Because of my brutal childhood, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Middle East. It haunted me. There seemed to be no end to the suffering. Not even in my wildest fantasies did I imagine what’s now happening. And it’s picking up speed. The end of the suffering is imminent. Wildest technology I’m going…
Cutting the Gordian knot of Syria is beyond OUR power
March 18, 2016
The Gordian knot is a legend from antiquity used to symbolize what seems like an insoluble program. Gordias the peasant was made king of the Phrygians; his son Midas dedicated Gordias’s ox-cart to the Phrygian god Sabazios and tied it to a post with an intricate knot of cornel bark. In 333 BCE, Alexander the…
Posturing staves off disaster in the Middle East
February 3, 2016
One of the reasons that westerners can’t solve the problems in the Middle East is that we can’t distinguish between genuine threats and posturing. I admit that I myself have this deficit. It’s not possible for me to tell what’s real and what’s a performance. However, Middle Easterners understand what’s actually going on. There’s always…
Turkey confirms that Arab League special forces are in Syria
January 23, 2016
I don’t blame people for being wrong about what’s happening in Syria. What does anger me is fearmongering and the notion that only westerners are capable of solving the problems in the region. American politicians say that the US has to lead the fight. Actually, our attempts to do so have made everything worse. The…
Tishreen Dam was taken in a ferocious battle
January 21, 2016
With each passing day, I’m more impressed by the ability of the Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) and the Arab League to conceal what they’re doing in Syria. My little blog posts won’t change anything, because the plausible deniability is perfect. Operations security (OPSEC) is perfect. If I thought I were endangering anything, I wouldn’t do…