George Washington is a fairly well known blogger to many here. He documents well, though he can be a bit hyperbolic in tone. It seems that activating the limbic system is good for web traffic numbers. So following on Chris' excellent piece that we are in a dangerous time…
Charles Nenner says there will be “a major war”, which will drive the Dow to 5,000.
James Dines forecast a war starting in the Middle East (2012)
Kyle Bass, Jim Rogers, Mark Faber, Jim Rickards, …
Why?
Distraction from the economic decline
Distraction from the utter inability to repay impossibly large debts.
These people NEED war to distract everyone from the Sovereign Debt Crisis that is causing the collapse of governments for a system of borrowing year after year with ABSOLUTELY no intention of ever paying any debt off.
Distraction from wealth inequality
The deep-state oligarchy that controls the decision making process for warfare is the same group that profits handsomely from war.
In 2009, Qatar had proposed to build a pipeline to send its gas northwest via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria to Turkey. But Assad “refused to sign the plan,” reports Orenstein. “Russia, which did not want to see its position in European gas markets undermined, put him under intense pressure not to.”
Russia’s Gazprom sells 80% of its gas to Europe. So in 2010, Russia put its weight behind “an alternative Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline that would pump Iranian gas from the same field out via Syrian ports such as Latakia and under the Mediterranean.” The project would allow Moscow “to control gas imports to Europe from Iran, the Caspian Sea region, and Central Asia.”
Then in July 2011, a $10 billion Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline deal was announced, and a preliminary agreement duly signed by Assad.
Later that year, the US, UK, France and Israel were ramping up covert assistance to rebel factions in Syria to elicit the “collapse” of Assad’s regime “from within.”
“The EU would gain a reliable alternative supply route to further diversify its imports from Russia. Turkey, as a hub, would benefit from transit fees and other energy-generated revenues. As additional supplies of gas may become available for export over the next five to 10 years in the wider region, Turkey is the natural route via which these could be shipped to Europe.”
A report last year by Anglia Ruskin University’s Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) warned that Europe faced a looming energy crisis, particularly the UK, France and Italy, due to “critical shortages of natural resources.”
“Coal, oil and gas resources in Europe are running down and we need alternatives,” said GSI’s Professor Victoria Andersen.
She also recommended a rapid shift to renewables, but most European leaders apparently have other ideas...
The discovery in 2009 of a new gas field near Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Syria opened new possibilities to bypass the Saudi Barrier and to secure a new source of income''. ''Pipelines are in place already in Turkey to receive the gas. Only Al-Assad is in the way. Qatar along with the Turks would like to remove Al-Assad and install the Syrian chapter of the Moslim Brotherhood. It is the best organized political movement in the chaotic society and can block Saudi Arabia's efforts to install a more fanatical Wahhabi based regime. Once the Brotherhood is in power, the Emir's broad connections with Brotherhood groups throughout the region should make it easy for him to find a friendly ear and an open hand in Damascus.
Is that true ? If this is Qatar's pipeline war why are Saudi in it too ? Other reference says Saudi is part of the Qatar plan.
Turkey is in negotiations to discuss the development of the Qatar – Turkey pipeline. The pipeline would run from Doha to Istanbul, a distance of approximately 2,500 km. The pipeline would carry Qatari gas to the Mediterranean Sea, crossing Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and may link to the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline.
The main cities of turmoil and conflict in Syria right now are Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo. These are the same cities that the proposed gas pipelines happen to run through. Qatar is the biggest financier of the Syrian uprising, having spent over $3 billion so far on the conflict. The other side of the story is Saudi Arabia, which finances anti-Assad groups in Syria. The Saudis do not want to be marginalized by Qatar; thus they too want to topple Assad and implant their own puppet government, one that would sign off on a pipeline deal and charge Qatar for running their pipes through to Nabucco.
I don't think he sources this opinion but interesting, yeah.
Sooo… Robert Fisk recently said that he thinks the Sykes/Picot era is over, and that the US may soon side with Iran, and will expect the Gulf states to quit supporting ISIS, al Nusra.
So if he's right does this mean that the US has finally sided with the Iranian pipeline ?
I actually just shared Thanksgiving with two 20/21 year olds from Tehran (here studying in an American school). We talked about Syria and recent events, but they did not seem too passionate about the subject so I did not probe them on some of the theories that I have adopted such as the pipeline and such. Regardless, they were really nice guys and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity.
Wow, I'm stumped. I wanted to see how the Guardian, being the biggest lef of centre mainstream news org, handled the pipelines aspect of the Syrian war. So I googled 'syria pipeline the guardian' and got just three articles.
One of them is by Nafeez Ahmed, who the Guardian sacked for writing about fossil fuel politics. The other two don't even mention the word pipeline.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/11/tet-take-two-islams-2016-european-offensive/
Bracken, in the cited essay above, says there are three forces in conflict on the world stage right now: militant Islam, International Socialism, and nationalism. He says International Socialism is aiding and abetting militant Islam, especially in facilitating millions of Muslims currently immigrating to Europe, in order to crush western society and values in Europe. He says the goal is to create a vacuum of nationalists in order to usher in a Socialist utopia starting in Europe. He's predicting in 2016 an explosion of Islamic jihad: mass terrorist actions (hundreds and thousands of attacks like the recent one in Paris) all over Europe. He suspects the response of the nationalists in each country will be timid and ineffective, but that eventually something like a civil war will rend Europe into shattered fragments.
Talk about making the world a more dangerous place…
The notion of “International Socialism” aiding “militant Islam” overrun Europe seems absurd on two counts. First, Europe is already largely Socialist. Second, why would a group of Socialists want militant Islamists taking over Europe? How would that advance a Socialist utopia? They would then have to oust a much stronger and larger Islamist controlling group than existed previously. Something tells me the Islamists would rather form a utopian caliphate.
There may or may not be an Islamic explosion at some point. I just fail to see how that would benefit international Socialism. Or, is this just another paranoic “Red Scare” moment?
I read this article this morning and was surprised at the feasibility of the case made by the author. I am not sure about the timeline however as the jihadis never really seem to get their sh*t together well enough to pull off something that coordinated and successful. Propaganda to the contrary, I'm not sure they are all that motivated to die. Interesting read none the less. Let's hope he's overly pessimistic.
Rector
Islam 2. Socialism 3. Nationalism
Right, so capitalism has nothing to do with anything in teh 21st century. Pardon me for thinking his analysis may be missing an ideology or two…
…but there is a scenario which the author hasn't considered. The jewish marxist fabian socialists might connvert the Loch Ness monster to islam, and clone it, sending thousands of jihadi Loch Ness monsters rampaging through the streets of Christendom crying "McAllahu McAkbar!! ".
It could happen, it's just as feasible…
Is that a jewish marxist islamic Nessie in your pocket or are you just thinking of Merkel in a hijab…
I guess Gates of Vienna is what bored skinheads read when they're not scouring ebay for authentic SS daggers.
Tom, another excellent article you've linked. Bracken's scenario rings frighteningly plausible to me. l disagree mildly that the socialists are doing this with the same end goal in mind, I believe many of them are just that naive that they don't recognize the danger. But that won't matter much in the long run.
i hope that some European members of PP will take the time to read this article and post their thoughts.
Brutal Carbon. That was a harsh statement. I may not collect SS daggers but I do have a hara-kiri knife or two.There is nothing wrong with collecting WW2 relics IMO.
