This is barely being reported on the MSM and yet it’s developing into a major clash. The recent Arab summit in Damascus was a flop and left Syria with a lot of anger and embarrassment. The Israelis have openly admitted to bombing that mystery installation in Syria for being a nuclear bomb assembly factory set up by the North Koreans. This ruination of their plans has naturally outraged the Syrians.

At the same time, many Arab states are exasperated with Syria for their continued support of Hizbollah in Lebanon and their efforts to control that country. The other Arab states want Lebanon left alone. To make this point, few of them sent representatives to the summit and most of those were low-level people, which also was a major insult to Syria.

The Saudis and other Arab nations are literally scared to death of Iran having the A-Bomb and now the USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Force is heading for the Persian Gulf, to join up with nuclear submarines already there. The US has recently positioned an array of Aegis destroyers, which excel in ballistic missile defense, close to its Persian Gulf allies and Israel, ready to intercept Iranian and Syrian missiles.

This while Israel has begun its largest ever emergency response drill this week, “to help authorities assess Israel’s preparedness in dealing with national emergencies — particularly in the event of multiple chemical or conventional missile attacks.”

The Syrians have now concentrated two armored divisions and one mechanized division along their border with Lebanon. The estimate is more than 25,000 Syrian troops, more than 500 main battle tanks and even more armored infantry fighting vehicles. “The Arab League summit hosted by Damascus in late March exposed Syria’s regional isolation. Syria has been hitting walls left and right in its attempt to restore its sole powerbroker status in neighboring Lebanon”, and is attempting to do this through aggression.

Israel has just reissued gas masks to its population.

The fighting in Basra, Iraq between our troops and al Sadrs militia has renewed with a vengeance. Al Sadr is an ally of Iran. If he can be taken out or at least mostly subdued, he won’t be able to help topple Iraq in the event of war with Iran. Meanwhile, the Drums of War with Iran are beating a lot louder lately.

Saudi Arabia is making preparations to deal with nuclear fallout from attacks on the Iranian nuclear installations. They have also agreed to reduce the price of oil AND to increase production if the need arises, which it will if Iran is attacked. Dick Cheney has been criss-crossing the Middle East pushing for war with Iran. George Bush has only 9 months left to rescue the legacy of his presidency from the mire.

It is historically true that when our nation prepares for war, we, the public, are the last ones to know about it. At the NATO summit, Bush, Putin and the other national leaders were all uncharacteristically chummy. Very uncharacteristically. All the harsh Russian rhetoric and accusations were gone, everything was suddenly sunny and bright and agreeable. Clearly, a consensus had been reached that we haven’t been made aware of.

While that last may seem non-evidential of anything specific, it is indicative of major policy changes. Don’t forget that it’s the Russians who have been helping Iran build their reactors as well as supplying them with the fuel. Now the Chinese have changed their minds about the Iranian nuclear program and are speaking out against it. Russia and China are in greater diplomatic accord lately than ever, and Russia has benefited hugely from Bush’s presidency. Under Bush the price of oil has gone from $20 a barrel to over $100, and this is what has propelled the Russian economy back to its old glory days.

All these back-fence deals between nations, and all the troop movements, sure look like it’s all heading to a show-down with Iran. The only question is which one will blink first, the U.S., Iran, Syria or Israel? The stage is set and waits only for the beginning of the first act.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 10:13 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.