[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda's north African branch warned European states including La Belle France Thursday against a military bid to rescue hostages kidnapped in Mali, citing "information" of plans for such an operation.
"We send a warning to La Belle France, Britannia, the Netherlands and Sweden: if they authorize this operation it will mean the death of their nationals and amount to an attempt on their lives," it said in a statement in Arabic.
"According to information we have received, the alliance of crusaders led by La Belle France which supports certain regimes like those of Algeria and Mauritania, is preparing an imminent military operation to free their hostages."
The statement was emailed to Agence La Belle France Presse in Rabat and carried by the ANI news agency in Mauritania which has published several AQIM statements in the past. These have never been disclaimed.
"We would like to state that we are searching a peaceful solution to this issue of the hostages," it added.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has claimed the kidnapping last November of two Frenchies in the northern Malian town of Hombori, and another three Westerners a day later in Timbuktu, also in the north of the West African nation.
Frenchies Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic, who described themselves as a geologist and an engineer but were later identified as having had ties with mercenaries, were taken from their hotel in the middle of the night.
A day later, an armed gang snatched a Swede, a Dutchman and a man with dual British-South African nationality from a restaurant on Timbuktu's central square and killed a German with them who tried to resist.
Twelve Europeans, including six Frenchies, are being held hostage in the Sahel strip of northwest African nations on the southern edge of the Sahara.
This zone is difficult to patrol and monitor and AQIM has carried out many attacks on troops, kidnappings of Westerners and trafficking of various kinds, including drugs.
The group was started in the late 1990s by radical Algerian Islamists who sought the overthrow of the Algerian government to be replaced with Islamic rule.
AQIM was linked to al-Qaeda in 2006.
On December 9, the organization published two photos of hostages surrounded by gunnies.
One photo was of the Lazarevic and Verdon, while the other showed the three snatched from Timbuktu.
A previously unknown al-Qaeda splinter group calling itself the Movement for Monotheism and Jihad in West Africa, has grabbed credit for the kidnapping of two Spaniards and an Italian in October from a camp for Sahrawi refugees near Tindouf in southern Algeria.
Mali is grappling with the return of thousands of heavily armed fighters who served fallen Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... .
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
Just make sure that you bring enough roach spray.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 10:33 Comments ||
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#2
AQIM ...
versies
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > NORWAY: NATO LOSING SELF-DEFENSE ABILITY, agz external CONVENTIONAL ATTACK vee Article 5.
On-going economic woes to likely further debilitate NATO's proficiencies.
IOW, the Hard Boyz will find it easier to covertly set up + penetrate into NATO-EU.
* Also from SAME > SOMALI PRIRATES STRUGGLE AGZ INTERNATIONAL CRACKDOWN.
ARTIC = Despite recent PIROP failures, indics are that the Somali Boyz are still willing to strike farther-n-wider than ever before.
[ABC News] North Korea says late leader Kim Jong Il's body will be permanently laid in state in a memorial palace in the capital. Kim's body will be displayed at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his father and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung's embalmed body has been lying since his death in 1994.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
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#1
Permanently displaying your father's body is a really weird family custom.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/13/2012 19:55 Comments ||
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#9
What happens to places like that when a regime fails? Didn't Planet Hollywood go bust? There can't be much of a market for Kim corpses. I can see Georgetown University creating a shrine for Lenin's corpse, but who would want Dear Leader? He's not like a mechanical windmill that you could use for miniature golf.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/13/2012 20:46 Comments ||
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#10
Pudgy has something to look forward to
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/13/2012 20:54 Comments ||
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#11
I doubt they had to a lot of extra embalming. The Hennessey did the trick
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2012 20:57 Comments ||
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#12
Hennessey is weak stuff
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/13/2012 21:03 Comments ||
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#13
at his BAC?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2012 21:15 Comments ||
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#14
I wouldn't drink that stuff.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/13/2012 21:24 Comments ||
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#15
Gack...This doesn't quite pass the "smell test". Prolly a faulty seal or gasket. How quaint.
ANKARA: Turkey, which imports oil and gas from Iran, says it is only bound by UN sanctions against its eastern neighbor despite the US campaign to sanction Iran over its nuclear program.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal says Thursday that Turkey would evaluate the content of the sanctions expected to be announced by the United States but it does not feel it is bound by any other sanctions.
