No more raids! Pakistan warns US of ‘disastrous consequences’
Pakistan warned the US Thursday of “disastrous consequences” if it carries out any more raids against terrorists like the one that killed Osama Bin Laden, and hit back at international allegations it might have been harboring the Al-Qaeda chief.
Pakistan has called on the United States to reduce its military personnel in the country, following the deadly US attack on Osama bin Laden’s compound.
Taking a serious view of assertions made by the Indian military leadership since the U.S. operation in Pakistan to nab al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan Army on Thursday warned that any “misadventure of this kind will be responded to very strongly.” Earlier in the day, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said mimicking U.S. unilateral action in Pakistan would result in a “terrible catastrophe.”
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will pay an official visit to the Russian Federation between May 11 and 14 at the invitation of President Medvedev, the foreign ministry announced yesterday.
Iran says it will continue to build on cooperation with Egypt
Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbafr Salehi said on Wednesday that his country will resume collaboration with Egypt, and will continue to do so once the two nations have established embassies in each other’s countries.
Iran Dispatches 14th Fleet of Warships to Gulf of Aden
The Iranian Navy dispatched its 14th flotilla of warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect the country’s cargo ships and oil tankers against Somali pirates.
Israel will purchase its sixth Dolphin submarine from Germany at the expense of $1 billion, officials announced Thursday, despite constant objections by the IDF echelon.
[...] Jerusalem Post military correspondent Yaakov Katz said the changing situation on Israel’s southern border may precipitate a massive military buildup.
Arms flowing to Syrian rebels from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon
Syrian opposition sources said tribes in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon have been relaying weapons in an effort to oust President Bashar Assad. They said the weapons were sent to avenge the killing by Syrian security forces of tribal members over the last month.
IAEA Confirms Syria Secretly Building Nuclear Reactor
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency has said for the first time that a target bombed in Syria in 2007 was a secretly built nuclear reactor.
Yukiya Amano Thursday told a Paris press conference that the facility destroyed by Israel in an air strike was a “nuclear reactor under construction.” As such, Amano said, it was not producing plutonium.
Commander: US Focused on Economic War against Iran
Head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization General Gholam Reza Jalali warned that the US has concentrated its efforts on strong economic pressures against the Islamic Republic as its major strategy in confrontation against Tehran.
[...] Maliki is planning to send a delegation headed by Abdul-Haleem al-Zheiri, a leading figure in Maliki’s Dawa party, to the neighboring Iran to explain his move and to give assurances to Tehran that the remaining U.S. troops will not be used against Iran, it added.
Security sources say a Untied States military base in eastern Iraq has come under a second rocket attack in less than a week.
Three Katyusha rockets hit the Echo Army base near the city of Diwaniyah late on Saturday, Fars News Agency reported on Sunday. The projectiles are reported to have been fired from the southern parts of the city.
A suicide bomber drove a tanker packed with explosives into the Italian military police station in southern Iraq killing at least 25 people, most of them Italian.
Egypt pipeline blast cuts gas supplies to Israel, Jordan
[...] It is the second such attack on the pipeline in the past few weeks. In late March, gunmen planted explosives on the pipeline, but they failed to detonate.
An explosion on the pipeline in February during an 18-day uprising in Egypt was blamed on a gas leak, although security services said they suspected sabotage.
Iraq Syria Eager for Cooperation With Iran in Building Joint Gas Pipeline
Baghdad and Damascus are prepared to cooperate with Iran to build a joint pipeline to transfer Iran’s gas supplies to Syria and other Arab states, a Syrian official said.
[...] “The pipeline in question will meet the needed gas in Iraq and Syria and will facilitate Iranian gas exports to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt through the Arab Gas Pipeline.”
Sudan Has “Irrefutable Proof” Israel Behind Air Strike
Sudan said Sunday it had irrefutable evidence that Israel carried out the air strike on its Red Sea coast last week that killed two people and destroyed the car they were travelling in.
Tuesday’s attack was carried out by two AH-64 Apache helicopters, around 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Port Sudan, Sudan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
They flew in from the Red Sea and unleashed a barrage of Hellfire missiles and machinegun fire on the car after having jammed the local radar system, the statement added.
The US-made helicopters were not owned by any country in the region except Israel, said the statement.
While Israel has refused to comment on the raid, officials there have previously expressed concern about arms smuggling through Sudan, which has close ties with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
President Barack Obama has given his approval to a Pentagon plan to station U.S. combat troops in Iraq beyond 2011, provided that Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki officially requests it, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources.
But both U.S. and Iraqi officials acknowledge that Maliki may now be reluctant to make the official request. Maliki faces severe political constraints at home, and his government is being forced by recent moves by Saudi Arabia to move even closer to Iran.
Iran’s Envoy Renews Opposition to US Permanent Bases in Afghanistan
A senior Iranian envoy on Tuesday reiterated the regional states’ strong opposition to the establishment of US permanent military bases in Afghanistan, describing the move as no help to the improvement of the security conditions in the war-torn country.
Iran official says pipeline blast caused by ‘sabotage’
A large explosion at Iran’s main energy pipeline hub Friday was caused by sabotage, an influential member of Parliament said Sunday.
The blast, which sent balls of fire into the air outside the Shiite religious center of Qom, targeted three major gas pipelines. The explosion comes amid an increase in mysterious blasts, assassinations and other incidents in the Islamic Republic, including a similar blast Feb. 11 that temporarily halted north-south gas transportation in the country. All pipelines are now back in operation, officials say.
Israelis Visit Iraq, Terror Bureau Warns Them Not To
The National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau (NSCCTB) has issued a warning to Israelis not to travel to Iraq.
An NSCCTB warning described “the phenomenon of Israelis visiting Iraq, including the Kurdish area in the northeast, the area around Baghdad and southern Iraq.”
Ahmadinejad: Enemies Seeking to Disintegrate Jordan to Save Israel
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned about enemies’ plots against Muslim nations, saying that they are seeking to disintegrate Jordan to save the Zionist regime from its present complicated situation.
First Visit To Egypt By Iranian Official Since Mubarak’s Resignation
The Iranian news agency Fars said that Iranian envoy to the U.N. Mohammad Khazai has arrived in Cairo for a two-day visit, during which he will meet with top Egyptian officials.
This is the first visit by an Iranian official to Cairo since the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
The western press and even Al Jazeera have failed to report today’s demonstrations in Tahir Square, Cairo accurately. Thousands of Egyptians marched from the square to the Israeli Embassy, demanding that the current military government end diplomatic relations with Israel in wake of the recent assault on Gaza by the IDF.
Saudi Arabia in crisis: Kingdom projects calm, raises military salaries
[...] King Abdullah has decided to promote all military officers as well as raise their salaries. Officials said the measures would include personnel in the military and the National Guard.
“Our focus should be on protecting the kingdom’s security,” Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled Bin Sultan said.
Gates Has “Warm” Meeting With Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and other top Saudi officials Wednesday, at the start of his third trip to the tumultuous region in the past month.
“We had a very good meeting,” Gates told reporters traveling with him, after speaking with the king for 90 minutes. “It was an extremely cordial, warm meeting. I think the relationship is in a good place.”
U.S. National Security Advisor to Visit Saudi Arabia
U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will travel to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from April 11 to 13, to meet with key leaders in each country and discuss regional issues.
In Riyadh, he will meet with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz; in Abu Dhabi he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “The National Security Advisor’s visit underscores the importance of our relationship with these two key partners” a White House statement said Sunday.
The Six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have asked the Arab League to cancel Arab summit scheduled to take place in May, Bahrain’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.
With the current unrests in Bahrain and Yemen, Press TV’s U.S. Desk asked Wayne Madsen, Investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist about the U.S. role in Bahrain and Yemen.
“I think what we are seeing played out in Bahrain is of course is that the Obama administration will stop at nothing to ensure the security and the continuation of the royal regime there because the only thing that means anything to the Obama administration is the U.S. naval base, the headquarters of the U.S. 5th fleet which has been a base for a number of years so the legitimate concerns of the opposition in Bahrain are being overshadowed by military concerns,” Madsen said.
He continued, “As far as Yemen is concerned, I think the Obama administration is hoping for a soft landing. Obviously based on what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said very recently that it was time for [Yemeni] President Saleh to leave the scene I think the real interest is to me to make sure that whatever government comes in to Yemen, is one that is going to maintain a security relationship with the United States and its so called war on terrorism.”
Madsen went on to add, “The worst case scenario for the Obama administration but one that I think will play out is we will see the reestablishment of the independence of the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen or South Yemen which was forced into this unification with the North, in a very bad deal. The South Yemenis have legitimate concerns and want to see their independence restored.”
“However, we do know that the previous government of South Yemen was Socialist in its viewpoint and that is something that the Obama administration will fight very hard against. The other issue of course is the Zaidis the Houthi tribes’ people in the far north of North Yemen, again, the Obama administration does not want to see the emergence of any sort of autonomous Zaidis country or province so they’ll do everything necessary to ensure that the status quo is maintained in Yemen,” Madsen concluded.
Israel is troubled by the perception the US is an “empire of the past” and wants a resurgent America to lead a decisive confrontation with Iran, a top official has said.
“America is tested” at a pivotal moment in the history of the Middle East, said Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor, who is also the Minister for Intelligence and Nuclear Energy.
The Arab world was watching the US closely: “They look to America. If America does not seem to be able to contain the Iranian threat, will they go with Iran?”
“This is of world-order magnitude,” he told the Herald in an interview. Israel, which depends on the US as its security guarantor, itself appears to have new doubts about US judgment.
Mr Meridor said he was “surprised” at the Obama administration’s treatment of a longstanding US ally, Egypt’s former president: “Was it necessary to immediately empower the demonstrators against him and let [Hosni] Mubarak go? It’s seen by all the allies of America in the Arab world. I don’t know where the tide of history will go and I’m not sure they know.”
Israel Intimidated by Close Ties Between Tehran, Central Asia
The Zionist regime warned Israelis to stay out of Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan after Tehran and Central Asian capitals accelerated consolidation and improvement of their intimate ties and cooperation in various grounds.
Israeli Leaders Back away from Showdown With Hamas
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were expected at long last to instruct new chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz to take effective military action to put a stop to the missile misery inflicted on hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians month after month, year after year – or so the victimized communities believed.
[...] But Sunday, April 10, they learned that their government had succumbed to a “ceasefire” deal that would perpetuate the harassment: Hamas and the Jihad Islami agreed to desist from attacking Ashdod, Beersheba, Ofakim and Netivot, Palmachim and Kiryat Gat, the towns at the outer edge of their range, but permitted to keep up their regular mortar and missile fusillade against the communities abutting on the Gaza Strip.
Bahrain Touted Intelligence Ties With Israel: WikiLeaks
ahrain’s King Hamad boasted of his ties with Israel’s intelligence services and told his government to stop referring to the Jewish state as the “Zionist enemy,” a leaked US cable from 2005 showed.
The cable, which was given exclusively to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, was written after talks between the king and Washington’s ambassador to Bahrain, William Monroe, in February of that year.
“He revealed that Bahrain already has contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level (i.e. with Mossad) and indicated that Bahrain will be willing to move forward in other areas,” Monroe wrote, referring to Israel’s spy agency.
The head of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is visiting his counterpart at the CIA, the agency said on Monday, in an attempt to patch up an alliance considered crucial to winning the war against al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan naval ship PNS Badr arrived at Mina Zayed Port in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, on a goodwill visit to the UAE.
PNS Badr will be in Abu Dhabi till March 24. It is being commanded by Captain Faisal Mir.
During the stay, Captain Faisal, along with his team would be visiting various operational and training institutes of the UAE Navy, said Zahida Parveen, Pakistan’s Press Counsellor, in a statement. “The goodwill visit of PNS Badr will be important in further development and strengthening of the historical and friendly relation between Pakistan and the UAE,” Zahida said.
Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior yesterday met Rehman Malik, Interior Minister of Pakistan on the sidelines of ID World Abu Dhabi 2011 summit.
Pakistan is prepared to move two army divisions into Saudi Arabia to protect the kingdom in the event of any outbreak of trouble, such as what has happened in Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and other Middle East and North African nations.
It also is ready to help recruit ex-Pakistani military personnel for Bahrain’s national guard, the sources report.
Military holds drill aimed at preparing forces for all-out war against Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas; exercise did not include soldiers, live-fire.
In the face of a changing Middle East, the IDF held a set of war games this week aimed at preparing the military for all-out war against Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas.
The exercise did not include soldiers or live-fire exercises, but was held to drill commanders and their decisions in the event of a large-scale war on multiple fronts.
Israel to Deploy Four More “Iron Dome” Anti-Rocket Defences
Israel is planning to deploy four more batteries of its “Iron Dome” short-range missile defence system, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday.
Speaking on military radio, Barak said: “With the financial help of the Americans, we hope to equip ourselves with four new ‘Iron Dome’ batteries.
[...] According to plans, the system will first be deployed along the border of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, from where militants fired a daily barrage of improvised rockets prompting Israel to launch a devastating 22-day offensive in December 2008.
It will then be deployed along the Lebanese border, from where Hezbollah militants fired some 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during a 2006 war. It was that experience which prompted the development of Iron Dome.
Israel’s Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch warned on Tuesday that Israel and Gaza are on the verge of another flare-up like Operation Cast Lead, Israel Radio reported.
[...] In response to a query by Xinhua, Aharonovitch’s media advisor was emphatic that “the minister meant exactly what he said, that he believes that there will soon be another war with Gaza.”
A US embassy convoy in Lebanon was stoned on Saturday in the southern port city of Sidon by a group of unknown assailants, the embassy in the capital Beirut confirmed.
The group threw stones at the convoy while it was touring a touristic area of Sidon, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
‘The Lebanese army immediately cordoned off the scene and arrested some of the men responsible for the attack,’ the NNA added.
According the the Israel Defense Forces, Hizbullah has built bunkers and underground weapons depots in most southern Lebanese villages as it continues building its army, the Associated Press reports.
A memo from the IDF brass to Israeli embassies on Thursday to Israel details the acceleration of Hizbullah’s fortification of the volatile border region since the end of the 2006 Lebanon war.
The memo says, “Hezbollah has built as many as 550 bunkers in the southern Lebanon region, holding various weapons. In addition, the organization has built 300 underground facilities and 100 storage units for munitions including rockets, missiles and other weapons.”
The potential for an uptick in violence in Lebanon that threatens U.S. citizens is very real, the U.S. State Department said in a travel warning.
The State Department said it was urging U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to Lebanon and said all U.S. employees in the country should keep a low profile.
“The potential in Lebanon for a spontaneous upsurge in violence is real,” the warning read. “Lebanese government authorities are not able to guarantee protection for citizens or visitors to the country should violence erupt suddenly.”
The warning said that anti-Western groups like Hezbollah remain a persistent threat and sporadic violence in Hezbollah strongholds in the south of the country makes travel risky.
Last month, seven Estonian bicyclists were kidnapped from the area in what the State Department says was a planned attack. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Sectarian strife has emboldened Sunni Arabs to defy Tehran, experts say
Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran, making the second Gulf Arab country to do so in less than two weeks, amid signs that the region’s Sunni governments are growing concerned about alleged Iranian influence in their domestic affairs and acting promptly and publicly to squelch it.
