Fix it or Else! Egyptian Army Threatens Intervention

http://www.aawsat.net/2013/06/article55306975

Talk about a proverbial "sword of Damocles" for Egyptian politicians.

If the army does march, what in the world will Obama do? Condemn them for being undemocratic, I suspect. He'd much rather see the Muslim Brotherhood control Egypt, and, of course, continue to govern it into the ground. 

Scores Dead as Army Gets Involved in Lebanese Sectarian Fighting

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Jun-24/221395-fierce-clashes-rock-south-lebanon-city-for-second-day.ashx#axzz2X9jGPh5t

Things are getting worse in Lebanon. 

Are the Majority of Muslims Really Turned Off by Terror?

Remember when the world's Muslims were upset about that Muhammad movie back in the fall, when mobs stormed the US embassy in Egypt and the Obama administration tried to use that as an excuse for what went down in Benghazi? Below is a link to an article about a protest by Muslims in Toronto outside the US embassy. The protestors number more than a thousand! 

http://digitaljournal.com/article/333361

The other day a group of Toronto's "Progressive" Muslims decided to stage a demonstration against the hijacking of their religion by terrorists. See the report below.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/06/17/progressive_muslims_group_launched_in_toronto_to_reclaim_hijacked_faith.html

The report doesn't mention a number, but does note that only about half of those who attended were actually Muslims. But if you look at the carefully and narrowly focused photos with the story, you don't see many people. The same is true of a You Tube video. The estimate is that the rally drew about two-dozen people.

Here is the video. It's fairly sad. These people definitely have a good heart and love their country--Canada. But the fact that there are so few of them tells you a lot.

And that is the problem. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CUbnAiPZmc

Assad Takes Priority over Israel

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Hamas-official-Stopping-Assad-priority-over-jihad-in-Palestine-317570

According to this Hamas leader. That's a big step, and it's an indication that the Iran-Assad-Hezbollah strategy of trying to refocus Arab efforts on "The Jews" isn't working. 

Syrian Druze Want to Relocate to Israel!

http://www.timesofisrael.com/druze-leaders-ask-israel-to-take-in-syrian-coreligionists/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=6df6b8d39c-2013_06_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-6df6b8d39c-54443077

The Druze are an off-shoot of Shi'a Islam. They have a long history and have often been repressed by especially Sunni Muslims as apostates. Israel already has a substantial Druze community. They are considered loyal, hold Israeli citizenship, and are subject to the compulsory service.  I recall that a Druze at one point was the Israeli consul in Atlanta.

No doubt they are alarmed by the increasingly sectarian nature of the Syrian civil war.

Interesting Debate about Islam

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/headtohead/2013/06/201361091619207870.html

Interesting debate! Is the problem with Islam a need for reform, or Islamophobia? I side with Manji. The problem with Hasan's argument is that if you applied the same logic to US history before the Civil War, you would have judge the United States by what the Declaration of Independence said about freedom instead of the realities of slavery. Hasan makes just that argument about Islam: judge it by what the book says and not by what we see happening all over the world. I've seen this woman on Book Notes and she is impressive, and very brave! She is worth watching.

Syria Now and Afghanistan Then

As we shape out policy in Syria, we ought to keep in mind our experiences in Afghanistan back in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Carter and Reagan administrations supported the Afghan resistance, which consisted of a hodgepodge of various mujaheddin groups, most Afghan nationals and other Arab volunteers. The US and its Arab allies helped these groups to win--that is to force the Soviets to withdraw. Unfortunately, that victory largely evaporated when the Taliban came to dominate the country and Al-Qaeda found a base for further operations.

When Al Qaeda won, it's leadership then had to decide what to do next. There were some who favored going after the "Near Enemy," that is the non-Islamist Arab states such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt. Others favored going after the "Far Enemy." For some that meant going to Chechnya and fighting the Russians in the Caucasus. For others that meant taking on the US, which was what the leadership ultimately decided to do. Hence 9/11/2001.

If Syria, like the Afghan Communist regime, supported by Russia, goes under and, in that sense, history repeats itself, what then can we expect from the victorious coalition?

First, the odds are the more radical and vicious groups will dominate, just as the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

Second, the victors will then debate "what do we do now?" Their options will be numerous.

Hunker down in Syria and rebuild the state?

Go after a "Near Enemy"?

• Go after Hezbollah in Lebanon;
• Go after the Shi'a in Iraq;
• Carry the struggle into Jordan to get rid of the King;
• Go after Israel in an effort to spark a regional war that might unite Arabs in a single cause.

Or go after a "Far Enemy"?

• Move the effort to the Caucasus against the Russians; 
• Go after a European country;
• Go after the US. 

Every one of the options, except the first--hunker down--would create problems for the US.  And how likely is it that that first option would be the one chosen? I'd say about ZERO!

The reality of Syrian policy is that even if we are "successful," and drive Assad from power, we are headed for trouble. Of course, a failure to drive Assad from power would also create enormous problems, strengthening, as it would, Hezbollah and Iran.

EU Fighters in Syria

http://rt.com/news/russians-europeans-putin-syria-063/

First, it was 200. Then it was 400. Now it is 600, including Russians. No doubt, the Russians are more concerned about what happens with these guys if they are successful in Syria. 

Violence Spreads to Lebanon?

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/syrian-war-threatens-lebanon-with-crisis.html

According to this Arab press article, that's what's happening.

Killings have been ongoing for a while now between Lebanese Shiite clans and the Sunni inhabitants of the town of Arsal. These events forebode an increase in sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites in broader Lebanon. Moreover, it has become obvious that the higher frequency of these events has coincided on the one hand with Hezbollah’s deepening involvement in the Syrian war and on the other with the consolidation of the relationship between Lebanese Salafist forces and their Syrian counterparts.

Are Those Manpads Arriving?

http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-rebel-commander-says-they-have-new-weapons/

The rebels claim they've received new, game-changing weapons.