Posts
Nobody could have known that the dinner they were about to eat would one day change history. Some say it was goat. Others say it was lamb. Either way, it was poisoned.
And the guest of honor was Mohammed, founder of Islam.
It was just one bite, that's all it took. He tasted the poison and immediately spat it out. But it was too late. He would soon die as a result, sparking a bitter and deadly divide.
And they've been killing each other for that reason ever since.
On the one side of the fight, you've got the Sunni Muslims. They're the ones that run Saudi Arabia , Egypt , Jordan , and many of the other countries in the Middle East.
On the other, you've got the Shia Muslims. It's the Shia that run Iran . They also now run Iraq . As well as Lebanon and Syria . How bloody is this centuries-old battle?
Think Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland ...
Serbs vs. Croats in Bosnia ... or even the religious Thirty Years War that ripped apart Europe in the 16th century.
Only this Sunni-Shia split has built up pressure now for the last 1,354 years.
But it's only now that this pressure has found its ultimate release — with Iran driving a new Shia uprising smack dab in the middle of the most dangerous place on Earth — the oil-soaked Middle East.
Isn't the Middle East already a mess? Yes, it is.
What's different is that too many in the West... right up to the Pentagon and even the White House don't "get" just how deep this Islam divide could go or how far it could run.
Take a look at this map...
The Deadly Sunni-Shia Divide — 2010-2011
If it's black in this map, it's Shia ground. It's also mostly oil heartland and some of the most strategic territory in the entire Middle East!
One terrorist with a grudge can do a lot of damage.
Iran , all by itself, could even be a deadly force.
But can you imagine what millions of Shiites with a 1,354-year old ax to grind could do?
The 162-Million-Man March
Nobody knows exactly how many Shia there are right now in the Middle East . That's because in all but four Middle Eastern countries, Sunni leaders don't bother to count.
Sunni schools teach that Shiites aren't real Muslims. Shias don't get a seat in government.
They can't become judges or even testify in high courts. In Sunni-run Saudi Arabia , Shias and Sunni can't even marry.
For centuries, the Shia have been the underclass. But now, for the first time in history, they see this as their chance to turn the tide. And how big a tide is it? Hands down, saber-rattling Iran has the most — 70 million Shia.
But then you've got the "liberated" Shia of Iraq — 22 million. Plus as many as 2 million Shia in Iran-backed Lebanon . And up to 4 million Shia in Iran 's top ally, Syria .
Then you've got another 700,000 Shia in Kuwait ... up to 500,000 Shia in Bahrain ... up to 400,000 Shia in the United Arab Emirates ... 300,000 Shia in Oman ... and around 100,000 Shia in Qatar , according to the Pew Research Center in Washington .
On top of that, as many as 10 million Shia in Yemen ... another 7 million Shia in Azerbaijan ... and 11 million Shia in Turkey, not to mention the combined 30 million Shia in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Not all Shia want a revolution.
But out of between the 147 million to 162 million Shia spread from Pakistan to Lebanon and Azerbaijan to Yemen , enough do that this is the river of "Secret Revenge" and common blood running through the entire Middle East .
The Sunnis are worried.
Especially in Sunni-run Saudi Arabia
And especially now.
Here's why...
"Secret Revenge" Flashpoint #1:
The Real Reason Iran Wants the Bomb
Don't forget, Iran used to be Persia. At one point Persia was the biggest and most powerful empire in history! Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Egypt — even Israel — the Persians controlled them all. Along with all of Afghanistan and Pakistan and most of the oil-rich coast of the Caspian.
For 300 years, Persian armies held off the Roman Empire . Their scholars walked with Aristotle and Plato. And influenced Greek art.
It was the Persians who invented chess. And the windmill. Not to mention bricks, algebra, trigonometry, and wine.
The bottom line is... no Empire forgets its past glory.
The Iranians resent losing theirs. But now they see a chance to get it back.
The nuclear bomb?
