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Washington “took out” the Russian gas pipelines, Seymour Hersh has claimed
The Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed last September by the US in a covert operation, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed. The legendary reporter made the bombshell revelation in an article posted to his newly launched blog on Substack on Wednesday.
The explosives were planted at the pipelines back in June 2022 by US Navy divers under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise, Hersh reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.
The journalist noted that he had reached out to the White House and CIA for comment, with both firmly rejecting the claim that the US “took out” the pipelines as “utterly false.”
The bombs were detonated three months later on September 26 with a remote signal sent by a sonar buoy. The buoy was dropped near the Nord Stream pipelines by a Norwegian Navy P8 surveillance plane, according to the report.
The operation came to fruition following months of back-and-forth between the White House, CIA, and military, with officials focusing on how to leave no trace of US involvement in the attack. The planning process began back in December 2021, when a special task force was created with the direct participation of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“The Navy proposed using a newly commissioned submarine to assault the pipeline directly. The Air Force discussed dropping bombs with delayed fuses that could be set off remotely. The CIA argued that whatever was done, it would have to be covert. Everyone involved understood the stakes,” the report read.
The source told Hersh that everybody involved understood the operation was not some “kiddie stuff” but was actually an “an act of war.” Throughout “all of this scheming” certain officials urged the White House to drop the idea entirely. “Some working guys in the CIA and the State Department were saying, ‘Don’t do this. It’s stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out,’” according to the source.
Originally, the explosives were to have a 48-hour timer and were set to be planted by the end of BALTOPS22, Hersh reported, citing the same source. The two-day window, however, was ultimately deemed to be too close to the end of the exercise by the White House, which ordered the task force to come up with an on-demand method of detonating them. This ultimately turned out to be the sonar buoy.
The administration of President Joe Biden has been “focused” on jeopardizing the Nord Stream pipelines – initially through sanctions, and, ultimately, by direct sabotage – seeing it as key to swaying Europe to its cause amid the then-looming conflict in Ukraine, Hersh noted.
“As long as Europe remained dependent on the pipelines for cheap natural gas, Washington was afraid that countries like Germany would be reluctant to supply Ukraine with the money and weapons it needed to defeat Russia,” he wrote.
Moscow provided a similar take on the incident shortly after the blasts, branding them a “terrorist attack” and stating that the US was the nation that benefited most from it, by accelerating Europe’s attempts to wean itself off of Russian gas.
Throughout his career, Hersh has reported on numerous explosive stories, including war crimes by the US military and high-profile political scandals. Exposing the My Lai massacre by US troops in Vietnam scored the journalist the Pulitzer Prize in 1970. Other notable stories Hersh reported on include the Watergate scandal, the CIA illegal domestic spying, as well as the American military's torture and abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minsk agreements gave Ukraine “valuable time” to “get stronger”, said former German chancellor
The 2014 ceasefire brokered by Berlin and Paris in Minsk was an attempt to give Kiev time to strengthen its military and was successful in that regard, former German chancellor Angela Merkel argued in an interview published on Wednesday.
In an extensive interview about her 16 years in power, Merkel told Zeit magazine her policy towards Russia and Ukraine was correct, even if not successful.
“I thought the initiation of NATO accession for Ukraine and Georgia discussed in 2008 to be wrong,” Merkel said. “The countries neither had the necessary prerequisites for this, nor had the consequences of such a decision been fully considered, both with regard to Russia's actions against Georgia and Ukraine and to NATO and its rules of assistance.”
She described the September 2014 Minsk agreement as “an attempt to give Ukraine time.” France and Germany had brokered a ceasefire after the failure of Ukraine’s attempt to subdue the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk by force.
“[Ukraine] used this time to get stronger, as you can see today,” Merkel continued. “The Ukraine of 2014/15 is not the Ukraine of today. As you saw in the battle for Debaltsevo in early 2015, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin could easily have overrun them at the time. And I very much doubt that the NATO countries could have done as much then as they do now to help Ukraine.”
The defeat at Debaltsevo resulted in the second Minsk protocol being signed in February 2015. Merkel said that it was “clear to all of us that the conflict was frozen, that the problem had not been solved, but that gave Ukraine valuable time.”
Meanwhile, she defended the decision to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for Russian gas, since refusing to do so would have “have dangerously worsened the climate” with Moscow given the situation in Ukraine. It just so happened that Germany couldn’t get gas elsewhere, she added.
Asked for any self-criticism, Merkel told Zeit that “the Cold War never really ended because Russia was basically not at peace,” and that NATO “should have reacted more quickly to Russia's aggressiveness” in 2014.
