A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[Christer Forslund]

The Huffington Post UK Paul Vale http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/...ukUpdated: 29/12/11

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is preparing to launch another major military offensive against Gaza, according to a senior military commander.
Speaking on Army Radio, Benny Gantz, the IDF's chief of staff, said that military action would come "sooner or later". It was Gantz's first major interview since he assumed the post in February.
Tuesday's announcement was made on the three-year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, which marked the start of the 2008/09 Gaza War.

The biggest military campaign of recent years in the region, the conflict resulted in the death of 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
According to Gantz, that operation, which lasted three-weeks, "achieved deterrence", however the officer added that there was "no escape" from conducting another "serious operation".
"I believe that the State of Israel cannot continue to live under the active threat of Hamas in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Speaking to Haaretz, the head of the IDF's southern Brigade, said: "We are preparing and in fact are ready for another campaign, which will be varied and different, to renew our deterrence, if we are called on to restore full quiet to the communities."
Shortly after Gantz's broadcast, the IDF launched two airstrikes on Gaza. The Guardian reported that one person had been killed and 10 injured. Later, and IDF spokesperson said the strikes had targeted "terrorist squads"
On Thursday, the IDF official Twitter feed reported that four rockets had been fired overnight from Gaza into Israel.
According to Haaretz, the rockets did not explode and there were no reported injuries or damage.
Hamas declared a ceasefire after the 2009 war, however independent military groups within Gaza occasionally take unilateral action, firing rockets into Israel.
Hamas has tried to distance itself from the attacks, however the Israeli government has said it holds Hamas - as the government - responsible for all military strikes emanating from Gaza.

[Ed Jewett]

Spoiling for a Fight with Syria and Iran

By Stephen Lendman

Picture from Arab Revolution2011

Syria remains the region's only independent secular state. Washington aims to replace its regime with a client one.Libya's model was replicated. Months of externally generated violence followed. So far it's short of war. For how long is uncertain. Obama can't wait to wage another one to keep ravaging the world one country at a time.

Months of violence, sanctions and isolation have taken a toll. Deaths mount. No one knows how many. Western media reported numbers come from opposition forces, not independent observers. Nothing they say is reliable.
Assad's government says 2,000 security forces have been killed. "Terrorist gangs" are blamed. Whatever the actual number, they've been many. Heavily armed insurgents are responsible. Conflict resolution isn't imminent.
Syria's economy deteriorates steadily. In 2011, its GDP collapsed 30% from around $55 billion to $37 billion. Its currency also plunged from 47 to 62 to the dollar. Basic goods and services are in short supply. Heating and cooking oil are scarce. Electricity is on and off.
Assad's regime is weakening. National institutions are eroding. Opposition forces are locally organized. Neighborhood committees and armed groups were formed. At issue is usurping state power despite divisions of strategy, especially over peaceful or violent conflict resolution and pro or con advocacy for outside intervention.
After months of turmoil, heightened fear prevails. On December 23, Syrian state television reported two suicide car bombings, the first ones in Damascus since conflict began. Kfar Sousadistrict was targeted. It's where state security and intelligence facilities are located. Heavy gunfire followed. Syria reported 40 or more killed and 100 wounded.
The attacks came a day after 60 Arab League observers arrived. They're an advance monitoring team with hundreds more to come. Whether they'll help or hurt is uncertain. More on that below.
Their mission will last a month unless renewed. It wants all security forces withdrawn from urban areas and detainees released. Nothing is said about heavily armed insurgent terrorists doing much of the killing. Conflict resolution depends on stopping all of it equitably.
Of concern is that monitors are a step short of occupation. It's reminiscent of events preceding NATO's 1999 Serbia/Kosovo war. In March 1999, Slobodon Milosovic got an unacceptable ultimatum, the so-called Rambouillet Agreement. It was a take-it-or-leave it deal no responsible leader would accept.
It involved surrendering Serbia's sovereignty to NATO occupation with unimpeded access throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), including its airspace and territorial waters. Moreover, NATO demanded use of areas and facilities therein for its mission, irrespective of FRY laws.
It also required Milosevic's full cooperation. It was an offer designed to reject. War, mass destruction and slaughter followed. Serbia's sovereign Kosovo territory was lost. It's now Washington/NATO occupied territory, run by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, an unindicted drug trafficker with known organized crime ties.
Washington, Israel, and key NATO partners have similar designs on Syria. War's perhaps planned. Pro-Western Arab League despots supported NATO's Libya war, mass slaughter and destruction. At the same time, they ignore ongoing atrocities in Bahrain, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, elsewhere in the region, and internally.
Calls for military intervention are increasing. In late November on CNN's State of the Union, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice accused Assad of "driving his country to the brink of civil war. (He's) no friend of the United States."

"Syria is the handmaiden of the Iranians throughout the region and so the fall of (Assad) would be a great thing not just for the Syrian people….but also for the policies of the United States and those who want a more peaceful Middle East."

