"Depleted Uranium Used by Israel" in Bombing Outside Damascus, Syrian Military Official Alleges

From Jerusalem Post quoting Russia Today (5/6/2013):

'Israel used depleted uranium shells in Syria'

Israel used depleted uranium shells in the alleged strike in Syria on Sunday, a senior Syrian military source told Russia Today on Monday.

"When the explosion happened it felt like an earthquake, then a giant golden mushroom of fire appeared. This tells us that Israel used depleted uranium shells," the source said.

Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium for use in nuclear reactors. It is 2.5 times as dense as steel, which allows it to penetrate heavy protection. The material is known to be toxic, but not dangerously radioactive.

Syrian state television claimed the bombing occurred around a military research facility at Jamraya. The New York Times reported that the strike also targeted the bases of the elite Republican Guard and storehouses of long-range missiles.
The senior official speaking to RT downplayed the strategic importance of the weapons targeted in the attack, saying the military losses were "negligible" and that valuable equipment was removed from the site of attack after a previous strike.

"The target was just an ordinary weapons warehouse. The bombing is an ultimatum to us – it had no strategic motivation," he was quoted by RT as saying.

A Western intelligence source told Reuters the attack targeted "stores of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah," while a senior Hezbollah source denied to Kuwaiti daily Alrai on Monday that the weapons targeted belonged to his organization.

(Full article at the link)

It is interesting, almost amusing, that the Israeli newspaper quotes all these news sources in describing the attacks allegedly by Israel. The Israeli government remains silent on the attacks.

Meanwhile, contradicting what the US administration has been saying (and still saying, as of Monday), the UN investigators say it may have been the rebel forces in Syria that used sarin gas, not the Assad regime.

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French Officials Accuse US of Hacking Sarkozy's Computers, Attacks Bear Hallmarks of "Flame"

From The Hill (11/20/2012; emphasis is mine):

Report: French officials accuse US of hacking Sarkozy's computers

The United States used U.S.-Israeli spy software to hack into the French presidential office earlier this year, the French cyberwarfare agency has concluded, according to the newsmagazine l'Express.

The magazine reported late Tuesday that the computers of several close advisers to then-president Nicolas Sarkozy – including Chief of Staff Xavier Musca – were compromised in May by a computer virus that bears the hallmarks of Flame, which was allegedly created by a U.S.-Israeli team to target Iran's nuclear program. Anonymous French officials pointed the finger at the United States.

“You can be on very good terms with a 'friendly' country and still want to guarantee their unwavering support – especially during a transition period,” an official told the magazine. The alleged spying attack took place a few days before the second round of the French presidential elections, which Sarkozy lost to Francois Hollande, a socialist.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano reportedly did not deny the allegations when asked point-blank about them.

“We have no greater partner than France, we have no greater ally than France,” Napolitano reportedly answered, at the opening of an interview with l'Express. “We cooperate in many security-related areas. I am here to further reinforce those ties and create new ones.”

In the interview, Napolitano also said that the Flame and Stuxnet viruses had “never been linked to the U.S. government.”

The White House did not return a request for comment from The Hill.

I remember there was a little noted piece of news earlier this month that the oil giant Chevron admitted that their system was infected with Stuxnet.

From CNET (11/8/2012):

Stuxnet, the sophisticated computer virus that attacked a nuclear enrichment facility in Iran two years ago, also inadvertently infected Chevron's network.

Reportedly created by the U.S. and Israel, the highly destructive worm was designed to infect Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. Rather than steal data, Stuxnet left a back door meant to be accessed remotely to allow outsiders to stealthily knock the facility offline and at least temporarily cripple Iran's nuclear program.

The oil giant discovered the malware in July 2010 after the virus escaped from its intended target, Mark Koelmel, Chevron's general manager of the earth sciences department, told The Wall Street Journal.

"I don't think the U.S. government even realized how far it had spread," he said. "I think the downside of what they did is going to be far worse than what they actually accomplished."

A Chevron spokesperson told CNET that the company's network was not adversely affected by the virus.

"Two years ago, our security systems identified the Stuxnet virus. We immediately addressed the issue without incident," a Chevron representative said.

What does Stuxnet have to do with Flame? It turns out that they share the same source codes, according to Computerworld (6/11/2012):

The two pieces of malware -- Flame for reconnaissance, Stuxnet for attack -- each included a module that appears to originate from the same source code, likely written by a single programmer.

Persistent comments that Fukushima I Nuke Plant was infected by Stuxnet don't seem to take into account, though, that their network system hadn't been quite brought up to speed in the PC era, not advanced enough to get infected.

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Stratfor on Gaza Conflict: Israel May Start Ground Offensive on November 17 Night

It sounds like an all-out war to me, not mere "conflict", as Stratfor puts it.

The rationale behind it, as Stratfor puts it, is the alleged intelligence that Gaza militants are manufacturing long-range rockets locally.

From Stratfor (11/17/2012; part):

Update on the Israel-Gaza Conflict

New intelligence indicates forces in Gaza may be manufacturing long-range rockets locally. If this is the case, a significant ground force offers the Israelis the best chance of finding and neutralizing the factories making these weapons. Meanwhile, Israel continues its airstrikes on Gaza, and Gaza continues its long-range rocket attacks on major Israeli population centers, though Israel claims its Iron Dome defense system has intercepted most of the rockets.

