Into the Quagmire!

Through inaction and contradictory policy statements, the Obama Administration has plunged the U.S. into the very sectarian quagmire in the Middle East officials were hoping to avoid.

Amarji Special

If major segments of the Sunni communities in the Middle East have come to develop unfavorable views of American policies, especially those of the Obama Administration, the perceptions of Shia communities (and by extension Alawite communities as well) of Obama’s policies are not that favorable either. Indeed, despite the gains that Iran and Shiite communities across the region have made over the last few years as a result of American policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and despite the recent “breakthrough” with Iran, anti-Americanism remains rampant in Shia circles, and stoking its fires will continue to a favorite pastime for political and religious leaders of Shia background for years, if not decades to come. Obama’s policies are alienating old friends and allies, but they are not making new ones.

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Rebels retake Christian town of Maaloula

Rebels retake Christian town of Maaloula | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

The battle of Qalamoun is heating up with the Christian towns of Deir Attiyeh and Maaloula coming under regime shelling. Rebels sought refuge there thinking the regime will not pursue them. They were wrong, as wrong as those who believe that the regime will protect confessional minorities: Christian, Druze or Alawites. The regime divides all so it can conquer all. Those who rely on it to be their protector are actually protecting it. Meanwhile, pro-regime media outlets will spin this as an attack by rebels on the towns, while pro-rebel sources will claim they are there to protect the inhabitants. We can only hope that the nuns of Mar Thecla, Mother Pelagia and all, are safe and sound.

Syria conflict threatens to tear Azerbaijan apart

Syria conflict threatens to tear Azerbaijan apart | Washington Times Communities.

But of course. Add to this reports that Armenian authorities are settling Armenian immigrants who escaped from the chaos in Syria in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and the picture will become even more complicated, and the prognosis more ominous. At the beginning of the revolution when I warned this conflict will have spillovers beyond the region and that the impact will be global, I was dismissed as naive. But I was neither naïve, nor that intelligent really. I simply refused not to see the obvious. The sectarian overtones were just too strong, carnage too bloody and the region too central to the thinking of so many Muslim peoples across the world for this not to have a larger impact. The situation in Pakistan and parts of India, as well as parts of Southeast Asia and a number of African countries will be affected in due course of time. And soon, even areas where there are no Muslims will begin to boil as a result of Western inaction on this. I hate being a prophet of doom, but I hate its agents more, some of whom are world leaders.

Is Obama waging war against Sunni Islam?

Amarji Special

The United States is tired of being the policeman of the world, we are told. But when we wonder about the alternative, we are told it is the UN. But the UN does not move without leadership and its decisions can be blocked by Russia or China who apparently have no problem with genocide. NATO does not move without US approval, when Turkey wanted to call on it to intervene, the Obama Administration made it clear that it would not welcome this development. The Arab League has never proven effective in this regard. Moreover, it, too, requires a tacit American approval before endorsing major action.

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