Middle East on fire

news.xinhuanet.com... 'Iran ready to launch Bushehr nuclear power plant: official'

Some more confirmation that the plan is a go ahead to get this nuke plant fueled up and running.

Tick Tock for Israel

Indeed the clock is ticking for Israel. About 2 weeks left minimum and a month and a half maximum.

U.S. National Security Advisor: Military attack on Iran unnecessary (Army Radio)

Good. Or is that a sign to Israel? Or a way of saying an overthrown of the regime will be pushed instead?

Iraq general says army not ready for U.S. pullout (Reuters)

He wants US troops to stay till 2020... hahahaha

Lebanon PM: Hezbollah showed serious evidence against Israel in Hariri killing (Ch. 10)

well. Israel won't like that.

Erdogan orders creation of Turkish committee to investigate Gaza flotilla incident (Ch. 10)

Another thing Israel won't like.

Romania says it will stand by Israel in event of conflict with Iran (AP)

Gee Israel is in good hands now!

Sarkozy appoints envoy to probe possibility of Israel-Syria peace talks (Army Radio)

Yeah I'm sure it's gonna happen... especially when Israel nearly launched and may still be planning to launch an attack on Lebanon.

EU's Ashton: Direct Mideast peace talks could start this month (DPA)

Yeah sure Ashton. Sure.

Barack Obama 'may be prepared to meet Iranian president’
Yeah... Basically the last straw before war. As always the US will ask for Iran to bow down and Iran will say screw you... and Obama will say how he tried everything...

US wants to give Iran sanctions time
No timeline yet. Last year they said till ``end of 2009``... still no strike on Iran.

Iran, Syria urge Muslims' complete unity
Like this is gonna happen...

'Lebanese airspace violated' again
Almost everyday now... they are baiting them basically. If an Israeli warplane were to be shot down and pilots captured, you know what would happen.

Georgia: S-300 in Abkhazia dangerous
This reminds me that Israel-Georgia are allies... and Israel might be tempted to use Georgia as a staging ground for attacks on Iran... maybe Russia deployed the S-300 for that purpose.

Iran, Turkey to build joint power plants
Another thing Israel won't like.

Officials: Better than 50 percent chance that Israel will strike Iran next year
Next year... while they are doing exercises on the border right now, while tensions are at an all time high... and in the article they don't talk about all the things going on right now.. kinda of suspicious. Hopefully the Israeli exercises end without war...

Army, UNIFIL Patrols Monitor Israeli Maneuvers
Israeli exercises are supposed to be over by now... they ended Thursday evening... Now if the military gear stay in place after that... something is up.

Hashem Criticizes U.S. Approach towards Lebanese Army's Armament: Israeli Maneuvers Aimed at Intimidation
I hope it's just intimidation.

Draft Law on Oil Exploration Goes to Parliament
This could end up with more tensions with the gas/oil offshore problem with Israel.

Asarta: No War in UNIFIL Area of Operations in Next Few Months
Yeah no war in UNIFIL area... but over it...

Now the Ramadan have officially started... it ends on September 10.

Next moon is September 8.

Israeli exercises on the border ended Thursday night... will the military hardware stay there?

Bushehr nuclear power plant is gonna be active somewhere between end of august at the earliest and end of September at the latest. After that...bombing it would be a nuclear catastrophe and Israel would get much more international condemnation. But striking now while there's still Russian workers inside it might be very dangerous... Israel killing Russians wouldn't end up with a good outcome.

It's going to be very interesting if the hardware stays put now the war games/drills are over. What a way to disguise getting into position once the war breaks out.

Your right about the "50/50" article ignoring whats happening right now.. In my personal opinion it's a 50/50 that Israel will strike Iran by this September, or in other words a 50/50 before the nuke plant goes online.

I don't see why Israel would actually want to wait until after it has gone online, that would be making things incredibly hard on themselves, could you imagine the international backlash once radioactive particles spread throughout the region and further? It would make the flotilla incident pale in comparison.

As for the Lebanese air space violations well... What good do they serve other than trying to keep the tensions high? If Lebanon was successful in downing an Israeli fighter jet, that is Israel's fault for waking snakes.

Better keep our eyes peeled on the border situation, see if all that military gear stays put

If this is true this has HUGE, and I mean... HUGE FREAKING IMPLICATIONS.

