Tag: news

As Michael Pompeo travels to Brussels to discuss the Iranian threat amid a flare-up in tensions that has brought the US to the brink of an armed conflict, the New York Times has published details from a confidential military plan presented to top national security officials that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or start ramping up work on nuclear weapons (something it has promised to do if its European partners don’t meet their commitments under the Iran deal).

Though the revised plan – it had been modified to incorporate suggestions from John Bolton – doesn’t include plans for a land invasion, it does reflect “the influence of Mr. Bolton, one of the administration’s most virulent Iran hawks, whose push for confrontation with Tehran was ignored more than a decade ago by President George W Bush.”

It’s unclear whether Trump himself has seen, or been briefed on, the plan. Asked about it, Trump said “we’ll see what happens with Iran. If they do anything, it would be a very bad mistake.”

Here are a few key details from the plan according to more than a half-dozen senior administration officials who spoke with the NYT:

• The 120,000 troops called for in the plan would be close to the size of the force that invaded Iraq in 2003. The reversal of the US troop presence in the region under Obama and Trump has reportedly emboldened leaders in Tehran and the IRGC that there’s no appetite in the US for a war with Iran. Deploying this many troops would take weeks or months.
• The most likely trigger for a US military response is still an attack by the IRGC The guard’s fleet of small boats has a history of approaching American Navy ships at high speed. Though the plan includes provisions for a US response if Iran once again starts stockpiling nuclear fuel. If Iran does start stockpiling enriched uranium again, the US would have more than a year to formulate a more coherent response, since it would take at least that long for Iran to stockpile anything close to enough to fashion a weapon.
• Cyberweapons would be used to paralyze the Iranian economy during the opening salvo of the conflict, in the hopes that this would be enough to cripple Iran before any bombs were dropped. Such an operation would call for “implants” or “beacons” inside US networks. Though, given Iran’s increasingly sophisticated cyberweapons, such an attack would still pose “significant risks.”
• This is not the first time since joining the administration that Bolton has sought updated plans for an invasion of Iran. Though it’s widely believed that the president remains opposed to such an incursion. Bolton requested an update after Iranian-backed militants fired three mortar shells into an empty lot on the grounds of the US embassy in Baghdad.
• One of the options offered up as a proportional response was a strike on a Iranian military facility that would have been “mostly symbolic.”

While a war with Iran still seems unlikely, if Iran starts stockpiling enriched uranium again as it has threatened to do, it could give Bolton and his fellow neocons exactly the opening they need to successfully push for a military intervention.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2LQAVJg Tyler Durden

Authored by Craig Murray,

That the Swedish investigation into the rape allegation against Julian Assange is being re-opened is something that ought to be welcomed. The alternative would be for this accusation to hang unresolved over Julian’s head forever. The Swedish prosecutors now need finally, as my father used to say, either to piss or get off the pot. They need to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to charge or not.

There is no reason for delay. The Swedish police have had seven years to investigate this case and all the evidence has been gathered and all statements taken – the last being the interview of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorean Embassy in 2017. Hopefully to review the evidence and decide whether to charge will not now be a lengthy procedure. It is worth noting, contrary to much misreporting, Julian Assange has never been charged with anything in Sweden.

In the event that Sweden does wish to try to extradite, that should take precedence over the US request. There are three good reasons for this. Firstly, rape is by far the more serious alleged offence. Secondly, the Swedes entered the process many years before the Americans. Thirdly, the European Arrest Warrant is a major multilateral arrangement that is much more important than the discredited bilateral extradition treaty with the USA.

Julian only entered Ecuadorean political asylum because he feared onward extradition to the USA, not extradition to Sweden.

None of the above detracts from the many problems with the Swedish prosecution, Sweden’s Chief Prosecutor decided no offence had been committed and the case should be closed after the initial investigation, before another Prosecutor decided to reopen the case, as is possible under the Swedish system. That prosecutor, Marianne Ny, herself decided to close the case in 2013, and was instructed not to by the British Crown Prosecution Service, in a series of emails which the CPS attempted to hide and some of which had been destroyed. Ms Ny also admitted to destroying communications from the FBI, and ultimately admitted to having destroyed the entire case file.

