Syria has Largest Oil and Gas Fields in Eastern Mediterranean

Hersh only brought out what was taking place back when Bush Jr was in Office. You missed who was doing the talking.



Dr Nafeez Ahmed is executive director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development.....snip~ same link.



Saudi Arabia has long been mistrustful of the Brotherhood. Traditionally, the kingdom has regarded the Islamists as a political threat and a rival source of Islamic authority in the Middle East.

The Saudi foreign minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, insisted that the recent Hamas visit was for religious, not political, reasons and that “the position of the kingdom with regards to Hamas has not changed.” But pilgrimages to Mecca don’t usually involve extensive meetings with the entire leadership, including King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his principal deputies, Crown Prince Muhammed bin Nayef and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman.

The Hamas delegation included its chief representatives in Egypt and Turkey, which means that its leading factions were all represented: This was not a power play by one element. As a courtesy, during the visit the Saudis released eight Hamas members jailed for illegal political activities in Saudi Arabia.

In another sign of a Saudi opening to Brotherhood groups, Saudi-backed forces in Yemen last month installed Nayef al-Bakri of the Brotherhood-oriented Al-Islah party (also designated a terrorist group by Riyadh) as governor of the key southern city of Aden, which Saudi-backed forces had just recaptured.

Three other leading Brotherhood figures — Rachid al-Ghannouchi of Tunisia’s Ennahda Party, Abdul Majeed al-Zindani of Al-Islah and Hammam Saeed of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood — have all visited Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. There was even a rumor, as yet neither confirmed nor denied, that the Brotherhood has been quietly removed from the kingdom’s terrorism list.

Above all, the new Saudi approach is shaped by the regional confrontation with Tehran in the wake of the nuclear agreement.

Riyadh has been strengthening relations with its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member Qatar, which reportedly brokered the Hamas visit. It has also stepped up outreach efforts to Turkey and Sudan. This appears to be a broad-based Saudi attempt to recruit as many Sunni political actors across the Middle East as possible to confront Iran and its Shiite allies.

The Saudis and the Brotherhood can find common cause in several regional conflicts. As a leading Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, told me, “Saudi Arabia is interested in working with the Brotherhood because it is politically effective in places like Syria and Yemen.”.....snip~

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/opinion/hussein-ibish-saudi-arabias-new-sunni-alliance.html?_r=0


Tell us again how you thought you knew what was taking place with the Saud and the MB. Explain to us how the Saud didn't appoint a MB brother as Governor of Aden in Yemen. Explain how they aren't working together, again?

 

Many have been saying for years, about 20 or more now. All our meddling in the ME is about oil and natural gas.
Any other reasons are just fluff and lies.
It always was and always will be about the natural resources the world craves.

It is not rocket science to figure out.
And that is why the left and right are in cahoots on policy in the ME.

 

One thing that is absolute fact is that supporting the proxy war in Syria has nothing to do with Assad being a "brutal dictator". What dictator in the ME isn't brutal ?

US foreign policy is conducted on the basis of economic hegemony ( as is normally the case with every economic/military empire). While perhaps we do not know exactly what the establishment is up to in Syria, one of the most convincing theories is that it is not to actually get rid of Assad as much as it is to destabilize the region.

Energy is the worlds biggest commodity and the biggest part of the global economy. Control for parts of this economy then becomes a "strategic interest".

The world population in 1800 was roughly 1 Billion souls. Industrialization of North America and Europe then happened over less than 200 million people. (growth of population in this region now accounts for roughly 1.4 Billion). The consumption of first world/industrialized individuals has been figured at (36). Someone eating a bowl of rice a day in Africa is (1)

At the time of this study (about 5 or more years ago), China was at (11). The study said that if China was to reach our level of consumption world resource production would have to double.

Just China ! We now have China and India rapidly industrializing. This industrialization is happening not over 200 million people but, over 2.5 Billion people. Almost double the number that are currently industrialized.

The demand for energy in China and India (lacking significant resources of their own) has been dubbed "The New Silk Road".

As it happens one of the major pipeline routes and sources for some of this energy in the form of oil and gas goes through Syria. (another proposed route is through Afghanistan - go figure)

Competing interests for this energy supply are (US-Israel and others) and (Russia-Iran-Syria and others). The proposed pipeline route for the Russia-Iran-Syria interest goes through Syria.

Keep Syria destabilized by funding radical Islamist Jihadists in their proxy war against the "secular" Syrian regime and that pipeline can not be built.

 

I think that Dr Nafeez Ahmed is British, not Saudi..

I know that KSA and the UAE blacklisted MB again in 2014.

I can't access your NYT link, but it does sound like the Saudis are looking for allies in the fight against ISIS.

"This shift was highlighted soon after Salman assumed the throne, when then-Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal declared that his government did "not have an issue with the Muslim Brotherhood group per se, but only certain members within the organisation".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/saudi-arabia-warming-muslim-brotherhood-150727121500912.html

 

They can conduct all the intrigue they want as long as they don't expect my sons to 'sacrifice' for BP's quest to control ME oil and gas.