Israel appears to be positioning itself for a ground operation, perhaps as early as the night of Nov. 17. The Israeli Cabinet on Nov. 16 approved Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request to call up 75,000 reservists, significantly more than during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009. The Israeli army meanwhile has also sought to strengthen its presence on the borders with Gaza. Primary roads leading to Gaza and running parallel to Sinai have been declared closed military zones. Tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and troops continue to stream to the border, and many units already appear to be in position.

During Operation Cast Lead, the Israelis transitioned to the ground phase around 8:00 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2009. Going in during dark hours allows the IDF to take advantage of its superior night-fighting equipment and training, including the use of night vision goggles and thermal optics.

The Israeli air force remained active throughout the night of Nov. 16-17, striking at targets across the Gaza Strip including key Hamas ministries, police stations and tunnels near the border crossing with Egypt. The IAF reportedly carried out strikes in Rafah's al-Sulan and al-Zahour neighborhoods, as well as east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp. According to IDF reports, the air force carried out a rapid and coordinated military strike, targeting approximately 70 underground medium-range rocket-launching sites in the less than an hour. The IDF claims direct hits were confirmed. The IAF will increasingly target Hamas militant defenses ahead of any ground invasion. Already the IAF has bombed militant defensive positions, particularly in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

(Update on the Israel-Gaza Conflict is republished with permission of Stratfor.)

Ever since the Fukushima nuke accident, all I care about is "Where is the nuke plant?" In case of Israel, the Negev Nuclear Research Center is near Dimona, in southern Israel (the map from Zero Hedge, who took it from Stratfor):

It looks like it's at a safe distance, but missiles from Gaza are reaching Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, thwarted by the Israeli missile defense system (see Christian Science Monitor article, 11/17/2012).

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Crude Oil Spikes on News That Saudi Arabia Tells Citizens to Leave Lebannon Immediately

Here's the intraday chart of crude oil (Yahoo Finance):

Here's the short snippet from Reuters (8/15/2012):

Saudi Arabia tells citizens to leave Lebanon immediately - SPA

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon "immediately", the state news agency reported in an SMS alert on Wednesday.

"The Saudi Arabian embassy in Lebanon calls all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon immediately," the alert said, without elaborating.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Israel Requests Japan to Stop Buying Iranian Oil

From Nikkei Shinbun quoting Kyodo News (1/30/2012):

【エルサレム＝共同】イスラエルを訪問した山根隆治外務副大臣は29日、エルサレムでリーベルマン外相らと会談した。イスラエル側はイランからの原油輸入停止を要請。山根氏は日本のイラン産原油輸入量は過去５年間で約40％減っており、今後も削減に努めると説明、理解を求めた。

(Jerusalem, Kyodo News) Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ryuji Yamane who is visiting Israel met on January 29 with Israel's Foreign Minister Lieberman in Jerusalem. Israel requested Japan to stop importing crude oil from Iran. Yamane explained that the amount of crude oil Japan imports from Iran has decreased by 40% in 5 years and that Japan will continue its effort to reduce the amount, and asked for Israel's understanding.

　山根氏がエルサレムで記者団に明らかにした。イスラエルは、核開発を進めるイランを最大の脅威と位置付けている。...

Yamane disclosed the Israel's request to the press in Jerusalem. Israel considers Iran as its greatest threat, as Iran develops its nuclear program.

What Japan reduces will simply go to China, India, and Russia. Canada's oil and gas will probably also go to China. Japan will be left dry, and cold, as a mini ice age hits...

Isn't it ironic that Japan is part of the economic embargo against Iran by the US and the EU, while it suffered the same by FDR in the run-up to the World War II?

No wonder the population of Japan is set to decrease by whopping 30% by 2060.

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AFP: 'Time has come' to act on Iran, Israel says

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak cites the report by IAEA, headed by Japanese bureaucrat Yukiya Amano.

From AFP via Yahoo News (11/20/2011):

The "time has come" to deal with Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday, refusing to rule out military action to curb the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.

Barak, speaking on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS program, indicated that Israel's patience was wearing thin -- and provided an ominous response when asked about the growing speculation of an Israeli military strike.

"I don't think that that is a subject for public discussion," he said. "But I can tell you that the IAEA report has a sobering impact on many in the world, leaders as well as the publics, and people understand that the time has come."

The International Atomic Energy Agency published a report on November 8 saying there was "credible" information that Iran was carrying out "activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device."

On Friday the IAEA's board passed a resolution condemning Iran's nuclear activities, but stopped short of reporting Tehran to the United Nations and issuing no deadline for compliance.

...The IAEA report -- based on "broadly, credible" intelligence, its own information and some input from Iran itself -- said that Iran had examined how to fit out a Shahab 3 missile, with a range capable of reaching Israel, with a nuclear warhead.

Tehran rejected the report "baseless," denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and maintains its nuclear activities are for civilian energy purposes.

Washington, Paris and London however jumped on the report as justification to increase pressure on Iran, already under four rounds of Security Council sanctions and additional US and European Union restrictions.

The UK military is already getting ready for the US action (whatever it will be, will be...), by the way.

