Sinkhole: Now 372 feet diameter, Only 1500 feet from butane-filled cavern

At this rate of growth, we're seven or eight days out from intersection.  Authorities don't know what is even happening, much less how to address stopping it.    The Examiner: 

The initially estimated 200 by 200 feet sinkhole that developed late last week, swallowing ancient cypress trees 100 feet tall near Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou communities in south Louisiana, is now reported to be 380 feet deep with a diameter of 372 feet, filled mainly with salt water with traces of diesel fuel, and only 1,500 feet from a cavern filled with butane, according Tuesday morning news. Analysts' reports further hint that Texas Brine Company's cavern failed, but the butane cavern failing is today's worst-case scenario.


If a nearby butane-filled cavern fails, as it appears the brine cavern did, "it could cause an explosion felt up to two miles away," Fox News 8 reported Tuesday morning. "That's the worst-case scenario."

"All we can tell you right now is we still have bubbling in the bayou and we still don't know what happened and some scientists have pointed out to us that it could go from 200 feet to 2000 feet real quickly. We don't know," said Assumption Parish Sheriff Michael Waguespack on Monday.

After releasing information to the public Monday that the bayou sinkhole is over 380 feet deep, researchers report Tuesday that the diameter of the hole is now 372 feet and has now "swallowed" an acre of the once pristine swampland before oil, gas and salt miners arrived.

Water analysis shows that the water in the sinkhole is comprised mainly of salt water and diesel, both used to stabilize unused salt caverns, officials say.

Some closed salt caverns have diesel fuel at the top as a “pad” to prevent erosion of the salt from the brine, explained John Boudreaux, director of the Assumption Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Monday's disclosures possibly point to Louisiana Department of Natural Resources officials’ suggestions Friday that the sinkhole was caused by the possibly failed Texas Brine cavern.

“It’s suspect,” Boudreaux said.

Texas Brine company mined deep below the surface for decades but plugged the mine last year by filling it with 20 million barrels of brine, a process that meets the definition of environmental modification, ENMOD.

The company brought geologists from Florida to establish the best way to learn what's going on beneath the surface. Until they know and disclose more about the crisis, homeowners who evacuated might not be able to return, according to Fox News. Residents who did not follow the mandatory evacuation advisory for the area might reconsider. Roughly half of the some 300 people under mandatory evacuation orders remained.

Eventually, sinkholes stop growing.  There is still the possibility that the sinkhole will quit growing before meeting the butane cavern.  That's the best case scenario.  But inertia seems to be indicating otherwise.  More to come..

It Was Only A Matter Of Time..

Gauss: Stuxnet-Linked Cyber Weapon Hits Lebanon.  ABC News, via Yahoo:

A new cyber weapon believed to be linked by code to the infamous Stuxnet worm has been discovered stealing banking information in Lebanon, according to Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Labs.


The new malware, dubbed Gauss for an in-code reference to a German mathematician, is designed to "steal and monitor data from clients of several Lebanese banks," among other nefarious abilities. The code also includes some kind of "special warhead" that is so well encrypted that Kaspersky has been unable to identify it.

Of the more than 2,500 instances of Gauss infections in the Middle East, more than 1,600 of them were discovered in Lebanon and nearly 500 in Israel, Kaspersky said in a blog post.

Kaspersky researchers said they discovered Gauss while investigating Flame, a massive espionage program revealed in May that was able to record nearly everything done on an infected computer, including real-world conversations that took place near it.

Kaspersky researchers had previously linked specific portions of code in Flame to Stuxnet, believed to be the first-ever true cyberweapon to do actual physical damage to its target, an Iranian nuclear facility, and Duqu, a surveillance worm based on Stuxnet. Now the Russian researchers said they believe Gauss to be related to those three as well.

"After looking at Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame, we can say with a high degree of certainty that Gauss comes from the same 'factory' or 'factories,'" the blog post said.

Kaspersky and several other cyber security firms said that Stuxnet and its kin are so sophisticated and required such a commitment of time and expertise that a nation-state was most likely behind their creations. A 2010 Congressional report on Stuxnet put the U.S. and Israel at the top of a short list of probable suspects and the New York Times reported Stuxnet was developed by the two countries as part of a wave of cyber aimed at Iran.

