As the World Turns...

Well, thinks have gotten real interesting in the past few weeks... everywhere you turn there's unrest, economic and social turmoil, war and misery. 

Here in America we tend to feel insulated from all this (unless you're a GI serving in the Middle East, or East Asia, or Africa, or..., or...,

We are so used to the great blessings and prosperity of this country, that, as one inspired leader said, "we have been lead away into carnal security..."

I'm not a doomsdayer, but I am a realist.  Unless there is a major paradigm shift in society here in the US, we will be "enjoying" the same experiences as those in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, North Korea, etc.

Here's a recap:

1. IRAQ/SYRIA: Reports been coming out of Iraq that Iraqi and Syrian Jihadist Groups are working together in the fight against the Syrian government.

One case in point is a convoy of wounded Syrian government troops who were returning to their country in escorted by Iraqi soldiers.
the attackers struck near the frontier town of Akashat, Regional intelligence officials saw the
March 4 ambush, which left 48 dead, as evidence of a growing, cross-border alliance between two powerful Islamic extremist groups--Jabhat al-Nusra or Nusra Front in Syria, and al-Qaida in Iraq. The burgeoning cooperation is pumping new life into the Sunni insurgency in Iraq according to Iraqi intelligence officials.

The jihadist groups are sharing logistics, weapons, intelligence, and three military training compounds, and continue to grow in strength around the Syria-Iraq border. They are trying to turn a sprawling region called al-Jazeera into a border sanctuary that both groups can use--serving as a base of operations for strikes on either side of the border.

2. EGYPT: Egypt is wrestling with some challenging economic choices. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has demanded that the Egyptian government cut their subsidies in exchange for a loan desperately wanted by Egypt's leaders.

Egypt complied, with cuts to the subsidies on bread, cooking fuel and gasoline that average citizens rely on to live. This caused a drastic rise in the price of daily staples (not just bread and cooking oil are carried by vehicles that require newly expensive gasoline.)

Within hours, workers were pouring out of factories in the Nile Delta, and out of the harbors in Alexandria and the Suez Canal zone--attacking symbols of government everywhere. It was the worst rioting Egypt has experienced since the 1977 bread riots that almost toppled Anwar Sadat's government, and trashed the home of then Vice President Hosni Mubarak.

By the time it was all over, at least 80 people were dead.

The Egyptian government reinstated the subsidies, but the political turmoil has frozen decision-making at the higher levels of government and the value of the Egyptian pound (currency) has plummeted.

Morsi is facing hard financial decisions that dwarf those of Sadat's 35 years ago. A long-held theory is that Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood can easily gain power in Muslim countries, but they quickly lose public support if they fail to manage the economy to their citizen's satisfaction.

3. ISRAEL: The fragile truce brokered in November between Israel and militants in Gaza was shredded as Gaza launched hundreds of rockets into Israel. Israel responded by launching air strikes deep within gaza during eight days of fighting.

No casualties were reported, but the violence threatens to destroy the relative peace that has prevailed for four months. Prior to that, over 160 Palestinians, include dozens of civilians, and 6 Israelis were killed before Egypt brokered the now disrupted truce.

There have been a handful of rocket attacks in recent weeks, including one that took place as President Obama was visiting Israel two weeks ago--so much for his efforts to reach out to the Palestinians. Israel's leadership has taken a firm stand in the matter and warned the Palestinians (again) that attacks on Israel will not go unpunished. But, too often the Palestinians act like the neighborhood bully while Israel has it's arm twisted by the U.S. and Western European governments to give in to their demands.



Can you sense the deja vu? It's 1939 with Neville Chamberlain, and "peace in our time" all over again...


4. NORTH KOREA: North Korea continues to rattle sabers, or, should I say, nuclear missiles in response to International sanctions brought by recent missile tests.


The US has deployed aircraft, ships, and troops into the area in a war games exercise, which conveniently has our military positioned in the area.  The primary purpose is to cause North Korea's leadership to think twice about initiating military strikes against the South, or US-aligned countries like Japan and the Phillipines, or even the US itself.


I have to wonder how much affect this really has, since North Korea's top man is 28 years old, and a streak of mental unbalance seems to run in the family...pretty hard to reason with someone who doesn't respond to reason.

Also, China has been strangely silent...although China is North Korea's erstwhile ally, she generally helps keep things from getting too far out of hand... but then, China has made aggressive moves against Japan and the Philippines in recent weeks, so maybe there are two bullies in the region.


Anyway you look at it, it doesn't bode well for those living in the region, or within range of North Korea's weapons...
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