From Guardian (11/2/2011):

Britain's armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned.

The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.

In anticipation of a potential attack, British military planners are examining where best to deploy Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles over the coming months as part of what would be an air and sea campaign.

(The article continues at the link.)

The IAEA report on Iran nukes is here.

Let's see, who is downwind from Iran's nuke facilities?

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Mondoweiss: Israeli Company Recruits Mercenaries for Gaddafi

Mondoweiss has a post (3/3/2011) that lists several links to articles that claim an Israeli company headed by retired Israeli army commanders is selling arms to Gaddafi and recruiting mercenaries for him to fight the opposition forces in Libya.

The Mondoweiss' post has the near-verbatim translation of the article in Hebrew, and in it I found an interesting bit of information about Gaddafi's mercenaries:

It should be noted that mercenaries who had already arrived in Tripoli, left from Chad and that is a provable fact. According to publications in the west, Qaddafi pays the company that deals in recruiting mercenaries 2,000 USD per day, per fighter. From that, the mercenaries personally receive about $100 per day. This is a brokerage deal to the tune of billions of dollars. The money is paid to the African supervisors who bring their gangs and rake in a fortune. The large amounts include weapons and ammunition that mercenaries use, and compensation for the mercenaries’ families in the event that fighters are killed, injured, or fall in captivity.

But wait, there's more. It gets curiouser and curiouser.

An Israeli TV interviewed two Israeli woman of Libyan origin last year, who claimed to be Gaddafi's relatives. Gaddafi, if what they said is true, is Jewish, and is entitled to immigrate to Israel, no question asked.

According to Israel Today (2/21/2011):

Israel’s Channel 2 News last year interviewed two Israeli women of Libyan origin who claimed to be distant relatives of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The older of the two interviewees, Guita Brown, said she is Gaddafi’s second cousin (Brown’s grandmother was the sister of Gaddafi’s grandmother). The younger of the two women, Rachel Saada, granddaughter of Brown, explained in more detail:

“The story goes that Gaddafi’s grandmother, herself a Jewess, was married to a Jewish man at first. But he treated her badly, so she ran away and married a Muslim sheikh. Their child was the mother of Gaddafi.”

While Gaddafi’s grandmother converted to Islam when she married the sheikh, according to Jewish religious law (and common sense), she was ethnically still Jewish.

At this point the news anchor stated, “So, the point is that Gaddafi doesn’t just have Jewish relatives, he is Jewish!”

The same magazine also reports that Gaddafi tried to fund a "Libyan" political party in Israel.

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Here Comes #Iran, Right on Cue

Crashes are reported in Iran between the security forces and opposition supporters.

From Al Jazeera (3/1/2011):

Iran's security forces fired teargas and clashed with opposition supporters in central Tehran, where demonstrators were rallying to demand the release of two opposition leaders, according to witnesses and an opposition website.

"Security forces and people in civilian clothes clashed with demonstrators in Tehran to disperse them," opposition website Kaleme reported about Tuesday's events.

Kaleme.com said protesters rallied at several points in the capital, chanting "death to the dictator" and calling on authorities to free Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi.

Former presidential candidates Mousavi and Karoubi have not been seen in public since they called for a rally on February 14, during which thousands of their supporters took to the streets to support uprisings in the Arab world.

Family members and opposition activists say the two leaders have moved from house arrest to a Tehran prison along with their wives. Iranian authorities deny the reports.

Sahamnews, another opposition website, reported large numbers of security personnel stationed at main streets and squares in Tehran "to prevent gathering of opposition supporters."

By the way, have you noticed that Israel has gone very quiet since their attempt to support Hosni Mubarak went awry?

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DEBKA: Mubarak Moved a Large Part of Assets from Europe to Saudi Arabia On Feb 12-13

With a grain of salt, from DEBKAfile (2/14/2011):

Hosni Mubarak and his family have moved a large part of their assets – guesstimated at between $20 and $70 billion - from European banks to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republics against personal guarantees from King Abdullah and Sheik Al Nahyan to block access to outside parties.This is reported by Gulf and West European sources. Tunisian ex-ruler Zein Al Abdain Ben Ali received the same guarantee when he fled his country and received asylum in the oil kingdom.

A Swiss financial source commented: "If he had any real money in Zurich, it may be gone by now."

According to debkafile's sources, the transfers took place on Feb. 12-13. Although a weekend when European banks are closed, high-ranking officials in Riyadh had their managers hauled out of home to execute Mubarak's transfer orders without delay.

The ousted Egyptian ruler was on the phone to Saudi King Abdullah Friday, Feb. 11, immediately after his vice president Omar Suleiman went on state television to announce his resignation and handover of rule to the army. Mubarak called it a military putsch conducted under pressure from Washington. He denied he had resigned or passed any powers to the army. "I had no idea Omar Suleiman was about to read out that statement. I would never have signed it or allowed it to be published," said Mubarak.

The Saudi king voiced understanding for the ex-president's plight and said the Riyadh government was under orders to meet any requests for assistance received from him.....

In another, earlier article, DEBKA says that Saudi Arabia has initiated a dialog with Iran, and that the Saudi king is extremely upset with Obama over the US handling of the situation in Egypt. The article cites unnamed sources who told DEBKA that the king was so upset talking to Obama on the phone on February 10 that he suffered a heart attack.

