Posts tagged pnac

BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say more than 1.3 million Iraqis remain homeless after being forced to flee six years ago during widespread sectarian violence that threatened their lives.

United Nations diplomat Claire Bourgeois voiced concerns Sunday that Iraq has not taken enough steps to help the homeless “go back to a dignified life.”

She said squatters should be helped into permanent homes instead of evicted from empty buildings or public places where they are living.

Bourgeois also said many of the homeless have lost identification and other documents that would entitle them to government assistance.

Iraqi Deputy Migration Minister Asqhar al-Moussawi said the government has approved spending $257 million this year to help the squatters — less than half of what was requested.

(Source: Guardian)

Deputy Chief of Iran’s Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hejazi issued a new threat Tuesday, Feb. 21: “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests… we will act without waiting for their actions.”
debkafile’s military sources report that an Iranian preemptive attack on Israel has been in the air for some weeks. It became realistic because the dragging out of the argument between Washington and Jerusalem over a military strike and the two government’s indecisiveness gave Tehran a golden opportunity to further its interests.

It bestowed on Iran the gift of entering into talks on its nuclear program with the six world powers (P5 plus 1) free of a military threat and therefore in a superior bargaining position. For openers, Tehran has already pocketed the Obama administration’s promise of permission to continue to enrich uranium up to 5 percent in any quantity and will be more than ready to lay down more demands.
Gen. Hejazi’s threat of a preemptive strike against Israel also serves the Islamic regime in its run-up to a general election on March 3. It aims to show the Iranian voter and Middle East public that Iran has successfully turned US and Israeli aggression against Iran against them and demonstrated they are no more than paper tigers incapable of carrying through on their rhetoric. The military initiative therefore stays in Iran’s hands.

In Tehran, the standard Israeli cliché of “We don’t’ advise anyone to test our resolve” has worn thin.
By letting two Iranian warships bearing arms for Assad pass Israel’s coast on its way to Tartus without interference, Israel encouraged Tehran to assume that, in the last reckoning, it will abstain from a unilateral strike to eradicate Iran’s nuclear facilities without Washington’s blessing.

The Netanyahu government’s resolve is expected to melt away under the bulldozer assault of one American emissary after another touching down at Ben-Gurion airport to corner them into backing down.
Once Israel lets its hands be tied, Tehran calculates, it will become progressively harder to break them loose, so that if Tehran does carry out a limited “preemptive” missile attack on the Jewish state, Jerusalem will again bow to Washington and let itself be coerced into not responding.

Thursday, Feb. 23, US National Director of Intelligence James Clapper arrives in Israel to tackle its military and intelligence chiefs on the question, after US National Defense Director Tom Donilon spent three days in fruitless discussions with government leaders Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff tried his hand at persuasion earlier this month. This cycle of pressure will peak with Netanyahu’s White House talks with President Obama on March 5.
The Iranians felt confident enough to safely deny requests from the team of IAEA inspectors who arrived in Tehran Monday for access suspect nuclear locations and meetings with scientists employed in their nuclear program.
Gen. Hejazi’s words were backed up by a four-day air defense exercise, dubbed Sarallah (God’s Revenge), in the south of the country. The Islamic Republic also took another initiative by cutting off oil exports to Britain and France and so turning the tables on the European Union’s oil embargo on Tehran.

(Source: debka.com)

“Israel is the central guarantor of its own security; this is our role as army, the State of Israel should defend itself,” Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told state-owned Channel One TV.

“We must follow the developments in Iran and its nuclear project, but in a very broad manner, taking into account what the world is doing, what Iran decided, what we will do or not do,” he said.

In recent weeks, there has been feverish speculation that Israel was getting closer to mounting a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear program, though Israel has denied reaching such a decision.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have been simmering with Iranian warships entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal in a show of “might”, a move Israel said it would closely monitor.

On Wednesday, Iran said it had installed another 3000 centrifuges to increase its uranium enrichment abilities and was stepping up exploration and processing of uranium yellowcake.

And Israel blamed a recent wave of attacks targeting Israeli diplomats on agents of Tehran, allegations that Iran denies.

US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will begin talks with Israeli officials on a range of issues including Iran, two weeks ahead of a Washington visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for White House talks with US President Barak Obama on the same topic.

A recent article in the Washington Post said that US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta thinks Israel may strike Iran’s nuclear installations in the coming months.

According to Gantz, whose interview was conducted prior to the developments, Iran was not only an “Israeli problem”, but also “a world and regional problem”.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called on the world to tighten sanctions on Iran before the country enters a “zone of immunity” against a physical attack to stop its nuclear program.

