Category Archives: Qatar

All Eyes on Qatar, Its Money, Influence, and Role in Arming Syria’s Rebels

16 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Middle East, Politics, Qatar, Regions, Saudi Arabia, Syria

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With Morsi gone, Qatar suddenly became “persona non grata” in Egypt.

Alster, Paul.  “Qatar’s Risky Overreach.”  The Investigative Project on Terrorism, August 15, 2013.

Only last week the Taliban opened an office in Doha in expectation of negotiations with the US and Afghan governments. Qatar reportedly bankrolled it to the tune of $100m.

Popham, Peter.  “Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani; The Emir from Sandhurst who’s been given the keys to the kingdom.”  The Independent, June 25, 2013.

* * *

Among the persistent questions coming out of the range of the Islamic Small Wars has been something along the lines of, “How come the USA is drone bombing the Taliban in Pakistan but supporting similar Al Qaeda-type elements on the field in Syria?”

Of course, the details count, and in Syria General Idris’s Free Syrian Army — or perhaps portions of it along the archipelago of revolutionary bands — has been fighting al-Nusra and such, but still the arms reach extremists and those bands get around the country that has become a theater of war.

The answer may reside with what economist Adam Smith referred to as “the invisible hand of the market”.

According to the Popham piece cited above and a story by Paul Waldie cited in reference, Qatar’s new minted emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has taken control of an empire that includes the following (I’ve put in associated URLs, easier to do for a blog than for print):

The strength of the money perhaps should not be underestimated, nor should the locks provided by the wildness and strength of western societies in their most popular enthusiasms.

Now on to Syria.

* * *

From The Long War Journal:

Three groups, identified as the Ahrar al Sham (a known Syrian Islamist group that is sympathetic to al Qaeda and has fought alongside them in the past), the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade, and the Islamic Kurdish Front, banded together and announced they would fight together with the Al Nusrah Front against the Kurdish group in northern Syria. One of those groups, the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade, is funded by the Qatari government.

Roggio, Bill.  “Qatar-funded Syrian rebel brigade backs Al Qaeda groups in Syria.  The Long War Journal, July 26, 2013.

Posted in The New York Times:

In deals that have not been publicly acknowledged, Western officials and Syrian rebels say, Sudan’s government sold Sudanese- and Chinese-made arms to Qatar, which arranged delivery through Turkey to the rebels.

Chivers, C. J. and Eric Schmitt.  “Arms Shipments Seen From Sudan to Syria Rebels.”  The New York Times, August 12, 2013.

I’m wary about “deals that have not been publicly acknowledged” but a glance down the roster on the Syrian side of the issue — the anti-west propaganda machinery has been playing this theme hard — may suggest that the most legitimate of papers — The Gray Lady, no less — and the conservative Bill Roggio who has been on the Islamic Small Wars beat for years and others I trust (e.g., Daniel Greenfield at FrontPage) have mighty cause not to print this news: that they have nonetheless done so may lend credence to the suggestion in news that Qatar’s money has been purchasing more than pleasant residences in London.

Qatar’s participation in Syria, however it may be shaped, has had “I and my brother” repercussions:

“Saudi Arabia is now formally in charge of the Syria issue,” said a senior rebel military commander in one of northern Syria’s border provinces where Qatar has until now been the main supplier of arms to those fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

The outcome, many Syrian opposition leaders hope, could strengthen them in both negotiations and on the battlefield – while hampering some of the anti-Western Islamist hardliners in their ranks whom they say Qatar has been helping with weaponry.

Karouny, Mariam.  “Saudi edges Qatar to control Syrian rebel support.” Chicago Tribune, May 31, 2013.

I recommend reading Mariam Karouny’s article for a wrap that perfectly captures the absurd contradictions involved in maintaining the deepest and most closed of Islamic autocracies while investing in and reaching through to the world’s most liberal quarters, which I in turn interpret, in essence, as sweet talking through an expansion of cultural influence and economic power.

If one, whether as winner of a strong-armed election or a more fairly produced one, wishes to weigh potential for the redevelopment of a good state or, perhaps, a geographic defense asset in Syria, does one either trust or validate Qatari or Iranian values — or does one just put off that day of reckoning?

