Why Syria is Iran's Stalingrad

The following by Gary C. Gambill is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Syria is Iran's Stalingrad

by Gary C. Gambill
Foreign Policy Research Institute
June 2013

The growing infusion of Iranian-backed Lebanese and Iraqi Shiite fighters into the Syrian civil war is causing some veteran pundits to panic. Vali Nasr, dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, warns that "Iran is beating the U.S. in Syria." Former Bush administration deputy national security adviser Elliot Abrams sees "a humiliating defeat of the United States at the hands of Iran."

Nothing could be further from the truth. Setting aside the matter of how Washington can be losing a war it is not fighting, the claim that Iran is winning is dead wrong. The Islamic Republic's headlong intervention in Syria is akin to Nazi Germany's surge of military forces into the Battle of Stalingrad in the fall of 1942 – an operationally competent, strategic blunder of epic proportions.

Video: Latma on Gay Pride, Arab Pride -- and Peace Plans In Syria

The latest edition of Latma is here:

Mideast Media Sampler 6/13/13: The UN Observer Force Turns To Fiji For Help

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) Fiji rescues UNDOF

With the Syrian civil war moving closer to Israel, Austria has withdrawn its contingent of peacekeepers from the UNDOF.

Job Opportunity: Peacekeepers Wanted bit.ly/18ie3ra
— MediaBackspin (@MediaBackspin) June 9, 2013

Not to worry, Fiji is slated to pick up the slack.

MEQ 2002 -- Jonathan Schanzer: Palestinian Uprisings Compared

The following by Jonathan Schanzer is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Palestinian Uprisings Compared

by Jonathan Schanzer
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2002, pp. 27-37

History, it is said, does not repeat itself, or revisits tragedy as farce. This is not so in the Palestinian case, where tragedy has been followed by tragedy. A critical look at modern Palestinian history reveals that the current crisis, driven by the so-called "Al-Aqsa intifada," fits a recurring Palestinian pattern of miscalculation, fratricide, religious radicalism, economic despair, and self-destruction. By comparing the recent violence with Palestinian uprisings in the 1930s and the 1980s, and now, a clear pattern can be discerned. This is the third time in seventy years the Palestinians have orchestrated a nationalist uprising, and the third time it has led them to disaster.

Unexpected Support For Israel From The EU and Putin -- Against Richard Falk and Iran

Two unexpected voices of support for Israel came out of unexpected sources this week.

First there is the EU, which has been less than supportive of Israel, and to date has still failed to add Hezbollah to its list of recognized terrorist organizations. Yet this week, The Jerusalem Post reports EU slams Falk’s Israel report as biased at UNHRC:

Mideast Media Sampler 6/12/13: Richard Falk -- The UN Watchdog Who Doesn't Like Being Watched

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) How can you tell the difference between a terrorist organization and a liberal democracy?

The title is a trick question. In international fora, the terrorist organization gets a lot more respect.
Last week the Ireland led the way to prevent the European Union from designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Ireland is reportedly blocking efforts inside the European Union to formally blacklist Hezbollah as a terror organization. Britain recently initiated procedures to add the Iran-backed terror group to the E.U. blacklist, after Bulgarian officials linked Hezbollah to the July 2012 Burgas bombing that killed six civilians and a Cypriot court convicted a confessed Hezbollah member on terrorism-related charges. The U.S. has repeatedly called upon the E.U. to follow its example and ban the group, which has established deep roots on the Continent.

Even as Hezbollah's reach is seen in South America and Syria the European Union refuses to sanction the terror group operating within its borders.

But when it comes to Israel, the world is more intent on preparing a final solution.

Anne Bayefsky Reveals the Madness of the UN Human Rights Council, in Tweets

For Immediate Release: June 12, 2013

Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter

Bayefsky Reveals the Madness of the UN Human Rights Council, in Tweets This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on Breitbart.com.  On Monday morning, Anne Bayefsky was one of the few voices to oppose the anti-Israel madness of the execrable Richard Falk, the 9/11 Truther who is a Special Rapporteur at the UN Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council, incidentally, is something the U.S. government chose to ignore until President Barack Obama decided to give it legitimacy--a policy both Susan Rice and Samantha Power fully support. Bayefsky live-tweeted the event, and her comments are both darkly amusing and revealing about the extent to which the Human Rights Council has become a forum for brutal dictators to taunt Jews--while we watch:

The Syrian Revolution Against Assad: How Have We Reached This Point?

The following by Eyal Zisser is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Can Assad's Syria Survive Revolution?

by Eyal Zisser
Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2013, pp. 65-71 (view PDF)

The outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 surprised many people. Until that time, it seemed that the 40-year reign of the Assad dynasty, at first under its founder, Hafiz, and then under his son and heir, Bashar, had succeeded in turning Syria into a strong and stable state with governmental institutions, military, and security forces. Even social and economic systems appeared quite sturdy and effective.

Yet a year and a half of bloody fighting between the regime and the rebels has undermined most of the achievements of the Assad dynasty and turned Syria into a failing state on the verge of disintegration. Most state institutions have ceased to function. The bonds that united the various religious and ethnic communities, tribes, and regions—that took many long years of hard work to forge—are rapidly unraveling. In addition, Syria has become a kind of punching bag with foreign actors, both regional and international, intervening freely in the country's internal affairs.

How did the revolt spread so quickly to all parts of Syria, striking such deep roots among wide segments of the Syrian society? How has the Assad regime managed, for the time being and in contrast to other Arab regimes rocked by the recent upheavals, to survive the lethal challenges facing it? And how has it been able to maintain its cohesion and strength to the point where many observers do not preclude the possibility of its ultimate survival?

Arlene Kushner on The Evolving Situation in Syria and Implications for Israel

From Arlene Kushner:
June 11, 2013

"Slogging Along"

Not sure where we're going, but...

Signs in Syria right now suggest either an ultimate Assad victory -- which is what Minister of Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz is suggesting: Assad may prevail in Syria's civil war -- or a dividing of the country with Assad's Alawites in control of a portion of the country (and Sunnis and Kurds likely dividing up the rest).

I wrote last about Syrian encroachment towards Quneitra and Israel's border.  Two things have evolved in this context.

Australian National University Censors Student Satire As "Islamophobia"

The following by Mark Durie is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Islamophobia Comes to Canberra

by Mark Durie
Gatestone Institute
May 31, 2013

Like student magazines all over the world, Woroni, put out by students at the Australian National University, publishes satire. It did when I attended 30 years ago, and it still does today. Much of what is written is offensive to someone or other, but it is a rare day when the university pays any attention.

However last week, The Australian newspaper reported that university authorities responded to a complaint by international students to compel Woroni "to pulp a satirical infographic which described a passage from the Koran as a 'rape fantasy'". Rachel Baxendale wrote: