Posted by: ed ||
02/18/2009 17:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Most of the land occupied by the country of Israel was purchased from Turkish Overlords. The Paleos have been sharecroppers there for centuries, never owning the land, but paying their Turkish Overlords the annual rent.
Russian authorities have put on hold a secret contract with Iran. The contract, which is believed to have been signed in 2005, planned to arm the Islamic Republic with the famous S-300 air-defence missile systems. The latest move comes ahead of talks between the Russian and American presidents set for April 2009.
Irans defence minister Mostafa Mohammad Hajjar, a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards of Iran, arrived in Moscow on Monday for talks on the supply of Russian arms to Iran, particularly the S-300 systems.
However, as reported in Kommersant Daily, Moscow will not deliver the missile systems for some time, at least not before the first meeting of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and American counterpart Barack Obama, a historic event widely expected to melt the ice in Russia-US relations and restart a dialogue between the two sides.
They'll deliver the following week just to let Bambi know how far his influence extends.
Iran does not follow resolutions of the UN Security Council concerning its nuclear programme and that fact alone is enough to put Russia in an awkward position if it delivers S-300s to Iran now. So far, Moscow and Tehran have fulfilled only one contract in air defence dating back to 2005 when Russia sold Iran 29 Thor-M1 middle-range missile air-defence systems for US$700 million.
Since then, Tehran has showed intense interest in S-300 systems and even signed a secret contract for delivery of 5 divisions of S-300s for US$800 million. But despite the fact that the contract has been initialised and Iran expresses its readiness to pay, Moscow has delayed the supply for political reasons as the question of arming Iran with the newest defence systems greatly alarms Americas principle Middle East ally, Israel.
Its not just once that the Iranian authorities have jumped the gun and declared that S-300s have already been delivered and deployed, claims always refuted by Russia. The last such instance was on December 22, 2008.
Iran desperately needs the S-300s to protect the almost completed Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is likely to be a high priority target in the event of military conflict with Israel. If S-300 systems are deployed near Bushehr, Israel will be unable to conduct air strikes without response as it did in 1981, when it destroyed a nuclear reactor in Iraq, as well as in 2007, when it took out a supposedly nuclear target in Syria.
At the same time Russian experts doubt whether Israel would dare to conduct an air strike against Iranian nuclear targets. Israel does not have a reason for such an assault since Iran does not have and, in the near future, will not have nuclear arms, and the US seems to be looking for a political resolution with Iran, Israel will not do the dirty on Obamas administration says political analyst Aleksandr Pikayev from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
Russia does not supply only military products to Iran. The construction of a nuclear power plant in Bushehr is just another example for this. For Russia, Iran is a friendly state. Russia is in constant dialogue with Iran, advising it to comply with its international obligations. Clever people in Washington understand that Russia has vast interests in Iran because it is an ally and strategic friend and neighbour, so it is natural that Russia extends some commercial projects in Iran commented military expert Viktor Mizin from the Moscow Institute of International Affairs.
It is true that five S-300 missile systems could secure the skies above Bushehr nuclear power plant, but it looks really doubtful that Moscow will put at risk the opportunity of improving the severely damaged relations with Washington.
That's a silly statement. We don't have a lot that Russia really wants once we cancel the missile defense system in Poland. The Russians just want us to stay out of the way and Bambi has already shown that's what he's going to do.
This means that this time the Iranian delegation may leave Moscow without any tangible results. However, the political situation is subject to change, which means that the fate of Iranian air defence literally depends on what Barack Obama has to propose to Dmitry Medvedev in April this year.
In turn, it is obvious that American leadership is planning to take a diplomatic pause till June when Iran will elect a new president and if it turns out to be someone less irreconcilable like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then the US will deal directly with the Iranian authorities.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
02/18/2009 14:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
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#1
Moscow will be under Tehran's nuke missiles even before Berlin. And the majority atheist Russians aren't even people of the book. Hell, the number of muslims just about equals the number of Christians.
Posted by: ed ||
02/18/2009 16:34 Comments ||
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#2
What's Iran going to use to pay for this fine Russian hardware? Oil futures?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/18/2009 16:35 Comments ||
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#3
Sure, why not, Rich? All the Iranians have to do is start an armed conflict in the Persian Gulf and the value of Russian oil futures goes way up. Like, way way past whatever the cost of the S-300's are.