The Kuwaiti action, taken on Wednesday, came less than 24 hours after the country’s criminal court condemned two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death following their conviction of spying for Iran. Two weeks ago, Bahrain ordered back its ambassador to Tehran and not long afterwards entered into a war of words with the leader of Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shiite movement allied with Iran,, and cut off air links with Lebanon.
“There is much fear of Iranian expansionism,” Ali Al-Saffar, an Iraq expert at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Media Line. “Whether this fear is true or perceived is debatable.”
U.S. Forces Germany to Stop Indian Oil Payments to Iran
India is exploring paying for crude oil it buys from Iran in rupee after the US forced Germany to stop routing payments through a Hamburg-based bank.
India in February had begun clearing past dues to Iran by making euro payments through German-based Europisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG ( EIH Bank). But EIH, which is owned by Iran, is a banned entity in the US and Washington used its influence on Germany to stop payments.
Egypt Extends Olive Branch to Iran, Seeks to Normalize Ties
Egypt extends olive branch to Iran; seeks to normalize ties Egypt’s new foreign minister Nabil Al-Arabi has said that his country also would like to turn over a new leaf with respect to Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Iran is a state in the region, and we have had long-term historical ties with it over the different periods,” al-Arabi told a press conference. “We will turn over a new leaf with all states, including Iran.”
Al-Arabi cautioned that restoring diplomatic ties will depend on the Iranian side.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has welcomed Egypt’s statements and said that better relations would improve security in the Middle East. He added that he hopes there will be “an expansion of relations” between Cairo and Tehran.
[...] Iran and Egypt have not had formal diplomatic relations since the 1979 Iranian Revolution when the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was given exile in Cairo by his friend Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
A year before that, Iran ended diplomatic ties with Egypt when Sadat signed the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.
Following encouraging signals between Iran and Egypt to restore diplomatic relations, a senior member of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) says a number of Iranian lawmakers are likely to pay a visit to Cairo.
US Embassy in Baghdad to Double Staff: This is NUTS! 16,000! Sixteen THOUSAND staff!
“We’ll be doubling our size if all of our plans go through and if we receive the money from Congress in 2011 and then again in 2012,” James Jeffrey, the US ambassador in Iraq, said.
He said the staff would increase “from 8,000 plus personnel that we have now to roughly double that by 2012,” adding that US forces would make up only a very small part of that number.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with Turkish officials on Monday as an envoy of Moamer Kadhafi arrived in Ankara for talks on a possible ceasefire in conflict-torn Libya.
Turkish sources said the military has sent reinforcements along key points of the nation’s 600-kilometer border with Syria.
They said the reinforcements were sent after fighters and operatives of the Kurdish Workers Party were believed to have infiltrated Turkey from Syria.
Turkey has also reinforced troops along the border with Iraq, which harbors an estimated 3,000 PKK fighters in the Kandil mountains, Middle East Newsline reported.
U.S. agents are helping guide air strikes and determining the allegiances of rebel forces
Since the conflict in Libya began, Barack Obama has promised not to put U.S. “boots on the ground” in the country. CIA agents presumably sport some other kind of footwear, then, because there are dozens of U.S. spies already in Libya, working with rebel forces and attempting to learn more about them, with the ultimate aim of determining whether the U.S. should arm the rebellion. Weeks ago, Obama signed a secret “presidential finding” that authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to provide weapons to the anti-Gadhafi forces, but so far no weapons have been shipped, and officials in Washington continue to weigh the consequences of such a move. British Special Forces and agents with the MI6 intelligence agency are also operating inside Libya.
Egypt Supplies Libyan Insurgents With Weapons, Reports American Newspaper
Egypt has began, at Washington’s instigation, sending arms shipments to insurgents fighting against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, said on Friday the Wall Street Journal.
This information was obtained from a member of the National Transitional Council which represents the insurgents and US officials, indicated the American newspaper.
The newspaper further noted that this is the first time a confirmation is obtained on sending arms including light rifles and ammunition from a foreign country to Libyan revolutionaries who have recently been defeated by government forces, much better equipped.
The US had expressed its disappointment at the unavailability of Arab countries to solve regional problems and critics against Western countries engaged to help settle these issues.
According to a US official quoted by the Wall Street Journal, the dispatch of Egyptian arms shipments started a few days ago. However, he stressed that Washington has not put in place a clear official policy on this score, even if it knows.
The official considered that the quantity of weapons as too small and too late to have influenced the balance of power in favor of the insurgents.
Crack special forces troops have been secretly pouring into Libya to back the rebellion against Colonel Gaddafi.
The elite troops moved in as the defiant tyrant vowed to “fight to the last man and woman” – and warned that “thousands will die” if the West intervenes.
[...] Intelligence sources have told us that post-Mubarak Egyptian troops have been allowed into Libya by Tunisian soldiers – showing increasing Arab-backing for the anti-Gaddafi revolt.
[...] Egypt’s new foreign minister, Nabil al-Arabi, told reporters in Cairo on Tuesday that he intends to reestablish ties with the regime of Iranian strongman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Islamic overseers.
“We will turn over a new leaf with all states, including Iran,” said al-Arabi.
The minister said he was not yet sure if Egypt would be opening an embassy in Tehran anytime soon, but was keen to begin promoting friendly relations with the Islamic Republic.
Asked about Lebanon’s Hizballah terrorist militia, which more or less runs that country, al-Arabi indicated he had no problem with the group, and would not oppose official ties between Hizballah and Egypt.
“Hezbollah is part of Lebanon’s composition, and we see this as an internal matter,” he said. “If any party wishes to have ties with Egypt there will be nothing preventing us from talking.”
Egypt Stalls Reopening of Natural Gas Pipeline to Israel, Once again
Egyptian company Eastern Mediterranean Gas hints closure is political, asks U.S. government for help
Egyptian authorities refused to allow the reopening of the natural gas pipeline to Israel yesterday, which was closed a month ago after a terrorist bomb damaged part of the pipeline. Sources at the Egyptian company Eastern Mediterranean Gas, which supplies Israel with the Egyptian gas, hinted the issue is not actually technical − but political.
Some of the owners of EMG, which sells gas to Israel, asked the American and Thai governments to push the Egyptian government to resume the flow of gas to Israel. The reopening was scheduled for today, after three previous postponements.
Iran and Saudi Arabia Cold War Has Entered a New Era
Saudi Arabia fears Iranian influence – its Bahrain intervention has echoes of the Soviet reaction to the 1956 Hungary uprising.
Democracy is arriving in the Middle East, albeit slowly. But what is making progress at a much faster pace is the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Some described the fall of the Mubarak government, preceded by the fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, as the Middle East’s Berlin Wall moment. The parallels with the cold war in Europe do not end there. There are also similarities between the entry of Soviet forces into Budapest in November 1956 to put down a popular uprising and the Saudi decision to send forces into Bahrain on 14 March this year.
The Soviets were worried that communist Hungary might fall into the hands of their western cold war adversaries, and thus felt it necessary to send their forces to put down any such initiative. The new Saudi strategy is based on similar calculations. They sent their forces into Bahrain because they felt that if the Shia uprising succeeded, it could turn the country from a Saudi friend into an ally of Iran.
The Saudi decision to risk the lives of its own soldiers in Bahrain is a sign of how seriously they view the situation. It is a departure from the old strategy, where the Saudis paid others to do their fighting for them – as with the Saudi financing of Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran between 1980 and 1988.
As far as the Saudis are concerned, the gloves are off and this means that the Middle East’s version of the cold war is intensifying.
The Iranian government is furious as well. Publications such as the pro-Ahmadinejad Raja News have accused the Saudis of creating a “bloodbath” in Bahrain. Others, such as the Tehran-based Asr Iran, have called for the creation of a Hezbollah movement in Bahrain. Meanwhile, the Association of Independent Student Unions in Iran has declared its readiness to go to Bahrain in order to confront government and Saudi forces there.
This fury is now turning into warnings. President Ahmadinejad has already cautioned the Saudi royal family that they should “learn from Saddam’s fate”.
The Saudis should now start preparing themselves for Iran’s response, because the Iranian government is not going to let this pass quietly.
Saudi Arabia Virtually Annexes Bahrain, Will Build a Missile-Naval Base Opposite Iran
Saudi Arabia ranges defenses against Iran, is willing to swap gesture favoring coalition operation in Libya for recognition of its takeover of Bahrain.
Israeli and Saudi Leaders in Moscow as Palestinians Ramp up Missile Strikes
[...] In Moscow, DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources report that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was working to set up a discreet meeting between two visitors – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, failing which he will try and bring the Saudi Intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, who arrived with the foreign minister, together with the Israeli leader.
Muqrin has met Israeli leaders in secret before, including the former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
[...] DEBKAfile’s Jerusalem and Moscow sources note that this is the point at which Israel’s declining security situation becomes relevant to a possible Israeli-Saudi dialogue.
Neither Jerusalem nor Riyadh is at ease with the US role in favor of the popular uprisings against veteran Arab regimes – and most particularly the US-UK-French military intervention in Libya. Both find this policy detrimental to the national and security interests of America’s foremost Middle East allies.
They also share resentment for the benefits accrued from this wave of unrest by Tehran and the effect it has had to turn world attention away from its progress toward manufacturing a nuclear bomb.
The Saudi king and Israeli prime minster are apprehensive, on the strength of their intelligence input, that Iran will eventually seize control of the popular uprisings in Arab lands, especially Egypt.
Riyadh alone took a substantial precautionary step against this menace by sending military units into the Bahrain on Feb. 14 to pre-empt the Iranian-backed Shiite threat to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the tiny kingdom’s financial and oil assets at the back door of the rich eastern Saudi oil center.
Israel Holds Secret Talks With Russia in Bid to Thwart Recognition of Palestinian State
Isaac Molho, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior adviser and top negotiator on the Palestinian channel, made a secret trip to Moscow on Wednesday and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The purpose of the visit was to dissuade Russia from supporting the European Union’s intention to present in two weeks’ time a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
Facebook on Tuesday removed a page calling on Palestinians to take up arms against Israel, following a high-profile Israeli appeal to the popular social-networking site.
The page, titled “Third Palestinian Intifada,” had more than 350,000 fans before it was taken down. It called on Palestinians to take to the streets after Friday prayers on May 15 and begin an uprising. “Judgment Day will be brought upon us only once the Muslims have killed all of the Jews,” a quote from the page reads.
Facebook said the page began as a call for peaceful protest, even though it used the term “intifada,” which has been associated with violence in the past.
“However, after the publicity of the page, more comments deteriorated to direct calls for violence,” said Andrew Noyes, Facebook’s public policy communications manager. He said the creators of the page eventually made calls for violence as well.
“We monitor pages that are reported to us and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate — as occurred in this case — we have and will continue to take them down.”
In a letter last week to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein said the page included “wild incitement.” Edelstein applauded Facebook for removing the page, saying he hoped the action would be an example to others and deter similar postings in the future.
Military Intelligence Monitoring Foreign Left-Wing Organizations
Military Intelligence is collecting information about left-wing organizations abroad that the army sees as aiming to delegitimize Israel, according to senior Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces officers.
Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud al-Faisal on Thursday will arrive in Ankara, reported the website of CNN Turk TV channel, which links the visit to Bahrain events.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet al-Faisal after returning from Russia. According to the report, the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu will also attend the meeting.
On Wednesday, Davutoglu spoke with foreign ministers of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain by phone, Anadolu Agency reported.
Officials said that Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called Davutoglu, stating that Davutoglu and Salehi discussed “developments in the region”.
Davutoglu called foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and phone conversations mainly focused on developments in Bahrain, officials said.
Anti-government protests began in Manama, Bahrain in February. Demonstrators have been demanding the ouster of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as well as constitutional reforms, with hundreds camping out peacefully in the capital’s Pearl Square since February 14th.
Bahraini forces imposed a curfew and started to intervene in the protesting group on Wednesday. At least six people were reported to have been killed in Manama during attacks by Bahraini forces against the anti-government protesters in the capital. In response to this, Iran recalled its ambassador from Bahrain.
Troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states were dispatched to Bahrain at the country’s government’s request to help quell the uprising by majority Shiite Muslims against the Sunni leadership.
Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa will visit Turkey on Tuesday to discuss unrest in his country sparked by a Shiite-led opposition movement, Turkey’s foreign minister said, AFP reports.
Turmoil in the Gulf kingdom “could produce a potential to create an international conflict… and spread Shiite-Sunni tensions across the region,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with CNN Turk television Monday.
Turkey is in contact also with Saudi Arabia and Iran to ease tensions, he said.
“On the one side, we are advising Bahrain to put in practice democratisation reforms as soon as possible, and on the other side we are advising Iran, Saudi Arabia and the other related parties to show restraint,” he added.
Tension has escalated between Gulf states and Iran as Tehran condemned the deployment of Saudi-led Gulf troops in Bahrain last week, followed by a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Shiite-majority country.
The Turkish authorities have seized rifles on a Syria-bound Iranian plane, grounded since the weekend, and questioned its seven-man crew, police and judicial sources said Tuesday.
The cargo plane, a civilian Ilyushin, was ordered to land in Diyarbakir, in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, on Saturday night on suspicion that it had military or illicit cargo on board.
The plane had declared a cargo of spare car parts, but the inspection resulted also in the discovery of a box containing automatic rifles, a police source told AFP, without providing further details on the guns.
The crew was taken to a police station for questioning and argued that the weapons were on board as part of routine security measures, declining to give additional information.
Turkey to UN: We Seized illegal Iran Arms Shipment en Route to Syria
Turkey has informed a UN Security Council panel that it seized a cache of weapons Iran was attempting to export in breach of a UN arms embargo, according to a document obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
Security Council diplomats said the report of the seizure from an Iranian cargo plane reflected positively on Turkey, which some U.S. and European officials say has taken a lax approach to implementing international sanctions against Iranian financial institutions.
The report to the council’s Iran sanctions committee, which oversees compliance with the four rounds of punitive steps the 15-nation body has imposed on Iran over its nuclear program, said a March 21 inspection turned up the weapons, which were listed as “auto spare parts” on the plane’s documents.
The plane was bound for Aleppo, Syria, and was given permission to pass through Turkish airspace provided it made a “technical stop” at Diyarbakir airport.
Turkey has said it will help with distributing humanitarian aid to Libya and has suggested it could play a part in mediating between rebels and the government of Muammar Gaddafi.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s prime minister, said Turkey would take over the running of Benghazi airport to take responsibility for distributing humanitarian aid from the rebel-held eastern city.
The AFP news agency also quoted an official as saying Turkey was responding to a request from fighters in Libya, saying civilian and technical personnel would be sent out.
Ankara has already sent a ferry carrying a medical team, two ambulances and two tonnes of medical supplies to Libya in an attempt to help treat wounded people.
Cemil Cicek, the deputy prime minister, said Turkey was planning to take around 450 injured people from the rebel-held port of Misurata to Turkey for treatment.
Last week, the Turkish parliament also approved the dispatch of a naval force to Libyan waters as the government moved reluctantly to join the military campaign in the north African country.
Turkish PM Cancels Brussels Trip amid Criticisms Over Press Freedom
The Turkish prime minister has canceled his April 1 trip to Brussels to avoid criticisms from EU officials over the deterioration of press freedom, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned from diplomatic sources.