That is before you get to the problems with the Swedish judicial system, where rape trials hear all evidence entirely in secret, there is no jury, and two of the three judges are political party appointees.

Plainly, as always in cases involving Assange, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the impartiality of state justice. The United Nations has already condemned the disproportionate sentence given to Assange for breaking bail conditions and his being held in a maximum security prison. It has gone virtually unremarked by the MSM that the Ecuadorean government has, entirely illegally, handed all of Julian’s possessions over to the USA.

Plainly this is a long and difficult fight to save Julian from entrapment and permanent imprisonment. But the Swedish calumny not being simply left hanging is a necessary step in that fight.

*  *  *

Subscriptions to keep Craig’s blog going are gratefully received.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/30k9Zog Tyler Durden

It would appear that Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini has escalated his widely-supported anti-immigrant stance, by forcing George Soros and his NGO pals to put their money where their virtue-signaling mouths are…

The Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo reports that Italy’s government is planning to issue a decree that would mean NGO rescue boats would be fined up to €5,500 (£4,760) for each migrant they disembark on to Italian soil.

As a reminder, Francesca Totolo recently noted in her latest book:

“… all those international NGOs such as Avaaz, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many others have certainly one thing in common: their financial source, which is Soros. Their role has been, and continues to be, making the Italian people feel guilty if they don’t accept immigrants: legal or illegal, they must be accepted no matter what. So these NGOs, or modern Charons as I like to call them, have effectively – directly or indirectly – smuggled into Italy something like 700.000 people over the last few years. It must be understood, by all means, that something like this is a planned operation since its very beginning.

...as early as 2008 the association “carta di Roma” was founded in Rome. It can be considered the first NGO directly financed by Soros in Italy. What is the purpose of this “association of journalists”? To “promote correct information about immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers in Italy”. Doesn’t that make you inevitably think that Soros knew as early as 2008 what would happen three years later in Libya and was therefore paving the way for a “change of the paradigm”?”

As one would expect, aid groups said the planned decree from Matteo Salvini amounted to a “declaration of war against the NGOs who are saving lives at sea”.

The new decree reinforces the powers of the ministry of the interior in the matter of immigration and has the objective of putting an end to the NGO rescues. Médecins Sans Frontières, for example, would have had to pay €440m for saving 80,000 people if the decree had been in place during the last three years.

“The new decree is threatening legal principles and the duty of saving lives,” said Claudia Lodesani, president of MSF Italy. “It is like fining ambulances for carrying patients to the hospital.”

…

“It shows the weakness of a government that is not able to guarantee control through democratic means and rather constantly feels the need to resort to the threat of using law enforcement.”

Salvini has repeatedly declared Italian waters closed to NGO rescue vessels. Several boats have been left stranded at sea because of this hardline approach, which is partly designed to force other parts of Europe to take in more people.

The NGO ship Sea-Watch 3 is currently sailing across the Mediterranean towards Libya.

“They better not think of putting migrants on board,” said Salvini.

“We’ll stop them by any means necessary.”

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2VDxx8Q Tyler Durden

Via AlmasdarNews.com

Jihadist groups in the Idlib Governorate have attacked the Christian city of Al-Sqaylabiyeh for the second straight day, a source in the area told Al-Masdar News Monday morning.

According to the source, the jihadist rebels fired rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and artillery shells into Al-Sqaylabiyeh, hitting a number of homes in the predominately Antiochian Orthodox Christian city.

On Sunday, the jihadist rebels launched an identical attack that killed six people, including five children.

The Christian city has long been targeted the jihadist rebels because of their resistance to their attacks. Al-Sqaylabiyeh is home to one of the most powerful units from the National Defense Forces (NDF) and the “ISIS Hunters”.

During the jihadist offensive in northwestern Hama in 2014, Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) repeatedly tried to capture Al-Sqaylabiyeh and the nearby Christian city of Mhardeh; however, the locals fought off all of their attacks.

