I didn't mean to imply that there weren't multiple agendas at work here or that we were ever going to get out of Afghanistan, but the M$M is bending over backwards to connect this guy to Yemen, even though it seems that England is where he got 'radicalized'.AlicetheKurious wrote:DoYouEverWonder wrote:
So why does the Obomba admin want to shift the attention to Yemen? Maybe because Afghanistan is a no win, never ending battle and Yemen will be quick and easy? Now that Obomba needs to prove he's got the nads to be CIC, might as well pick an easier target. That's my guess regarding what this latest charade is all about.
No, I've been wanting to write something about that but can't seem to find the time. It's about Israel and a pipeline project that is absolutely crucial to Israeli plans, the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline. In a nutshell:
The BTC originates in the oil-rich Caspian Basin and goes through Eastern Europe to Turkey, then down to Israel's Red Sea ports of Haifa and Ashkelon, from which tankers will transport the oil and gas through the Red Sea and on to markets in China, India and the rest of Asia. At least, that's Israel's plan. It's already been built up to Turkey, and the time is ripe for phase 2:
1. Remember "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm"? The basic theme of this document written by zionists for Benyamin Netanyahu, was that Israel needed to make a "clean break" from its dependence on the U.S. As Justin Raimondo summarizes,The realm being Israel, and the unique group that produced it characterized by their centrality in pushing for war with Iraq. Led by Richard Perle, the "Clean Break" group consisted of James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser.
All of these august personages, but especially Perle, can claim the dubious credit of having co-authored what the late Gen. William E. Odom ruefully referred to as the greatest military disaster in American history. …
… in "A Clean Break," …the case is made that Israel is in a rut: Israel is endangered by an inability to break out of its settler-colony isolation, and, in the process, renew the Zionist project internationally. … A new aggressiveness is called for, the Perle group argued, a clean break with the passivity of the past. They recommended a policy of regime-change throughout the immediate vicinity of Israel:
“Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq – an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right – as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions.”
Perle and Co. urged Netanyahu to strike out in every direction. First, go north, they advised:
“Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which Americans can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon.”
Syria is deemed the penultimate prize, a ripe apple waiting to fall from the tree. All that’s required is a little vigorous shaking. Lurking behind these dominoes, however, is Israel’s chief antagonist, Iran, the current target of the Israel lobby’s campaign to gin up yet another war in the Middle East. ...
"A Clean Break" contains an undertone of hostility to the U.S., which is seen as being put in an impossible position of mediating between irreconcilable foes. U.S. "intervention" in internal Israeli affairs is subtly bemoaned, and this fits in nicely with the theme of economic independence and a phasing out of economic aid – although they aren’t quite ready to give up military aid until such time as Israel’s armaments supply can be assured. In any case, the clear implication of all this is to reduce U.S. influence and allow the Israelis to unleash their full military power in a bid to "shape the regional environment in ways that grant Israel the room to refocus its energies back to where they are most needed."
Elbow room – or Lebensraum?
Of course, any war Israel involves itself in will drag in the United States, its principal patron and protector. In this, America is truly an empire of unique type – one that has been taken hostage by one of its own satellites. That, at least, is the intention, and, so far, the plan seems to be working.
The endgame is a general war against Israel’s principal enemy in the region: Iran. The Lobby is already gearing up to make the new president miserable until he finally caves. What we have to look forward to in the next four years is lots of aggressive "diplomacy," to be followed by even more draconian economic sanctions and the looming threat of war.
Israel is following the "Clean Break" plan almost to the letter, shedding its old role as a dependent settler-colony under continuous siege. In Gaza – and, be assured, throughout the Middle East – Israel is asserting its new role as regional hegemon in a multi-polar world. Israel, not the U.S., is taking the initiative and leading its great ally and "protector" around by the nose, with the Lobby serving as an effective rein on any sudden spasms of self-interest. Link
2. In other words, Israel is using America's military muscle to "shape the environment" to allow Israel to make the final clean break from its dependence on the U.S. In this endeavor, the BTC pipeline is vital. A huge elephant in the room that is rarely mentioned is Israel's increasingly dominant role in the former soviet countries surrounding the Caspian Sea, especially Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, but also Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. A team of Mossad agents / businessmen led by billionaire oil tycoon Yosef Maiman has rapidly expanded Israeli control over some of the region's most important or promising oil fields. At the same time, the Israeli state has used generous military sales and training and favorable trade agreements with these regimes to bring them into the Israeli sphere of influence.
While Israel has been very successful in that respect, especially during the 1990s when Yeltsin's Russia was also basically under the Israeli thumb, this changed with the ascent of Vladimir Putin who turned out to have a dangerously independent vision for Russia, from the Israeli point of view. The Russian government has been fighting to regain control over its former soviet satellites, rightly perceiving that they represent Russia's vital security interests, not only militarily but also economically.
Russia has not only been trying very hard to counter Israeli influence over its former satellites, even offering to buy up their major oilfields, it's been a strong opponent of the BTC pipeline, instead promoting its own pipelines and trying very hard to increase its own influence with Turkey. Turkey, as the major transit point, has become the major prize in a game with very high stakes for both Israel and Russia, and also for Iran, which supports local resistance movements and thus represents a major practical obstacle to the Israeli project.
The crisis in Georgia last year must be seen in the context of this epic chess game to exert global power through control of the strategic routes through which fuel will be transferred to Asian markets.
Please take a minute to look at this map (I can't post it here because it's too big). Click to zoom in, then use your finger to trace the route of the BTC: starting in Baku, Azerbaijan, go to Georgia and then on to Turkey. From Turkey, trace the pipeline's route along the Mediterranean. Note that before it reaches Israel, the pipeline must pass either through the Mediterranean, right along Syria and Lebanon, or, as Israel would prefer, overland right through Syrian and Lebanese territory. Then, after it reaches the Israeli ports, it must go down right through the Red Sea -- in other words, in order to be viable, this oil route passes through a gauntlet comprising Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, then Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.
Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are not a problem: they are already under very tight Israeli control. Saudi Arabian firms have even been allowed to make huge joint investments with Israeli firms in large oil fields, particularly in Azerbaijan, giving them a large stake in the success of Israel's project. That leaves Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen yet to be "pacified" and sewn up tight, before the Israeli plans can be safely implemented, to control oil and gas supplies to major Asian markets, especially India and China. That is why the countries that happen to stand in Israel's way along the BTC pipeline route will remain very high on the American military agenda, regardless of the impact on American interests.
