Tuesday, June 17, 2014

When The Elite showed its hand

When The Elite showed its hand

by Jon Rappoport, June 16, 2014

www.nomorefakenews.com
In a minute, I’m going to print a stunning 1978 conversation between a US reporter and two members of the Trilateral Commission.
I discovered the conversation in the late 1980s, and ever since then, I’ve been looking at it from various angles, finding new implications. Here, I want to point out that the conversation was public knowledge at the time.
Anyone who was anyone in Washington politics, in media, in think-tanks, had access to it. Understood its meaning.
But no one shouted from the rooftops. No one used the conversation to force a scandal. No one protested loudly.
The conversation revealed that the entire basis of the Constitution had been torpedoed, that the people who were running US national policy were agents of an elite shadow group. No question about it.
And yet: official silence. Media silence. The Dept. of Justice made no moves, Congress undertook no serious inquiries, and the President, Jimmy Carter, issued no statements. Carter was himself a covert agent in the White House, a willing pawn, and despite his proclaimed religious values, was nothing more than a rank con artist, a hustler.
To boil down the 1978 conversation between the reporter and two Trilateral Commission members, and the follow-on response:
“The US has been taken over.”
“Yeah, so?”
By the way, the infamous Trilateral Commission still exists.
Many people think the TC, created in 1973 by David Rockefeller, is a relic of an older time.
Think again.
Patrick Wood, author of Trilaterals Over Washington, points out there are only 87 members of the Trilateral Commission who live in America. Obama appointed eleven of them to posts in his administration.
For example: Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary;
James Jones, National Security Advisor;
Paul Volker, Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee;
Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence.
Several other noteworthy Trilateral members: George HW Bush; Bill Clinton; Dick Cheney; Al Gore.
Keep in mind that the original stated goal of the TC was to create “a new international economic order.”
In the run-up to his inauguration after the 2008 presidential election, Obama was tutored by the co-founder of the Trilateral Commission, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Brzezinski wrote, four years before birthing the TC with his godfather, David Rockefeller: “[The] nation state as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force. International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation state.”
Any doubt on the question of TC goals is answered by David Rockefeller himself, the founder of the TC, in his Memoirs (2003): “Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure-one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
Okay. Here is a close-up snap shot of a remarkable moment from out of the past. It’s through-the-looking-glass—a conversation between reporter, Jeremiah Novak, and two Trilateral Commission members, Karl Kaiser and Richard Cooper. The interview took place in 1978. It concerned the issue of who exactly, during President Carter’s administration, was formulating US economic and political policy.
The careless and off-hand attitude of Trilateralists Kaiser and Cooper is astonishing. It’s as if they’re saying, “What we’re revealing is already out in the open, it’s too late to do anything about it, why are you so worked up, we’ve already won…”
NOVAK (the reporter): Is it true that a private [Trilateral committee] led by Henry Owen of the US and made up of [Trilateral] representatives of the US, UK, West Germany, Japan, France and the EEC is coordinating the economic and political policies of the Trilateral countries [which would include the US]?
COOPER: Yes, they have met three times.
NOVAK: Yet, in your recent paper you state that this committee should remain informal because to formalize ‘this function might well prove offensive to some of the Trilateral and other countries which do not take part.’ Who are you afraid of?
KAISER: Many countries in Europe would resent the dominant role that West Germany plays at these [Trilateral] meetings.
COOPER: Many people still live in a world of separate nations, and they would resent such coordination [of policy].
NOVAK: But this [Trilateral] committee is essential to your whole policy. How can you keep it a secret or fail to try to get popular support [for its decisions on how Trilateral member nations will conduct their economic and political policies]?
COOPER: Well, I guess it’s the press’ job to publicize it.
NOVAK: Yes, but why doesn’t President Carter come out with it and tell the American people that [US] economic and political power is being coordinated by a [Trilateral] committee made up of Henry Owen and six others? After all, if [US] policy is being made on a multinational level, the people should know.
COOPER: President Carter and Secretary of State Vance have constantly alluded to this in their speeches.
KAISER: It just hasn’t become an issue.
Source: “Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management,” ed. by Holly Sklar, 1980. South End Press, Boston. Pages 192-3.
This interview slipped under the mainstream media radar, which is to say, it was ignored and buried.
US economic and political policy run by a committee of the Trilateral Commission—the Commission had been been created in 1973 as an “informal discussion group” by David Rockefeller and his sidekick, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
When Carter won the presidential election, his aide, Hamilton Jordan, said that if after the inauguration, Cy Vance and Brzezinski came on board as secretary of state and national security adviser, “We’ve lost. And I’ll quit.” Lost—because both men were powerful members of the Trilateral Commission and their appointment to key positions would signal a surrender of White House control to the Commission.
Vance and Brzezinski were appointed secretary of state and national security adviser, as Jordan feared. But he didn’t quit. He became Carter’s chief of staff.
Now consider the vast propaganda efforts of the past 40 years, on so many levels, to install the idea that all nations and peoples of the world are a single Collective.
From a very high level of political and economic power, this propaganda op has had the objective of grooming the population for a planet that is one coagulated mass, run and managed by one force. A central engine of that force is the Trilateral Commission.
Jon Rappoport