Peter Boogaard, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the agency is "coordinating with our federal and private sector partners to analyze" Gauss and is "working with organizations that could potentially be affected."

Kaspersky said that while a vast majority of the infections they've detected were centered in Lebanon, there were a few instances of Gauss detected on computer systems in the U.S. and the total number of infections is still unknown.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could apply this type of focused brain power to help humanity, as opposed to vanquishing it?  The Law of Unintended Consequences should be surfacing shortly..

Clif's New Wujo..

Podcast from Clif High at halfpasthuman.  It's ok-This is a safe link, and the download is free.  53 minutes.  I need to hear it one more time, but Clif's always an interesting listen.

Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show

I can't image Mitt's profiting from abortion while professing a pro-life stance will sit well with evangelicals.  It's a metaphorical punch to the throat, don't you think?  Mother Jones.  Excerpts:

Earlier this year, Mitt Romney nearly landed in a politically perilous controversy when the Huffington Post reported that in 1999 the GOP presidential candidate had been part of an investment group that invested $75 million in Stericycle, a medical-waste disposal firm that has been attacked by anti-abortion groups for disposing aborted fetuses collected from family planning clinics. Coming during the heat of the GOP primaries, as Romney tried to sell South Carolina Republicans on his pro-life bona fides, the revelation had the potential to damage the candidate's reputation among values voters already suspicious of his shifting position on abortion.


But Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, tamped down the controversy. The company said Romney left the firm in February 1999 to run the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and likely had nothing to with the deal. The matter never became a campaign issue. But documents filed by Bain and Stericycle with the Securities and Exchange Commission—and obtained by Mother Jones—list Romney as an active participant in the investment. And this deal helped Stericycle, a company with a poor safety record, grow, while yielding tens of millions of dollars in profits for Romney and his partners. The documents—one of which was signed by Romney—also contradict the official account of Romney's exit from Bain.


The Stericycle deal—the abortion connection aside—is relevant because of questions regarding the timing of Romney's departure from the private equity firm he founded. Responding to a recent Washington Post story reporting that Bain-acquired companies outsourced jobs, the Romney campaign insisted that Romney exited Bain in February 1999, a month or more before Bain took over two of the companies named in the Post's article. The SEC documents undercut that defense, indicating that Romney still played a role in Bain investments until at least the end of 1999.

Here's what happened with Stericycle. In November 1999, Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, filed with the SEC a Schedule 13D, which lists owners of publicly traded companies, noting that they had jointly purchased $75 million worth of shares in Stericycle, a fast-growing player in the medical-waste industry. (That April, Stericycle had announced plans to buy the medical-waste businesses of Browning Ferris Industries and Allied Waste Industries.) The SEC filing lists assorted Bain-related entities that were part of the deal, including Bain Capital (BCI), Bain Capital Partners VI (BCP VI), Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors (a Bermuda-based Bain affiliate), and Brookside Capital Investors (a Bain offshoot). And it notes that Romney was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd."

The document also states that Romney "may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle "in his capacity as sole shareholder" of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm's stock—the largest bloc among the firm's owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney.

Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds "voting and dispositive power" with respect to the stock owned by Bain. If Romney had fully retired from the private equity firm he founded, why would he be the only Bain executive named as the person in control of this large amount of Stericycle stock?

Stericycle was a lucrative investment for Romney and Bain. The company had entered the medical-waste business a decade earlier, when it took over a food irradiation plant in Arkansas and began zapping medical waste, rather than strawberries, with radiation. The company subsequently replaced irradiation with a technology that used low-frequency radio waves to sterilize medical waste—gowns, masks, gloves, and other medical equipment—before it was transported to an incinerator. By mid-1997, Stericycle was the second-largest medical-waste disposal business in the nation. Two years later, it was the largest. With 240,000 customers, its operations spanned the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Fortune ranked it No. 10 on its list of the 100 fastest growing companies in the nation.
And:
But the document Romney signed related to the Stericycle deal did identify him as a participant in that particular deal and the person in charge of several Bain entities. (Did Bain and Romney file a document with the SEC that was not accurate?) Moreover, in 1999, Bain and Romney both described his departure from Bain not as a resignation and far from absolute. On February 12, 1999, the Boston Herald reported, "Romney said he will stay on as a part-timer with Bain, providing input on investment and key personnel decisions." And a Bain press release issued on July 19, 1999, noted that Romney was "currently on a part-time leave of absence"—and quoted Romney speaking for Bain Capital. In 2001 and 2002, Romney filed Massachusetts state disclosure forms noting he was the 100 percent owner of Bain Capital NY, Inc.—a Bain outfit that was incorporated in Delaware on April 13, 1999—two months after Romney's supposed retirement from the firm. A May 2001 filing with the SEC identified Romney as "a member of the Management Committee" of two Bain entities. And in 2007, the Washington Post reported that R. Bradford Malt, a Bain lawyer, said Romney took a "leave of absence" when he assumed the Olympics post and retained sole ownership of the firm for two more years.


