.   Both are not always one and the same.

Should ISIL continue to advance along the lines I predict and in the absence of any real serious concerted and unified will by parties which, as I also said earlier, should all be united and militarily working in partnership to get rid of this real physical threat to world security , then Iran will have no choice, if it does not want to see the Barbarians at the Gates (see earlier blog) but to work on a program for the (military) weaponization of nuclear material.  Others suggest that this capability [weaponization] could now be quickly achieved.

The Terms

Before such an event, Iran must make very publicly and very clearly to the world what it's intentions, as a nuclear power, will be with regard to both it's regional responsibilities (e.g. Israel and Saudi Arabia) and it's global responsibilities (the rest of the world.)

The possession of nuclear weapons, of the type Iran has the capacity to produce, would be impractical if applied to a situation of being forced to use them within the country's very own borders - should ISIL forces invade Iranian territory and continue to adopt and evolve  asymmetric strategies.#

Epilog to

Why The West (NATO - with Saudi-Turkish Armed Forces As Key Components) Should Not Commit Ground Forces To Iraq nor Syria

The only way to stop this, short of military action against Iran, in my opinion, is to militarily wipe out ISIL and destroy it as an ideological force in the region, before it 'goes viral'.

As I said earlier, this involves unpalatable choices but neither Bismarck nor Metternich, should they be here today, would have issues with such alliances, given the exceptional circumstances and the limited options.

Should Iran fail to give the necessary guarantees and nonetheless go ahead with such a program, I would not be surprised if Shiasm ended as a major world spiritual influence with the military occupation and defeat of Iran at the hands of Salafist fanatics, who will then go on, unhindered and unstoppable, to create their Empire of Islam, worldwide.

Patrick Emek

footnote 1 :

I am, for brevity of the lay readership of some blogs, drawing heavily on Wikipedia as a source of quick historical reference. Wikipedia was not, of course, available to me as a student – but I considered the British Library and The Public Library Systems of the United Kingdom and Europe the best available alternatives for their day in the absence of the internet and it is from them that my own knowledge is drawn but without immediate access to the relevant reference books to complete this article with 100% historical accuracy in the time allocated.

footnote 2 :
I have been struck by the number of highly respected analysts, political commentators, former senior advisors and politicians who are all of the view that what is happening is something transient, manageable by, what ISIL and Al Qaeda would describe as the former 'puppet masters' and that, in time, we can find a new group to promote and do our bidding and everything will return to 'business as usual'.  They still do not appear to appreciate that what is taking place is a profound change in relations between the Christian and Islamic worlds, fueled by a hatred of economic disparity, mass unemployment of highly educated and semi-educated youths and adults, between the Christian and Muslim worlds and other grievances (such as Israel-Palestine) which have all reached a point of no return.  Conspiracy theorists also exist in the Muslim world and, as with Adolf Hitler, under the wrong conditions, they can be seen as saviours, especially if they invoke the word of Allah and explain the Arab predicament as Allah's judgement on it's people for 'straying' from the 'true' tenets' of the Holy Book and facilitating 'apostates' to control their destiny.
The above-mentioned analysts and advisors seem to have no conception nor perception that this could be quite a fundamental shift  which, conceivably, could  last hundreds of years - because all the parameters appear (to myself) to be in place for a very long and very protracted Holy War - which is totally out of the ball park of 'politically correct' United States and it's Allies.
You simply cannot 'buy' Allah or any other deity 'off' (with money or political or social or economic promises) when confronted with religious zealots because their 'Jerusalem' - or 'Mecca' - as the case may be - is not built on Mammon+.)