On Thursday, Japan pledged to buy less Iranian oil, boosting the US campaign a day after China reacted coolly to the idea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran's largest supplier of refined petroleum products, as it sought to impress on Beijing and Tehran its resolve to increase economic pressure over Iran's nuclear program.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also imposed sanctions on Singapore's Kuo Oil Pte Ltd and FAL Oil Company Ltd, an independent energy trader based in the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said in a notice.
The State Department said the move was part of a broadening international effort to target Iran's energy sector and persuade Tehran to rein in its nuclear ambitions.
"The sanctions announced today are an important step toward that goal, as they target the individual companies that help Iran evade these efforts," the statement said.
The sanction bar all three companies from receiving U.S. export licenses, U.S. Export Import Bank financing or loans over $10 million from U.S. financial institutions, the department said, stressing that the sanctions apply only to the companies and not to their governments or countries.
The U.S. announced the decision after China's rebuff this week of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who traveled to Beijing to press China on U.S. demands it do more to help curb Iran's oil revenues.
Analysts said the U.S. move was largely for domestic comsumption symbolic, given that Zhenrong was unlikely to have much U.S. business exposure, but that it did send a signal to Beijing and its state-run oil giants such as China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec Corp) and China National Offshore Oil Corp.. I wonder if the Chinese president got a foot massage before being asked if it was OK to do this.
These companies have invested billions of dollars in the U.S. energy sector, and are much more exposed to the impact of potential sanctions.
"It's a good shot across the bow and signals the U.S. is serious about vigorous sanctions enforcement. This could be the beginning of a cascade of more sanctions on Chinese companies if China doesn't curtail its Iranian trade," said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington pressure group that favors stronger sanctions on Iran. Fat chance.
Zhuhai Zhenrong - one of four dominant Chinese state oil traders - brokered the delivery of over $500 million in gasoline to Iran between July 2010 and January 2011 in contravention of U.S. sanctions law, the State Department said.
While the U.S. move targeted Zhenrong for its gasoline sales, the Chinese company has a broader role in Beijing's energy dealings with Iran and has been a major buyer of Iranian oil since at least 1995, typically selling the oil to Sinopec and PetroChina, the country's two dominant refiners.
Zhenrong has been buying about 240,000 barrels per day for several years, representing about 5 percent of China's imports, although sources said last week it would cut crude imports from Iran for a second month in February along with other Chinese oil traders amid a dispute over payments.
In mid-2010, Zhenrong joined Chinese state energy giants in filling a void left by Western oil companies and trading houses that had halted sales of gasoline to Iran because of toughening U.S. sanctions.
Derek Scissors, an expert in the Chinese economy at the Heritage Foundation think tank, said the action against Zhenrong would send a message to other Chinese state oil majors.
"We don't want to be taking action against Sinopec, CNPC and CNOOC. They are huge, and politically powerful," he said.
"But Zhenrong is close enough to them, and won't really do that much harm beyond sending the signal." A very hesitant, pleading signal.
The U.S. announcement followed Western moves to tighten the economic noose on Tehran through unilateral sanctions.
President Barack Obama has signed a U.S. law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank, its main clearinghouse for oil exports, while the European Union is expected soon to agree to a new ban on Iranian oil imports.
Washington has sought to impress on friends and foes that it means business, sending U.S. officials around the world to warn of the dangers of dealing with Iran.
A senior Obama administration official stressed that the purpose of sanctions was to draw Iran back to the negotiating table to discuss curbing its nuclear ambitions, the other half of the 'two-track' U.S. policy of pressure and engagement.
"The theory of the case here is that these two tracks will ultimately converge and Iran will make a decision that it is important to come to the table to try to remove some of these sanctions, to improve their economy," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The other two companies listed by the State Department, both well-known names in the Asian oil trading world, are smaller, private trading firms that typically specialize in shipping bunker fuel or heavy residual products but, like Zhenrong, had also begun doing deals to sell gasoline to Iran.
The State Department said Kuo Oil had provided over $25 million in refined petroleum to Iran between late 2010 and early 2011, while FAL provided over $70 million in refined petroleum to Iran over multiple shipments in late 2010.