All of this undermines Bain's contention that Romney, though he maintained an ownership interest in the firm and its funds, had nothing to do with the firm's activities after February 1999. The Stericycle deal may raise red flags for anti-abortion activists. But it also raises questions about the true timing of Romney's departure from Bain and casts doubt on claims by the company and the Romney campaign that he had nothing to do with Bain business after February 1999.

All this without the benefit of any more tax returns.  "Of course!" Said the investigative reporters. 
"Government records!"  Expect similar articles coming soon.  The political shit between the Immovable Object and Irresistible Force just got real.  Even if Romney makes it all the way to November is now irrelevant.  More reports like this will paint a pretty vivid picture of Romney's dealings.

And please don't forget the evangelicals.  Whether you like it or not, some (millions)of these people are single issue voters.  Nothing else matters.  I can say this for certain, as I'm surrounded by them.  I really can't see them reacting to this news as nothing short of betrayal.  How could they trust the man who told them what they wanted to hear, all the while counting profits in the millions?  Obama might be pro choice, but he didn't invest 75 million dollars into an abortion disposal service.  If this story has legs, it will kill Romney's chances with evangelicals and most social Conservatives.  Only the worst Obama haters could overlook this depravity and still cast their ballot for Romney.  This is a big deal to potentially a big group of people.

Did Somebody Say New Music?

Sweet previews of some upcoming new or just released CDs..  Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Complaints of respiratory ailments pour in, following SF Bay refinery fire

Awesome.  What's in that fallout?  SF Gate, via The Extinction Protocol:

August 8, 2012 – CALIFORNIA – Richmond residents this morning woke up to the lingering smell of burnt oil from Chevron’s Richmond Refinery, which caught fire last night following a leak. Firefighters and engineers at the plant put the main fire out early this morning, and Chevron reported that its engineers were monitoring a controlled burn as a safety measure to contain pressure. Hundreds of Richmond residents have reported suffering from a variety of respiratory problems following the fire that gutted part of Chevron’s Richmond Refinery Monday night, according to a press release circulated by Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo. The center, which activated its Incident Command Center shortly after the fire erupted in Chevron’s diesel refinery, admitted 181 residents overnight complaining of eye irritation and respiratory ailments after inhaling smoke from the fire. “Now that people are waking up, DMC is currently experiencing a second wave of individuals seeking services,” the center reported in a statement released Tuesday morning. “We expect, and are prepared for, a high demand at the hospital throughout the day.” –SF Gate

Citi Presents 14 Global Hot Spots That Have The Potential To Explode

The headline is a bit misleading, as some cited countries may face upcoming crises or indeed implode, but the shock waves might be regional at best.  For example, France's chance of causing a critical global situation depends more on the conjunction of every other EU country imploding as well.  The usual suspects are included (N./S. Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Egypt..), but seriously, the Netherlands?  Is turmoil in the Netherlands really going to spark any kind of global conflagration?  C'mon..  Business Insider.  Excerpts:

The European economy is deteriorating and leaders across the continent are being booted from office in favor of a new generation of politicians. Rising tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty over leadership changes in emerging markets worldwide are adding to investor concerns.

Tina Fordham, Senior Global Political Analyst at Citi, is out with her mid-year outlook, presenting all of the bank's views on all of the biggest political risks emanating from the world's key hotspots over the remainder of this year and into 2013.

