Posted tagged ‘Obama’

Ahead of Europe trip, Rouhani won’t disavow desire to destroy Israel

November 12, 2015

Ahead of Europe trip, Rouhani won’t disavow desire to destroy Israel Iran leader tells French TV Tehran eschews ties with ‘illegitimate’ Israel, refuses to say if he agrees with hard-line statements of predecessor

By Times of Israel staff

November 12, 2015, 11:52 am

Source: Ahead of Europe trip, Rouhani won’t disavow desire to destroy Israel | The Times of Israel

The EU has more labeling to do, but do not hold your breath

Iranian president in a televised interview to France 2 posted online on November 11 2015. (Screen capture France 2)

Iranian president in a televised interview to France 2 posted online on November 11 2015. (Screen capture France 2)

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani refused to say whether he agreed that Israel should be wiped off a map, but called for a one-state end to the conflict with the Palestinians, in two interviews published Thursday.

Speaking to French TV ahead of his first trip to Europe, Rouhani also denied that Iran ever sought nuclear weapons.

Asked by France 2 whether he shared his hard-line predecessor Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s view that Israel “has no place on the map of the Middle East,” Rouhani answered: “How come this question destined for my predecessor returns now to me?”

He then added that Iran does not believe in a two-state solution.

“We are not speaking of two states but a single one. We say that all the people who originated in Palestine as it was in the borders before 1948 and as it was then as a country should reunite and vote, and whichever [political] system they choose, we will be in agreement with that.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (left, seen from the back) interviewed by France 2 ahead of his visit to France, scheduled for 16-17 November 2015. (Screen capture France 2)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (left, seen from the back) interviewed by France 2 ahead of his visit to France, scheduled for 16-17 November 2015. (Screen capture France 2)

“Israel in its current form is not legitimate; this is why we don’t have any relations with it, because we do not consider it legitimate,” said Rouhani, according to a France 2 translation.

Speaking to Italian paper Corriere della Sera, Rouhani was asked when the time will come when “Death to Israel” and similar slogans will no longer be part of Friday prayers.

“We respect all monotheistic religions,” he said, including the Hebrew and Christian ones. “The Jewish people have always lived peacefully in Iran […] they have representatives in the Iranian parliament and they can practice their religion freely. But this is different from Zionism’s policies, which is different from Judaism,” the Iranian president said.

“We condemn the persecutions by the Zionist regime in the region, including the killing of Palestinians, and we condemn American policies of unilaterally supporting this regime. What I am trying to say is that the Iranian people can detest Israel and Zionist policies but at the same time love Judaism, the prophets and the book [the Bible].”

Rouhani’s trip next week — the first by an Iranian leader in over a decade — will see him travel to France, Italy and the Vatican, highlighting warming ties with the Continent in the wake of the July nuclear deal.

The visit will largely be devoted to inking new trade agreements. He said there have been discussions regarding future possible collaboration with French companies on several economic ventures.

Ties with the US have remained cold, but he told Corriere della Sera that he could envision a day when the relationship with Washington, accused in Iran of propping up the unpopular Pahlavi regime overthrown in 1979, is restored.

“One day these embassies will reopen, but what matters is the behavior and those who hold the key to this are the Americans. If they change their policies, correct the mistakes they committed during 37 years and apologize to the Iranian people, the situation will change and good things can happen,” he said.

He told the French station that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have never included military use, repeating Tehran’s official line which stands in contrast to Western fears that the country does seek a nuclear weapon.

Asking whether Iran renounces the pursuit of a nuclear bomb, a France 2 interviewer said “for the French there is still a doubt” on this issue. During P+5 negotiations, Paris was seen as the most suspect of Iranian ambitions.

Rouhani said Tehran has “always sought this research uniquely in the domain of civil nuclear power and this continues today.”

Iran has “never wished, at any moment, not yesterday nor today, to manufacture an atomic bomb,” he said.

He added that Iran has long been a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has cooperated with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Our country has always collaborated with the IAEA. All the reports of this agency show that Iran has collaborated well. Today, we are willing to take on all the obligations [of the nuclear agreement] on the condition that the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany take on theirs,” he said.

Before the nuclear deal, the IAEA had long complained that Iran restricted access to suspected nuclear sites. The watchdog recently said Iran was complying with a new inspections regime put in place as part of the nuclear pact.

Leading American Scholar John Mearsheimer: The West Blew It Big Time

November 7, 2015

Leading American Scholar John Mearsheimer: The West Blew It Big Time and Irreversibly Endangered European Security

Damir Marinovich

Wed, Mar 18, 2015

Source: Leading American Scholar John Mearsheimer: The West Blew It Big Time and Irreversibly Endangered European Security

  • Round Table on “Defining a new security architecture for Europe that brings Russia in from the cold” was held in Brussels on March 2.
  • The organizer of the event was the American committee for East West Accord.
  • Three key presenters were American scholars Professor John Mearsheimer and Professor Steve Cohen, and publisher-editor of The Nation, Katrina Vanden Heuvel.
  • Q&A session was conducted by VIP guest panel which included five Members of the European Parliament from Left, Center and Right party groupings, two ambassadors and other senior diplomats from several missions, a senior member of the EU External Action Service, and Professor Richard Sakwa, author of the recently published Frontline Ukraine.
  • For more exclusive videos, please visit and subscribe to Russia Insider You Tube Channel

Professor John J. Mearsheimer is an American senior professor of political science at the University of Chicago. He is a leading international relations theorist. We owe a special thanks to Gilbert Doctorow, our invaluable RI contributor and moderator of this round table, for providing us with the video material.

