The Iranian Connection

ISIS: The New Taliban by Ahmed Rashid | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books.

The condemnation of Saudi Arabia on account of her funding of extremist movements around the world is more than warranted. But the persistent failure to condemn Iran on account of her similar efforts since the Islamic Revolution, in support of certain Shia groups like Hezbollah, and the occasional extremist Sunni group as well, including some units currently affiliated with ISIS in Syria, and the extremist factions in Hamas, is really baffling. This phenomenon is as well documented as its Saudi equivalent, is fueled by similar mixture of cynical and strategic calculations, and it poses no less a danger to global security and regional stability than Saudi involvement. So, why do researchers keep neglecting to highlight Iran’s role, even as some pushes for the kind of an engagement with Iran that, in practical terms, amounts to an appeasement? Is there an agenda involved here? What is it? Or how else could we explain this phenomenon?

Enter the Fools

A Path to Peace in Syria.

Assad is at it again using his old friends in Western academic circles to reposition himself as the “necessary man” for the next phase. That is the old ploy to which dictators like him keep resorting time and time again, and why should they not? The West’s academic and policy-making circles are always capable of fielding a receptive audience – knaves, fools and/or amoral bastards in search of quick fixes to the political dilemmas they created for themselves through messianic overreach or lethargy. Damn all. The only key Assad holds is one to the demise of our very sense of humanity and decency. Enter ye who have abandoned all hope, decency and reason.

Shitcake and Arsenic

The natural place of dictators and mass murders: beneath our feet, not around the negotiating table.

Obama Admin Debates Whether Assad Really Must Go – The Daily Beast.

Just declare the death of decency, shame and common sense and get it over with already. I mean the very idea of even considering the possibility of striking a deal with the very regime that empowered Al-Qaeda Jihadis in Iraq and Lebanon and enabled the rise of ISIS for the very purpose of getting us to this point, even as Syria and Iraq burn, and their people are decimated and scattered to the four corners of earth; now that would the arsenic laced icing on the shitcake the Obama Administration is willing to gift to the American people, and the people of the world.

If Only…

Clashes in East Jerusalem, sparked by the revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager.

Arab Boy’s Death Escalates Clash Over Abductions – NYTimes.com.

The senseless killing of four teenagers in the Holy Land might pave the way towards further bloodshed, as usual. But, if we had leaders with any signs of life in the White House, – a pulse, a sense of shame, a little decency and foresight, – we might be able to transform this tragedy into a new and serious push for peace. All it takes is gumption and a little less cynicism – that is, the very things that could have prevented the carnage in Syria, and could still stop it today. If only…