Pyotr Poroshenko, who became president of Ukraine after the 2014 US-backed coup in Kiev, told a domestic audience in August 2015 that Minsk was a ruse to buy time for a military build-up. He admitted as much to the West in July 2022, in an interview with German media.
Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states, which have since voted to join Russia alongside with most of the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked. ------------------------------------
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By Stewart Brennan
There is a rapid military build up on the Turkey / Syrian
border that poses an immediate threat to the region and possibly to the world
as NATO member Turkey faces off against Russia in an escalating war of words,
actions and reactions.
Considering that Turkey deliberately shot down a Russian
Bomber inside Syrian air space, then refused to apologize for their actions,
and then claimed it was their right to shoot the plane down, is of grave
concern, especially when NATO backed up Turkey’s claim.
Turkey’s military build up on the Syrian border requires
very close monitoring because it can spin off in a very dangerous way. Here are
the probable scenarios that come with Turkey’s aggressive posture and military
build up on their border with Syria.
A
regional war or invasion force to take Syrian land that Turkey considers
their protectorate.
A Military build up to provide the western backed terrorists with an endless
supply of weapons and manpower required to overthrow the Syrian
government.
A
military build up to protect the illegal terrorist’s and their oil trade.
A
defensive posture to shore up its porous border with Syria as per US
President Obama’s official statement…
All
of the above...
We all know that the US, their NATO Partners, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey and the Gulf State allies along with Israel still insist that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power. They also play a large role
in funding equipping and training the mercenary armies on the ground in Syria,
so it is no wonder that they do not want to join Russia’s coalition in
eradicating the terrorists on the ground, since those terrorists belong to
them…and how many times does it have to be said for thick skulled western
leaders to get it, that only the Syrian people can decide through elections who
will represent them?
The US coalition lacks a UN mandate to start a military
campaign in Syria and when asked to join with the Russian and Syrian
military to remove the terrorists, the US and its coalition of partners outright
refused. The west’s concern is not about the terrorists in the region but the
removal of Assad from power, mainly because President Assad claims his
countries independence from US hegemony.
Turkey along with the US, Europe, and Saudi Arabia have all
played a part in the mercenary armies on the ground inside Syria, no matter
what their name or names are now, they are ALL terrorists, plain and simple, who
have been tasked by their masters to remove the Assad government by any means
necessary.
There has not been one sane mind among the western leaders
when it comes to resolving the crisis they created in Syria. They all want
Assad to go and continue to insist on it as they look for ways to get into
Syria and bomb the country into dust to advance their combined agenda’s.
Thankfully there is a coalition of nations that adhere to
International law and have made every effort to abide by those laws, which we
citizens in the West believe in. Our governments on the other hand, are not
listening to “we the people” or to common sense.
Terrorism needs to be eradicated, and the best way to do
that is to stop funding them, stop arming them, and stop training them. Ending
terrorism in the region will take the combined efforts of ALL nations working
together in order to eradicate this plague of hate…but it is clearly obvious to
everyone who has been following the events over the past four and a half years,
that removing terrorism from the region is the furthest thing on the US
coalitions mind.
Here are the Facts:
The
US, UK, France their allies, plus Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel
continue to fund, arm and train terrorists to overthrow the Syrian
government.
NATO
countries have begun joining the Americans false war on terror. (France and Germany are already there and the UK will vote on it Wednesday December 2nd)
The
US war coalition does not have a mandate from the UN to conduct military
operations in Syria, nor does it have the Syrian government’s permission.
Russia
was invited to help eradicate terrorism from Syria by the Syrian
government.
Russia
asked all the NATO and US friendly Gulf State countries to join their
initiative in Syria but they refused...including Turkey, the US, UK, Saudi
Arabia, etc…
France
has stated they will work with Russia but continues to back away from the
Russian coalition by siding with the independent and illegal US coalition.
Turkey
then responded by bringing a 1000 units of heavy equipment (Tanks etc) to
the border and countered Russia’s S-400 missile defence system with the
deployment of electronic jamming equipment.
Why is the US acting so much more irrational than usual?
The US bully was out manoeuvred in their global war on
terror by a Russian side that said, “ok, lets do this together” and then
proceeded to take the initiative in an International legal manner. The
American’s found themselves outside the law as well as outside the Middle East
theatre, with no legal way back into Syria except to join the Russian coalition
against terrorism in Syria…American arrogance and their pursuit of global
hegemony over all nations prevails and will not recede, therefore we can expect
further escalation by the US and it’s coalition in Syria…and other places.
(Possibly Ukraine.)