footnote 3:
Unfortunately many readers do not understand what I am saying when I say that, should Iran fall to ISIL, they (ISIL) will then go on, unhindered and unstoppable, to create their Empire of Islam, worldwide.   Either my language is too elliptical or I am just not saying it plainly enough:
If Iran falls, the version of Islam as promulgated by ISIL will 'hijack' mainstream Islam and will thus set in motion a process of strife and conflict, over perhaps hundreds of years, within both the Moslem World and  with Christianity, until either it (ISIL's interpretation) prevails as the dominant version of The Book or it (ISIL's interpretation) is militarily defeated by warring Islamic states (some with Christian backers) as each try to assert or re-assert their dominant version of Islam, worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sultanates&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&biw=1024&bih=611&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RIoqVKKRNqzd7Qa1u4CQDw&ved=0CFQQsAQ

http://flcourier.com/2012/05/10/moammar-gadhafi-dictator-and-visionary/

http://www.urbanfaith.com/2011/10/is-gadhafi-a-martyr.html/

http://com/people/muammar-al-qaddafi-39014

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/oppression-in-libya-a-peek-at-the-inner-workings-of-gadhafi-s-dictatorship-a-747665.html

http://abcnews.go.com/International/moammar-gadhafis-flamboyant-life-terror/story?id=14776766

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba%27athism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bremer

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/paul-bremer-on-iraq-ten-years-on-we-made-major-strategic-mistakes-but-i-still-think-iraqis-are-far-better-off-8539767.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_Alexander_the_Great

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/alexander.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_movement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismarck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klemens_von_Metternich

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/02/06/349453/why-house-of-saud-fearshates-iran/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement

+http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon

*erratum:
Munich Agreement, (September 30, 1938)

updated 1st October, 2014
updated October 3, 2014
#update 5th October, 2014

second footnote added October 3, 2014

Where  Is  The West? Why Isn't It Letting Refugees In?

(President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,Turkey)

An Answer To President Erdogan:

In a recent interview President Erdogan expressed his support for keeping an 'open door' policy for refugees fleeing the carnage and chaos in Syria but asked why the West is not assisting with this humanitarian crisis.

My answer would be that if Turkey had been more supportive of the legitimate Syrian government then this crisis would not have arisen in the first place.

Having said that, the current Syrian President Assad and his late father continued for decades to give active and passive support for the Military Wing of the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers Party) to weaken the extent of Turkish influence in the region.

So there you have it, two neighbors both plotting against each other in secret whilst in public both it's Presidents hugging each other like long-lost brothers at every opportunity for the media photo shoots.

Why should we in the West get even further involved in Byzantine intrigues?; we have enough of our own.

No, this humanitarian issue is most certainly one for the Arab World to deal with in terms of refugee resettling.

The International Relief Agencies will no doubt continue to assist with whatever humanitarian roles they are requested to play in terms of practical aid for these helpless and unfortunate refugees whom, through no fault of their own, are being mercilessly uprooted.

As I have earlier said, it is always distressing to see refugees fleeing - whether that be in the Ukraine regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, The Congo, Libya, Niger, Mali and indeed in situations where they have nowhere else to flee to – such as in The Gaza, Palestine. But many of these problems are of their leaders' own makings.

In all of the countries and regions mentioned above a failure of internal diplomacy and a breakdown in civil society such that militias are allowed to thrive independent of government control, coupled with religion, political extremism and or tribalism, above all else, are responsible for their tragic situations. The innocent victims are the helpless refugees who do the dying whilst their political masters refuse to negotiate to the last drop of their (refugees) blood.

As a onetime student of history, it is really hard to believe that tribalism and religion are again being  used by politicians to take nations back into Mediaeval ages – and that ordinary folk are buying into these messages of hate in the 21^st century.  It just confirms my theory about how backward a species we all are, despite our technologies and supposed evolution.

That great centers of learning whether they be in Timbuktu or Buddhist Shrines in Afghanistan should be destroyed in the name of a religion, a race or a tribe. That the sites of Saints and Mosques should be leveled to the ground in Iraq and Syria.  That priests and nuns should be taken prisoner and murdered in Syria. That Muslim will butcher Muslim with the justification that they 'differ' in interpretation of the Koran so are therefore 'not Muslim' and subject to ritual slaughter, buffet-style.  That Eastern European Orthodox Christian will butcher Eastern European Orthodox Christian, again buffet-style (albeit blanket shelling of centers of population densities) because they come from different tribes, sub-tribes or are 'different' Christians not of the same 'interpretation' of the Holy Book or political agenda.  [ The next person who preaches to me about the loving beauty of religions and positive values of tribal, clan and ethnic unity will get very short shrift.]

