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As before, leave it to the New York Times to deliver material for Conservative Commentary. And as before, the NYT “acts” and “writes” as if they deliver “truth.” They don’t and they don’t ever dare to. Why? With the demise of the printed word, there is no way on planet Earth that the NYT could ever alienate any current or future advertisers…with said truth. So, let us examine recent history and see if anyone in the audience can offer a critique of the following.
As the host of the World Cup, Qatar is in the middle of their “moment in the sun.” Gleaming cities, modern transportation, spectacular stadiums…what a nice place. Sure 400 foreign workers died building the arenas and hotels to house the tourists and the teams, but that is not important. The Qatar Royal family just wants to say “hey” to the world…“We are here and we want to play with the big boys.” So let’s get into it.
Do you remember this one? Putin, with his vast petro-chemical resources, is invited into the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The King of Saudi Arabia made the OPEC invite personally. Now OPEC does not control all of the oil/petroleum in the world, but the cartel of countries controls enough oil to control both the amount available to the world and the price. Which is why Joe Biden must beg a Saudi Prince for an increase in production, to bring down the price and perhaps preserve his Presidency and/or the DNC control of Congress. So what did Putin say? Well, he said no. Afterall, why does Putin need towel headed sheiks to tell him how much oil and gas he produces?
Putin, the richest man in the world… neither wants nor needs to listen to anyone on the planet…except for maybe the Chinese who are now a geographic and military ally against NATO, SEATO (Southeast Asian Treaty Organization) and post importantly the other Big Dog on the planet…the United States. So Putin said “Nyet,” and the very next day, the Syrian Civil War began. Syria of course provides a warm water port for the Soviet Navy. And Syria is strategically located to protect the Strait of the Dardanelles. These Turkish waters allow the Russian Black Sea Fleet to sail into the Mediterranean Sea. That said, who funded the rebels who fought to defeat Putin’s puppet leader in Syria… Assad? Who conducted the logistics, the weapons running, the intelligence gathering, the drone surveillance for the rebels to defeat Assad? Who indeed.
When international reporters asked the Qatar Royal Family why they were funding the Syrian Rebel force, they replied, ‘we back winners.’ When international reporters ask the CIA why they were running weapons and were the “brains” for the Assad take down, they said…oh wait, the CIA said nothing, because no one knew the CIA was the active agent in the war. And when the CIA is using third world planes and flight crews, and using another nation’s money to conduct a proxy war against Putin, the CIA has no responsibility to report said war to Congress! How about that! To their credit, the NYT did report the CIA’s activity in the Syrian Civil War, but they did so off the front page.
The CIA’s participation in the Syrian Civil War did not end until Donald Trump ended it in his first month in office. Now that data point should have been something the liberal media jumped on…supporting the notion that Donald Trump is in fact a friend of Putin’s and perhaps is the much rumored “Russian Agent” after all. But no one ran with that story because it would have led back to…THE TRUTH. God forbid the New York Times would ever tell us THE TRUTH.
The Syrian Civil War is a classic skirmish on the world stage as it pertains to fossil fuels and military power. And if you doubt that, just ask yourself where the US Military’s Central Command is located. That’s right…QATAR. While the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet is anchored in Bahrain, the military brains for all our military branches are in Qatar. Why not Saudi Arabia? Well, the last time the US had an air base in “THE KINGDOM,” one of their “Princes” had a violent reaction to “infidels in the Holy Lands.” You remember him? Osama Bin Laden?
Maybe you remember the first week of the Iraqi War, when the Neo Cons in the White House likened a “Red Cross” as a good symbol for their self-proclaimed “CRUSADE.” That lasted about 18 hours, until smart folks at the Pentagon reminded the White House that European Nations conducted EIGHT CRUSADES in the Middle East to reclaim the “Holy Lands.” And every Crusade was a Muslim Victory. See Iraqi War. See Afghan War. And now see Syrian Civil War. So why did the Qatari’s want the Russians out of Syria. Well, that one is easy.
Rivaling only the Russian stockpile of natural gas, the North and South Pars Gas field is found under water WITHIN the Straits of Hormuz. Most of the gas field is located in Qatari waters, but some of the field is located in Iranian waters. This of course is a delicate situation. Why? Because while the Qatari Royal family has the money and technical connections (think Texas Drillers), who can exploit the North Field fully, Iran is under UN sanctions! And while Iran can extract some of the gas, the Qatar Royal Family can extract all they want. And the Shiite Iranians claim the Sunni Qataris are TAKING ALL THE GAS…including IRANIAN GAS! And since Texas drillers know how to drill vertically and horizontally, the Iranian Mullahs firmly believe some of the gas in their South Pars field is being stolen by the Qataris!