[...] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was scheduled to meet with top EU officials, including Herman van Rompuy, president of the EU Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. A joint press conference was also expected during the Brussels talks.
Turkey’s Erdogan in First Visit to Iraq Kurd Region
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was welcomed on Tuesday as the first Turkish leader to visit Iraq’s Kurdish region, on a trip laden with significance born of Turkey’s own history of conflict with its Kurdish minority.
Turkey Hosts Military Exercise with Pakistani, Afghan Troops
Turkey has hosted joint “urban warfare” exercises with troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan, comprising sniper and anti-tank units from the three countries.
The number of troops was small — apparently 128 — but the meaning of the exercise was more political than operational. Turkey has long been NATO’s point of contact for relations with Pakistan, and Washington and Brussels have been trying to get Turkey to help build relations between the militaries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. So this exercise — agreed upon at a summit between the three countries in December — is a step in that direction.
Signs of an Axis Shift in EU’s Trust in Turkey’s Ruling Party
Trust in Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, appears to be diminishing among European circles due to growing concerns about fundamental freedoms.
[...] The views of EU institutions vis-a-vis Turkey have seen a clear shift, according to Demir Murat Seyrek, a senior policy adviser for the European Foundation for Democracy.
After Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, a wave of unprecedented anti-regime protests has now hit Syria, a country known for its iron grip on security matters.
[...] Daraa, a southern town that is home to large tribal families, has been the focal point of the rallies, the latest in a string of uprisings against long-running autocratic regimes across the Arab world.
Syria has deployed security forces to the northern city of Latakia after violent protests left at least 12 people dead and more than 150 injured amid calls for reform.
[...] Syrian authorities have accused “armed groups” of seeking to incite sectarian strife in the city, which has seen violent clashes between pro-reform protesters, security forces and government supporters.
IDF: Syria May Provoke Israel to Distract from Domestic Unrest
[...] The IDF is also preparing for the possibility that Damascus might use Hezbollah or other militant organizations in Lebanon to heat up that front to divert attention from events in Syria.
A bomb struck a crowded bus stop in central Jerusalem Wednesday, killing one woman and wounding more than 20 other people in what authorities said was the first major Palestinian militant attack in the city in several years.
The bombing brought back memories of the second Palestinian uprising last decade, a period in which hundreds of Israelis were killed by suicide bombings in Jerusalem and other major cities.
Lebanon: Estonian Tourists Kidnapped in Bekaa Valley
Seven Estonian tourists have been kidnapped while cycling in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
The army has now begun searching for the group, who had entered Lebanon legally from Syria earlier in the day.
They were in the town of Zahle when they were seized by men in a car and two vans.
It is not clear whether the kidnapping is politically motivated. The Bekaa Valley is a stronghold of the Islamist Hezbollah movement.
During Lebanon’s civil war, at least 88 foreigners were taken hostage between 1984 and 1990, including the journalist John McCarthy and peace envoy Terry Waite.
The Bekaa Valley is known for lawlessness, drug trafficking and feuds between the powerful clans which control the region’s hashish plantations.
The tourists’ abandoned bicycles were found near the industrial complex in Zahle where they were abducted.
A bomb exploded Sunday at a church in the eastern town of Zahle, causing severe damage but injuring no one, in an act denounced by politicians and religious leaders as an attack on Lebanon’s stability.
A security source told The Daily Star that a device containing 2 kilograms of TNT exploded inside Saidat al-Najat church at 4.15 a.m. Sunday morning, in a detonation performed via cellphone.
“This is the first time this kind of bomb has been used [in Lebanon], whereby the individual can detonate the bomb from anywhere,” the source said.
Israel Releases Map of Hezbollah Bunkers in Lebanon
Washington Post obtains map detailing bunkers, arms caches, surveillance sites in south Lebanon. IDF official: We want to show world that Shiite group has turned villages into fighting zones.
Syria Releases Egyptian-American Accused of Espionage
Syrian authorities have released an Egyptian-American man one week after detaining him on espionage concerns and showing him in what was billed as a televised confession on state TV.
Muhammad Radwan was released to the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus on Friday.
Uruguay Joins South American Nations in Recognizing Palestinian Statehood
Uruguay has joined a string of South American nations in recognizing an independent Palestinian state.
A Foreign Ministry statement says Uruguay has communicated its decision to the Palestinian Authority.
However the statement does not explicitly say whether the country recognizes Palestine’s borders predating the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza.
Foreign Ministry officials declined Tuesday to clarify the matter.
More than a half-dozen countries in South America have recognized Palestine recently, though in different ways.
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay recognized the pre-1967 borders.
Chile and Peru said the issue must be worked out between Israelis and Palestinians.
French FM : EU Should Consider Recognizing Palestinian State
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday that the European Union should consider the option of recognizing a Palestinian state if no peace agreement with Israel is reached.
“Recognizing the Palestinian state alone is useless,” he said, explaining that the measure should be taken in collaboration with other countries within the EU. Juppe made the statement during a hearing at the Committee on Foreign Affairs of National Assembly in the lower house of the French Parliament. “We’re not there yet, but personally I think it is an option that one must have in mind,” he added.
Israelis and Palestinians probably won’t agree anytime soon on clear borders for a new state, leaving them to maintain current political arrangements for another generation, former Mossad Director Efraim Halevy said.
Even if Palestinians declare a state later this year and garner significant support at the United Nations, the move will have little practical significance and will probably perpetuate Israeli’s occupation of the West Bank.
IDF Seizes Boat Carrying Weapons from Turkey to Gaza
The Israeli navy seized a ship on Tuesday that was apparently smuggling weapons destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Unit said that the ship “Victoria” originated from the Lattakia port in Syria and sailed to Mersin, Turkey. It was seized while on its way from Turkey destined for the El-Arish port in Egypt.
Netanyahu : Arms on Seized Ship Came from Iran Via Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that weapons seized by the Israel Navy from a ship bound for Egypt earlier in the day had come from Iran, via Syria, and were intended for militants in Gaza.
“We are currently collecting information and the one thing that is certain is that the weapons are from Iran with a relay station in Syria”.
“Turkey Stops Iranian Cargo Plane en Route to Syria”
Turkish government denies earlier reports that plane was stopped because it carried weapons meant for Syria, says it is “standard procedure” for planes to be checked.
The Turkish government on Wednesday denied reports that Turkish military jets forced an Iranian cargo plane to land at Biyarbakir airport Tuesday night in order to check it for Iranian arms meant for Syria, reported AP.
The government confirmed that the Iranian plane landed in Turkey, but that it is standard procedure for cargo planes to request permission to fly over Turkey and that sometimes they are required to make unscheduled landings to be searched.
Egyptian authorities have uncovered a spy network that has been working for Israel, said an official report on Wednesday. The discovery is the first of its kind since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak last month.
Official reports circulated by state newspapers said state security prosecutors were interrogating one of the suspects involved in the cell, and he will remain in custody pending investigations. Initial reports said the suspect is Egyptian and that the network includes another foreigner and two Israelis who fled the country before the uncovering of the network.
State-owned al-Ahram newspaper reported on Wednesday that the foreigner admitted he came to Egypt after the 25 January revolution to report on developments in the country. It is believed he is a Syrian national who entered Egypt under the guise of being a businessman.
The suspect said he was working for Mossad, Israeli intelligence, according to al-Ahram.
Israeli spy Ring Aimed at Conducting Espionage against Egyptian Army
Mossad agents were arrested in Egypt 5 days ago, and the mission was sent to collect detailed information about the size of the Egyptian armed forces stationed on the streets; its places, prominent Egyptian government officials and natural gas lines in Sinai”, Israeli online edition said.
“The cell received its first assignment after the January 25 revolution on the purpose of gathering key strategic and political information about the situation in Egypt,” The Hebrew-language news site Inyan Merkazi said.
The Higher State Security Prosecution ordered the imprisonment of the first suspect in custody for 15 days while investigations take place. The suspect is a 34-year-old Jordanian who arrived in Cairo during the demonstrations and allegedly sent information concerning recordings of phone calls made by Egyptian officials and important locations in Cairo to Israel. He was charged with spying for Israel and harming Egypt’s national interests by the Public Prosecutor.
Egypt’s temporary military rulers sent a delegation to Syria on Thursday to meet with President Bashar al-Assad. Egyptian General Murad Mohammed Muafi and Assad agreed to boost cooperation between the two countries, according to Syria’s SANA news agency.
The meeting follows long-term tension between Egypt and Syria. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refrained from developing warm ties with Assad due to disagreement over Syria’s role in Lebanon.
Saudi Troops Have Entered Bahrain : Saudi Official
More than 1,000 Saudi troops, part of the Gulf countries’ Peninsula Shield Force, have entered Bahrain where anti-regime protests have raged for a month, a Saudi official said Monday.
The troops entered the strategic Gulf kingdom on Sunday, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The intervention came “after repeated calls by the (Bahraini) government for dialogue, which went unanswered” by the opposition, the official said.
According to the regulations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, “any Gulf force entering a member state becomes under the command of the government,” the official added.
The Bahraini government has not confirmed the presence of Saudi troops in the archipelago, which is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
Iran Warns Against Military Intervention in Bahrain, Recalls Ambassador
Iran warned against the consequences of military interventions of foreigners in Bahrain and recalled its ambassador from Manama due to the relevant disputes, local media reported on Thursday.
In telephone conversations with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad al-Sabah on Wednesday over the recent developments in Bahrain, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi talked about the military meddling in Bahrain.
Iranian foreign minister called for the continued consultations between regional countries to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gulf kingdom.
Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani also warned against foreign military intervention in Bahrain, saying the ” tragic occurrence, would exacerbate the situation in the country.”
“The entering of foreign forces into Bahrain will complicate the situation in the region and make it difficult to find a solution to the ongoing crisis in the country,” Larijani was quoted as saying by satellite Press TV.
Larijani described the move as “detrimental” to the region and added “Foreign troops are committing a bigger crime as they are involved in the crackdown against Bahraini people.”
Iranian MP, Hamid Resai has announced that the King of Jordan’s visit to Iran has been cancelled. “In view of the current critical situation,” he said, “the Jordanian Abdullah’s trip to Tehran did not meet the approval of senior Islamic Republic officials.”
Message from Saudi King to President al-Assad on Bilateral Relations, Developments in Arab Arena
President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday received a message from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia highlighting the special relations between their brotherly countries.
The message was delivered during President al-Assad’s meeting with Advisor to the Saudi King, Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah.
The latest developments in the Arab arena, including the situation in the brotherly Kingdom of Bahrain, were discussed in the message.
Syrian Foreign Minister Valid Muallem is due to visit Tehran on Thursday to confer with the Iranian officials on the bilateral relations between the two countries and the latest developments in the region.
Muallem is also scheduled to meet a number of high ranking Iranian officials in addition to his counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi during his one day visit.
Muallem and Salehi’s latest meeting was on January 29 in Damascus.
Iran and Syria have forged an alliance ever since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the two countries’ officials exchange visits on a regular basis.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was last in Tehran at the head of a high-ranking politico-economic delegation in October 2010.
The two countries enjoy strategic relations in a wide variety of fields.
China Paying $6 Billion to Develop Iran Oil Fields
An Iranian official said Beijing has contracted Iran’s Azadegan oil fields for projects estimated at more than $6 billion. The contractor was identified as the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. assigned to cooperate with the National Iranian Oil Co, Middle East Newsline reported.
Warship Deal With Russia Losing Support in France – Paper
The agreement to sell advanced warships to Russia is losing support in France because of Moscow’s wish to get hold of sensitive military technology and concerns among Russia’s neighbors, Le Figaro daily said on Wednesday.
[...] A number of Russia’s neighbors have expressed concern over the upcoming deal, in particular Georgia, Lithuania, and Japan, especially after a Russian Defense Ministry source said in early February the ships would be inducted with the Pacific Fleet to protect the South Kuril Islands claimed by Japan.
Russia, Turkey to Take final Step in Visa-Free Regime
The final official step in the process of introducing a visa-free regime between Black Sea neighbors Russia and Turkey will be taken during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s three-day visit to Russia.
U.S. Training Quietly Nurtured Young Arab Democrats
[...] And when 2011′s winter of discontent exploded into a pro-democracy storm in Tunisia and then Egypt, opposition activist Bilal Diab broke away from his six-month “young leaders school” and its imported instructors, and put his new skills to use among the protest tents of Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
“It helped us organize the revolution,” Diab, 23, said of his made-in-America training. “People were scattered, but we had learned how to bring them together and we did, and when we opened our tent we announced formation of the Revolution Youth Union.”
[...] That success, meanwhile, points up a core paradox: A U.S. government that long stood by Mubarak and other Arab leaders as steadfast allies was, at the same time, financing programs that ultimately contributed to his and potentially others’ downfall.
[...] “One of the beauties of the U.S. system is that there are many, many entry points in many centers of power, and they can have conflicting policies.”
[...] National Endowment money, $100-million-plus a year, is at work in more than 90 countries worldwide. But it’s the USAID grants, from an $800 million budget for developing “political competition” and “civil society” in 67 nations, that have proved vital to activists in a half-dozen Arab lands, from Morocco to Yemen. Some $104 million was requested for them in the proposed 2011 budget.
[...] Today General Enan, a favorite of the American military, is the second in command among the group of generals moving toward some form of democracy in Egypt. In meetings of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, he sits to the right of its leader, the 75-year-old defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and is considered his potential successor. In the meantime, American officials say, General Enan, 63, has become a crucial link for the United States as it navigates the rocky course ahead with Cairo.
If he is not yet the Pentagon’s man in Egypt, many hope he will be.
[...] Some experts on the Egyptian military have suggested that General Enan could be a candidate, a proposal swiftly dismissed by Pentagon officials and the Egyptian military. “The Supreme Council will not field a candidate from one of their own,” an Egyptian military official said in a rare interview on Friday in Washington. The official requested anonymity under ground rules imposed by the Egyptian government.
No one disputes, though, that General Enan will play a central role in Egypt’s future government, more likely from behind the scenes, where the country’s powerful and traditionally secretive armed forces are still most comfortable. There, out of sight of most Egyptians, they run national security policy and operate lucrative businesses as part of a parallel “Military Inc.” economy that produces electronics, household appliances, clothing and food.
U.S.-Saudi Tensions Intensify With Mideast Turmoil
[...] Saudi officials have made no secret of their deep displeasure with how President Obama handled the ouster of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, charging Washington with abandoning a longtime ally. They show little patience with American messages about embracing what Mr. Obama calls “universal values,” including peaceful protests.
When Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were forced to cancel visits to the kingdom in recent days, American officials were left wondering whether the cause was King Abdullah’s frail health — or his pique at the United States.
“They’re not in a mode for listening,” said one senior administration official, referring to the American exchanges with Saudi officials over the past two months about the need to get ahead of the protests that have engulfed other Arab states, including two of Saudi Arabia’s neighbors, Bahrain and Yemen.
A Saudi-led military force crossed into Bahrain on Monday to prop up the monarchy against widening demonstrations, launching the first cross-border military operation to quell unrest since the Arab world’s rebellions began in December.
[...] Gulf leaders are also concerned that political gains by Bahrain’s Shiites might give Shiite Iran a stepping stone to its arch-rival Saudi Arabia, connected to Bahrain by a wide causeway.