So this is the way the world is heading:

Turkey's Salafist rulers eyeing Syria as a potential province to incorporate – placing a jugular around Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah and it's umbilical links with Iran – all in the name of Saudi Arabia's Salafism and Wahhabism ideologies.

Israel assisting to oust Assad in the mistaken belief that it will bring it's own border security closer; Jordan, hoping and praying that it can continue to survive as a 'Switzerland' in the region whilst playing both ends against the middle.   The Silk Roads (and technological electronic superhighways)  paved with the wealth of the Caspian and beyond to China, being fought for diplomatic, military and political influence and control every inch of their construction – with most of the citizens in the Western world oblivious to this new Great Game (read my earlier blog about the wealth of the Caspian Sea region) with (Sunni) Turkey, again scrambling and vying with the West, with (Shia) Iran, with Russia and with China, the United States and the European Union for control and influence of this new El Dorado of boundless wealth for some - estimated to span bountiful abundances for at least the next 200 years.  For others, they will become their Roads to Hell.

Little do those unfortunate unborn children and adults in the 'placid' lands, (ranging from benevolent dictatorships like Libya under Colonel Gadhafi, to outright totalitarian regimes like North Korea, but nothing, in comparison, as disastrous, horrific and catastrophic situations for their people, as what is about to befall them in the near future, that is, not since at least two thousand years ago) of these regions appreciate how close the 4 Horsemen are approaching  with haste in their stirrups and how their very own lives will be soon uprooted and shattered in the name of the riches others are about to claim in their names.

Patrick Emek

last amendment on 28th September, 2014

Note:
It has been mentioned to me that there is no compelling evidence to suggest the widespread targeting and slaughter of priests and nuns by ISIL in Syria.
This will be of no comfort to the prisoners of war, innocent men, women and children of every faith - including the Muslim faith - deliberately butchered by ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wiping-out-the-christians-of-syria-and-iraq-to-remap-the-mid-east-prerequisite-to-a-clash-of-civilizations/5394075

http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/taliban-destroy-buddhas-march-2001/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu

http://www.turkeyagenda.com/us-the-west-and-new-turkey-1096.html

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Sep-19/271234-hundreds-of-syrian-kurds-fleeing-isis-gather-at-turkish-border.ashx#axzz3E92KzaV0

http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/09/17/erdogan-harshly-criticizes-nyt-over-isis-allegations

http://revolution-news.com/

http://revolution-news.com/turkish-president-erdogan-and-western-hypocrisy/


http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/four_horsemen.html 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse

The Caspian Sea Region (Earlier Blog)

http://14wombat1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/nuclear-agreement-with-iran-is-there.html

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/el-dorado/src=postname

IT'S OFFICIAL!

LOCH NESS MONSTER TO CONTINUE TO RESIDE IN SCOTLAND FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 20 YEARS!

I have now had it from a very reliable intelligence contact that the Loch Ness Monster will not now be relocating from Scotland nor outsourcing any Hollywood Blockbuster movies based on it's life to Sweden, Finland nor Norway.  All films about the elusive Monster (normally seen by onlookers after midnight and after 40 Wee Drams) swimming the Loch , will be  Scottish-made  and Scottish copyrighted with the Nessie symbol remaining as a proud United Kingdom and even prouder Scottish country export.

Of all the things which most irritated Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, was the prospect, being touted by his opponents, of waking up to find that the country's best loved international attraction would be moving to Hollywood - forever - should Scotland vote for Independence from the United Kingdom.

His vituperations were most venomously directed against fellow Scot, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, whom he accused of underhanded tactics to encourage luminaries, the likes of Nessie, through the national and international media, to make ominous  declarations in advance of the Referendum Vote about their intention to quit Scotland should the 'YES' vote for Scottish Independence succeed.

