Being John Malkovich Assad

The more I hear about Syria killing Sunni (majority) citizens, and Bahrain suppressing Shi'a (majority) citizens, and the more bombs that keep going off in Iraq & Afghanistan & Pakistan... I find it hard to not implicate the involvement of the largest Shi'a nation in the world: Iran. 

First, Syria.  I keep hearing questions on the radio
Q: "When will Assad run out of money?"
A: Never, as long as Iran is pumping oil.  Iran won't pass up a chance to take out Sunnis and stick a thumb into Sunni run Saudia Arabia's eyes, whenever possible.
Q:  "How long before the Syrian military generals turn against Assad?"
A:  Never, as long as Iran is providing military advisers, intelligence, weapons
Iran NEEDS Syria and the Assad regime to funnel money and weapons to Hezbollah ( حزب الله‎ ).  Assad is an 'Alawite, which is a off-shoot of Shi'a.  Now, to most so-called christian[TM] Americans, a Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim.  But to the Shi'a and Sunni, they see themselves as different as Roman Catholic and Orange Protestants in Northern Ireland.  Sunni doctrine dictates that Shi'a are heretics who need to be executed - Martin Luther didn't advocate killing of Catholics, the same way the Inquisition advocated hunting down and taking out perceived "heretics" but the level of hatred is the equivalent. 

So the Iranian Shi'a, who have loads of oil, and therefore a supply of Cash, are able to finance, supply, guide, influence, control the Syrian 'Alawites, and the Lebanese Hezbollah Shi'a militants, and the citizens of Bahrain who are 80% Shi'a but are ruled by a Saudi Aligned Sunni monarchy.  And to make things look worse for the United States, our 5th Fleet is stationed in Bahrain, so the United States Commerce, Energy (oil), Defense & State Departments don't want to have American media cover Sunni suppression of Shi'a majority citizen protests in Bahrain, but they DO want to have intense media focus on Bashar Assad's killing of his Sunni majority citizens in Syria.  Thing is, it's not Assad so much anymore killing anyone, but Iran pulling the puppet strings.  If Iran loses Syria to a majority Sunni revolution, they lose a 2nd front on Iraq through which to funnel IEDs, suicide bombers, and enough mischief & evil to entangle US troops in support of the Iraqi government for generations to come.  Iran would also lose their conduit to easily reach Hezbollah, since in Lebanon there's too many Druze and Christians getting in their way. 

Now, to circle back to Afghanistan & Iraq.  Iran Does NOT want America to withdraw troops, treasure, and attention from their neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan.   They DON'T want to be invaded, but at the same time, they won't pass up a chance to kill as many Americans and NATO troops as possible with increasingly sophisticated IEDs, so Iran creates as much mayhem and havoc as they can without stepping over the line to the point where they blatantly piss off the US and get cruise missile, predator drone & B2 bomber strikes.  From what I've observed, the bloody math figures to < 50 US troops killed / month = American Apathy*
* Note: as long as the IED or violent attack is not directly traceable back to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

So it is the Sunnis in Saudi Arabia who are pulling the puppet strings with the monarchy in Bahrain, and with Hamas ( حماس‎ ) in Gaza.  The Shi'a Iranians are pulling the puppet strings in Syria, in Lebanon with Hezbollah, fueling unrest in Bahrain with the Shi'a majority, in Iraq when Sunnis are blown up, and in Afghanistan when the Sunni dominated Taliban are not involved in killing Afghan & NATO troops. 

John Malkovich is no longer John Malkovich once John Cusack is pulling the puppet strings, and playing out his long lasting dream of exploring the 'art of puppeteering'... all while appearing to be John Malkovich, having the facade and reputation of Malkovich, but living out the dreams and machinations of Cusack.  Pick your puppet, and your puppet master.  Align each with rival Sunni or Shi'a sects who've hated each other and warred with each other for centuries, and perhaps now you have a better impression of just how messed up things are from the Sinai Peninsula to the Hindu Kush range. 

I do not include Libya and Pakistan into this, since they are far more tribal, diverse in which Muslim sect their populations are made of, and are therefore much harder to predict.  The puppeteers are playing smaller roles there, but are not the dominant voices in the cacophony of violence, chaos, and civil war (in Libya Open civil war, in Pakistan, just-below-boiling-point covert civil war).  In Egypt, the society is more educated, more tech savvy, more metropolitan and less agrarian relying heavily on tourism for revenue (or at least they Used To rely on tourism) so the religious puppeteers have less sway. 

Therefore, whenever I hear about "When will the Syrian regime collapse?" I automatically rephrase the question:  "Will Iran capitulate in Syria, to Sunni / Saudi dominance?"

"When will the media start covering the brutality against the Bahrain citizens?" automatically becomes "When will the 5ft Fleet leave Bahrain?"

"When will the US withdraw all their troops from Iraq?" automatically becomes "When will Iran stop funding Malaki and other Shi'a insurgent factions?"

I know it's somewhat of an over-simplification to label ALL the carnage in the middle east on the Sunni / Shi'a internecine conflict, but it helps my tired mind to see who the real puppet masters are, and why the killing continues on a massive scale fueled by religious fervor.