Obama threatens Syrian president with more Terrorist Attacks

UPDATE: 2014, Feb. 16th

Source: Press TV

US President Barack Obama has threatened that he will step up pressure on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Obama’s threat came after he hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan at the Sunnylands retreat in Palm Springs, California, where the two discussed, among other things, the unrest in Syria.

The US president said on Friday that he and his royal guest had decided they should take steps “to apply more pressure to the Assad regime.”

“We are going to need a political transition in that region,” Obama said in what sounded like a veiled reference to the announced goal of removing President Assad.

"There will be some intermediate steps that we can take to apply more pressure to the Assad regime, and we’re going to be continuing to work with all the parties concerned to try to move forward on a diplomatic solution,” he said, without specifying what those steps might be.

Several reports have shown over the past year that the US has been covertly training insurgents in Jordan to fight against the Syrian government.

Reports have also revealed that the US shipped weapons to Jordan in order to arm the foreign-backed militant groups.

During the meeting with Jordan’s king, Obama also pledged $1 billion in loan guarantees to Jordan and a renewal of a five-year aid package, which is worth $660 million a year and expires in September.

Shortly after the Geneva II talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition ended with no deals on February 1, insurgents said that Washington had increased direct funding to their commanders in Jordan in order to ramp up pressure on Assad’s government before the next round of talks.

“From now until the next round of talks in Geneva, Assad will be under real pressure — he will feel more pressure from opposition forces,” a militant commander cited a US official as saying.

The “next round of talks in Geneva,” to which the US official had referred, broke off without any results on Saturday as both the Syrian opposition and government officials confirmed that they have been unable to make any progress, with each side sticking to its own position.

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End arms supply to Syria militants: Iran Envoy

Foreign-backed militants in Syria (file photo)

Source: Press TV

Iranian ambassador to Lebanon has renewed call for an end to foreign arms and financial aid to foreign-sponsored militants fighting against the Syrian government.

“If there is really a political will in the UN and the international community for the settlement of the Syria crisis, the flow of money and arms to terrorists in Syria from outside must be stopped so that there will be a possibility for an end to violence and the start of true negotiations,” Ghazanfar Roknabadi said in a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly.

The UN official, for his part, underlined the need for addressing issues related to the Syrian refugees, urging that practical measures should be taken to find a political solution to Syria crisis.

Syria has been plagued by deadly crisis since March 2011.

Saudi Arabia has been the main supplier of weapons and funds to foreign-backed militants inside Syria. The United States is also said to have stepped up its financial support for the militants.

This comes as the second round of negotiations between the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition in the Swiss city of Geneva hit a deadlock due to sharp differences between the two sides.

UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said on Saturday that talks to resolve the Syrian crisis broke off without any result and no date has been yet set for another round.

The Syrian delegation says fighting terrorism should be the top priority. But the opposition insists that formation of a transitional government and resignation of President Bashar al-Assad must come first.

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UPDATE: 2014 Feb 16

McCain urges Syria military intervention

Source: Press TV

Hawkish US Senator John McCain has called on the Obama administration to employ its already-devised plan of military intervention against the Syrian government.

“The only way to achieve success at Geneva is to change the balance of power on the ground,” McCain said in a statement on Saturday, referring to the failure of the so-called Syria peace talks in Geneva.

“There are options far short of an Iraq-style invasion that can, and should, be employed to change the calculation of the Syrian regime, stem the violence, and ultimately achieve a negotiated political solution,” he added.

The second round of negotiations ended on Saturday without any concrete results about the unrest in Syria.

“The second round of Syria peace talks ended today with no progress toward a negotiated political settlement to the conflict and UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi recognizing that failure is looming,” McCain said.

“After three weeks of talks, we are moving further and further away from a peaceful political solution,” he argued.

The Arizona Republican senator also criticized President Barack Obama for allowing Russia to put pressure on him.