Al-Sqaylabiyeh is also home to a large number of displaced civilians from the Hama and Idlib governorates; they fled to the city to escape the violence taking place in and around their homes.

Meanwhile, the situation for the jihadist rebels in northwestern Hama and southwestern Idlib is progressively getting worse as they have lost a total of five towns on Monday.

Led by the Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army seized two more towns Monday afternoon following an intense battle with the jihadist rebels.

Prior file footage showing life amidst the war in the northwest Hama Christian towns of Mahardah and Al-Sqaylabiyeh.

According to a military source near the front-lines, the Syrian Arab Army took control of Al-Tobeh and Sheikh Idris after launching a swift attack from the Kafr Naboudeh area.

As a result of this advance, the Syrian Arab Army has now secured the western axis of Kafr Naboudeh, leaving only the northern and eastern flanks left in danger.

The Syrian Arab Army will likely shift their attention to the key hilltop of Tal Sakher and the nearby town of Al-Hobeit as they work to fully seucure the northwestern axis of the Hama Governorate.

If they are successful, the army will only have a few sites left to capture in Hama before the entire governorate is under their control. Earlier Monday, the Syrian Army captured three towns from the jihadist rebels along the Idlib-Hama axis; these included Tal Hawash, Hawash, and Al-Jabriyah.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2Hizm2k Tyler Durden

Turkey kicked off its “largest ever” military drills conducted in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas on Monday. Though the drills are pre-scheduled “annual” exercises, the massively beefed up Turkish naval presence comes as Cyprus is pressing the EU to address illegal Turkish oil and gas drilling inside Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.

Turkish state-run TRT World described the exercise known as “Sea Wolf 2019” as including a total of 131 warships, 57 warplanes and 33 helicopters — the largest force deployment in the exercise’s history. 

The games will extend to the Black Sea as well, and is set to run through May 25; it will further involve “submarines, frigates, naval artilleries, armed UAVs, as well as search and rescue units” engaging in “strategic and operational exercises with scenarios similar to crisis-tension situations and wartime,” according to Turkish sources.

The west supported Greek Cypriot government and Turkey – the latter which occupies northern Cyprus – have overlapping claims of jurisdiction for offshore oil and gas research in the natural gas-rich eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey has laid claim to a waters extending a whopping 200 miles from its coast, brazenly asserting ownership over a swathe of the Mediterranean that even cuts into Greece’s exclusive economic zone. Ankara has in the past demanded that Cyprus formally recognize the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (since 1974) and allow it to share revenues from Cypriot gas exploration. 

As a sign of strength, #Turkey has launched new naval exercises as it has begun drilling for #gas near #Cyprus. Turkey signals to #Greece, the #EU and the #US that it is serious in defending its interests. 131 warships, 57 planes and 33 helicopters participate. pic.twitter.com/9VBfXlqB09

— Ali Osman Özkök (@Ozkok_A) May 13, 2019

Last week the president of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades slammed Turkey for what he called the “unprecedented escalation of illegal action” which constitutes a “second invasion” in the eastern Mediterranean

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly been provocatively sending  warships in support of gas exploration and drilling vessels near Cypriot waters over the past months in order to ward off foreign competition to oil and gas research, according to Cypriot officials, also seeking to bar Cypriot ships and planes from freely traversing its own European recognized waters. 

Turkish state media footage of the games as they kick off Monday.

On Monday TRT World reported separately just as the war games were kicking off:

Ankara plans to start drilling near the island of Cyprus, in a project that Turkey says is within the rights of his country.

Elaborating on the issue, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “The legitimate rights of Turkey and the Northern Cypriot Turks over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean are not open for argument. Our country is determined to defend its rights and those of Turkish Cypriots. We expect NATO to respect Turkey’s rights in this process and support us in preventing tensions.”

The extensive Turkish claims around Cyprus have been condemned by the US, European Union, and Egypt, with NATO officials recently signalling to Turkey that it was out of line.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed early this month that “we are starting drilling” in the region, perceiving that EU and NATO leadership have merely long paid lip service to Cypriot and Greek complaints. 