It just happened that after the 'No' vote (55% 'No' as opposed to 'Yes', on 45%) the only person quitting was Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, but with the ominous promise: ''I'll Be Back!'' .....''Unlike the Westminster MOB I twisted no arms nor bullied nor bribed my way to win the Vote and I played it fair and square''....  '' I did no underhand deals with Nessie nor with the Multinationals - unlike those public schoolboys and girls from that House of Horrors called Westminster, Somewhere in that Far Away Galaxy called England.''

http://www.nessie.co.uk/

SPYHUNTER :- 

THE SECRET HISTORY OF GERMAN INTELLIGENCE

by Michael Shrimpton

I do not normally 'revisit' reviews but the intrigue, skulduggery and machinations surrounding the obstructed publication of this highly controversial book, have the makings of a book and film thriller in their own right and do fair justice to any student of Machiavelli.  With publication houses worldwide politely declining to print, utterances of dire consequences, accusations and counter-accusations, they also have all the hallmarks of a potentially very successful  Soap Opera.

Drugs,  rock 'n' roll, the alleged murder of Gay lovers by prominent British politicians, Prime Ministers stalking the backstreets of London at the dead of night looking for illicit sex, and, hovering over them all, like a bat outta Hell, the DVD (German Intelligence Services.)  You have got to read it to believe it.  And by the time you have finished you either will or you won't.  If you want some further titillation about it's content see my earlier blog entitled  ''Michael Shrimpton:       Conspiracy Theorist or Harbinger? ''

Well it's finally available for all to read.  

Here are the updated details: 

Spyhunter , The Secret History of German Intelligence , by Michael Shrimpton

ISBN: 9780992750107

Publishers:
June Press http:// www.JunePress.com 

and  Kindle Books (Amazon)  at
http:// www.Amazon.co.uk 

 Kindle Edition:   £5.86

Paperback from  £25.00

  

Patrick Emek 

[grammatical errors  corrected  19th September,2014]

References:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellianism 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera

Ebola:

A  Step  In The Right Direction - But The Systemic Problems Remain

Pandemic

When the rest of the media was telling you everything was OK I correctly identified Ebola as a pandemic. (Refer to my earlier blog.)

How did I know this? Am I psychic?

The answer to both questions is 'no'.

It is very obvious to anyone who has had an elementary knowledge of virology that, because of a number of prevailing factors, an outbreak near centers of populations densities, would, in this day and age of mass transportation and communications, have a devastating effect.

I add the word 'communications' and let me explain why:

In tribal African societies as exist in the 21^st century, it is only natural for victims to seek assistance first from related tribal family elders and members then from extended family – even before seeking medical assistance.

Why Is This The Case?

The stigma of symptoms at a time and in, what I call, more primitive cultures than our own , where Witchcraft, superstition, fear of the unknown, coupled with fear of known and very real and topical viruses such as HIV, create absolute hysteria and panic in such communities and within such tribal societies as existing in Africa. They (their uneducated politicians to be precise) then behave in irrational ways and take draconian measures – similar as to how people (and more critically, their politicians) behaved and reacted when 'Witchcraft' was 'identified' to 'exist' in towns and villages not too many centuries ago in Europe and America - and as also happens today in very primitive Saudi Arabia.  All such factors accelerate local hysteria and create the very environment where the exercise of commonsense and reason become less rather than more likely until the 'outbreak' source (those responsible for the Witchcraft) has been identified and 'purged' or expurgated from local communities. Only then, when this ' blood lust' has been 'satisfied' , will the 'hunt' cease.

Let me give you just one related personal example.

I know a very highly educated West African colleague who 100% believes in the power of Witchcraft.  That person has given me many examples from his/her life. I have tried to logically reason this issue in many discussions over dinner and at my home but that individual would have none of it.  
That person will often exasperate my reasoning by telling me that, logically, aeroplanes should not be able to fly (!)   And he/she is not alone.

I have met many (Christian) Africans (West, East and Central Africa) in the course of my life who as much believe in the power of Witchcraft as they - and other Christians  do - in the power of prayer and miracles. The fact that meditation (or prayer) and 'miracles' may have logical explanations is neither here nor there. The fact that one has a belief  that they do produce results, is, in my opinion, the relevant factor.

Welcome To WEST AfriCa - 21^st Century

So this is the environment, 21^st century, into which Hi-Tech American forces are being deployed.