The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at  NoMoreFakeNews.com.




Obama Trilateral Commission Endgame


by Patrick Wood
Editor
January 30, 2009
from AugustReview Website


As previously noted in Pawns of the Global Elite, Barack Obama was groomed for the presidency by key members of the Trilateral Commission. Most notably, it was Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller in 1973, who was Obama's principal foreign policy advisor.

The pre-election attention is reminiscent of Brzezinski's tutoring of Jimmy Carter prior to Carter's landslide election in 1976.

For anyone who doubts the Commission's continuing influence on Obama, consider that he has already appointed no less than eleven members of the Commission to top-level and key positions in his Administration.

According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists, there are only 87 members from the United States (the other 337 members are from other regions). Thus, in less than two weeks since his inauguration, Obama's appointments encompass more than 12% of Commission's entire U.S. membership.

Is this a mere coincidence or is it a continuation of dominance over the Executive Branch since 1976?
(For important background, read The Trilateral Commission: Usurping Sovereignty.)
·   Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner
·   Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice
·   National Security Advisor, Gen. James L. Jones
·   Deputy National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon
·   Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee, Paul Volker
·   Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair
·   Assistant Secretary of State, Asia & Pacific, Kurt M. Campbell
·   Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg
·   State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Haass
·   State Department, Special Envoy, Dennis Ross
·   State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke
There are many other incidental links to the Trilateral Commission, for instance,
·   Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is married to Commission member William Jefferson Clinton.
·   Geithner's informal group of advisors include E. Gerald Corrigan, Paul Volker, Alan Greenspan and Peter G. Peterson, among others. His first job after college was with Henry Kissinger at Kissinger Associates.
·   Brent Scowcroft has been an unofficial advisor to Obama and was mentor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
·   Robert Zoelick is currently president of the World Bank
·   Laurence Summers, White House Economic Advisor, was mentored by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin during the Clinton administration.
There are many other such links, but these are enough for you to get the idea of what's going on here.



Analyze the positions

Notice that five of the Trilateral appointees involve the State Department, where foreign policy is created and implemented.

Hillary Clinton is certainly in line with these policies because her husband, Bill Clinton, is also a member.
·   What is more important than economic recovery? Paul Volker is the answer.
·   What is more important than national intelligence? Gen. James Jones, Thomas Donilon and Adm. Dennis Blair hold the top three positions.
·   What is more important than the Treasury and the saving of our financial system? Timothy Geithner says he has the answers.
The State Department is virtually dominated by Trilaterals:
·   Kurt Campbell
·   James Steinberg
·   Richard Haass
·   Dennis Ross
·   Richard Holbrooke
This leaves Susan Rice, Ambassador to the U.N. The United Nations is the chosen instrument for ultimate global governance.

Rice will help to subvert the U.S. into the U.N. umbrella of vassal states.



Conflict of interest

Since 1973, the Commission has met regularly in plenary sessions to discuss policy position papers developed by its members. Policies are debated in order to achieve consensuses. Respective members return to their own countries to implement policies consistent with those consensuses.

The original stated purpose of the Trilateral Commission was to create a "New International Economic Order."

Its current statement has morphed into fostering a,
"closer cooperation among these core democratic industrialized areas of the world with shared leadership responsibilities in the wider international system."
See The Trilateral Commission web site
U.S. Trilateral members implement policies determined by a majority of non-Americans that most often work against the best interests of the country.

"How," you say?