“Russia has recently prevented the passage of a much-needed UN resolution on bringing aid to desperate Syrian civilians,” he said. “Such actions indicate that the Russian government is simply not a partner for peace in Syria and cannot be relied on to help secure a successful outcome.”

During a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said there is no military solution for the crisis in Syria.

“The crisis in Syria is a crisis. The circumstances on the ground are horrific that is why we have to bring the parties together to try to compel them towards a negotiated political settlement because there isn’t a military solution here,” Carney said.

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Unprovoked attack on Syria: Israel commits egregious international crime

By: Tony Cartalucci

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/05/301903/israels-unprovoked-attack-on-syria/

The US feigns disassociation with Hitlerian acts of Israeli aggression - as was planned since 2007.

Unprovoked, Israel has attacked Syria numerous times over the past 2 days, including attacks on the Syrian capital of Damascus, in what appears to be a series of intentional provocations designed to drag the region into a wider conflict its US sponsors can then enter militarily. Neither attacked directly by Syria, nor able to cite credible evidence in regards to perceived threats Israel claims to be reacting to, the assault on Syria represents a Chapter VII breach of the United Nations Charter.

What’s more is that while the US feigns disassociation with Israel’s breach of international peace, after jointly fueling a genocidal sectarian conflict within Syria’s borders for the past two years, it is documented fact that the US and Saudi Arabia planned to use Israel to conduct military attacks against Iran and Syria, they themselves could not justify politically, legally, or strategically.

What is now hoped is that Syria and Iran retaliate militarily, allowing the “other shoe to drop,” and for the US, UK, France, and their regional axis to directly intervene in Syria.

Insidious ploy engineered and documented in 2007-2009

As early as 2007, it was reported that a US-Saudi-Israeli conspiracy to overthrow the governments of Iran and Syria by arming sectarian terrorists, many linked directly to Al Qaeda, was already set in motion. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his 2007 New Yorker article “The Redirection” stated:

“To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.”

Of Israel and Saudi Arabia’s partnership it specifically stated:

“The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations.”

Additionally, Saudi Arabian officials mentioned the careful balancing act their nation must play in order to conceal its role in supporting US-Israeli ambitions across the region. It was stated even then that using Israel to publicly carry out attacks on Iran would be preferable to the US, which would ultimately implicate the Saudis. It was stated:

“The Saudi said that, in his country’s view, it was taking a political risk by joining the U.S. in challenging Iran: Bandar is already seen in the Arab world as being too close to the Bush Administration. ‘We have two nightmares,’ the former diplomat told me. ‘For Iran to acquire the bomb and for the United States to attack Iran. I’d rather the Israelis bomb the Iranians, so we can blame them. If America does it, we will be blamed.’”

This ploy was further developed in 2009 by the Fortune 500-funded (page 19) Brookings Institution in their document, “Which Path to Persia?” in regards to Iran, and now clearly being utilized against Syria, the gambit was described as follows:

“…it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it. (One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.)” - page 84-85, Which Path to Persia?, Brookings Institution.

And:

“Israel appears to have done extensive planning and practice for such a strike already, and its aircraft are probably already based as close to Iran as possible. As such, Israel might be able to launch the strike in a matter of weeks or even days, depending on what weather and intelligence conditions it felt it needed. Moreover, since Israel would have much less of a need (or even interest) in securing regional support for the operation, Jerusalem probably would feel less motivated to wait for an Iranian provocation before attacking. In short, Israel could move very fast to implement this option if both Israeli and American leaders wanted it to happen.

However, as noted in the previous chapter, the airstrikes themselves are really just the start of this policy. Again, the Iranians would doubtless rebuild their nuclear sites. They would probably retaliate against Israel, and they might retaliate against the United States, too (which might create a pretext for American airstrikes or even an invasion).” - page 91, Which Path to Persia?, Brookings Institution.

And Israel not waiting for a plausible justification to attack Syria is exactly what has just happened. It should also be noted in particular, the last paragraph which gives insight into what the US-led axis plans to do after this egregious international crime - that is - to incrementally engulf the region into a conflict it finally can justify its own entry into open military aggression.