Iran Sending Weapons to Hizbullah … And Turkey, Too

Sources told Corriere Della Sera that Turkey will "send sophisticated weapons, rockets and guns to Syria, that will end up in Lebanon," where the Iranian Army will ensure the weapons are transferred to Hizbullah.

Oh boy. If this is true... Turkey just went nuts.

Hizbullah to Hand over 'Israeli Footage' of Hariri Murder Site to Lebanese Authorities
Good.

Must read :
Repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran

From the Atlantic article on an next year attack against Iran...

“In Israel, we heard this as nine months from June—in other words, March of 2011,” one Israeli policy maker told me. “If we assume that nothing changes in these estimates, this means that we will have to begin thinking about our next step beginning at the turn of the year.”

March 2011... interesting.

Russia says it will start up a reactor at Iran nuclear plant on Aug. 21 - Russian state media via Reuters

Great updates all.


Some more on Bushehr nuclear power station...

Iran nuclear plant launch beckons

From the link:

Iran nuclear plant launch beckons

Russia says it will undertake a key step next week towards starting up a reactor at Iran's first nuclear power station.

Russia's state atomic corporation, which is building the plant, said engineers will begin loading the Bushehr reactor with fuel.

However, it is not known when the reactor will be fully operational.

Russia has been helping build the plant since the mid-1990s, amid tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.

"The fuel will be charged in the reactor on 21 August. From this moment, Bushehr will be considered a nuclear installation," spokesman Sergei Novikov said.

Iranians will remain sceptical until they see the Bushehr plant finally working and generating electricity, 35 years after the project was started under the Shah, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.

Many in Iran believe that the endless delays in the project were designed either to extract more money from them, or as a result of Western pressure.

If and when the plant finally starts operating, it will be a moment of national pride, and an event Iran will no doubt celebrate as showing it can overcome international pressure and isolation, our correspondent says.

More


What will Israel do? What will the US do?


“US wants to return Iran to its sphere of imperialist influence”- journalist ( Includes 12 minute interview Video)

“US wants to return Iran to its sphere of imperialist influence”- journalist

Published 11 August, 2010, 11:45

Edited 12 August, 2010, 14:31

Recent sanctions against Iran are an attempt by the US to return the country to its sphere of influence, claims veteran journalist John Pilger.

”Iran was a pillar of the American empire in the Middle East. That was swept away in 1979 when there was an Islamic revolution, and it has been American foreign policy to get that back,” he said.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with so-called nuclear weapons. The nuclear power in the Middle East is the fourth biggest military power in the world and that is Israel. It has something like 500 or more nuclear warheads. It is never discussed.”

Pilger added that Barack Obama has failed to change the trajectory of US foreign policy, which dates back to as early as 1945 and follows George W. Bush’s line.

“For the first time in US presidential history – it has not happened before – a president has taken the entire defense department bureaucracy, and the Secretary of State for Defense, from a previous administration, a discredited one,” he said. “We have basically Robert Gates and the same generals running American foreign policy with a lot of help from people of like mind.”

Link (Contains 12 minute interview with John Pilger, well worth watching)

I could not have said it better myself.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
If this is true this has HUGE, and I mean... HUGE FREAKING IMPLICATIONS.

Iran Sending Weapons to Hizbullah … And Turkey, Too

Sources told Corriere Della Sera that Turkey will "send sophisticated weapons, rockets and guns to Syria, that will end up in Lebanon," where the Iranian Army will ensure the weapons are transferred to Hizbullah.

Oh boy. If this is true... Turkey just went nuts.

No, not nuts. Not if this is true. This is payback.


Remember what I said a few pages ago, about reports of Israel supporting the PKK?

Originally posted by Regensturm

I doubt it would silence Turkey at all. Turkey takes the issue of the PKK very seriously indeed, and will take Israeli support of the PKK as about the biggest national affront to Turkey you can get.

If I was Israel, I really, really, would not try to antagonise the Turks. Particulary on the issue of the PKK and supporting them.

Especially after killing Turkish citizens.

And Israel still has not shown any regret about the latter.

Hey Israel. Payback's a b...., ain't it?

[edit on 13-8-2010 by Regensturm]

Yeah I knew about PKK... but I thought that Turkey would do like all the others and take it. I'm so used to Lebanon/Palestinians/US/Iran/Syria taking Israel's BS without doing anything about it.

I didn't expect it. I thought Turkey would just roll over. Good for them then.