She also called for tough sanctions, isolation and intervention, adding that if Russia and China won't agree, "then we (and allies) have to do it on our own." Stopping short of suggesting war, the implication is striking.
A Syrian National Council (SNC) was established. It's similar to Libya's puppet Transitional National Council (TNC). Originally formed in 2005, it was revived on August 23, 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. It represents Western-backed internal opposition elements against the rights and interests of most Syrians.
It called for a Libyan-style no-fly zone and foreign intervention. It supplies intelligence to Washington and other Western nations. If unconventional tactics fail, stepped up violence and war remain options.
Since early 2011, NATO countries used regional bases to provide anti-regime support. Saudi Arabia, Lebanon's March 14 alliance, Turkey, Jordan and Israel are financing and arming insurgents.
So far, Russia and China blocked a Libyan-style "humanitarian intervention." Washington, however, wants regime change. Huge challenges remain to stop it.
SNC members want the Security Council to establish "protected zone" cover in violent prone areas. Free Syrian Army (FSA) security force defectors and insurgents also want no-fly zone protection and foreign military involvement. Deferring so far from direct NATO action, Washington backs Turkey and Arab League partners intervening.
America's Media War on Syria
A New York Times attack piece is typical. On December 22, its editorial headlined, "Get Tougheron Assad," saying:
After months of conflict, Assad's "still killing his people. And leaders in Russia, China and Arab states still haven't done enough to pressure him to stop." Claiming 5,000 unsubstantiated deaths,The Times blames "the brutal government crackdown in nine months of protests."
Fact check
Unmentioned was Washington's long planned regime change, replicating the Libya model, replacing an independent regime with a client one, and using heavily armed insurgents to destabilize Syria violently.
Assad's willingness to dialogue with opposition elements "seems like another ploy to buy time as he tries to beat Syrians into submission."
Fact check
Throughout the conflict, Assad made conciliatory offers. Opposition forces dismissed them out of hand, much like Libya's TNC rejected Gaddafi's overtures earlier.
On state television several times since last spring, Assad promised reforms. In June, he announced a 100-member panel to draft parliamentary election law changes, press freedoms, and a new constitution. He also said he'd prosecute those responsible for violence.

"There is little reason to believe Mr. Assad will allow (Arab League) observer(s) unrestricted access to all conflict areas (and be free to) make all of its findings public."
"Meanwhile, Russia is still tying the….Security Council in knots and preventing it from doing what it should have done months ago (through) tough economic and trade sanctions," condemnation, and more. Assad "left no doubt that he is willing to destroy his country to maintain his hold on power, which would be a disaster for the region."

The Times stopped short of endorsing war. Expect it if NATO intervenes directly or indirectly.When Washington's involved militarily, America's media march supportively in lockstep without debate, who benefits and loses, rule of law issues, and other right and wrong considerations.
Throughout the AfPak, Iraq and Libyan conflicts, disputing their legitimacy was verboten.
Instead, Times and other major media opinion pieces suppress truths and manipulate public opinion to support Washington/NATO attacking nonbelligerent countries lawlessly. Perhaps Syriaand Iran are next.
Target Iran
Matthew Kroenig titled his Foreign Affairs January/February 2012 article, "Time to Attack Iran." Doing so let his advocacy pose as analysis.
Harvard International Affairs Professor Stephen Walt[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) !important]z[/COLOR] called his article "a textbook example of war-wongering disguised as analysis. It is a remarkably poor piece of advocacy….This is not fair-minded analysis;' it is simply a brief for war designed to reach a predetermined conclusion."
In his article, Kroenig said waging war is "the least bad option. (For years), American pundits and policymakers have been debating whether the United States should attack Iran and attempt to eliminate its nuclear facilities."
"Proponents (say) the only thing worse than military action (is) Iran armed with nuclear weapons. Critics" warn doing so won't work and "would spark a full-fledged war and a global economic crisis.
Fact check
Iran's not aggressive or imperial. It poses no regional threat. It hasn't attacked another nation in over 200 years. It maintains a strong military for self-defense. It's vital given repeated Washington and Israeli threats.
No evidence whatever suggests an Iranian nuclear weapons program. US intelligence assessments through March 2011 found none.
During his December 1, 1997 November 30, 2009 tenure as IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) !important]z[/COLOR] concurred. Current head, Yukiya Amano[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) !important]z[/COLOR], politicized IAEA policy for Western interests, mainly America's.
Washington manipulated his appointment. He was enlisted to lie. He hasn't disappoint. Ahead of his report suggesting an Iranian nuclear weapons program, he visited Washington for instructions.

"….(S)keptics of military action fail to appreciate the true danger that a nuclear-armed Iran poses to US interests in the Middle East and beyond….The truth is that a military strike intended to destroy Iran's nuclear program, if managed carefully, could spare the region and the world a very real threat and dramatically improve the long-term national security of the United States."

Kroenig's a former Secretary of Defense Office strategist. He's also a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow. CFR is an influential US organization. From its 1921 beginnings, it's advocated one-world government run by dominant financial interests.
Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called it a "front organization (for) the heart of the American establishment." It meets privately and publishes only what it wishes the public to know. Since 1922, Foreign Affairs has been its flagship publication.
Its members represent imperial Washington's interests, including its longstanding objective for unchallenged global dominance. Achieving it depends on replacing independent regimes with client ones and eliminating all military and economic rivals.
War's a frequently used option. Waging it against Iran could embroil the entire region and threaten general war, possibly with nuclear weapons.
In his rage to attack nonbelligerent Iran lawlessly, Kroenig omitted the possibility and said nothing about Israel being nuclear armed and dangerous.
He represents imperial America's quest for world dominance, even if destroying it happens in the process.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

[Ed Jewett]

Saudi Arabia:
Racist Society, Terrorism Exporter, Nuclear Weapons Capable
by John Stanton


Iran, Iraq and North Korea may have been labeled "the axis of evil" by President George W. Bush but it is Saudi Arabia that is the center of the Satanic universe here on Earth.


President Obama and the hounds from hell in the US Congress and various thinks tanks who seek to send Americans to fight and die in Iran should be targeting their wrath and the US Instruments of National Power at the House of Saud.


