"I welcome the comments of my colleague the Iranian FM to create distance from escalation!"

"... Terrorism has a long history in some countries like the Zionist regime," Ali Larijani said of nuclear-armed Israel, which views an atomic bomb in the hands of the Islamic Republic as a threat to the survival of the Jewish state.
"The Zionist regime should be punished in a way that it can not play such games with our country again."
Such threats have been made before in Tehran and it is unclear how or when they might be carried out. Israel is on guard against attacks on its borders and within, notably by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which is supported by Iran....
Sharp U.S. disavowal of American involvement in the killing have drawn some analysts to see it as a form of rebuke to Israel, amid speculation that President Barack Obama is wary, while he campaigns for re-election in November, that Israel could launch unilateral action that might inflame the region.
Obama's top military official, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, paid a brief visit to Israel and was quoted by its defense ministry as telling officials there that Washington was keen to coordinate on strategy.
"We have many interests in common in the region in this very dynamic time and the more we can continue to engage each other, the better off we'll all be," Dempsey was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Israeli defense ministry...
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday that time was running out to avoid a military intervention, however, and he appealed to China and Russia, veto-wielding U.N. powers who have been reluctant to back tightening Western embargos let alone military force, to support new sanctions.
"Time is running out. France will do everything to avoid a military intervention," Sarkozy told ambassadors gathered in Paris. "A military intervention will not solve the problem, but it will unleash war and chaos in the Middle East."
"We need stronger, more decisive sanctions that stop the purchase of Iranian oil and freezes the assets of the central bank, and those who don't want that will be responsible for the risks of a military conflict," Sarkozy warned.
"Help us guarantee peace in the world. We really need you," he said, in an appeal to Moscow and Beijing....
With tensions, including mutual threats of disrupting the oil trade, creating worries across the region, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, the wealthy, U.S.-allied state sitting across the Gulf from Iran, offered a warm welcome to a call for calm on Thursday by his Iranian counterpart.
"It's important to get far away from any escalation and we stress the stability of the region," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan was quoted as saying by state news agency WAM.
"I welcome the comments of my colleague the Iranian foreign minister to create distance from any escalation. What matters to us is that stability prevail in the region. We don't want anything to damage stability in the region and there is an effort from all to work towards stability."

Alain Juppe: Qatari Syrian fantasy is "not feasible"!

"French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said Qatar's suggestion of an Arab peacekeeping force in Syria is not feasible, in an interview to be published Friday. "In the present regional context we are not working towards such a scenario," he told the regional daily Ouest-France.
"On the contrary, we are talking to the opposition," Juppe said...
In Brussels, NATO's most senior officer said the alliance was not planning or even "thinking" of intervening in Syria, days after a top Russian official said such plans were in the making...
A tough Security Council resolution on Syria has been blocked by veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China. "The Security Council is paralysed by the rigid positions taken by Russia, China and also some emerging powers," Juppe told the French newspaper...."

Hezbollah's capabilities: 'Blunting IAF supremacy!'

(UPI) -- "... Hezbollah is already believed to have a substantial number of M600s, which are Syrian-produced clones of Iran's Fateh-100 missile.
The M600 has a range of around 190 miles and carries a warhead containing a half-ton of high explosives.
The Israelis estimate that Hezbollah possesses around 42,000 missiles and rockets, including long-range weapons capable of hitting anywhere in Israel and which are changing the nature of Middle Eastern warfare... ... Military officials have warned Israel's population of 7 million that Israeli cities could be hit by 500 projectiles a day for weeks on end if a new conflict erupts.
"According to Western intelligence assessments, Hezbollah is believed to have taken advantage of the ongoing upheaval in Syria to obtain advanced weapons systems, such as additional long-range rockets as well as Russian-made air-defense systems," Post military analyst Yaacov Katz wrote.
The Israelis said Shiite guerrillas, who have underground missile depots across their heartland in the Bekaa Valley of northeastern Lebanon along the Syrian border, possess the SA-8, a Russian mobile SAM system with an estimated range of around 20 miles.
The Israeli air force, the strongest in the Middle East and equipped largely with U.S.-made aircraft and weapons systems, is capable of countering the SA-8 ... However, if Hezbollah has SA-8s in sufficient numbers to hurl multiple missiles at Israeli aircraft, which have enjoyed unchallenged mastery of the skies over Lebanon for decades, it could impede airstrikes....  With enough SA-8s, and the large quantity of Russian shoulder-fired SAMs Hezbollah is believed to have received from Syria over the last two years, the battle-hardened guerrillas could blunt Israeli air operations for a time to a degree not seen since the invading Egyptians drove off Israeli jets in the opening days of the 1973 war.
Apart from the addition of "several dozen" M600s to its armory, Hezbollah is believed to have acquired additional 302mm Khaibar-1 rockets from Syria. These have a range of around 62 miles..."

