Israel's Leaders Hole Up In Nuclear Bunker

JERUSALEM — Israeli leaders holed up in a new underground nuclear bunker on Wednesday as part of annual nationwide maneuvers to prepare for a possible missile war with Iran, Syria and their Lebanese and Palestinian guerrilla allies. 

Officials said it was the first time that the security cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had tested the bunker, dug deep in the western Jerusalem foothills over the past decade and dubbed the "Nation's Tunnel" by local media.

Israel has held increasingly sweeping civil defense drills since the 2006 Lebanon war, during which Hezbollah guerrillas (allegedly) fired thousands of short-range rockets at its northern towns. 

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Expand Black Ops from Pakistan to North Africa:Escalate Shadow Wars

At his Thursday confirmation hearing to become secretary of defense, CIA Director Panetta made a broad case for expanding the U.S.’ already extensive shadow wars. Now that bin Laden is dead, “we’ve got to keep the pressure up,” Panetta urged senators. Expect a lot of drone strikes and a lot of special ops raids — some conducted by future CIA Director David Petraeus. In a lot of places.

Panetta said he wants to hit al-Qaida’s “nodes” from Pakistan to North Africa, “develop[ing] operations in each of those areas,” so terrorists have “no place to escape.” That means working with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the elite commandos that executed the raid on bin Laden’s Abbotabad compound. And Panetta has some specific ideas about how that should work.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

The Role of Pakistan Air Force Volunteer Pilots in Arab Israel Wars in Air Combat Against Israel

The Six-Day War started with a far-reaching air attack, code named “Moked”, to shatter the Arab air forces while their aircraft were still on the ground. The attack was planned even before General Mordechai (Moti) Hod, had been appointed Air Force Commander. The main element of the plan was to carry out a massive, simultaneous attack of Israeli first-line aircraft against all Egyptian air force bases - the main Arab air force. This required exact and detailed planning of departure times and approaches of each of the attacking forces, in order to ensure the element of surprise on every target. On the morning of June 5, the aircraft of the IAF took off from their bases and attacked Egyptian air force bases in Sinai and Egypt. During the first wave, eleven fields were hit (among them some that had also been attacked in the first wave).

By radiationcell313 with No comments

GCC to expand Peninsula Shield

Riyadh—A proposal to expand the joint force of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called Peninsula Shield is currently being reviewed by the Gulf governments with an aim to boost indigenous capability to deter any external threat or aggression.

“The plan is at a preliminary stage being discussed by member countries,” said a GCC official speaking on the occasion of the bloc’s 30th anniversary celebrations that kicked off Tuesday.

“The proposal calls for expanding the Peninsula Shield and stationing the troops in each of the six member countries,” said the official, while referring to the remarks made by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa. At the moment, the Peninsula Shield has about 40,000 troops and continues to have its permanent base at King Khaled Military City near Hafar Al-Batin in the Eastern Province.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand.

The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder ofBlackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.

Mr. Prince, who resettled here last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

13 Israeli warplanes violate Lebanese airspace

The Daily Star Lebanon

BEIRUT: Over a dozen Israeli warplanes violated Lebanon’s airspace Thursday, flying over the southern village of Alma Shaab and Rmeish in contravention of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, the Lebanese Army said.

“The warplanes [12 of them] performed circular maneuvers in the skies over many Lebanese areas before leaving [the airspace] at 9:55 am over the village of Rmeish,” the guidance directorate of the Lebanese Army said in the statement, adding that another warplane had violated Lebanon’s airspace earlier in the day over Rmeish and circled over the south, Ryak, Baalbeck and Hermel before leaving.

Meanwhile, two Israeli tanks briefly entered a disputed border area with Lebanon near the village of Adaysseh at 7:50 a.m., the Lebanese Army said in another statement Thursday.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Turkish FM meets Hamas chief over Palestinian rift

Ahram Online

Turkey's foreign minister met late Wednesday with the leader of the Hamas movement in Syria to press for reconciliation between feuding Palestinian factions, Anatolia news agency reported. 

Ahmet Davutoglu said he held talks with Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal at the Turkish embassy in Damascus, where he was on a visit to discuss unrest shaking Syria, following a telephone call with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas last week. Abbas is leader of the rival Fatah faction.