Iran has been slapped with four sets of UN sanctions and a raft of unilateral US and European Union measures over its nuclear drive, which Tehran maintains is peaceful.

(Source: news.com.au)

Confirmation that the U.S. and its allies are studying their military options for helping the anti-Assad rebels in Syria is a worrying development on a number of levels, not least of which is the prospect of the West becoming embroiled in a direct confrontation with the Russians.

As I have argued before, I think the West – and that includes Britain – needs to proceed with great caution before it gets too closely involved in the Syrian crisis. As with the Libya situation last year, we still have no clear idea who the rebels are in Syria, or what their ultimate objective might be.

Homs, the centre of the anti-Assad rebellion, is a known centre for Islamist extremists, and if all Western intervention achieves is the replacement of the Assad regime with an Iranian-style Islamist dictatorship, then we will have scored a monumental own goal.

Of deeper concern, though, is the possibility that the U.S. could find itself involved in a direct military confrontation with Russia over the future of Syria’s destiny. We have been here before, of course, during the 1980s when, at the height of the Cold War, Moscow and Washington fought a proxy war over the fate of neighbouring Lebanon.

Even though U.S. President Ronald Reagan deployed thousands of U.S. Marines to Beirut, the Americans were eventually sent packing. During that conflict Russia backed the Syrians, who in turn used the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia to carry out a series of devastating terrorist attacks against the Americans, ultimately forcing them to withdraw their forces from Lebanon.

The Cold War might be consigned to the history books, but a similar confrontation could easily arise if Washington decides to become engaged militarily in Syria to protect anti-government rebels.

This week’s visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Damascus has highlighted Syria’s importance to Moscow. The Syrian port of Tartus is Russia’s only military base outside the old Soviet Union and, at a time when the West is strengthening its ties throughout the Arab world, the Russians regard Syria as a vital strategic asset. Consequently any attempt by the Western powers to meddle in Syria’s internal affairs is likely to prompt a robust response from Moscow.

One of the reasons the Lebanese civil war dragged on for fifteen years was that the conflict ended up being caught in a turf war between Washington and Moscow. I fear a similar fate could soon befall Syria

(Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk)

The top US Navy official in the Gulf said Sunday he takes Iran’s military capabilities seriously but insists his forces are prepared to confront any Iranian aggression in the region.

Vice Adm Mark Fox, commander of the 5th Fleet, told reporters at the naval force’s Bahrain headquarters that the Navy has ‘built a wide range of potential options to give the president’ and is ‘ready today’ to confront any hostile action by Tehran.

He did not outline specifically how the Navy might answer an Iranian strike or an effort to shut the entrance to the Persian Gulf, though any response would likely involve the two US aircraft carriers and other warships cruising the waters off Iran.

‘We’ve developed very precise and lethal weapons that are very effective, and we’re prepared,’ Fox said. ‘We’re just ready for any contingency.’

Faced with tightening Western sanctions, Iranian officials have stepped up threats to close the Strait of Hormuz if the country’s oil exports are blocked. A fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the narrow waterway, which is only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) across at its narrowest point.

Iran and Oman share control of the waterway, but it is considered an international strait, meaning free transit passage is guaranteed under international law.

Iran’s army chief, General Ataollah Salehi, early last month warned an American warship not to return to the Gulf shortly after the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and another vessel left. Another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, entered the Gulf without incident on January 22.

Fox acknowledged that Iran’s military is ‘capable of striking a blow’ against American forces in the Gulf, particularly using unconventional means such as small attack boats or mines laid along shipping lanes.

‘We’re not bulletproof. There are people that can take a swipe at us,’ Fox said.

But he added that he has reminded officers under his command that they ‘have a right and an obligation of self defence’ if attacked.

The admiral’s comments echo those of other Western officials, who say they will respond swiftly to any Iranian attempt to shut the Strait of Hormuz.

Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ last month that Iranian forces could block shipping through the strait ‘for a period of time,’ but added, ‘We can defeat that.’

In his briefing in the Bahraini capital Manama, Fox voiced support for the tiny island nation that has hosted U.S. Navy vessels for decades.

‘They are a long-term partner and a very important piece of our ability to do our mission,’ he said of the country.

Bahrain has been rocked by protests led by the country’s majority Shiites against the country’s Sunni monarchy that erupted in force a year ago. Street battles between security forces and protesters still flare up almost daily in the predominantly Shiite villages around the capital.

Fox’s command encompasses the bulk of the Middle East, including the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and a large swath of the Indian Ocean along the east African coast. There are about 25,000 sailors under his command.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon wants the Security Council to be united when it deliberates a draft resolution calling on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to quit.