#2
Neither, Gorb. Try irrelevant. The IAEA isn't going to do anything and has no teeth anyway. Every delay - of any kind - is a victory for the mullahs.
The Telegraph quoted United States intelligence sources as saying Israel is using sabotage, front companies and double agents to disrupt the Iranian regime's illicit weapons project as an alternative to direct military strikes.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that Israel has been carrying out similar covert activities for about a decade, ever since Iran was first suspected of seeking nuclear weapons. The U.S. journalist James Risen has written recently that the CIA and the Mossad have planned together a number of sabotage operations against the Iranian program, including damaging power lines to nuclear sites in order to cause harm to computer systems and equipment.
Operation Lemony Snickett is in full swing ...
The Telegraph also quoted Israeli officials as privately acknowledging the new U.S. administration is unlikely to sanction an air attack on Iran's nuclear installations and that President Barack Obama's offer to extend a hand of peace to Tehran puts any direct military action beyond reach for now.
As such, the reported goal of Israel's covert campaign is to delay or interrupt the Iranian research program, without engaging in a direct confrontation that could lead to a wider war.
"Disruption is designed to slow progress on the program, done in such a way that they don't realize what's happening. You are never going to stop it," a former CIA officer on Iran was quoted as saying.
"The goal is delay, delay, delay until you can come up with some other solution or approach," he added. "We certainly don't want the current Iranian government to have those weapons. It's a good policy, short of taking them out militarily, which probably carries unacceptable risks."
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Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2009 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11131 views]
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#2
People always hope that there is "some other approach" out there that we just haven't figured out yet. And now with the best and brightest people ever to walk the earth assembled together under Obama, the bestest president ever, that other approach is bound to appear. Right? Beuhler?
#4
I once heard the brag of an EOD expert that he could shut down a major metropolitan area for a week, and on a budget. In this he included power, water, major transport, and much of its food supply. He estimated the cost at around $500.
But, he concluded, if you wanted quality work, it could cost ten times that amount.
Ever since then, I've wondered about his conjecture, and admit it makes a great thought problem.
#7
Are they really being assassinated? Could be suicide. Could be spontaneous human combustion. Could be a mold infection. Perhaps it's just that, like some things, some people are simply asking to be destroyed. Everything is possible. It's a weird, big world.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a new world order based on new ideas, saying the era of tyranny has come to a dead-end.
In an exclusive interview with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Ahmadinejad noted that it is time to propose new ideologies for running the world. He said the time of tyrannical regimes is over and arrogant powers can no longer proceed with business as usual since their capitalism-based economies are collapsing.
"Tyrannical regimes will not last forever and they will reach their end sooner or later," Ahmadinejad stated.
We keep hoping, Mahmoud, we keep hoping ...
The president said people across the globe are fed up with the slogans of the arrogant powers. He cited the widespread protests in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, where he believes the major powers' policies are failing.
"Any civilization or empire that wants to impose its ideas on others through the use of force will reach its end in the near future," he said. Iran can present new ideas and views, which the world will need in the future, he added.
The Iranian president stated that Israel's defeat in its Gaza offensive was the beginning of a new order in the world. "Now they are in disarray and new developments are unfolding."
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Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Dude, I've not been following my fellow frech wingnuts' websites for a while, since I'm real tired of the crap there, but I've still browsed a big one yesterday, to keep informed about the latest carBBQ, atrocious rapes and such, and apart from the domestic stuff, as always, the international part was appaling (the USA soon to break up & fall apart as "States ask for independency", the Final Crisis of Capitalism, the Evils of rampant free-markets,...), and, the felows there REALLY got mad when sarko asked for a "New World Order". In fact, every time a western pol sez such a coded phrase, the guys there go apesh*t.
BUT, when the angry dwarf sez what, how will they react? I mean, some of them love the guys, as he opposes the "Empire", and, essentially, he's not considered one of the "bad guys", he's part of the "good team", with chavez, china, and, overall, putin, the new Man on a Horse of the mainstream of the french wingnuts. So, it's a "good" NWO, am I right? (Obviously, those people are not "right", they're unacknowledged socialists).
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.
The Telegraph quoted United States intelligence sources as saying Israel is using sabotage, front companies and double agents to disrupt the Iranian regime's illicit weapons project as an alternative to direct military strikes. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a new world order based on new ideas, saying the era of tyranny has come to a dead-end. 