"It is positive that both sides want that national reconciliation is secured as soon as possible," Davutoglu said in the Syrian capital, according to Anatolia.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Iran to create new air defense bases at border

Trend

Iran will create new air defense bases at the borders to ensure security and improve air control in the near future, the Iranian Mehr news agency quoted the country’s Border Guard Commander, General Hussein Zulfugari, as saying.

Last year, electronic technologies were used at the border, Zulfugari said. "In order to strengthen security measures at the country’s borders a master plan has been prepared, and it will be approved in the coming days," Zulfugari said.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Libya conflict 'could turn into another Iraq': Fears grow over lack of a clear exit strategy

The public are concerned that Britain could be dragged into 'another Iraq' style war in Libya, a survey has found.

Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted that military action against Colonel Gaddafi is 'not another Iraq' and has so far avoided committing ground troops.

But as airstrikes against the dictator continue into their second week the strategy for removing Gaddafi is beginning to come under scrutiny.

Seven out of ten people fear that the military action could result in Britain being stuck in a 'prolonged conflict like the Iraq war', a poll for the Independent found.

A further 24 per cent were at ease with the action and 5 per cent of the 1,000 people questioned had not made up their minds.

The findings will put added pressure on the Prime Minister to plan a clear exit strategy when he meets with other world leaders in London today.

Mr Cameron will reject a plan by Italy and Germany to let the tyrant go into exile and dodge war crimes charges. He believes that the embattled leader should stand trial for the alleged murders of thousands of his people.

MI6 officials and the SAS are understood to be in close contact with Libyan opposition leaders as the 'endgame' for Gaddafi's regime is plotted.

But the Prime Minister is still facing calls from MPs within his party who want to ensure that Britain leaves Libya as quickly as possible.

'Our MPs are supportive of going in but there is anxiety about being stuck there for a long time,' one senior Tory MP told the Independent.

Similarities: Seven in 10 people believe the prolonged conflict in Iraq caused by Saddam Hussein, 

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Pakistan's Foreign Office: Pentagon injected $130m in Western media to destabilize Arab countries

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has disclosed that Pentagon injected $130 million in western media to destabilize the Arab Countries and US is supporting opposition in these countries as well. 

The disclosure was made before the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign affairs chaired by Senator Salim Saifullah on Saturday. The meeting was attended by Senator Khursheed Ahmed, Senator Jan Jamali and other officials. 

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Yemen Army Battalion Resists CIA's Al-Qaeda Offensive, Kills 12 Insurgents

Mohammed al-Kibsi [Yemen Observer]

Local sources in Abyan province told the Yemen Observer that at least 12 al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters were killed and five others wounded during clashes with army forces in Lawder district's Akad area on Tuesday.

The source said that the AQAP fighters launched an offensive at a military battalion located in Akad area in Abyan province. The source added that the battalions resisted the offensive.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Egypt Air deletes Israel from its destination list

Egypt Air – the official Egyptian airline – has deleted Israel from its travel destinations. The airline’s website no longer features the Zionist state among its flight options.

According to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, “Israeli travellers intending to fly to Ben-Gurion Airport in Lod did not find ‘Israel’ among the Egyptian airline’s destinations while the capitals Amman, Beirut and Damascus appeared on the map; this is despite Egypt’s proximity to Israel.”

The newspaper pointed out that Egypt Air was the first major airline to remove Israel from its map of travel destinations and that both Turkish Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airways continue to maintain flights to the country. Until recently, Egypt Air scheduled four flights weekly between Cairo and Lod airport.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Turkey Warns Against Coalition 'Hidden Agenda' On Libya

BBC News

Without naming any states, he said it was "obvious" that some coalition members perceived the conflict as an opportunity for themselves.

He also urged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to resign.

Scepticism about the coalition's aims has also been voiced at a session of the Russian parliament.

Turkey, Nato's only predominantly Muslim member and a key player in the Middle East, offered on Wednesday to send five ships and a submarine to join a naval operation to enforce an arms embargo off Libya.

However, the country has publicly questioned the wisdom of coalition air strikes.

"We saw in the past such [military] operations increasing the loss of lives," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, pledging that his country would "never point guns at the Libyan people".