Instead, the Saudis and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council sent forces the other way, deploying about 1,000 troops by land and air and cementing the entire six-nation alliance to the fate of Bahrain’s rulers, who are key U.S. allies as hosts of the American Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Iran’s Arming of Afghan Insurgents Hits Lethal Level
British Foreign Minister William Hague has lashed out at Iran after extensive tests verified without a doubt that 122 mm rockets intercepted by the British Special Air Services in Southern Afghanistan were being shipped by Iran to the Taliban there. “This is a really significant indication of Iranian support for the insurgency,” said one British military source
Israeli Military Believes Experts from Iran, Hezbollah Training Gaza Militants
[...] Hamas, an anti-Israel group backed by Iran and Syria, took control of Gaza by force in June 2007.
[...] Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, frequently send in experts to train Hamas forces, crossing through illicit tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border that are also used to smuggle in weapons. Some foreign experts are even stationed in Gaza.
Lebanon Pro-Western Opposition Protests Against Hezbollah Arms
Tens of thousands of supporters of outgoing Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri gathered in Beirut on Sunday to protest the weapons arsenal held by the rival Shiite movement Hezbollah.
In a rally which marked the 2005 uprising that ended Syria’s 30-year domination of Lebanon.
[...] The militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, was the only Lebanese political faction allowed to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war. The group argues it needs them to defend Lebanon from possible Israeli attacks.
Israel Finally Moving to Define National Policy on Iran
[...] Recently, activists in the United States and Germany, especially Stop the Bomb, have increased pressure on Angela Merkel’s government to close the Hamburg-based European-Iranian trade bank EIH. The bank, founded in 1971 during the shah’s rule, has for years functioned as Iran’s main financial arm in Europe to fund its undercover activities. It is considered a German bank and is supervised by Germany’s central bank, but it is owned by four large banks, all of them owned by the Iranian government.
Lebanon Lifts Banking Secrecy on 23 Cases Involved in Money Laundering
Report comes as U.S. scrutinizing Lebanese banks for possible links to terrorist financing.
Lebanon lifted the banking secrecy on 23 accounts involved in money laundering, financial embezzlement and terrorist funding in 2010, according to a report by the Special Investigation Commission (SIC).
[...] The U.S. Treasury Feb. 10 accused the Lebanese-Canadian Bank of money laundering in connection with Hezbollah, which is labeled by Washington as a terrorist group.
Central Bank governor Riad Salameh immediately left to Washington and held urgent talks with officials from the U.S. Treasury.
Salameh, who is keen to protect the reputation of the Lebanese banks, persuaded the management of the Lebanese-Canadian Bank to sell its entire stake to a major Lebanese bank to protect customers’ deposits.
Israeli Television : Third War with Hizbullah Will Include 230 Villages South of Awali River
Israeli Channel Ten television broadcast preliminary images of what it claimed was a base in Syria where Hizbullah stored its rockets. The report said: “Hizbullah is arming itself at an unprecedented rate under the misleading cover of calm in the North.”
The base, located in Adra in Syria, lies 50 kilometers east of Damascus and serves as an “emergency storage unit for Hizbullah in Syria or Hizbullah’s special region in the heart of Syria.”
These rockets are transported on a daily basis from Adra to northern Lebanon, the Bekaa, and the South, through smuggling routes.
“The international community is aware of these images,” the report stressed.
It also addressed the Iranian deputy foreign minister’s recent meeting to Lebanon, which it said was aimed at inspecting the “Iranian unit that it deployed at Lebanon’s border with Israel.”
“In fact, the official arrived to make sure that Hizbullah is not wasting the gifts and funds Iran has invested in Lebanon. They want all matters to be ready should Iran’s nuclear facilities be attacked,” it continued.
Given the extent of smuggling and the number of rockets being delivered, some of which have a range of 300 kilometers, then an attack by the Israeli army would include 230 villages south of the Awali River North of Sidon, and not just 180 villages as had previously been discussed, said the report.
Iran’s Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani says power equations in the region are changing in favor of resistance against Israel.
In a meeting with Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri on Thursday, Larijani described the recent popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa as a good opportunity for “those countries [which are] in the resistance front against Israel and its arrogant supporters.”
[...] The Iranian lawmaker stressed the strategic importance of cooperation among Iran, Syria, Turkey and Iraq for the whole region.
Larijani accused foreign powers of “taking advantage of the region’s current situation” and said, “The vigilance of regional nations will prevent the plots devised by international powers to regain their hegemony in the region.”
Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq have agreed to issue joint visas in an effort to boost their tourism sectors, local media reported on Monday (March 7th). The measure, proposed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would cut tourist costs, allowing them to visit all four countries with one visa. The new document will be called “Shamgen”, from “Sham”, the Arab name for Syria.
China to Help Iran Build World’s Tallest Dam – Tehran
China signed a $2 billion contract with Iran to build the world’s tallest dam in the Islamic state, the Iranian energy minister was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
[...] Iran has been hit by foreign sanctions and Western firms are wary of investing in the Islamic Republic for fear of sanctions. State-owned Asian firms are less susceptible to Western pressure to stay away from the Iranian market.
Leader’s Advisor Warns of Iran’s Crushing Response to Aggressors
A senior advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution warned enemies of Iran’s crushing response to any possible action against the country, adding that Iran will chase and punish invaders beyond the country’s borders.
[...] Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran mounted since a big Israeli air drill last year. In the first week of June, 2008, 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters reportedly took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece, which was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
Iran has, in return, warned that it would target Israel and the US as well as their worldwide interests in case it comes under attack by either country.
Iran has also warned it could close the strategic Strait of Hormoz if it became the target of a military attack over its nuclear program.
Strait of Hormoz, the entrance to the strategic Persian Gulf waterway, is a major oil shipping route.
Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has lost his position as the head of powerful clerical body according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Rafsanjani had chaired the Assembly of Experts since 2007.
He did not seek re-election after a veteran conservative cleric applied for the post.
Rafsanjani has now been replaced by Ayatollah Mohammed Reza Mahdavi Kani.
Under Iran’s constitution the assembly appoints and supervises the Supreme Leader and can even dismiss him.
Rafsanjani lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005’s presidential election and has been a rival ever since.
Hardliners accuse Rafsanjani of being too close to the opposition.
The 77-year-old was a vocal critic of a government-led crackdown on the 2009 ‘Green Movement’ protests after Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.
The volume of Iran’s oil exports to the EU member states increased to 41% in 2010 despite the western sanctions and the extra embargos imposed by the EU against the country.
According to a report citing Eurostat website, the recent statistical figures show that the value of Iran’s crude oil exports to the EU was worth 11.44bln euro in 2010, while the value of the country’s oil exports to 27 EU members in 2009 amounted only to 8.11bln euro.
Iran and Afghanistan have conducted a joint exercise to show off their readiness in countering drug-smugglers that operate along their shared borders.
Iranian and Afghan border guards kicked off the drill on Sunday as it entered its third day on Tuesday, commander of 4th Zone Afghan Border Police Maj. Gen. Sher Ali Shahryar said.
Gen. Shahryar added that Afghanistan had increased its forces in the west, saying that the Afghan border police are capable of stopping drug traffickers and preventing them from transporting drugs out of the country, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Afghanistan has deployed on its Western border 90 police officers that have been recently trained in Kabul, said the Afghan official.
He also stressed that new forces would be deployed in the border provinces of Herat, Farah, and Bagdis.
Afghanistan remains the source for over 90 percent of the world’s opium supply, which is the raw ingredient for heroin. The United Nations estimates the potential export value of Afghan narcotics to be about USD 3.4 billion a year.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has enforced strict security measures on its border with Afghanistan to stop drugs from being smuggled into the country.
British Special Forces Seize Shipment of Arms Iran Intended for the Taliban
Foreign Secretary William Hague has condemned Tehran’s ‘completely unacceptable’ behaviour after British Special Forces seized a shipment of Iranian arms intended for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
UK officials say detailed technical analysis has shown that the rockets, which have twice the range of the weapons currently available to the insurgents, were supplied by Iran.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Wednesday his country rejects any interference in its domestic affairs and would “cut off” any accusing finger.
Shiite protesters have taken to the streets in the majority Sunni kingdom in recent days demanding more freedom and democracy, mirroring the unrest across the Middle East and North Africa.
Lady Barbara Judge, a prominent member of the international board that advises the UAE on nuclear development, is happy with the way the Arab world’s first civilian nuclear programme is shaping up.
“The UAE understands that the key is to bring in the best people, give them the best facilities and a high degree of autonomy,” Lady Judge said yesterday after a lecture to female students at Zayed University in the capital.
“Abu Dhabi has the gold standard of nuclear projects,” she told a student who asked about security. “It is peaceful, transparent and will be a model for the rest of the world. The nuclear industry is the safest in the world, and it is only getting safer.”
Egypt, still grappling with a revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February, is reported to be quietly aiding rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
This is seen as part of a drive by the transitional regime in Cairo to restore Egypt’s leadership of the Arab world.
While the United States and the international community debate whether to intervene in the civil war raging in Libya to support the ragtag rebel forces holding the east of the country, Egypt apparently has sent around 100 Special Forces troops to help the insurgents.
The U.S. global security consultancy Stratfor says these troops “have played a key role in quietly providing weaponry and training to Libyan opposition forces while trying to organize a political command in the east.”
Cairo has made no official comment on the report.
[...] Stratfor claimed that, Tunisia, Libya’s western neighbor where the people power uprisings erupted in January, is “allowing armed volunteer fighters, along with Egyptian special operations forces, to enter Libya.”
It gave no numbers but noted, “This reported influx of fighters would presumably be used to flank Gadhafi’s forces from the west while other opposition forces move in from the east for a potential battle over Tripoli,” the Libyan capital held by Gadhafi’s loyalists and mercenaries.
[...] There has been speculation that with Mubarak gone, Egypt will have a freer hand in terms of foreign policy and that the powerful military will have a bigger say in that regard.
“Unlike Persian Gulf Arab states, whose power is derived from petrodollars, Egypt has real military might and regional intelligence networks with which to assert itself,” Stratfor observed.
“This means that in the near future, the United States may conceivably get a new source of manpower in the Middle East,” analyst Victor Kotsev wrote in Asia Times Online.
“For Egypt’s military rulers, this would also be a way to divert public attention away from domestic problems and to demonstrate competent rule in one area where they are indeed expert: military intervention.
“In a sense, the uprising created the ideal conditions for expanding Egypt’s military role in the region. It weakened the political structure of the country while empowering the army,” Kotsev wrote.
Egypt is well-placed to act as a regional gendarme, particularly as U.S. power and authority in the Middle East is waning.
One of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s closest aides is in on a mission in Egypt amid surging clashes between government forces and protesters in Libyan cities.
A plane carrying Libyan army General Abdel-Rahman al-Zawi landed in Cairo on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
A Libyan diplomat has confirmed that Major General al-Zawi is carrying a message for Egypt’s military council which is now running the country.
Three weeks after president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, Egyptians are turning their anger toward his internal security apparatus, storming the agency’s headquarters and other offices Saturday and seizing documents to keep them from being destroyed to hide evidence of human rights abuses.
What to do with the country’s tainted security agencies remains one of the most contentious issues facing the military rulers who took charge after a popular uprising forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11.
The 500,000-strong internal security services are accused of some of the worst human rights abuses in the suppression of dissent against Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule. The protesters are demanding the agency be dismantled and its leaders face a reckoning.
The ruling military council’s bind was evident on Friday and Saturday when thousands of demonstrators — including some who said they were victims of abuse by security agents — marched on state security buildings in Alexandria, Cairo and other cities.
Protesters stormed inside at least six of the buildings, including the agency’s main headquarters in Cairo’s northern Nasr City neighbourhood, confronting officers face to face and attacking some in a surreal reversal of roles.
[...] Egypt’s state security services, which under Mubarak were given a free hand by emergency laws to suppress dissent, are among the most powerful symbols of his regime. Many protest leaders say despite the fall of Mubarak and his government, the agency remains active in protecting the old regime and trying to sabotage the revolution.
The agency was the most pervasive security force, collecting intelligence on regime opponents and supporters alike.
Hundreds of Coptic Christians gathered outside the state television and radio building in Cairo on Sunday to protest against the burning of a church following religious clashes south of the capital.
Protesters, some carrying wooden crosses and Egyptian flags, demanded that the armed forces intervene to protect Coptic communities and churches.
The demonstration comes two days after a church was torched following clashes between Muslims and Christians in the town of Sol, 90 km south of Cairo.
Protesters demanded that those responsible for the incident be brought to justice.
Clashes in Sol were triggered when residents discovered that a Christian man from the town was having a relationship with a Muslim woman from a Cairo suburb.
The mass demonstrations sweeping the Middle East are touching the Palestinian territories, where West Bank and Gaza Strip activists are trying to organize their own “Facebook revolutions.”
The Palestinian activists are inspired by the calls for democracy that toppled autocratic leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and threaten longtime rulers in Libya and Bahrain.
In recent weeks, activists using Facebook have brought hundreds of people onto streets of the West Bank, waving Palestinian flags and calling for change. Smaller gatherings have taken place in Gaza. The protesters hope to stage a massive demonstration in both areas on March 15.
[...] Palestinians seek an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, areas wedged on different sides of Israel and ruled by rival governments. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority governs in the West Bank, where Israel’s military still retains overall control. The militant Islamic group Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007.
Britain to Raise Status of Palestinian London Office
Hague says status being raised to mission; move falls short of conferring formal diplomatic status which would imply recognizing Palestinian state.
[...] The move means that the current Palestinian “general delegation” office in London becomes the Palestinian mission and the head of delegation becomes known as the head of mission.
[...] “We want to see an urgent return to negotiations, based on clear parameters including 1967 borders. We will work with all the parties to press for a decisive breakthrough this year,” Hague told parliament.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may move up a trip to the United States and present an interim peace plan to head off growing pressure on the Jewish state, Israeli radio reported Monday.
Citing sources close to the prime minister, the radio said Netanyahu had been expected to present the plan during a May 22 visit to Washington.
During that trip he had been expected to address US pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC and possibly the US Congress.
But, facing increasing international pressure over stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, Netanyahu is now considering moving up his visit and is hoping to secure an official invitation to address Congress with his plan.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Monday called on Netanyahu to “take a bold decision” as soon as possible “to move Israel out of its isolation.”
Defense Minister sees no immediate threat in Egypt but fears repercussions of Mideast unrest. In Wall Street Journal interview, he says military upgrade can turn Israel into regional stabilizer.
Defense Minister Barak said Israel might request an additional $20 billion in military assistance from the United States in order to prepare for possible threats, given the recent unrest in the Middle East.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, Barak said that Israel should not fear regional changes or the risk of offering valiant concessions to the Palestinians.
On February 24 a majority in the Cyprus parliament voted for the country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Partnership for Peace program, a transitional mechanism employed to bring twelve Eastern European nations into the U.S.-dominated military bloc from 1999-2009: The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania and Croatia. Macedonia would have become a full member of the Alliance in 2009 along with the last two except for the lingering name dispute with Greece.
Cyprus is the only member of the 27-nation European Union that is not either in NATO or the Partnership for Peace (PfP), the only EU member that did not need to join NATO or be on its doorstep in order to be accepted, and the only European nation (excluding the microstates of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City) that is free of NATO entanglements. Every other nation on the continent and island state in the Mediterranean Sea is a member of NATO or the PfP. (NATO still lists Russia as a member of the second and since last November’s NATO summit in Portugal it has been active again in the NATO-Russia Council.)