Should the Turkish military attempt to enforce its drilling claims and run up against Cypriot and Greek vessels, it could spark a deadly encounter which would force the EU and NATO to finally weigh in more forcefully. 

Turkey has been frequently flexing its military might amid the territorial showdown, conducting the “Blue Homeland” drills between Feb. 27 and March 8 earlier this year. 

So this week’s massive naval exercise will be the second in only a few months, just as EU leaders are planning to consider Cyprus’ allegations during meetings at the end of May and in June.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2Hp0vzf Tyler Durden

Authored by Amir Taheri via The Gatestone Institute,

Talking to European think-tankers and policymakers in recent weeks, one gets the impression that, seen from Europe, Iran is a recurring nightmare that everyone wishes would go away. A couple of years ago, many in Europe believed that it had faded into oblivion. Now, however, the nightmare is back with a vengeance, with drums of war beating in the background.

The truth is that, apart from wishing it would go away, the European Union has never had a coherent policy for dealing with the nightmare. Eight years of President Barack Obama’s dancing around the Iran issue enabled the Europeans to postpone serious analysis of the situation in the Islamic Republic.

That, in turn, seems to have led the Europeans to gingerly rally to the hardline posture adopted by the Trump administration in Washington. Judging by the current discussions in European policy circles, the European powers may well throw their weight behind Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” during the forthcoming G7 summit in France in August.

If the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran collapses, who will take the reins and make sure that the vast country does not morph into yet another “ungoverned territory” in the heart of the Middle East? Pictured: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and President Hassan Rouhani. (Image source: khamenei.ir)

In informal talks, European policymakers and advisers express three concerns regarding the “maximum pressure” strategy.

The first is that the policy, ostensibly aimed only at persuading the Khomeinist leadership to change its behavior on some foreign policy issues, may, in fact, lead to systemic collapse in Iran and produce regime change with unforeseeable consequences.

The question is: who will take the reins in Iran and make sure that the vast country does not morph into yet another “ungoverned territory” in the heart of the Middle East?

I think the question is designed to dodge the issue of confronting a rogue regime that has provoked the current crisis. Iran has an old and well-established bureaucracy, dating back to the 16th century, and capable of operating within a strong culture of governance. Despite the serious damage done to state structures by the mullahs and their acolytes, the reservoir of experience and talent available is vast enough to ensure governance even on autopilot.

The second concern is that regime change in Iran may trigger an avalanche of refugees ultimately heading for Europe at a time EU nations are still grappling with problems created by the influx of Syrian refugees. Iran’s population is almost four times that of Syria, which means Europe may face four times as many refugees. However, that concern too may be unwarranted.

To start with, Iran has been a source of refugees from the first days of the Khomeinist regime. Right now, over eight million Iranians, about 10 percent of the population, are in exile, mostly in Europe and the United States, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry. Replacing the present regime by something less obnoxious may, in fact, inspire a reverse flow by Iranian exiles returning home. Something like that happened in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. In the first five years after liberation, an estimated 3.2 million Iraqi exiles, half of them in Iran, returned home.

History shows that nasty regimes produce refugees in the first decade of their existence. We saw that in Cuba after Fidel Castro seized power. Today, a change of regime in Havana will almost certainly lead to a return of some Cuban exiles, and not to a new outflow of refugees. The Syrian situation is exceptional. The popular uprising against the Assad regime was not allowed to succeed because Russia and the Islamic Republic intervened to crush it.

In the case of Iran, it is unlikely that Russia would want, or be able, to repeat the Syrian scenario to save the mullahs. Also, there is no one to assume the sidekick role that the Islamic Republic played in Syria.

The third concern that Europeans express is that Trump’s “proximity pressure” strategy may lead to war. In that context, some Europeans claim that it is fear of war that fans the fires of fanaticism in Tehran.

One senior European official tells us that the Islamic Republic is behaving aggressively because it feels surrounded by “huge numbers of American troops”.