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Turkey Against Air Attacks On Libya

Press TV

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed opposition to airstrikes on Libya, saying they could have dangerous consequences.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the "leaders of change summit" in Istanbul, the premier said the world "must let the people of Libya shape their own future," and military methods aggravate the situation, Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported on Monday. 

By radiationcell313 with No comments

The Agence France Presse (AFP) reported :

ABU DHABI — A Lockheed Martin official said on Tuesday that he expects an agreement to be concluded this spring for the United Arab Emirates to buy an anti-ballistic missile system reputedly worth about $7 billion.

"I think ... sometime this spring, we'll get some positive news that the two governments have reached an agreement" on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, said Dennis Cavin, Lockheed Martin vice president for international air and missile defence.

"The discussions started way back in 2007 when the Emirati government expressed interest in an integrated air and missile defence system," he said at a defence exposition in Abu Dhabi.

The missile defence consists of "the Patriot PAC-3 system, the THAAD system and then the integration" of the two.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Israeli paper confirms Netanyahu ordered African mercenaries and now Gaddafi's son visits Israel

By radiationcell313 with No comments

How Will America Handle The Fall of Its Middle East Empire?

Empires can collapse in the course of a generation. At the end of the 16th century, the Spanish looked dominant. Twenty-five years later, they were on their knees, over-extended, bankrupt, and incapable of coping with the emergent maritime powers of Britain and Holland. The British empire reached its fullest extent in 1930. Twenty years later, it was all over.

Today, it is reasonable to ask whether the United States, seemingly invincible a decade ago, will follow the same trajectory. America has suffered two convulsive blows in the last three years. The first was the financial crisis of 2008, whose consequences are yet to be properly felt. Although the immediate cause was the debacle in the mortgage market, the underlying problem was chronic imbalance in the economy.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Ordered to Attack Own People, Libyan Pilots Crash Their Jets

On Wednesday, the Gadhafi regime ordered two of its pilots to attack the opposition stronghold of Benghazi – part of the Libyan government’s ongoing attempt to bomb activists into submission. But rather than make that attack run, Abdessalam Attiyah al-Abdali and his co-pilot Ali Omar al-Kadhafi bailed. They parachuted out of their Russian-made Sukhoi 22, and let the jet crash about 100 miles west of Benghazi.

By radiationcell313 with No comments

Israeli general given credit for Stuxnet worm

An Israeli general has been credited with being behind the Stuxnet worm which played havoc with Iran's nuclear facilities.
General Gabi Ashkenazi retired this week after failing to gain promotion to the post of Chief of Staff. At his leaving party a video was shown which credited the out-going general with a hand in the operations which saw the specially-crafted Stuxent worm planted in Iran's nuclear facilities.
According to a Hebrew-language report in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz -  the video outlining the general's achievements made mention of the worm as well as an attack on nuclear reactor in Syria three and-a-half years ago. Israel never claimed responsibility for the attack, but there aren't that many other suspects.

Stuxnet was credited with stalling Iran's nuclear ambitions. The New York Times suggested last month that the worm had been developed by American and Israeli military scientists as a part of a joint project, but neither has confirmed any involvement.
The latest twist in the tale published by Haaretz and spotted by net-security.org never appeared in English.

Read more:

By radiationcell313 with No comments

The Struggle for Self-Determination in the Arab World: The Alliance between Arab Dictators and Global Capital

Is 1848 Repeating Itself in the Arab World? Is history repeating itself? Have the events of 1848 in Europe repeated themselves in the Arab World? Will 2011 see the same outcomes as 1848? Only the Arab people can decide. Their fate is in their hands, but they should learn from the mistakes of 1848 and seriously address the role of the capitalist class.

The Arabs are seeing their second wave of revolt against colonialism. The first wave of revolt started between the First World War and at the end of the Second World War. It involved the Great Arab Revolt, with British and French support, against Ottoman Turkey during the First World War and then Arab revolt against Britain, France, and Italy during and after the Second World War. [3]

During the formal period of colonialism, the authority of the colonial powers (Britain, France, and Italy) were politically visible. Today, the Arab World is under the ”invisible authority” of the neo-colonial powers.  These include the U.S., Britain, and France.

By radiationcell313 with No comments