The Arab League, backed by the United States, France and Britain will ask the council to adopt the resolution at UN talks in New York.

“I sincerely hope the Security Council will be united and speak in a coherent manner reflecting the wishes of the international community,” Mr Ban told reporters in the Jordanian capital.

“This is crucially important.”

Russia, one of Syria’s few allies, has objected to the resolution on the grounds it could pave the way for military intervention in Syria.

China, which like Russia has a veto in the council, also has reservations about the draft. Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution in October that condemned Syria and threatened it with sanctions.

“It is more urgent than ever to put an end to this bloodshed and violence, to start a credible political solution that addresses the legitimate aspiration of the Syrian people and to protect their fundamental freedoms,” Mr Ban said.

“I don’t think we can go on like this.”

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero says France is still hopeful a breakthrough is possible.

“We hope with this dramatic violence on the ground, and the commitment of the Arab League, some members of the UN Security Council will finally change their mind, will realise that the time has come to take its responsibility and will allow the Security Council to move on this issue,” he said.

Russian veto

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia will not support anything which is imposed on Syrians.

“It is up to the Syrians themselves to decide how to run the country, how to introduce the reforms, what kind reforms, without any outside interference,” he told the ABC’s Lateline in an exclusive interview with Emma Alberici.

“Yes, we condemn strongly the use of force by government forces against civilians, but we can condemn in the same strong way the activities of the armed extremist groups who attack government positions.”

Mr Lavrov denied that Russia is a friend of Assad’s, but he says a “second Libya” would be a disaster.

“We’re not a friend, we’re not an ally of president Assad. We never said that president Assad remaining in power is the solution to the crisis,” he said.

“But if there is no dialogue, then the question means only one thing, that you want a second Libya, and this will be a disaster for the Arab world and for world politics.

“The people who are obsessed with removing regimes in the region, they should be really thinking about the broader picture.

“I’m afraid that if this vigour to change regimes persists, we are going to witness a very bad situation - much, much, much broader than just Syria, Libya, Egypt or any other single country.

“We don’t want to make this easy. We’re going to prevent this type of development.”

On the ground in Syria, opposition forces have called for a “day of mourning and anger” after almost 100 people, including 55 civilians, died in the latest violence in Homs.

The government says it has eliminated resistance by rebels on the edge of Damascus after three days of fighting.

The opposition says it has pulled back from the capital for strategic reasons and will launch guerrilla attacks.

One activist says government troops have been moving through several Damascus suburbs, making hundreds of arrests and looting houses.

ABC/wires

(Source: abc.net.au)

The UN’s chief nuclear inspector arrived in Iran on Sunday on a mission to clear up “outstanding substantive issues” on Tehran’s atomic program, and called for dialogue with the Islamic state.

Before departing from Vienna airport, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief inspector Herman Nackaerts told reporters that talks were long overdue.

“We are trying to resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran,” he said.

“In particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program. We are looking forward to the start of a dialogue, a dialogue that is overdue since very long.”

Mr Nackaerts is leading a six-person IAEA team due to meet Iranian officials from later on Sunday until Tuesday. The delegation touched down in Tehran early on Sunday morning, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The team also includes IAEA number two Rafael Grossi, an Argentine, and the watchdog’s senior legal official Peri Lynne Johnson, a US citizen, according to diplomats.

Mr Nackaerts, who is Belgian, declined to comment on who he would meet during the trip, which is aimed at clearing up what the IAEA called “outstanding substantive issues” on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Expectations are low, with the delegation not expected to be given access to any sites mentioned in a damning IAEA report in November that raised suspicions Iran had done work developing nuclear weapons.

IRNA quoted Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, in Addis Ababa for an African Union meeting, as saying he was “optimistic” about the delegation’s visit.

“We have always had a broad and close cooperation with the agency and we have always maintained transparency as one of our principles working with the agency,” he said.

The agency added that the team would probably visit the Fordo enrichment site south of the capital Tehran.

Earlier this month, the IAEA said Iran had begun enriching uranium to 20 per cent purity deep inside a mountain bunker at Fordo, taking it significantly closer to the 90 per cent mark needed for a nuclear bomb.

With Iran repeatedly denying it wants nuclear weapons and dismissing the IAEA report as baseless, the watchdog’s chief Yukiya Amano on Friday urged the Islamic republic to show “substantial cooperation” during the visit.

The report, which has led to a substantial increase in pressure on Iran from the United States, the European Union and others, detailed a string of areas in which it said Iranian activities were highly suspicious.

Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has insisted that Tehran is not dodging negotiations and was ready to sit down with world powers Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany for talks.

AFP

(Source: abc.net.au)

European Union governments have given their preliminary approval to a ban on Iranian crude oil imports, aiming to choke off Tehran’s chief source of income and pressure it to hold back its disputed nuclear activities.

But an EU diplomat said that to protect Europe’s economy, struggling with a two-year-old debt crisis, they agreed to delay full implementation of the oil embargo until July 1.

The embargo still has to be formally approved by foreign ministers of the EU’s 27 member states, who meet in Brussels on Monday.

The ministers are also expected to approve sanctions against the central bank of Iran, although they may provide a list of specific exemptions to the restrictions.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says she hopes financial sanctions will persuade Tehran to return to negotiations with Western powers, which she represents in talks with Iran.

Tehran denies its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons, saying it is for peaceful purposes.

“I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations,” she told reporters before the ministers’ meeting.

“I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table … last year … or to come forward with its own ideas,” she said.

Tehran says its nuclear program aims to meet its rising energy needs, but the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency said last year it had evidence that suggested Iran had worked on designing a nuclear weapon.

EU sanctions follow fresh financial measures signed into law by US president Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve and mainly targeting the oil sector, which accounts for some 90 per cent of Iranian exports to the EU.

The European Union is Iran’s second-largest oil customer after China.

Reuters

(Source: abc.net.au)

Iran, at odds with Western governments over its nuclear program, has accuses U.S. and Israeli agents of being behind the killing.

By Reuters

Funeral of of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, who was killed in a brazen daylight assassination.

Iran charged on Thursday that assassins who killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran last week may have used information obtained from the United Nations.

Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, was killed by a motorbike hitman who put a magnetic bomb on his car on a street during the morning rush hour on Jan. 11. Iran, at odds with Western governments over its nuclear program, has accused U.S. and Israeli agents of being behind the killing.

Iran’s deputy UN ambassador Eshagh Al Habib said there was a “high suspicion that … terrorist circles used the intelligence obtained from United Nations bodies, including the sanctions list of the Security Council and interviews carried out by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) with our nuclear scientists, to identify and carry out their malicious acts.”

Ahmadi-Roshan recently met with IAEA inspectors, Al Habib told the Security Council, “a fact that indicates that these UN agencies may have played a role in leaking information on Iran’s nuclear facilities and scientist.”

He also accused the world body of failing to observe secrecy over its inspections of nuclear facilities.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said he was looking into the allegations. The Vienna-based IAEA is the UN nuclear watchdog and has played a key role in trying to determine whether Tehran’s atomic program has military dimensions.

The murder of Ahmadi-Roshan was the fifth daylight attack in two years on technical experts involved in Iran’s nuclear program, which Western countries believe is aimed at producing an atomic weapon but Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.

The United States has denied involvement in the killing and has condemned it, as has UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. An Israeli minister also said this week that Iran’s charges of Israeli involvement were “completely baseless.”

The Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities. Its list of sanctioned individuals does not include Ahmadi-Roshan, but does name another scientist, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, wounded in a Tehran car bomb blast in November, 2010.

Al Habib, addressing a Security Council debate on justice and the rule of law, said it was “odd” that the council had said nothing about attacks on Iranian scientists. “Is it the way to advance the rule of law at the international level?” he asked.

(Source: haaretz.com)

Some 1,000 Israel Defense Forces paratroopers participated in the Paratroopers Brigade’s first complete exercise in 13 years on Tuesday.

The exercise, which took place at a base in southern Israel, came as a result of an IDF decision to reintroduce full-scale drills that mimic military operations, and comes after more than a decade during which paratroopers solely participated in less complicated parachuting practices.

According to Paratrooper Brigade Commander Col. Amir Baram, the brigade has not participated in a full-scale drill since the late 1990s, but is planning to add such operations to the IDF’s military arsenal in order to prepare for “any possible scenario.”

Baram also stated that the reintroduction of full-scale drills is only part of the IDF’s overall preparation for potential regional changes.

“The Middle East is changing rapidly,” said Baram. “Although the borders are stable, it is impossible to know what lies ahead.” Baram further stated that full-scale parachuting drills were relevant mostly to more local areas.

Moreover, according to high level officers, in the case of a real battle, only 70% of the brigade will go into the battlefield, due to the difficulty of the commanding officers to control such operations. The “70% principle,” which is based on a U.S. military model, is a fundamental change in the Paratroopers’ procedure, as the brigade previously made use of full forces in similar operations.

(Source: haaretz.com)