What should Syria and its allies do?

Syria, Iran, Russia and other nations that support the besieged nation most certainly were aware of the Brookings document Which Path to Persia? and familiar with this strategy. It would be hoped that anything of value that the Israelis would seek to attack in order to provoke a much desired retaliation and subsequent war, would have been provided additional protection, or moved entirely out of range of potential Israeli attacks.

A media campaign to illustrate the hypocritical and very revealing convergence between Al Qaeda (the so-called Free Syrian Army or FSA) and Israeli interests would undermine whatever remaining support the battered and failing Western-backed terror campaign inside Syria may still have.

Additionally, Israel’s selection by the US to carry out this attack was done specifically because Israel has long ago exhausted its international legitimacy. What it is doing in Syria is a blatant international crime, in direct violation of international law. Currently, Syria and its allies hold the moral high ground against an enemy who is no longer fooling the world. If it is calculated that Syria can survive Israel’s unprovoked brutality, it would be best to do little or nothing, and incur internationally the same outrage that accompanies Israel’s brutality against the Palestinians.

In light of the US using Israel as its proxy against Syria, should Syria and its allies retaliate, it would be best to do so through any proxies they themselves have at their disposal. Just as Hezbollah and the Palestinians now routinely defeat Israel both strategically and politically, Syria now faces an opportunity to do so again, only on a much bigger scale.

The outrageous actions of Israel, the despicable double-game the US attempts to play by feigning disassociation with its regional beachhead in Tel Aviv, and the silent complicity of the UN, has people around the world desperately seeking retaliation from Syria, or Iran, or both. In reality, this is precisely what the West hopes to achieve - a wider conventional war in which they hold the advantage. By refusing to retaliate directly, Syria cripples the West politically, highlighting the unprovoked nature of their attacks on a nation they claim is a threat, yet fails to strike back even when its capital is under bombardment. By responding through its own plausibly deniable proxies, tactical and political pressure can be put on Israel to end its aggression.

It appears that the Western-backed terrorist front in Syria has been dealt a fatal blow and is in the process of complete collapse. The attack by Israel is a sign of desperation, seeking to expand a conflict that is about to end. Syria and its allies face difficult decisions and dangerous desperation in the coming days and weeks - with an axis of rogue states committing increasingly heinous atrocities in search of a response .

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About: Tony Cartalucci

Tony Cartalucci is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer. He has been published on many alternative media websites, including Alternative Thai News Network and LocalOrg. His writings deal with world events from a Southeast Asian perspective as well as promoting self-sufficiency as one of the keys to true freedom. His website is Land Destroyer Report - http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/

 

North Korea declares state of war with South

 

North Koreans including soldiers attend a rally in support of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's order to put its missile units on standby in preparation for a possible war against the U.S. and South Korea, in Pyongyang March 29, 2013.(Reuters / KCNA)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/north-korea-vicious-cycle-russia-072/

North Korea has entered a “state of war” against its Southern neighbor, stating that from now on any issues between the two countries will be resolved in a "wartime manner."

“From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly,” a special statement by the country’s top military command reads, according to the KCNA state news agency.

“The situation in the Korean Peninsula, which is neither peace nor war, has come to an end,” the statement says.

However, technically, the two Koreas are still in state of war since a peace treaty after the 1950-53 conflict had never been signed.

With North Korea placing its ballistic arsenal on high alert targeting American bases and the US tenaciously increasing military presence in the region, the whole situation risks “spiraling out of control” soon, warned Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

Both North Korea and the US bear responsibility for the recent substantial escalation of tensions, Lavrov said on Friday, calling on “all sides not to flex their military muscle.”

"We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the UN Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity,”Lavrov added, apparently referring to US plans to boost missile defense against the North, the joint US-South Korean contingency plan in the event of an attack as well as their recent military drills.