Fed incessant propaganda on the dangers of Iranian ownership of nuclear weaponsand still upset about the Shah's fall and the Iranian hostage crisis--Americans have long since forgotten just how brutal, conniving, and dangerous that Saudi Arabia actually is.


And as cunning and wealthy as the House of Saud isand with nuke heavy Israel right down the street-- it seems very likely that Saudi Arabia is in possession of nuclear weapons either provisioned by the United States or, more likely, Sunni Pakistan. Whatever the case, the US has always had the nuke umbrella open over Saudi Arabia. To put a fine point on that for all to seemainly Iran---during joint exercises between American and Saudi forces in April 2010, the US decided to launch a nuclear capable TRIDENT ballistic missile from a US submarine operating in Saudi territorial waters.


It is Iran that has eleven operating Jewish synagogues in various enclaves in that country. And it is in Iran's Constitution that Christians and Jews are, by law, to hold one seat in Parliament. At least it is a start. Such activity is forbidden in Saudi Arabia.


The Economist's Intelligence Unit 2011 survey of democracy examined 167 countries based on the effectiveness of a particular government and its citizens to handle an open society with press freedoms and free and fair elections, among other categories. Saudi Arabia placed 161st and was tied with Equatorial Guinea and Myanmar for the honor (Iran was 159th).


Internal Terror


The Daily Mail in the UK reported in December 2011 this news: "Textbooks handed out in Saudi Arabian schools teach children how to cut off a thief's hands and feet under Sharia law, it has emerged. The shocking books, paid for and printed by the Saudi government, also tell teenagers that Jews need to be exterminated and homosexuals should be put to death. This is where terrorism starts in the education system...The textbooks were printed for the 2010-2011 academic year and translated from Arabic... Women are described as weak and irresponsible. In one, for ninth-graders, students are taught the annihilation of the Jewish people is imperative. One text reads in part: 'The hour (of judgment) will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. There is a Jew behind me come and kill him. If you teach six million children in these important years of their lives, if you install that in their brain, no wonder we have so many Saudi suicide bombers," said one commentator.Then there is this forgotten gem from February 2002: "RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) Saudi Arabia acknowledged for the first time that 15 of the September 11 suicide hijackers were Saudi citizens, but said Wednesday that the oil-rich kingdom bears no responsibility for their actions. Previously, Saudi Arabia had said the citizenship of 15 of the 19 hijackers was in doubt despite U.S. insistence they were Saudis. But Interior Minister Prince Nayef told The Associated Press that Saudi leaders were shocked to learn 15 of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia."
In December 2011, the Daily Mail in the UK reported that "a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery has been executed by Saudi authorities. The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement that the woman was beheaded today, but gave no details of her crime. The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 (£500) per session...In September, a Sudanese man, Abdul Hamid bin Hussain bin Moustafa al-Fakki, was also put to death in Saudi Arabia for sorcery. Amnesty International has called for the kingdom's government to establish an immediate moratorium on executions. The crime of 'sorcery' is not defined in Saudi Arabian law but it has been used to punish people for the legitimate exercise of their human rights, including their right to freedom of expression, the charity said."


Interview with an Executioner


The BBC interviewed a Saudi executioner in June of 2003. It's just business, so to speak." ...[I am] very proud to do God's work.' He does not lose sleep over beheading several people in one day. He said he sometimes shot dead women convicted under Sharia. It depends what they ask me to use. Sometimes they ask me to use a sword and sometimes a gun. But most of the time I use the sword.' B
Back in 1998, when he carried out his first execution in Jeddah, he was nervous, because many people were watching. But now he no longer suffers from stage fright, he explained. The criminal was tied and blindfolded. With one stroke of the sword I severed his head. It rolled metres away,' he said, recalling his first beheading. He said his sword was a gift from the government. He keeps it razor sharp and sometimes his children help him clean it. People are amazed how fast it can separate the head from the body,' he said. Sometimes he also has to carry out amputations of hands or legs. I use a special sharp knife, not a sword. When I cut off a hand I cut it from the joint. If it is a leg the authorities specify where it is to be taken off, so I follow that.'"


Saudi Arabia, with American support, is fomenting religious civil war between the Sunni's and Shia in Iraq, Syria and much of the Middle East region. It was not enough that the United States kicked the middle east ant hill and, in the process, literally destroyed Iraqi society, to include a once flourishing Christian community. Thus the second phase of the second Iraq war continues on as a campaign of internal destabilization to fan the flames of sectarian conflict/civil war in which the adversaries on each side receive funds and support from the USA, Saudi Arabia and other interested governments. The US strategy seems to be one based on destroying annoying cultures from within rather than by overt invasion.


According to Patrick Cockburn writing in a September 2011 issue of Pakistan's The News, "Iranian influence is growing in Baghdad because of the escalating struggle between Sunni and Shia Muslims across the region. The Shia-dominated coalition government in Baghdad is worried that the Sunni uprising in Syria may displace Bashar al-Assad and his regime, whose leaders come mostly from the Alawite Shia sect. The Iraqi Shia also strongly sympathizes with the Shia majority in Bahrain, whose movement for democracy has been ruthlessly crushed by the Sunni al-Khalifa monarchy with the backing of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates."


