For openers, what does the U.S. want? The Guardian (2013): Western training of Syrian rebels is under way in Jordan in an effort to strengthen secular elements in the opposition as a bulwark against Islamic extremism, and to begin building security forces to maintain order in the event of Bashar al-Assad's fall… Earlier this week, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said Washington was now confident that arms supplies to the rebels would not be diverted to extremists. "There is a very clear ability now in the Syrian opposition to make certain that what goes to the moderate, legitimate opposition is, in fact, getting to them, and the indication is that they are increasing their pressure as a result of that," he said. The deep thinking here looks like the same old: rebels – good, dictator – bad.  The rise of ISIS and their sadistic exploits rudely complicated the story of “rebels” fighting an...(Read Full Post)