Noah Millman makes some smart comments on the war on Yemen and U.S. hegemony:

It’s easy to say we should stay out, or that we should try to mediate between the two sides instead of siding with Saudi Arabia – that these would be neutral postures and who could fault us for that? But they would not be perceived as neutral – they would be perceived, at least in the Gulf, as more evidence that we were tilting toward Tehran.

It’s very likely that withholding support for the Saudi-led war would be perceived by the Saudis and many others in the GCC this way. My first reaction to this is to ask, “So what?” Our clients are always claiming to be anxious that our government is abandoning them or not giving them enough support. They do this in the hopes that the U.S. will rush to reassure them and throw more resources or attention their way, and administrations from both parties and most members of Congress seem only too happy to oblige in most cases. Giving in to their complaints doesn’t make them any less likely to complain about supposed neglect a few years later. Indulging them by supporting their genuinely dangerous and destructive actions, such as the current war on Yemen, just makes this habit worse. It tells the clients that the U.S. is happy to be suckered into supporting them in whatever reckless operations they want to undertake, and it also tells them that U.S. support for them doesn’t depend on how responsibly they behave.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/enabling-reckless-clients-and-the-war-on-yemen/

The American Conservative has been an indispensable outlet for the ideas and arguments of dissident and traditional conservatives for the last twelve years, and it continues to offer a vitally important and necessary alternative to movement conservatism and its tendency to subordinate conservative principles of wisdom, prudence, and restraint to the needs of partisan loyalty and ideological obsessions. Since its founding, the magazine and its website have been the principled voice of conservative opposition to the many follies of the Bush and Obama eras and the reliable defender of local communities, constitutional government, a broad distribution of power and wealth, and the causes of liberty and peace. That defense is needed now as much as it has ever been.

Over the last nine months, TAC has been a consistent critic of the ill-conceived military intervention in Iraq and Syria, and we have also been calling attention to U.S. support for the reckless Saudi-led war on Yemen. Last summer, we co-hosted a successful conference promoting a foreign policy of restraint, and we continue to warn against the folly of wars of choice. We have also been arguing for the importance of diplomatic engagement with Iran and Cuba. TAC is a valuable resource for all Americans that want to rediscover a foreign policy conservatism that is dedicated to securing the national interest without being wedded to perpetual war. We have been promoting the cause of reforming and improving the foreign policy debate in the Republican Party and in the country as a whole since our inception. Our arguments are more necessary than ever as the U.S. will be fighting the new war in Iraq and Syria for years to come.

The magazine and our website also offer trenchant and insightful political and social commentary from all of our contributors and bloggers. Our writers regularly address many policy issues that other conservative outlets ignore or refuse to take seriously.

read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-american-conservative-peace-and-restraint/

Rubio spoke in New Hampshire yesterday, and among other things had this to say:

The Middle East, “after 3,800 years of instability, is now more unstable than ever” [bold mine-DL] because of an ascendant Iran and the growth of jihadist groups, the presidential candidate asserted during a speech that blamed President Barack Obama for a world in chaos.

It is fairly common for hawks to exaggerate how disorderly and dangerous a region or the world is, but Rubio’s statement stands out for being even more misinformed than the usual fear-mongering claims. The region has not suffered from “3,800 years of instability,” and if Rubio were pressed on this he would have to admit that this phrase is silly. No region is continuously convulsed by political upheaval and conflict, and the history of every region is marked by periods of warfare and disorder as well as extended periods of relative peace. While several countries in the region are suffering from armed conflict and political turmoil, most are not. 

read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/rubios-phony-concern-for-stability/

OBOCK, Djibouti — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it was halting a nearly month-old bombing campaign against a rebel group in neighboring Yemen that has touched off a devastating humanitarian crisis and threatened to ignite a broader regional conflict.

The announcement followed what American officials said was pressure applied by the Obama administration for the Saudis and other Sunni Arab nations to end the airstrikes. The bombing campaign, which has received logistical and intelligence support from the United States, has drawn intense criticism for causing civilian deaths and for appearing to be detached from a broad military strategy.