US Committed to Lingerie and F-15's


Big news of change came recently from Saudi Arabia. 28,000 saleswomen are going to be hired to work in some 7,300 lingerie shops around the country. "Saudi Arabia on the Cups of Change: New rules say only women can sell lingerie, ending male monopoly," runs the headline in the January 2012 edition of the MidEast News Source. "The move is expected to boost employment for the country's women, even if they still have to be driven to their place of work because the country still bans female drivers...Saudi's top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, blasted the new ruling for contradicting Islamic law, or Shariah. He warned in his Friday sermon that employing women at shops where they interact with men is a crime. The employment of women in stores that sell female apparel and a woman standing face to face with a man selling to him without modesty or shame can lead to wrongdoing, of which the burden of this will fall on the owners of the stores,' the mufti thundered....
Right around the same time as "Saudi Arabia and the Cups of Change" came this story in the Ottawa Citizen: "F-15 Sale to Saudi Arabia Just Part of $60 Billion U.S. Sales of Aviation Capabilities to that Country." Dated January 2012, the article indicates that half of the $60 billion will be in the form of advanced F-15 aircraft. The entire package will help the Saudi's defend themselves in uncertain times, American government officials intimated.


Really? Defend against what? All the men who are losing their lingerie sales jobs or women who want to drive? To blast to smithereens the majority Shia population in Bahrain, the rebels in Yemen, or the thousands of imported workers who labor in wretched conditions within Saudi Arabia?


"In announcing the F-15 sales agreement Dec. 29, James N. Miller, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, and Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, emphasized the close military-to-military ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The United States is firmly committed to the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as we have been for nearly seven decades, and ... more broadly, the United States and Saudi Arabia have a strong mutual interest in the security and stability of the Gulf," Miller said. The F-15s Saudi Arabia will receive under the agreement "will have the latest generation of computing power, radar technology, infrared sensors and electronic warfare systems," he added. This agreement reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia," Shapiro said. "It demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a strong Saudi defense capability as a key component to regional security."


John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com

http://cryptome.org/2012/01/0003.pdf

[Ed Jewett]

## Fault lines/flashpoints/military ##
U.S.-Iran Tensions: Mideast Showdown Builds As United States Tightens Military Ties To Israel
"'Powder keg doesn't begin to describe it,' said Louise Arbour, president of the International Crisis Group, an independent organization that monitors global tensions. 'Rising strategic stakes have heightened the regional and wider international competition,' she wrote in a new assessment. It is, she concluded, '"an explosive mix.'"
The Pentagon to Send US Troops to Israel. Iran is the Unspoken Target
Analysis: Fuel test won't hasten Iran bomb: experts
"(Reuters) Iran's latest claim of a breakthrough in its nuclear program appears unlikely to bring it any closer to having atomic bombs, but serves rather as another defiant message to the West."
Iran prepares bill to bar foreign warships from Persian Gulf
Exclusive: EU agrees to embargo on Iranian crude
Turkey to seek US waiver on Iran oil -energy official
"Turkey will seek a waiver from the United States to exempt its biggest refiner Tupras from new U.S. sanctions on institutions that deal with Iran's central bank, a Turkish energy ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday."

Iran's Real Weapon Of Mass Destruction Is Oil Prices
Don't expect an Iranian oil crisis (CNN Money)
"Moves this week by the U.S. and the European Union may complicate Iran's ability to sell oil, but they will hardly kill it."
Geithner to Travel to China, Japan to Discuss Iran Sanctions
Syrian rebel leader threatens to escalate attacks
Syrian activists say government armor still in cities
Militias may drag Libya into civil war: NTC chief
Turkey warns against Shi'ite-Sunni Cold War
"Middle East powerhouse Turkey on Wednesday warned against a sectarian Cold War in the region and said rising Sunni-Shi'ite tensions would be 'suicide' for the whole region."
Eight Strategic Factors to Consider in 2012
Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers
[URL="http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2012/01/03/sunni-and-kurdish-blocs-boycott-iraqi-parliament-while-attacks-continue/"]Sunni and Kurdish Blocs Boycott Iraqi Parliament While Attacks Continue

News Links [some of them], January 5, 2011

http://ricefarmer.blogspot.com/[/URL]

[Ed Jewett]

U.S. to Send Troops to Israel

January 5th, 2012Watch [this] CNN clip about the soldier talking about voting for Ron Paul before you read the story below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TSxm2V8a...r_embedded


Via: Global Research:
In one of the most blacked-out stories in America right now, the US military is preparing to send thousands of US troops, along with US Naval anti-missile ships and accompanying support personnel, to Israel.
It took forever to find a second source for confirmation of this story and both relatively mainstream media outlets are in Israel. With one source saying the military deployment and corresponding exercises are to occur in January, the source providing most of the details suggests it will occur later this spring. Calling it not just an "exercise", but a "deployment", the Jerusalem Post quotes US Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc, Commander of the US Third Air Force based in Germany. The US Commander visited Israel two weeks ago to confirm details for "the deployment of several thousand American soldiers to Israel." In an effort to respond to recent Iranian threats and counter-threats, Israel announced the largest ever missile defense exercise in its history. Now, it's reported that the US military, including the US Navy, will be stationed throughout Israel, also taking part.
While American troops will be stationed in Israel for an unspecified amount of time, Israeli military personnel will be added to EUCOM in Germany. EUCOM stands for United States European Command.
In preparation for anticipated Iranian missile attacks upon Israel, the US is reportedly bringing its THAAD, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, and ship-based Aegis ballistic missile systems to Israel. The US forces will join Israeli missile defense systems like the Patriot and Arrow. The deployment comes with "the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East".
Posted in Dictatorship, Perception Management, War

[Ed Jewett]

MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2012

Tensions Rise as U.S. Imposes 'Nuclear Option' on Iran's Economy






Reacting to American threats to crater their economy, Iran's first vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi said last week that the Islamic Republic would retaliate by blocking all oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Following a sustained covert terror campaign by the U.S. and Israel, Rahimi declared: "If they impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz."