Getting back to Tukey…
Turkey’s fatal error of shooting down a Russian plane and
refusing to apologize for their action will meet with a reply by Russia in the
near future and could come in the form of partnering with the Syrian Kurds,
much to Turkey’s alarm since Turkey has been bombing the Syrian & Iraqi
Kurds without mercy. Turkey is also at war with the Kurdish people within
their own Turkish borders.
A partnership between Russia and the Syrian Kurds
might already have happened if the following news is confirmed to be true…
So, if Russia did indeed approach the Kurds and promised to protect
them from Turkey’s bombers (unlike the Americans), then we will see a one up-manship by the US / NATO
in response…
US deploys special forces to boost fight against ISIS in
Iraq, Syria
The desire to bomb Syria by the Western coalition did not
begin in 2015, but back in 2013 when the US, UK, France and others were
convinced, without evidence, that Assad had used chemical weapons on his own
people. These allegations turned out to be false as we all saw that the Western
backed terrorists were the ones using chemical weapons.
The Syrian War What You're Not Being Told – (2013 – Sept 03)
It was only the efforts of millions of concerned people all over the
World that stopped their governments from committing another war crime in the
middle east, a fact that UK Prime Minister David Cameron responded to, in
humiliated acknowledgement of a Parliamentary defeat, by his words “the answer
is no and, I get that”…
British parliament votes against military action in Syria (2013)
The original Video and the News channel of Press TV were victims of Western censorship and removed from YouTube to cover up western War Crimes in Syria. Where possible, I will insert a mirror video of the report.
It seems that Cameron and company didn’t get it…because here we
are again, at a very dangerous point in time that demands the people of the
West stand up and speak out against this determined coalition of war mongers.
Tell them to join Russia’s coalition to eradicate the terrorists and tell them to stop
selling weapons to Belligerent Gulf States who arm the terrorists everyone
claims to be fighting…and how hard can it be to track 1 Billion dollars a year
in illegal Oil sales let alone thousands of trucks crossing the Syrian Border
into Turkey…transactions have to show up in the financial system somewhere,
because selling vast amounts of illegal oil and the purchase / sale of mass
amounts of weapons has to be traced in the American Petro Dollar books…don’t
tell me they can’t trace it…
Stand UP, Speak OUT, and tell them to work with Russia’s
“legal coalition” if they want to stomp out terrorism…and while you’re at it,
tell your leaders to properly address their belligerent partner "Turkey" for its
arrogant posture and deliberate military escalation. We don’t need another major War.
Germany, the pillar of European economic stability, is
skeptical that Athens will receive the next tranche of aid “in the coming
weeks,” despite painful new austerity measures adopted this week in Greek
Parliament.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of the
main architects of the Greek response team, warned Thursday that it is unlikely
that Greece will reach a quick deal with its international creditors on the
next credit line.
“At the moment I do not see the decisions being made” that are required
for a definitive agreement between the Troika of international auditors
examining Greece's finances and the Greek government, he told a conference in
Hamburg.
Despite the poor assessment, the minister welcomed
Athens' new measures, which were approved on Wednesday, by saying that
Greece has “a pro-European majority and it held last night despite
demonstrations and a general strike. All is not lost – all is not won either,
but we have no use for cynicism… the Greeks want to remain in the euro.”
This is a conclusion with which many Greeks seem to
disagree, as massive demonstrations ahead of Wednesday's vote erupted in the
capital. At least 100 people were detained as police used tear gas and water
cannons to disperse a crowd that voiced anger against a rise in the retirement
age to 67, cuts to minimum wage and benefit reductions.
While the rallies pushed forth with their demands, Greek
Parliament agreed by a narrow margin to €18.5 billion in budget cuts demanded
by creditors.
Now Greece awaits the €31.5-billion tranche of aid from
the Troika – the European Central Bank, European Union and the International
Monetary Fund, its fourth emergency loan package in three years.
Economics analyst Antonis Vradis says the massive new
loan will simply create more debt for the country.
“These packages are moving in the entirely wrong
direction. There is a definition of insanity, and according to it, insanity is
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This
is what is happening right now. You have a package after which the country's
national debt is going to go up from 175% to 190%. The only way to stop this
policy of austerity is if people actually stop them,” Vradis, a member
of the Occupy London movement, told RT.
Exactly one year ago, the EU
agreed to several extreme measures to combat the ongoing economic crisis, to
mixed results. But despite its unique economic distress, Greece shows no sign
of cutting back its considerable military budget.
A year ago to the day, EU
leaders met to tackle debt troubles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel
described as Europe’s worst economic crisis since the end of WWII. The EU spent
a month negotiating the deal, which was proclaimed to have saved Greece by
writing off half the country’s debt, which at the time amounted to 160 percent
of its GDP.