A week left for Israel to do their job or be hated even more when they do it. Radiation would go over Afghanistan/Pakistan/India/China according to analysis I read about an Israeli strike on a working nuclear power plant in Iran... back in 06. So I guess physics didn't change since then.

The whole Iranian-Russian deception on the Bushehr reactor is quite something. If you read the thread, the Iranians were saying that the plant would be operational probably AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER...

And now today they say it's just in a week... I don't know if it surprised the IDF, but it sure surprised me... I was more thinking about a minimum of 2-3 weeks.

Or maybe the IDF was not surprised at all and all that mobilization on the Lebanon/Syrian border is part of a larger strategy.

EU's Ashton: Israel must freeze settlements in order to advance peace talks (Israel Radio)

Not gonna happen.

Al-Hayat: UN to consider Lebanese request to mark border with Israel (Israel Radio)

That would be neat.

Lebanese Chief of Staff: No war with Israel, no more border incidents (Israel Radio)

Well Lebanon won't start it... Israel or Hezbollah might.

Kuwait Defense Minister: Patriot missile purchase not connected to Iran (Israel Radio)

Did he laugh while saying this?

And indeed, like Cuba, the US establishment thinks that Iran is theirs.

[edit on 13-8-2010 by Vitchilo]

Originally posted by Vitchilo
Yeah I knew about PKK... but I thought that Turkey would do like all the others and take it. I'm so used to Lebanon/Palestinians/US/Iran/Syria taking Israel's BS without doing anything about it.

I didn't expect it. I thought Turkey would just roll over. Good for them then.

Yep. Turkey take the issue of the PKK really seriously as I said, and the other thing is that Turkey have had good relations with the US and the West for decades, and have never done anything to upset the US and the West. They have friends in the EU, are ever more influential, and are seen as the gateway between the West and the East.

Turkey have been friends with Israel, and I think Turkey has been upset by a few things:

1) That it's citizens can be killed by Israel, and Israel will not apologise.

2) That Turkey, despite having been friends with the West, sees no real sustained pressure on Israel by the West for it's actions.

3) Israel allegedly supporting the PKK.

4) Turkey having a government that is prepared to speak up about the treatment of Palestinians, and appears to feel strongly about the injustices faced by the Palestinians.

5) The Kurds having free reign in Northern Iraq, and possibly being a haven for the PKK, and the US does nothing to calm Turkish concerns.

So Turkey is a little annoyed and sees double standards, and has a no-nonsense attitude to it's perceived enemies. The Kurds should know. And of course we can look back in history for further examples.

That there are reports, which if true, that Turkey might be arming Hezbollah or whoever, comes as no surprise.

I remember just after the flotilla raid, Erdogan, in a speech directed at Israel, said "You do not want us as your enemy."

If these reports are true, Turkey are saying they will not be mis-treated. They're saying, you want to play hard with us, we'll play hard with you.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
A week left for Israel to do their job or be hated even more when they do it. Radiation would go over Afghanistan/Pakistan/India/China according to analysis I read about an Israeli strike on a working nuclear power plant in Iran... back in 06. So I guess physics didn't change since then.

Can you imagine that, what with the floods and mudslides? It would be akin to armageddon for the people there. I also don't think those countries would like radiation going over them, so the outlook for the rest of us would not look good either....catalysmic for everybody.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
The whole Iranian-Russian deception on the Bushehr reactor is quite something. If you read the thread, the Iranians were saying that the plant would be operational probably AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER...

And now today they say it's just in a week... I don't know if it surprised the IDF, but it sure surprised me... I was more thinking about a minimum of 2-3 weeks.

I'm betting that the IDF were allowing for time variables for when Bushehr was online should they be planning something.

Originally posted by Vitchilo

Lebanese Chief of Staff: No war with Israel, no more border incidents (Israel Radio)

Well Lebanon won't start it... Israel or Hezbollah might.

Not in Hezbollah's interest to do so.

[edit on 13-8-2010 by Regensturm]

www.abc.net.au... 'Russia to load Iran reactor with fuel'
News is spreading, BBC to ABC now.

af.reuters.com... 'FACTBOX-Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant'
Some small facts about the plant along with the news

www.leadershiponline.co.za... 'Danger of a conflict reaches critical point'
This article sums up my fears in the first few lines. Surely Bushehr would be a primary target in airstrikes would it not? Reading princeofpeace's comment in the other thread may say otherwise. I'd always imagined it to make sense for Israel to take out as many facilities as it possibly could in any attack.

