For a change, the US backs the Muslim Brotherhood again (This time in Syria)

[DinoDoc]

Uh, there's this stuff all over the mideast that we call "oil." It's kind of useful.

Syria is hardly a major supplier of the stuff you call oil and you've yet to make the case that any of the major rebel groups is worth backing with military aid. Especially given the role AQ militants are playing in the rebellion.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Syria doesn't need to have the stuff. They need to simply be a ****pot of instability in proximity to the stuff to affect market prices, which are driven by a bunch of yuppies in places like New York, Chicago and London. It's worth backing the likely winner, before it's obvious who the likely winner is, so that something vaguely resembling predictability can be instituted.

Until every economy linked with the western economies severs its dependency on ME oil, we're going to be either going along for the ride, or ****ing around semi-covertly in the ME. It won't stop with Syria, but no point in being shy now.

[regexcellent]

Assad is the devil we know, can we please not back more ****ing terrorists? We've already put Khomeini II in power in Egypt, let's not prop up his identical twin in Syria. Would not like a repeat of 1973. Thanks.

[DinoDoc]

It's worth backing the likely winner, before it's obvious who the likely winner is, so that something vaguely resembling predictability can be instituted.

The Western backed group seems to be on the verge of collapse: Syrian opposition collapsing?

The rest of the organized opposition appears to be supported by AQ.

[Uncle Sparky]

Gee. I wonder how that happened. The well funded and well supported Muslim Brotherhood rebels in Syria seem to be doing better than the unfunded, pro-western rebels. Could it be that over the last year, lip service by the EU and US hasn't won the day? To add to the clusterfvck, Lebanon's Prime Minister Mikati, resigned.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Assad is the devil we know, can we please not back more ****ing terrorists? We've already put Khomeini II in power in Egypt, let's not prop up his identical twin in Syria. Would not like a repeat of 1973. Thanks.

Assad is doomed, the same way as Mubarak was.

[Aeson]

It's not a total loss though. Wait a decade and we can whine about the next guy being the devil we know

[kentonio]

Assad is the devil we know, can we please not back more ****ing terrorists? We've already put Khomeini II in power in Egypt, let's not prop up his identical twin in Syria. Would not like a repeat of 1973. Thanks.

You basically put Khomeini I in power, so why so squeamish now?

[regexcellent]

You basically put Khomeini I in power, so why so squeamish now?

we have a bad habit of repeating foreign policy mistakes.

[Sava]

This stupid pussytwat made two "OMG MUSLIMS" threads on mar 23??

[Dr Strangelove]

Assad is the devil we know, can we please not back more ****ing terrorists? We've already put Khomeini II in power in Egypt, let's not prop up his identical twin in Syria. Would not like a repeat of 1973. Thanks.

1973? The war in which the Egyptians won on the first day then lost every other day until they gave up?

[Hauldren Collider]

Yeah, the one where thousands of Israelis died because the Arabs would like to repeat the holocaust. That's the one.

[MichaeltheGreat]

we have a bad habit of repeating foreign policy mistakes.

We put Khomeini in power because we failed to recognize our bootlicker couldn't hold on to power forever. We should be more proactive at anticipating and working the long-term winners, or else assuring their longevity and smooth sucession from one bootlicker to another. We dive in, then vacillate. It's like sticking your dick in a hornet's nest then getting a case of analysis paralysis.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Yeah, the one where thousands of Israelis died because the Arabs would like to repeat the holocaust. That's the one.

The press reports from that one had some hilarity. As one Israeli observer put it "The arabs learned to fight from us, and we learned to manage information from them."

[Zevico]

The Western backed group seems to be on the verge of collapse: Syrian opposition collapsing?

The rest of the organized opposition appears to be supported by AQ.

I recall a similar article, I think by Barry Rubin, in PJMedia. The crux of it is that the Kurds and the secular opposition don't like cooperating with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Apparently, this is the second rebel council the US has backed in Syria. The first collapsed because it was led by the MB. So this is the second time it is falling apart because it is being led by the MB. Possibly there are other reasons--I am no expert in Syrian infighting--but it seems a logical one. The MB are not popular with their rivals and are not known for their soft touch approach to politics.

As to the most recent council:

http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2013/03/11/syria-obama-administration-is-arming-and-training-militarily-radical-islamists/

As to the earlier Syrian opposition group backed by the Administration circa early 2012:

http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2012/03/18/the-obama-administrations-pro-islamist-syrian-opposition-leadership-is-collapsing/