The second aim of the package was
to protect other European countries from financial instability. The EU decided
to more than double the eurozone bailout fund, also known as the European
Financial Stability Facility.
A handful of nations expressed
skepticism of the deal at the outset. Now, a year later, consensus has emerged
that the eurozone crisis shows no sign of abating, and the financial and
business climate across Europe has significantly worsened.
But as the crisis worsens, some
nations, like Greece, have chosen to spend more money on the military while
simultaneously slashing social programs.
A man holds a placard in front of
riot police forces during a protest march marking a 24-hour general strike on
October 18, 2012 near the parliament in Athens. (AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)
The Greek arms anomaly
Greece continues to be one of
the world’s biggest arms importers, despite having little chance of meeting the
deficit reduction targets pegged to its International Monetary Fund (IMF)
bailout loan, according to a preliminary report by the organization’s debt
inspectors.
The IMF report will likely
recommend more austerity in Greece, in addition to 89 other stalled reforms
Athens has failed to enact.
Despite the push for cuts in
other spheres, the Greek government continues to spend a considerable portion
of its budget on arms, amounting to 7 billion euros in 2011. From 2002 through
2006, Greece was the world's fourth-largest importer of weapons. Despite the
country’s ongoing debt crisis, it remains the tenth-largest military importer.
As a proportion of its GDP, Greek
defense spending is nearly double that of any other EU member. The country also
has a less-than-transparent procurement process and a reputation for budgetary
corruption, RT's Peter Oliver reports.
Long-running tensions between
Greece and Turkey are believed to be the main reason behind Athens’ high levels
of military spending. Following Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, Greece has
spent an estimated 216 billion euros on arms.
“Greece
still considers that it is facing a threat from Turkey. And that we need to
maintain credible military forces to deter that threat,” Thanos Dokos, the Director-General of the
Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy told RT.
Germany, one of Greece’s main
creditors in the IMF bailout and a leading voice for eurozone austerity, is
also one of Athens’ biggest arms suppliers. Greek military imports account for
some 15 percent of Berlin's arms exports.
Vladimir Kremlev for RT
“In
my point of view there's no justification that Greece continues to spend so
heavily on military equipment. But of course it is export earnings for Germany,
there are NATO interests there, so it's just being done and it's not being
talked about too much,” political and economic analyst Maz Otte explained to RT.
“Once
in a while it pops up, but German politicians aren't really questioning it,” he added.
With Greece plunging further into
dire economic conditions, some have leveled charges of hypocrisy at Germany’s
dual role as arms supplier and austerity advocate for Athens.
“For
[Berlin], social spending cutting is the first thing that comes to their minds.
Whereas to me as a Green, the first priority would be making cuts to the
defense sector,”
Franziska Brantner, German MEP from the Green Party said.
“I
think there is elite in Greece both with in the political sphere, as well as
the arms lobby that does keep specific percentages from every sale of arms,” journalist Loukas Germanos told RT. “These are the
people who are sending that money abroad to Swiss bank accounts.”
With former Greek defense
minister Apostolos Tsochatzopoulos in custody for charges of fraud and
embezzlement, the country’s high military budget will likely remain a
contentious issue. Economists estimate that if Greece had cut defense spending
over the past decade to levels comparable to other EU nations, it would have
saved some 150 billion euros – more than its last IMF bailout.
Health employees
protest outside the Health Ministry in Athens against pay and budget cuts
planned in the latest round of austerity measures. (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)
A general view of
Iran's first offshore oil platform, Iran-Alborz, in the Caspian Sea near city
of Neka about 392 km (245 miles) north of Tehran (Reuters/Official website of
the Iranian Oil Ministry)
Iran warns that it could stop exporting oil, driving
global crude prices up, should the US and allied Europe tighten sanctions
further. For such a case, Tehran says, it has a contingency strategy to carry
on without oil revenues.
“If you continue to add to the sanctions, we will
stop our oil exports to the world,” Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told
reporters Tuesday. “The lack of Iranian oil in the market would drastically
add to the price.”
Iran is currently under pressure from international
sanctions, mainly in oil exports, imposed by the UN Security Council, the US
and the EU in order to curb the Islamic Republic’s controversial nuclear
program. Washington and some if its allies believe the program is being used to
develop a nuclear weapon.
On October 15, the European Union foreign ministers
approved a new package of sanctions targeting Iran’s financial, trade, energy,
transportation and telecommunications sectors.
Earlier in October, American lawmakers also extended the
already tough sanctions against Iran.
The measures have severely hurt the Islamic Republic’s
economy.