Especially if there are others hidden in mountains or underground that may be missed.

It sure is going to be interesting to see what happens... I won't know what to think should this date come to pass and the facility is officially brought online. Either Israel or US will never attack despite the threats to do so, or they simply do not care about the radioactive particles spreading

Bushehr of course, could be the distraction by which we wrongly measure the timeline of an Israeli or US or Israeli and US strike. We should not be quick to presume that once Bushehr is up and running, that Israel have missed the window of opportunity. We may be giving in to optimisim here of Israel not attacking.

Israel could just sabotage Bushehr via an inside man, an asset, that's something that should not be ruled out, while they target places elsewhere in Iran like Natanz via air strikes.

Which if my suspicions about Amiri the Iranian academic being an CIA Asset are true, might just come into the picture, or cases like him/her.

An Israeli commando raid is a possibility, but logistically would be a nightmare. Still, I would not rule anything out when it comes to the Israelis and Commando raids and logistics. Raid on Entebbe, anyone?

Of course, Israel could just go ahead and carry out an air strike on Bushehr regardless of the fallout (pun intended) because they think they might get away with it.

Upset Russia, sure, but what will Russia do? Will Israel call Russia's bluff then hide behind the US's steel petticoat if the Russian bear gets into a rage?

Not to mention Iran will respond to any attack. Possibly Syria and Hezbollah too, as well as Shias in Iraq.

The question would be whether, as the fallout descends across Asia, whether Israel would still have support and 'sympathy' from the US and it's acolytes in fighting those big bad nasty Iranians.

In such a case, Israel may hope for Iranian missiles to do as much damage to Israel and to US interests as to win back sympathy, wherein Israel can say:

"We were justified to attack them! Look what they are doing to us and to you Americans! We are fighting to survive!" etc etc. hoping that will work as a tactic.

Forgetting of course, that Iran would not be launching missiles if Israel had not attacked them and waged war.

Israel may hinge it's bets on this, knowing it has falling popularity, it may just do something extreme regardless like attacking Bushehr after it's come online and hope to win back sympathy when Iran responds having been attacked by Israel.


In which case, we are in for horrific times.

Truly horrific.

[edit on 13-8-2010 by Regensturm]

Just in reference to the The Atlantic article The Point of No Return which for the most part simply repeats propaganda about Iran about how they all hate Jews blah blah blah and is about as pro-Israeli as you can get, it does have interesting snippets as you mentioned Vitchillo, this part caught my eye:

Successive Israeli prime ministers have ordered their military tacticians to draw up plans for a strike on Iran, and the Israeli air force has, of course, complied. It is impossible to know for sure how the Israelis might carry out such an operation, but knowledgeable officials in both Washington and Tel Aviv shared certain assumptions with me.

The first is that Israel would get only one try. Israeli planes would fly low over Saudi Arabia, bomb their targets in Iran, and return to Israel by flying again over Saudi territory, possibly even landing in the Saudi desert for refueling—perhaps, if speculation rife in intelligence circles is to be believed, with secret Saudi cooperation. These planes would have to return home quickly, in part because Israeli intelligence believes that Iran would immediately order Hezbollah to fire rockets at Israeli cities, and Israeli air-force resources would be needed to hunt Hezbollah rocket teams.

Link


The Saudi Arabia fly-over has long been talked about regarding this, but do Israel actually believe Iran won't respond themselves to being attacked? It won't be just Hezbollah that Israel will have to worry about.


And....

Another question Israeli planners struggle with: how will they know if their attacks have actually destroyed a significant number of centrifuges and other hard-to-replace parts of the clandestine Iranian program? Two strategists told me that Israel will have to dispatch commandos to finish the job, if necessary, and bring back proof of the destruction. The commandos—who, according to intelligence sources, may be launched from the autonomous Kurdish territory in northern Iraq—would be facing a treacherous challenge, but one military planner I spoke with said the army would have no choice but to send them.

Link

The Israeli-Kurdish connection again.

So Commando raids could follow up an air strike according to the article. Launched from autonomous Kurdish territory. Risky on so many levels, militarily and politically.

An Israeli commando raid is a possibility, but logistically would be a nightmare. Still, I would not rule anything out when it comes to the Israelis and Commando raids and logistics. Raid on Entebbe, anyone?

The recent Israel-Romania exercises are supposed to be ``commandos raid behind enemy lines`` exercises...