The key points of Mearsheimer’s speech:

  • The best we can hope for is to return to the Status quo ante – the situation that existed in Europe before 2008. However it will be extremely difficulty to achieve this.
  • 1990-2008 was a golden period for Europe with no serious possibility of conflict between Russia ad the West.
  • This is because NATO remained intact and Americans served as a pacifier, ultimate arbiter, higher authority and NATO did not threaten Russia.
  • 2008 was a fateful year – NATO announced that both Georgia and Ukraine would become NATO member states. This was categorically unacceptable for Russians.
  • Furthermore, in May 2008, the EU announced its Eastern Partnership, thus, the EU too will be expanding to the east.
  • Not surprisingly in August 2008 there was a war between Georgia and Russia with Georgians hoping for NATO support that didn’t come.
  • Obama failed to reset the relationship with Russia because the West lead by the US continues to try to make Ukraine part of the West.
  • Democracy promotion, run by the US, actually means toppling leaders who are seen as anti-American and putting in their place leaders who are pro-American.
  • Major crises emerged with the toppling of Yanukovich and the rise of the pro-American regime.
  • The solution is to return to the situation that existed before 2008.
  • Ukraine needs to be turned into a neutral, buffer state.
  • EUis basically telling the West it has two choices: back off or we will use every means available to ensure Ukraine never joins the West.
  • NATO and EU expansion as well as “democracy promotion” must be explicitly taken off the table for Ukraine. However, it’s unlikely this will happen.
  • Western leaders are heavily invested in these post-2008 policies, and now Russia doesn’t trust the West anymore and NATO itself is in trouble since US focus moved from Europe to Asia.
  • Fundamental transformation if China continues to rise: Asia is the most important area of the world for US, Persian Gulf second and Europe only a distant third place.
  • Europe had excellent security before 2008, and we (the West) blew it big time.

Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

November 6, 2015

Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

Friday, 06 November 2015

Written by 

Source: Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

Obama Deepening Syria War as Prelude to More War, Based on Lies

Photo of President Obama: AP Images

Outrage and criticism are growing across the political spectrum after Obama, contradicting his repeated past pledges not to put U.S. troops in Syria, decided without congressional or constitutional authority to deploy some 50 Special Forces operatives to aid Syrian jihadists. At least one U.S. soldier has already been killed, dying last month in what Obama officials claimed was a raid to free prisoners held by the Islamic State (ISIS). More deaths are likely, as are more troop deployments, according to lawmakers and analysts, potentially setting up a broader war in which the United States could become further ensnared in Syria and beyond. Thanks in large part to the administration’s deceit and machinations in recent years, the whole region is likely to end up in flames — a kind of post-Obama Libya on a much larger scale. And Obama’s Republican and Democrat enablers in Congress, despite voicing some complaints and concerns, have done practically nothing to stop it.

The official excuse for sending American forces to Syria is to help various jihadist “rebels” battle ISIS. Yet, based on the statements of Obama’s own top officials, including Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, members of Obama’s “anti-ISIS” coalition have been arming, funding, and training ISIS from the start. In fact, in a public speech at Harvard, Biden said the anti-ISIS coalition had essentially created ISIS in the first place — on purpose. Official U.S. intelligence documents later confirmed that. The notion that Obama is sending U.S. troops to battle the Frankenstein creation of its own “anti-ISIS” coalition, then, sounds far-fetched at best. Far more likely is that the real agenda is not being publicly discussed, with ISIS merely serving as the excuse du jour to wage more illegal war.

The administration, of course, also claims that the U.S. military deployment will remain small, supposedly in a mostly advisory capacity along the lines of what got the U.S. government embroiled in Vietnam. Chief White House mouthpiece Josh Earnest even claimed Obama would “not allow the U.S. to be drawn into a sectarian quagmire in Syria.” As he was speaking, though, Obama was in the process of sinking America deeper into the sectarian quagmire that Obama himself helped create and fuel in Syria. “The president believes that by committing a relatively small number of forces, fewer than 50, that they can serve as a force multiplier and further enhance the efforts of these local forces on the ground,” Earnest continued. The “force” that would be “multiplied” by U.S. forces, of course, is a jihadist force, as Obama’s own top officials have already acknowledged publicly and as U.S. military documents show conclusively.

Either way, there is no reason to believe anything Earnest or anyone else in the administration has to say about the deployment, the purpose of it, or anything else, really — and there are plenty of reasons not to believe it. As The New American reported this week, Obama decided to lawlessly commit U.S. troops into Syria’s civil war after years of repeated promises to not deploy U.S. troops in Syria. Indeed, reporter C. Mitchell Shaw compiled a list of 18 separate instances in which the Obama administration publicly pledged not to deploy U.S. troops in Syria. Instead of keeping its promise and U.S. boots off the ground in Syria, though, the administration announced last week that a contingent of American Special Forces personnel were on the way to help various jihadist groups battle other jihadist groups.

It appears, however, that the administration and its war-mongering allies are having trouble keeping their lies straight on all fronts. For instance, the White House claims it has the authority to deploy U.S. forces in Syria based on an “Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF) passed by Congress in 2001 authorizing military strikes on “al Qaeda and associated forces.” Yet, the Obama administration and various warmongers demanding military action in Syria also claim that al-Qaeda and ISIS are at odds with each other. Indeed, disgraced former General David Petraeus, who oversaw the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even called for a U.S. government alliance with al-Qaeda to fight ISIS. Seriously. Official U.S. documents also show that Washington, D.C., has known from the beginning that the Syrian “opposition” was being led by al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Islamist organizations.

Meanwhile, Obama’s unconstitutional “regime-change” plot against Libya also discredits the administration’s false claim that the AUMF against al-Qaeda authorizes U.S. government support for jihad in Syria. In Libya, retired U.S. military generals and others even concluded that Obama had “switched sides” in the terror war when he backed self-declared al-Qaeda leaders against former U.S. terror-war ally Moammar Gadhafi. In that war, which turned what remains of war-torn Libya into a jihadist paradise mired in ongoing civil war, Obama did not cite the AUMF, instead pointing to an illegitimate United Nations Security Council “resolution” as the source of authority. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even promised to ignore Congress if it tried to stop the illegal war. The U.S. Constitution, of course, requires a declaration of war before the president is authorized to wage war.

Even some congressional Democrats, though, are speaking out against Obama. “It’s hard not to be concerned when the president very clearly ruled out putting troops on the ground in Syria and now they’re on their way into the battle,” explained U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), adding that he expected Obama to deploy even more U.S. troops in Syria going forward. “We’ve crossed a line here that’s hard to understand.” Another Senate Democrat, Tim Kaine of Virginia, echoed those concerns, saying lawmakers were not convinced. The White House’s efforts “to say, ‘Don’t worry, this is not ground troops,’ people don’t think that’s credible,” he said. Various Republicans have also slammed Obama’s decision. The public, too, is catching on, with a recent Associated Press poll showing that more than 6 in 10 Americans reject Obama’s “anti-ISIS” machinations in Syria.

Unsurprisingly, the warmongering Republican neoconservatives in Congress who supported the disastrous U.S. government invasion, “regime change,” and occupation of Iraq were standing fully behind Obama. Some even demanded that Obama deepen his involvement in Syria’s civil war even further. “Democrats and a few Republicans have absolutely no clue as to the threat we face,” complained Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports sending even more U.S. troops to the region. “We’re going to get attacked from Syria. That is where the next 9/11 is coming from.” He may be right.

What Graham and his fellow warmongers in Congress failed to mention, though, is that creating a fundamentalist Islamist principality in Syria — known today as ISIS — was official U.S. government policy as far back as 2012, according to a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report. Top U.S. officials said they warned against such an absurd and deadly policy, but were overruled by Obama and his cohorts desperate for more war. Graham and his neocon sidekick Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), though, have been cheerleading for Obama’s military support to Middle Eastern jihadists for years. McCain even posed for pictures with them. So if it is true that the next terror attack on U.S. soil comes from Syria, the Republican neocon enablers in Congress and the Obama administration will bear a major part of the blame.

But what is the real purpose of Obama’s latest scheming in Syria? According to Kremlin-backed media voices, it is about using U.S. troops as “human shields” to protect Obama’s anti-government jihadist “rebels” from Vladimir Putin’s air power. “The troop dispatch signals that the U.S. [is] trying to forestall Russian successes in wiping out Washington’s regime-change assets in Syria,” wrote analyst Finian Cunningham in a piece published by the Moscow-controlled RT. “In short, the US Special Forces are being used as ‘human shields’ to curb Russian air strikes against anti-government mercenaries, many of whom are instrumental in Washington’s regime-change objective in Syria.”

Despite Moscow’s ostensible support for Assad, however, it appears that the globalist goals in Syria still include deposing the autocratic dictator, eventually — but not before the nation is reduced to rubble, Libya-style, and the genocide of Syria’s ancient Christian communities by Western-backed jihadist “rebels” is complete. Also apparently on the globalist agenda: exploiting the Syrian war to flood the West with millions of refugees, empowering the UN and its kangaroo “court,” and imposing a European Union-style “Middle-East Union” pushed by the global-government-promoting Council on Foreign Relations.

Hundreds of thousands of innocents are now dead. More are dying every single day. Christians are  where they have lived continuously for almost 2000 years. Millions of Syrians have been forced to flee their homes. And much of the responsibility for the tragedy can be traced straight back to the deadly machinations of Obama and his allies.

Congress must take immediate action to rein in the White House, or the growing rivers of blood drenching the Middle East will be on their hands, too.

Syria Will be the Next Vietnam-Style War if Obama Doesn’t Learn from History

November 6, 2015

Syria Will be the Next Vietnam-Style War if Obama Doesn’t Learn from History

By A. Trevor Thrall and Erik Goepner

Source: Syria Will be the Next Vietnam-Style War if Obama Doesn’t Learn from History | Cato Institute

yria has the potential to become America’s new Vietnam — so, as Barack Obama sends the first 50 special operations troops to Syria to engage the Islamic State, we must be wary of history repeating itself.