Bombings in Afghanistan reminder that all is not 'hunky dory'!

"...U.S. Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the coalition's commander, on Thursday called the Helmand attack "horrendous" and accused the Taliban insurgency of declaring "outright war on the people of Afghanistan." He said such attacks wouldn't derail U.S.-led efforts to transfer control of security nationwide to Afghan forces by 2014 and would only isolate the Taliban from peace talks that the U.S. hopes to broker between the insurgency and the Afghan government (in Qatar).

Referring to the Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Allen said, "Mullah Omar has lost all control over Taliban insurgents, otherwise he would immediately denounce these attacks and order his 'forces' to stop attacking innocent Afghan civilians." ..."

Will Obama speak at AIPAC?

"... Other famous speakers AIPAC is getting ready to announce include House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former member of Congress Jane Harman, CNN Contributor Paul Begala, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Fox News contributor Liz Cheney, and editor of The Weekly Standard William Kristol.

Our sources report that although AIPAC invited Obama to speak, the White House has yet to say who it's sending. NSC spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to break that news to The Cable today. Insiders think the administration might send Vice President Joe Biden, although it depends on whether the White House feels it need a boost with the Jewish community as the conference nears.

Last year, Obama gave a speech that many saw as an effort to smooth over tensions in the U.S.-Israeli relationship...."

"Ditto nothing. Now they routinely support and supply Hezbollah & Hamas. They have our number!”

MEPGS; Excerpts; 

Despite multi-lateral moves to cut ties with Iran’s Central Bank in an effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, many within the Administration do not believe that this will bring the Iranians back to the negotiating table. ...  many purchasers have begun to shy away from Iran in fear of running afoul of especially US authorities.

However, the question remains whether this unexpectedly harsh move by the west, unanticipated by Iran (or for that matter, even two months ago by many Congressional advocates of tougher sanctions) will be sufficient to alter Teheran’s rush to nuclear arms.  “[Economic] pressure won’t make them buckle,” flatly predicts one well-placed US official.  “For them, for the Supreme Leader (Ayotollah Khamenei) and his inner circle, it is `do or die’.”  Reinforcing this “predilection” are events around the region, including, most notably, the precarious position Iran’s ally, the regime of Bashar al-Assad, now faces.  Even more important is the view, US experts say, the Iranian leadership shares, that the US is not up to confronting Iran.  “They have our number,” says one State Department official.  “Their proxies went after our troops in Iraq and we did nothing.  “They were behind the terrorist attack on Khobar Towers [a housing complex in Saudi Arabia, where 19 American servicemen were killed].  Ditto nothing.  Now they routinely support and supply Hezbollah and Hamas.  They have our number.”

... ... Even in Israel, opinion is divided. Meir Dagan, the former head of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service is on record against a military attack.  His argument and that of many top brass in Tel Aviv is that Israel lacks the capability to do sufficient damage to Iran’s program to risk the inevitable retaliation.  For some, covert operations can slow Iran’s nuclear progress and as the Arab Spring has shown, regimes can come under severe domestic strains overnight....  As one Iran expert puts it, “Don’t rule out domestic developments.  Just look at what happened throughout the region in 2011.”