In its iteration of this news, Voice of Russia has gone on to note denials all around of participation by all parties mentioned in a Qatari-funded, Chinese-benefiting, Sudan-to-Turkey-to-Syria rebel-arming system.

Additional Reference

AFP.  “Qatar’s new emir in Saudi for first foreign trip.”  Fox News, August 2, 2013.

Bergin, Tom.  “UPDATE 4-Qatar buys ‘major’ stake in oild giant Shell.”  Reuters, May 11, 2012.

Eaton, George.  “How Qatar bought London: The Shard, Harrods, Barclays, the Olympics Village — Qatar owns them all.”  New Statesman, July 4, 2012.

Gower, Patrick.  “Canary Wharf Gets Nod for Eight Buildings Near London Eye.”  Bloomberg, May 22, 2013.

Gray, Melissa.  “Qatari firm buys U.S. Embassy building in London.”  CNN, November 3, 2009:

The signing of the deal is another major step in the embassy’s plans to relocate from its longtime headquarters in central London to a new site in Wandsworth, on the south bank of the River Thames.

Hobson, Sophie.  “How much of London Qatar REALLY own – pictures.”  London Loves Business, May 7, 2013.

J. Sainsbury plc.  “Major shareholders”.

Khalaf, Roula and Abigail Fielding Smith.  “Qatar bankrolls Syrian revolt with cash and arms.”  Financial Times, May 16, 2013.

Kollewe, Julia.  “Olympic Village snapped up by Qatari ruling family for £557m: UK taxpayers left £275m out of pocket after deal is reached by Olympic Delivery Authority.”  The Guardian, August 12, 2013.

Neate, Rupert.  “Qatar’s London assets.”  Dawn, June 28, 2012:

“It’s not all about luxury, however. The Qatar Investment Authority also owns 20 per cent of Camden market in north London, via its holding in the property group Chelsfield.”

Milmo, Dan.  “Qatar buys 20% stake in Heathrow operator.”  The Guardian, August 17, 2012.

Ormsby, Avril.  “Qatar investor buys UK department store Harrods.”  Reuters, May 8, 2010.

Pipes, Daniel.  “The Scandal of U.S.-Saudi Relations.”  National Interest via Daniel Pipes Middle East Forum, Winter 2002/03.  This piece is now about 10 years, a little more: it may be worth a look-see into how much has changed or not changed.

Reuters.  “Dubai, Qatar hold key to LSE’s future: Holding 36.1% stake, the two emirates become the largest shareholders in London exchange.”  Emirate 24/7,  July 1, 2011.

Ridley, Kirstin and Steve Slater.  “Barclays fights UK watchdog findings on Qatar deal.”  Reuters, July 30, 2013.  Excerpt:

Qatar Holding invested 5.3 billion pounds ($8 billion) in Barclays in June and October 2008, helping it avoid a government bailout and associated stringent re-payment terms and conditions imposed on bailed-out rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Smith, James B.  “US-Saudi relations: Eighty years as partners.”  Arab News, August 16, 2013.

Thesing, Gabi.  “Sainbury Reports 3.6% Increase in Fourth-Quarter Sales.”  Bloomberg, March 19, 2013:

Sainsbury rose to 376.4 pence, the highest since March 4, 2011, and was up 2.2 percent at 373.2 pence as of 10:10 a.m.

The shares have gained 23 percent in the past year. Speculation of a bid by Sainsbury’s largest individual shareholder, the Qatar Investment Authority, for Marks & Spencer Group Plc (MKS), may revive takeover speculation for Sainsbury and boost the stock further, according to Exane’s Gwynn.

Waldie, Paul.  “From the Shard to Heathrow, Qatar stakes a claim on London.”  The Globe and Mail, March 11, 2013.

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Each Name Opens To A Universe

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Eurasia, Free Speech, Iran, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, North America, Politics, Qatar, Regions, Russia, Syria

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Hours before his arrest, Abdelke had signed a petition that averred (here’s where Chrome’s translate option comes in handy) “support to the forces of the revolution who advocate the establishment of a pluralistic democracy” and “desire for a peaceful solution to stop the bloodshed and to preserve national unity and territorial integrity, which involves the departure of Bashar al-Assad and pillars of his regime.

http://artfcity.com/2013/08/01/the-web-petitions-to-free-syrian-artist-youssef-abdelke/

Youssef Abdelke — never hard of him before two minutes ago — but as one who has learned the ways of the World Wide Web, the third minute opens on eternity.