Since the administration of Jimmy Carter, Trilaterals held these massively influential positions:
·   Six out of eight World Bank presidents, including the current appointee, Robert Zoelick
·   Eight out of ten U.S. Trade Representatives
·   President and/or Vice-President of every elected administration (except for Obama/Biden)
·   Seven out of twelve Secretaries of State
·   Nine out of twelve Secretaries of Defense
Is this sinking in?

Are you grasping the enormity of it?



Endgame is at hand

For the Trilateral crowd, the game is about over.

The recent reemergence of original members,
·   Henry Kissinger
·   Brent Scowcroft
·   Paul Volker,
...serves to reinforce the conclusion that the New International Economic Order is near.

The Trilateral Commission and its members have engineered the global economic, trade and
financial system that is currently in a state of total chaos.

Does that mean that they have lost? Hardly.

As I recently wrote in Chorus call for New World Order, they are using the crisis to destroy what remains of national sovereignty, so that a
New World Order can finally and permanently be put into place.



Conclusion

The Obama presidency is a disingenuous fraud. He was elected by promising to bring change, yet from the start change was never envisioned. He was carefully groomed and financed by the Trilateral Commission and their friends.

In short, Obama is merely the continuation of disastrous, non-American policies that have brought economic ruin upon us and the rest of the world. The Obama experience rivals that of Jimmy Carter, whose campaign slogan was "I will never lie to you."

When the Democrat base finally realizes that it has been conned again (Bill Clinton and Al Gore were members), perhaps it will unleash a real political revolution that will oust Trilateral politicians, operatives and policies from the shores of our country.

If the reader is a Democrat, be aware that many Republicans and conservatives are still licking their wounds after finally realizing that
George Bush and Dick Cheney worked the same con on them for a disastrous eight years of the same policies! 

JC Collins Reader Opinions & Comments

JC Collins Reader Opinions & Comments 

06/17/2014
Comments & Opinions From JC Collins’ Blog Readers In Response To JC Collins Latest Post:

US Attempting Overthrow of Iraqi Government

Daneackerman    June 13, 2014 at 4:30 pm    Hello JC.  A while back I believe we talked about the middle eastern countries perhaps grouping and or borders changing to capture resources for a nice SDR asset basket? So this Iranian move would make sense in that regard and also with the Iraqi government moving away from the US perhaps this is the beginning of that.

