"GAS" Is At The Heart Of Everything Going On In Syria

16 Nisan 5777
Chol HaMoed Pesach

Of course, a chemical gas attack is being used to seriously undermine Assad's regime. That's because the whole war in Syria is being waged for the sake of protecting Russian hegemony in the supply of gas to Europe!

I wrote about this before in depth here and here.

In short, Russia has had Europe over a barrel for years with its monopoly on their natural gas supply. The only serious competitors can only reach Europe via a pipeline through Syria which Assad won't allow because Russia is his patron and he is bound to do the Kremlin's bidding. And this is why Russia is so deeply involved in defending the Assad regime. Gas sales to Europe is part of the lifeblood of the Russian economy. They are not about to lose it by giving up their influence there.

Ironic (and telling) how prominently the word "gas" is figuring in the news currently. First, there is the repeat use of chemical gas against civilians in the Syrian "civil" war...

Telegraph: America could take military action against Syrian regime in response to chlorine gas attacks, US defence secretary suggests

Chicago Tribune: Turkey - Autopsies show sarin gas used in Syria chemical attack

Daily Mail: Russia KNEW about Syrian gas attack in advance - and about a bid to cover it up by bombing hospital treating Assad's victims, say U.S. officials

And then there is recent news about progress in the attempt to bypass Syria and Russia entirely in a bid to supply Europe with natural gas...

Ha'aretz: Europe, Israel Back Longest Undersea Natural Gas Pipeline

Globes: EU delegation visits Israel for gas pipeline talks

Financial Times: Israel signs pipeline deal in push to export gas to Europe

Israel’s Natural Gas Supply Is a Game-Changer

“Russia Cuts Gas, and Europe Shivers,” the New York Times reported on January 6, 2009, after Russia shut off gas exports to Europe due to a pricing dispute with Ukraine. From France to Turkey, nations across Europe went without power — and the incident underscored Russia’s outsized hold on European gas supplies.

Fast-forward nearly a decade later, and Europe is on the verge of relief from an unlikely source: Israel.

While approximately 60 percent of the world’s oil reserves are found in the Middle East, none of them are found Israel. Israel has been striving for decades to reduce its reliance on foreign sources of energy, by developing nuclear and solar technology, among other methods.

Then the game-changer occurred: the discovery of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields off the coast of Haifa in 2009 and 2010. They were among the largest offshore finds in the world.

... Israel’s new gas fields will make the Jewish state a global energy player for the first time in its history, greatly altering its political and economic clout throughout the Middle East and Europe. Steinitz has said that he sees the eastern Mediterranean becoming the new North Sea.

Jordan has already signed a $10 billion deal to import Israeli gas, and Europe is next. Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy recently agreed to a $6.4 billion plan to construct the world’s longest underwater pipeline, which would bring Israel’s natural gas into the European market. The deal was supported by the EU’s Climate and Energy Commission, which said that it would help limit reliance on Russian-supplied gas.

This article is from two days ago. Don't expect Russia to sit still for this.