The War In Yemen is Bringing More Chaos To The Middle East

New York Times

Liz Sly, Washington Post: How the Yemen conflict risks new chaos in the Middle East

BEIRUT — The meltdown in Yemen is pushing the Middle East dangerously closer to the wider regional conflagration many long have feared would arise from the chaos unleashed by the Arab Spring revolts.

What began as a peaceful struggle to unseat a Yemeni strongman four years ago and then mutated into civil strife now risks spiraling into a full-blown war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran over a country that lies at the choke point of one of the world’s major oil supply routes.

With negotiators chasing a Tuesday deadline for the framework of a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, it seems unlikely that Iran would immediately respond militarily to this week’s Saudi airstrikes in Yemen, analysts say.

WNU Editor: We are now past that point on how the Yemen conflict risks new chaos in the Middle East .... we are there already. As for the U.S. .... their Middle East policies and priorities will need to be revised .... A Policy Puzzle of U.S. Goals and Alliances in the Middle East (NYT).

Update: Saudi Arabia gives an update on their air campaign against the Houtis rebels in Yemen .... Yemeni warplane fleet destroyed in raids, Saudis say (Washington Post).

Iran's Influence Is Spreading Throughout The Middle East

The Guardian: Iran's advances create alarm in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf

Arabs believe Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sana’a are in effect under Iranian control – and power may shift further if US sanctions are eased

The commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been working overtime recently, flaunting their achievements across the Middle East and flexing muscles as international negotiations over the country’s nuclear programme enter their critical and perhaps final phase.

On Wednesday it was the turn of Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the IRGC’s most senior officer. “The Islamic revolution is advancing with good speed, its example being the ever-increasing export of the revolution,” he declared. “Not only Palestine and Lebanon acknowledge the influential role of the Islamic Republic but so do the people of Iraq and Syria. They appreciate the nation of Iran.”

WNU Editor: Saudi Arabia's reaction to this Iranian expansion has been predictable .... Saudi Arabia Is Now The World's 'Biggest Arms Importer'. Israel is also concerned .... but the White House is pursuing a different agenda.

The Middle East Is Becoming A Disaster

President Barack Obama meets with his national security advisors in the Situation Room of the White House, Aug. 7, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Making Of A Disaster -- Roger Cohen, New York Times

LONDON — Almost 13 years after 9/11, a jihadi organization with a murderous anti-Western ideology controls territory in Iraq and Syria, which are closer to Europe and the United States than Afghanistan is. It commands resources and camps and even a Syrian military base. It spreads its propaganda through social media. It has set the West on edge through the recorded beheading of the American journalist James Foley — with the promise of more to come.

What went wrong? The United States and its allies did not go to war to eradicate Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan only to face — after the expenditure of so much blood and treasure — a more proximate terrorist threat with a Qaeda-like ideology. The “war on terror,” it seems, produced only a metastasized variety of terror.

More than 500, and perhaps as many as 800, British Muslims have headed for Syria and Iraq to enlist in the jihadi ranks. In France, that number stands at about 900. Two adolescent girls, 15 and 17, were detained last week in Paris and face charges of conspiring with a terrorist organization. The ideological appeal of the likes of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is intact. It may be increasing, despite efforts to build an interfaith dialogue, reach out to moderate Islam, and pre-empt radicalization.

Read more ....

My Comment: So typical of Roger Cohen from the New York Times .... blaming Bush and others for much of the disaster in the Middle East. Cough .... cough .... someone should remind Roger Cohen on who has been the President of the United States for the past five and a half years .... and who came to power in 2009 when much of the sectarian bloodshed in the Middle East was either in the decline and/or had been eliminated.

What I now see is a positioning of the White House .... with their allies in the media .... in trying their best to explain and rationalize why the Middle East is now in the state that it is. This is unfortunate .... instead of looking for blame what the U.S. should do .... with the few allies that it has left in the Middle East .... is look for solutions and strategies that work. Unfortunately .... President Obama no longer has that credibility with our allies in the Middle East .... and more to the point .... he has not positioned himself with the American public on why and how the crisis in the Middle East can impact us .... and what policies and positions should be pursued. This absence of strategy, foresight, and leadership in confronting the rise of the Islamic State may .... in the end .... become President Obama's lasting foreign policy legacy.

An Epic Slaughter Is Now Engulfing The Entire Middle East

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Apocalypse Ignored: As Gaza Grabs The Headlines, Epic Slaughter Engulfs The Rest Of The Region. But Where Are The Protests?

The fragile ceasefire in Gaza was still holding last night after three days, offering a glimmer of hope that the brutal conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas might be at an end.

Israel believes it has killed more than 700 Hamas fighters in the past four weeks and destroyed at least 32 of the underground passages through which Hamas smuggles weaponry and launches terrorist attacks on the country.

In their cold-blooded parlance, Israel’s military leaders say they have ‘mown the grass’ sufficiently to enable a withdrawal of troops from Gaza. In other words, they have degraded Hamas’s military capacity to the extent that they believe it will take three or four years before the terrorist organisation can become truly belligerent again; before the gruesome cycle of Hamas provocation and ruthless Israeli retaliation begins once more.

Read more ....

My Comment: Other countries that are not mentioned in this article but are in turmoil are Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia.

Long Established Mideast Powers Are Now Being Threatened By The Islamist Surge

Islamist Surge Threatens Mideast Powers -- Wall Street Journal

U.S. Officials Hope Egypt, Israel, Iraq and Saudi Arabia Find Common Ground in Fight Against Extremist Groups

The eruptions of Islamist violence in the Gaza Strip, Syria and Iraq have begun shaking the Middle East to its core, increasing the likelihood that a new order will emerge when the dust starts to settle.

The region's traditional power centers—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Israel—are all threatened by the surge of Islamist forces that aim to disrupt the status quo. Even Shiite Iran, which often stokes Islamist movements, is finding that the surge of Sunni extremism is threatening its position in the region.

The hope among U.S. officials and U.S. allies is that, in the long run, those traditional powers—which are more often rivals than partners—will find common interest in curbing the extremist forces.

One obstacle to moving from the current chaos to a more stable order is the limited ability of the U.S. to lead such a loose collection of divergent powers.

Read more ....

My Comment: The Middle East has a history of Islamic militancy/revolution/conquest/warfare that goes back to it's founding 1,300 years ago. What we are witnessing now is just a continuation of this conflict .... but while the same Sunni-Shiite hatreds are now coming to the forefront,  we are also witnessing the West/Israel/and modern secularists in the Muslim world becoming involved in this mess .... a mess that shows no signs of dissipating.