The original mistake with Syria, as with Vietnam, was for leaders in Washington to believe that civil wars and insurgencies taking place halfway around the world represent a critical national security interest. Back then, the illusory “domino theory” — the idea that if one nation went communist it would start a chain reaction leading all the other nations in the region to do the same — justified the decision to engage in a tiny nation that itself represented zero threat to the United States. A version of that logic is at work again.

We’ve been told that it matters a great deal to US security interests whether Assad rules in Syria — but it does not. At last check an Assad has run Syria since 1970 without requiring US intervention. And any successor regime inheriting a destroyed Syria could hardly be a threat. Nonetheless, this assumption creates a powerful bias toward intervention that is difficult to check regardless of the strategic reality.

Before that original “forever war”, President John F Kennedy also told Americans that the United States was only training the South Vietnamese army. But US engagement eventually metastasized into a full-blown military intervention.

Today, after unnecessarily intervening in Syria, the US made things worse by embracing ineffectual and costly relationships with local partners on the ground. After years of arguing that there were no Syrian rebels worth supporting, the Obama administration then decided to try anyway and proceeded to waste hundreds of millions of dollars on perhaps the least successful training effort in US history. As the Centcom commander testified, only “four or five” trained rebels are in the fight.

It’s mystifying why Obama would commit such a colossal mistake when Vietnam provided so many painful lessons in avoiding precisely this kind of situation.

After the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the Eisenhower administration decided to begin supporting South Vietnam directly. The first casualties of US advisers in Vietnam occurred in 1959. The following year, nearly 700 advisors were operating in Vietnam, with Kennedy tripling the numbers the following year. By 1968, more than 500,000 US service members were in Vietnam.

Vietnam showed that the failure of an initial limited intervention creates political pressures for more aggressive action. In theory, a president should be willing to pull the plug if the initial failure makes clear that intervention is a bad idea. Most often, however, once a president has intervened, his political status is now yoked to the policy; pulling out risks almost certain censure for “losing”.

Regardless of whether things are going poorly, therefore, presidents face tremendous pressure to throw good money after bad. As declassified records later revealed, Lyndon Johnson realized early on that he would not achieve victory in Vietnam. He continued the war, however, in order to preserve the political capital he needed to push ahead with his Great Society programs.

And both the 2007 and 2010 surges in Afghanistan and Iraq are powerful examples of exactly this same kind of reasoning. Neither Bush nor Obama wanted to face the political fallout of withdrawal and perceived failure.

Having promised the world that he would “degrade and ultimately destroy” Isis, Obama now finds himself continually pressed to take more aggressive actions in the Middle East, despite his own doubts about their effectiveness. Most recently, for example, Obama admitted that he had approved the training program for the Syrian rebels even though he never thought it was likely to work.

US military power cannot compel democracy in foreign lands; neither can it force change amongst foreign populations. Only those governments and their people can effect political change if they themselves want it. That is just one of the many lessons that Vietnam can teach the current administration — if, that is, they are willing to learn.

Russia sends anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria

November 6, 2015

Russia sends anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria Russia has sent missile systems to Syria to avert aircraft attacking Russian planes, said a top commander. The “Islamic State” has reiterated claims it downed a Russian civilian plane as retribution for airstrikes.

Source: Russia sends anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria | News | DW.COM | 05.11.2015

The Russian Air Force’s commander-in-chief said in an interview with Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda that Russia sent “anti-aircraft missile systems” to Syria to better protect its fighter planes engaged in daily airstrikes in the Middle East country.

“We have calculated all possible threats. We have sent not only fighter jets, bombers and helicopters, but also anti-aircraft missile systems,” Colonel General Viktor Bondarev told the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Bondarev said there were many reasons for the decision, including the possibility of Russian combat aircraft being hijacked or attacked.

“There may be different kinds of force majeure. For example, the hijacking of combat aircraft in the territory of Syria’s neighboring states to strike at us. And for this, we must be prepared,” Bondarev added.

War on terrorism?

The statement comes after more than a month of Russian airstrikes in Syria, which the Kremlin says are aimed at destroying the Islamic State militant group.

 Huge NATO exercise to send signal to Russia

Moscow has been accused by Western governments of propping up the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which ignited a civil war when it cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in 2011.

Syrian rebels and activists claim that the strikes specifically target anti-Assad fighters, and rarely hit the militant group’s sites.

However, Russia’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that it reached out to opposition leaders in a bid to bolster cooperation in the fight against “terrorism,” although it was unclear which rebel groups established contact.

Islamic State claims retribution

Meanwhile, the Islamic State on Wednesday reiterated claims that it downed a Russian civilian aircraft last week; a statement that the British foreign minister says could prove likely.

“If you think you can destroy our state by sending your planes, vehicles and soldiers, you are wrong and you will regret that,” a Russian “Islamic State” militant said in a video, reported news site Vocativ.

“The plane we downed is the best proof. We will not be satisfied with downing your planes, but will storm your houses and will slaughter you.”

CIA, Saudis To Give “Select” Syrian Militants Weapons Capable Of Downing Commercial Airliners

November 6, 2015

CIA, Saudis To Give “Select” Syrian Militants Weapons Capable Of Downing Commercial Airliners

by Tyler Durden on 11/05/2015 19:49 -0500

Source: CIA, Saudis To Give “Select” Syrian Militants Weapons Capable Of Downing Commercial Airliners | Zero Hedge

Here we go again , are you getting  a déjà vu now ?