On Saturday, President Obama took that step and signed crippling sanctions legislation as part of the Pentagon's massive $662 billion 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

It should be noted that the NDAA, which threatens war on Iran, also calls for the indefinite detention of so-called "terrorist" suspects by the military, including American citizens, who can now be held without charge or trial.

Dubbed the "nuclear option" by critics and supporters alike, the legislation passed with overwhelming support from "conservative" Republicans and "liberal" Democrats in Congress and targets foreign corporations that do business with Iran's Central Bank.

Under the guise of "punishing Iran" for an unproven nuclear weapons program the bill is designed to "collapse the Iranian economy" according to its chief sponsor, Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk.

As pointed out by numerous analysts and proliferation experts, Iran's research related to nuclear weapons ended more than a decade ago. Even the highly-politicized report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November under pressure from Washington, was forced to concede that Iran has not diverted material into a covert weapons program.

Two days after becoming law, Iran's currency hit a record low against the U.S. dollar.

According to the Associated Press the riyal "hovered around 16,800 riyals to the dollar, marking a roughly 10 percent slide compared to Thursday's rate of 15,200 riyals to the dollar. The riyal was trading at around 10,500 riyals to the U.S. dollar in late December 2010."

"The sanctions target both private and government-controlled banks--including central banks--and would take hold after a two- to six-month warning period, depending on the transactions,"Reuters reported.

"Foreign central banks which deal with the Iranian central bank on oil transactions could also face restrictions," AFP disclosed, "sparking fears of damage to US ties with key nations such as Russia and China which trade with Iran."

The new law would make it virtually impossible for Iran to collect payments for energy exports severely damaging its already-fragile economy while setting the stage for a military confrontation.

In the event hostilities break out, energy analysts have warned that the price of oil could spiral to $250 barrel and would have a devastating effect on the crisis-ridden global economy.

Reflecting the skittishness of global energy markets, "crude futures headed for a third yearly advance on speculation escalating tension in the Middle East may disrupt supplies,"Bloomberg News reported, and "surged to $101.77 a barrel on Dec. 27, the highest intraday price since Dec. 7."

Hair-Trigger Alert

American threats have been taken seriously by the Tehran government.

Iran is currently conducting a 10-day naval exercise in the Persian Gulf and officials have said they would react forcefully should the United States threaten their ability to conduct operations in defense of their territorial sovereignty.

Last week, Iran's Naval Commander, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, reiterated that the country's naval forces "can can readily block the strategic Strait of Hormuz if need be," Press TVreported.

"Closing the Strait of Hormuz is very easy for Iranian naval forces," Sayyari said. "Iran has comprehensive control over the strategic water way."

In response, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson George Little said "that any interference by Iran in the strait would 'not be tolerated,' stressing that the region was 'an economic lifeline for countries in the gulf'," the Los Angeles Times reported.

Iranian officials fired back. Hossein Salami, a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said that "Americans are not in a position whether to allow Iran to close off the Strait of Hormuz."

"Any threat will be responded by threat," Reuters reported. "We will not relinquish our strategic moves if Iran's vital interests are undermined by any means."

Iran claimed Sunday that its naval forces had successfully test-fired a new medium-range surface-to-air missile during the exercises in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, the spokesperson for the exercises, claimed that the missile was "designed and manufactured by Iranian experts, [and] is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and an intelligent system that enables it to target radio emission sources and thwart jammers," according to Press TV.

"On Friday," Xinhua disclosed, "Mousavi said that the country's naval units will fire different long- and short-range land-to-sea, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles during the power phase of the exercises in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, starting Saturday."

"He added that Iran's submarines will also hit the pre-determined targets," Xinhua reported, "using domestically-manufactured torpedoes, during the exercises."

On Monday, the last day of the maneuvers, Deutsche Wellereported that the Iranian navy "test-fired a cruise missile with stealth technology in a move sure to ratchet up tensions with the West."

While claims that new Iranian missiles are stealth-equipped cannot be independently verified, it should be noted that prior to the intact capture of an advanced RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone flown by the CIA in early December, Western security experts had downplayed Iran's technological capacity to employ sophisticated electronic warfare tactics.

According to reports, "Iran on Monday successfully tested a 'Ghader' surface-to-surface cruise missile on the last day of war games near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

"The 'Ghader,' which means 'capable' in Farsi, is an upgraded version of an existing missile that had a range of 200 kilometers (125 miles) and could travel at low altitudes."

Deutsche Welle observed that the "war games and the missile firing are seen by political analysts as a practice run for closing the Strait of Hormuz if the West were to block Iran's oil sales."

Reiterating that message, a senior Iranian lawmaker, Kazem Jalali, told Press TV Monday that "if faced with a threat Iran will definitely use the defensive potential of the strategic Strait of Hormuz."

"Iran has warned," Press TV noted, "that in case Western threats of imposing an oil embargo on the Islamic Republic materialize, it reserves the right to respond by choking the oil flow through Hormuz, arguing that the free flow of oil must be for all or for none."

Robert Naiman, the policy director at the Just Foreign Policy think-tank, told Russia Today that "Tehran had to call navy maneuvers at this time as otherwise it would have been perceived as a country unable to defend itself. The embargo on Iran's oil exports proposed by the US necessitates an active response."

"It is understood in the international political discourse that an embargo is an act of war. If it really is the policy pursued by the US and Western Europe to try to cut off Iran's oil exports, then that is an act of war. It would not make sense for Iran to roll over," Naiman told RT.

