Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read and consider the entire original article in light of national events.  This is a well reasoned and well written article that explains progressivism and transnationalism as they relate to foreign policy while explaining "Why Washington needs the Syrian war to happen -- and the conflict with Iran not to happen...."  

With the video that follows, I include a view of war that hopefully most of you will have missed -- yet need to remember ... let it serve as a reminder of the impact on those who actually do the fighting. Be advised the language and the video taken in an around a military hospital near a battle zone is both extremely salty and rough. The surgeons, nurses, Marine helo pilots, aircrew and especially the corpsmen on this duty were an amazing group of people who to this day deserve our profound respect. While the film is surely not for the faint of heart, it is a blessing that it was put together to remember and commemorate their great service!  Be forewarned, this is how war looks, you don't see this in movies made in Hollywood.  

For those who were there, you will probably remember the truly awful smells as well.  All Americans should probably see this well done video, and hopefully come to understand that IPhones, IPads, Facebook, etc. is all make believe when it comes to the real world. Often times while still under fire, Marines arrived just as the helo was lifting off, and that was in order to unceremoniously toss in a boot with a foot still in it, or sometimes a leg, or an arm in with the casualty. Likewise, it was not usual to see the dead often times heaved aboard the helicopters like sacks of grain or beans, since the helicopters usually drew fire, as most of you well know from your own days in combat.

Some never got over their experiences in combat, while others were able to put it in the back of their minds. But for all who participated in those kinds of events, the images return with complete clarity, and especially when visions such as are shown in the video below awaken the tucked away recollections of a long ago war.  When will those in Washington and those who elect those "slugs" ever wake up?  Semper Fidelis. 

"There are two possible conflicts on the table in Washington. One is with Iran and the other with Syria. The Iran conflict is the one that Washington doesn’t want. Its most likely trigger at this stage is an Israeli assault on Iran’s nuclear program. Like most of the wars centering around Israel, this one is existential and of no interest to the philosopher kings in D.C. who wage wars with the grand purpose of making the world a better place.Samantha Power 

[....] Being on the right or wrong side of history is one of those topics that primarily interests Islamists and nation builders on the right and the left who subscribe to a progressive version of history. [....]

The Arab Spring was on the right side of history because of its transformative qualities. [....] And at the end of it all through the sublime majesty of democracy and people power, the Middle East would look exactly like Europe, but with a more exotic cuisine.

[....] Washington needs the Syrian war to happen, and it needs to keep a conflict with Iran from happening. The great diplomatic problem of Israel has always been that its leader insist on viewing conflicts in practical terms. Israel does not fight wars to make the world safe for democracy, it fights wars because there’s someone shooting missiles as it. This is an unacceptable reason for a war in a postmodern world where wars are fought to preserve the international order, protect civilization, make the world safe for democracy and prove that human rights violations will be punished by the duly constituted body of international jurisprudence.

Self-interest is Israel’s original sin. [....]

Israel’s insistence on a purely existential view is dismissed as selfish and narrow-minded when the Middle East is headed toward a brave new world where nukes no longer matter because no one is angry anymore because there are no more dictators and democracy is everywhere. While the Israelis see the Middle East as basically static, the progressives see the Middle East as constantly on the verge of a great leap forward to a new more enlightened age.

[....]. While outwardly the progressives see Israel as very modern, they reject it for not possessing the most vital element of modernism. Transnationalism.

While Israel has more than its share of leftists, its animating philosophy is an ethnic nationalism that is repugnant to the transnationalist. [....]

The Arab Spring seems to be everything that Israel is not, a transnational transformation, the soul of Europe invested in a Middle Eastern body. [....]

The progressive philosopher-kings aren’t stupid, their knowledge of history is. They believe that their wonderful system was not the product of a civilization, but of political protesters demanding change. If the political protesters demanding change are similarly empowered in the Muslim world, then they will end up with the same results.

To the left a theory of history in which a humanitarian society is created through the overthrow of the status quo makes perfect sense. To the American liberal right, a similar theory favoring democracy as the key element has almost as much appeal. Both agree on the notion that if their native process is exported, then the results will be the same.

[....] Israel can’t afford its own version of Blair, Sarkozy or Obama. The closest thing to them, Shimon Peres [....]

[....] When Israel looks at Syria, it doesn’t see a potential gateway to regional progress, it sees a local civil war backed by its neighbors, which will result in instability and one side or the other gaining Syria as a pawn. [....]

And when it looks at Iran [....] It will do something about it not because it wants to change the region or advance human civilization, but because it knows the exact casualty count from a nuclear detonation over Tel Aviv.

[....] Responsible leaders can take a hit now to avoid much worse consequences down the road. Irresponsible leaders take refuge in philosophy and chase after theories of history, rather than keeping the rain from leaking through the roof."

Related article:

Obama 'Gone Wild': Proposes $800 million of U.S. Taxpayer aid for 'Arab Spring'