Others point out that the series of international sanctions against Iran for pursuing its nuclear program have already achieved significant results.  As one analyst put it, “Our objectives are non-proliferation and regional balance.  We have shown there is going to be a high price for proliferation.  No more `free passes’ like India got.  We also have seen a coalescence of `players’ against Iran, led by Saudi Arabia. ...various parts of the Administration have differing `red lines’ but many US officials believe the Israeli red line is a functioning enrichment plant now being assembled near Qom. But the US and Israel insist that the recent decision to cancel joint military maneuvers was a signal that both countries wanted to stifle the drum beat of war.

Meanwhile, Iran’s erstwhile ally, Syria, is, in the view of a number of analysts, on the verge of civil war.  “We are in the last weeks for a peaceful transition,” says one such analyst.  “The Arab League’s mission to Syria was supposed to fail and did,” is the way one US official put it.  “And now they are back to doing nothing -- as usual.”  When the mission reports to Arab League leaders this Sunday, they are likely to issue an ambiguous report and ask for an extension of their mandate.  While the US and the Europeans, now mostly bystanders, had hoped the League would ask for the matter to be taken up by the UN Security Council, now Western diplomats hope that this course will be taken after another mission ends in expected futility.

Even if the matter gets to the UN, the Russians have made it clear they will veto any resolution that condemns the Syrian regime.  US officials are at a loss to fully explain Russia’s unconditional support for Syria.  Some point to the long standing Russian/Syrian partnership dating back to the days of the Soviet Union.  Others note the importance of Syrian ports to the Russian navy.  However, one veteran analyst argues that fear of an Islamist takeover is the prime motivation for Russian behavior. 

If Syria is the biggest crisis in the region, the biggest strategic threat remains the future of Egypt.  Many observers believe that political problems are the least of Egypt’s concerns.  The military has pledged to turn over control to an elected Parliament in six months.  This Parliament, which will be dominated by Islamists, nevertheless is seen by many in the Administration as not only representative of the Egyptian people but moderate and one willing to abide by international agreements.  More worrisome is the deteriorating economic situation.  With its foreign reserves depleted by half over the past year and Egypt unwilling to negotiate terms for a $20 billion package of outside assistance, many here worry severe economic turmoil is just around the corner.

"It is not for the faint of heart!"

"... So what does the U.S. administration do in those circumstances? If this analysis is correct, it opens lines of communication with Iran; it pairs every negotiating move with a tough statement on Iran, keeping the public focus on the unyielding opposition to Iranian nuclear advances and threats; and it tells Israel in no uncertain terms to back off. 

That kind of three-dimensional chess is not only complicated; it is not normally regarded as a U.S. strong suit. Naturally, you cannot conduct major negotiations with Iran without attracting public attention, whether in the United States, in Israel, in the Arab Middle East states, or elsewhere. But if you throw enough anti-Iran dust in the air, you may defuse any concerted attack – figuratively or otherwise. 

The new sanctions go into effect in six months, just before the political nominating conventions. President Obama will have to have something positive to show before that time if he is to justify putting the sanctions on hold. This is the diplomatic equivalent of a two-minute drill in football. It is a thing a beauty when it works, but it is not for the faint of heart...."

"Stupid!"

U.S.: Worries Mount over Blowback of Israeli Attack on Iran - IPS ipsnews.net

Things could escalate to Nukes ...

...And remember,  this is from a former Pentagon official who IS NOT advocating a strike!

"... It is thus perfectly conceivable that the existing U.S. presence in the region, perhaps supplemented by a limited forward deployment of nuclear weapons and additional ballistic missile defenses, would be sufficient to deter a nuclear-armed Iran from aggression and blackmail. ..."

Turkey: 'We want to be involved in anything on Syria & Lebanon!'

Same old!

"When will neocons learn that authoritarian leaders have large constituencies the will fight on their behalf?"