As analyst Peter Symonds pointed out on the World Socialist Web Site, "Having waged wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq and backed the NATO bombing of Libya, the US is now deliberately and recklessly raising tensions in the Persian Gulf by threatening severe penalties against any foreign company doing business with Iran's central bank, thereby effectively blocking Iranian oil exports."

"The media is silent on Washington's rank hypocrisy in demanding an end to Iran's nuclear programs," the socialist critic noted, "while fully backing the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East--its ally Israel, which is notorious for its wars of aggression."

"The glaring double standard," Symonds observed, "only underscores the fact that Obama's belligerence towards Iran is no more about the 'nuclear threat' than the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were about 'terrorism' and WMDs."

U.S. Arms Sales

In the face of escalating Western threats, Tehran Timesreported Friday that Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that "Iran is ready to resume negotiations with the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany)."

According to the paper, Salehi's remarks came during a meeting with China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun on Thursday.

"The Chinese vice foreign minister," Tehran Times averred, "emphasized that the dispute over Iran's nuclear issue should be resolved through negotiations, adding that Beijing is opposed to the adoption of new sanctions on Tehran."

Bloomberg News reported Monday that "the country's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, plans to send a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, which may be followed by a new round of talks, Mehr reported on Dec. 31, citing Iran's ambassador to Germany, Alireza Sheikh Attar."

"The EU," Bloomberg reported, "continues to pursue a 'twin-track approach' and is 'open for meaningful discussions on confidence-building measures, without preconditions from the Iranian side'," EU spokesperson Michael Mann said last week.

Despite Iran's willingness to renew direct talks, the Obama administration announced a $30 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and agreed to sell 84 advanced F-15SA fighter jets to the repressive House of Saud.

"Though the White House said the deal had not been accelerated to respond to threats by Iranian officials in recent days to shut off the Strait of Hormuz," The New York Timesreported that "its timing is laden with significance, as tensions with Iran have deepened and the United States has withdrawn its last soldiers from Iraq."

Andrew J. Shapiro, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs told the Times that "this sale will send a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the gulf and the broader Middle East."

However, when the global godfather speaks of "stability," what the U.S. means is the maintenance of a system of exploitation and resource extraction controlled by American multinationals, backed by the threat of covert and overt aggression by Washington.

Accelerating the encirclement of Iran by U.S. allies, Reutersreported that the "United States has signed a $3.5 billion sale of an advanced antimissile interception system to the United Arab Emirates, part of an accelerating military buildup of its friends and allies near Iran."

Pentagon press secretary George Little said that the deal "is an important step in improving the region's security through a regional missile defense architecture."

The sale of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD), manufactured by mega merchant of death Lockheed Martin, is described as "the only system designed to destroy short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles both inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere."

"The United States," Reuters disclosed, "under the government-to-government deal, will deliver two THAAD batteries, 96 missiles, two Raytheon Co AN/TPY-2 radars plus 30 years of spare parts, support and training with contractor logistics support to the UAE," the Pentagon spokesperson said.

In another pending arms sale, Reuters reported that the Obama regime "formally proposed in November to sell 600 'bunker buster' bombs and other munitions to UAE in an estimated $304 million package to counter what the Pentagon called current and future regional threats."

Sale of these munitions are widely believed to be essential should the U.S., Israel, NATO and their regional Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, decide to attack Iran, and would be deployed for targeting "hardened" command-and-control sites in the Islamic Republic.

As analyst Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya pointed out on Global Research, Washington's long-standing plans for "regime change" in the Middle East and North Africa are part of an ongoing cold war between Tehran and Washington and that the "destabilization campaign being waged against Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon are also a critical front in this cold war."

"The Obama Administration has used 2011 to unleash Washington's so-called 'Coalition of the Moderate' against the Resistance Bloc," Nazemroaya wrote, "which pins together all the countries and forces united by their opposition to U.S. and Israeli hegemony in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region."

"The two camps that are becoming more and more visible in the MENA region are falling along the lines of what Washington, Tel Aviv, and NATO planned on forming after the 2006 Israeli defeat in Lebanon as a means of tackling Iran and its allies," Nazemroaya observed.

"In 2007, the United States of America, represented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, held a meeting in Cairo under the 'GCC + 2' formula with the Gulf Cooperation Council--Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the U.A.E., Oman, and Qatar--plus Egypt and Jordan to form a strategic and all encompassing front against Iran, Syria, and their regional allies.

"This 'Coalition of the Moderate' formed by Washington was a direct extension of NATO that also included Israel and Turkey as important and central participants," Nazemroaya wrote.

In this context, stepped-up sales of advanced weapons systems to so-called "moderate" regimes are, contrary to American propaganda, not the result of a supposed "threat" from Iran but precisely are intended to hasten "regime change," either through National Endowment for Democracy (NED) sponsored "color revolutions" or overt military aggression.

Last week, Antifascist Calling disclosed, citing reports from the Israeli, Russian and Turkish press, that the U.S. has doubled the "special aid" it gives to Israel for long-range anti-ballistic air defense systems and associated radars.

The $235.7 million deal approved by Congress, Israel National News noted was "for the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic long-range air defense system, for the program to improve the basic capabilities of the Arrow systems, and for the David's Sling mid-range anti-missile system."

And as The Jerusalem Post reported, the arms sale comes on the heels of Israeli plans "to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons."

Defense correspondent Yaakov Katz disclosed that "Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US's Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel."

The Jerusalem Post noted that "the drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany--with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East."

"The US," Katz reported, "will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel," and that the "American system will work in conjunction with Israel's missile defense systems--the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome."

Although "casually heralded as 'military aid,'" Global Researchanalyst Michel Chossudovsky observed that "the project consisted in strengthening the integration of Israel's air defense system into that of the US, with the Pentagon rather than Israel calling the shots."