Again, and typical of today's First World hubris, few (if any) will have any training in Anthropology and tribal customs. So they will be entering unknown territory in more senses than one.   In some regards, they might just as well be venturing onto an alien spacecraft – but without the pre-training for interactive communications and contact.  All the technology is in place, but the mindset is not.  Technologically they will be fully equipped and prepared but, as I mentioned in the case of Afghanistan and elsewhere, you simply cannot parachute the 21^st century back into the 8^th, or 9^th  regardless whether two different cultures, worlds apart, are using the same cellphones or eating  at McDonalds and expect everything to just settle down or morph in an instant into global congeniality (!)

If it's a Paul Bremer style Pro Consul U.S. 'administrative' military operation in West Africa (as in Iraq) then God help the unfortunate locals (!)

I have to be cynical and say that the only reason I believe President Obama has now acted is because China, Russia (and even Cuba) are already on the ground lending their skills and assistance to a very confused and frightened population.

America, far from leading, is the last of the superpowers to arrive with physical boots on the ground and logistical assistance in West Africa to help contain this pandemic.

The Iraq Factor – Exclusion Is the Order of the Day

 Again, and sadly I must draw parallels with the defeat of ISIL .

If the majority of politicians were really serious about it's defeat, as former United States Congressman Ron Paul has recently said, they would be prepared to work with those countries who have a real vested interest in it's defeat – Iran, and the government of President Assad in Syria (and whose forces will not cut and run) and not with those who, like the Iraqis, will run away, not stand their ground when ISIL forces appear, and, as with the Saudis and Gulf States, will only be prepared stand and fight to the last drop of (in the main) Christian blood (sic. armed forces from supporting countries of the  Europe, Australia and the United States.)  The exception is of course the Turkish Armed Forces - who are disciplined, determined, combat-ready and will most certainly stand their ground.   But modern Turkey (successor to extinguished the Ottoman Empire of yesterday) is regarded, with private suspicion, by the West, as the new 'Great Game'¹ of geopolitics unfolds in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasuses and any role it is invited to partake will factor in these parameters.

The World, As One Family, Has A Vested interest in Containing Ebola

So the U.S. Armed forces will not be working with China, Russia nor Cuba in West Africa but 'doing their own thing '.

In all fairness, I don't want to be overtly critical but I honestly believe that where global emergencies erupt, there is a duty on all politicians not to try to play politics with the future of the earth.   Sadly (and I have said this for so many other issues) as a species, we just never learn and are fated to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over again.   Neither am I saying that Russia and China do not have ulterior motives – but I cannot deny they were there in West Africa with the practical help and assistance with their immense logistical capabilities, first and not last.  Cubans, as a people, have a historical link with the African continent so, despite the enormous sanctions and hardships they themselves are still under, it does not at all surprise me that they have offered to assist with whatever help they can give.  I only hope that the United States does not behave with hubris and demand the West African governments reject their assistance or it will 'penalize' the countries concerned.  Knowing how arrogance operates, this would not at all surprise me and I do not see them working happily nor cooperatively together – but CNN and Fox will not cover this part of the story – you will have to dig deeper to find out if my interpretation of this aspect of human nature continues to prevail.

The Systemic Problems in West Africa Remain Unchanged

No amount of foreign assistance will change the fact that West African politicians will continue to prefer to spend foreign aid on private airplanes and their own aggrandisement rather than on a sanitation, healthcare and education infrastructure for their respective countries and people as a whole.

I am sorry to have to tell you the truth and some of you will be disappointed that I have said this – but it's just a sad fact of African life.  No doubt it will change.
But it has not in my time on this planet.

I recall many years ago (when I was in my 30s) I was being interviewed

for quite an important government first appointment – which could have had great potential for personal advancement.

I was asked by the Interview Panel what I thought about the issue of Global Warming and how we should 'assist' the Third World to 'get it right' rather than their continued destruction of 'our' climate and environment.

I said that I thought Brazil, China and developing Africa were doing no different than Europe and the U.S. did during their periods of industrialization and that their burning of fossil fuels and tree felling for forest (jungle) clearance and agricultural development were perfectly acceptable.  We had done it to get ourselves industrialized so why apply different standards to hold back development in the Third World?    Besides, I added, they will someday 'grow out of it' and 'evolve' just as we did.  You could hear a pin drop as the Panel looked at me in horror.  Needless to say, I did not get the job (!) ; but I left that interview content that I had told them the truth to the question they had asked me, as I saw it.