(Reuters) – Syrian government forces have detained a dissident left-wing painter in a new wave of arrests of non-violent critics of President Bashar al-Assad, opposition groups said on Friday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/19/us-syria-crisis-arrests-idUSBRE96I0LP20130719

“A place to share art, uninhibited without a bunch of stupid ass rules. A place to help your fellow page owners grow and succeed. A group to have fun with no dictator shoving shit down your throat and bowing down. A group to be FREE to help as you see fit. A group to rock the fuck on!”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/639798962716250/

It’s a closed Facebook group, one to which I would apply if I were shooting the local downtrodden as opposed, say, to the leisured, business, and community development classes.

Nonetheless, “Art and FREEDOM”, my soul is with you and your author, Youssef Abdelke.

* * *

I really don’t know why Putin darkens his role in history by keeping in his hand with  the Ayatollah’s Iran and the Assad’s Syria.

* * *

Novelist Daniel Silva has a great deal of fun with the “Russian President” — in fiction, merely a character, never named, nothing more than coincidental with anything or anyone in reality, in his latest best seller The English Girl.

As a fiction writer, Silva’s actually, probably, one of the very best political analysts on the international stage, and while playing that role through his characters and plots, the Russian President looms large and rightly so for the behind-the-curtain strategy pursued by the post-Soviet oligarchs  of the Latest and Greatest in Russian States.

As we know about narcissists and narcissistic hunger and supply, they are ultimately about themselves, and whatever their charms, political and social, may be.  Not that Bashir Assad has enjoyed abundance in dimension, but it’s the Russian President who has been most quiet on the obscenity of a state that deploys jets to suppress, at first, a small challenge to its authority.

While the Syria of 2010 has been destroyed, culturally, socially, structurally, one might note that Russia, in her defense, has ferried both the larger part of its civilian and military presence out of the country — not exactly a show of confidence, that, but not exactly either a show of humanist resolve.

The world wonders at the conundrum that has pit a brutal dictatorship against partially but deeply virulent Islamist forces.  There is in that aspect of Syria’s agony the “no good dog in the fight” and the “black hole” of the Islamic Small Wars constructed of a contempt, hatred, and self-contempt in the inhumanity that draws in military energy and burns without end.

Nearly one hundred thousand dead and four million displaced in Syria’s furnace and neither of two of the most powerful statesmen of our era either cares to or knows how to shut it down.

Instead of the kumbaya “reset” between the states and the federation (how young is Obama?), Putin appears to be draining the former plus NATO by keeping the oven hot while avoiding, rightly, the imposition of another Chechnya in its sphere of influence.  And yet . . . the Assad regime was the Soviet’s monster, and one would think that after 1991 the state would have been concerned with other than filling its pockets in collusion with it for another 22 years.

But that perhaps would have been too caring, too ethical.

Too English.

* * *

While the superpowers dick around with trivial issues like Snowden, Syria, in part, draws to it the “worst of the worst” — or just the most spirited — of fighters representing Shiite and Sunni Islam, those two angry wasps someone left in a bell jar separating their concerns from the much, much greater world surrounding.

On a portion of that, I would blame the west.

We’ve done business, haven’t we, for how many years?

And barely a word, most certainly few, if any, of outrage in regard to humanity and human rights in the contained but also dark medieval quarters of the globe.

So why not leave them — today in Syria, tomorrow perhaps in Egypt or somewhere else — in their own mess?

Whether the President of the Free World or that of the Russian Empire, is it incumbent on either to reorganize a middle east state as a pet humanitarian project?

There are, of course, other ambitions in the mix, much including Iran’s and Qatar’s, but one may one wonder between them whether either will wake up from their dream or with history pass away into it.

* * *

Prestige matters.

As a Jew, I may wonder how global memory will treat of today’s powerful in the days beyond their reclamation by the earth.

Additional Reference

Kasparov, Garry.  “Putin Toys with Obama as Syria Burns and Snowden Runs Free.” The Daily Beast.  July 2, 2013.

Official Site of the Bureau International des Expositions.

RT.  “At least 600 Russians and Europeans fighting alongside Syrian opposition – Putin.”  June 21, 2013.