However, Qasemi said that Iran has a “Plan B” which will
enable the country to make due without profits from oil sales. He did not
mention how long the economy could function, though, without selling oil.
Iran is still pumping oil at capacity and producing 4
million barrels per day (bpd), Qasemi said, denying OPEC’s report that the
country's output has fallen to around 2.7 million bpd. He added that "Iran
has been facing US sanctions for 30 years while successfully managing its oil
sector."
Iranian Parliament considers sanctions
on Europe
Angered by a new round of sanctions, Iranian lawmakers
are working on a “preemptive embargo package” which would hit European
states, Press TV reported.
Officials plan to impose sanctions in three phases.
The first will deprive Iran’s enemies of its high-quality
light and heavy crude oil. According to the report, 70 European oil-refining
plants depend on Iranian oil.
The second phase is a ban on goods transported from
European states that participated in imposing the sanctions against Tehran.
And the third would prohibit Iranian citizens from
traveling to hostile countries. --------------------------------------------------------------- 2012 Oct 15
EU bans import of Iranian gas to European countries – German FM
Nouri Petrochemical facilities of the South Pars gas field in the southern Iranian port of Assaluyeh (AFP Photo / Atta Kenare)
EU governments have agreed to one of the toughest sets of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has announced the EU is banning the import of Iranian natural gas into European Union countries.
The set of sanctions also includes a ban on financial transactions between European and Iranian banks, with some exceptions for those involving humanitarian aid, food, and medicine purchases.
"The [EU] Council has agreed additional restrictive measures in the financial, trade, energy and transport sectors, as well as additional designations, notably of entities active in the oil and gas industry," a written statement issued by the European Union council said.
Further export restrictions were imposed on graphite, metals, and software for industrial processes. Restrictive measures were also made relating to Iran's ship building industry.
The move is aimed at putting pressure on Iran to cooperate in talks regarding its nuclear program.
Prior to Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said new sanctions would be "a sign of our resolve in the European Union that we will step up the pressure."
The US and its allies have long accused Iran of using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons, although Tehran says the program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Iran has accused German industrial giant Siemens of
placing small explosives in equipment that forms the backbone of the country’s
nuclear program.
"The equipment was supposed to explode after being
put to work, in order to dismantle all our systems," declared
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the security committee in Iran’s parliament. "But
the wisdom of our experts thwarted the enemy conspiracy."
He said the measures were intended to slow down the
country’s burgeoning nuclear program.
Siemens issued a flat denial.
"We have no business dealings related to the Iranian
nuclear program," said company spokesman Alexander Machowetz,
noting that the company has not worked with Iran since the Islamic Revolution
in 1979.
Sales of nuclear equipment to Iran are currently banned
under an international embargo, as the country is widely suspected of using it
to advance a nuclear weapons development program. But while Siemens does not
supply Iran directly, its equipment is assumed to be imported through third
parties in other countries.
Most uranium enrichment centrifuges at Iran’s nuclear
sites are presumed to be made by the company. Obtaining high-grade uranium is a
prerequisite for producing nuclear weapons.
If the information on explosives is correct, this would
not be the first time Siemens equipment has been used as a target.
Vulnerabilities in Siemens operating software were
exploited by Stuxnet, a virus that helped to disable up to 1,000 centrifuges
two years ago, though the company was not implicated in developing it.
Iran frequently accuses Western governments and companies
of sabotage. Only last month, it claimed that foreign spies cut power lines to
its underground nuclear facility at Fordo.
German government has dismissed Israeli pressure to obstruct
the probable sale of two attack submarines to Egypt, saying no country is
entitled to ‘veto’ Berlin’s decisions.
"No country in the world has the right of veto to decisions taken by the
German government," Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the German
daily Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday when asked to comment on Israel’s
pressure on Berlin to cancel the deal.
He said the transaction to sell the two Type 209 attack submarines to Egypt
could not be affected by ‘instability’ in the North African country that is
experiencing the first months of its fledgling democracy with Mohamed Morsi at
the helm.
The remarks come two weeks after commander in chief of the Egyptian Navy Osama
al-Gindi first revealed the agreement to buy two conventional diesel-electric
submarines from Germany, sparking outrage in Tel Aviv.
Israeli media quoted government officials as saying that there had been "a
marked deterioration in relations between Israel and Germany" over the
deal, a claim rejected by the German government that has refused to comment on
the probable sale.
Germany also faced Israel’s scathing criticism last July over the sale of 200
Leopard combat tanks to Saudi Arabia.
Opposition to the recent deal comes as Germany has already provided Tel Aviv
with three atomic-capable submarines which the Israeli regime, according to SPIEGEL,
has equipped with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
The three Dolphin-class submarines have been subsidized by the German
government, which has signed contracts to supply the Israeli regime with three
more by 2017.