So it could be training for Lebanon/Syria... or Iran nuclear sites...

Al-Arabiya: Azerbaijan releases two Hezbollah members who planned to blow up Israeli embassy

CIA evidence of an Israeli nuclear test
Will Israel end their stupid ``we don't have nuclear weapons but we do`` policy?

Any attack on Iran would not end well

Clarke revealed to The New York Times four years ago that, in the early 1990s, the Clinton administration had considered seriously a bombing campaign against Iran, but the military professionals told them not to do it.

The Pentagon's planners have conducted war games to model an attack on Iran several times in the past 15 years, and they just can't make it come out as a U.S. victory.

There's nothing the U.S. can do to Iran, short of nuking the place, that would force Tehran to kneel and beg for mercy. It can bomb Iran's nuclear sites and military installations to its heart's content, but everything it destroys can be rebuilt in a few years.

And there is no way that the United States could invade Iran. There are some 80 million people in Iran, and although many of them don't like the present regime, almost all are fervent patriots who would resist invasion. Iran is a mountainous country four times the size of Iraq. The Iranian army is slightly smaller than the U.S. Army. But unlike the U.S. Army, its troops are not scattered across literally dozens of countries.

If the White House were to propose anything larger than minor military incursions along Iran's south coast, senior American generals would resign in protest. Without the option of a land war, the only lever the United States would have is the threat of yet more bombs - but if they aren't nuclear, they aren't persuasive.

Ain't that nice? Invading a place large like Iran would take at least 1.2 million troops... it needed about 300.000 troops to invade Iraq and Iran is 4 times larger and have 2.5 times more population.

Without a draft or nuking the place, impossible to do. And that is to invade... I don't want to know how many troops would be needed to occupy the place.

Russian fuel supply to Iran fixes nuclear issue - France

Syrian PM: Israel to pay heavy price in case of attack


I think the next week, especially the next 72 hours are the biggest danger zone. If it does not happen then, it will not happen this year IMO.

Sunday could be a good day for an Israeli strike on Iran since the Russian workers could have a holiday... Israel attacked the Osirak on a Sunday to not kill any french worker because they had their holiday that day. June 7, 1981...

And Israeli warplanes passed over SAUDI ARABIA... guess over who they gonna pass again? Saudi Arabia... and they gonna let them pass.

Originally posted by Vitchilo

The recent Israel-Romania exercises are supposed to be ``commandos raid behind enemy lines`` exercises...

So it could be training for Lebanon/Syria... or Iran nuclear sites...

That helicopter that crashed in Romania was carrying Israelis, an eerie echo of the helicopter crashes in Iran when Carter tried to get back the US Embassy personnel held in Iran.

I wonder what support Romania would offer Israel in a strike on Iran? Logistics? Hardware? Men?

Originally posted by Vitchilo

I think the next week, especially the next 72 hours are the biggest danger zone. If it does not happen then, it will not happen this year IMO.

I would be inclined to agree with that, but I think the danger zone has been the whole of this August. We saw the clashes on the Israel-Lebanon border, and it is my view that Israel would have loved it if Hezbollah had got involved, giving Israel a pretext to scream how they are being attacked by Hezbollah and unleash war on Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

The fact it did not happen I think surprised Israel. And Israel were said to be surprised by the willingness of the Lebanese military itself to face down Israel. Israel wanted the Lebanese military at the border instead of Hezbollah because they thought the Lebanese military were a push-over.

Of course, the Lebanese military don't have the equipment to bring down an Israeli drone or warplane that violates Lebanese airspace, but on the ground, it appears the Lebanese military, from the border incident, now have the morale and willingness to stand up to Israel, having seen the example set by Hezbollah in 2006.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
Sunday could be a good day for an Israeli strike on Iran since the Russian workers could have a holiday... Israel attacked the Osirak on a Sunday to not kill any french worker because they had their holiday that day. June 7, 1981...

I would not put anything past the Israelis, and I can not say that if Israel do not attack this week then that's it for this year in regards to a strike.

I think the scenarios I listed, of Israel striking via a commando raid in co-ordination with air strikes, a sabotage effort via an inside man, or Israel just deciding to go hell for leather and back themselves on riding out the fallout are still a distinct possibility.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
And Israeli warplanes passed over SAUDI ARABIA... guess over who they gonna pass again? Saudi Arabia... and they gonna let them pass.