World Bulletin News Desk.  “Erdogan, Putin discuss Syria and Egypt.”  August 5, 2013.

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Qatar – Syria – Keep Watch

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Journalism, Middle East, Politics, Qatar, Regions, Syria

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The missiles, American officials warned, could one day be used by terrorist groups, some of them affiliated with Al Qaeda, to shoot down civilian aircraft.

But one country ignored this admonition: Qatar, the tiny, oil- and gas-rich emirate that has made itself the indispensable nation to rebel forces battling calcified Arab governments and that has been shipping arms to the Syrian rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.

Mazzetti, Mark, C. J. Chivers, and Eric Schmitt.  “Taking Outside Role in Syria, Qatar Funnels Arms to Rebels.”  The New York Times, June 29, 2013.

It’s mighty social of President Obama to allow others to strut their hour upon the global stage, which it appears Qatar may be doing as promotes a Sunni front in Syria by proxy.

As modern and shiny as Qatari money has made Qatar, onlookers may not be so certain about its mercenaries and their ability to restrain themselves.  The alleged murder of Roula Adnan last week adds its bit of opprobrious behavior to the eating-the-heart video that went viral earlier in the month.  I’ve hedged with “alleged” as the news reached me by way of Pakistan and involved as source a Syrian nationalist outlet given to headers like, “US Citizens Kill Deputy Head of Ministry of Education in Aleppo.”

We’re not going to have two essential empirical truths in a world integrating within the communal mind of the World Wide Web: whatever Qatar has enabled, even if spun over-the-top with canards out of the political playbooks of bomb throwers of the 1970s, what happened to Roula Adnan (and her neighbors) will come out.

And just before coming after Roula, the same “rebels”, the ones that the MSM is romanticizing broke into another home. They carried a man from Khalil family to the street and shot his hands and feet. Then they beaten up his wife and daughter, right in front of the neighbors. The terrorists wanted Syrians to witness the crime; they wanna scare us into submission.

As it does always, the fog of war will lift — but these days, it’s likely the curtains masking behind-the-scenes deals, wherever they have taken place, will be drawn back too.

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A Glimpse of Qatar’s Generational Transition and Portent for The Middle East Conflict

27 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Qatar, Regions, Religion

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These days, the term “middle east conflict” would seem to refer to conflict and unrest in every state in the region but Israel.

Nonetheless, while Egypt roils and Syria burns and the King of Jordan fends off the seeding of perhaps a new class of secular Palestinian politico*, Qatar’s new head of state, Sheikh Tamim has this to say of the refugees of numerous Arab-led wars since 1948:

One day when our “Blue Dot” of a planet is a little more gathered together — that as opposed to riven with war — we may find common ground in five language principles:

Compassion

Humility

Integrity

Justice

Security

Of the four, the most difficult term and the one most relevant to autocracies seems to me to be “integrity” — just the power to be honest about ourselves and with others.

This is not as easy as it may sound.  If it were, we would not have the fairy tale that is “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, which is in essence and for the ages a story about lying and power.

*****

It may be noted that God placed two trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  When the snake entices Eve to eat of the forbidden tree, only mention is made of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, effectively hiding the other tree through omission.

You know the rest of the story: Eve eats the apple, becomes conscious or comprehending, also self-conscious, and, with Adam joining her, possessed of conscience, out of which reaction, perhaps, come the fig leaves, a courtesy, each to the other, and practical too (God, a few sentences later, provides clothing made of skins — one imagines chamois — lending perhaps dignity and protection to their introduction to life as men and women would experience it forever after).

The “Middle East Conflict” — which is never about conflicts in the middle east but only about the creation of the Jews and Israel (or, lost in the Pharaohnic dawn, the gathering together beneath the unrestrained ego and violence of a tyrant)l — seems to me to be always about two things not at ease with one another: 1) the possession of good conscience in light of the knowledge of good and evil; 2) the testing of God for favor when the relationship needs to be the other way around.

*****

Where kings are concerned, I suspect there may be more to the story than meets either eyes or ears.

When God, being God, and with Torah received as divine message, hides the second tree — the Tree of Life that we are told is there but when it counts is not mentioned by the snake and, later, will be barred from access (by cherubim and an eternally revolving sword guarding the Garden left behind) — the sin of omission becomes a virtue: to have eaten of the Tree of Life also would have been too much, for God forbids it, and so protects His children.