In all cases, individual deliveries were worth significantly more than the $1 million threshold under U.S. law and the total value of the transactions was well above the $5 million threshold for sanctionable activities within a 12-month period, the State Department said.
Excerpt: "The Defense Department's networks, as currently configured, are "not defensible," according to the general in charge of protecting those networks. And if there's a major electronic attack on this country, there may not be much he and his men can legally do to stop it in advance." Somehow, I don't have a warm, fuzzy feeling about our capabilities.....
#2
Most of their workstations run Windows or are closely coupled to others which do so. They refuse to fix that - they're in too deep.
Then, in spite of the fact that they admit their own systems are a mess, to put it mildly, they want more oversight over private systems so they can "help".
[Fox News] Pakistain's military says the country's army chief has summoned his commanders amid spiking tensions between the armed forces and the civilian government.
Military front man Maj. Muhammad Ali Diyal declined to say what the talks Thursday at army headquarters were about.
On Wednesday, the prime minister fired the defense secretary and the powerful military warned of "grievous consequences", widening a destabilizing rift between the country's institutions.
Relations between President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and the generals have never been good, but have soured dramatically in recent months.
The Mighty Pak Army has ruled Pakistain for much of its six-decade existence, and no civilian government has ever completed its term in office.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... has called a meeting of the cabinet's defence committee for Saturday and the army chief will attend, a government official said, in a possible sign of efforts to defuse tension between the government and the military. A disputed memo allegedly seeking US help in reining in Pakistain's powerful military has plunged relations with the government to their lowest point since a coup in 1999.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] The B.O. regime says it hopes Pakistain will resolve a deepening political crisis in a way that strengthens the civilian government.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Charles Evans Hughes ... is acknowledging "a lot of concerns" about instability in Pakistain. She said the US stands "strongly in favor of a democratically elected civilian government."
But she said Paks themselves must resolve their issues in a legal and transparent way. Pakistain's president left Thursday on a one-day trip abroad, amid widening speculation over the army's intentions.
Pakistain's prime minister fired the defense secretary Wednesday. Clinton said she conveyed US positions on Wednesday, when she welcomed Pakistain's new ambassador.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Translation: we still negotiating with Musharraf.
#4
So "The Heroine of Tuzla" is working the Pak civilian government while Leon tries to keep the Pak military from executing a coup d'etat. The Pak judiciary seem to be backing the military. Since these guys are supposed to have judgement, I would conclude that the betting odds favor the military. I wonder how monolithic the Pak military actually is....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 8:36 Comments ||
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#5
Makes sense.
Would not want to stand in front of them.
Posted by: kelly ||
01/13/2012 12:29 Comments ||
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#6
Makes sense. It's harder for them to stab you in the back if you stand behind them.
[Dawn] The judicial commission formed by the government to probe into the murder of Pak investigative news hound Saleem Shahzad has issued its report, however no culprit is named in it to the dismay of journalist fraternity.
The commission formed to probe into the murder of Pakistain Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online (Hong Kong) and Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI) Syed Saleem Shahzad, whose torture-marked body was found from Upper Jehlum Canal near Sarai Alamgir in district Mandi Bahauddin on 30 May 2011, was mandated to submit its report within six weeks. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... it took about half a year to issue its report with no culprit nominated.
The commission in its report presented to the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... , recommended Rs3 million in compensation to the assassinated journalists heirs.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Palestinian Authority Thursday accused Israel of drilling a new oil and natural gas well in the West Bank.
Bwha-ha-ha...
Jamil Al-Mutawer, vice chairman of the Environmental Quality Authority, said that Israel started unilateral exploration activities in a gas and oil well near the West Bank village of Rantees, to the west of Ramallah. He added that the Israeli security forces had beefed up presence in the area, preventing villagers from reaching their lands and farms to keep the exploration work a secret.
Al-Mutawer said the well is part of the Meged oilfield that is located alongside the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. He added that 80 percent of the 10-km-long and 20-km-wide field is on lands owned by Palestinian residents.
Al-Mutawer said the Israeli Givot Olam Oil Ltd company "started the exploration activities in the field in 2004 without consulting or coordinating with the PA." Al-Mutawer estimated that the field contains 1.5 billion barrels of oil and about 1.82 billion cubic meter of natural gas.