That assumption is based on insufficient attention to facts. The US currently has around 170,000 military personnel, out of total active military personnel of 1,280,000, stationed in 66 countries, the lowest number since World War II. Of these, two-thirds are stationed in Germany, Japan, and South Korea. In areas that Iran might regard as its glacis, US military personnel number under 15,000.

In contrast, in the same putative glacis, the Islamic Republic has over 100,000 troops, including Afghan, Lebanese, Iraqi and Pakistani mercenaries in Syria and Iraq, not counting Hezbollah and Houthi units in Lebanon and Yemen.

Nevertheless, the possibility of war cannot be discounted.

A Persian classic on statecraft and warfare, says “words are the first arrows shot in a war.” The mullahs and their henchmen have set unimaginable records in the number of anti-American “word-arrows” shot every day. On the American side, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Brian Hook return the compliment with interest.

However, a war of words could also lead to real war. In the “Melian Dialogue”, Thucydides shows how the war of words between Athens and Sparta and constant military preparation in the island of Melos, ended up igniting the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).

In the 15th century, the kings of Portugal and Spain went to war over the ownership of an island that was later found out to have been put on the map by a map-maker’s mistake. Peace came when the Portuguese agreed to cede the non-existent island to the Spaniards.

The mullahs are playing with fire and, “He who plays with fire risks being burned!”

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2LCWnRz Tyler Durden

Last month, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, attempting to tighten the vice on Havana to end its support for Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro. As a result, Cuba launched widespread rationing of staple foods and hygiene products due to shortages triggered by US trade embargos, reported Al Jazeera.

After a month of shortages, Cuban authorities announced Friday the rationed sale of chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap, and other essential items, “to avoid hoarding and ensure greater access.”

Commerce Minister Betsy Díaz told the Cuban News Agency that rationing would be used to deal with shortages of staple foods. Díaz condemned the Trump administration for triggering the latest crisis developing throughout the country.

“Our mission is to fracture all the measures the US government imposes, and today we are setting priorities,” Diaz said on a state-run media broadcast.

Cuba imports approximately two-thirds of its food and small shortages have been common throughout the years. In recent weeks, many products have been missing from store shelves for days, and long lines have sprung up with many waiting for scarce products like chicken and beans.

Amid the developing economic crisis on the Caribbean island, Cuban youth have flooded onto social media under the hashtag #lacolachallenge (queue challenge) to shed light on the shortage.

#LaColaChallenge en la Casa Azul provincia de Las Tunas, cola perenne, inmortal, infinita…como el hambre y la desesperación de los cubanos. pic.twitter.com/Id93kMAhJG

— MaCC (@MaCC60217774) May 10, 2019

#LaColaChallenge aunque esta es la mejor cola, la de irse de una vez 😁 pic.twitter.com/KEOIJwO4Y2

— Chawy (@Chawy1348) May 10, 2019

#LaColaChallenge: El único reto 100% cubano ha nacido y el desafío es inundar las redes con las largas filas para comprar en la Isla. https://t.co/QAPTWS6hvt pic.twitter.com/9l3SgFApO6

— Yoani Sánchez 🇨🇺 (@yoanisanchez) May 10, 2019

Many Cubans find themselves standing in line for hours, waiting for products to arrive, a problem the government has blamed on “hoarders.”

“The country’s going through a tough moment. This is the right response. Without this, there’ll be hoarders. I just got out of work and I was able to buy hot dogs,” said Lazara Garcia, a 56-year-old tobacco-factory worker.

Product rationing has already begun in many municipalities across the island, with government-run grocery stores currently limiting bottles of cooking oil.

Cuban officials admitted that a liquidity crunch has hit the country after commercial debt hit $ 1.5 billion with suppliers late last year, as well as the renewed US sanctions, have complicated things for the centrally planned government.

“We depend on imports that come from the United States, and this has meant that we have had to look for alternatives to be able to secure the product in the market,” Díaz told local media.

It seems that an economic crisis is unfolding in Cuba and the dangers are beginning to emerge with food shortages across the country.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2YnTXYE Tyler Durden