The Israelis are worried about one thing in regards to this. They are worried that the Saudis will only let them fly over once without interference, but on the journey back across to Israel, the Saudis may open fire just so the Saudis can save face with their Arab neighbours and indeed Iran by saying that Israel caught them out the first time they flew over, but on the way back they were ready for them and opened fire.

The Saudis may feel, that to allow the Israelis to fly across and back over their airspace, and being seen to do it, would be seen to be acting as complicit in a strike on Iran and aiding Israel.

To the Saudi regime, to be seen to be doing that by their neighbours, including Iran, and indeed to be seen to be doing that by their population, would be very dangerous and very unwise. And they know it.

The Israelis are worried about this, no doubt.

[edit on 14-8-2010 by Regensturm]

Since Saudi Arabia is a US puppet and Iran is kinda their enemy and doing so would be a declaration of war against Israel... I think they won't do a thing.

Defense Minister to Hold Press Conference Saturday to Make Important Announcement
I wonder what that is. Alliance of the army with Hezbollah? Arms contracts signed with Russia or Turkey? This could be interesting. Increase of the troops number/defense budget?

Planners of Baku embassy attack released from jail

Two Lebanese citizens who were convicted of planning terrorist attacks in Baku, including in the Israeli embassy, were released this week, according to reports from Azeri media and the Al Arabiya network.

Israel is gonna be pissed about that for sure. Those released were planning to blow up the Israeli embassy/missile monitoring station in Azerbaijan... Did Azerbaijan just go Turkey on Israel?

U.S.: Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant does not represent a proliferation risk (AP)

Well maybe this whole crisis is over then?

U.S: Russian nuclear fuel deal proves Iran doesn't need to enrich its own uranium (Haaretz)

Yeah if they want to rely on Russia for the next few thousands years...

Turkey denies reports it was to aid Iran in transferring arms to Hezbollah (Army Radio)

Well either the report was true or not, of course they gonna deny it.

The airforce will launch night surveillance flights over Beirut on Monday.

Do they expect something to happen?

Defense Minister Elias Murr announced the establishment of fund and bank account to support the armament of the Lebanese army.

Not a surprise.

Minister Adnan al-Sayyed Hussein to OTV: We want anti-aircraft weapons, and not offensive ones, against jets that violate our sovereignty.

That would be neat. S-300s please?

If Lebanon get good anti-air capabilities, with Hezbollah top notch anti-tank capabilities... Israel would have a really hard time getting them...

Of course Israel have the Trophy and Iron Fist systems...they worked great in tests, but what about real war? Not to mention they only have one battalion, equipped with that.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
Since Saudi Arabia is a US puppet and Iran is kinda their enemy and doing so would be a declaration of war against Israel... I think they won't do a thing.

The Saudis are a US puppet, but there are still things they have to be careful about to ensure regime survival.

It would be very dangerous domestically and regionally and internationally for the Saudis to allow the Israelis to fly over twice, and be seen to helping Israel so easily. It would be seen by Iran and Arab and Islamic countries as Saudi Arabia siding with Israel and the US in bombing a Muslim country and the risk is it would would be seen by Iran as a declaration of war by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is home to the two holiest places in Islam. The regime, in control of the lands where those two holy places are, has to act as the Guardian of those two holy places. For them to be seen to be helping the Israelis (which is bad enough) and bomb an Islamic country by letting them fly over Saudi airspace twice? The implications would be massive.

The Saudis would let the Israelis fly over twice if they feel that would be found out, but the danger is it would be found out, and then the Saudis have some questions to answer.

The Saudis, to save face, may put up a half-hearted air defence on the Israeli's return trip to make it look like the Israelis took them by surprise on their way to Iran.

At least then, the Saudis may be able to get away by saying they were taken by surprise with putting out the line of being taken surprise the first time, but on Israel's return trip were ready for the second violation of airspace.

For the Saudis to say the Israelis caught them out twice by the initial and then return airspace violation and they did not help Israel....well, it would be hard for Saudi Arabia to get away with IMO.

Originally posted by Vitchilo

Turkey denies reports it was to aid Iran in transferring arms to Hezbollah (Army Radio)

Well either the report was true or not, of course they gonna deny it.

Could have been an Israeli disinfo campaign, put out a story Turkey sponsors "terrorism" (Hezbollah) to lessen sympathy for the Turkish Gaza Aid flotilla killings.

It would certainly tie in with the Israeli portrayal of Turkey as more or less asking for the flotilla killings to happen.