It'll all be gone by next month, too...
The Palestinian official said that the Israeli move is in violation of the Oslo Peace Accords. Under the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, any exploration work for natural resources should be coordinated and mutual.
The "PA will take urgent procedures that may include suing Israel in international courts," the official said.
Givot Olam said that it discovered the Meged oilfield in 2004. The company said it produces 1,000 barrels every day and it is scheduled to develop the production by 2012.
Meanwhile, the European Union has decided to pursue a series of steps which may undermine Israel's control of Area C, according to a policy paper that was published by Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot.
According to the document, "Area C and Palestinian state building," the EU will support road, water, infrastructure, municipal, educational and medical projects in the area, in order to "support the Palestinian people and help maintain their presence (in the area)." According to the Oslo Agreement, Area A is under Palestinian administrative and security control, Area B is under Palestinian administrative control but under Israeli security and Area C is under full Israeli control.
So the EU is going to take from Israel what is supposed to belong to Israel. Why am I not surprised?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[0 views]
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#1
Meanwhile, the European Union has decided to pursue a series of steps which may undermine Israel's control of Area C
Does anyone know the threshold price per bbl at which Iran will actually start losing money? I saw something in the news that said about $86/bbl, but I can't believe that at all. I'll bet it's more like $10/bbl. All they have to do is pull it out of the ground, put it in a tanker, and pay to keep everything maintained. Allah takes care of all maintenance. That's one less expense right there...
Despite tightening sanctions on Iran's oil industry, experts say the country's crude should still flow -- but perhaps at a deep discount.
In fact, the bargaining has already begun, two analysts said.
China, the largest buyer of Iranian oil, has sharply reduced its imports from Iran over the past two months.
But it hasn't been in sympathy with U.S. efforts to pressure Iran on its nuclear efforts. Rather, China believes it can negotiate a lower price.
"This isn't about Beijing trying to be a good actor," said Trevor Houser, a partner at the international economics research firm Rhodium Group. "The Chinese are trying to get a better price on what is now a distressed asset."
Iran finds its oil in a state of distress thanks to tightening sanctions imposed by the United States, Britain and anticipated moves from the European Union.
As Iran loses customers, remaining clients like China can ask for a discount oil price. Now it all makes sense.
Houser suspects Iran will ultimately have to sell its oil for a 10% to 15% discount, putting a significant dent in the government's budget.
"That's much greater than anything we've seen to date in terms of impact from sanctions," he said.
Oil price spike from Iran sanctions seems unlikely
The U.S. sanctions basically say any bank that processes Iranian oil transactions will be barred from doing business in the United States. The sanctions are in effect but enforcement hasn't begun.
They are the toughest sanctions the United States has imposed on Iran's oil industry, which supplies the Iranian government with about half of its revenue.
Iran exports about 2.3 million barrels of oil per day, mostly to Asia. The world consumes about 89 million barrels a day.
The sanctions are designed to put financial pressure on Iran so it gives up its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but many suspect is intended to produce a bomb.
Experts are mixed on whether the sanctions will actually work.
On Thursday Japan, the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil, said it will gradually shift away from buying Iranian crude. There were conflicting reports that India, Iran's third-largest customer, will do the same. European nations and South Korea are expected to wean themselves from Iranian oil over the next year.
In many ways this is a win-win situation for President Obama and European leaders. They want to hit Iran where it hurts -- in its wallet -- but don't want to cause an oil price spike that will have a similar effect on drivers in their home countries. Having Iran still supply the world with crude -- but at a lower price -- hits that goal.
"At the end of the day, the Obama administration doesn't want to fully implement" the sanctions, said Greg Priddy, an oil analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy. "They want something that hurts them, not us."
Priddy agreed that Iran's oil will need to be sold at a discount.
But other analysts doubt these new sanctions will really hurt Iran. Iran can drive up the price of oil again and then accept additional money under the table, still at a relative "discount".
Oil is an easily traded commodity. Iran can find buyers for its crude on the black market, through middle men, or from countries willing to flout the sanctions.
The sanctions could cause the price of oil to go up, so even if Iran does reduce the amount of crude it sells, it won't suffer financially.