So to return to West Africa, as I said in an earlier blog, don't have too high hopes on African leaders 'seeing the light' once the emergency has passed.

Containment is the key objective at present.  Changes in behavior (sic. human nature) are much more difficult and longer - term.

I do not see the latter happening until, perhaps, something really tragic wakes both Africa and the world up to respect State - subsidized public sanitation, healthcare, health education and, in my opinion, education for the masses as a right and not as a privilege for the few and for which African countries take responsibility for allocating realistic proportions of their GDPs to pay for such - rather than the existing  practice of reliance on handouts from foreign aid agencies for small-scale projects (much of which in any event never arrives into the respective health and education programs but ends up in pockets and bank accounts of local politicians, sometimes with the knowledge and complicity of their Western sponsors.)

Patrick Emek

Islamic Witch hunts  - Saudi Arabia :

wikiislam.net/wiki/Islamic_Witch_Hunts_-_Saudi_Arabia

and just one more  example from Saudi Arabia of a more primitive society than our own:
http://www.newser.com/story/195995/saudi-fined-for-driving-herself-to-hospital.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=inbox&utm_campaign=newser

 http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game 

http://www.ronpaul.com/ 

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106062813186522446847/about 

What   Will Be The Ultimate Result of

President Obama's Strategy To Defeat ISIL?

The first assumption I am making is that the American Public have not been told the whole truth.

If they have, and if the President in his wisdom, still intends to topple the (Shia, Alawite) Assad regime, what Syrians will inherit is the same chaos we see in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, with ISIL having 'morphed' into perhaps an even deadlier world-wide movement. Unwittingly, perhaps the President's policy will be bringing nearer the day when Salafism and Wahhabism will indeed dominate the Islamic world and, who knows, perhaps even further.   As a child of the 50s and teenager of the 60s I hope I am long dead before such a Talibanized world comes into existence.

None of our politicians are standing up for real personal freedom and democracy and all are cringing under the 'political' pressure of extremists.

Let me give just one example. A frame of thought exists that if only the 60s generation of educated youth in America was more 'docile' the Vietnam War could have been won. That liberalism, free thinking and the New Great Society created in legislation, not by the Kennedy Clan but by President Johnson (Lyndon B.) ruined America - especially corporate America and brought untold evil in it's wake.

That civil rights, extended free healthcare, generous welfare benefits for the poor and needy, and almost free higher University education produced generations of 'Free loaders' and 'Welfare Bums' who didn't know the value of a cent – and how hard it is to have to work for one.

That if only the media, politicians, society in general had been cowered into meek complicity and silence, that corporate America would be running the world right now, instead of having to cope with the likes of China and Russia.

(Indeed 'manufactured' internal conflict would have degraded China, as a potential world rival, decades ago. And left it still with combat and nuclear-ready forces along the Sino-Soviet border.) That all of these economic, political and social woes which have befallen America have been caused by liberalism - the so-called 'free thought' and all the 'rubbish' the Hippie-so-called 'Love Generation' - was peddling on the unsuspecting God-fearing American public as a whole. That even the established Christian Churches themselves started to actually take the sides of the poor, the impoverished and the weak against their traditional 'sponsors' and benefactors from time immemorial.

That the Anti-Communist wars in the Americas were lost as a by-product of this generation and their false portrayal of the military-industrial-economic complex.

That the United Nations was the greatest tool exploited by the Communists against U.S. interests worldwide – especially the newly independent African and American former colonies making the job of the promotion of American values and free enterprise even harder.

Indeed, the argument continues, the liberals even covertly began to discuss how to dismantle corporate America itself, through stealth legislation.

So there has been a 'push-back' against liberalism, civil rights, the rights of the individual, independent thinking and non-conformism to make Americans (and indeed citizens in the Western world) 'docile' and subliminally subservient to a 'higher vision' which they, as a whole, can neither 'see' nor understand. It's no different from the Nomenklatura – the privileged pseudo-Socialists and Communists in Britain, Europe and the Soviet Union during that era who saw the masses as having to be 'led' or legislated or coerced or terrorized into a docility so that they could, eventually, with carrot and stick, like zoo animals, be gradually 'educated' and 'programed' to 'see' a higher 'vision'.