A Saudi Defense Ministry statement quoted by the country’s news agencies said that the campaign, called Operation Decisive Storm, had achieved its objectives. But it was unclear exactly how much the airstrikes had advanced Saudi Arabia’s stated goal of helping restore a Yemeni government that collapsed many weeks ago as Houthi rebels took over the country’s capital, Sana. Analysts said the announcement could possibly clear the way for a different type of military intervention.
read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/world/middleeast/saudis-announce-halt-to-yemen-bombing-campaign.html
See toon at top...

 

Sham and Shame: Saudi-US Slaughter in Yemen Shows Truth of Terror War

Chris Floyd

 

Last week, the United States sent an armada to Yemen, to help enforce a blockade of the poverty-ridden country as it groans under the mass slaughter of Saudi Arabia’s American-backed war of aggression. Now the Saudis, employing the bombs they procured from U.S. war profiteers, have shut down aid shipments by air with a bombing raid on the capital, Sana’a. The result will be more hunger, suffering and death in one of the world’s poorest countries. — But hey, wasn’t Obama so funny at that media dinner thing!

While aiding the Islamic extremists of Saudi Arabia to help al Qaeda in Yemen — who have made great gains while their mortal enemies, the Houthis, are being pounded by the Saudis — Obama and the American military machine has also been busy joining hands with al Qaeda in Syria, helping them make huge advances and capture key cities. It now looks increasingly likely that the Syrian government will not be able to withstand the onslaught of Islamic extremists (oh, and the “moderate” rebels, which also include al Qaeda elements). The fall of the secular Syrian state will open up an abyss of chaos which will be filled by the extremists armed and bankrolled by the United States and Saudi Arabia — just as the American destruction of the secular government in Iraq has led to murderous nightmare for millions of people.

What’s more, Israel has also joined the fight with al Qaeda, launching airstrikes on positions in Syria to clear the way for Islamic extremists to keep up their offensive. Robert Parry is on the case:

The Saudi-Israeli alliance, in league with other hard-line Sunni countries, is helping Al-Qaeda affiliates advance toward gaining either victory or at least safe havens in Syria and Yemen, highlighting unresolved contradictions in President Barack Obama’s policies in the Middle East. Fueled by a surge of support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey – and with Israel striking at Syrian government allies – Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda’s hyper-brutal spinoff, the Islamic State, are making major advances in Syria with some analysts now predicting the likely collapse of the relatively secular government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Read more: http://www.chris-floyd.com/Articles/2496-sham-and-shame-saudi-us-slaughter-in-yemen-shows-truth-of-terror-war.html

 

See toon at top...

Note should the Syrian government collapse, its weaponry will fall into the hands of "terrorists" and religious extremists... One can only foresee trouble. 

 

CAIRO — The Saudi-led military coalition fighting a rebel group in Yemen has in the past few weeks used cluster munitions supplied by the United States, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Sunday. 

The report said video, photographs and other evidence showed that the coalition had used cluster bombs near villages in Yemen’s northern Saada Province. The group, which said it had found evidence that the weapons had been deployed on at least two separate occasions, has not been able to establish whether any casualties had resulted from their use, according to the report. 

Cluster munitions, which are banned by much of the world, though not by the United States, Saudi Arabia or Yemen, are considered imprecise weapons that spread ordnance over a wide area and pose a long-term danger to civilians because of the unexploded bomblets they leave behind. 

read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/world/middleeast/saudi-led-group-said-to-use-cluster-bombs-in-yemen.html?_r=0

Meanwhile:

Air strikes by the US-led coalition targeting Islamic State militants have killed more than 50 civilians in northern Syria, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group, says Birmahle village was hit on Friday and that some people were still trapped in rubble.

A spokesman for US Central Command it had "no information to corroborate allegations that coalition air strikes resulted in civilian casualties".

But he said it was investigating.

Earlier this month, the Observatory said the US-led air campaign had killed more than 2,000 people in total, including at least 1,922 IS fighters.

"Air strikes by the coalition early on Friday on the village of Birmahle in Aleppo province killed 52 civilians," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP news agency.

Seven children were killed, and 13 people were still unaccounted for, the group said.

read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32563662#

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are actively supporting a hardline coalition of Islamist rebels against Bashar al-Assad’s regime that includes al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, in a move that has alarmed Western governments.

