Saturday, June 1, 2013
Turkey, Syria...and Marilyn Monroe
Dear readers, it's a Saturday with a variety of news stories to follow, so let's cover some of the day's headlibes. (1). Taksim Square in Istanbul has been left to the young protesters as police withdrew late Saturday. The protests began after the Erdogan government announced plans to eliminate the Square and build apartments, offices and other needed structures. The reaction was immediate and violent. In two days, Turkish security forces have battled the protesters with water cannons and tear gas. The protests spread today to several other Turkish cities. And now the protesters have been allowed to hold the Square, presumably while Prime Minister Erdogan evaluates his alternatives. It is certainly in the world's best interests that Taksim Square does not become the next Arab Spring insurrection, but the young people in the Square are complaining about government severity in the face of social change...a dangerous omen. And when will extremists arrive to take advantage of this Turkish inter-generational dispute? (2). The rebel defenders of Qusair have called in reinforcements from their units all over Syria to help defend the city coveted by al-Assad and his Lebanese Hezbollah supporters. Meanwhile, rebel rockets have been fired into the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in an evident widening of the Syrian civil war. It is becoming what many have predicted - a regional war between Sunnis (the Syrian rebels, the Iraqi minority and the Gulf Arabs) and Shiites (al-Assad, Hezbollah, and Iraqi and Iranian ruling classes). Not wanting to arm the rebels may soon become irrelevant as an American tactical ploy, with France and Britain banding together to support the Syrian Free Army with arms shipments. Regional war, with Israel the real Syria-Hezbollah-Iran target, is closing in on us. (3). Today would have been the 87th birthday of Marilyn Monroe. The beautiful, neurotic sex symbol has outlived her own life by becoming an icon. She was used, discarded, revived - and she herself used, discarded, retook. But her appeal was not so much her life story as it was her becoming the embodiment of the feminine mystery that defies explanation.
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I was cast as Marilyn Monroe in a "Tom Thumb Wedding" when I was very young.
ReplyDeleteEmpowering Islamic extremists to achieve questionable short-term goals does not serve America's long-term security or interests.
ReplyDeleteThe United States has a history of often picking sides in Middle East conflicts to its own detriment.In the 1980s, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met with Saddam Hussein to establish a relationship that helped the dictator gain access to American arms during Iraq's war with Iran. In the 1990s, the U.S. would drive former ally Hussein from Kuwait and impose a decade of sanctions that were devastating for Iraqis, but had little effect on the dictator. In 2003, we went to Iraq, overthrew Hussein, and became part of nation-building effort.
Much worst than picking wrong sides in the Middle East to our own short sighted interests, the Obama administration is simply not picking the right side or even the long term wrong side. He is doing exactly nothing.
Obama has NO Middle east policy, if fact he really has NO foreign policy at all. And given that he is approximately 70% into his 8 years as president we should not expect a sudden policy to appear some day. He has NO IDEA what to do in foreign relations and certainly no idea what to do in military affairs. His new Secretary of Defense and State are certainly lightweights (if any weight) in their fields of responsibility .
Are there behind their watchful eye of the press secret discussions with our devote enemies ... certainly there is.Are there with our FRIEND in the Middle East ... not at the highest levels of government.
Readers of this outstanding daily column that Casey Pops puts together daily (lucky we are that she dose) the "Winds of War" are blowing in the Middle East. The hounds can smell blood. There is a perception among our enemies that we will continually look the other way while they do their deeds of evil. And perhaps this is one of the topics at the secret discussion being held between the US and the radicals.
It is in the Middle East that war is brewing, the pot is bubbling, the aggressors are hungry. And they must be feed now or very soon so to keep some coherence of peace and harmony between the various radical terrorists groups that are varying to enter Jerusalem first.
If Israel falls into the hands of the terrorists the entire face of the world map changes virtually overnight. This change will be a physical and perceptional change ... last perhaps forever. The new player on the block will be radical Muslims with their copy of Sharia Law in their back pocket. And then they will start to chip away at countries that presently have more than 5% Muslim population.
Watch out Europe, Far East, Philippine Islands. Central and South America will be easy pickings with the illiterate rate and poverty.
As for Marylin Monroe ... happy Birthday, RIP.