Advanced ballistic missile early warning radar systems have also been installed in Turkey and, as with the Israeli deployment, the U.S. is clearly in the driver's seat.

In late December, Hürriyet Daily News reported that "NATO's Malatya-based ballistic missile early warning radar system ... will become operational next week, before the end of this year," a "senior Turkish official" said.

"The agreement signed between Ankara and Washington calls for the deployment of a U.S. AN/TPY-2 (X-band) early warning radar system at a military installation at Kürecik in Malatya as part of NATO's missile defense project," Hürriyet reported.

Similar to the Israeli agreement, Hürriyet disclosed that "a Turkish senior commander is to be posted at NATO's headquarters in Germany, where the intelligence gathered through the radar system will be processed."

Global Energy Hegemony

The precipitating factor propelling Washington's machinations against Tehran is the severe economic decline of the United States vis-à-vis their imperialist rivals, above all China and Russia.

American aggression in the context of the current global economic crisis, has nothing whatsoever to do with moves to stop nuclear proliferation, let alone advance the cause of "freedom and democracy" in the Middle East, or anywhere else for that matter.

Rather, belligerent threats and U.S. state-sponsored terrorism against the Islamic Republic are part and parcel of Washington's long-standing strategic goal of hegemonic control over the energy-rich regions of Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Dialing-up tensions, the United States is gambling that a war with Iran, particularly during a critical election year with all major candidates from both capitalist parties (Ron Paul being a notable exception) outbidding one another in terms of their bellicose rhetoric, hope to divert attention from ongoing attacks on the standard of living and democratic rights of the working class by kleptocratic American elites.

Imperial military adventurism for control over the world's energy supplies however, raises the specter of an unintended conflict with rivals China and Russia, who also face renewed threats from Washington, a confrontation that could have unintended and potentially catastrophic consequences.

Posted by Antifascistat 10:20 AM @ http://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com/

[Magda Hassan]

Elite British Military website boasts of Brit training of Syrian terrorists

Just ahead of the two deadly bomb blasts in Damascus today by terrorists, the "Elite UK Forces" website "dedicated to British elite units and special forces" posted a news update boasting of their likely role in arming and training the perpetrators of such crimes.

And now that their foot is firmly and securely inside Libya, they feel entirely comfortable exposing one of the motives for the war there: to use the country as a military base after 42 years of not being able to do so since Muammar Gaddafi closed the US largest base in the region: The Whelus Field, in conjuction with the British base at Aden.

Here the post states: "Some reports indicate that training is also taking place in locations in Libya and Northern Lebanon. British MI6 operatives and UKSF (SAS/SBS) personnel have reportedly been training the rebels in urban warfare as well as supplying them with arms and equipment. US CIA operatives and special forces are believed to be providing communications assistance to the rebels."

The full post can be found here

And here is a copy of it:

British Special Forces Training Syrian Rebels?

05.01.2012

As government forces continue a brutal crackdown on popular uprisings throughout Syria, there has been growing chatter indicating that British Special Forces are in some way assiting forces aligned against the Syrian regime.

Reports from late November last year state that British Special forces have met up with members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. The apparent goal of this initial contact was to establish the rebel forces' strength and to pave the way for any future training operations.

More recent reports have stated that British and French Special Forces have been actively training members of the FSA, from a base in Turkey. Some reports indicate that training is also taking place in locations in Libya and Northern Lebanon. British MI6 operatives and UKSF (SAS/SBS) personnel have reportedly been training the rebels in urban warfare as well as supplying them with arms and equipment. US CIA operatives and special forces are believed to be providing communications assistance to the rebels.
http://lizzie-phelan.blogspot.com/2012/0...oasts.html

[Magda Hassan]

Michael Weiss

Michael Weiss is the Communications Director of The Henry Jackson Society, a foreign policy think tank. A native New Yorker, he has written widely on English and Russian literature, American culture, Soviet history and the Middle East. Follow @michaeldweiss

The Assad regime now reports that extraterrestrials are in Syria. No, really

By Michael Weiss World Last updated: January 6th, 2012
29 Comments Comment on this article

Now in Syria, apparently

From this state-controlled website:

Idlib police monitor a space object' that has entered the atmosphere of Deir Simbel and headed towards Kafr Nabil
120cm tall wearing black clothes and a helmet
A space object, that resembles a human, has entered the atmosphere of the Deir Simbel village, located about 35 kilometres from Idlib and halfway between Jericho and Ma'arrat Naman, where it was flying at a speed approximately 40 kmph.
Syria News obtained a copy of a dispatch from Idlib Police Headquarters to the Department of Operations (Criminal Inspection). It cited witnessed who reported seeing a space object' spinning and hovering in the village sky, coming from the atmosphere of Sarjeh and then heading towards Ahsem and from there to Kafr Nabil. They said that is was rising and falling above the olive and fig trees.
According to the dispatch, the eyewitnesses completed their description of the space object' by saying that it was about 125cm long and 40cm wide, it was wearing black clothes and had a red spot on its chest and a helmet on its head. There was a bulge on its chest and back which suggested the presence of a device to help it fly. They pointed out that it was "moving itself in spirals, bending its feet and raising its arms and they did not hear the sound of any torpedo or mechanical engine".

In other news, Bashar al-Assad is now luring Salafist-Jihadists with trails of Reese's Pieces out of Syrian flower sheds.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/michae...no-really/

[Ed Jewett]

IRAN: Is this what NATO has in store?