Wednesday brought a veritable smorgasbord of “new” information about the Russian passenger jet which fell out of the sky above the Sinai Peninsula last weekend.

First there was an audio recording from ISIS’ Egyptian affiliate reiterating that they did indeed “down” the plane. Next, the ISIS home office in Raqqa (or Langley or Hollywood) released a video of five guys sitting in the front yard congratulating their Egyptian “brothers” on the accomplishment.

Then the UK grounded air traffic from Sharm el-Sheikh noting that the plane “may well” have had an “explosive device” on board.

Finally, US media lit up with reports that according to American “intelligence” sources, ISIS was probably responsible for the crash.

Over the course of the investigation, one question that’s continually come up is whether militants could have shot the plane down. Generally speaking, the contention that ISIS (or at least IS Sinai) has the technology and/or the expertise to shoot down a passenger jet flying at 31,000 feet has been discredited by “experts” and infrared satellite imagery.

But that’s nothing the CIA can’t fix.

With the Pentagon now set to deploy US ground troops to Syria (and indeed they may already be there, operating near Latakia no less), Washington is reportedly bolstering the supply lines to “moderate” anti-regime forces at the urging of (guess who) the Saudis and Erdogan.

Incredibly, some of the weapons being passed out may be shoulder-fire man-portable air-defense systems, or Manpads, capable of hitting civilian aircraft. 

But don’t worry, those will only be given to “select rebels.” Here’s more from WSJ:

 The U.S. and its regional allies agreed to increase shipments of weapons and other supplies to help moderate Syrian rebels hold their ground and challenge the intervention of Russia and Iran on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials and their counterparts in the region said.

The deliveries from the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Arabia and other allied spy services deepen the fight between the forces battling in Syria, despite President Barack Obama’s public pledge to not let the conflict become a U.S.-Russia proxy war.

Saudi officials not only pushed for the White House to keep the arms pipeline open, but also warned the administration against backing away from a longstanding demand that Mr. Assad must leave office.

In the past month of intensifying Russian airstrikes, the CIA and its partners have increased the flow of military supplies to rebels in northern Syria, including of U.S.-made TOW antitank missiles, these officials said. Those supplies will continue to increase in coming weeks, replenishing stocks depleted by the regime’s expanded military offensive.

An Obama administration official said the military pressure is needed to push Mr. Assad from power. 

“Assad is not going to feel any pressure to make concessions if there is no viable opposition that has the capacity, through the support of its partners, to put pressure on his regime,” the official said.

In addition to the arms the U.S. has agreed to provide, Saudi and Turkish officials have renewed talks with their American counterparts about allowing limited supplies of shoulder-fire man-portable air-defense systems, or Manpads, to select rebels. Those weapons could help target regime aircraft, in particular those responsible for dropping barrel bombs, and could also help keep Russian air power at bay, the officials said.

Mr. Obama has long rebuffed such proposals, citing the risk to civilian aircraft and fears they could end up in the hands of terrorists. To reduce those dangers, U.S. allies have proposed retrofitting the equipment to add so-called kill switches and specialized software that would prevent the operator from using the weapon outside a designated area, said officials in the region briefed on the option.

U.S. intelligence agencies are concerned that a few older Manpads may already have been smuggled into Syria through supply channels the CIA doesn’t control.

If that sounds insane to you, that’s because it is. Even as US intelligence (which we can only assume emanates from the CIA) indicates that IS Sinai likely brought down a Russian passenger jet with 224 people on board, the same CIA is working with the Saudis to supply “select rebels” with weapons capable of shooting down commercial airliners.

In order to make sure no one ends up blowing a 747 out of the sky, Washington will “retrofit” the weapons with “special” software that makes sure they can only be used in certain areas.

Make no mistake, this has gone beyond absurd and is now bordering on the bizarre. It’s apparently not enough that the US is supplying anti-tank missiles to rebels shooting at the very same Iran-backed militias that the US implicitly supports across the border in Iraq so now, the CIA and Saudi Arabia will give these rebels the firepower to shoot down planes, meaning that in the “best” case scenario they’ll be firing at Russian fighter jets, and in the worst case scenario these weapons will end up in the “wrong” hands and be used to down commercial flights. 

It’s difficult to see how John Kerry can attend “peace” talks in Vienna and keep a straight face while chatting with Sergei Lavrov. That’s not to say that Russia bears no responsibility for its role in the conflict (sure, Moscow is supporting a “legitimate” government in Syria but they’re still dropping bombs on populated areas), but the US and the Saudis are arming Sunni extremist groups and encouraging them to shoot at Russian and Iranian forces. For Obama to suggest this isn’t a proxy war is absurd.

Putting this all together, it now appears possible that the US is, i) sending anti-tank weapons to rebels who are shooting at Iranian soldiers, ii) embedding ground troops near Latakia which means they’ll almost certainly be engaging Hezbollah directly, and iii) passing weapons capable of downing a commercial airliner to “select” militants days after a Russian passenger jet exploded in the skies above the Sinai Peninsula.

This is all in conjunction with the Saudis and Erodgan, who just rigged an election in Turkey on the way to rewriting his country’s constitution.