"... After all, when you induce regime change by tightening sanctions to the choking point, you don't get to micro-manage the transition. Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz, champions of regime change, recently wrote that "through sanctions, a democratic counterrevolution in Persia might be reborn." Yes, it might. And through rolling a pair of dice, doubles might be born. But at least as likely as a smooth transition to a truer democracy is a civil war in which lots of people die. (When will neocons--and for that matter liberal hawks--learn that authoritarian leaders, though we may call them "autocrats," usually have a large constituency that sees itself as benefiting from their rule and will fight on their behalf?) Among the things that could follow a civil war are more authoritarian rule and regional conflagration. And, as long as we're on the subject of human suffering: How much misery winds up getting inflicted on innocent people before an economic chokehold leads to regime change in the first place?
Even in Iraq--where, with hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground, we in theory could micro-manage things--we wound up with a regime that defies our will and is increasingly thuggish. And now we think we can do regime change by remote control and get a happy ending? I'd rather let nature take its course; if you leave Iran to its own devices the regime won't continue to escape the forces, technological and otherwise, that have fueled the Arab Spring...."

Time to quiet the war drums with Iran

Time to quieten the war drums with Iran

'It's hard not to notice that a Pakistan 'rejection' was quickly replaced with a visit to that country's bitter rival

"... Grossman is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today as part of a multi-nation tour that is aimed at gaining broad buy-in for the administration's plan to start a reconciliation process with the Taliban. He left Jan. 15 on a trip that includes Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Afghanistan, and Qatar, where he reportedly will be finalizing the arrangements for the opening of a Taliban representative office in Doha.The State Department admitted on Tuesday that Grossman wanted to visit Pakistan but that Islamabad asked him not to come..."

Cameron: 'Iran & Hezbollah are propping up that "wretched tyrant!"

(Reuters)-"...British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Iran and Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah movement of helping to prop up Assad, whom he described as “a wretched tyrant.”
“Britain needs to lead the way in making sure we tighten the sanctions, the travel bans, the asset freezes, on Syria,” Cameron told parliament in London. ..."

Turkish 'double-speak' Volume II: "Iranian Quds Force planning attack in Turkey"

"...The Turkish Security General Directorate (EGM) has warned police departments in all 81 Turkish provinces that they must be vigilant and remain alert to the existence of such a threat. The intelligence pertaining to the possibility of such an attack was delivered in a secret letter to the information department at Turkey's General Directorate of Security. The written statement indicates that a team linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard will be sent to Turkey and that it may be planning to bomb the US embassy or consulate general in the country. ..."

Turkish double-speak Volume I: "Israeli drones give intelligence to PKK!"

"... Turkish intelligence agencies prepared a report after the detection of two Israeli Herons in Hatay and Adana roughly two months ago, claiming that the Herons are collecting intelligence on Turkish military units in order to aid PKK operations in those regions.

The report asserts that the PKK's training camps in northern Syria, near Turkey's Hatay border “where Turkish military border posts are relatively weak” were established in those locations based on intelligence collected by the UAVs.

The report also claims that Kenan Yıldızbakan, a PKK member who commanded an assault against a Turkish naval base in İskenderun in 2010, has made repeated trips into Israeli territory, reinforcing suspicions of a possible link between Israeli and the PKK...."

"Deep mistrust between US & Afghan forces"

"...The report released Tuesday by the Pentagon revealed that the Afghan colonel — who methodically opened fire in a conference room at a highly secured Afghan air base in April — told friends that he had returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan "to kill Americans."... 
The 436-page report by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations said there was no evidence that Gul, who killed himself after the incident with two self-inflicted shots to the torso, was a member of the Taliban....
But investigators — who interviewed witnesses, other U.S. trainers and Afghan officers and airmen — found that the relationship between Afghan troops and their American mentors is often filled with hostility bordering on hatred. These tensions continue even after a decade in which the U.S.-led NATO coalition has closely trained Afghan forces that it describes as its allies. ..."

"This entire thing is very far off."

"... Barak was speaking on Israel's Army Radio before a planned visit Thursday by U.S. armed forces chief General Martin Dempsey that has triggered speculation Washington will press Israel to delay any action against Tehran's nuclear program.Barak's remarks suggest that Iran, which denies trying to make a nuclear bomb while defying international censure of its secretive uranium enrichment and missile projects, has not yet advanced past what Israel might deem a critical threshold.
Asked if the United States has asked Israel to tell them before any assault against Iran, Barak said, "We haven't made any decision to do this. This entire thing is very far off."..."