The two countries are focusing their backing for the Syrian rebels on the combined Jaish al-Fatah, or the Army of Conquest, a command structure for jihadist groups in Syria that includes Jabhat al-Nusra, an extremist rival to Isis which shares many of its aspirations for a fundamentalist caliphate.

The decision by the two leading allies of the West to back a group in which al-Nusra plays a leading role has alarmed Western governments and is at odds with the US, which is firmly opposed to arming and funding jihadist extremists in Syria’s long-running civil war.

It threatens to trump Washington’s own attempt to train pro-Western opposition fighters, announced by President Barack Obama a year ago but finally launched only last week.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-crisis-turkey-and-saudi-arabia-shock-western-countries-by-supporting-antiassad-jihadists-10242747.html

 

See pertinent toon at top...

The Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, classified for many years by U.S. Intelligence as a terrorist organization, is training Christians to fight ISIS in Lebanon and the Middle Eastern believers say their new and unlikely allies "accept us as we are."

Citing Lebanese sources, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin says Christian villages in the Bekaa Valley area of Lebanon are forming militias to join Hezbollah fighters already engaging ISIS and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nursa Front in the Syrian Qalamoun mountains opposite villages in central and eastern Bekaa.

Rifit Nasrallah, a Catholic businessman who is part of the militias fighting ISIS in Ras Baalbek, discussed the alliance with Hezbollah in an International Business Times report last month.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/they-accept-us-as-we-are-christians-join-forces-with-muslim-group-hezbollah-to-fight-isis-in-lebanon-138975/#DiJoy0xyhA6ObQsS.99

Syria's Mercenaries

The Afghans Fighting Assad's War

By Christoph Reuter

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is running out of soldiers and is forced to rely on mercenaries in his ongoing battle against rebels. Many of his foreign fighters come from Afghanistan -- men like Murad, who is now being held in Aleppo as a prisoner-of-war.

His war only lasted from one dawn to the next. When the sun rose for the second time over the Syrian city of Aleppo, Murad, a farmer from Afghanistan, was still cowering on the second floor of the house he was supposed to defend to the death. That, at least, is what his Iranian officer had ordered him to do.

How, though, did he get to this war-torn city far away from his village in the mountains of Afghanistan? All he had wanted was an Iranian residence permit, he says. But at the end of his trip, he found himself fighting as a mercenary in the Syrian civil war on the side of the Bashar Assad regime.

On that morning in Aleppo, Murad didn't know how many from his unit were still alive, nor did he know where he was or who he was fighting against. His four magazines had been empty for hours. When a violent explosion caused the house he was in to collapse, he found himself thinking about his daughters, he says. "I screamed and thought I was suffocating. And then, everything around me was quiet."

Men arrived and pulled Murad, who was still screaming, out of the rubble. He was lucky, even if he didn't see it that way at first. "I thought they would kill me immediately. But they bandaged me up and took me to their quarters. There was someone there who spoke a bit of Persian and he told me I didn't need to be afraid."

That was seven months ago. Since then, Murad and another Afghan have been sitting in a makeshift prison belonging to the "Damascus Front," one of Aleppo's larger rebel formations. They are being held in a neon-lit basement, next to a roaring generator. The walls are crumbling, a product of the myriad explosions that have shaken the city. In addition to Afghans, Pakistanis and Iranians have also been taken prisoner by other rebel groups, all of them fighting on the front lines.

The war in the northern-Syrian city of Aleppo -- but also around both Hama and Damascus and down to Deraa in the south -- has taken on an Afghan face. Or, to be more precise, a face with distinctly Asian features. Many of those Afghans that have been sent into battle come from the Hazara, a Shiite minority that are the poorest of the poor in Afghanistan.

read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/afghan-mercenaries-fighting-for-assad-and-stuck-in-syria-a-1032869.html

 

Reuters reports on a new Syria blunder by the U.S. and its allies:

The United States and Turkey have agreed “in principle” to give air support to some forces from Syria’s mainstream opposition, Turkey’s foreign minister said, in what if confirmed could mark an expansion of U.S. involvement in the conflict.

