OH, you mean the PERSIAN GULF ! Yes, everyone is busy chipping away at something; Maddow's stick is business. Then there are those who would like to get rid of the PERSIAN in the PERSIAN GULF name too and take every opportunity to try ...... and fail....

Beautifully put. Often times it feels as if different capitals in the ME & NE take turn dictating policy to us. Making use of our manpower & economic power to achieve ends that are desirable for them but often times not so much for us ; or even the great majority of the local population.

You have hit on the crux of the matter. " All Iran all the time ". It has been that way since the Iranian revolution of 78/79 & multiple scare Riyadh got circa 1979 from its Shia minority. For which they blamed the Iranian Islamic Govt. The chess game in the region is driven mainly by this animosity towards Iran and the fear that should (or when) the sanctions are lifted their importance as an indispensable ally will be greatly weakened. Hopefully the US will find its way clear to pursue its own national security & economic imperatives and not those of others (often at the expense of its own).

Col. Lang Kudos to your writing style (as well as the substance of course). The following statement, despite its brevity, coveys what many feel should be our policy towards the Syrian tangle sponsored mainly from Riyadh. " ... The jihadis came to Syria to die for their faith. They should be assisted in that ambition.... " So true . Thank you for stating it so succinctly.

A text book example of tail wagging dog(s), specially for the past 4 decades or so ....

It is all pretty clear. You best described the current "You Tube" based foreign policy by posting that link to the "French" boy friend a couple of hours ago. What forces, or interests, move the current and previous administration to make such rash and EXPENSIVE decisions based on laughable intel? One wonders.

Very unfortunately there are many more than "3 stooges" reporting this point of view.

You are 100% correct. Jamal Abdul-Nasser had done the same to the MB. So, surprise surprise , history does repeat itself (specially if you do not behave; and they did not act as democrats - surprise- when they had the power).

As always, this is another excellent post about the ME and the one sided optics used by some of our leading papers to look at the events there. Do the guys advocating the sacrifice of our sons and daughters in foreign wars ever pause and think for a moment about what they preach. Or because most of them have no stake in the volunteer army nary a thought is given to the lives at risk? Why in the world would it matter to the stability of Saudi Arabia or Turkey if Bashar Assad stays? Is antagonizing Iran worth the spillage of our, or anybody else's blood? Saudi Arabian Procrustean gerontocrats would be better off thinking about their own internal weaknesses, and how their own demise might blossom by sowing the seeds of sectarian hatred all over the region. Turkey also seems to forget that the meddling in Syria could have consequences not only for its Kurdish population (the most oppressed of the region) but for the more than half a million Alawiis living in Turkey. Most all of whom are strong supporters of the Alawite president of Syria.