*****

To be as gods, lower case that term, with nuclear capabilities, among other extraordinary but still human capacities, one might counsel also a prudent humility.

Carl Sagan’s clip about the “Pale Blue Dot” that is our planet viewed from space, has many renditions on the web — and there’s an entire film available too (somewhere — I’m going to be lazy here) — but this may do for essence.

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ISW – Comment on Saudi Arabia’s Heightened Profile in the Syrian Theater

17 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Asia, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Eurasia, Iran, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Qatar, Regions, Religion, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey

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(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia, a staunch opponent of President Bashar al-Assad since early in Syria’s conflict, began supplying anti-aircraft missiles to rebels “on a small scale” about two months ago, a Gulf source said on Monday.

Bakr, Amena.  “Saudi supplying missiles to Syria rebels: Gulf source.”  Reuters, June 17, 2013.

For those who value stability in the middle east, the least honest and most ruthless appear to be winning.

As the above quote suggests, Big Sunni Money plus the cultivation across many years of strategic and trade relationships in Great Britain, Europe, and the United States have put King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia not only into the fight in Syria but remarkably behind the NATO wheel.

Of course, this recent news (surfacing in the news) isn’t news at all to the businesses and states involved in Syria’s civil war, and it should be apparent to all onlookers that this double-track, double-story business of telling the public one story while facilitating another in private has brought us to the brink of a NATO vs. Russia confrontation in which Russia may now present a devilish gambit: better Assad and the continuing misery to be imposed by the dictatorship than the expansion of either Al Qaeda or Wahhabi Islam and the certain diminishing of nascent democracy, human dignity, and secular values in Syria accompanied by the heightening of tensions in Lebanon and,somewhere in the future, with Israel and the Jewish People.

To offset that impression, King Abdullah may have to back up the money with some combination of reassuring mouth and evidence of cultural and social evolution toward the contemporary in the Kingdom, certain injunctions of the Quran either notwithstanding or interpreted or aligned with a more free and liberal and greater western world.

Outlook

For the moment, if Iran’s nuclear program and global ambitions are the true target of the conflict in Syria, then the conflict and the human suffering plus political confusion driven by it, have yet some months to years to go.

In fact, the focusing of issues in the Syrian theater of a great portion of the drivers of the Islamic Small Wars  — i.e., rivalries of various sort: Al Qaeda and Wahhabi Islam; Sunni and Shiite Islam; democracy, secular dictatorship and theocracy; Iranian and Saudi Arabian competition for greater spheres of influence; even Putin’s possible issues with aggrandizement, control, and wealth on one hand and his own humanity, moderation, and strength in restraint on the other– bodes ill for constituents — worldwide — whose concerns may be more with family, security, and employment scaled down to a common denominator in the common humanity than with the triumph of a king or an ayatollah.  

It has been said that with the onset of war, nobody wins, and nowhere else across the killing fields of the Islamic Small Wars does that cynical sentiment seem more likely to be proven true than in Syria this day.

Reference

Al Arabiya.  “Saudi King Abdullah cuts holiday short due to ‘events in the region’.”  June 15, 2013.

Chulov, Martin.  “Threat of sectarian war grows in Syria as jihadists get anti-aircraft missiles.”  The Guardian, June 15, 2013.

Deasy, Kristin.  “Al Qaeda in Iraq defies global leader over relationship with Syria’s Al Nusra: Reports.” Global Post, June 15, 2013.

Henderson, Simon.  “Bahrain Rounds Up Organizers of Antigovernment Violence.”  Policy Alert, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, June 14, 2013:

Initially emulating uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world, the protests quickly divided along sectarian lines, pitting members of the majority Shiite population against the Sunni ruling family’s security forces. Since then, February 14 members have apparently engaged in near-nightly clashes with police, resulting in more than 100 dead and 2,000 injured among civilians and security personnel.

Osborn, Andrew and Amena Bakr.  “Putin, Obama face off over Syria; rebels get Saudi missiles.”  Reuters, June 17, 2013.

Reuters.  “Russia says it will not allow Syria no-fly zones.”  June 17, 2013.