"I don't think this is a serious blow," said Manouchehr Takin, an energy analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London and a former executive in the consortium that ran Iran's oil fields under the Shah. "They might even gain revenue if the price goes up."
#2
...I am trying to remember the exact numbers, but supposedly Iranian oil would be in the black all the way down to about $25/bbl. Think about it for just a second - if the Iranians start selling oil hand-over-fist at a huge discount, the rest of OPEC is going to have to follow...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/13/2012 8:54 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Iran still has to import a large % of refined oil and petroleum products at the current high prices. That trade deficit will continue to grow and with their weakening Rial v the dollar, the screws are tightening
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2012 11:07 Comments ||
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#4
if the Iranians start selling oil hand-over-fist at a huge discount, the rest of OPEC is going to have to follow... How much oil can be pulled 'out of the ground' is limited. When their exports max out, no further effect on world prices will be noticed.
#6
This is all complete nonsense. As long as Iran can physically export oil they won't loose anything.
The number of barrels sold doesn't go down because of that. If Europe or Japan doesn't buy Iranian oil they will buy from someone else. Since production is not going up this is just a bookkeeping issue.
The Chinese may still get a small discount to keep them happy but certainly not 15%.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/13/2012 16:30 Comments ||
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#7
I have to agree. Oil is a fungible commodity. As soon as it leaves Iran, it ceases to be Iranian.
What does affect Iran is if it gets into a war with Israel, the US or both. At that point, oil does not leave Iran. Nor can they continue to refine it for long, and none of their neighbors will dare export refined petroleum to Iran.
A blockade of the Gulf works both ways. It means no Chinese ships, either. And pipelines are very vulnerable.
[An Nahar] Ali Larijani, the influential speaker of Iran's parliament, said Thursday during a visit to Turkey that his country was ready for "serious" talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear program.
In comments reported by the official IRNA news agency, Larijani said: "The negotiations can yield results if they are serious and not a game."
He noted an offer made last week by Turkey to host the talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, and said "we have given our agreement" to that proposal.
Iran has several times said it is willing to resume those talks, which collapsed a year ago.
But the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the world powers, has said it is still waiting for Tehran to formally respond to a letter she sent in October last year offering to return to the talks.
Larijani's call came after an liquidation in Tehran on Wednesday of a nuclear scientist and increased Western sanctions on Iran's economy.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.
But most Western countries believe it masks a drive to develop nuclear weapons -- a suspicion strengthened though not confirmed by a November report by the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
In comments reported by the official IRNA news agency, Larijani said: "The negotiations can yield results if they are serious and not a game."
#4
Maybe Stuxnet has been more effective than the Ayatollah-stocracy has been willing to admit. Or maybe they believe Russia when they say that an attack is imminent.
Nah, just more BS to buy time.
"Talk, sure I'll talk. As much talking as you like".
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 12:17 Comments ||
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#5
IIRC TELEGRAPH.UK > IRAN'S NUCLEAR POWER: WORLD MUST PREPARE FOR INEVITABLE TO HAPPEN.
The US-Allies + UNO can obstruct or hold up, but not stop or destroy, Iran's drive towards nuclear capability.
versus
* WAFF > EX-ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: "PEARL HARBOR' STYLE ATTACK [agz US Warships(s) = CVN?]WILL BE PRETEXT FOR [US = US-led Coalition] WAR ON IRAN.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US MILITARY SENDS THREE AIRCRAFT CARRIER STRIKE GROUPS NEAR IRAN | [Chicago Tribune] US MILITARY MOVES CARRIERS, DENIES IRAN LINK.
* SAME > [Obama Admin] US SENDS TOP IRANIAN LEADER [Ayatollah Khamenei] A WARNING [covert] ON STRAIT THREAT | [NYT] US WARNS TOP IRAN LEADER NOT TO CLOSE STRAIT.
* CNN BLOGS > IRAN, US ENCOUNTER IN THE GULF | US HARASSED [twice] BY IRANIAN SHIPS, i.e. armed Speedboats.
[An Nahar] The CIA and Mossad were behind the "abominable" liquidation of a nuclear scientist in Tehran this week, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Thursday in a message of condolence to the man's family.