There had been hints that the U.S. might do this since last year, but nothing seemed to happen in the months that followed. If this report is correct, that appears to have changed. If this is right, the U.S. and Turkey have agreed to go to war against the Syrian government while the U.S. is still bombing ISIS. It would be difficult for U.S. policy in Syria to become more incoherent and dangerous than it already was, but the administration may have found a way to do it. It was always likely that U.S. backing for any part of the Syrian opposition would eventually lure the U.S. into taking military action against the Syrian regime, and now it appears that the U.S. is on track to do just that. That was what Syria hawks hoped for when they started agitating for the U.S. to “arm the rebels” years ago, and now they may finally be getting their deranged wish.

 

read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/report-turkey-and-the-u-s-agree-to-give-syrian-rebels-air-support/

 

See toon at top...

 

BEIRUT — Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militants in northern Iraq early Saturday, expanding and complicating the air war launched by Turkey against the Islamic State in Syria the day before.

The strikes targeted weapons-storage facilities and camps belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, at its Mount Qandil headquarters in the remote mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a government statement.

There were also strikes for a second night in a row against the Islamic State in Syria, indicating that Turkey is now actively engaged in the war against the militants after months on the sidelines.

read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/turkey-strikes-kurdish-militants-in-iraq-ending-truce/2015/07/25/1b7405b8-32b7-11e5-97ae-30a30cca95d7_story.html
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A car bomb attack on a military convoy in south-eastern Turkey has killed two soldiers and injured four others, Turkish officials say.

The explosion late on Saturday happened in the town of Lice in Diyarbakir, the province governor's office said.

The attack came after Turkey bombed Kurdish separatist camps in northern Iraq - the first such strikes since a peace process began in 2012.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

Unrest like this in Istanbul has intensified since the massacre of 32 people in the Kurdish area of Suruc Demonstrators were detained in Ankara on Saturday

The Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, threatened to break off a two-year ceasefire following Saturday's raids.

There has been a wave of unrest after a suicide bomb in Suruc, blamed on so-called Islamic State (IS) killed 32 people - mainly university students planning to carry out aid work in Kobane, Syria.

It has included protests and confrontations with police in Ankara and Istanbul.

read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33667427

 

WASHINGTON — AFTER a year of intense diplomatic negotiations, the Turkish government is now permitting the United States to use Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, which will allow American aircraft to fly missions in Syria and Iraq with greater operational effectiveness and economic efficiency.

The price of this agreement, however, may well be too high in the long run, both for the success of America’s anti-Islamic State campaign and for the stability of Turkey.

That’s because the Turkish government’s recent change of heart and its sudden willingness to allow American access to the Incirlik base was driven by domestic political considerations, rather than a fundamental rethinking of its Syria strategy.

Shortly after granting access to the base, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched a wave of airstrikes on Kurdish targets, reigniting a conflict that had been on the road to resolution. To make matters worse, Turkey has struck hard at Syrian Kurds who have, until now, been America’s most reliable ally in fighting the Islamic State, often called ISIS, in northern Syria.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/opinion/americas-dangerous-bargain-with-turkey.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

 

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Sudan’s nightmare: 150,000 civilians killed    By Stuart Rees

 

 

UN estimates suggest 2.5 million people will die by the end of 2024 and six million by 2027. World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on the world to “wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it is living through”.

That nightmare refers to a civil war waged since April 2023 between two generals, Abdul al-Burhan, chief of the Sudanese army, and Mohamed Dagalo, usually known as Hemedti, leader of the Rapid Support Forces. In their struggle for power, the forces of both men have destroyed homes, killed as many as 150,000 civilians, enjoyed rape, recruited children and inflicted starvation on a whole population.

The Guardian and Global Focus report an estimated 10 million Sudanese citizens have been displaced and another two million have fled to frail neighbouring countries which lack the resources to help those fleeing except by responding to immediate crises.

Agriculture was once a backbone of the Sudanese economy, but fears of insecurity have led to an estimated 40% of farming households being unable to till their land. Farms and crops have been burned. Half of the population faces starvation. UN estimates suggest 2.5 million people will die by the end of 2024 and six million by 2027.

Commentary from Save the Children shows a Sudanese civil war characterised by gender-based violence, including an alarming rise in the rape of women and the abduction of women and girls as young as 12. Looting, rape and murder are committed mostly by the Rapid Support Forces, though both sides are seen as lawless and misogynistic, hence the appearance of a war being waged disproportionately against women.