With key elections ahead, unresolved conflicts that continue to roil entire regions, and rising nationalist sentiment in major world economies, investors will want to stay abreast of developments on the international political scene.

Why Citi bothered to include Russia or China (Both fairly stable, at the moment)to the list, or formally recognize how America's potential economic meltdown might either blow up internally, or critically hobble most financial markets is puzzling.  Of real concern:  Israel/Iran/Syria/Turkey/Saudi Arabia/Egypt (Multiple scenarios involving each other, Russia/China and/or NATO), Greece/Italy/EU meltdown, and surprisingly not on the list, Japan's economic and radioactive death spiral.  Fukushima doesn't rate as a "global hotspot?"

I'm sure Ms. Fordham got paid a shitload of money for her analysis, and I'm glad I didn't have to actually pay money for said analysis.  I've got a friend whose rantings are more comprehensive, more pertinent, and much more interesting and/or entertaining than the USA Today version of geo-political current events Citi has offered up. 

I'm also sure that there are a lot of clueless rich people who will gladly pay for this "analysis," confident they're the ones with the valid information.  Good for them.  I'll take ______ insights anytime, whether he's sober or drunk.  His narrative is far more compelling than this dreck, slurred or not..  And it's free.

Chevron's Largest California Refinery "Immediate-Extreme-Health-Hazard" Fire Emergency

Because evidently, you can never be too rich, too thin, too tan, or too toxic.  Uh, Chevron, we're already more than a little busy, here..  Zero Hedge:

UPDATE: *CHEVRON RICHMOND REFINERY HYDROCRACKER EXPLODED: KPIX-TV, REFINERY SHUTDOWN, CAN PROCESS 244,000 BBL/DAY
Chevron's Richmond refinery, the largest refinery in California, is under a Level 3 Hazardous Material extreme immediate warning with local authorities advising local citizens to "to shelter in place, go inside, close all windows and doors, turn off all heaters, air conditioners and fans. If not using the fireplace, close fireplace dampers and vents, and cover cracks around doors and windows with tape or damped towels." As KTVU2 comments, it appears massive and out of control currently. Live KRON4 stream embedded.

•*2 DISTINCT PLUMES OF SMOKES OBSERVED EMITTING FROM CVX REFINERY

•*CHEVRON SPOKESWOMAN SAYS NOT SURE WHAT CAUSE OF FIRE IS :CVX US

•*CHEVRON RICHMOND REFINERY HAS EVACUATION ON EMISSIONS: FILING

Live Stream from KRON4...  (Video and pictures at the above link)

Updates forthcoming..

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan: Is The Saudi Spy Chief Dead Or Alive?

Nobody knows, as the intrigue grows!  Is GW's favorite Ay-rab dead or alive?  International Business Times:

Unconfirmed reports are emerging from the Middle East and Europe that Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been assassinated.
The Voltaire Network of Paris reported that Bandar was killed in a bomb attack on July 26. He was apparently murdered by Syrian operatives in retaliation for his alleged role in the July 18 bombing in Damascus which killed four of President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, including Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha and his deputy Assef Shawkat.
However, neither Saudi nor Syrian sources have confirmed the alleged assassination.

The Prince was a familiar figure in the U.S. since he served as Saudi ambassador to the US from 1983 until 2005. He was appointed Saudi intelligence chief earlier this month, reportedly a reward for having orchestrated the Damascus attack.

Finally, some confirmation of his continuing alive-ness..  Before It's News:

The Saudi leadership has broken its silence. The internal crisis is officially over.  All is well in the House of Saud. The partying can continue for now.


The editors of the Voltaire Network wrote in an article on Sunday, August 5, called, “Saudi daily denies Prince Bandar is dead”:

“The Saudi daily Arab News in its August 4 edition denies the death of Prince Bandar bin Sultan [1]. Arab News is the official mouthpiece of the royal family. It is owned by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Defence Minister of the Kingdom.  The author of the article, Ali Bluwi, is an economic journalist and … a crisis communications consultant to … Washington.”

Okay, so the official mouthpiece of Saudi Arabia says Bandar Bush is alive and well. But why is the peacock not posing for cameras? Forget words. People want images. Until that happens the rumours won’t die.