So the thinking, at the heart of the matter, is no different in the U.S. today.

Indeed one could even say it is the successor to the failed Nomenklatura of Communist/Soviet years – but one now determined not to repeat the mistakes of it's failed antithesis.

So, in my humble opinion, it is in this 'Brave New World' environment, that President Obama has set out his strategy to defeat ISIL.  Interestingly, ISIL, again in my opinion, wants to 'control' people and thought in a like-manner. They are time-deficient so are committing unholy barbarism in hours and days rather than in centuries. Let me be quite clear so that you have not misread my thoughts.  The excesses of unbridled Communism and Capitalism inflicted on the world in a hundred years are being compressed – in barbarity, in excesses, with the finest of (human) meat-grinding efficiency and precision into terror-minutes, hours and days as opposed to decades or centuries to achieve their 'perfect' 'vision' which their masses could never 'see' but into which they must be first terrorized to submission and then, for those not fatally mutilated, tortured to death, decapitated, sold into slavery-captivity, murdered outright and raped wholesale, led as docile submissive lambs into the promised Islamic Sharia Caliphate Land, the 'land of milk and honey' – and only ISIL's vision can lead them, sometimes with carrot but mainly with stick (and kick), into this perfect new world.

We should already know where all such 'Pol Pot' visions of existence ultimately lead – but our species never has (nor will it ever) learn from it's mistakes – only lost in the fog, illusion and belief that, if only X, Y, Z had never happened, that perfect world could have been within grasp - so again fated to repeat the cycle of devising new philosophies, strategies and technologies of control to achieve the unachievable.

So then, will the President's Plan to defeat ISIL succeed and where will it ultimately lead?  Your guess is as good as mine – but I think you already know where I think it will lead - and it's not Springtime For Liberals.

Patrick Emek

Footnote:

When discussing the Vietnam War, it should also be mentioned that same thinking which ascribes reasons for it's 'loss', was the General Draft.  When middle and upper class families had to send their sons to War - and their chances of returning in body bags were (sometimes) as equal for a Black child in, let us say, Ferguson, Missouri, as a White child, in say, The Hamptons, Long Island, this created the kind of powerful resentment and political 'push-back' against the war,  from an educated economically influential and well-connected elite.  When their sons and daughters got involved in opposition to the War, this in itself morphed into opposition to more general injustices in American society and motivated part of a generation of America to take up what until now had been 'unpopular' social causes for equality, justice an human rights inside the United States.
Outsourcing of wars (and the reluctance to make national declarations of war  against internationally legally recognized 'entities' - countries with internationally recognized borders within the terms of what therefore must, as a consequence, be legally undertaken by agreement and protocol with international bodies, such the United Nations, the International Red Cross and terms of the Geneva Convention for prisoners of war and the Vienna Convention for the conduct of diplomatic relations, with a preference to more broadly classify everything under the title of 'terrorism' or 'humanitarian' genocide or  other disaster prevention assistance intervention) has, since that time, become a feature of the United States.   In part, this is no different from other great empires after their apex, when they outsourced protection of their borders, conflict management and campaigns to mercenary (foreign) armies and to others for whom the opportunity to fight (and indeed change sides!) were entirely motivated by financial considerations (or the likelihood of plunder and sacking of towns and villages) rather than the actual desire to assume any  longer term responsibility for conquered territory - which only came at a later stage when a realization about the real market value of the longer term ability to extract and or process the mineral wealth of a conquered territory would produce more plunder than the actual sacking and immediate departing of the mercenary forces or their masters of war.
From the times of the Pharaohs, Assyrians, The Hittites and the Romans,  the mineral and agricultural resources wealth of conquered territories for the motherland and fatherland were always appreciated.
As we see, when technology advances, new strategies and outsourcing opportunities arise in directions hitherto unrealized.    So this, in itself, is an evolutionary process.
PE