Starr, Barbara, Holly Yan, Chelsea J. Carter.  “Analyst: Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria now best-equipped of the group.”  CNN, June 17, 2013.

Wintour, Patrick.  “Syria: Putin backs Assad and berates west over proposal to arm rebels.”  The Guardian, June 16, 2013.

FTAC – An Off-Hand Note on Al Qaeda in Syria and Arab and Western Participation

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Lebanon, Middle East, Politics, Qatar, Regions, Syria

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Regarding what we think we know and what we know we know: the world has a huge black market going in military arms. You should know the name Viktor Bout and then imagine that personality recapitulated for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the FARC (Colombia), the Sineola people (Mexico) and so on. The small stuff, like the Kalashnikov the Russians overproduced to keep factory employment high, and the RPGs and other small, transportable arms seem to have zero issues getting to these small conflicts. Even when Al Shabaab were kids running amok in Somalia, they were able to fire an RPG into a living room (they didn’t like the man watching a soccer match on his television). To say the U.S. Government supports Al Qaeda in Syria is an “iffy” supposition.

However, let’s look at the kind of curtain suspended everywhere in Islamic and related tribal states — also in states dealing with other insurrection or organized crime: it’s curtain sewn of privacy in communication. A wink, a nod, a slip of paper, a promise, a signal can do untold damage anywhere in the world at any time predicated on the will of those colluding to do evil.

It is natural for the United States to oppose dictatorship of any kind anywhere in the world, but the realpolitik also involves enormous sums in cash, hard assets (like landing strips and naval ports), and investments, and the states of the Arab Peninsula have made fortunes on energy sales, essentially, and reinvestment: there is no one surprised that they would use that financial power to expand their combined political-spiritual enterprise. Whatever officialdom may say, OBL showed the power of the individual to act in accord with the sword verses and sally forth into the infidel world.

If General Idris could get his grip on the loose collection of rebel forces reporting to him and exercise true western-backed control, the Al Qaeda presence in Syria would be marginalized, but because of religious fealty and motivation, which may be misguided (you heard that from a Jew) but is powerful, that Al Qaeda presence may be holding its own in the Syrian — soon to be Syrian-Lebanon — theater

The story is complicated and more so than Facebook “bilge talk” (or international cocktail-type chatter) allows.

To bring freedom to parties who fear it and constituents whose information environments have been managed specifically to engender the fear and hatred of others on one hand and an immense “civilizational narcissism” (check in with Mobarak Haider’s on that) on the other proves difficult — one may stop to look over the Iraq story on that.

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Syria – Qatar – Absurdity

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics, Qatar, Regions, Syria

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“At the moment, several conflicts are being fought simultaneously in Syria. The civil war began more than two years ago as a power struggle between the government and opposition forces. But it didn’t take long for other states to get into the mix, turning the internal fight into a regional and international struggle for influence.”

http://www.dw.de/middle-east-countries-fighting-proxy-war-in-syria/a-16848708

I’ve compared violent Sunni vs. Shiite rivalry to watching two wasps fight inside a bell jar, an absurd condition driven by “content of mind” (self-concept, social grammar, etc.) and vanity, or an aspect of it I refer to as “Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy”.

Russia may be the bad boy backing a brutal dictatorship, but what is NATO doing trying to sanitize the opposition?

“In response, the FSA has been acting more like a force opposed to the citizens of Syria than a force intended to secure their freedom. For example, it has in the recent past stolen wheat reserves intended for the residents of Aleppo and sold it to private Turkish grain traders, expropriated stocks of pharmaceuticals and forcibly resold them back to its owners, and ransacked schools. These are hardly the actions of a ‘liberation force.'”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/dark-side-free-syrian_b_2380399.html

Daniel Wagner reported that “news” back in December.

“The following video, circulated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, shows jihadists lining up and executing supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. A man in a mask reads a statement behind the line of blindfolded men, reading off the reason for their punishment, before walking down the line and shooting each one in the back of the head.”

http://www.policymic.com/articles/42503/syrian-execution-youtube-video-graphic-footage-shows-rebel-atrocities

Qatar itself, rolling in money, stands clean and progressive in the background, and yet, should you click on the above link and witness the Al-Nusra execution of Assad’s forces, kneeling and bound, you know the money for that has got to be coming from somewhere.

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