And the Western media reports this with a straight face as though it all makes some measure of sense…

Obama rules out Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before leaving office

November 6, 2015

Obama rules out Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before leaving office US officials say president has made ‘realistic assessment’; will discuss steps to prevent further violence with Netanyahu on Monday

By AP, Times of Israel staff and AFP

November 6, 2015, 2:17 am

Source: Obama rules out Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before leaving office | The Times of Israel

 

From left: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama and PA President Mahmoud Abbas during a trilateral meeting in New York, Sept. 22, 2009 (photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90)

From left: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama and PA President Mahmoud Abbas during a trilateral meeting in New York, Sept. 22, 2009 (photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90)

US officials said Thursday that President Barack Obama has made a “realistic assessment” that a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians is not possible during his final months in office.

The stark assessment comes ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Monday — the first meeting between the two leaders in more than a year. Preparation for that meeting has been overshadowed by Netanyahu’s appointment of a new media chief, Ran Baratz, who has previously branded Obama an anti-Semite and mocked Secretary of State John Kerry. Netanyahu was Thursday night said to have told Kerry that he was reviewing the appointment.

Officials said the two leaders will discuss steps to prevent a confrontation between the parties in the absence of a two-state solution. They said that while Obama remains committed to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, he does not believe it’s possible before he leaves office in January 2017, barring a major shift.

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told Israeli reporters that the president would want to hear from Netanyahu on Monday ways in which the prime minister will seek to keep a two-state solution viable even in the absence of direct negotiations. Rhodes said Obama regards a two-state solution as urgent, and reiterated the US stance that settlement building undermines faith in the diplomatic process and delays such a solution.

“The main thing the president would want to hear from Netanyahu is that, without peace talks, how does he want to move forward to prevent a one-state solution, stabilize the situation on the ground and to signal he is committed to the two-state solution,” said Rob Malley, the president’s senior adviser on the Middle East, according to Haaretz.

The president expects that Netanyahu will take trust-building steps that “leave the door open for a two-state solution,” Malley said, without elaborating. “We said for some time that we expect from both parties to show that they are committed to a two-state solution. We would expect they take steps that are consistent with that,” Malley said.

A wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, marked by dozens of Palestinian stabbing attacks on Israelis, broke out two months ago; clashes at Jerusalem’s contested Temple Mount have been followed by Palestinian terror attacks across Israel and into the West Bank, and Palestinian-Israeli clashes in the West Bank and at the border with the Gaza Strip.

At a press conference last month, Obama reiterated his long-held conviction that the only way Israel would be secure, and the Palestinians would meet their aspirations, was via a two-state solution. He indicated then, but did not spell out, that the US was not about to start a new peace effort, saying “it’s going to be up to the parties” to do that, “and we stand ready to assist.”

Kerry sought to be broker an accord in 2013-2014, but the effort collapsed amid a stream of bitter accusations and recriminations between the sides.

With no realistic prospect of substantial negotiated progress, the Obama administration is said to remain determined to keep the idea of a two-state solution viable, and it is understood the president and the prime minister will discuss possible steps in that direction.

The two leaders will likely discuss means to prevent a further deterioration on the ground, including how to thwart further terrorism; tackle incitement more effectively; deal with the strained Palestinian Authority; and safeguard Israeli-Jordanian relations.

No meeting is known to be scheduled for the near future between Obama and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The two leaders are also expected to announce that their allied countries are at work on a new long-term agreement for US defense assistance to Israel. The current 10-year framework, which provided for over $30 billion in US military aid, expires in 2018, and there has been talk of a new 10-year framework valued at $40-50 billion in total.

Obama and Netanyahu are expected to discuss commitments that could see Israel get more than the 33 hi-tech F-35 jets already ordered, precision munitions and a chance to buy V-22 Ospreys and other weapons systems designed to ensure Israel’s military edge over its neighbors.

The weapons said to be under discussion reflect the prominence of Iran in US and Israeli military thinking.

The F-35 is the only aircraft able to counter the S-300 surface-to-air missile system that Russia has suggested it may sell to Tehran.

Officials said Israel may also seek to ensure that other US allies in the region do not get the F-35.

The White House has so far rebuffed Arab Gulf states’ requests to buy the planes.

But while Israel has been offered some bunker-busting bombs, divisions over how to handle Tehran may put the sale of 30,000 pound “Massive Ordnance Penetrators” that could be used to target Iranian nuclear sites off the table.

“This is not something that has been raised in the context of the MoU discussions,” said senior Obama national security aide Ben Rhodes referring to the deal, known formally as a memorandum of understanding.

Military experts say Israel’s lack of bunker busting capability has limited Netanyahu’s ability to launch a unilateral strike against Iran, effectively giving Washington a veto over military action.

The visit, Rhodes said, “would be an opportunity to discuss and hear from Israel its assessment of its security challenges and the related security needs it has… whether it is something like the F-35 or a variety of others.”

Obama and Netanyahu will be meeting face-to-face for the first time since the US and its partners reached a nuclear accord with Iran. Netanyahu has been a chief critic of the deal.

On that vexed issue, the meeting could mark the day when Netanyahu finally engages with the administration on the practical implications of the deal, enabling the two sides to get down to work coordinating their positions on countering the threats posed by an emboldened and soon-to-be wealthier Iran, and on the appropriate responses to possible Iranian violations of the deal.