 

Agreed. While I understand the need to maintain economic strategic interest .. Arming and supporting Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, Salafi and other of the same ideology to fight a proxy war in Syria was a step to far. A step which led directly to the civil war and the worse humanitarian crisis so far this decade (hundreds of thousands killed) and the refugee crisis.

The main bad actors Saud, Turkey, (other Sunni ME affiliates) and the US should be the one's taking responsibility for the refugees as they were the ones who created this mess.

 

Assad created this mess, not the US nor the Saudis.. Syria was in terrible shape. The arrest of the school boys lead to protests erupting in succession all over the country and Assad killing protestors ......

 

What does it matter if he is British.....he has the sources to validate his claim. Note, he also had a special report on his own site. Not just the one the NY Times wanted to roll with.

Yeah after Morsi and the Brotherhood didn't take Egypt. Only lasted but a minute.

Of course Salman is more in tune with the Religious Conservatives.

Ah.....so you did know. Just needed some help with the reminder, huh?

 

I agree. However, US citizens should not be required to take responsibility for a civil war they had nothing to do with, and would have voted against if given the chance. Let BP et al fork over the money to house the refuges close to their own homes. This is a disaster that was made by international corporations and Israel. They should accept a major portion of the responsibility. The US Defense Department is nothing but a tax payer funded racket that does nothing but work to protect the interests of international corporations. I am sick of being blamed by the rest of the world for troubles instigated by international corporations, and sick of having to clean up their messes.

 

I guess Democrats and their 'no blood for oil' spiel was just more hypocrisy, no surprises there...

 

Salman is a reformer just like his brother Abdullah before him.. He's a good man and not overly religious.

I met his son .. the Deputy Crown Prince about 15 years ago... and thought he was kind and serious ...

Their job is to move Arabia forward.. and I think they can do it.

 

It still all falls back onto the Saud and the Sunni.....Origination starts there. The Neo Cons were using the MB and thru NGO's. For places like Syria and Libya.

Note the MB was in play there to, along with the Saud.

 

Maybe they can accomplish that.....if they quit thinking about that United States of Islam and all that control over other Arabs.

 

Syria has very little oil.. even offshore.. It would supply the US for 125 days.. Its not commercially viable.

 

It was not Assad who armed the Islamic Jihadists. It was your beloved Saud.

 

I agree that the Defense Department is a tax funded racket that acts on behalf of international corporations. The mainstream media is either owned by these same institutions or is subject to pressure and journalists subject to keep citizens ignorant of what the bureaucracy is up to.

Phil Donahue made the mistake of speaking out against the Iraq war and has never worked since. There are numerous other examples that have been made of journalists and reporters that have crossed the line and spoken out against US foreign policy. Such is verboten.

So in some ways I agree with you as the ave US citizen has no clue what is going on.

In other ways I disagree. The ave citizen knows about the war in Iraq. They know that the we went in there and killed a bunch of Iraqi's (and got thousands of our own men killed and tens of thousands injured) on basis of made up excuse, fear mongering, misrepresentation and outright lies.

Should there not be some punishment for such tacit acceptance ? - cleaning up the mess that was made ?

Whether this is justified or not, it would be a much needed wake up call.

 

`
My opinion is that the US should never have been involved in Syria. Obama is a war monger, a tool for the corporate military industry and is looking for perpetual war. Syria is a win for both the arms and oil cartels.

 

All they care about is that 2.5 billion barrels of oil (Eastern Mediterranean) is worth-
@the lowest price this year (Jan 2016, $28.50) = 71,250,000,000 US$
@todays price ($47.00) = 117,500,000,000 US$

And the 50 billion tons of oil (shale reserves) is worth-
http://www.cmegroup.com/tools-information/calc_crude.html
or approx.(Hard to calc. off the information given and no gravity's) 366,500,000,000 billion barrels
@the lowest price this year (Jan 2016, $28.50) = 10,455,250,000,000 US$
@todays price ($47.00) = 17,225,500,000,000 US$

Give or take whatever you want those numbers are pretty large, and they look at the $$money$$ more than they look at how long it will feed the US (We are the largest consumer BTW, it would feed other countries in more impressive terms if you went by time.)

 

Remember Assad's father slaughtered thousands of MB in Homs on two occasions circa 1982.

 

Sounds like he didn't finish the job and make sure it never became a problem again. Just think if he could have killed them all. Then they wouldn't have spread all over the place.

Now its to late.....as the infection has spread all over the planet.

 

By 1982 the MB has spread everywhere.

 

You don't honestly believe that the income would help the ordinary people of Syria?
Look at Nigeria, some of the biggest oil reserves in the world, yet:



But a few are doing very nicely from the oil industry.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/03/nigeria-oil-corruption-buhari/473850/

 

You're right of course... it depends on the leadership... Venezuela hasn't benefited much either. I don't think much of the Assad clan. I had hoped that Bashar Assad was different.. Didn't take long for those hopes to be dashed. Thanks for the Atlantic link on Nigeria.

In any case I think it is premature to drill for oil or gas offshore Syria.

 

Food for thought.

 

Because citizens of countries should only care about the interest of their country, not about some abstract concept like fairness, and sharing. Those concepts are all nice and dandy when talking about micro interactions, but not about geopolitical decision making...not when it comes to finite resources in a ever expanding population.