The ‘weapons bazaar’ in Camp David has come to conclusion with a military pact between the U.S. and GCC countries. This is another meeting where lipservice has replaced principled and reality based affirmation through a well defined treaty. All is well until the next event. The U.S. was caught off-guard through the Arab Spring, where the well being of youth and issues of poverty led to civil strife. Some civil strife will be suppressed (Bahrain), others will be aided by any means: Libya and Syria. Now a commitment to respect state sovereignty and at the same time vouching to overthrow the Assad regime in agreement with the Neocon playbook. What a fantasy meeting of wealthy monarchs of the Persian Gulf region, seeing a stroke of life-saving water at desert’s horizon that will turn out to be a fata morgana.

Missing from this conference were the leaders of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Speaking about the Levant without the major players of the countries who are directly involved. Has Obama had a falling out with president Erdogan of Turkey? Erdogan – an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood – has played a major role to permit bordercrossing of foreign jihadists into Syria for the overthrow of a rule of a sovereign state.

Annex to U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Camp David Joint Statement

Regional Security
The United States and GCC member states reaffirmed their shared interest in de-escalating regional tensions, resolving regional armed civil conflicts, and addressing the critical humanitarian needs of populations affected by conflict. The leaders made clear their belief that the conflicts in the region, including Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya, are eroding state structures, creating ungoverned spaces, and promoting sectarianism, all of which serve as fodder for terrorists and other extremist groups and directly threaten their shared security interests.

The leaders set out core principles that, in their view, must govern efforts to resolve regional armed civil conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, including:

  • the respect for state sovereignty;
  • a shared recognition that there is no military solution to the regions’ civil conflicts, and that they can only be resolved through political and peaceful means; and
  • the importance of inclusive governance; and respect for, and protection of, minorities and human rights.

The leaders also held in-depth discussions on the most pressing conflicts in the region and steps they decided should be taken to help resolve them.

…
Security Assurances:
At the core of the partnership is our shared interest in a region that is peaceful and prosperous. At Camp David, we have recommitted to the importance of this vision. President Obama affirmed that the United States shares with our GCC partners a deep interest in a region that is peaceful and prosperous, and a vital interest in supporting the political independence and territorial integrity, safe from external aggression, of our GCC partners. The United States policy to use all elements of power to secure our core interests in the Gulf region, and to deter and confront external aggression against our allies and partners, as we did in the Gulf War, is unequivocal.

The United States is prepared to work jointly with the GCC states to deter and confront an external threat to any GCC state’s territorial integrity that is inconsistent with the UN Charter. In the event of such aggression or the threat of such aggression, the United States stands ready to work with our GCC partners to determine urgently what action may be appropriate, using the means at our collective disposal, including the potential use of military force, for the defense of our GCC partners.

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VP Joe Biden blames ME allies for rise of ISIL in Iraq    

As with Operation Decisive Storm [pdf], GCC states will consult with the United States when planning to take military action beyond GCC borders, in particular when U.S. assistance is requested for such action.

Continued below the fold …

Ballistic missile defense

Military Exercises and Training Partnership

Arms Transfers

Maritime Security

Counter-terrorism
Building on a shared commitment to address the acute threats posed by Al-Qa’ida, ISIL/DAESH and their affiliates, the United States and GCC member states will pursue initiatives to further build their capacity to track, investigate, and prosecute those engaged in terrorist activities within their borders, as well as to contain and deter transit, financing and recruitment by violent extremists. The United States and the GCC will hold a second U.S.-GCC Strategic Cooperation Forum Working Group on Counter-terrorism and Border Security to follow up on previous efforts to cooperate on border security, countering the financing of terrorism, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure protection. Leaders also decided to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation in the following areas:

Foreign Terrorist Fighters: The United States and GCC member states will bolster their joint efforts to identify and share information on suspected foreign terrorist fighters (FTF). In response to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014), the United States and GCC member states will work together to implement traveler screening systems and enhanced biometrics collection capability, and share best practices to make it more difficult for terrorists to avoid detection at any GCC airport.

○ Qatar and Turkey Fail in Arab Spring and Loss to Saudi ‘Diplomacy’
○ US Elite Military Taking Mercenary Jobs In Abu Dhabi
○ Clinton Fallen Ill – US Promotion of Middle-East Peace In Turmoil
○ Condi’s Fairy Tale – Neocons and A Democratic Syria

Obama names Turkish PM Erdoğan among trusted friends | Hürriyet Daily News |

January 20, 2012 – U.S. President Barack Obama named Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan among the five leaders that he has established relations based on confidence, in an interview with Time.

In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, the Editor-at-Large of Time magazine, Obama named Turkish PM Erdoğan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and British Prime Minister David Cameron among leaders that he was able to forge “bonds of trust.”

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Obama: "I don't pal around." (Swampland - Time Magazine)

Responding to a question on whether his style of diplomacy was “very cool and aloof,” and that he does not “pal around” with his counterparts, Obama said that the “friendships and the bonds of trust” that he has been able to forge with a whole range of leaders is “precisely, or is a big part of, what has allowed us to execute effective diplomacy.”

    "We still have a lot of work to do, but if you look at the pivot from where we were in 2008 to where we are today, the Iraq war is over, we refocused attention on al-Qaeda, and they are badly wounded. They're not eliminated, but the defeat not just of [Osama] bin Laden, but most of the top leadership, the tightening noose around their safe havens, the incapacity for them to finance themselves, they are much less capable than they were back in 2008.