JC Collins     June 13, 2014 at 5:38 pm  That is what I believe to be happening. And we will see a regional dinar as also previously discussed.
~~~

keys2thecolors    June 14, 2014 at 5:19 am  Hi JC, Will you tell what you mean by ” there will be a regional dinar”  I’m new to your site and I missed your discussion on that subject.

Do you see a possible revaluation on the dinar in the midst of the madness going on?

Daneackerman   June 15, 2014 at 3:42 pm  Seems like its playing out per plan.

“Shia Iran held out the prospect of working with the US to help restore security in Iraq.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/iraq-conflict-baghdad-says-isis-advance-now-halted-1.1833069

daneackerman   June 13, 2014 at 6:08 pm   Thank you JC. There has been a lot of technical talk for me to learn so its nice to confirm that I am picking it up at least in jest. Its a testament to all the excellent support and information sharing from you and your followers thank you all.

Here is an article from Pres. Obama on the issue Iraqi issue.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/13/limited-us-air-power-options-for-iraq/10417281/

JC Collins   June 13, 2014 at 6:11 pm   And here’s another one:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iraqi-conflict-u-s-will-not-send-troops-to-combat-insurgency-1.2674393

Axx fann (@fann_axx)  June 14, 2014 at 4:39 am  Our age of instant news has become both hindrance and awakening. It is how it is interpreted that may reveal a savage beast.

We are witness to a time of profound change. It is here now, the magic of perception…

Axx fann (@fann_axx)  June 14, 2014 at 7:47 am  The beauty and tragedy of man…

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Si1BRALyI64

Axx fann (@fann_axx)  June 14, 2014 at 10:07 am  Reflection begets awareness for some…

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fcPWU59Luoc

Luminita Muresan   June 14, 2014 at 1:09 pm   I have a different take on this. The new conflict in Iraq (northern Iraq) is linked to the development of the southern Kurdistan oil fields. Iran’s involvement is probably due to the intention of Kurdistan for becoming an independent state. Interesting is why Turkey is not mentioned in the news.

Luminita Muresan   June 14, 2014 at 1:16 pm   :) Of course, you need 3 geological/mineral deposits maps to realize that.

chuc1997   June 14, 2014 at 6:31 pm   RE: “With Russia and China aggressively moving away from the dollar and Iraq joining up with the BRICS group, its only a matter of time before Iraq’s oil is priced in rubles, yuan, or euros again.”

#1 balance sheet asset of Russian central bank , marked to mkt quarterly? Gold.

#1 balance sheet asset of ECB, marked to mkt quarterly? Gold.

Establishment of shanghai FTZ in which offshore yuan balances can be converted for? Gold.

If oil is priced in yuan, rubles and euros, the Arabs will convert those currencies to physical at market…you think they will hold Euros at negative deposit rates? No way.

All those currencies’ reserve position strengthens as gold rises (they mark it to market.)

Now if just 30% of the world’s oil trade is converted into physical gold (not futures), what price gold will balance 30% of oil production in dollars and 100% of gold production in dollars?    $10,000/oz… :)

Axx fann (@fann_axx)   June 16, 2014 at 12:18 am   Mans fails to see clarity…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdqVF7-8wng

Axx fann (@fann_axx)   June 16, 2014 at 12:50 am   Happy Fathers Day,

What a diverse mindset of intellect.

One must question common dialogue in the “Art of Persuasion” for mankind.  It is self evident…

An objective man however ignorant, hopefully, seeks truth along the way. It is what we seek and hope to share and enlighten.  The constant web of deceit is an obstacle to overcome…

There is an inherent hope…  I hope in your life, Father, you found peace in every aspect.

Many bright minds are revealing truth to those that seek it. And find comfort in awareness. The unaware are oblivious. It is the nature of the game…

Few will ever know truth, yet some will…  It will come to fruition.

Some in the fold did not drink the Koolaid…  Be Well Dad and Thank You,   John, The Prodigal Son…

DH Kean   June 16, 2014 at 12:11 pm   And the band played on….

Rothschild Crony Capitalist Summit Plots Against Free Markets

“Under the guise of re-defining and improving what they inaccurately called “capitalism,” top insiders representing institutions that control some $30 trillion in assets met at a Rothschild-sponsored “Inclusive Capitalism” summit in London to push what sounded suspiciously like global tyranny.

From the IMF boss quoting Karl Marx to crony capitalist CEOs and central bankers pushing radical notions of “sustainability,” the globalist bigwigs consistently blamed what little remains of the free market for the horrific failures of socialism, central banking, and Big Government. Ironically, many of the attendees enriched by fleecing taxpayers via government were tripping over themselves to advocate more wealth redistribution and taxes.

One of the speakers at the invitation-only summit was Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, an organization which for decades has worked to extract wealth from the Third World to enrich the establishment while imposing failed crony-capitalist regimes on its victim nations.

 Throughout her speech, the IMF chief’s disdain for free markets and human liberty came through loud and clear. Incredibly, she even quoted Karl Marx, claiming that capitalism “carried the seeds of its own destruction.” She then quoted Pope Francis as saying that “inequality” is “the root of social evil.” The Bible, by contrast, says the love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/18468-rothschild-crony-capitalist-summit-plots-against-free-markets