Reporting on this war repeats a picture which highlights ways of thinking to promote violence and hinder prospects for peace. Journalists’ descriptions say little about life enhancing outcomes for the Sudanese, hence the world’s inattention to the people’s misery. Largely neglected because of the focus on Gaza, Ukraine, the US election and numerous refugee crises, the Sudanese have been offered little more than a fatalism that little can be done.

Initiating ideas about peace with justice could start by pondering the war-like attitudes of generals who encourage their forces to like violence and love guns.

Hemedti was appointed by the previous dictator Omar al-Bashir to lead the Arab militia, the Jangaweed, who in 2008 carried out ethnic massacres of non-Arab tribes in Darfur, violence described by the US as genocide. In the current war, RSF forces have continued their murder and rape, actions justified by Hemedti’s view on the merits of violence: “Anyone who does not fight does not have an opinion.”

The idea that power can only be exercised by brute force from the top down is shared by General Burhan, who was leader of an Interim Sovereignty Council which succeeded Bashir’s dictatorship, but Burhan repudiated ideas of democracy and opposed citizens’ pleas for civilian government.

Within the past month, the UN’s Human Rights Council proposed “an independent impartial force be sent be sent to Sudan”, mostly with the objective of protecting civilians. Apparently wanting to fight to the bitter end, and unwilling to think otherwise, Burhan responded, “the Sudanese Government rejects in their entirety the recommendations of the UN mission”.

From the perspectives of starving, frightened Sudanese, why not propose dialogue with these generals about alternative, non-violent perspectives concerning life in Sudan?

With that objective in mind, attention also needs to be paid to countries which provide arms to both sides. The UAE supplies bullets and drones to the RSF killers. Iran and Egypt are arming the Sudanese army. The Economist reports that Russia has deployed Wagner mercenaries.

Meetings about peace would have to include dialogue with those who supply arms, without which murder and mayhem would not occur.

Given the principle that abusive power is usually fostered by an absence of ideas, questions can be asked about the Australian Government’s interests in the fate of the Sudanese. That government could sit idly by or adopt a peace-promoting role, for which there’s a repertoire of ideas relevant to Sudan.

In 1795, in his Treatise on Perpetual Peace, philosopher Immanuel Kant repudiated plans for military domination and advocated the abolition of standing armies. His thoughts about peace required respect “even of political enemies, thinking of ourselves as born to work together and inspired by a common purpose”.

In Australia, from the 1940s for 40 years, John Burton, former Permanent Head of External Affairs, encouraged conversations between warring parties and insisted that peace negotiations start and end by paying attention to meeting people’s basic human needs. Often described as the most visionary public servant of the 20th century, he created alternative humanitarian agendas, whether in politics, in academia and conflict resolution.

Consistent with Burton’s values, language and achievements, former Labor Senator Maragaret Reynolds has repeatedly encouraged Australian federal politicians and public servants to think independently, with a view to creating a peace-building role for the nation.

In the absence of peace building, the Sudanese catastrophe shows disorder has become accepted as normal. Peace with justice goals are not taken seriously or are treated as beyond comprehension, not worth investment in dialogue and money, let alone in Burton-like deliberations and actions.

The front cover heading in the September edition of The Economist, reads, “SUDAN, why its catastrophic war is the world’s problem.”

Immediate and massive supply of humanitarian aid is a priority response to the misery of the Sudanese, but diverse self-interests could also prompt imagination of peace. States which border Sudan — Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, South Sudan and Libya — face what The Economist calls “destabilising flows of refugees, guns and mercenaries”. Comparable to the mass exodus of refugees from the Syrian war, Europe faces an explosion of people fleeing Sudan. Already, 60% of occupants in French camps on the south side of the English Channel are reported to be Sudanese.

Unless the promotion of peace becomes as significant as exhibitions and policies to sell the weapons of war, the Sudanese nightmare will spread and be experienced by countries rich and poor.

Self-interest is one reason to end wars. A fascination with peace would be more rewarding and should have longer-lasting, mutually beneficial effects.

 

https://johnmenadue.com/sudans-nightmare-what-prospects-for-peace/

 

 

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