The left-leaning German daily Die Tageszeitung says "It's a serious
matter when Germany, as the world's third-largest arms exporter, apparently
pays little consideration to the consequences of its policy (of exporting
submarines to Israel).”
“After all, military equipment is not supposed to be exported to crisis regions
(under German government guidelines). This applies to the export of German
tanks to Saudi Arabia as well as to the supply of nuclear-capable submarines to
Israel, whose government is currently openly threatening to attack Iran's
nuclear facilities,” the paper adds.
French Finance Minister has warned that Greece’s exit from the eurozone will be on the agenda if Greek authorities do not respect the bailout deal after parliamentary elections in mid-June.
"The question would be raised without a doubt.... if the Greeks themselves do not respect their commitments," Pierre Moscovici said on French Television on Sunday.
"We sincerely hope that Greece remains in the eurozone," he said. However, Athens should impose required austerity measures if it planned to remain in the euro bloc, he added.
His remarks were in response to a pledge by the Greek radical left leader, Alexis Tsipras, who promised on Friday to cancel the European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout deal if his party garnered enough votes to form a government.
Moscovici said the situation would be “infinitely more complicated," and admitted that there were “reflections here and there” about the possibility of Athens exiting the single currency area.
Tsipras’s Syriza party came in second on May 6 elections partly due to his pledge to overturn the austerity measures. In the first parliamentary elections, no party could either win a majority of votes or form a coalition government.
Greek voters were outraged at two years of harsh austerity measures, which have been imposed in return for financial assistance. They abandoned the centre-right-centre-left coalition that had governed the country, and voted for more radical parties.
Meanwhile, opinion polls released on Friday showed that Syriza and its rival the conservative New Democracy party could not gain a majority of votes in the repeat elections.
The decisive June 17 votes, could determine whether the country would continue to comply with the austerity measures it agreed to with its European neighbors in exchange for endorsement of the second financial bailout.
Germany is supplying the Israeli Navy with submarines that are fully capable of being fitted to carry cruise missiles with nuclear-warheads, Spiegel reports. Thus, if Israel does indeed have any such missiles, it could deploy them immediately.
The extensive military deal suggests that German shipyards are to supply Israel with six Dolphin-class diesel-electric submarines, four of which have already been delivered.
"The Germans can be proud to have secured the existence of Israel for many years," Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, told Spiegel.
According to Barak, the latest craft, which was delivered on May 3, has become yet another “force multiplier in terms of the capabilities and strength of Israel’s defense forces.” And in the face of the growing strategic regional challenges, Israel’s navy, and particularly its submarine fleet, represents a “defensive and fighting arm of deterrence,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said upon delivery.
Meanwhile, Spiegel reports that Germany might actually be strengthening Israel’s nuclear capabilities, as the submarines are being equipped with hydraulic ejection systems that enable the underwater launch of Popeye Turbo SLCM long-range cruise missiles.
Officially Germany has always maintained that it knows nothing about Israel’s nuclear program and the deployment of nuclear missiles on German built submarines in particular. However, according to Spiegel’s research, several former high-ranking German officials have never doubted Israel was putting nuclear missiles on its subs.
Former state secretary, Lothar Ruhl, told Spiegel he had not only “always assumed that Israel would deploy nuclear weapons on the submarines,” but also discussed the issue with the Israeli military.
Israel’s nuclear ambiguity
Israel’s nuclear program has been the subject of speculation for decades. Israel maintains its official policy of “nuclear ambiguity.” It has never officially admitted to having a nuclear program, but has repeatedly stated it would not be the first or the last Middle Eastern nation to introduce nuclear weapons.
However, according to documents obtained by Spiegel, the German government has been well aware of Israel’s nuclear program ever since 1961. The latest evidence obtained by the magazine from German Foreign Ministry archives dates back to 1977 and corresponds to a discussion on the issue between then-Israeli foreign minister, Moshe Dayan, and then-chancellor, Helmut Schmidt.
Despite international pressure, Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying it would be against its national security interests. Israel is not officially recognized as a Nuclear Weapons State, but is believed to possess several hundred operational nuclear warheads.
Greece is struggling to form a new government, as political parties are divided on austerity measures. RT spoke to economic analyst Michael Mross, who explains what it means for Greece and Europe as a whole.
RT:What would be the implications if Greece was to turn its back on austerity measures and reject the bailout plans?