Axx fann (@fann_axx)  June 16, 2014 at 9:08 pm  The world continues to spin on its axis… Man possesses a unique gift…   Humor…   As we often place blame on the PTB’s, balance will occur in time.

Our track record historically is dismal, but every sunrise brings hope and enlightenment for few…

The logical course has an inherent flaw, Man… 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7E_8EjoxY7Q

deejj87   June 17, 2014 at 12:09 am   “The ISIS is not an independent entity. It is a creation of US intelligence. It is a US intelligence asset, an instrument of non-conventional warfare.

The ultimate objective of this ongoing US-NATO engineered conflict opposing Maliki government forces to the ISIS insurgency is to destroy and destabilize Iraq as a Nation State.

It is part of an intelligence operation, an engineered process of transforming countries into territories. The break up of Iraq along sectarian lines is a longstanding policy of the US and its allies.”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-destruction-and-political-fragmentation-of-iraq-towards-the-creation-of-a-us-sponsored-islamist-caliphate/5386998

Axx fann (@fann_axx)   June 17, 2014 at 1:16 am   Someday Man may understand, maybe not. Hope abounds Mr. Collins. All is based on perception. The current discourse is, as always, subject to interpretation. Time reveals all…   Gotta love the crystal ball concept of the astute man…   Food for thought!!!

Daneackerman   June 17, 2014 at 1:28 am   Well here goes the muscle. Of course under the guise of training Iraqi forces.   
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-us-troops-20140616-story.htm
Axx fann (@fann_axx)   June 17, 2014 at 8:17 am   The journey for all…   http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ywx6CIw3RIA

Daneackerman   June 17, 2014 at 8:36 am   Even the UK is reopening their embassy in Iran. Wow very accelerated moves.    http://m.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27882932

http://philosophyofmetrics.com/2014/06/13/us-attempting-overthrow-of-iraqi-government/

Rothschild Crony Capitalist Summit Plots Against Free Markets

Friday, 13 June 2014 11:46

Rothschild Crony Capitalist Summit Plots Against Free Markets

Written by  Alex Newman

Under the guise of re-defining and improving what they inaccurately called “capitalism,” top insiders representing institutions that control some $30 trillion in assets met at a Rothschild-sponsored “Inclusive Capitalism” summit in London to push what sounded suspiciously like global tyranny. From the IMF boss quoting Karl Marx to crony capitalist CEOs and central bankers pushing radical notions of “sustainability,” the globalist bigwigs consistently blamed what little remains of the free market for the horrific failures of socialism, central banking, and Big Government. Ironically, many of the attendees enriched by fleecing taxpayers via government were tripping over themselves to advocate more wealth redistribution and taxes.
The conference, held in late May, was convened by Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who married into the infamous, unimaginably wealthy Rothschild banking dynasty that extracted much of its obscene fortune from humanity using the coercive power of government. Attendees and speakers included Prince Charles, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde (shown), former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Bank of England boss Mark Carney, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and more. Also in attendance: pension-fund bosses, Big Business CEOs, and other top figures representing an estimated one third of the world’s investable wealth. Among the “supporting organizations” for the summit were the CIA-linked Ford Foundation and the globalist Rockefeller Foundation.
While pretending to defend what they call “capitalism,” the crony capitalists behind the summit and in attendance were hardly speaking of genuine free markets in the traditionally understood sense of the term. In fact, the powerful attendees were referring to the Big Government system that has existed in recent decades — a plutocratic economic regime in which currencies and interest rates are controlled by privately owned central banks; where the fastest way to get rich is to buy politicians; and where governments squander around half of the people’s wealth on their scheming even in supposedly “capitalist” countries.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/18468-rothschild-crony-capitalist-summit-plots-against-free-markets

The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq's Jihadist Uprising

The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq's Jihadist Uprising

06/17/2014
Post From Currency Chatter By joyglo

The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq's Jihadist Uprising   By Reva Bhalla

Reva Bhalla, vice president of Global Analysis.

 Events in Iraq over the past week were perhaps best crystallized in a series of photos produced by the jihadist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Sensationally called The Destruction of Sykes-Picot, the pictures confirmed the group's intent to upend nearly a century of history in the Middle East.

 In a series of pictures set to a purring jihadist chant, the mouth of a bulldozer is shown bursting through an earthen berm forming Iraq's northern border with Syria. Keffiyeh-wrapped rebels, drained by the hot sun, peer around the edges of the barrier to observe the results of their work.
~~~
The breach they carved was just wide enough for the U.S.-made, Iraqi army-owned and now jihadist-purloined Humvees to pass through in single file.

