As far as I can tell the elites are betting the farm on the following plan.
The free world doesn't trust Putin. Putin gets away with tons of stuff because Russia supplies so much natural gas to Europe that no one can really object too much of anything Putin does.
The Saudis and other Arab countries have plenty of natural gas but nowhere to pipe it to. Syria and Iraq stand between Europe and the Arab world. No one was going to run a pipeline through those two countries with those crazy rulers -- they're worse than Putin. That would have given them too much power.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-pipelines
So Bush tries regime change in Iraq. Makes up weapons of mass destruction because he wants a pipeline. Fail.
So Obama tries to start something with Syria to push their government out. No one will support him, so he starts supporting the resistance. Then ISIS shows up and starts fighting Assad AND his resistance. Obama steps in and pretends to fight ISIS, but really only fights them if they fight the resistance. Assad is fair game. Obama wants the pipeline.
Putin sees Assad teetering and decides he has to annex Ukraine now. Once Assad falls, the Europeans might support fighting back. But as long as Assad is in power, Putin can grab what he thinks he needs.
Europe will meekly go along because they need the natural gas only Putin can supply.
The Saudis, of course, REALLY want the pipeline. So they decide to support Obama by lowering the price of gas, essentially ensuring the US economy remains robust so that we continue to support regime change in Syria. Basically, it has turned the US into Saudi mercenaries, at least in part.
This is why Obama repeatedly rejected the Keystone Pipeline between the US and Canada, which would have created countless Jobs for Americans. Canada then goes along with Obama, agreeing to accept thousands of refugees.
The refugees are the pawns in this game, meant to benefit the Saudis AND the Europeans. So Europe steps up and takes massive numbers of refugees. Why? Not because they are good guys, but if the war results in too big of a humanitarian crisis, the world populace, in the dark over all of this, will demand an end to the war and Assad will remain in power. So Germany, who will be the greatest beneficiary of stable supplies of gas, tells Greece, who owes Germany a lot of money, that they can get some serious financial concessions by accepting refugees. Greece complies.
Putin sees Assad teetering, and doesn't much care about him, but doesn't want the pipeline to be built. So Putin steps in to the war to defend Assad.
So all the world's major events come down to a pipeline VS no pipeline. They are all connected to it. The Saudis are "betting the farm" over it. The pipeline will represent untold billions of dollars for centuries.
In the last month, there was a catastrophic terrorist attack on a bus in Egypt, and a group of tourist was held hostage. From what we know at this point, the tourist were not the targets themselves, but pawns, meant to lure out security guards, who the group then attacked. In the United States, 2 men have been arrested after special investigators discovered their connections to international terrorism. Both men were found out through Social Media post they made while they were supporting various terrorist organizations overseas. In Iraq, a man was arrested after he was found to have supported ISIS.
Recently, there was a deadly terrorist attack in the capital of Indonesia. This confirms what many have suspected for some time, and I have been mentioning before this attacked even happened. There is an ISIS cell hiding in the eastern jungles of Indonesia and certain individuals are backing it. But most people fail to look at this from the big picture. This situation is just a small detail.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/multiple-explosions-hit-indonesian-capital-of-jakarta-1452746376
In Indonesia they have been arresting backers of ISIS who are hiding in eastern jungles. Indonesia believes that Saudi Arabia is responsible for ISIS. According to Indonesia, there are some members of the Saudi Family who they have not been able to control, who are sending support to the Jihadist.
The struggle is between the Sunni in Saudi Arabia, who are governed by a monarchy, and the family of the prophet Mohammad, the Shiites of Iran, who are governed by a supreme leader. This rivalry goes back hundreds of years to the start of Islam, but today, we see it with oil and missiles. Saudi Arabia is in a particular problem as all of sudden the Saudis are over extended, they have lost a great deal of money in Yemen, blocking what they see as a rebellion backed by Iran. Now they are in a transition period, having to adjust to lower oil prices, and this goes against the social contract of Saudi Arabia where they don't tax the people, ensure stability, and the ruling party doesn't ask for a vote. Since 1945 Saudi Arabia has seen the U.S as its protector. But that relationship has deteriorated since the Iran deal.
The P5+1 was a transfer of 150 billion dollars to gain Iran's favor. Iran doesn't have the fire power to invade Saudi Arabia.
This conflict goes back to the rivalry between the inner rim and the outer rim.
http://www.silkroadstudies.org/resources/pdf/Monographs/1006Rethinking-4.pdf
Civilization began in the inner rim, but suddenly the nations of the outer rim could dominate the world as they overpowered the inner rim with maritime power and the collapse of ancient empires in China and Turkey.
Japan was the China of the 19th century, from the ability of its leaders to see that the only way to succeed was by joining the outer rim powers. The Chinese shut out the Europeans and pretended these advanced societies weren’t happening when they landed on their doorstep. Japan overhauled their entire society to catch up with the Europeans.
By the 20th Century, the idea developed that using force to change frontiers was an idea of the past. Germany could be crushed between the power of Great Britain and Russia, and in the 20th Century they got it very wrong. The people on the outer rim were worried that Germany and Russia would come together and Crush them. The people on the inner rim were worried that Germany and the outer rim would come together and crush them.
Now, the inner rim has started to push back. India gains independence from Great Britain. Mao wins the civil war in China. But Iran hasn’t tried to do this yet. They have a rouge regime like that of Mao’s China. It depends on which way they lean, into the heartland, or compromise with the outer rim countries. Over the last few years the inner rim countries did not do good leaning in towards the heartland nations like Russia, they did better when they leaned towards the west. But leaning outwards to the west ‘Too much’ when your economy kicks off can be bad. They need to find a middle ground towards independence.
The Russian Empire ended on its own. It couldn’t update its ideology; and the people no longer supported its ideas. Now Russia feels very exposed and very threatened by the outer rim, these countries with huge economies, they have to build up a geological buffer between these places between Russia and Germany, like Crimea, to gain access to the Black Sea; Russia can’t afford to let the Baltic States lean to the West. That is why Russia is willing to take on these sanctions. They are looking to modernize weapon systems and intercept communications but they are not planning such meetings as the U.S does. Instead they are centralizing their appearance as forceful. The recent leaking of the design for a Russian missile meant to bypass IBM defenses by Russian TV was an inside job to assert Russia’s capabilities. The situation is most volatile in Ukraine as Russia projects more proxy fighters into the nation and more Submarines into the Baltics.
In Ukraine and Syria , the Russians have interjected themselves into an electronic stage, jamming radars, stealing communication data, using models such as flash points, and moving artillery.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/21/russia-winning-the-electronic-war/
Iran and Saudi Arabia do not like each other. In the event of a WW3 type situation, China would join Russia, and Japan would join the Outer rim. North Korea who has already tested a fission weapon would work with Iran to create more effective long range missiles. As of now, Iran does not have the firepower to take down Saudi Arabia.
In addition, most of the ISIS fighters are coming from Bosnia (300 per month), one of the Balkans states that Russia is trying to annex. Bosnia has a total population of approximately 4 million; and a Muslim demographic of 1.8 million.
Trump claims he'll ban all Muslims entering the U.S. Trump opposed the war in Iraq, and is silent on Putin. This is why Putin approves of him.