[...] Cyprus was split into northern ethnic Turkish and southern Greek sections after the Turkish military invasion of 1974, although only Turkey recognizes the northern entity.
Britain, France and the United States have dispatched hundreds of military advisors to Libya to set up military bases in the country’s oil-rich east, reports say.
Several Libyan diplomats have been quoted by news outlets as saying these forces are setting up bases in the eastern cities of Benghazi and Tobruk — the two oil-rich cities that have been liberated by the opposition forces.
British and US special forces entered Libyan port cities of Benghazi and Toburk on February 23 and 24.
David Cameron’s Secret Talks With Tony Blair Over Libya Crisis
David Cameron has been secretly consulting Tony Blair about Libya despite publicly criticising his links with Colonel Gaddafi.
Senior officials say the Prime Minister has held at least two conversations in the past fortnight with the former Labour premier, now a Middle East peace envoy.
Mr Cameron has consulted Mr Blair about the Libyan dictator’s state of mind and sought advice about how to make him quit.
Members of the SAS have been captured by anti-government troops in Libya, according to a report.
The Sunday Times has claimed that rebels in the troubled North African state captured the eight elite soldiers as they escorted a British diplomat in a mission to establish a dialogue with opposition fighters.
According to the newspaper, the SAS men were armed but travelling in plain clothes and were seized as they accompanied the official in eastern Libya, before being taken to Benghazi for interrogation.
[...] It is thought that members of the anti-Gaddafi movement are unhappy that British special forces were operating in the country, despite the diplomatic offer of assistance, as has been perceived as Western interference.
[...] In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: “We neither confirm nor deny the story and we do not comment on the special forces.”
Libya : Captured Dutch Marines, Seized Helicopter Shown on State TV
Libyan state TV has aired footage of three detained Dutch marines who were captured along with their helicopter by forces loyal to leader Moammar Kadafi near the Kadafi-stronghold of Sirte on Sunday as they reportedly were carrying out a mission to evacuate two Europeans.
The Dutch Defense Ministry insists the crew was simply carrying out a “consular evacuation” — a claim that Libya seems to find dubious.
Preparing for “Operation Libya”: The Pentagon is “Repositioning” its Naval and Air Forces
“The United States is moving naval and air forces in the region” to “prepare the full range of options” in the confrontation with Libya: Pentagon spokesperson Col. Dave Lapan of the Marines made this announcement yesterday, March 1. He then said that “It was President Obama who asked the military to prepare for these options,” because the situation in Libya is getting worse. The military then began “the planning and preparation” phase for an intervention in Libya. Pentagon planners are working on several specific plans, depending on how the “repositioning of forces” begins so as to have maximum flexibility to implement any option.
China Insists Libyan Sovereignty Must Be Respected
China on Thursday stressed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Libya and also promoted a peaceful solution to the crisis in that country.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also said that an important principle for China was that the UN Security Council should the views of Arab and African nations.
She said Beijing hopes that all Libyan sectors can work together to restore order as soon as possible.
Regarding protests in Bahrain, she said the Chinese government welcomes the efforts of authorities with a view to reducing tension through dialogue.
All Middle Eastern nations are friends of China, she said, noting that her country had developed friendly relations and cooperation with these countries based on equality and mutual respect and benefit.
In First, Israel Blocks Palestinian Anti-Tank Rocket
For the first time, an Israeli system has intercepted an enemy missile fired toward a main battle tank.
[...] “For the first time during operational activity, the Trophy system, designed to actively protect against anti-tank missiles, identified, alerted and intercepted the missile.”
[...] The military did not identify the Palestinian anti-tank missile but said its crew was tracked and struck in counter-fire.
[...] In December, Hamas fired a Russian-origin AT-14 Kornet anti-tank missile that penetrated the Merkava Mk-4. The Hamas operation sparked an Army effort to install Trophy on all Merkavas deployed along the Gaza border.
After the overthrow of a neighboring multi-year ruler of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, Israel has created rapid reaction forces in case the situation in Judea and Samaria gets out of control. It enhanced the guard of a number of military and civilian targets inside the country and abroad.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak inspected the military units stationed near the northern border and made a number of important statements. New Israeli war preparations are consistent with the anxiety that has seized the Middle East in recent weeks.
Recently Benny Ganz was appointed the new Chief of General Staff of Israel. Just like his predecessor, he had a career as a combat officer. One of his first decisions in his new position was separating of Haifa and a number of settlements located in the north of the country in a separate military district.
This is not a formal change in the structure, but an important step aimed at strengthening of the defense of the North. In summer of 2006, it was Haifa and Kiryat Shmona that suffered the most from the attacks of the radical Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah.
During a visit to battalion 932 “Granit” of the Infantry Brigade of IDF, Ehud Barak stated the possibility of a new invasion to Lebanon. This measure can be undertaken by the Israeli army in the event of another attack of Hezbollah.
According to Benny Ganz, Israel is preparing for major military operations in the face of the external threat. Despite the requirement under the UN resolution 1701, the Lebanese resistance movement not only has failed to disarm, but also significantly strengthened its position.
Iran Contacting Arab Opposition Movements : Clinton
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Iran is directly or indirectly communicating with opposition groups in Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen in a bid to shape events there.
[...] They are doing everything they can to influence the outcomes in these places,” Clinton told the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“They are using Hezbollah… to communicate with counterparts… in (the Palestinian movement) Hamas who then in turn communicate with counterparts in Egypt.”
“We know that they are reaching out to the opposition in Bahrain. We know that the Iranians are very much involved in the opposition movements in Yemen.”
“So either directly or through proxies, they are constantly trying to influence events. They have a very active diplomatic foreign policy outreach.”
Gates on Urgent Mission to Cairo as Military Rulers Lose Grip
President Barack Obama Saturday, March 5, asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to set out for Cairo without delay on an emergency mission as the unrest in Egypt veered out of control, DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources report from Washington. Friday night, thousands of protesters seized control of the headquarters Egyptian security police in Alexandria, Cairo and the nearby 6 of October town, shutting down its operations across the country.
In the last hours, information reaching Washington indicated that control was slipping out of the hands of the Egyptian military junta ruling the country since Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow; anti-American elements energized by Iran appeared to have strengthened their hold on the protest movement, causing deep concern in the White House.
Commander : Navy to Continue Deployment of Warships in Foreign Waters
Commander of Iran’s Navy Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on Saturday praised an Iranian flotilla of warships dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea and the Syrian coasts for their success in accomplishing their long-term mission, and announced that the Navy will continue similar missions in future.
U.S. to Send Warship to Mediterranean to Support Europe Defense Shield
In a bid to protect Europe from possible Iranian missile strikes, the United States military is considering sending a warship to the Mediterranean next week.
Italian Warship Sails for Anti-Piracy Mission in Indian Ocean
An Italian warship sailed to the Indian Ocean on Tuesday to take part in the international anti-piracy mission.
The Atalanta mission is part of an EU joint task force operation aimed at patrolling the Indian Ocean against pirates and escorting the UN World Food Program and the African Union humanitarian relief ships to Somalia, according to a statement by the Italian Navy.
Indian Vessel, Nine Crew-Members Detained in Iran Since Feb 16
An Indian vessel ‘MVS Ramban’ carrying livestock, alongwith its nine crew members has been detained by the Iranian authorities for over two weeks now, the Salaya Sailing Vessel Owner’s Association in the district said on Saturday.
[...] “The Iran Navy took the vessel to Chabahar Navy port. They have kept two crew members on board, while other seven members have been sent to jail.”
[...] This is the first time in the recent history that a vessel from Gujarat has been detained by Iran Navy.
Indian Army Chief to Visit U.S. to Enhance Defence Cooperation
In the light of enhanced defence cooperation between India and the United States, over the last five years, Indian Army Chief, General VK Singh will visit the United States from March 7.
“Airstrikes in Libya Did Not Take Place” – Russian Military
The reports of Libya mobilizing its air force against its own people spread quickly around the world. However, Russia’s military chiefs say they have been monitoring from space – and the pictures tell a different story.
According to Al Jazeera and BBC, on February 22 Libyan government inflicted airstrikes on Benghazi – the country’s largest city – and on the capital Tripoli. However, the Russian military, monitoring the unrest via satellite from the very beginning, says nothing of the sort was going on on the ground.
At this point, the Russian military is saying that, as far as they are concerned, the attacks some media were reporting have never occurred.
The same sources in Russia’s military establishment say they are also monitoring the situation around Libya’s oil pumping facilities.
All laws necessary for the launch of a nuclear power plant construction program in Poland are to be adopted by Parliament before the end of June, reports Rzeczpospolita.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confirmed Washington’s plans to deploy missile defenses and Air Force units in Poland.
“As was announced by our two presidents in December, we plan to establish a new permanent U.S. air detachment in Poland, build missile defenses in Poland, and as agreed at the NATO summit, develop a contingency plan in the region,” Clinton told journalists ahead of talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Washington.
Wikileaks published U.S. cables in late 2010 showing that NATO was drawing up a plan on the protection of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland from external threats on a request from the United States and Germany.
The Guardian reported that under the plan, reportedly approved by Clinton, the United States, Britain, Germany and Poland would deploy troops in the region in case of a military aggression against the Baltic States or Poland itself.
According to the British newspaper, NATO members approved the draft plan during the alliance’s summit in Lisbon in November 2010.
In 2009, the United States decided to deploy several F-16 fighter jets and Hercules transport aircraft in Poland. Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich has said the United States was also planning to deploy Patriot missile defense systems in Poland at a base just 100 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Russia Election Risks Causing Capital Flight – Finance Minister
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday that a perception of political risk leading up to the 2012 presidential election was causing capital to flee the country, a factor which battered the ruble in the second half of last year.
Russia saw over $30 billion in capital outflows last year, more than four times the amount forecast by the central bank.
Islamist Leader Calls for Jihad by Russian Muslims
Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov called on Muslims throughout Russia to wage jihad (holy war) against the state, in a video posted on websites on Thursday.
A decade after federal forces drove separatists out of power in the second war in Chechnya, the Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency throughout the North Caucasus, where rebels want to create a separate Islamic state.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Rejects No-Fly Zone for Libya
Russia’s top diplomat ruled out the idea of creating a no-fly zone over Libya on Tuesday as embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi unleashed bombing raids, special forces and army troops in a desperate bid to retain power.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the idea of imposing limits on Libyan air space as “superfluous” and said world powers must instead focus on fully using the sanctions that the U.N. Security Council approved over the weekend.
Russia’s Lavrov Urges Anti-terror Cooperation With British Intelligence
[...] Lavrov urged cooperation against terrorism and said he had discussed the issue with British Foreign Secretary William Hague during his visit to London last month.
[...] He said Britain should act first on un-freezing contacts with Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Tensions remain high after Britain expelled a Russian diplomat from London over allegations of spying in December. The Russian authorities responded in kind.
Merkel’s CDU Loses Power in Hamburg, Suffers Worst Postwar Defeat in State
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party suffered its worst defeat in Germany’s richest state since World War II, the first of seven state elections this year that threaten to limit her scope to tackle Europe’s debt crisis.
The loss in Hamburg, the city-state of Merkel’s birth, underscores the challenge she faces trying to balance public opposition to bailouts for debt-wracked states against pressure from investors and fellow euro countries to lead the way in stemming the debt contagion.
Beleaguered French foreign minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has resigned after weeks of criticism over her links with the former regime in Tunisia.
She was replaced by the defence minister, Alain Juppé, a former prime minister convicted in a corruption scandal six years ago, in an unplanned but widely predicted government reshuffle.
Religious Tension Builds in Germany’s Relationship With Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sparked anger in Germany on February 27 as he suggested that Turks resist assimilation and learn Turkish, not German, as their first language.
“You must integrate, but I am against assimilation,” Erdogan told Turkish immigrants during a visit to Germany.
“No one should be able to rip us away from our culture,” he said.
The day before, Erdogan was quoted in the Rheinische Post saying that forced integration is against international law as it requires immigrants to suppress their culture and heritage.
His comments come as Germany is re-thinking its position on immigration and multiculturalism. Last year German Banker Thilo Sarrazin stirred the controversy by publishing a best-selling book claiming that Muslims and their failure to assimilate were the cause of many of the nation’s problems.
Renewed “Chatter” About a Possible U.S. Military Attack on Iran
WMR’s sources in the national security establishment are reporting on “chatter” that they are hearing about a possible U.S. military attack on Iran in the autumn, with October or November the likely months.
Although such chatter about U.S. military action against Iran has been heard before, the current talk comes amid two significant developments.
First, U.S.-backed regimes in the Middle East and North Africa have either already been ousted or are in danger of being overthrown. With U.S. clients Bahrain and Saudi Arabia under domestic pressure, talk of a U.S. attack on Iran, which would be popular with the Bahraini and Saudi regimes, tends to bolster those regimes.
Second, WMR has been informed that U.S. oil companies are drilling 1200 new oil wells in west Texas to raise U.S. domestic oil production. The companies have been told by the government that they have a 12 to 18-month window to drill new wells and a 24-month window to achieve maximum oil production. In the event of a U.S .military attack on Iran, oil exports from the Persian Gulf would be severely impacted.
WMR has been told that oil storage containers are currently being built in west Texas to hold the oil extracted from the new wells. Within the last three months, a number of oil exploration and support services personnel have arrived in towns all over west Texas. More significantly, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel have also arrived in west Texas in support of the oil drilling operations.
Milfuegos | February 24, 2011
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An Israeli-Arab Alliance: Inevitable Reality or Illusion?
In June, the Saudi government reportedly granted Israel use of Saudi airspace, should Israel decide to conduct air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Combined with Iran’s burgeoning nuclear program, Turkey’s flexing of political and diplomatic muscle in the region, and Egypt’s recent tacit support of an Israeli warship’s passage through the Suez Canal, there are rumbles of tectonic shifts in the Middle East’s geopolitical plates.
Despite these moves, some political dynamics in the Middle East remain fixed. Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are stalled, and anti-Israel sentiment in the Arab street is rampant. However, a convergence of Israeli and Sunni Arab strategic imperatives, spurred by the regional emergence of Iran and Turkey, could pave the way for a tacit alliance of unlikely bedfellows.
[...] Strategic imperatives similar to those guiding Israel’s “alliance of the periphery” could now compel an “alliance of the interior” between Israel and its key Sunni Arab neighbors – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The elevation of clandestine military and intelligence cooperation between Israel and its Sunni Arab neighbors could buffer Iran.
Iran-Turkey-Syria-Egypt Bloc Moves Closer With Profound Global Effect
[...] The fate of the societies of Christians and Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea region — in Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Cyprus, Greece, and Lebanon in particular — now becomes critically threatened. In particular, Egypt’s Christian population, which is now claimed to be at around 10 percent of the total but which in reality has been (and probably remains) larger, is likely to be severely compromised as Islamists gain political ascendancy over the traditionally moderate Egyptian Muslim society.
A Coptic Priest was found killed in his home in the Southern City of Assiut on Monday. Reverend Dawood Boutros had been dead for two days before relatives found him after failing to get in contact with him for two days.