Cartoon added by JK

Two-Office Solution

Photo Credit: Asher Schwartz

Secret U.S.-Russia Deal Calls for No Targeting, Close Flybys

October 22, 2015

Secret U.S.-Russia Deal Calls for No Targeting, Close Flybys McCain calls deal immoral for legitimizing Russian strikes on anti-Assad rebels

BY:
October 22, 2015 5:00 am

Source: Secret U.S.-Russia Deal Calls for No Targeting, Close Flybys – Washington Free Beacon

The moral of the morality 

The secret deal between Moscow and Washington aimed at preventing aerial accidents calls for U.S. and Russian pilots to avoid targeting or shooting at aircraft engaged in military strikes, according to defense officials.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters Tuesday that details of the agreement, reached this week, are being kept secret at the request of the Russians.

According to other defense officials, the accord states that aircraft, including both jets and unmanned drone aircraft, will not illuminate aircraft from other countries with targeting radar or fire upon them.

Also, the agreement bans aerobatic maneuvers, such as barrel rolls, or what pilots call “thumps”—close passes by aircraft that involve gunning engines and causing target aircraft to be shaken by jet wash.

The agreement also covers any other unsafe aerial encounters, the officials said.

In addition to U.S. aircraft, coalition nations that are conducting airstrikes and will be covered by the accord include Australia, Canada, Denmark (which suspended operations in August), France, Jordan, the Netherlands, and Britain.

The agreement also sets up a communications mechanism on the ground that will permit officials in U.S. and Russian operations centers to talk, should other electronic communications prove insufficient.

Since Russian jets began conducting bombing missions in Syria, mainly against Syrian rebels and in support of the military forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus, there have been what Cook said were “a handful” of unsafe aerial encounters between Russian and U.S. aircraft, involving both piloted jets and unmanned drones.

In one case, a Russian jet came with 1,500 feet of U.S. aircraft in an unprofessional encounter. Russian jets have also flown close to U.S. Predator drones engaged in surveillance missions.

Cook, the Pentagon spokesman, said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) covering what the military calls the “deconfliction” of air operations, was not intended to legitimize Russia’s military operations in support of the Assad regime.

“The MOU does not establish zones of cooperation, intelligence sharing, or any sharing of target information in Syria,” Cook said. “The discussions through which this MOU has developed do not constitute U.S. cooperation or support for Russia’s policy or actions in Syria. In fact, far from it, we continue to believe that Russia’s strategy in Syria is counterproductive and their support for the Assad regime will only make Syria’s civil war worse.”

In Moscow, however, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said the memorandum was an important step toward joint cooperation between the two militaries against what he said were terrorist elements, the Associated Press reported.

“The memorandum contains a complex of rules and restrictions aimed at preventing incidents between Russian and U.S. aircraft,” Antonov said.

The communications between the two militaries will include 24-hour channels and “mutual assistance in crisis situations.”

“The Americans have promised to get the agreed rules to all participants of the anti-[Islamic State] coalition they lead, so that their pilots proceed from those agreements,” Antonov said.

According to the Russian official, the memorandum promises “a big potential for cooperation between Russia and the U.S., including in the fight against terrorism, which we are ready to expand and deepen.”

On Capitol Hill, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) harshly criticized the agreement, calling it “immoral.”

“This ‘de-confliction’ agreement with Russia means that the United States will now be watching and moving out of the way while Russian aircraft, together with Syrian, Iranian, and Hezbollah ground forces, attack and kill brave young Syrians, many of whom our country has supported and encouraged to fight back against a brutal dictator who has slaughtered nearly 250,000 Syrians and driven half the population from their homes,” McCain said.

“This is not only self-defeating and harmful to our national interests; it is immoral.”

McCain said Syrian rebels had placed their trust in the United States in hopes U.S. backing would help them succeed in the civil war.

“Now we are breaking those promises in our haste to give [Russian President] Vladimir Putin clearer skies from which to bomb our partners,” he said.

Russia began airstrikes in Syria on Sept. 30 using jet fighters and attack helicopters. It then launched a series of long-range cruise missile strikes, firing 26 SS-N-30 Kalibr missiles from ships in the Caspian Sea.

Russian military intervention in Syria followed Moscow’s complaints that U.S. military efforts to stop the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq were failing to stem the terrorist group’s advance.

Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Iraq that he has secured assurances from the Iraqi government that Baghdad will not seek Russian airstrikes against Islamic State-controlled regions of that country.

“I said it would make it very difficult for us to be able to provide the kind of support that you need if the Russians were here conducting operations as well,” Dunford told reporters, according to a Reuters account.

“Both the minister of defense and the prime minister said: ‘Absolutely.’ There is no request right now for the Russians to support them, there’s no consideration for the Russians to support them, and the Russians haven’t asked them to come in and conduct operations.”

Dunford said the air safety accord will permit the U.S. and allied forces to continue airstrikes.

“I’m not going to tell you there’s not going to be friction,” Dunford said, noting possible course changes for U.S. jets in response to Russian flights.

“What I’m telling you is the basic execution of the plan is going to continue.”

Kerry urges Benjamin Netanyahu to ‘move beyond rhetoric’

October 22, 2015

Kerry urges Netanyahu to ‘move beyond rhetoric’ and take steps to end wave of violence

October 22, 2015, 9:50 am

Source: Kerry urges Benjamin Netanyahu to ‘move beyond rhetoric’ and take steps to end wave of violence – Israel News – Jerusalem Post

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin on Thursday, saying that the time had come for Israel and the Palestinians to agree on the steps that must be taken to “move beyond condemnations and rhetoric” and stop the current round of terror attacks plaguing Israeli cities.