As I said at the top, with a grain of salt.

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Crashes Reported in Iran Between Protesters and Security Forces, With US Secretary of State Egging the Protesters On

The protests in Egypt have largely failed to become "hot", although the Mubarak regime tried their best to make them that way. And there has been no "radical Islam" taking over the country.

So, TPTB (the powers that be) must create a "hot" "revolution" somehow. Why, you ask?

Why not? Just for fun, maybe? As a diversion from the mess (like insolvent states in the US)? Or Israel needs an enemy, perhaps.

From Al Jazeera [emphasis is mine]:

There are reports in social media sites and non-state Iranian news sites of clashes between protesters and security forces in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Thousands of demonstrators were marching on Monday on Enghelab and Azadi streets [which connect and create a straight path through the city centre], with a heavy presence in Enghelab Square and Vali-Asr Street, according to these reports.

Several clashes have been reported on Twitter, the micro-blogging site, with claims of some demonstrators being teargassed and others beaten and arrested.

Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari, in Tehran, confirmed reports that security forces used tear gas, pepper spray and batons against the protesters.

She said up to 10,000 security forces had been deployed to prevent protesters from gathering at Azadi Square, where the marches, originating from various points in Tehran, were expected to converge.

...As night fell in Iran, the BBC reported that city lights were being turned off and that security forces were attacking protesters in the dark.

...Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, hailed the "courage" of the protesters, and pressed Tehran to follow Egypt's example and "open up" its political system.

Our correspondent in Tehran said that as far as Iran's leaders are concerned, Monday's protests "are not a reflection of what people actually want."

They believe these are small groups of individuals who have ulterior motives, they are a threat to national security and therefore the security forces are necessary to prevent them from becoming a threat inside the country," said Jabbari.

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George Soros Weighs In on Egyptian Revolution

Some sort of an end plan must be getting into place when George Soros starts to squawk.

Here's part of George Soros' amusing Op-Ed in Washington Post on 2/3/2011 [my comments in brackets]:

Why Obama has to get Egypt right

[as if he carries any weight (pun intended)...]

Revolutions usually start with enthusiasm and end in tears. In the case of the Middle East, the tears could be avoided if President Obama stands firmly by the values that got him elected. Although American power and influence in the world have declined, our allies and their armies look to us for direction. These armies are strong enough to maintain law and order as long as they stay out of politics; thus the revolutions can remain peaceful. That is what the United States should insist on while encouraging corrupt and repressive rulers who are no longer tolerated by their people to step aside and allow new leaders to be elected in free and fair elections.

[After that, and a favorable assessment for "democratic" Tunisia, he has to bring up the fear of radical Islam..]

Egypt is more complex and, ultimately, more influential, which is why it is so important to get it right. The protesters are very diverse, including highly educated and common people, young and old, well-to-do and desperately poor. While the slogans and crowds in Tahrir Square are not advancing a theocratic agenda at all, the best-organized political opposition that managed to survive in that country's repressive environment is the Muslim Brotherhood. In free elections, the Brotherhood is bound to emerge as a major political force, though it is far from assured of a majority.

[But he, as a Jew, can also bring up the issue of Israel, without being accused of anti-Semitic..]

The main stumbling block is Israel. In reality, Israel has as much to gain from the spread of democracy in the Middle East as the United States has. But Israel is unlikely to recognize its own best interests because the change is too sudden and carries too many risks. And some U.S. supporters of Israel are more rigid and ideological than Israelis themselves. Fortunately, Obama is not beholden to the religious right, which has carried on a veritable vendetta against him. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is no longer monolithic or the sole representative of the Jewish community. The main danger is that the Obama administration will not adjust its policies quickly enough to the suddenly changed reality.

[Lastly, he says he's wary of revolutions in general - now that's funny, remember all those color-coded so-called "revolutions" supported (and probably orchestrated) by his foundations? - but he has high hopes for Egyptians, and he is readying his numerous foundations to contribute...]

I am, as a general rule, wary of revolutions. But in the case of Egypt, I see a good chance of success. As a committed advocate of democracy and open society, I cannot help but share in the enthusiasm that is sweeping across the Middle East. I hope President Obama will expeditiously support the people of Egypt. My foundations are prepared to contribute what they can. In practice, that means establishing resource centers for supporting the rule of law, constitutional reform, fighting corruption and strengthening democratic institutions in those countries that request help in establishing them, while staying out of those countries where such efforts are not welcome.

Egyptians, I'd suggest you say "Thank you but no thank you."

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Mu-Barack Obama to the Rescue!

Obumbum is scrambling to replace "One Crony Egyptian Government with Another" before the Super Bowl Sunday with Jennifer Lopez.

From Zero Hedge [emphasis is mine]:

Just out from the NYT:

The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately, turning over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats said Thursday.

In other words, the formerly biggest spook of the Middle East, and quite possibly a former CIA asset, is about to become president, under the auspices of a US-endorsed "democratic" transition, which does nothing but replace one crony regime with another.

The proposal also calls for the transitional government to invite members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to begin work to open up the country’s electoral system in an effort to bring about free and fair elections in September, the officials said.