Tehran's crackpot leaders don't just want it to scare Israel .
They want it so they can throw a dark shadow over their Sunni Arab neighbors, too!
Take a look at this...
Iran 's First Move...
With total control of the Hormuz "oil chokepoint" in the Persian Gulf and new power in "liberated" Iraq , the Iranians have a brand new foothold for kicking off the long-awaited "Shia Revolution."
You'll notice two things.
First, you'll see how Iran 's Shia influence has spilled across the border into southern Iraq . Southern Iraq is where you'll find six of Iraq 's eight "Supergiant" oil fields. It's also where you'll find a key border with Shia Islam's mortal enemy — Saudi Arabia .
Saudi Arabia is Sunni.
For eight years back in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia helped Iraq wage a bloody war against Iran . Along with other Sunni governments, the Saudis even gave Saddam over $47 billion to launch missiles and nerve gas attacks over the Iranian border.
Iran hasn't forgotten. Or forgiven.
(Imagine if Canada or Mexico had given money to Japan to help them bomb Pearl Harbor . Iran has waited to make the Saudis pay — and now they have their chance.)
The second thing you'll see in the map above is that Iran has almost total control over the Strait of Hormuz .
Hormuz is the tight waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean . Over 17 million barrels of oil have to pass through Hormuz every day .
That's 40% of all the oil shipped in the world.
And 90% of all the daily oil shipments from the entire Middle East. With Hormuz alone, Iran could cripple the world overnight .
Today, Iran backs Shia militants in Iraq . They give them money and guns. They've even helped Shia politicians take over the Iraqi government. Why?
Because gaining control in Iraq takes the Iranians one step closer in their twisted plot for secret revenge. For another one of those steps, just look further south... to Yemen .
"Secret Revenge" Flashpoint #2:
Yemen's Ugly Secret
The Pentagon has just tripled its budget on Yemen.
Top U.S. General Patraeus just had a not-so-secret meeting with Yemen 's president.
And our own State Department calls Yemen a “threat... to global stability.”
What gives?
Even ABC News just called Yemen the next "top target" in the terror war and a "near-perfect haven for terrorists." Obama just sent Yemen our troops, ships, and weapons.
Here's what's happening...
The Shia Revolution's Next New Front...
Yemen 's on/off Shia revolution gives and "Gate of Tears" oil chokepoint could soon give Iran a strategic "backdoor" attack point into Saudi Arabia ...
Yemen might be a failed country... with a collapsing government, a shrinking oil supply, an exploding population and not much of anything else but lawlessness and chaos.
But what Yemen does have is position.
It sits just on the tip of the Arab peninsula... south of another key Saudi border and on the coast of another key oil strait called Bab-el-Mandeb .
And like Hormuz, most oil states on the Red Sea can't get a drop of oil out without shipping it through the Bab-el-Mandeb.
Over 3.3 million barrels go through every day. Blocking this chokepoint alone could slap a $30 "political premium" on the price of every barrel of oil...
But there's an even bigger threat taking shape.
For the last six years, Yemen has fought a vicious and bloody war with Shia rebels. These rebels are poor. There's no way, says a Yemen general, these rebels "could fund and fight this war with pomegranates and grapes... no doubt there is Iranian support."
Could it be true? Absolutely.
Iran loves to buy loyalty .
Take the $1 billion Tehran now "donates" every year to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon . Or the billions they gave Syria 's Shia president to build cement factories, car factories, power plants, and storage silos.
In return, Iran gets Hezbollah's Arabic-speaking terrorists to run militant Shia training camps in Iraq .
And gets Syria to distribute Iran 's money and weapons to others in the Shia network.
The secret money Iran sends to Shia rebels in Yemen could soon have a payoff too — by opening up another route for "backdoor" Shia access into Saudi Arabia .
Yemen 's rebels have already hit towns across the Saudi border. And the Saudis have hit back, losing dozens of troops in the process. We’re just in the first innings of this one.
