US/Israeli missile launches -- The Israeli Defense Ministry and U.S. Defense Departments conducted joint tests of their missile operations in the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli officials told the Associated Press Tuesday. The tests, which were detected by Russian radar, come as the United States considers military action in Syria Hague is a war mongerUK to keep pushing on Syria - Hague
William Hague William Hague says the UK is increasing humanitarian aidThe UK will continue to push for a "strong international response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria", William Hague has told Mps.
Merkel is a war monger too!
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that she hoped an international consensus could still be reached at this week's G20 summit in response to an alleged chemical attack in Syria.
Merkel, who has repeatedly ruled out German participation in any US-led military strike against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, called for a fresh attempt to persuade summit host Russia to back unspecified consequences for Syria.
The USS Nimitz, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier which is currently supplemented by biofuel Supplemented by biofuel? Are they kidding? To create the perception of being environmentally friendly?What nonsense. Utter and sheer stupidity. More warships to the area
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and four other ships in its strike group moved into the Red Sea early yesterday, US defence officials said, describing the move as “prudent planning” in case the ships are needed for military action against Syria.The nuclear-powered Nimitz is accompanied by the Princeton, a cruiser, and three destroyers – the William P. Lawrence, Stockdale and Shoup, according to the officials.They said there had been no change regarding six US Navy ships now in the eastern Mediterranean, but military planners were reassessing the situation given a delay in the cruise missile strikes that had been expected this past weekend.The US Navy doubled its presence in the eastern Mediterranean in the past week, effectively adding two destroyers to the three that generally patrol the region.The destroyers are carrying a combined load of about 200 Tomahawk missiles
Nothing new in this report, not, if you have been paying attention for 2 1/2 years! Report: US-trained fighters sneaking into Syria And finally... Had bookmarked this one yesterday. However I was on a self imposed hiatus It’s long. It’s excerpted below.
JERUSALEM/RIYADH (Reuters) - If President Barack Obama has disappointed Syrian rebels by deferring to Congress before bombing Damascus, he has also dismayed the United States' two main allies in the Middle East.Israel and Saudi Arabia have little love for each (they have lots of love for one another) other but both are pressing their mutual friend in the White House to hit President Bashar al-Assad hard. Last year, Obama assured Israelis that he would "always have Israel's back". Now Netanyahu is reassuring them they can manage without uncertain U.S. protection against Iran.
"Israel's citizens know well that we are prepared for any possible scenario," the hawkish prime minister said. "And Israel's citizens should also know that our enemies have very good reasons not to test our power and not to test our might."
That may not reassure a U.S. administration which has tried to steer Netanyahu away from unilateral action against Iran that could stir yet more chaos in the already explosive Middle East.Israel's state-run Army Radio was more explicit: "If Obama is hesitating on the matter of Syria," it said, "Then clearly on the question of attacking Iran, a move that is expected to be far more complicated, Obama will hesitate much more - and thus the chances Israel will have to act alone have increased."
"HEAD OF THE SNAKE"
Saudi Arabia, like Israel heavily dependent on the United States for arms supplies, is engaged in a historic confrontation with Iran for regional influence - a contest shaped by their leading roles in the rival Sunni and Shi'ite branches of Islam.
The lover that binds Saudi Arabia and Israel is the US. Or perhaps it is Israel that binds the three bedfellows. Whichever? They connive and collude together all the time. The emotion of hatred towards Iran binds Israel & Saudi Arabia. Past collaborative efforts like cooperating on the 9/11 attacks, also bind Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US. So many reasons for SA, US and Israel to love on another..These three nations are for all intents and purposes ‘kissin’ cousins’
Riyadh is a prime backer of Sunni rebels fighting Assad, whose Alawite minority is a Shi'ite offshoot. It sees toppling Assad as checking Iran's ambition not just in Syria but in other Arab states including the Gulf, where it mistrusts Shi'ites in Saudi Arabia itself and in neighbouring Bahrain, Yemen and Iraq.Saudi King Abdullah's wish for U.S. action against Iran was memorably contained in leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, including one in which a Saudi envoy said the monarch wanted Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" to end Tehran's nuclear threat.
Disappointment with Obama's hesitation against Assad came through on Sunday in the Saudi foreign minister's remarks to the Arab League in Cairo, where he said words were no longer enough.
Riyadh and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) risk ending up empty-handed in their latest push for U.S. backing in their campaign to rein in Iran, said Sami al-Faraj, a Kuwaiti analyst who advises the GCC on security matters:
The presence in rebel ranks of Sunni Islamist militants, some linked to al Qaeda, worries the Jewish state - though Riyadh, too, is keen to curb al Qaeda, which calls the royal family American stooges. (Out and out lie)
That paragraph. Directly above is pure propaganda. The authors of this piece state that SA is backing the rebels then they are scared of the rebels. Baloney! Israel is propping up the rebels. Assisting them, especially in Golan. Giving them medical care. Israel has had IDF on the ground including that woman from Toronto. Recall that one? If you have been here for a while, you should!Saudi Arabia and Israel in bed together on Egypt. More common cause!EGYPTIAN LESSONS
Saudi and Israeli support for U.S. air strikes in response to Assad's alleged use of poison gas scarcely stands out less amid a global clamour of reproach for Damascus. But the recent Egyptian crisis saw them more distinctly making common cause in lobbying Washington - since their preference for Egypt's army over elected Islamists was at odds with much of world opinion.
In the case of Egypt all those dead Egyptians were not a problem for Saudi Arabia or Israel?DISCREET DIPLOMACY
More quietly, Israel has been engaged in direct discussions with the White House, urging Obama not to waver in support of Egypt's military and saying it is time to act on Syria.Israel clearly hopes still that Congress will give Obama the green light for strikes against Assad but is also likely to be wary of deploying its own lobbying power among lawmakers.Concern in Washington over a go-it-alone Israeli strike on Iran are still strong; Israel is unlikely to use the nuclear warheads it is assumed to possess but any strike on its distant and populous enemy would have unpredictable consequences.As a result, U.S. leaders have beaten a path to Jerusalem - Obama himself in March but also Secretary of State John Kerry several times, relaunching talks with the Palestinians in the process, and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, who made his third visit to Israel last month.Gadi Shamni, an Israeli military attache in the United States until last year, said that on the Iranian issue, "there were times when we were in the same book, then the same chapter."Right now we are on the same page. There is a lot of flow of intelligence and views and understanding."