"This cowardly murder, perpetrated by those who do not dare claim their abominable crime by accepting the responsibility, was committed like the other crimes with the planning or support of the intelligence services of the CIA and Mossad," Khamenei said in the message posted on his website.
His accusation against the U.S. and Israeli espionage services was the strongest yet by Iran's regime following Wednesday's brazen killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of its main uranium enrichment plant.
Khamenei said Iran's controversial nuclear program "does not depend on any one person" and "we are going to continue with determination and energy on this path."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#5
DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRANIAN SCIENTIST [Roshan] KILLED LESS THAN A MILE AWAY FROM IRANIAN INTELLIGENCE HQ.
SUSPICIONS, as how Roshan's killers managed to penetrate so close to a normally heavily monitored, patrolled, + deemed highly secure INTEL HQ + surrounding area, + also large numbers of Police were suddenly conveniently? on the scene almost immediately???
* MAINICHI NEWS [Japan] > IRANIAN PAPER [Kayhon newspaper] CALLS FOR RETALIATION AGZ ISRAEL, for Roshan death.
[An Nahar] Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev warned that military escalation is likely in Iran, with "real danger" of a U.S. strike, in an interview published Thursday.
He added that Syria, which has refused to break its ties with Tehran, could also be a target for Western intervention.
"There is a likelihood of military escalation of the conflict, and Israel is pushing the Americans towards it," Patrushev said in an interview published on the website of the daily Kommersant.
"There is a real danger of a U.S. military strike on Iran," the senior Russian security official said.
"At present, the U.S. sees Iran as its main problem. They are trying to turn Tehran from an enemy into a supportive partner, and to achieve this, to change the current regime by whatever means," he added.
"They use both economic embargo and massive help to the opposition forces."
Patrushev said that "for years we have been hearing practically next week that the Iranians are going to create an atomic bomb, (but) still nobody has proved the existence of a military component of Iran's nuclear program."
Iran said Wednesday it had firm evidence that "foreign quarters" were behind the killings of Iranian nuclear experts and demanded U.N. Security Council condemnation of the deaths.
Patrushev said the current tension over Syria was linked to the Iran issue.
"They want to punish Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... not so much for the repression of the opposition, but rather for its refusal to break off relations with Tehran," he insisted.
"There is information that NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... members and some Arab states of the Persian Gulf, acting in line with the scenario seen in Libya, intend to turn the current interference with Syrian affairs into a direct military intervention."
In this instance, the Russian official said, "the main strike forces will be supplied not by La Belle France, Britannia and Italia, but possibly by neighboring Turkey."
Washington and Ankara may already be working on plans for a no-fly zone to enable armed Syrian rebel units to build up, he said.
The United States said Wednesday it would reduce the number of staff at its embassy in Damascus amid fears for their safety over the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
And why is Russia bothering to point this out?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/13/2012 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
one problem is
...according to well-sourced accounts of a meeting two weeks ago, Nasrallah "complained he no longer wanted the job." ...Nasrallah is now tainted... by his association with a Syrian regime that has been slaughtering its Sunni opponents. the other problem is
...Hezbollah's control over Lebanon's Shiite community seems to be unraveling. There's crime and social unrest in Shiite areas that the party is incapable of curtailing most of the rest is a long story about a rival Shiite cleric who was kidnapped, tortured, etc. by Hezbollah
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
I would guess there is more too this. For one thing they are closely tied to Iran which is losing influence in the region as they are increasingly seen as corrupt and criminal. The regime in Tehran is rotting from the inside and people are distancing themselves from it.
#3
Nasrallah spent years murdering people and is now looking around for the retirement plan. It was you, fearless leader, that spent years perfecting the "pull the trigger" retirement plan. It is not as pretty now, is it?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Al-Qaeda's north African branch warned European states including 
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran's largest supplier of refined petroleum products, as it sought to impress on Beijing and Tehran its resolve to increase economic pressure over Iran's nuclear program.
Pakistain's military says the country's army chief has summoned his commanders amid spiking tensions between the armed forces and the civilian government.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
The judicial commission formed by the government to probe into the murder of Pak investigative 
Ali Larijani, the influential speaker of Iran's parliament, said Thursday during a visit to Turkey that his country was ready for "serious" talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear program.