In a noteworthy contrast to all the previous war games, this time American B-2 bombers flew over 10,000 kilometers to stage a mock bombing of Korean soil, in a move that US officials confirmed to be unprecedented.

Following this “reckless provocation” North Korean military command held an urgent overnight meeting during which the state’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un signed a decree placing the Strategic Rocket Force on standby.

“The situation could simply get out of control,” Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Friday, calling for a resumption of a six-party discussion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal within the framework of country’s international obligations

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovmeeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kozhara in Moscow.(RIA Novosti / Vladimir Pesnya)

While N. Korea has firmly pledged to “settle accounts with the US imperialists” and “mercilessly strike the US mainland, their stronghold, their military bases” in case of any further provocations, US officials seemingly do not consider the threat to be as real as the democratic republic is trying to present it to be.

The threats towards the US are only hurting North Korea itself as well as its people, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday.

“The bellicose rhetoric emanating from North Korea only deepens that nation's isolation,” Earnest said, adding that North’s unconditional renouncement of nuclear arms is the only clear path to resolve the situation.

Despite all the tensions, the United States is capable of defending its interests in the region, Earnest added.

Propaganda or serious threat?

Military experts agree that North Korea is at least several years from building a nuclear warhead or a missile capable of reaching the mainland US, which makes the threats, at this point, groundless.

However, a detailed plan of a nuclear strike on the US mainland can be clearly seen behind the North Korean leader on photos published in national newspaper. Such a demonstration of nuclear capabilities is likely aimed at an internal audience, in support of the idea of “sweeping away the US aggressors.”

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un discussing the strike plan with North Korean officers during an urgent operation meeting at the Supreme Command in an undisclosed location (AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS)

Nevertheless, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel admitted on Thursday that “every provocative, bellicose word and action” of Kim Jong-un has to be taken seriously.

Earlier this month Washington decided to address North Korea's faster-than-anticipated progress in nuclear weapons development, announcing that the US will have 14 missile interceptors up and running by 2017, even abandoning a key part of its Eastern European missile defense plan in order to curb the threat from North Korea.

Turkey declares War on Syria

 

Russia Today Report: Turkish parliament authorizes military assault on Syria ‘when necessary’

Source; Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/turkish-parliament-military-syria-651/

Turkey’s parliament has authorized cross-border military operations into Syria ‘when necessary’ following a random mortar-shelling incident on the Turkish-Syrian border, reports Hürriyet Daily News.

The Turkish army has been retaliating by shelling Syrian military positions since Wednesday.­

The government-initiated debates in the Turkish parliament took place behind closed doors. The cabinet of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan claimed the Syrian military had launched an act of aggression against Turkey.

The motion signed by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says that the Syrian crisis “affects the stability and security in the region” and accuses Damascus of conducting assaults into Turkish land.

“This situation risks and threatens our national security. In this respect, the need for taking precautions and acting quickly against any threats to Turkey has arisen,” says the document.

In accordance with Article 92 of the Turkish constitution, the government demanded a one-year authorization to send Turkish troops to foreign countries, which was granted.

On Wednesday at least three mortar bombs fired from Syria killed five civilians and wounded at least eight in the Turkish town of Akcakale. This became a second mortar attack on the Turkish town since last Friday. Back then Foreign Minister Davutoglu said he would take action if there were a repeat.

After a heated debate an urgent parliamentary session has opted to apply the new law.

The motion was supported by 320 deputies, while 129 voted against it.

Originally the bill targeted militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighting for independent Kurd state for the last three decades. The Kurds have bases in northern Iraq, de-facto not controlled by the government in Baghdad. The Turkish military has conducted a number of air and ground assaults on Kurdish positions in Iraq, most of them considered successful.

The debates around the move have sparked sharp negative reaction among the Turkish population. While a small group of anti-war protesters rallied outside the Turkish parliament in Ankara, a real anti-war storm has been initiated by Turkish and foreign activists on social networks both inside and outside of Turkey. The hashtag #savasahayir (no to war) quickly spread beyond Turkish borders into global social networking.