It is disturbing that the US administration does not comprehend that the Egyptian people (not to single out the MB) are sufficiently intelligent to see just how superficial this proposed "regime change" is. The only thing remaining is for George Soros to be propounding the benefits of "Open Society" on the streets of Cairo within weeks.

Cui bono? (other than trouble-free Super Bowl Sunday for Obama)

Muslim Brotherhood, for one, even though they didn't bother showing up in the protest until Tuesday, and other fundamentalist Islamicists who amply demonstrated (I hope) to secular Egyptians in Tahrir Square how fanatically brutal they were (in reference to Robert Fisk's report I quoted in my post).

And another? Well, I'll just link this article with the opening paragraph quote for your consideration:

Israel places resources at Suleiman's disposal "to protect the Egyptian regime" (2/1/2011 Middle East Monitor)

Well-placed Israeli sources have disclosed that the Zionist state has offered to place "all its capabilities" at the disposal of General Omar Suleiman, the recently appointed Vice President of Egypt, for the "protection of the regime in Egypt". This offer includes the implementation of "various operations to end the popular revolution". Israel has also asked Suleiman to work on preventing arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

An official in Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called Suleiman, who is also the director of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, and expressed his concern about the situation in Egypt. Netanyahu apparently suggested the possibility of Israeli intelligence personnel undertaking various specialist operations to bring an end to the demonstrations. The source added that Netanyahu and Suleiman also discussed ways of securing the border between Israel and Egypt.

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Al Jazeera: Mubarak May Flee to Israel

From Al Jazeera Magazine:

According to sources in the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel is making preparations to welcome Hosni Mubarak into exile after Saudi Arabia rejected overtures.

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Zionist Organization of America Urges Obama to Support Mubarak

According to Dan Murphy at Christian Science Monitor who's been live-blogging the events as they unfold in Egypt:

3:00 PM EST (9:00 PM Cairo) OBAMA MUST SUPPORT MUBARAK says the Zionist Organization of America, according to an email I just received from a PR firm. The email summarizes the position of Morton Klein, the group's national president, thusly: "The United States must do everything possible to keep Mubarak in power even though he is a dictator – otherwise we risk someone even more radical and extremist taking over. Whoever were to take over would surely be an enemy to both the United States and Israel. Should a group like the Muslim Brotherhood take power, any chance of the peace treaty with Israel and Egypt will surely die." It's a predictable point of view that, of course, amounts to asking the US to defy the will of the Egyptian people. There is been almost no discussion or interest in Israel in a public way from the tens of thousands of Egypt protesters who have taken to the streets this week. Average Egyptian's, like almost all Arabs, have a low opinion of Israel if prompted, but they're focused on reordering their internal affairs. Their complaints focus on low wages, state torture, lack of freedom and so on. Could the Muslim Brotherhood come to power some day? Well, maybe, though that's far from certain and many analysts I respect speculate the group's popularity would fade in an environment were real political movements and parties were tolerated. But even if they rose to parliamentary power, it's hard to see renewing confrontation with Israel -- a drain on resources and a distraction from the demands of the Egyptian people -- would be a first order of business. Statements like this will, of course, feed conspiracy theories that the US and Israel stood in the way of democracy in Egypt if Mubarak manges somehow to hang on.

Not all Jews are Zionists. Far from it.

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Fred Reed: Let's Attack Iran!

Fred Reed, whose articles are regularly featured at Lewrockwell.com, writes about the latest squawking by the neocon Senator Lindsey Graham to attack Iran, and in the process deliciously comparing Senator Graham to a tapeworm.

His central message? War promoters, be careful what you wish for.

Let's Attach Iran: Children with Matches
(Fred Reed, 11/8/2010 Fred on Everything)

Oh good. I see that Senator Lindsey Graham wants to attack Iran. The US, he says, should "sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard."

Senator Graham has the brains of a tapeworm, making him eminently qualified for the senate. Tapeworms, I note, do not have brains. It is characteristic of warlike innocents, to include the Pentagon, to believe that if you destroy navies and air forces, you win wars. This worked well in Vietnam, you will recall, and as soon as we destroy the Taliban’s navy, Afghanistan will be a cakewalk.

Now, I understand that practicality and realism are alien concepts in American politics, to be approached with trepidation, but maybe, just once, we should think before sticking our private parts into a wood-chipper. Just once. I do not propose consistent rationality, forethought, or intelligent behavior. I profoundly respect my country’s traditions.

However, folk wisdom from West Virginia: Before you say, “I can whip any man in the bar!” it is well to scout the bar.

Note that the United States cannot defeat Iran militarily, short of using nuclear weapons. It is easy to start a war. Finishing one is harder. I could punch out Mike Tyson. Things thereafter might not go as well as hoped.

Some will find the thought of American martial incapacity outrageous. Can’t beat Iran? Buncha towel monkeys? Among grrr-bowwow-woof patriots, there exists a heady delusion of American potency, that the US has “the greatest military power the world has ever seen.” Ah. And when did it last win a war? In Afghanistan, for ten years the gloriousest military ever known, the expensivist, and whoosh-bangiest, hasn’t managed to defeat a bunch of pissed-off illiterates with AKs and RPGs.