Michael Mross: The days of the euro would be counted if this were to happen. And this is what many people here in Germany predicted at the beginning, when the euro was established. What we see is a programmed crisis. It’s very sad to see these things developing, but it was more or the less planned within the eurozone. Such different countries as Greece and Germany do not fit into one currency, so at the end of the day, Greece is not able to fulfill the austerity plans that are promised. No country is able to realize austerity measures. This means that people go to the streets; this means that there is more violence, more political insecurity and that the country also becomes impossible to govern.
RT:But how can a country boost its economic growth when it is in such a mess?
MM: This is a total economical contradiction. If you have to economize, to cut down, how can you spend money then? How can you create labor, for example? You have to spend more money, you have to make more debts in order to get some growth in your country. But under the euro system, this is never possible. We will also see a domino effect spread into Spain, into Portugal, also into Italy. And this will be the final nail in the euro's coffin.
RT: Will that be the end of the euro?
MM: Yes. The euro could never work. Everybody who looks at it from an economic perspective knows that the eurozone just was not right. We also have many difficulties with France. All these debt-stricken countries need devaluation in order to become competitive.
RT:Is there a danger that austerity advocate Angela Merkel could become isolated, when there’s an anti-austerity sentiment not only in Greece, but also in France with its new president?
MM: Angela Merkel doesn’t want to make the situation in Europe more unstable. At the end of the day the whole problem that we have in the eurozone cannot be solved by rescue packages or by more debts. It can only be solved by a breakup of the euro. That means that Germany pulls out and the rest of the countries within the eurozone will devaluate their money to become competitive again
Iran has cut oil exports to Germany one day after halting crude sales to Spain as part of its counter sanctions against the European Union (EU).
Tehran has already stopped oil exports to France, Britain, and Greece and is now considering halting crude sales to Italy.
Iran’s decision to cut crude exports to six European countries -- including the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal -- was made after the EU foreign ministers agreed on January 23 to ban oil imports from Iran and freeze the assets of the country’s Central Bank across the EU.
On February 19, Iran’s Oil Ministry cut oil exports to British and French firms.
Tehran’s decision to impose counter sanctions on European countries has led to a hike in global oil prices, pushing gasoline prices in the US and the UK to record highs. The rising gasoline prices have also become a major issue in the US presidential election campaign.
The US and EU accuse Iran of pursuing a military program under the cover of its nuclear energy work despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no evidence to this end.
Tehran refutes their claims arguing that as a committed member of the IAEA and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty it is entitled to peaceful uses of the nuclear energy.
The German parliament has overwhelmingly approved the second bailout package for Greece to help the heavily indebted country stabilize and avert bankruptcy.
On Monday, German MPs voted 496 to 90, with five abstentions, to approve the 130-billion-euro (174.4-billion-dollar) rescue package.
Just before the vote, Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, warning the lawmakers of the consequences of not coming to Greece's aid.
"The risks of turning away from Greece now are incalculable," Merkel told the 591 MPs of the Bundestag.
"No one can assess what consequences would arise for the German economy, on Italy, Spain, the eurozone as a whole and finally for the whole world,” she added.
The parliament was certain to back the motion after two opposition parties -- the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens -- said they would support the plan.
Despite the motion's approval, German skepticism about Greece remains.
"The Bundestag will in the foreseeable future be dealing with a third (rescue) package for Greece," said SPD member Peer Steinbrueck, a former finance minister, adding that only strong economic growth would stabilize Greece.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has openly called for Greece to leave the eurozone, saying it would have a better chance to make its economy competitive if it was outside the monetary union.
According to an opinion poll released on Sunday, 62 percent of Germans opposed the new rescue package for Greece.
The poll was conducted by the Emnid institute for the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
Germany’s Defense Minister has warned Tel Aviv against any military adventurism in Iran amid the escalating anti-Iran war rhetoric by the US and the Israeli regime.
Thomas de Maiziere insisted in a Saturday interview with Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung that the success of such an effort against the Islamic Republic would be highly unlikely.
The German defense minister also cautioned the Israeli regime against “obvious political damages” should it venture on an attack against Iran.
Israeli officials have ramped up their war rhetoric over the past few weeks, threatening Iran with military strikes in case the US-led Western sanctions against the country fail to force Tehran into abandoning its civilian nuclear program.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on February 9 that “Israel has a large selection of ways, when the world of international sanctions fails to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program.”
Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said if Western sanctions against Iran fail to stop its nuclear program, military action against the country must be placed on its agenda.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claimed on February 2 that there is a strong possibility the Tel Aviv regime will launch an attack on Iran in April, May, or June 2012.
Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened Tehran with various ‘military options’ in an attempt to force the Islamic Republic to halt its peaceful nuclear program, which has been closely monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran has fiercely rejected Western publicity that its nuclear program may be diverted to military objectives while insisting that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to pursue nuclear technology for its numerous civilian uses and benefits.
The German Foreign Minister has called on Iran to show restraint after Tehran threatened member states of the European Union with an immediate cutoff of oil exports to the bloc.
In an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Guido Westerwelle claimed that the crisis-hit EU would not allow Iran to push it into a corner with a potential cut in oil supplies.
During their latest meeting in Brussels on January 23, EU foreign ministers reached an agreement to ban oil imports from Iran, freeze the country's central bank's assets within EU, and ban sales of diamonds, gold and other precious metals to Iran.
While EU sanctions will enter into force after a delay of six months, Iranian lawmakers are considering a plan to enforce an immediate ban on all oil exports to European countries.
Referring to escalating rhetoric between Iran and EU, the German Foreign Minister added that Iranian leaders hold "the key to reducing tensions in their hands."
"We will find ways in the EU to compensate for delivery stoppages," he said.
The EU imported some 600,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil in the first 10 months of last year -- equivalent to nearly 20 percent of Iran's exports.
Some EU members are seeking grace periods of between one and 12 months to allow them to find alternative supplies. Greece, which depends heavily on Iranian crude, is pushing for the longest delay while Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany say they need a maximum period of three months.
The United States, Israel and their European allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used this pretext to impose four rounds of international and a series of unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has a right to use nuclear technology for peaceful use.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during the opening session of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on January 25, 2012.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to increase the eurozone's rescue fund, stressing that the key to reassure European markets is to restore lost confidence in the EU governments' policies.
Merkel told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday that a 'big rethink' was required for the 17-nation zone to act well within the global economy.
The comments come as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Christine Lagarde has called for the eurozone financial firewall to be reinforced by combining the European Financial Stability Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.
The IMF wants the sum available for eurozone bailouts to grow beyond EUR 500 billion (USD 647 billion).
"Now they say... 'it should be twice as big'," Merkel said.
“'If it were twice as big, we'd believe you'. Some say 'it should even be three times as big, then we'd really believe you.' And I always ask myself how long is that credible and when is that no longer credible,” the German chancellor added.
In its recently published report, 'World economic outlook,' the IMF said it was expecting a recession for the euro countries as they were struggling to overcome their debt crisis.
There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain, and France last year, could push not only Europe, but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.
European stocks plunge following a sharp economic slowdown in Germany and Spain amid Europe's economic uncertainty and continuing debt crisis.
The development came after Germany's Statistics Office said Europe's largest economy slowed sharply in the second quarter of the year, Reuters reported.
“The weak data for Germany follow recent numbers showing zero growth in France in the second quarter, and raise concerns that the euro area's hitherto strong core countries are undergoing a much deeper than previously thought soft-patch," said Chris Williamson, a senior economic expert in London.
Europe's economic growth slid back to 0.2 percent in the second quarter from 0.8 percent in the first three months of 2011.
The Tuesday plunge was also caused by a slowdown of the Spanish economy.
Spain's economic growth eased to 0.2 percent in the second quarter of the current year from a 0.3 percent growth for the first quarter, Spain's National Statistics Institute announced.
The latest falls come as a key eurozone crisis meeting is being held between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the French capital of Paris.
The markets were already jittery amid fears that the US and eurozone debt crises could push the global economy back into recession.
The German chancellor's party warns her against making any rash decisions to further help the debt-ridden EU states amid prospects of the sinking of the Eurozone economy to lower depths.
Leading members of Angela Merkel's coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have called for an emergency meeting among party members before the government makes any such commitments, AFP reported.
On Saturday, the President of the Bundestag (the German parliament), Norbert Lammert, who himself is a CDU member, cautioned Merkel against forcing the parliament to take measures to strengthen the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
The EFSF was set up in a bid to help maintain stability in the Eurozone by lending up to EUR 440 billion to its member states.
The developments came amid European governments' efforts to rush measures through their own parliaments to bring stability to European financial markets, which have taken major dives over the past week.
Earlier, the European Central Bank bought up Italian government bonds to help reduce borrowing rates.
The 27-nation bloc, which has spent much of the past 18 months trying to battle its debt crisis, has so far helped out Greece, Ireland, and Portugal with bailout packages.
The collective warning message came ahead of a meeting slated for Tuesday between Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy aimed at discussing the Eurozone's financial crisis.
The Free Democrats (FDP), the Bavarian Christian-Union (CSU) and other members of the ruling coalition have dismissed bringing in Eurobonds to curb the EU crisis.
South Africa's Closing Argument Against Israel for Genocide at the ICJ
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