Following the announcement of his death, around 3,000 Copts protested in Assiut in front of the Priest`s house, chanting: “We sacrifice our life for the crucifix.”
[...] The Islamic group in Assiut, Gama`a Islamiya, a Salafist Group, issued a statement condemning the murder and called for restraint and not rushing to hurl accusations before the investigations take place. The group called upon everyone to stand together and to confront any targeting of any life or property of any Egyptian Muslim or Christian. It also called on all parties to be patient, calm, and reasonable, and not to rush to indict without evidence.
For hundreds of terrified Christian families who fled attacks in Baghdad and Mosul in recent months, an ancient Christian town in Iraq’s north has offered a safe haven from violence.
[...] While most families fled from the capital and Mosul, Iraq’s two biggest cities, others arrived here from the ethnically mixed oil city of Kirkuk and even as far south as the Shiite Muslim majority port city of Basra, according to Bishop Georges Casmoussa, Qara Qosh’s top Christian leader.
[...] Most fled to the Kurdish region, which is regarded as safer than the rest of the country, notably for the Christian minority. Turkey, just north of Kurdistan, has also seen an influx, with the UN refugee office there saying asylum applications from Iraqi Christians more than doubled in three months — from 183 in October to 428 in December.
Christian Pakistani Minister Shot Dead in Islamabad
Pakistani Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, who had called for changes in the country’s controversial blasphemy law, was killed in a gun attack in Islamabad Wednesday.
[...] On January 4 the governor of the most populous province of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who had strongly opposed the law and sought presidential pardon for the 45-year-old Christian farmhand, was gunned down by one of his bodyguards.
The anti-blasphemy law has its roots in 19th-century colonial legislation to protect places of worship, but it was during the military dictatorship of General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s that it acquired teeth as part of a drive to Islamize the state.
Liberal Pakistanis and rights groups believe the law to be dangerously discriminatory against the country’s tiny minority groups.
Roman Catholic Salesian missionary Father Marek Rybinski was found dead with his throat cut in Tunis on Friday. The Tunisian interior ministry says it believes he was murdered by “fascist terrorists”.
[...] Police say that the priest is the second Christian religious figure to be killed during the social unrest which led up to and followed the ousting of President Ben Ali in January.
The leader of Tunisia’s centuries-old Jewish minority told AFP meanwhile he had informed Ghannouchi (Islamist Leader) of an anti-Jewish demonstration by extremists outside the main synagogue in the capital Tunis.
“About 40 religious people gathered Friday in front of the main synagogue in Tunis and started chanting ant-Jewish slogans and inappropriate words,” Roger Bismuth told AFP.
[...] Across the Middle East, it is the same story of despairing – sometimes frightened – Christian minorities, and of an exodus that reaches almost Biblical proportions. Almost half of Iraq’s Christians have fled their country since the first Gulf War in 1991, most of them after the 2004 invasion – a weird tribute to the self-proclaimed Christian faith of the two Bush presidents who went to war with Iraq – and stand now at 550,000, scarcely 3 per cent of the population. More than half of Lebanon’s Christians now live outside their country. Once a majority, the nation’s one and a half million Christians, most of them Maronite Catholics, comprise perhaps 35 per cent of the Lebanese. Egypt’s Coptic Christians – there are at most around eight million – now represent less than 10 per cent of the population.
Putin Hopes Germany Will Permit Nord Stream Pumping Soon
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he hoped Germany will soon grant permission for Russia to pump gas through the Nord Stream pipeline, which is supposed to carry gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe.
NATO’s chief has called for an emergency NATO council meeting for Friday afternoon to discuss the situation in Libya, according to Reuters.
“I have convened an emergency meeting in the NATO council this afternoon to consult on this fast-moving situation. So I will return to Brussels in a few hours,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the wire service in an interview.
In the interview, he said the more immediate priority would be given to evacuation “and possibly humanitarian assistance.”
“It’s a bit premature to go into specifics but it’s well-known that NATO has assets that can be used in a situation like this and NATO can act as an enabler and coordinator if and when individual member states want to take action,” Rasmussen said in the interview.
Meanwhile, government sources in Malta, which has deep ties with Libya, told CBS News that they expect the imposition of a no-flight zone as soon as the last westerner is pulled out of the country.
Gaddafi’s Son Rejects Reports of Airstrikes Against Civilians
The son of Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi rejected reports that the country’s air force attacked civilian protesters, as demonstrators on Thursday geared up for a 10th day of rallies against the regime.
[...] Arab media reported airstrikes in recent days against barracks and ammunitions depots aimed at preventing anti-government forces from obtaining weapons.
However, witnesses reported that fighter aircraft also opened fire on protesters.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Friday for a short working visit as G-20 president, which has disappointed top Turkish officials.
Sarkozy is visiting Turkey as president of the Group of 20 (G20), a policy forum for the world’s leading rich and developing economies.
Sarkozy will meet President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks that mostly focusing G-20 issues, Turkey’s accession talks with the EU and the issue of Cyprus.
The six-hour visit has disappointed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the length of the visit “is far from reflecting the depth of Turkish-French ties.”
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Friday that Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi should step down and that those responsible for the killings in Libya, as well as people who now continue to cooperate with the regime, should face investigation and prosecution at the International Criminal Court.
[...] Mr. Sarkozy said France was “cautiously discussing” military intervention in Libya and called for both the United Nations Security Council and the European Union to meet and reassess their policy in the region.
Three German military vessels arrived at the Mediterranean island of Malta on Friday to take part in a rescue operation for German citizens fleeing Libya, Maltese officials said.
Two of the vessels will pick up German nationals who landed in Malta earlier this week after being evacuated from Tripoli airport. The third is awaiting instructions and could be sent to Libya to evacuate more Germans.
The Berlin supply ship and the Rheinland Pfalz frigate were berthed in Malta’s picturesque Grand Harbour, while the third vessel, the Brandenburg, also a frigate, remained offshore.
Malta, the closest European state to Libya, has become a hub for worldwide efforts to evacuate thousands of foreign nationals escaping escalating violence in the north African state.
The Inquirer | February 25, 2011 ____________________
U.S. Military Advisers in Cyrenaica. Qaddafi Loses His Air Force
Hundreds of US, British and French military advisers have arrived in Cyrenaica, Libya’s eastern breakaway province, DEBKAfile’s military sources report exclusively. This is the first time America and Europe have intervened militarily in any of the popular upheavals rolling through the Middle East since Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution in early January. The advisers, including intelligence officers, were dropped from warships and missile boats at the coastal towns of Benghazi and Tobruk Thursday Feb. 24, for a threefold mission:
1. To help the revolutionary committees controlling eastern Libyan establish government frameworks for supplying two million inhabitants with basic services and commodities;
2. To organize them into paramilitary units, teach them how to use the weapons they captured from Libyan army facilities, help them restore law and order on the streets and train them to fight Muammar Qaddafi’s combat units coming to retake Cyrenaica.
3. The prepare infrastructure for the intake of additional foreign troops. Egyptian units are among those under consideration.
[...] McCain and Lieberman are on a five-nation tour of the Middle East during this week’s congressional recess. They visited Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia (which has also seen protests) and Egypt.
The two senators also visited the Palestinian territories, where they met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Israel’s navy is drawing up plans to protect the state’s new-found strategic resource, a natural gas bonanza in the eastern Mediterranean, parts of which Lebanon and the Palestinians claim.
The arrival in the Mediterranean this week of an Iranian frigate, accompanied by a supply ship, the first Iranian warships in the region in more than 30 years, added a new twist amid the unprecedented ferment in the Arab world at this time.
Chinese Rockets, Apparently Supplied by Iran, Hit Israel in First Such Attack Since Hamas War
Israeli military sources said Palestinian gunners aligned with Iran fired at least two Chinese-modified BM-21 Grad rockets into Israel on Feb. 23. They said the rockets, believed supplied by Iran, slammed into the southern city of Beersheba, about 45 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
[...] The rocket attack on Beersheba was the first since the Israel-Hamas war in December 2008. During the war, Hamas fired scores of Chinese-modified Grads with a range of at least 45 kilometers.
[...] The sources said the military expected additional rocket strikes from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. They said military intelligence has assessed that Iran and Syria were believed working with their proxies to escalate tension along Israel’s borders to divert from the Arab revolt in the Middle East.
The European Union is moving to secure a merger of two future gas transit pipeline projects – Nabucco and ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) – in order to guarantee the natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Europe.
The move is intended to consolidate EU’s strategy to start tapping into the natural gas reserves of the Caspian Sea thus reducing its dependence on Russian energy.
[...] The anonymous sources have indicated that, should such a merger come through, this could mean realizing first the cheaper ITGI project in a “Southern Corridor Phase I” to carry gas from Azerbaijan via Turkey to Greece and Italy, and then branching north according to the original Nabucco route plans from Turkey to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Austria.
[...] The Southern Gas Corridor entails the construction of several pipelines, such as Nabucco (running from Turkey to Austria and Germany via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary), ITGI (Interconnection Turkey-Greece-Italy), White Stream (known also as the Georgia-Ukraine-EU pipeline) and TAP (the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline), aiming to bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
[...] The several pipelines from the Southern Gas Corridor, which provides an untapped natural gas supply route for the EU circumventing Russia, will supplement the existing gas supplies that the Union gets through pipelines from Russia, Norway and North Africa, most notably Algeria.
[...] The Nabucco consortium, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH has formally refuted the information on the potential merging of the Nabucco and South Stream projects.
Nabucco and the Gazprom-sponsored gas transit pipeline have been widely considered rival projects, with EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger formally admitting in November 2010, the first such admission by an EU institution, that the two pipelines are competitors.
Russia Risks Losing Over $10 Billion in Arms Sales to the Middle East
Russia risks losing up to $10 billion (7.4 billion euros) in arms sales from the wave of unrest currently sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, a weapons industry official said Tuesday. The figure is equivalent to Russia’s total arms sales for 2010 and would represent a massive setback to the country’s efforts to maintain its Soviet-era clients in the Middle East. The unnamed arms export official told the Interfax news agency that Russia was carefully monitoring the situation because it had major outstanding contracts with some of the fallen regimes. The source said Russia “was working on and already implementing arms contracts worth some $10 billion” in the affected countries. ”Nothing can be ruled out in the current situation, and in the worst-case scenario, these plans may be wrecked.”
Iran-Turkey-Syria-Egypt Bloc Moves Closer With Profound Global Effect
[...] So the process is now becoming possible — despite attempts by current Vice-Pres. Suleiman and Defense Minister Tantawy, each in their own ways, to temporize and create delays in the removal of the Egyptian military from its position of power in Egypt — enabling the construction of a loose bloc of states with Iran and Turkey dominant, and Syria and Egypt subordinate.
Tunisia, Algeria, and Lebanon — each undergoing political upheaval — must be influenced by the transformation of reality in the Mediterranean.
Counterbalancing all of this, the rapid growth of an Israeli-Greek bloc, including the strategically impotent Cyprus, provides a link into NATO of which Jordan and Saudi Arabia must avail themselves. Other regional states in the Mediterranean see their fortunes change, especially given that the overall presence of the Islamist bloc will act as a deterrent to external investment in the whole region, but most vulnerable in all of this will be Morocco.
[...] Despite the overwhelming tide of change which began in the region in recent years, the US and British governments still have failed to understand that Turkey is no longer an ally, and now is more firmly aligned with Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and Iran.
Iran Warships Enter Suez Canal, Egypt’s State-Run MENA Says
[...] Two Iranian warships have begun crossing the Suez Canal as Israel stressed its objection to their planned voyage to Syria.
The ships entered the canal early today after the approval of Egypt’s Defense Ministry, the state-run Middle East News Agency cited Ahmed El Manakhly, head of traffic at the Suez Canal Authority, as saying.
Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan to Head Ports Authority
According to financial publication Globes, Israel’s former spymaster, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan, is to be appointed chairman of the Israel Ports Development and Assets Company.
[...] Dagan, known for his aggressive and largely successful conduct of Israel’s secret affairs, will be responsible for implementing a national transportation plan for Israel.
[...] Various activities that delayed Iran’s nuclear plans, to which Israel did not admit publicly, took place during his term of office.
Moving quickly to fill the diplomatic and economic vacuum created by the deterioration of relations between Turkey and Israel, a new regional partnership is being formed by Israel and Greece.
With Cyprus as a catalyst for rapprochement and wide-ranging cooperation, the ultimate goal is a new multinational bloc that could include Bulgaria and Albania.
[...] Long-range Greek interest in Israel’s natural gas is a major, if not dominant, catalyst in the ongoing rapprochement. With the main impetus evidently coming from Cyprus, which would be one of the projected recipients, experts from all three countries have been preparing blueprints for these underwater conduits. They could link Israel’s Leviathian natural gas field to Crete as well as Cyprus.
From the strategic standpoint, this could be a “game changer,” Tziampiris said. “It certainly would alter Israel’s position vis-a-vis Europe and lessen the continent’s energy dependence on Russia (especially significant now, since the Nabucco gas pipeline project appears problematic).
[...] Routinely, the Greek and Israeli air forces and navies have conducted joint exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The United States evidently is favorably disposed to the positive turn in Greco-Israeli relations and has been nurturing it. This is a reflection of its having won strong congressional support.
Greece has begun exploratory talks with Israel about cooperation on transporting recently discovered offshore Israeli natural gas to markets in Europe, Investment Minister Harris Pamboukis said.
[...] “The Israelis have found big quantities of offshore gas in the Mediterranean. We are trying to see how Greece could be seen as a transportation hub and a services centre, since it is on a natural road to the Balkans and Europe.”
[...] Relations between the two countries were frosty for a long period because of Greece’s strong support for the Palestinians and close ties with Arab states. However, ties have warmed partly as a result of a chill between Israel and its traditional strategic partner Turkey, Greece’s neighbour and historic rival.
U.S. Firm : Good Chance of Large Gas Find Off Cyprus
U.S. company Noble Energy said Wednesday that seismic data indicate a strong chance of a sizable natural gas find off the southeastern coast of Cyprus.
[...] “We don’t have an exact number on the amount of resources available, but the structure that we can tell from seismic looks very favorable to be a sizable quantity,” Terry Gerhart, Noble Energy vice president for international operations, said after talks with Cyprus president Dimitris Christofias.
[...] Cyprus, along with the Kurdish question, has been among Turkey’s old problems that have for decades fallen victim to the policies of the status quo. This has stood as the main stumbling block before any contribution to be made by Ankara to end the stalemate over the 40-year-long dispute on the island.
[...] Consciously or unconsciously, the EU paved the way for two separate states to emerge on the island in the future by admitting the Greek Cypriots as full members of the union in 2004.
Greece Sends Pro-Kurdish Turkish Politician to Seek Asylum in Cyprus
Authorities announced on Tuesday (February 1st) that they have flown a pro-Kurdish politician wanted in Turkey to Cyprus, where his asylum request should be processed. Mustafa Sarikaya, former deputy leader of Turkey’s Democratic Society Party (DTP), was detained at the Thessaloniki airport in December. He had arrived from Cyprus using fake Bulgarian papers and requested political asylum. A court in Thessaloniki cleared him of charges of entering Greece illegally, accepting that he faced political prosecution in Turkey where he spent a total of 20 years in prison.
Turkey’s Constitutional Court banned the DTP in 2009 over its alleged ties to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Under EU laws, his asylum request must be processed at his point of entry in the bloc, which in this case was Cyprus.