    Our alliances with NATO, Japan, South Korea, our close military cooperation with countries like Israel have never been stronger. Our participation in multilateral organizations has been extremely effective. In the United Nations, not only do we have a voice, but we have been able to shape an agenda. And in the fastest-growing regions of the world in emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region, just to take one prominent example, countries are once again looking to the United States for leadership."

Soap-Opera Week for Turkey-U.S. Relations Underlines Partnership’s Strength

Hillary Clinton’s ‘Hard Choices’

In her new book, Hillary Clinton picks out a few foreign policy topics on which she thinks it now safe, even helpful, to express disagreement with the course taken by the Obama administration. She wanted to arm and train the Syria rebels, while Obama did not. She thought it unwise to call for Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately, while Obama wanted him gone.

She acknowledges that the Obama administration’s demand for a settlement freeze from Israel as a precondition to talks with the Palestinians “didn’t work.” Yet she also seeks to exculpate herself from this failure by claiming that she was against the policy from the beginning. She “disagreed with Obama and then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel on a demand that Israel halt all new settlement construction. ‘I was worried that we would be locking ourselves into a confrontation we didn’t need,’ she writes.”

Hillary Clinton: Libya and the Clinton Foundation

As the Libyan revolution spiraled out of control one was led to ask who was supporting the rebels in Libya. First and foremost there was Qatar funding. It is almost certain that the Thani family and their Muslim Brotherhood allies – both those living in Qatar and elsewhere – sensed the moment had at last arrived to overthrow Gaddafi.

While it is usually stated that the governments of France and the UK were solidly behind the effort to depose Gaddafi, the rationale for such action is questionable. Importantly, had the U.S. through NATO opposed their effort, their plan would have been quashed.

…
Certainly, her history demonstrated little personal interest in the Middle East other than as a source for her Clinton Foundation fundraising – of which Qatar had been a dependable source practically since its founding. It is generally acknowledged that the history of the Middle East and its current events has been spoon-fed by advisors.

They included at least two questionable sources: her aide de-camp Huma Abedin, Anne Woods Patterson who served as Ambassador to Egypt (August 2011-August 2013). Patterson’s friendship with the Egyptian Ikhwan would not have been acceptable to the el Sisi government once they were ousted. Still, Clinton rewarded Patterson with the plum job of Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs.

Another likely source was Gehad el-Haddad, whose employment as a director at the Clinton Foundation (2007-2012), overlapped with his official work as the English-language spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood beginning February 2011.

Obama Administration Backed Muslim Brotherhood July 7, 2013

By ignoring the problem, the Sunni extremists won’t dissolve and just go away … on the contrary!

Let the Fanatics Burn Themselves Out
By BooMan on June 30, 2013

Autocratic leaders in the Arab world have routinely justified their strongarm tactics by predicting that democracy would lead to bad outcomes. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein talked about the Shiite dogs. In Syria, Assad calls the opposition “terrorists” and says they are linked with al-Qaeda. In Egypt, Mubarak feared the Muslim Brotherhood. In the short term, their predictions had merit. The Sunnis in Iraq no longer enjoy their privileged position. The opposition in Syria really does have links to al-Qaeda. And the Muslim Brotherhood did win the elections in Egypt. But I always thought that given a chance to govern, religious fundamentalists would do a bad job and lose support. The key, then, was to make sure one dictatorship wasn’t replaced with another one. Maybe the first government would be bad, but better, more responsive governments would follow.

Bill Clinton nominated Norman Pattiz to BGG ‘Middle East committee’ November 2005

Pattiz, who lives in a Beverly Hills mansion and sports a big, diamond LA Lakers championship ring on his pinky finger (a gift from Shaquille O’Neal), bought his way into the heart of Bill Clinton by contributing a paltry $300,000 to his campaign. (Pattiz pled guilty to charges that he skirted campaign finance laws and got a wrist-slap, paying a $75,000 fine.) The favor was returned when Clinton nominated Pattiz to the BBG. More recently, Pattiz helped fund Hillary Clinton’s successful senate run, which he has since used to leverage her cooperation in attempting to win the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

Pattiz is no stranger to Middle Eastern politics. He has been an active force at the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) — a think-tank that coordinates pro-Israel propaganda. He meets regularly with key Israeli politicians, and hosts IPF monthly roundtable discussions where prominent American Jews of the media and government meet with Israeli leaders in brainstorming sessions. In 1999, Pattiz was honored by IPF at a tribute dinner where former Prime Minister Ehud Barak presented him with an award  and called him “an important conduit of information.”

Democrats, Seeing Tit for Tat, Block a Nominee | NY Times – June 2005 |

From my diaries …
○ Bahrain, Saddam’s Guards and Saudi Military a Sunni Front March 2011
○ Timoney, Former Miami Police Chief, To Train Police in Kingdom of Bahrain October 2012
○ Libyan Weapons Distributed to Syrian Rebels by Qatar July 2, 2013
○ MB Axis Egypt – Turkey – Qatar Faces Defeat July 7, 2013
○ Al Jazeera and Qatar: Muslim Brothers’ Dark Empire? July 7, 2013
○ How Iraq’s ISIS Crisis Restores Saudi Influence  August 2014

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