While a charter outlining an antiquated interpretation of Sharia was being disseminated in Mosul,

#SykesPicotOver trended on jihadist Twitter feeds.

From the point of view of Iraq's jihadist celebrities, the 1916 borders drawn in secret by British and French imperialists represented by Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot to divide up Mesopotamia are not only irrelevant, they are destructible.

 Today, the most ardent defenders of those colonial borders sit in Baghdad, Damascus, Ankara, Tehran and Riyadh while the Europeans and Americans, already fatigued by a decade of war in this part of the world, are desperately trying to sit this crisis out. The burden is on the regional players to prevent a jihadist mini-emirate from forming, and beneath that common purpose lies ample room for intrigue.

Turkey Searches for a Strategy

 With the jihadist threat fanning out from Syria to Iraq, Turkey is struggling to insulate itself from the violence and to follow a strategic agenda in Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey has forged an alliance with the Iraqi Kurdish leadership in a direct challenge to Baghdad's authority.

With the consent of Turkey's energy minister and to the outrage of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, two tankers carrying a few million barrels of Kurdish crude left the Turkish port of Ceyhan in search of a buyer just as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant was ratcheting up its offensive.

Upping the ante, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced June 16 that a third tanker would be loaded within the week. With al-Maliki now relying on Kurdish peshmerga support to fend off jihadists in the north, Ankara and Arbil have gained some leverage in their ongoing dispute with Baghdad over the distribution of energy revenue. But Turkey's support for Iraqi Kurds also has limits.

 Ankara had planned to use a tighter relationship with the Kurdistan Regional Government to exploit northern Iraq's energy reserves and to manage Kurdish unrest within its own boundaries.

However, Turkey never intended to underwrite Kurdish independence. And with Kirkuk now in Kurdish hands as a result of the jihadist surge, the largest oil field in northern Iraq stands ready to fuel Kurdish secessionist tendencies.

Much to Turkey's dismay, Kurdish militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the People's Protection Units are already reinforcing peshmerga positions in northern Iraq. At the same time, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and its jihadist affiliates are holding 80 Turkish citizens hostage.

Turkey will thus enlarge its footprint in Mesopotamia, but not necessarily on its own terms. Some 1,500 to 2,000 Turkish forces have maintained a quiet presence in Iraqi Kurdistan. That force will likely expand now that Turkey has an array of threats to justify such a presence and a growing need to temper Kurdish ambitions. Iraq's Kurdish leadership will be reminded of their deep distrust for Turkey but will also be overwhelmed by its own challenges, not least of which is Turkey's main regional competitor, Iran.

Iran on the Defensive

 Unnerved by Turkey's increasingly assertive Kurdish policy and possibly in anticipation of the expanding jihadist threat sweeping Iraq's Sunni belt, Iran over the past several months has been expanding its military presence along its northern border with Iraq. Tehran now finds itself in the uncomfortable position of having to reinforce its Shiite allies in Iraq militarily. Though Iran has perhaps the most sophisticated and extensive militant proxy network in the region to do the job, this strategy carries enormous risks.

 Iran has spent recent years painstakingly trying to consolidate Shiite influence in Iraq under a central authority in Baghdad. Tehran was never wedded to al-Maliki in particular, but it did need to maintain a strong enough foothold in Baghdad to manage Iraq's naturally fractious Shiite landscape.

Employing Shiite militias enables Iran to reinforce the Iraqi army in a time of urgent need but risks undermining Iran's long-term strategy to manage Iraq through a firm hand in Baghdad. The more empowered the militias and the weaker Baghdad becomes, the harder Iran will have to work to keep a lid on separatist moves in Iraq's Shiite south.

The militants rampaging through Iraq's core Sunni territories will embrace deeper Iranian involvement in the conflict. There is no better motivation for Arab Sunni fighters of various ideological stripes than a call to arms against their historical Persian foes and their Arab Shiite allies.

An outpouring of sectarian blood feuds will also make it all the more difficult for Iraq's Shiite government to recruit enough allies among Iraq's Sunni population to fight against the jihadists. Indeed, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant would not have been able to mount its lightning surge across Iraq had it not been for the substantial support it has received from local Sunni tribes who in turn receive substantial support and guidance from sponsors in the Persian Gulf. Our attention thus turns to the Saudi royals sitting quietly in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia Stirs the Pot

This has not been a good year for the Saudis. A Persian-American rapprochement is a living nightmare for the Sunni kingdom, as is the prospect of the United States becoming more self-sufficient in energy production. Saudi Arabia has little means to directly sabotage U.S.-Iranian negotiations.

In fact, as we anticipated, the Saudis have had to swallow a bitter pill and open up their own dialogue with Iran. But the Saudis are also not without options to make life more difficult for Iran, and if Riyadh is going to be forced into a negotiation with Tehran, it will try to enter talks on its own terms.

 Syria and Lebanon always make for useful proxy battlegrounds, though a Sunni rebellion has little chance of actually toppling the Iranian-backed regime in Damascus, and Lebanon is too fragmented for any one regional player to claim a decisive advantage.