The myth of an "isolated" Iran

"... “Isolated” Iran has $4 billion in joint projects with Venezuela including, crucially, a bank (as with Ecuador, it has dozens of planned projects from building power plants to, once again, banking). That has led the Israel-first crowd in Washington to vociferously demand that sanctions be slapped on Venezuela.  Only problem: how would the U.S. pay for its crucial Venezuelan oil imports then?

Much was made in the U.S. press of the fact that Ahmadinejad did not visit Brazil on this jaunt through Latin America, but diplomatically Tehran and Brasilia remain in sync. When it comes to the nuclear dossier in particular, Brazil’s history leaves its leaders sympathetic.  After all, that country developed — and then dropped — a nuclear weapons program. In May 2010, Brazil and Turkey brokered a uranium-swap agreement for Iran that might have cleared the decks on the U.S.-Iranian nuclear imbroglio.  It was, however, immediately sabotaged by Washington. A key member of the BRICS, the club of top emerging economies, Brasilia is completely opposed to the U.S. sanctions/embargo strategy.

So Iran may be “isolated” from the United States and Western Europe, but from the BRICS to NAM (the 120 member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement), it has the majority of the global South on its side.  And then, of course, there are those staunch Washington allies, Japan and South Korea, now pleading for exemptions from the coming boycott/embargo of Iran’s Central Bank.... (Continue, here)

WHO’S RUNNING COVERT OPS AGAINST IRAN?

WHO’S RUNNING COVERT OPS AGAINST IRAN? THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PROTESTS TOO LITTLE.

Finger-pointing & mistrust ...

"... One of the senior defense officials told me this: "Minister Barak called Secretary Panetta and asked if we could take the exercise off the calendar. ... ... Barak told Panetta, according to these officials, that Israel could not pull together the resources necessary to stage the exercise successfully.... 

Panetta, according to these Pentagon sources, was concerned that the Iranians would interpret the scrubbing of the exercise, well, the way it's currently being interpreted, as a sign of American wavering in the face of Iranian threats. He told Barak that he would not agree to a cancellation, as Barak was suggesting, but only a postponement....."

The Antidote for an Israeli free hand to kill & destroy!

"... "They will be more aggressive. They will dare to do things that right now they would not dare to do," he said in a briefing to foreign journalists and diplomats."So this is going to create a dramatic change in Israel's strategic posture, because if we are forced to do things in Gaza or Lebanon under an Iranian nuclear umbrella , it might be different."..."

Iran & US: "The US needs a reversal for Iran in Syria!"

"...For the United States, preventing the expansion of an Iranian sphere of influence is a primary concern. Iraq is going to be a difficult arena to stop Iran's expansion. Syria therefore is key at present. Al Assad appears weak, and his replacement by a Sunni government would limit -- but not destroy -- any Iranian sphere of influence. It would be a reversal for Iran, and the United States badly needs to apply one. But the problem is that the United States cannot be seen as the direct agent of regime change in Syria, and al Assad is not as weak as has been claimed. Even so, Syria is where the United States can work to block Iran without crossing Iran's red lines.
The normal outcome of a situation like this one, in which neither Iran nor the United States can afford to cross the other's red lines since the consequences would be too great for each, would be some sort of negotiation toward a longer-term accommodation. Ideology aside -- and the United States negotiating with the "Axis of Evil" or Iran with the "Great Satan" would be tough sells to their respective domestic audiences -- the problem with this is that it is difficult to see what each has to offer the other. What Iran wants -- a dominant position in the region and a redefinition of how oil revenues are allocated and distributed -- would make the United States dependent on Iran. What the United States wants -- an Iran that does not build a sphere of influence but instead remains within its borders -- would cost Iran a historic opportunity to assert its longstanding claims. ..."

"Think Before Acting on Iran!"