“Sources say” this and that. Sources from the North Pole say Santa Claus is actually black and not really fat. Who should we believe? Voltaire Net’s sources, Iran’s sources, or the House of Saud’s sources? Or maybe the always reliable sources of the CIA?

The CIA’s David Ignatius said on Sunday, August 5, that the rumour of Prince Bandar’s death, “was rebutted Friday by a source who said that Bandar had been in telephone contact with non-Saudis.” This is very vague. Maybe the Prince’s voice was faked.

On Friday, August 3rd, Veterans Today reported that Bandar is in Switzerland. This is more concrete information, but we still don’t have pictures.

So, what should we believe?

Is Prince Bandar playing hide and seek with the world? Is he dead? Is he hiding under his bed?

Since there are no recent photos of him in action we must conclude that he is dead, but with reservations.
So there you have it:  Nobody knows..  I have to side with the "until we see some pictures" camp.  Every faction has a vested interest in killing Bandar or keeping him alive, or at least the perception that he still is alive.  Byzantine, yo..

"Fuck you, King Larry!  Whether I live or am blown to bits is not your concern!  Now bring me sex partners and cocaine!"

Italian PM warns of the break-up of the Eurozone and the European Union

The rumblings from officialdom begin, or continue..  The Guardian, via The Extinction Protocol:

August 6, 2012 – ROME - The big news this morning is coming from an interview Italy’s Mario Monti gave to German magazine Der Spiegel, in which he warned that growing Italian resentment against Germany risks the break-up of not just the eurozone but the European Union itself. He said the eurozone tensions “bear the traits of a psychological dissolution of Europe,” adding that Europe “must work hard to contain it.” Asked about a strengthening in resentment between the allegedly profligate southern European nations and the bloc’s thrifty northern members, Monti told Der Spiegel “it is very alarming, and we have to fight against it. Yes, there is a front line in this area between north and south, there are reciprocal prejudices,” according to AP’s report of the interview. In the meantime, tensions between Germany and Italy appear to be on the rise. The news comes after an Italian newspaper splashed its front page on a photo of Angela Merkel with her arm raised and the headline “Quarto Reich.”(Ouch!)  Meanwhile, in an op-ed in Germany’s Bild Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister and president of the EU Commission, urged Germany to show “true leadership” in steering the continent through the crisis, saying the bloc’s biggest economy has the duty “to lead Europe toward a better future.” If Germany fails to lead through the crisis, it “would be the political end, for Europe and for Germany,” he insisted, urging Berlin to present a “clear action plan to achieve a democratic, federally structured Europe.” It is important to note that il Giornale (Where the headline 4th Reich appeared)is owned by Berlusconi. –Guardian (Full article at this link)

67 years later, Japan dropped more than 168 Hiroshima atomic bombs on itself (Cs-137 base)

I really hope we mutate unexpected superpowers.  Wouldn't that be fun?  Fukushima Diary:

At 8:15 AM 67 years ago, Hiroshima got the first atomic bomb in the world.


So far, 280,959 people died. Only within this year, no less than 5,729 people are added to the list. (cf. Ministry of health concealed the survey data of atomic bomb victims)

They hold a ceremony every year and state they won’t let the world repeat the same tragedy, but Japanese government is still reluctant to admit the fact that black rain fell not to pay the compensation.

As a matter of fact, they shall give the statement to themselves.

According to the report of Japanese government in 2011, which is presumed to be the most moderate estimate, Fukushima reactor1 ~ 3 emit as 168 times much cesium-137 as Hiroshima atomic bomb by August of 2011.

When it comes to Iodine-131, it was 63,000 tera-Bq in Hiroshima, where it was 160,000 tera-Bq in Fukushima. As to Strontium-90, it was 58 tera-Bq in Hiroshima, where it was 140 tera-Bq.

Moreover, there was no emission of Cs-134 in Hiroshima, so it is not comparable with Fukushima.

The data is not published to count possible emission from reactor 4, also, sea contamination is not counted either.

It has been about 17 months since 311. It’s been like having a Hiroshima atomic bomb every 3 days since 311.

It can be more than that in reality because radiation still keeps leaking.

Happy Birthday, Hiroshima A-Bomb!  Blow out the candles and make a wish!  Personally, I'm still torn between invisibility, leaping/flying, and bullet/explosion proof..  Under no circumstances, though, will I wear a cape.