[edit on 14-8-2010 by Regensturm]

A couple of posts ago I posted an RT article about a man named Michel Michel Chossudovsky and his views on a war with Iran.

On another thread discussing Iran, ~Lucidity posted the following link, and I thought I would post it here too, which is an article by Michel Chossudovsky about how a war on Iran will spell WW3.

Sensationalised reading? Perhaps. Possible? Absolutely, which is why it is sensationalised reading. His description of the US drawing up plans for Iran for a long time is of course no surprise, nor the description of the desire to reclaim lost Anglo-American territory: Iran

Scary reading.


Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran


From the link:

Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran

Part I: Global Warfare


by Michel Chossudovsky

Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. War preparations to attack Iran are in "an advanced state of readiness". Hi tech weapons systems including nuclear warheads are fully deployed.

This military adventure has been on the Pentagon's drawing board since the mid-1990s. First Iraq, then Iran according to a declassified 1995 US Central Command document.

Escalation is part of the military agenda. While Iran, is the next target together with Syria and Lebanon, this strategic military deployment also threatens North Korea, China and Russia.

Since 2005, the US and its allies, including America's NATO partners and Israel, have been involved in the extensive deployment and stockpiling of advanced weapons systems. The air defense systems of the US, NATO member countries and Israel are fully integrated.

This is a coordinated endeavor of the Pentagon, NATO, Israel's Defense Force (IDF), with the active military involvement of several non-NATO partner countries including the frontline Arab states (members of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative), Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, among others. (NATO consists of 28 NATO member states Another 21 countries are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), The Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative include ten Arab countries plus Israel.)

The roles of Egypt, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia (within the extended military alliance) is of particular relevance. Egypt controls the transit of war ships and oil tankers through the Suez Canal. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States occupy the South Western coastlines of the Persian Gulf, the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. In early June, "Egypt reportedly allowed one Israeli and eleven U.S. ships to pass through the Suez Canal in ....an apparent signal to Iran. ... On June 12, regional press outlets reported that the Saudis had granted Israel the right to fly over its airspace..." (Muriel Mirak Weissbach, Israel’s Insane War on Iran Must Be Prevented., Global Research, July 31, 2010)

In post 9/11 military doctrine, this massive deployment of military hardware has been defined as part of the so-called "Global War on Terrorism", targeting "non-State" terrorist organizations including al Qaeda and so-called "State sponsors of terrorism",. including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan.

The setting up of new US military bases, the stockpiling of advanced weapons systems including tactical nuclear weapons, etc. were implemented as part of the pre-emptive defensive military doctrine under the umbrella of the "Global War on Terrorism".

War and the Economic Crisis

The broader implications of a US-NATO Israel attack on Iran are far-reaching. The war and the economic crisis are intimately related. The war economy is financed by Wall Street, which stands as the creditor of the US administration. The US weapons producers are the recipients of the US Department of Defense multibillion dollar procurement contracts for advanced weapons systems. In turn, "the battle for oil" in the Middle East and Central Asia directly serves the interests of the Anglo-American oil giants.

The US and its allies are "beating the drums of war" at the height of a Worldwide economic depression, not to mention the most serious environmental catastrophe in World history. In a bitter twist, one of the major players (BP) on the Middle East Central Asia geopolitical chessboard, formerly known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, is the instigator of the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Media Disinformation

Public opinion, swayed by media hype is tacitly supportive, indifferent or ignorant as to the likely impacts of what is upheld as an ad hoc "punitive" operation directed against Iran's nuclear facilities rather than an all out war. War preparations include the deployment of US and Israeli produced nuclear weapons. In this context, the devastating consequences of a nuclear war are either trivialised or simply not mentioned.

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There are some things I disagree with, but on the whole it's nailed 'The Great Game' and what it's about perfectly.

A chilling read.

[edit on 14-8-2010 by Regensturm]

I dont think the US is beating the drums of war. Everyone has been talking about war for 5 years now and they havent done anything yet. 5 years!!! Thats not exactly rushing to a war that hasnt even happened yet.

The next 7 days are probably going to be the most tense in the middle-east for years. Israel quite simply has 1 week to launch an attack on Iran's soon to be nuclear plant or it can never attack it without huge complications such as radiation spreading.

Do we know yet what happened with the drills? Did Israel pull back the hard-ware or is it now stationed in position?

IMO no attack will happen but there sure is a chance.