At this point Lindsey of Persia will doubtless allude to the wonders of air power, of “precision-guided weapons,” of smart bombs that presumably read Kant on the way down. Those pitiable Iranians would have no hope of stopping our mighty bombers. True.

Implicit in this Thomistic fantasy (Clancy, I mean, not Aquinas) is that Iran wouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t dare fight back without a navy, etc. Lindsey had better be very sure that Iran couldn’t block the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation. Enough of the world’s petroleum comes from the Gulf that the price would rise drastically if the Straits were blocked. Some economies would simply stop.

How many supertankers going up in flames would be tolerated before operators of tankers refused to risk it?

Iran recently began serial production of the Nasr 1, an anti-ship cruise missile. Tankers are thin-skinned and highly flammable. The Nasr 1 can be fired from the back of a truck. Trucks by their nature are mobile. They are easy to hide.

The Air Force, to include Naval Air, may be confident that it can destroy all of Iran’s missiles. The Air Force always believes that air power can do anything and everything—make coffee, win at marbles, everything. After all, don’t its airplanes say “Vrooom!” and “Swoosh!”? Don’t cockpits have lots of portentous buttons and spiffy little screens? Unfortunately the Air Force is regularly wrong.

In fact the entire military is regularly wrong about the ease and duration of its adventures. For example, it had no idea that Viet Nam would turn into an endless war ending in defeat (if that makes sense). Iraq notoriously was going to be a walk in the park. That the war on Afghanistan would last ten years with a distinct possibility of defeat…this never occurred to the soldiers.

It is barely conceivable that the Five-Sided Wind Box could do what Field Marshal Graham thinks it could do. The unexpected is always a possibility. But, the stakes being what they would be in Hormuz, hoo-boy….

Another possibility is that Israel will attack Iran, as it has threatened. I would like to think that even Bibi Nut-and-Yahoo has better sense but, it the US can produce gibbering wingnuts, why not Israel? The practical effects of an Israeli attack would be indistinguishable from those of an American attack: America would have to solve the problem. Which it probably couldn’t. Israel can bomb Iran’s nuclear codpieces, but it can’t defeat Iran. And if the Strait were blocked after an Israeli attack, the entire globe would holler, “Israel did it!” which would be true.

The distance from “Israel did it” to “The Jews did it,” though logically great, is emotionally short. People think in collective terms. Remember that after some Saudis dropped the Towers, the alleged war on terror morphed almost instantly into intense hostility for Moslems. It doesn’t make sense, but what has that got to do with anything?

I know a lot of Jews, who are all over the place politically and intellectually. They have in common a complete lack of resemblance to the scheming, hand-rubbing, heh-heh-heh Jews of Neo-nazi imagination. Few sacrifice Christian children (a temptation strongest, I can attest, among Christian parents). But…people think collectively.

Congress doesn’t support Israel because it likes Israel, but from political expediency. If the wind blows the other way, so will Congress. Gasoline at twelve dollars is a lot of wind in a commuting country.

Things worsen for America, yet we really don’t know where the country is going or how it will react. The last domestic catastrophe was the Great Depression, when America was a very different place. How bad can things get, economically, politically, internationally? How does a pampered population incapable of planting a garden respond to genuinely hard times? “It can’t happen here,” one hears. What can’t? I suspect that all sorts of things could happen, given sufficiently hard times.

The United States is today an edgy, unhappy country, sliding toward poverty, increasingly dictatorial, inchoately angry, hostile to blacks, the French, Mexicans, Moslems and, creepingly, the Chinese. (Jews, perhaps to their surprise, don’t make the enemies list.) Americans don’t do cosmopolitian. The federal pressure for diversity exists because otherwise no one would associate with anyone else. The Persian Gulf is one of few places that plausibly might wreck the industrial world. There would have to be someone to blame. And Israel can’t survive without American suppport.

Maybe I’m crazy. But if I were an Israeli, I’d find a nice café on Diesengoff and enjoy a double cappucino, watch the girls, and keep my bombs in my pocket. Let somebody else take the fall.

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First US Missile Attack in Gaza Against 'Al-Qaeda'

This is not reported anywhere else, but DEBKAfile says in the November 4, 2010 article:

A missile fired from an American warship in the Mediterranean hit the car in which Muhammad Jamal A-Namnam, 27, was driving in the heart of Gaza City Wednesday, Nov. 3 and killed him, debkafile's exclusive counter-terror sources report. Namnam was an operational commander of the Army of Islam, Al-Qaeda's Palestinian cell in the Gaza Strip. He was on a mission on behalf of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – AQAP to plan, organize and execute the next wave of terrorist attacks on US targets after last week's air package bomb plot.

According to our sources, the Palestinian cell members were planning to infiltrate northern Sinai from the Gaza strip over the coming weekend and strike American personnel serving with the Multinational Force and Observers Organization – MFO, which is under American command and is stationed at North Camp, El Gorah, 37 kilometers southeast of El-Arish.

In a coordinated operation, Al Qaeda fighters hiding up in the mountains of central Sinai were to have attacked US Marines and Air Force troops stationed at the South Camp in Naama Bay, Sharm el Sheikh.

The twin attacks were scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 7, or the following day.