Oil Giant BP Suspends Operations After Violent Protests
[...] The British company said 40 expatriate staff and their families, mostly based in the capital, Tripoli, are being evacuated as it temporarily shuts down work on preparations to drill in the Libyan desert.
David Cameron Arrives in Egypt to Meet Military Rulers
David Cameron has flown into Cairo amid tight security, becoming the first world leader to visit Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as president in the revolution 10 days ago.
A news blackout was lifted as the prime minister landed in the Egyptian capital for a five-hour stopover that was hastily added to the start of a planned tour of the Middle East.
Hebrew daily “Yediot Ahronot” reports that the IDF is preparing a plan to protect Israel’s deepwater natural gas discoveries in its marine exclusive economic zone.
[...] The IDF will not only protect the current discoveries, such as Tamar and Leviathan, but also areas where exploration rights have been granted – an area equal to 1.5 times Israel’s land area. The area of the gas discoveries and potential discoveries has been declared a “strategic target”, as the gas fields will meet Israel’s energy needs for decades, as well as enable exports.
Brent, U.S. Crude Up More After Egypt OKs Iran Warship Passage
Brent and U.S. crude oil futures rose further on Friday after Egypt approved the passing of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for March delivery was up $1.27 at $87.63 a barrel.
Egypt is No Longer Committed to an Alliance with Israel Against Iran
[...] A year and a half ago, an Israel Navy submarine crossed the Suez Canal on its way from Haifa to the Red Sea, where it conducted an exercise, and back. The unusual voyage reflected the growing strategic cooperation between Israel and Egypt, which aimed a menacing message at Iran. The submarine’s crossing of the waterway demonstrated how quickly Israel could deploy its deterrent near Iran’s shores, with the tacit support of Egypt.
Once more, the canal is being used to deliver a message of deterrence – but this time the direction is reversed. Egypt is allowing Iranian warships to cross the canal, on their way to Syrian ports. Israel was publicly critical of the passage – arguing that it is a provocative move – but Egypt ignored the pressures and granted the Iranian navy permission to pass, symbolizing the change to the regional balance of power following the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt is signaling that it is no longer committed to its strategic alliance with Israel against Iran, and that Cairo is now willing to do business with Tehran. This is precisely what Turkey has done in recent years under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Since the uprising against Mubarak, the cold peace between Egypt and Israel has cooled even further. The delivery of natural gas to Israel, which was cut off after a terrorist attack on a station in northern Sinai, has still not been resumed.
[...] Talks are expected to address uprisings that have toppled the presidents of both Tunisia and Egypt and continue to ripple through the region. As during his trip last week to Israel and Jordan, Mullen said, he plans to “reassure our friends and just listen to what’s on their minds” about the situation and to get their views firsthand, particularly concerning Egypt.
[...] The United States and Saudi Arabia have had strong military-to-military relations since World War II. U.S. advisors continue to help in training the Saudi military and national guard. The U.S. military training mission to Saudi Arabia and a U.S. program managers’ office for the Saudi Arabian national guard work to help in increasing Saudi military capabilities.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers for U.S. defense goods.
The trip is expected to wrap up next weekend in Kuwait City, where a month-long commemoration is observing the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s liberation and the 20th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm. Coalition forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation forces on Feb. 26, 1991, at the end of Operation Desert Storm. Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait Aug. 2, 1990.
The United Arab Emirates will finalise an estimated $7 billion deal to buy an advanced missile defence system from Lockheed Martin this spring, the first such export by the U.S. firm.
[...] The situation in Bahrain is complicated by U.S. uncertainty over Saudi Arabia’s position on the growing regional turmoil. Riyadh has enormous influence over Bahrain’s royal family due to the financial and energy aid it provides. Riyadh has in the past sent its own security forces into Bahrain to quell unrest, concerned that Bahrain’s Shiite majority could fuel instability inside Saudi Arabia.
Still, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and many of his closest advisers have been in Morocco in recent weeks as the Saudi monarch recovers from surgery. That has been seen as limiting the ability of other Saudi royals to make decisions.
[...] Saudi officials voiced disapproval of the Obama administration’s handling of Egypt, in particular its decision to pull its support for President Hosni Mubarak, according to Arab diplomats. There has been little high-level contact between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, U.S. officials said.
“There’s a leadership vacuum in Saudi Arabia, which is clouding the decision-making process,” said Simon Henderson, who tracks Saudi politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Washington’s strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia has faltered in other theaters in the Middle East as well this year.
Last month, the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah overthrew the U.S.- and Saudi-backed government in Beirut, greatly enhancing Iran’s and Syria’s influence in the Mediterranean nation. Successive U.S. administrations had since 2005 worked with Riyadh to try and bolster former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri as a counterweight to Hezbollah’s backers in Tehran and Damascus. But Saudi Arabia ultimately pulled out of mediating efforts on behalf of Mr. Hariri, as Hezbollah threatened to sow unrest.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz will return home within days after undergoing medical treatment abroad for three months, a government official said on Friday as unrest hit Gulf Arab neighbour Bahrain.
WikiLeaks Cables: Egyptian Military Head is “Old and Resistant to Change”
US ambassador to Cairo gives his opinion on Muhammad Tantawi and number two general, Sami Enan.
The frustration of the military’s American benefactors shines through in leaked US cables, where the criticism focuses mostly on the man at the top, 75-year-old Field Marshal Muhammad Tantawi.
In March 2008 cable [146040], the US ambassador to Cairo, Francis Ricciardone, described Tantawi as “aged and change-resistant”.
“Charming and courtly, he is nonetheless mired in a post-Camp David military paradigm that has served his cohort’s narrow interests for the last three decades. He and [Hosni] Mubarak are focused on regime stability and maintaining the status quo through the end of their time. They simply do not have the energy, inclination or world view to do anything differently,” it reads.
The ambassador also notes that Tantawi has used his influence in the cabinet to oppose economic and political reforms which he sees as weakening central government power.
“He is supremely concerned with national unity, and has opposed policy initiatives he views as encouraging political or religious cleavages within Egyptian society,” the cable says.
Despite Egypt’s dependence on US military funding, Tantawi seems to have viewed as standoffish by US officials. They saw the number two general on the council, Sami Enan, as more amenable to personal ties. In fact, Enan was in Washington when the Cairo protests erupted.
That puts the 62-year-old Soviet-trained chief of staff, in the unusual position of being both Washington’s and the Muslim Brotherhood’s favourite general. The movement has described him as incorruptible and as one of its cleric put it: “He can be the future man of Egypt … I think he will be acceptable.”
Egypt has approved the passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal, an army source said on Friday.
Israel’s right-wing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, had described Iran’s plans to send the ships through the canal enroute to Syria as “provocative”.
This is really a very important trip of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Sergey Lavrov came to London for the first time in a six years’ period, and this visit ended to show that the two countries are ready to develop further relations, and there exists some space for developing these relations. There are vast opportunities for developing ties between Moscow and London, and not only in business.
Vladimir Putin ‘Has £600 Million Italianate Palace’
Vladimir Putin has had a lavish £600 million Italianate palace built for himself near a Black Sea resort with the proceeds of “corruption, bribery and theft”, a Russian businessman has alleged.
The claim, made in a letter to Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, was boosted on Monday after the Novaya Gazeta newspaper obtained what it said was an authenticated copy of the original contract for the palace signed in 2005 by Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian presidential property manager. Mr Putin, now prime minister, was president at the time.
[...] In an interview with the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Mr Gorbachev said that Russia’s political elite cared nothing for ordinary people and aspired only to accumulate enormous wealth, such as that enjoyed by Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club. “They are rich and debauched. Their ideal is to be something close to Abramovich. I scorn this idea. I am ashamed of this rich debauchery. I am ashamed for us and the country.”
[...] “If things continue the way they are, I think the probability of the Egyptian scenario will grow,” he said in a separate radio interview released Tuesday, referring to the popular rebellion that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak last week. “Here it could end even more staggeringly,” he said.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday, warned the West against supporting the popular uprisings in the Middle East in what some analysts saw as a sign of the Kremlin’s concern.
Jailed Oil Tycoon Khodorkovsky Is `Perfect Martyr’ in Film
“Khodorkovsky,” a documentary about the former billionaire chief of Yukos Oil Co., grabbed headlines even before its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival when thieves stole it from the director’s Berlin apartment.
[...] They paint a picture of a charismatic, authoritative Russian who ran afoul of another charismatic, authoritative Russian. Tuschi, 42, says it was the man and the dynamics of his relationship with Vladimir Putin that drew him.
His film skates over the murky 1990s, an era when Khodorkovsky was becoming Russia’s richest man, founding a bank called Menatep, grabbing stakes in companies, and, along with other oligarchs, pushing the government to create a regulatory and tax framework that benefited them.
[...] Yet he also began supporting parties that opposed Putin and sought to break the state’s monopoly on oil pipelines. In short, he challenged Putin’s authority.
Tuschi’s film shows footage from a meeting between Putin and business leaders in 2003. Khodorkovsky asked a question about corruption at the Kremlin. Putin snarled back that Yukos’s taxes needed examining.
[...] The one-time billionaire may want to “redeem himself” through jail time to be in a position to forge a political career when he finally emerges.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after Khodorkovsky’s second verdict that it “raises serious questions about selective prosecution — and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations.”
A judge Tuesday ordered Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges of having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power.
[...] Italy is one of Russia’s biggest business partners, with bilateral trade reaching $36.8 billion last year, the Kremlin said in an e-mailed statement ahead of Medvedev’s visit.
The figure increased by about 11.5 percent over 2009, the statement said.
During his visit, Medvedev also plans to meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is facing a court trial on charges of paying for sex with an underage nightclub performer.
Berlusconi, who is well known as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s close friend, denied accusations on Wednesday, saying he was “not worried” about the upcoming trial.
NATO May Draw Ukraine in Discussing Plans to Deploy Missile Defense in Europe
NATO is ready in the future to involve Ukraine into discussing the deployment of missile defenses in Europe. James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, said this at a news conference in Moscow, as UKRINFORM reported from Russia.
[...] It seems clear to the alliance that the Ukrainian government intends to further develop its cooperation with NATO in various fields. He also indicated that Ukraine is actively continuing to participate in NATO operations.
As reported, in early November 2010, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during his visit to Moscow, said he did not rule out the inclusion of the Ukrainian early warning systems in Sevastopol and Mukacheve in the European missile defense system.
Russia will send new air defense systems, possibly including S-400 rockets, to islands at the center of a territorial dispute with Japan, RIA news reported on Tuesday, citing a General Staff source.
[...] Interfax news agency quoted a General Staff source as denying the report. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense refused to confirm or deny it.
[...] Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week Moscow would provide the islands with sufficient weaponry to ensure their security as a part of Russia’s sovereign territory.
For acts of political protest that his predecessor treated as mere infractions, Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is seeking jail time.
Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is throwing the book at dozens of people arrested during recent political demonstrations — a major shift in city policy that has him pressing for jail time in types of cases that previous prosecutors had treated as infractions.
Some of the activists arrested, including eight college students and one military veteran who took part in a Westwood rally last year in support of the DREAM Act, face up to one year in county jail.
Trutanich’s aggressive stance is the latest episode in the city’s decades-long legal struggle over the rights of protesters. The Los Angeles Police Department’s treatment of demonstrators at the 2000 Democratic National Convention and at a 2007 May Day rally at MacArthur Park led to lawsuits against the city.
The U.S. State Department started sending Twitter messages in Farsi aimed at reaching Iranian social media users on February 13.
The first tweet on the Twitter account — USA darFarsi — said “We want to join in your conversation.”
A later State Department tweet said, “By announcing that they will not give permission for its opponents to demonstrate (march), the government of Iran is showing that the very activities that it praised for Egyptians it sees as illegal and illegitimate for its own people.”
Another tweet said, “The U.S. calls on the government of Iran to allow its own people to enjoy the same universal rights to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate that are being exercised in Cairo.”
The Farsi Twitter account reportedly had 60 followers within two hours of its launch.
Saudis Ready to Aid Bahraini ruler. First Riots in Libya After Yemen, Jordan
Despite security police efforts to dislodge them, anti-government protesters continued to occupy the main square of Manama, Bahrain Tuesday night, Feb. 15, even after its ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa made a rare television appearance to regret the two deaths and promised a full investigation.
[...] Saudi Arabia is especially alarmed by the swelling protest in its small but strategic neighbor, Bahrain, site of US Fifth Fleet headquarters for the Gulf region. For the first time, Sunni Muslims joined the majority Shiite protest against the rule of the Al Khalifas who have been in power since 1971. DEBKAfile discloses that shortly before dawn Wednesday, Feb. 16, the Bahraini king secretly asked the Saudis for riot dispersal gear for his security forces to break up the protests. He also asked Saudi Arabia to place its security forces on the ready in case they got out of hand.
Riyadh had already taken action out of fear that its own large Shiite minority in the eastern oil-rich regions of the kingdom catch fire from Bahrain. Tuesday, security and military forces were rushed to those regions and security stepped up at the oil facilities and ports of eastern Saudi Arabia, most of which are manned by Shiites who are close to their coreligionists over the bridge in Bahrain.
Iran Reportedly Holds Local Staffer at Japan Embassy, Spain Diplomat
A locally recruited staff member at the Japanese Embassy in Tehran has been arrested after taking part in an anti-government rally, a local newspaper said Tuesday.
[...] Media organizations including the Associated Press said the same day that a female diplomat at the Spanish Embassy in Tehran was temporarily detained in Tehran.
Russia Rejects Imposing More Sanctions Against Iran
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected imposing more sanctions against Iran in a new disagreement with his British counterpart William Hague.
‘Further sanctions would mean the creation of social problems for the (Iranian) population and we would not be able to support them,’ Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Hague in London.
[...] Hague admitted that Britain and Russian suffered from ‘serious disagreements’ that led to a deterioration in relations for the past four years but said that they had agreed to sign a ‘Hotline’ treaty.
[...] A fresh dispute erupted between the two countries last week after Russia prevented the Guardian’s correspondent to Moscow from entering the country, leading to a call from shadow European secretary Chris Bryant to prevent Lavrov’s visit.
But Hague said that the Russian foreign minister’s visit, coming four months after he travelled to Moscow, showed that the two countries “continue to seek a patient, steady improvement in relations.”
In an unprecedented move, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called together America’s ambassadors, consuls general, and special envoys to the State Department’s “Foggy Bottom” headquarters in Washington.
[...] The reason for the face-to-face meeting was primarily the result of a major compromise of secure U.S. diplomatic communications channels initiated by both outsiders and insiders who have decided to engage in a bit of “creative revolution,” mirroring to a lesser degree but with potentially as great an impact, the recent mass popular events on the streets of Tunis and Cairo.
[...] Other means of communicating sensitive information from overseas posts to Washington were apparently discussed in closed-door sessions from February 7 to 9. According to U.S. government insiders, it was not the WikiLeaks revelations that prompted Clinton to sound a general alarm, but the possibility that there could be future leaks directly to the Internet of higher classification State Department cables, Top Secret and higher Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) traffic, including details of CIA operations at U.S. embassies and consulates.