"... The Senate Foreign Relations Committee or some public commission has to pose the tough questions here: Do we really know enough to hit and destroy the key underground targets? If not, why go ahead? How long will it take for Tehran to rebuild the facilities and make them less vulnerable? What’s the potential for collateral damage on oil prices and lives? If Washington doesn’t use force, will Israel go it alone, and will Tehran regard this as a quasi-American attack anyway? If Iran actually acquired nukes, why wouldn’t prospects of an overwhelming Israeli or American attack in a crisis deter it? Iranian leaders haven’t acted like crazy Hitlers. They’ve been pretty cautious, forever issuing threats and making trouble behind the scenes, which suggests they’re deterrable. Would war on Iran trigger worldwide terrorist attacks? Is it in the overall interests of the United States, given our worldwide security needs and economic weaknesses, to enter another war? And don’t fool yourselves, this would be war.

As is our tragic pattern, almost all these tough questions are unasked and unhonored. All one hears is the familiar boasts and threats. They are rarely probed by our media stars...."

Agitprop: 'Israel postpones joint US-Israeli exercise because it's contemplating a spring Iran strike!'

"... The Jewish Telegraph Agency's Ron Kampeas reported earlier Sunday that the exercise was being postponed, ostensibly because of "Israeli budget cuts."But American officials are privately concerned that the Israeli request for a postponement of the exercise could be one potential warning sign that Israel is trying to leave its options open for conducting a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in the spring. In that case, it would not wish American forces to then be on the ground, the thinking goes....

(other) U.S. officials publicly, like their Israeli counterparts, however, said such delays aren't all that unusual.
"I do know there were a variety of factors at play in this case, but in general, leaders from both sides believe that optimum participation by all units in best achieved later in the year,"  .... "

'Mainstream Media' either mute or partaking in manipulation of events' coverage

"... YouTube pictures may have played a positive role in the uprisings of the Arab Spring, but the international media is largely mute about how easy it is to manipulate them. Pictured from the right angle, a small demonstration can be made to look like a gathering of tens of thousands. Shootings in one street in one town can be used to manufacture "evidence" of shooting in a dozen towns. Demonstrations need not be genuine events luckily captured on mobile phone cameras by concerned citizens; frequently the only reason for the protest is to provide material for YouTube. Television companies are not going to reject or underline the stage management of film that is free, dramatic, up to date – and which they could not match with regular correspondents and film crews even if they spent a lot of money.
In the print press, bloggers get an equally easy ride, even though there is no proof that they know anything about what is going on. Hence the ease with which a male American student in Scotland was able to pretend to be a persecuted lesbian in Damascus....
Governments that exclude foreign journalists at times of crisis such as Iran and (until the last week) Syria, create a vacuum of information easily filled by their enemies. These are far better equipped to provide their own version of events than they used to be before the development of mobile phones, satellite television and the internet. State monopolies of information can no longer be maintained. But simply because the opposition to the Syrian and Iranian governments have taken over the news agenda does not mean that what they say is true.
Early last year I met some Iranian stringers for Western publications in Tehran whose press credentials had been temporarily suspended by the authorities. I said this must be frustrating them, but they replied that even if they could file stories – saying nothing much was happening – they would not be believed by their editors. These had been convinced by exile groups, using blogs and carefully selected YouTube footage, that Tehran was visibly seething with discontent. If the local reporters said that this was a gross exaggeration, their employers would suspect that had been intimidated or bought off by Iranian security....

The political elite in Washington and Europe was divided for and against the US invasion of Iraq, making it easier for individual journalists to dissent. But today there is an overwhelming consensus in the foreign media that the rebels are right and existing governments wrong. For institutions such as the BBC, highly unbalanced coverage becomes acceptable.
... al-Jazeera, which has done so much to shatter state control of information in the Middle East since it was set up in 1996, has become the uncritical propaganda arm of the Libyan and Syrian rebels.The Syrian opposition needs to give the impression that its insurrection is closer to success than it really is. The Syrian government has failed to crush the protesters, but they, in turn, are a long way from overthrowing it. The exiled leadership wants Western military intervention in its favour as happened in Libya, although conditions are very different.The purpose of manipulating the media coverage is to persuade the West and its Arab allies that conditions in Syria are approaching the point when they can repeat their success in Libya. Hence the fog of disinformation pumped out through the internet..."

