Intro to two players:Ghassan Hitto: Seen by most informed observers as the darling of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. The imposition of Hitto as the political face of the foreign-backed opposition was seen by many inside the opposition and around the world as a power-play by Qatar to control the direction of the conflict in Syria and establish Doha as the real center of power in a post-Assad Syria.Ahmed Assi al-Jarba: Jarba can be correctly characterized as a proxy of Saudi Arabia. He was jailed early in the revolt against Assad…After being released from prison in August 2012, he fled to Saudi Arabia where his tribal connections put him into close touch with senior members of the Saudi intelligence services.Jarba like Morsi, fresh from prison, straight into a leadership role?Speaks volumes, no?
Jarba recently stated “Geneva in these circumstances is impossible.” One must consider precisely which “circumstances” he was referring to. Keen political observers who have been following events in Syria for some time understand the “circumstances” to be the continued military defeats of the foreign-backed rebels and jihadis by the forces of the Assad government. Jarba and his Saudi handlers understand quite clearly that they must first achieve substantive military victories on the ground before they can even pay lip service to peace talks.
-Jarba announces that new weapons will be forthcoming from Saudi Arabia-Jarba proposing a Ramadan truce in fighting for religious reasons. Reality check! The Ramadan truce is an attempt to buy time for new weapons to reach the NATO Islamist mercenary fighters
“The new head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon and that the Geneva peace conference “is not possible” for now due to their currently weak military position”
NYT'sSaudi Arabia positioning itself for major influence in Egypt?
The Saudis and Emiratis were nearly buoyant at the military’s move to oust Mr. Morsi. Both are deeply hostile to the Brotherhood’s Islamist-cum-democratic agenda, (I do not buy the “deep hostility” spin) which they see as a threat both to their own monarchical legitimacy and to regional stability. Qatar, by contrast, provided about $8 billion in aid to Mr. Morsi’s government during his year long tenure, and Turkey offered loans of $2 billion
The Saudi’s have been hot an heavy with Muslim Brotherhood. The threat to Saudi Arabia has more to do with a competition for top lap dog to western imperial powers. Top lap dog wielding more influence in the region. Though all influence the GCC countries might garner or project would still be subordinate to Israel.If Qatar is reigning in it’s influence...???Allowing Saudi Arabia to move to the head of the line as is being presented via main stream media, the question is, why?The answer may just the need for cohesion. This alignment was pushed by outside forces (Israel & US) to create cohesion. Cohesion that is sorely needed to regain all that is lost with regards to Syria.It appears as if the gains made in Syria have pushed the US and Israel to get tough on the GCC sycophants.The squabbling has got to come to an end. Qatar has a new, likely, even more servile leader and Saudi Arabia is back in line. Back to Egypt briefly:
The Qatari and Turkish financial aid to Mr. Morsi’s government last year helped him to avert painful economic reforms being urged by the International Monetary Fund as the price for its own $4.8 billion aid package. The United States believes those changes — including a reduction of food and electricity subsidies — are necessary to help bring Egypt out of its crushing deficit and economic malaise.
The US believe the 'changes' are needed to crush the populace never mind the deficit and economic malaise.The US is doing the bankers work.I mentioned the IMF “loans” in my previous post. Mr Morsi had been avoiding the IMF possibly because the reforms that would be demanded in exchange for the funds would bring even more hardship onto the people of Egypt. The US believes those changes “ including a reduction of food and electricity subsidies “ are necessary. In that way Mr Morsi was trying to curtail hardship, likely in the short term being visited on the Egyptian people, so he could keep his political position.As james had pointed out it was Morsi’s resistance to the IMF reforms that a played a role in his ouster. You can find that information in the previous post Rebranding the Arab Spring to Reorder the Middle East/AfricaFrom Egypt to Syria and limited Israeli airstrikes?
With Egypt and Syria reaching boiling point, the defense establishment faces a dilemma: Should it launch limited military intervention at the risk of being dragged into the cauldron?
"Explosions rocked the center of Damascus and a car bomb went off in the Shi'ite quarter of Beirut.
It seems Israel isn't directly connected to these events."
It is interesting that Haaretz included this sentence," It seems Israel isn't directly connected to these events." in it’s reporting. Haaretz including that sentence in the article is suggesting, in a surreptitious manner, that things are not what they seem. It is a subtle way of boasting without saying outright Israel is involved. But, Israel is involved. Perhaps not directly, but, indirectly through proxies with the help of Israeli intelligence. Pay attention to where the attacks took place. The location of attacks tells us that Israel would have been connected.
The explosion in the center of Dahiya is a direct challenge to Hezbollah, following the rocket fire at the neighborhood more than a month ago, and several incidents of rocket fire on Shi'ite villages in the Beqaa Valley.
Readers here should be very well aware of Israel’s hate on for Hezbollah and it's infiltration into the area around the Beqaa Valley ( I have covered this previously, here)FYI: Baalbek being in the Beqaa valley
Damascus: "a series of explosions in Damascus overnight Monday into Tuesday"
In the south of the Golan Heights, near where Israel, Jordan and Syria meet, sits a UN outpost deserted by international observers.The outpost is now held by a small group of armed Sunni extremists.
All of them aided and abetted by Israel of course. A fact I have covered innumerable times Their presence in at the Golan Heights tell us all from whence the attack on Damascus and in Dahiya originated and who participated.From Ali @ thenakedfacts