[...] The U.S. military-intelligence-diplomatic-corporate complex realizes that continued exposure of its secret documents jeopardizes the global hegemony the United States has created. The fall of U.S. and Western client-dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and an Anonymous campaign against the dictatorship of Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh has the FBI and Justice Department scrambling to protect America’s steadily faltering status as the world’s “only superpower” by engaging in an all-out war, in some cases using illegal methods, against a stealth-like “enemy” of high-tech hackers and activists. With the Middle East’s “Pax Americana-Judaica-Egyptica” regional construct losing Egypt as one of its three main pillars, the power structures in Washington and Tel Aviv are nervous and capable of doing anything to preserve the status quo.
Secretary of State Clinton clearly sees the writing on the wall as the American empire begins to fray at the edges. The arrest of Raymond Davis, who was working in Lahore, Pakistan, ostensibly assigned to the U.S. Consulate under the non-official cover of being an employee of Hyperion Protective Consultants LLC, was arrested by Pakistani authorities in Lahore for shooting to death two Pakistani men. The State Department is claiming that Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity and must be released to U.S. custody. However, Pakistan believes it has nabbed a CIA spy and the refusal of Pakistan to release Davis has set off a major diplomatic row between Islamabad and Washington.
To the north of Pakistan, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is claiming that the United States wants to establish permanent military bases in the country. Egypt’s revolution is stirring up popular opposition to what is perceived by many Iraqis as a corrupt U.S. puppet government in Baghdad led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. U.S.-trained Iraqi police have responded to protests over the poor Iraqi economy and infrastructure by using non-lethal and lethal weapons against demonstrators. Most of Latin America has broken their political and economic chains to Washington and many Latin American nations have thumbed their noses at Washington and Tel Aviv by recognizing Palestine within its pre-1967 borders.
Embassy: Reports that Saudi King Died are ‘Baseless Rumors’
Saudi Arabia on Thursday strongly denied “baseless rumors” that Saudi King Abdullah had passed away earlier in the day, AFP reported.
According to the kingdom’s embassy in Rabat, the king of the House of Saud was recovering in Morocco after undergoing back surgery in the United States late last year. A senior embassy official told the AFP, “I can assure that the health of King Abdullah is excellent and gives no cause for any concern.”
The embassy source reportedly said that the king has “held several audiences” since he spoke with US President Barack Obama on Wednesday about the unrest in Egypt.
French Prime Minister François Fillon said Saturday that he had discussed with Saudi officials prospects of expanding defense and security cooperation as well as promoting education and trade development programs.
Speaking to reporters after holding talks with Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, he said his discussions in Riyadh focused mainly on bilateral ties and major regional and international developments.
[...] “We have plans to upgrade the navy and cooperate in the area of air defense with the Kingdom,” the prime minister said.
[...] The premier, who arrived in Jeddah on Friday evening, visited the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle off the Red Sea city on Saturday.
The aircraft carrier is currently taking part in a joint Saudi-French navy and air force exercise.
On board the Charles de Gaulle, Saudi Arabia – French Prime Minister Francois Fillon called in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for stronger sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
“In Istanbul, in January, Iran opposed our renewed proposal for serious dialogue over its nuclear programme,” Fillon said aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle off the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
“To convince Iran to return to the negotiating table, we’ll have to strengthen sanctions,” he told military personnel on the French navy’s flagship which is holding joint exercises with the Saudi military.
On Friday, a Western diplomat said in Washington that the world’s major powers would consider tougher, non-UN measures against Iran to include financial as well as oil and gas sanctions.
[...] After holding talks in Riyadh, the French prime minister was on Sunday to travel on the United Arab Emirates, where he will visit France’s military base in Abu Dhabi.
Inaugurated in 2009, the base where 650 French soldiers will be stationed by the end of 2011, is located less than 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the Iranian coast.
Suicide Bombing Hits Shiite Pilgrims in Iraq, Killing 28
Up to 28 people were killed and 22 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack on Shiite pilgrims outside the city of Samarra in Salahudin province in Iraq on Saturday, a provincial police source said.
[...] The attack took place in the afternoon when a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims while crossing a checkpoint outside Samarra, some 110 km north of Baghdad, the source said.
[...] Two days ago, a car bomb hit a procession of Shiite pilgrims heading to Samarra on the main road near the town of Dujail, some 60 km north of Baghdad, killing six and wounding some 40 others.
President Abdullah Gul said Turkey backs a negotiated settlement of the Iran nuclear issue by dialogue, as he prepared to travel to Tehran on his maiden official visit, state media reported.
“Turkey wants a solution for Iran’s nuclear issue through negotiations and dialogue,” Gul told Iran’s official news agency IRNA in what it said was an exclusive interview ahead of the scheduled trip.
Gul begins a three-day visit on Monday which will see him meeting top Iranian officials, including his counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He will also visit the cities of Tabriz and Isfahan.
“Iran is signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Thus, Iran’s nuclear issue should be solved through negotiation and Turkey will continue to facilitate this,” Gul said.
Turkey’s ties with its eastern neighbour have markedly improved since Ankara’s current Islamist-rooted government came to power in 2002.
Last month, Turkey hosted talks between Iran and six world powers aimed at allaying Western suspicions that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, but no progress was achieved.
In June, Turkey — then a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council — irked the United States when it voted against fresh sanctions the body approved against Iran, arguing that a nuclear fuel swap deal it had negotiated together with Brazil the previous month should be given a chance.
What “sceptics” have said all along since the onset of the peace process two decades ago has now an abundance of evidence to support it: Palestinian-Israeli negotiations since Oslo in 1993 have seen nothing but escalating Palestinian concessions and the expansion of the Israeli occupation. There is no “two state solution” in sight.
[...] By releasing a selection of 1,600 secret documents and minutes of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks from 2003 to 2010 on Sunday, Al-Jazeera mainly exposed the weakness of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and its concessions to and collaboration with the occupier Israel against its own people. The release has stripped it of any remaining legitimacy; one can say that Al-Jazeera morally assassinated the PA.
[...] The documents show that the PA made unprecedented compromises on Haram Al-Sharif (the compound that contains Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, one outer wall of which —known as the Wailing Wall —is of significance to Jews); ceded the right of six million Palestinian refugees to return home (agreeing to the return of a limited quota of 10,000); offered to Israel the annexation of all settlements in East Jerusalem except Har Homa; agreed to land swaps that gave up precious Palestinian territory to Israel; supported Israel’s self-identification as a “Jewish state”; cooperated with Israel against the Palestinian resistance, especially Hamas; made efforts to help the Iranian opposition (the minutes revealed that PA chairman Abbas convinced a Palestinian businessman to give Iranian opposition leader Hussein Mousavi $50m to fund his radio station); and pursued negotiations for the sake of its political survival.
Israelis are bracing for a more adversarial regime in Egypt, one they expect could lead their country to expand its army, fortify the two countries’ desert frontier and possibly re-invade the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.
[...] Several former military and intelligence officials are arguing publicly that Israel must be prepared to reoccupy Gaza, or at least a wide swath of the enclave along its eight-mile border with Egypt. Other experts counsel caution, warning that such an operation would plunge Israel into years of fighting.
“There’s no reason for us to make any decisions in the next few weeks or even more than that,” said Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser. “We have to observe, and if the situation changes in a bad way, we will have time to shift whatever has to be shifted.”
Jordan Tribesmen Warn King to Reform or Risk Revolt
[...] It was a rare rebuke to King Abdullah from Jordan’s tribesmen, who are the main domestic allies of the ruling Hashemite monarchy. The king already has faced weeks of public protests organized by Islamists and other opposition groups angered by growing poverty and a lack of political freedoms.
Jordan Tribes Threaten Revolution Over Country’s Palestinian Queen Rania
Jordanian tribal figures have issued a petition urging King Abdullah to end his Palestinian wife’s role in politics, in a new challenge to the monarch grappling with fallout from uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Evoking comparisons with the wives of Tunisia’s former strongman Zine al Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, the signatories attacked Queen Rania’s Palestinian origin and accused her of using state funds to promote her image abroad without concern for the hardship of ordinary Jordanians.
The 36 figures are drawn from conservative East Bank tribes who form the backbone of the Hashemite monarchy’s support — as opposed to Jordanians of Palestinian, or West Bank, origin who are the majority of the country’s 7 million population.
A US-based human rights group criticized Jordan Monday for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin in recent years.
Nearly half the kingdom’s 6 million people are of Palestinian origin and Jordan fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance.
Concerned about increasing numbers of Palestinians in the country, Jordan in 2004 began revoking citizenship from Palestinians who do not have the Israeli permits that are necessary to reside in the West Bank.
Jordanian citizenship has been given to senior Palestinian Authority officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas and his sons, a Jordanian politician said.
[...] A significant number of senior Palestinian officials are registered as full Jordanian citizens, the London based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.
It noted that Abbas and his entire family have Jordanian citizenship as well as other senior Palestinian officials such as Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan and Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
[...] The king chastised the president for his treatment of Egypt and its president Hosni Mubarak calling it a disaster that would generate instability in the region and imperil all the moderate Arab rulers and regimes which had backed the United States until now. Abdullah took Obama to task for ditching America’s most faithful ally in the Arab world and vowed that if the US continues to try and get rid of Mubarak, the Saudi royal family would bend all its resources to undoing Washington’s plans for Egypt and nullifying their consequences.
[...] According to British intelligence sources in London, the Saudi King pledged to make up the losses to Egypt if Washington cuts off military and economic aid to force Mubarak to resign. He would personally instruct the Saudi treasury to transfer to the embattled Egyptian ruler the exact amounts he needs for himself and his army to stand up to American pressure.
[...] DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources add that replacement aid for Egypt was not the only card in Abdullah’s deck. He informed Obama that without waiting for events in Egypt to play out or America’s response, he had ordered the process set in train for raising the level of Riyadh’s diplomatic and military ties with Tehran. Invitations had gone out from Riyadh for Iranian delegations to visit the main Saudi cities.
[...] This development is also of pivotal importance for Israel. Saudi Arabia’s close friendship with the Mubarak regime dovetailed neatly with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s alignment with Egypt and provided them with common policy denominators. The opening of the Saudi door to the Iranian push toward the Red Sea and Suez Canal tightens the Iranian siege ring around Israel.
Signs of friction between Washington and Riyadh were noticeable this week even before President Obama’s call to King Abdullah. Some American media reported the discovery that Saudi oil reserves were a lot smaller than previously estimated. And Saudi media ran big headlines, most untypically, alleging the US embassy and consulate in Dahran were paying sub-contractors starvation wages of $4.3 a day for cleaning work and $3.3 a day for gardening work.
Israeli Military to Boost Presence on Egypt Border
[...] Military sources said the General Staff has determined that Israel could no longer maintain a light force along its 200-kilometer border with Egypt. They said the military could organize two brigades as a rapid-response force to counter any threat from Egypt, embroiled in the worst unrest in more than 30 years.
[...] On Feb. 7, outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi warned of the repercussions for Israel’s military by a collapse of the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. In an address to the Herzliya Conference, Ashkenazi, who leaves his post on Feb. 14, said the military must now be prepared on all fronts.
[...] The chief of staff acknowledged that the military was not prepared for the massive unrest in Egypt.
[...] The chief of staff did not rule out that the unrest in Egypt would spread throughout the region. He called on the military to improve its intelligence capabilities.
Stratfor Analyst Eugene Chausovsky examines the reasons why it is unlikely the unrest in Egypt will have a contagion effect on the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Iran and Oman held the second round of joint military talks, an Iranian military official Brigadier General Mostafa Salami said on Monday.
[...] “Iran and Oman aerial and naval commanders held second round joint talks on military and defense cooperation. The talks aimed at strengthening bilateral interests, developing potentials, expanding military ties and making close cooperation to provide relief and stable security in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea.”
The leaders of Iran have been watching the offense unfold in Egypt with unconcealed delight. They have embraced the protestors proclaiming that an Islamic awakening is underway there. And they characterize the turmoil as defeat for the United States and Israel and a victory for Iran. But Iran’s opposition is also taking heart in the Egyptian uprising.
[...] Iran’s Islamic leaders have been at odds with Mubarak for more than 30 years, and so when street protests broke out in Egypt, Iran was quick to spin them their way.
[...] There was trouble between Cairo and Tehran from the earliest days of Iran’s Islamic revolution, when the shah of Iran abdicated and left the country, it was Egypt, under the leadership of Anwar Sadat, who gave him sanctuary. The shah died in Egypt in 1980 and Sadat was assassinated in 1981.
[...] Iran embraced Sadat’s killers in a way that has poisoned relations with Egypt ever since.
[...] At the very least, it’s probably fair to say that Iran may have some room to maneuver politically no matter what government emerges after Mubarak but there’s no certainty at this point Tehran will have anything more than minor influence on events in Egypt.
Despite Turmoil, Egyptian Navy to Exercise with UAE
In the midst of the turmoil in Egypt with protesters demanding the removal of President Hosni Mubarak, the country’s navy is to hold a joint military exercise with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Monday welcomed a delegation from the Egyptian naval forces headed by Commodore Ashraf Ibrahim Atwa Mujahid.
Sheikh Mohammed underlining the depth of relationship between the two countries, said such exercises are vital for the development of military capability to cope with various threats.
Addressing the Navy personnel on the occasion of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Sayyari said the flotilla, which has been sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian cargo ships against Somali raiders, docked in the Saudi port in order to renew Iran’s message of peace and friendship to the regional states.
[...] He further underlined Iran’s resolve to maintain its powerful and permanent presence in the high seas in a bid to protect the interests of the Islamic Republic and convey the message of peace and security in the sensitive and strategic waters North of the Indian Ocean.
[...] The Iranian Navy dispatched a fleet of warships to the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Aden on a training and operational mission in late January.
In addition to its training program, the fleet is also due to gain good intelligence and information on the regions it is due to visit during the mission.
Egypt: Will U.S. And NATO Launch Second Suez Intervention?
On February 1 General James Mattis, commander of United States Central Command whose area of responsibility includes Egypt on its western end, stated that Washington currently has no plans to reinforce naval presence off the coast of that country, but added that in the event of the closure of the Suez Canal: “Were it to happen obviously we would have to deal with it diplomatically, economically, militarily.”
[...] The day before Mattis’ statement the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and its carrier strike group [...] crossed through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea on its way to the Suez Canal. The warships are scheduled for operations in the Gulf of Aden off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen and in the Arabian Sea to support the war in Afghanistan.
[...] With the expansion of protests in Egypt calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, the prospect of the Suez Canal being closed would severely hamper Western military operations across the Arabian Sea from Somalia to Pakistan.
[...] Several European oil companies, among them Norway’s Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum, halted drilling in Egypt, closed down local offices and began evacuating the families of foreign workers as well as non-essential staff.
Connecticut National Guard Detachment 2, Company I, 185th Aviation Regiment of Groton has mobilized and will deploy to the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, to support the Multinational Force and Observers.
[...] The unit will provide an on-demand aviation asset to the Multinational Force and Observers commander to support its mission of supervising the security provisions of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.
EGYPT: Pentagon Moving Warships, Preparing for Possible Evacuations
The Pentagon is moving U.S. warships and other military assets to make sure it is prepared in case evacuation of U.S. citizens from Egypt becomes necessary.
[...] Pentagon officials emphasized that military intervention in Egypt was not being contemplated and that the warships were being moved only for contingency purposes in case evacuations became necessary.
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