Our sources say that, just as US-Saudi intelligence cooperation led to the interception of package bombs from Yemen last week, so too US intelligence-sharing with Egypt and Israel foiled a major Al-Qaeda terrorist attack on American personnel in Sinai. Egyptian intelligence picked up on Namnam's scouting forays of US forces and discovered him caching weapons and explosives ready for the Al Qaeda strike force's arrival from Gaza.

Well, did you know that US Marines and Air Force troops are in Sinai, 16 kilometers from the Israeli border?

Crude oil, gold, silver are up, even though the US dollar has rebounded today.

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Stuxnet Followup: Stick It to Russians

It has wrecked havoc in Iran, it has moved to China and is doing the same, as I posted a few days ago.

No one supposedly know where Stuxnet, a virus that targets industrial control systems built by Siemens, originated, though there are not many nations in the world that are capable of programming something like this.

DEBKAfile, a website in one of such nations, insinuates that it was Russians who planted the virus:

"debkafile's intelligence sources report from Iran that dozens of Russian nuclear engineers, technicians and contractors are hurriedly departing Iran for home since local intelligence authorities began rounding up their compatriots as suspects of planting the Stuxnet malworm into their nuclear program.

"Among them are the Russian personnel who built Iran's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr which Tehran admits has been damaged by the virus.

"One of the Russian nuclear staffers, questioned in Moscow Sunday, Oct. 3 by Western sources, confirmed that many of his Russian colleagues had decided to leave with their families after team members were detained for questioning at the beginning of last week. He refused to give his name because he and his colleagues intend to return to Iran if the trouble blows over and the detainees are quickly released after questioning.

"According to our sources, these detentions were the source of the announcement Saturday, Oct. 2, by Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi that several "nuclear spies" had been captured. "The enemy had sent electronic worms through the internet to undermine Iran's nuclear activities," he said. This was the first high-level Iranian admission that the Stuxnet virus had been planted by foreign elements to sabotage their entire nuclear program - and not just the Bushehr reactor. The comprehensive scale of the damage is attested to by the detention of Russian nuclear experts also at Natanz, Isfahan and Tehran.

"...The prime aim of their interrogation is to find out if Russian intelligence knowingly planted the destructive worm in Iran's nuclear facilities, possibly for under-the-counter pay, or were the unwitting carriers of equipment on order by Iran that had been previously infected.

"debkafile's Western sources report that the hundreds of Russian scientists, engineers and technicians employed in Iran were responsible for installing the Siemens control systems in Iran's nuclear complex and other facilities which proved most vulnerable to the cyber attack.

"They were the only foreigners with access to these heavily guarded plants. At Bushehr, for instance, the Russian personnel enjoyed full access to all its systems."

Uh huh. Sure. It may be easy to bribe Russians to do things like plant the virus. The obvious question is, WHO BRIBED Russians?

And of course, the usual question: Cui bono?

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Stuxnet Has Moved On to China

After having wrecked havoc in Iran, Stuxnet the 'cyber weapon of mass destruction' apparently has moved on to China and is busy destroying computers there.

I'm very curious to know how it traveled from Iran to China... Hmmm. Maybe Chinese should have used legit copies of Windows from Microsoft...

So, who was it who created this malware? Maybe this one and this one?

Stuxnet 'cyber superweapon' moves to China (9/30/2010 AFP via Breitbart)

"A computer virus dubbed the world's "first cyber superweapon" by experts and which may have been designed to attack Iran's nuclear facilities has found a new target -- China.

"The Stuxnet computer worm has wreaked havoc in China, infecting millions of computers around the country, state media reported this week.

"Stuxnet is feared by experts around the globe as it can break into computers that control machinery at the heart of industry, allowing an attacker to assume control of critical systems like pumps, motors, alarms and valves.

"It could, technically, make factory boilers explode, destroy gas pipelines or even cause a nuclear plant to malfunction.

"The virus targets control systems made by German industrial giant Siemens commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other industrial facilities." [The article continues.]

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Fidel Castro Warns of Nuclear Holocaust and People Say "Yeah Right..."

Fidel Castro addressed the Cuban National Assembly for the first time since taking ill four years ago, and warned of an imminent nuclear war that will kill millions, and said the world needs to pressure Obama to avert the disaster.

Yes, he said the similar thing in June, too. But the reaction to his address?

"That's just for domestic Cuban politics." Or "He loves TV."

I sure hope so.

Fidel Castro Goes Live With Warning of Nuclear Holocaust
(Marc Frank, 8/7/2010 ABC News)

"Former Cuban President Fidel Castro warned today of imminent nuclear war and said the world's fate was in President Barack Obama's hands, as he addressed the Cuban National Assembly for the first time since taking ill four years ago.

"Castro said the most recent U.N. sanctions on Iran will trigger a nuclear holocaust if the United States inspects the country's ships come September, as called for in the June resolution.

"Only world pressure on Obama can avert the conflagration that will bring all major economies to a standstill, he said.

""In this critical situation President Barack Obama is the one who will have to give the order for this so-often announced and proclaimed attack," Castro said, calling on world leaders to weigh in with the U.S. president before it's too late.

"... Does anyone believe the powerful empire will back away from the sanctions' demand that Iranian merchant vessels be inspected?" Castro asked on Saturday.