International, Geo-Political Oh SNAP!

Syria Arrests Turkish Army General in Aleppo.  Maybe he's on "foodie" vacation.  There's better hummus in Syria, donchaknow..  Fars News Agency:


TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian Army announced that it has recently apprehended a Turkish general who commanded the terrorists trying to seize control of Aleppo.



According to an informed source in Syria, the Turkish general was arrested during the Syrian Army's clashes with the terrorists in Aleppo.


News reports said that the Turkish general has been taken to Damascus for further interrogations.


Earlier, Turkish media also reported that Syria has detained 40 Turkish military officers in different parts of the country, and said that efforts to release them have failed.


Turkey along with the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been supporting terrorists and rebel groups in Syria and have practically brought a UN peace initiative into failure to bring President Assad's government into collapse.


Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.


Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.


The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.


In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.

Turkey is rapidly becoming Gladys Kravitz or Iago of the middle east.  There's probably going to be some blowback for this set of shenanigans.  Coupled with the insurgents targeting Christians, might the West be backing the wrong horse?

New York Times Acknowledges that Syrian Opposition Is Targeting Christians and Other Minorities

It must be nice to consistently act without thinking..  Washington's Blog:

Why Are Americans Supporting a “Humanitarian” War Where Minorities Are Being Targeted by Terrorists?



Everyone from the Vatican to priests on the ground in Syria have reported that the Syrian opposition is persecuting Christians.

Now even the New York Times is starting to report the truth:

Syria’s 2.3 million Christians, constituting about 10 percent of the country’s population, have generally known a more privileged existence under the Assad dynasty than even the Shiite Alawi sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.
***
As the rebellion became suffused with Sunni militants sympathetic to or affiliated with Al Qaeda, Christians recoiled.


A churchgoing Syrian told me that he used to see himself primarily as “Syrian” and that religious identity, in political terms, was an idea that never occurred to him — until an opposition gang attacked his family earlier this year in Homs. “It’s a label they pinned on us,” he said. “If their revolution is for everyone, as they keep insisting it is, why are Christians being targeted? It is because what they are waging is not a struggle for freedom, and it’s certainly not for everyone.”


As Saudi Arabian arms and money bolster the opposition, the 80,000 Christians who’ve been “cleansed” from their homes in Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan in Homs Province in March by the Free Syrian Army have gradually given up the prospect of ever returning home.


The rebels’ conduct has prompted at least some Sunnis who had supported the rebels and once-wavering Syrians to pledge renewed loyalty to Assad. Many who once regarded the regime as a kleptocracy now view it as the best guarantor of Syria’s endangered pluralism.
***
This is the work of the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia,” he added, referring to the ultra conservative Sunni sect.


Repeated attempts by Free Syrian Army fighters to destroy a shrine to Sayyida Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad revered by Shiites, have not yet caused the area’s Sunni minority to flee — many Shiites here have refused to blame their Sunni neighbors for the rebels’ crimes.


Over the past week, more than a dozen Syrians — chiefly Alawi and Christian, but also a handful of Sunnis — affirmed to me their determination to pick up arms to defend Assad.


The seeming indifference of the international community to the worsening condition of Syria’s religious minorities — and the near total absence of censure of the opposition forces by the Western governments arrayed against Assad — is breeding a bitter anti-Americanism among many secular Syrians who see the United States aligning itself with Saudi Arabia, the fount of Wahhabism, against the Arab world’s most resolutely secular state.
***
Washington is aware of the scale of the problem. As early as June 2011, Robert Stephen Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, briefed his counterparts in Damascus about Al Qaeda’s penetration of the opposition forces. By still ploughing ahead with its support for Saudi Arabia’s effort to destabilize Syria, Washington, far from assisting Israel or weakening Iran, is helping to fuel a humanitarian crisis that will come back to haunt the United States.

The fact that so many Americans – including progressive liberals – still support a “humanitarian war” where minorities are being targeted and Al Qaeda has somehow become our closest ally shows the power of modern propaganda.


What?  The Syrian opposition isn't a bunch of rag-tag good guys fighting the good fight?  But that narrative is so heartwarming!  Can't we still pretend it's true?