ARROGANCE AT SEA

More coverage on the Big Ships Coming to harrass little (but strong) Israel:

"The Arrogant Erdogan" says: "If Turkish warships encounter an Israeli military ship outside Israel's 12-mile territorial waters, they will advance up to 100 meters from the ship and disable its weapon system."

A mere declaration of war! He's maneuvering for a renewed Ottoman Empire, in control of the once "Palestine". This will throw a monkey's wrench into Abbas' plans and shift the power struggle in the M.E. (more below on this from Barry Rubin).

Turkish frigates to confront Israeli vessels, disable their weapons

UPDATE: NO US DRONES FOR TURKEY UNTIL ERDOGAN LIFTS HIS AMRMED THREAT ON ISRAEL [His arrogance knows no bounds, he will just wait for another opportunity]

DEBKAfile's military sources report that this is more than a threat of belligerence against Israeli naval shipping; it is also an attempt to dictate the terms of its threatened military engagement at sea with Israel and arbitrarily lay down the outer limits of Israel's territorial waters. One of its goals is to deprive Israel's deep sea gas wells of naval protection. Turkish naval sources report that the frigates assigned the mission against Israel belong to its Southern Sea Area Command.

"1. The Turkish prime minister's Tahrir Square speech Monday afternoon. His anti-Israel campaign has drawn from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood an enthusiastic welcome and the promise of a mass turnout. The MB declared the mob attack on the Israeli embassy a legitimate protest operation in defiance of the Egyptian government's position.

"2. The Turkish prime minister said Sunday that his campaign against Israel has five stages of which only two have been implemented.

"3. Israel's government and military leaders worry that the Palestinian Jihad Islami terrorists lurking in Sinai for the past three weeks will choose this moment to strike – whether to kidnap Israelis still vacationing on its beaches or a cross-border attack in Israel. The gunmen have met no Egyptian military interference and they will no doubt be encouraged to take advantage of the incendiary climate generated by the Turkish prime minister and Cairo mob's sacking of the Israeli embassy.

"4. The Muslim Brothers, Hamas and other radical Palestinian organizations in Jordan have used Facebook to rally "a million-strong march" on the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital of Amman for Thursday evening, Sept. 15, to push for the expulsion of Israeli Ambassador Danny Nevo."


Shedding light on what may be an undercurrent of shifting Power in the Arab World and the M.E.,

Barry Rubin makes an interesting analysis: about Persia's (Iran) waning influence. It seems that the Sunni, Shia, and Wahabi tribes may be at each other's throats again. And this may be the prelude to military intervention by a strong NATO nation.

Barry, at Pajamas Media, "In Egypt, favorable views of Iran declined from 89 percent in 2006 to 37 percent today. In Saudi Arabia those holding such beliefs declined from 85 percent to 6 percent; and in Jordan from 75 percent to 23 percent. That’s an incredibly steep decline. Incidentally, in these countries, attitudes toward the United States remained highly unfavorable and only got worse under President Obama."

"So Egyptians, Jordanians, and Saudis are turning away from Iran. Now what do these three countries have in common? Answer: they all have big Sunni majorities, 90 percent in Saudi Arabia, 100 percent in Jordan, and 100 percent of the Muslims–who form about 90 percent of the whole population–in Egypt."

His M.E. chess pieces look like this:

Shia:

–Radicals: Iran, Hizballah, Syria, Bahrain opposition radical faction
–Moderates: Iranian opposition, Iraqi government; Bahrain opposition moderate faction.

Sunni

–Radicals: Egypt, Hamas, Libya?, Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and Jordan, Sudan, Turkish regime.
–Moderates: Algeria, Jordan, Lebanese, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, moderate forces in Syrian opposition, Tunisia, Turkish opposition.

The Shifting Sands

Once More Into the Swamps is an article in which he discusses the new Middle East. Indicating that what has happened in Egypt is changing the game-plan. And hopefully America will wake up to this new reality. The article also can be accessed
here.


Oh, well, I guess we just have to stay tuned in to the ever changing saga of "SoapBoxMiddleEast" brought to you by your ever faithful online bloggers and columnists.