The contest has thus shifted back to Mesopotamia, where Iran cannot afford to see its Shiite gains slip and where Saudi Arabia -- both the government and private citizens -- has maintained strong ties with many of the Sunni tribes in Anbar and Mosul provinces that have facilitated the Sunni uprising.

There is no love lost between the Saudis and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. In fact, the Saudis have branded it a terrorist organization and have even uncovered cells of the group on Saudi soil plotting against the kingdom.

But the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is also not the only group participating in the current offensive. Former Baathist fighters from the Naqshabandiyya Way along with Jaish al-Mujahideen and Jaish Ansar al-Sunnah are also playing a substantial role in the fighting.

Most of the Sunni militias and the growing number of Awakening Council (Sunni fighters recruited by the United States to battle al Qaeda in Iraq) defectors joining these militias coordinate directly with the Majlis Thuwar al Anbar (Anbar insurgents' council), which in turn coordinates with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on a selective basis. Saudi Arabia's acting intelligence chief, Yousef bin Ali al Idrisis, is believed to be in direct communication with the Majlis Thuwar al Anbar, affording Riyadh the opportunity to influence the shape of the battlefield -- and thereby to aggravate Iran in a highly sensitive spot.

As a bonus for Saudi Arabia, even as the Sunni uprising is largely confined to Iraq's Sunni belt and thus unlikely to seriously upset Iraq's production and exports from the Shiite south, the price of Brent crude has climbed to $113 a barrel for the first time this year. Saudi Arabia is not the only one that welcomes this bump in the price of oil; Russia is quite pleased with the outcome in Iraq as well.

Revisiting a Mysterious Meeting in Sochi

Just days before the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-led offensive in Iraq, a quiet meeting took place at Russian President Vladimir Putin's vacation spot in Sochi on June 3. Putin invited Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to see him and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who cut short an engagement in Moscow to get there on time. Details on the meeting are scarce.

 Our attempt to obtain information about the gathering from Russian and Saudi contacts resulted in scripted and strangely identical responses that claimed that Saudi Arabia and Russia were discussing a power-sharing resolution for Syria. The state-owned Saudi Press Agency then reported June 10 that Lavrov and al-Faisal had a follow-up phone conversation to discuss a Syrian settlement.

Syria may well have been on the agenda, and Russia has an interest in protecting its influence in Damascus through a deal that keeps Syrian President Bashar al Assad in power, but we suspect there was more to these engagements.

 Both Saudi Arabia and Russia share two key interests: undermining the U.S.-Iranian negotiating track and ensuring oil prices remain at a comfortable level, i.e., above $100 a barrel. There is little either can do to keep Iran and the United States from negotiating a settlement. In fact, the jihadist threat in Iraq creates another layer of cooperation between Iran and the United States.

That said, Washington is now facing another major Middle Eastern maelstrom at the same time it has been anxiously trying to prove to itself and everyone else that the United States has bigger issues to deal with in other parts of the world, namely, in Russia's backyard.

Moreover, the United States and Turkey are not of one mind on how to manage Iraq at a time when Washington needs Ankara's cooperation against Russia. If an Iraq-sized distraction buys Moscow time to manage its own periphery with limited U.S. interference, all the better for Putin.

Meanwhile, if Saudi Arabia can weaken Iran and test U.S.-Iranian cooperation, it might well be worth the risk for Riyadh to try -- at least for the time being.

A Lesson from History

Whether by mere coincidence, strategic design or a blend of the two, there are as many winners as there are losers in the Iraq game. Russia knows this game well. The United States, the heir to the Sykes-Picot map, will be forced to learn it fast.
When the French and British were colluding over the post-Ottoman map in 1916, czarist Russia quietly acquiesced as Paris and London divided up the territories. Just a year later, in 1917, the Soviets threw a strategic spanner into the Western agenda by publishing the Sykes-Picot agreement, planting the seeds for Arab insurrection and thus ensuring that Europe's imperialist rule over the Middle East would be anything but easy.

The U.S. administration recognizes the trap that has been laid. But more mindful of the region's history this time around, Washington will likely leave it to the regional players to absorb most of the risk.
Read more: The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq's Jihadist Uprising

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stratfor/2014/06/17/the-intrigue-lying-behind-iraqs-jihadist-uprising/

Editor’s Note: Writing in George Friedman’s stead this week is Reva Bhalla, vice president of Global Analysis.

OKIE OIL MAN FROM OOM CHAT 06/17/14 LATE AFTERNOON

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