Kerry was beginning a four-day trip to Europe and the Middle East aimed at deescalating the violence which has seen ten Israelis killed in terror attacks and dozens of Palestinian attackers and rioters killed by Israeli forces.

Netanyahu reiterated his assertion that the current wave of terror is “driven directly” by incitement from Hamas, the Islamic Movement of Israel, and the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas.

Added by JK

Attacks on Israelis will go on, Hamas chief says in South Africa
At Cape Town rally organized by ruling African National Congress party, Khaled Mashaal urges continued terror attacks
http://www.timesofisrael.com/attacks-on-israelis-will-go-on-hamas-chief-says-in-south-africa/

I want to thank you and the US for condemning the terrorist attacks against Israel, for standing up for our right of self defense,” the prime minister told Kerry.

“We remain committed to the status quo. We’re the ones that protect all the holy sites,” Netanyahu said, refuting Palestinian claims that Israel is seeking to change the status quo at the Temple Mount.

“Israel is acting to protect its citizens as any democracy would in the face of such wanton and relentless attacks,” he said in response to charges that Israel has used excessive force in stopping the attacks.

“To generate hope, we have to stop terrorism. To stop terrorism, we have to stop the incitement,” he stated.

“It’s time that the international community told President Abbas to stop the incitement and hold him accountable for his words and his deeds,” he added.

Kerry said that “it is absolutely critical to end all incitement, to end all violence and to find a road forward to build the possibility which is not there today for a larger process.”

“So we have to go steps, but today you and I can really rekindle that process,” he added.

Kerry said that he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah and Abbas, and had received the impression that “everyone wants this to deescalate.”

U.S., Russia sign Syria air safety deal but keep quarreling over war aims

October 21, 2015

U.S., Russia sign Syria air safety deal but keep quarreling over war aims

James Rosen

October 20, 2015

Source: U.S., Russia sign Syria air safety deal but keep quarreling over war aims | McClatchy DC

High Lights

Pilots will communicate on protected radio frequencies

Russian, American jets have flown as close as 500 feet in last three weeks

Pentagon rejects Kremlin proposals for closer cooperation against Islamic State

A Syrian army tank fired during fighting in Jobar near Damascus last week after the Syrian army, backed by Russian airstrikes, launched an offensive. Alexander Kots AP

Our military forces in Syria are operating at the request of the legitimate authorities of that country.

Russian Defense Ministry

While cooperating in the name of air safety, Washington and Moscow continued to criticize the legitimacy of each other’s air campaigns in Syria.

Stressing that the aviation protocols “do not constitute U.S. cooperation or support for Russia’s policy or actions in Syria,” Cook added: “In fact, far from it, we continue to believe that Russia’s strategy in Syria is counterproductive and their support for the Assad regime will only make Syria’s civil war worse.”

The rhetoric from Moscow was just as dismissive.

“The signing of the document in no way changes the Russian principled position,” the Defense Ministry said. “Our military forces in Syria are operating at the request of the legitimate authorities of that country, while the projection of force by the United States and the counter-ISIL (a common acronym for the Islamic State) coalition led by Washington on the territory of Syria is without the consent of Damascus and, in the absence of any relevant U.N. Security Council resolution, represents negligence of international law.”

The Kremlin provided the full Russian-language title of the agreement: “A Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Department of Defense of the United States of American on the Prevention of Flight Safety Incidents in the Course of Operations in the Syrian Arab Republic.”

The possibility of air conflict escalating over Syria is far from just theoretical.

Turkey has scrambled fighter jets at least twice this month in response to Russian planes that it said had crossed or come close to its border with Syria. And Turkey on Monday said it had shot down an unidentified drone after it flew along the border.

Analysts said the drone was Russian, but the Russian Defense Ministry denied that claim.

“If it was a (piloted) plane, we’d do the same,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday. “Our rules of engagement are known. Whoever violates our borders, we will give them the necessary answer.”

60 The number of Islamist targets the Russian Defense Ministry said its planes struck in 24 hours from Monday to Tuesday.

For all the differences between Washington and Moscow, their air accord includes some sweeping provisions that will see the American and Russian militaries cooperating more closely than at any time since they were allied against Nazi Germany in World War II.

Among the accord’s provisions, specific radio frequencies will be maintained by both sides so that American and Russian pilots can communicate directly with one another.

Should those communications fail to prevent a possible conflict or other potentially dangerous situation, a special phone line will be set up on the ground for military leaders from the two countries to have urgent conversations.

Cook stopped short of likening the new phone line to the two countries’ existing “nuclear hotline,” which was established Aug. 30, 1963, at the urging of President John F. Kennedy after Moscow and Washington narrowly averted nuclear warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis 10 months earlier.

“We have a line of communication on the ground that serves as a backup and provides the opportunity to have real-time conversations if necessary,” Cook said.

Asked whether American pilots would have the right to fire at Russian aircraft that violate the new air protocols, Cook declined to respond directly.

“Our air crews always have the right to defend themselves,” he said.

He quickly added: “Our hope, with the memorandum of understanding, is that the risk of any sort of incident in the air over Syria is reduced, at a minimum, and hopefully eliminated.”