Now outright theft between two countries can always start a war. But the Qataris and Iranians don’t need an excuse for war. The Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting since one or the other poisoned the founder of Islam (Mohammed) at a dinner in 632AD. In other words, if a $50 rocket propelled grenade or an armed drone happens to hit a Compressed Natural Gas tanker, sailing through the Straits of Hormuz, that would be the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of our world.
To be sure, to protect themselves from such an occurrence, the Qatari Royal family built a natural gas-to-liquid fuel refinery at a cost of $18B. When finished, the refined fuels (jet, diesel, automotive fuels) can traverse the globe via more secure liquid tankers. But the Qatari’s had a better idea. Since liquid tankers were at risk to barefoot Pirates off the coast of Somalia, how about if a pipeline was built, from the Persian Gulf…to take the refined liquid fuels directly into Southern Europe? What an idea.
All the Qataris had to do was get a pipeline built from their refinery depicted above, through Saudi Arabia, through Jordan, through Syria, to connect with the pipeline Conoco/Phillips built in Turkey. George H.W. Bush the old Texas oil man, got that fine piece of business done back when he was President (1989-93). The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was completed in May of 2006.
So if the Qataris get their wish, and the wish of the CIA, NATO, MI6, European Union and just about everyone else on Earth… outside of Russia and China, the North Pars natural gas will flow directly into Europe when a pipeline can get built to connect the Persian Gulf fuels with the pipeline carrying Caspian Sea fuels. On that day, the Russians themselves would kill Vladimir Putin…for presiding over the death of Russian Fuel hegemony in Europe.
To be sure, the Russian’s lose their turn at the RISK BOARD and OPEC (and the West) win. But building said Persian Gulf Pipeline is easier said than done. No…the construction of an oil pipeline across national borders and desert land is not the problem. The problem is one country in the path would not fancy such an idea. Here is the map, guess which one does not want the Qatari Royal Family Pipeline? If you said Syria, you are right, but not completely right.
The Saudi-Jordan part of the Qatari pipeline is easy. Both are protected by the US Military with heavy intel support from the CIA. And clearly, with a Russian leader funding the Syrian military, Assad will resist the Qatari pipeline with his last breath. But there are two other countries in the mix. And they are Iran and Iraq. One would think the Sunni v. Shiite dispute would rein supreme, but when it comes to oil in the Middle East…not so much. You see the Iraqis and Iranians have their own pipeline ambitions! If they get a pipeline built to carry their fuels to the Med, then they have a chance to be bigger players in the Middle East and the larger world. But they too have a Syrian problem. So where pray tell would the Qatari and the Iraqi/Iranian pipelines cross paths? Guess…
2.3 million people lived in Aleppo. Syria’s oldest and largest city was leveled because of the path of one, or perhaps two oil pipelines. Estimates of civilian deaths are around 500,000. With 1.8 million Syrian refugees in Jordanian Camps, the numbers add up. When food and water were cut off in the camps, with the help of printed maps/guides provided by George Soros’ Foundation, several hundred thousand Syrians trekked across the seas and the land to get into Europe. Germany formally took in 120,000 Syrians.
Never mind the twenty-something Muslim men who do not to know how to behave in German public bath houses or beaches. None of the young Syrian men ever saw a German female in a bathing suit before. And they went a little nuts. In their defense, our colleges conduct detailed orientations for new Freshman to mitigate the “natural tension” that result when genders “mix” for the first time. German authorities did not account for this “Muslim Man” issue. Probably because they were more focused on their historic risk at the hands of Russian encroachment. Clearly of all the European countries under the Russian Fossil Fuel and military threat, Germany has the most to gain from the Qatari pipeline.
Did the Germans have a “moral duty” to accept the Syrian refugees? Did the Germans believe an influx of Muslims would disrupt their society? I don’t know. How about we ask the twenty-four Germans who just got arrested for planning the overthrow of the current German government. Back to Aleppo.
On Dec. 19, 2016, an “angry assassin” attended an Art Gallery opening in Ankara, Turkey. He shot and killed Russian envoy to Turkey, one Andrey G. Karlov. Afterall, it was Russian bombs that destroyed Aleppo. How many members of the shooter’s family died in the War? How much land was stolen from him and his family? I mean Aleppo proper has been around since the year 2 B.C.!
“God is Great,” he shouts in Arabic. “Those who pledged allegiance to Muhammad for jihad. God is great!” Then, in Turkish: “Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria! Step back! Step back! Only death can take me from here.”
Well, the shooter didn’t die on the spot. A 15 minute gun battle ended and he was taken into custody. Maybe some day we will see him again…when he is exchanged for a close relative of a Western leader who got caught with an underage girl and/or a crack pipe. You can finish that thought yourself. I don’t want to state the obvious.