Der Spiegel: 'Syrian Navy chase German spy ship...'

"... The spokesman, Stefan Paris, said the Syrian vessel sped across the bow of the unarmed German ship Alster in the incident... He denied the Alster was a 'spy boat,' as reported by the news magazine Der Spiegel, saying it was one of three reconnaissance vessels serving the German strategic military intelligence command. It had been operating in international waters.
He could not release any 'operational details' on its 'routine' and 'national' mission.
The German Navy has separate vessels in the area on a UN mission to stop arms smuggling into Lebanon by sea. Der Spiegel said the Alster, with a crew of 85, had been operating in the eastern Mediterranean since early November. It said the incident happened 15 nautical miles off the Syrian coast.
The vessel has acoustic and optical sensors for intelligence gathering..."

Dillusional: "The era of One-Man-Rule in the Mideast is over!"

Ban: Era of one-man rule in Middle East is over

'60 Minutes'-Emir call for invasion of Syria "was recorded in November!"

As usual meticulous 'b' flags that kind of stuff for us;

"...NATO denies military intervention plans in Syria, January 13 2012

"At present, there is no discussion at all of a NATO role with respect to Syria," NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero told Xinhua by phone.

Haven't we seen such before? Oh, yeah:

NATO has no plans to intervene in Libya: Rasmussen, February 24 2011"I would like to stress that NATO has no plans to intervene and we have not received any request," Rasmussen said after talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

We documented the Rassmussen/NATO headlines which followed after the one above. But there is another more curious headline that ran yesterday: Emir of Qatar calls for Arab troops in Syria Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's comments to CBS "60 Minutes", which will be aired Sunday, are the first statements by an Arab leader calling for the deployment of troops inside Syria.(That dictator emir was also the one who pressed arranged for the Arab League to invite NATO to attack Libya. But what is really curious here (and what only Qatar's AlJazeera(!) reports) is that the CBS interview is old: The interview was recorded in mid-November.

Why and/or on who's request did CBS hold back this interview for two month?
Were the preparations not yet finished for the NATO intervention in Syria? Was some time needed to make the Arab League observer mission fail to convince other Arab states to agree to the next war phase?
The interview was given after Syria in early November agreed to an Arab league cease fire plan which the rebels immediately rejected. "Western" news by now is always forgetting that last point. Despite continuing attacks from the opposition the Syrian government has largely followed the agreement, pulled back tanks, released prisoners and is implementing reforms. The observer mission was agreed to on December 19. Unless renewed it will run out in five days.
But it seems that all along the plan was not to allow for a peaceful solution for Syria. Why else would the Emir of Qatar, in aninterview for the U.S. public, call for troops to attack Syria, in mid November?"

The ‘success’ of Israeli Occupation: "722,000 Israelis live beyond the Green Line!"

"...That means that 1 in every seven Israelis lives outside of 1967 borders and explains why the country is rapidly becoming a unitary state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan.  Bibiton and the settlers themselves are overjoyed with this development because it means they can continue pursuing their Apartheid Jews-only State.

In that case, it becomes critical to begin thinking, indeed demanding that if Israel refuses to end the Occupation and cede almost all territory outside the 1967 borders to a Palestinian state, then it must accord all individuals living in “greater” Israel full citizenship and rights.  We must stop talking about this as a possibility or eventuality, but as a reality.  Israel must be given a stark choice.  Either it’s one state from river to sea in the old Jabotinskyean anthem or the Occupation must end now. ..."

The Killing continues in Iraq ...

Suicide bombers target police in Iraqi city - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Amr Moussa: 'Invading Syria is a "very important proposal!"

Having secured enough money for his presidential bid from Qatari and Saudi sources,

"... Agence France-Presse reports that Amr Moussa, former head of the Arab League and now a presidential candidate in Egypt, said Sunday the Arab League should study the Qatari leader’s proposal. “This is a very important proposal,” he said on the sidelines of a conference in Beirut..."