5

by Christof Lehmann, Jim Fetzerand Joshua Blakeney


In "USA: Massive Transports of Military Equipment", Christof Lehmann, the first author, has reported the stunning videos taken by Mr. Andrew Tuckman on 19 January 2012, who began filming this after a dozen or so train cars went by on a stretch of track south of Santa Cruz, California. "Where are the military vehicles going? Why are they being shipped? What could this possibly be for? Barack Obama, what are you up to? We want answers…."
Jim Fetzer, the second author, contacted an associate with extensive military experience, who identified them as "woodland camouflage M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles with a few HEMTT refueling trucks. They don't appear to have been modernized since they would have been repainted TAN. They may be going to an exercise for the California National Guardor worse going into STORAGE because the U.S. Army has gone STUPID and is pissing away its cross-country maneuver war-fighting powers in favor of foot-slogging victims with hand weapons from wheeled trucks, which are easily blown up by land mines on roads/trails."

YouTube - Veterans Today -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrLGGZo0-...r_embedded

Christof replied that, "from a soldier's perspective I can follow your reasoning, of course. There are some modifications I would like you to consider, however which is based on what we are getting via Russian Intelligence Chatter that the US is modifying its tank warfare tactics to adopt a kind of Blitzkrieg approach such as the Germans were using. For that, of course, you need superior tanks and a vast quantity of armored vehicles both tanks and armored personnel carriers with reasonable fighting ability. All that equipment is perfect for that."
Jim asked, "Where do you and Russian intel believe they are going to be used? I would not rule that out." And he replied, "They didn't indicate where, other than hinting that Syria and Iran were the probable targets." According to a reliable source within the European NATO admiralty, moreover, it would not be entirely off target to state that NATO could use Libya as a staging area for an attack on Syria or Iran, where a confrontation with Iran probably would include the use of neutron weapons after the initial confrontational stages after initial "provocations"-no doubt, including a "false flag" attack and an escalation by NATOneutron weapons would be most likely used to take out both the Iranian Navy and Iran's missile capabilities.
The second and third authors have written about the use of the USS Vincennes as an ideal "false flag" target because, on 3 July 1988, the Vincennes had shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all of the 290 civilian passengers on board, including 38 non-Iranians and 66 children. This would be an ideal vessel for the staged provocation as it could be easily sold to the world as having been Iranian retribution for the 1988 downing of Flight 655, where the evident lack of motive for Iran to provoke the US and Israeli military titans would be replaced by the perceived goal of revenge. No one would stop to ask themselves why Iran would thereby invite its own national annihilation.
The latest intel that I have received is that the USS Vincennes, far from having been scrapped, has been in the Mediterranean Sea and lobbing shells to test the "Iron Dome" the US has been constructing to save Israel from destruction when the waves of missiles are directed her way after an assault on Iran! As The New York Times (17 January 2012) has recently reported, the major joint US/Israeli op that had been planned has subsequently been cancelled, where some have inferred that it was because they could no longer target the Vincennes. My latest info is that she has been replaced by the USS Enterprise, an aging nuclear-powered carrier that has suffered the effects of long-term radiation exposure to its steel and appears to be the replacement target of choice.
The use of a neutron weapon might initially seem implausible but, during a long interview with Christopher Busby, "New Bombs and War Crimes in Fallujah", the second author learned that the epidemic of serious birth defects he was studying in Fallujah were not caused by exposure to depleted uranium, as everyone had up to that point expected, but by exposure to enriched uranium, which appears to have come from a new kind of neutron bomb, which may even have been used to convert the Twin Towers from 500,000 tons of steel and concrete into millions of cubic yards of very fine dust. So we have evidence that the weapon to which the admiral referred does exist.
Attacks on the nuclear energy plants in Iranof which there appear to be as many as eighty (80) distributed across the countryhas been estimated to bring about 1,000,000 deaths of Iranians outright, with another 35,000,000 premature deaths expected as the cloud of contamination sweeps across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indiaand may contaminate all of Earth. In

[Keith Millea]

The latest intel that I have received is that the USS Vincennes, far from having been scrapped, has been in the Mediterranean Sea and lobbing shells to test the "Iron Dome" the US has been constructing to save Israel from destruction when the waves of missiles are directed her way after an assault on Iran!

Okay,we have a problem.There has been a picture posted on another forum that is "allegedly" the USS Vincennes being scrapped out.I have asked Mr.Fetzer to comment on this.He has again disappeared.

As The New York Times (17 January 2012) has recently reported, the major joint US/Israeli op that had been planned has subsequently been cancelled, where some have inferred that it was because they could no longer target the Vincennes. My latest info is that she has been replaced by the USS Enterprise, an aging nuclear-powered carrier that has suffered the effects of long-term radiation exposure to its steel and appears to be the replacement target of choice.

Oh,I see.Now,we have a ship swap.That takes care of that USS Vincennes problem,eh?

Tank Movements:

Christof replied that, "from a soldier's perspective I can follow your reasoning, of course. There are some modifications I would like you to consider, however which is based on what we are getting via Russian Intelligence Chatter that the US is modifying its tank warfare tactics to adopt a kind of Blitzkrieg approach such as the Germans were using.

I also have to disagree about the supposed armor blitzkrieg scenario.The fact is the Army is moving away from this kind of warfare.Heavy armor is being downsized significantly,because with todays weaponry,these vehicles are basically sitting ducks.The longtime Armor School at Fort Knox where I trained,is being moved down to Fort Benning I believe(the Patton Museum stays at Ft.Knox).No,we will not be seeing anymore big armor battles.Does anyone think the US wants to pay to ship all those tanks to the Middle East so they can get blown to shit?I guess some people do............