How bad is it?
So far, 50 Saudi schools along the border have had to close.
Another 240 border towns have already been evacuated. And Saudi jets have already dropped bombs in Yemen.
What exactly has the Saudis running scared?
"Secret Revenge" Flashpoint #3:
Iran's Final Prize — Saudi Oil
Don't think for a minute that I think Iran 's plot for "secret revenge" could succeed.
But the threat alone could be enough to kick oil much higher. And sooner than you might think.
For instance..
Our CIA, Britain 's M16, and other top spy agencies say Iran could have a working nuclear bomb as soon as April 2011...
The Times of London uncovered a confidential document that says Iran already has a "neutron initiator" ready to test.
That's the part you need to trigger a warhead. And Der Spiegel, the German magazine, says Iran may even have the tech and material to build a simple nuclear bomb before the end of THIS year.
But the Bomb is just a beginning.
Even if the go ahead to build a nuke never comes from Iran 's top cleric, the more immediate danger is a wildfire of Shia-Sunni unrest... starting in Iran 's new hotbeds of Shia support... and spreading across the rest of the Sunni-run oil states... with the richest oil fields in the world's richest oil nation as the final battleground.
Take a look at this last map...
The Final Battleground — Saudi Arabia !
Suddenly, Iran has its mortal enemy, Saudi Arabia, surrounded — millions of Shia even live on top of the Saudis OWN biggest oilfields.
As you can see, Saudi Arabia looks like a sitting duck.
Iran has a Shia network that reaches from Afghanistan to Lebanon once again... more connections building along the Persian Gulf ... Yemeni Shias to the south... and Shia connections along the oil rich Caspian Sea .
You could see this spread to the nearly two million Shia that live and work on Saudi Arabia 's oil fields very soon. Even though that's exactly what the Saudis — and our own Pentagon — hope will never happen.
As you read this, big and small Gulf states are piling up weapons, stocking anti-missile batteries, and sandbagging their oil terminals, ports, and water desalinization plants...
Abu Dhabi alone has already bought $17 billion worth of U.S. anti-missile hardware.
And the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia just splurged on weapons, to the tune of $25 billion.
As you read this, our own F-16 fighter jets, Patriot missile systems, giant cruisers and up to 20,000 more U.S. troops are quietly digging in for an epic fight... that could spread past Iraq and Yemen ... and even into Qatar , the United Arab Emirates , and Bahrain.
All to get ready for what could be the fight of a lifetime...
Say Hello to the "Jihad Generation"
It's not just our experts saying it. Leaders in all three of America 's biggest Middle East allied countries — Egypt , Jordan , and Saudi Arabia — claim the epic Sunni-Shia showdown is in the cards. It could start from any one of the flashpoints I just named.
But no matter how it starts, Saudi Arabia is where it's most likely to end up. Why?
Not only is Saudi Arabia home to Mecca , Islam's holiest place... but it's also home to the corrupt and U.S.-allied Royal House of Saud, considered an insult to all Islam.
Think about it.
In a country where they'll cut off your hand for stealing and whip you for holding a glass of whiskey... Saudi princes gorge on cocaine and prostitutes, gambling, palaces, and more .
All the while the vast Saudi underclass starves on just $6,000 per year and 30% unemployment. And as many as two million of that underclass is Shia.With a 1,354-year-old ax to grind and billions of dollars in oil revenues as the prize. It's a near-perfect formula for a FULL-ON war.
And the fuse is already lit.
Iran is ready to assert its place in the world. Think Japan or Germany in the 1930s.
The threat is there, it's large, and it's not going away anytime soon.
How the world responds, we can't know. But I can tell you how oil could respond... by exploding to new record highs.
Possibly as high as $220 per barrel by spring of the coming year... with gas not topping out until it hits as much as $8 per gallon.
That's very bad news for millions around the world!
No comments:
Post a Comment