""Does anyone think the Iranians, a people with a culture of thousands of years and which is much more intertwined with death than ours, will lack the courage we have shown in resisting the demands of the United States?" he continued, predicting Iran would respond to inspections by sinking the U.S. fleet and events would then quickly spiral out of control.

"The June sanctions call for Iranian ships to be searched if the country does not comply in 90 days with world demands it come clean concerning its nuclear activities.

""I doubt Fidel believes what he is saying. He is being dramatic, trying to stay relevant," a European diplomat quipped.

""The question we all have is what this means in terms of Cuba's domestic politics," he added." [The article continues.]

Fidel Castro is not alone in warning Obama. The Steering Group of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) sent a memorandum to Obama warning that Israel may bomb Iran as early as this month. (More on that and Israel's sovereign capture and arbitrage strategy, read my August 4 post.)

The video below is an interview of former US army colonel Ann Wright with Russia Today:

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Sovereign Capture and Arbitrage: Israel Could Force US to Join the War with Iran

Great chess players not only read the moves ahead but also narrow the choices left to the opponent in such a way that the opponent will make a move that will result in the checkmate.

I saw this article (linked below) yesterday at Zero Hedge, but I had read the similar articles elsewhere earlier. Even you haven't read any, it's not hard to figure out by yourself.

It is a sovereign capture and arbitrage, just like the financial crisis of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2010 were a regulatory capture and arbitrage. You create a situation where the other party has no other choice but acting the way you want them - dump your garbage on the regulators (the government), and have taxpayers pay it, even if that's not the best interest of the regulators or the taxpayers. But the maneuver is such that the regulators and/or taxpayers feel they simply had to do it to "save the system". The TBTF Wall Street banks got bailed out by the US taxpayers, and the European taxpayers are presented with $1 trillion so that the big European (and the US) banks continue to get paid.

Israel is simply doing the same capture and arbitrage on a sovereign nation level. Instead of "too big to fail (TBTF)", it is "too special for the US to fail". With 46 Republican Congressmen as co-sponsors for the House Resolution (H.Res. 1553) giving Israel unconditional support on whatever it may do regarding Iran, and over 70% of the US population believes Iran already has nuclear weapons (it doesn't), it seems the checkmate is only one or two moves away.

But just so that they can say "We told you so", more than anything else, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity sent a letter to President Obama:

VIPS Sends Memo To Obama Warning Israel May Bomb Iran "As Early As This Month" (Tyler Durden, 8/3/2010 Zero Hedge)

"The Steering Group of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) which consists of Phil Giraldi, former CIA (20 years), Larry Johnson, former CIA; DoS, (24 years), W. Patrick Lang, Col., USA, Special Forces (ret.); Director of HUMINT Collection, Defense Intelligence Agency (30 years), Ray McGovern, US Army Intelligence Officer, CIA (30 years), Coleen Rowley, FBI (24 years), and Ann Wright, Col., US Army Reserve (ret.), (29 years); Foreign Service Officer, Department of State (16 years), have penned a memo to the president in an attempt to alert him "to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month. This would likely lead to a wider war." Read on for the full memo by the activist group.

First appearing in TruthOut

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: War With Iran

We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month. This would likely lead to a wider war.

Israel’s leaders would calculate that once the battle is joined, it will be politically untenable for you to give anything less than unstinting support to Israel, no matter how the war started, and that U.S. troops and weaponry would flow freely. Wider war could eventually result in destruction of the state of Israel.

This can be stopped, but only if you move quickly to pre-empt an Israeli attack by publicly condemning such a move before it happens."

The letter continues, and you can read it in its entirety at Zero Hedge or at the Truth Out.

Why this month? Because...

"Last week’s announcement that U.S. officials will meet next month with Iranian counterparts to resume talks on ways to arrange higher enrichment of Iranian low enriched uranium for Tehran’s medical research reactor was welcome news to all but the Israeli leaders.

"In addition, Iran reportedly has said it would be prepared to halt enrichment to 20 percent (the level needed for the medical research reactor), and has made it clear that it looks forward to the resumption of talks.

"Again, an agreement that would send a large portion of Iran’s LEU abroad would, at a minimum, hinder progress toward nuclear weapons, should Iran decide to develop them. But it would also greatly weaken Israel’s scariest rationale for an attack on Iran.

"Bottom line: with the talks on what Israel’s leaders earlier labeled a “trick” now scheduled to resume in September, incentive builds in Tel Aviv for the Israelis to attack before any such agreement can be reached.

"We’ll say it again: the objective is regime change..."

The letter also mentions Admiral Michael G. Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has said that Pentagon has a war plan with Iran, just in case. Nonetheless, Admiral Mullen, who served in the Vietnam War, has been instrumental in preventing a blowup in the Middle East since the days of the previous administration under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

I am not very optimistic that Admiral Mullen will succeed this time, even though I hope and pray that he will. The US will end up with three open wars - Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, none of which has attacked the US. (Remember 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.) For Obama, it is a chance to become an overnight sensation among the Republican leadership and conventional Republicans in the flyover states. Most Democrats are no longer anti-war now that their party is the government. He wouldn't gain much by restraining Israel.

I'm sure the stock market will melt up when (not even if at this point) the attack takes place. Oil and gold will skyrocket, along with the US dollar, Treasuries, and everything else.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, ........ (fill in the blank).

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