Vladimir Putin recently made comments on the seriousness of global conflicts that can lead to nuclear conflict. Patriots worldwide should pay close attention as the globalists build their dangerous nuclear arsenal.
In stark contrast to attempts in numerous western countries to stifle free speech online, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Internet freedom during a conference...
A prominent Swedish lawmaker asserts that Hungarian billionaire George Soros's influence on European politics and policies make him "one of the most dangerous men,"
Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence
officer. He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the
INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from
1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector.
Satellite imagery on Al Asad air base from @PlanetLabs shows five impact points after being hit by Iranian missiles last night.#Iran deliberately avoided hitting populated areas.
Iran also fired five additional missiles at the US consulate in
Erbil; US commanders on the ground said that it appeared Iran
deliberately avoided striking the consulate, but in doing so sent a
clear signal that had it wanted, the consulate would have been
destroyed. Trump had to back down
This was
the reality that President Trump had to wrestle with when addressing the
American people regarding the state of hostilities between the US and
Iran.
Trump had previously promised a massive retaliation should
Iran attack any US personnel or facilities. Surrounded by his national
security team, Trump had to back down from that threat, knowing full
well that if he were to attack Iran, the Iranian response would be
devastating for both the US and its regional allies, including Israel,
Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The US might be able to inflict unimaginable
devastation on Iran, but the cost paid would be unacceptably high.
Trump’s rhetoric was aggressive, however, and his message made it
clear that the US still considered Iran to be a rogue state whose
pursuit of nuclear technology, ballistic missiles, and regional
dominance would be opposed by the US, with force if necessary. But the
Iranian missile attack drove home the new reality that, when it came to
Iran’s actions in the Persian Gulf, American Presidential rhetoric no
longer held sway as it once did.
Ali Khamenei, the Iranian Supreme Leader, drove this point home in a series of tweets claiming to have “slapped”
the US in the face for its assassination of Soleimani, emphasizing that
the policies pursued by Soleimani seeking the withdrawal of the US from
the Persian Gulf region were becoming a reality, citing the recent vote
by the Iraqi parliament to evict all foreign troops, including those of
the US, from its soil.
President Trump, in his address to the
American people, certainly talked the talk when it came to articulating a
strong anti-Iranian policy. The real question is whether Trump and the
American people are prepared to walk the walk, especially in a world
where Iranian missiles are capable of dealing death and destruction on a
scope and scale previously unimaginable.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A Finnish political economist and
author highlighted predicaments of nations that refused to adopt
strategies of resistance against US unilateralism, saying Ukraine, for
instance, became “the poorest” country in Europe after succumbing to
Washington’s bullying.
“Look
at Ukraine; they succumbed to USA bullying and propaganda and now their
country has become the poorest in Europe although it used to be the
industrial powerhouse of the Soviet Union,” Jon Hellevig said in an
interview with the Tasnim News Agency.
“And look at Germany,
France, and the whole European Union. Subjugated to the USA, they are
being ruined with a stagnant economy for more than a decade and deep
social and cultural crises,” he added.
Jon Krister Hellevig is
a Finnish lawyer and businessman who has worked in Russia since the
early 1990s. Hellevig was a candidate in the European parliament
election in 2014. He is the managing partner of the Moscow-based law
company Hellevig, Klein & Usov. Hellevig has written several books,
including Avenir Guide to Russian Taxes (2002, 2003, 2006 English and
Russian editions); Avenir Guide to Labor Laws (2002, 2003, 2006 English
and Russian editions). Expressions and Interpretations, a book on the
philosophy of law and the development of Russian legal practices;
Hellevig takes actively part in public discussion of current affairs and
social structure contributing with articles and commentary in the
media. He regularly lectures at international seminars on various
topics.
Following is the full text of the interview:
Tasnim:
International developments are full of examples of how regional and
trans-regional countries have successfully adopted strategies of
resistance against oppression and unilateralism that have borne good
results. As you know, countries like Iran, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, and
Palestine have protected their national sovereignty against foreign
threats and achieved many gains through this strategy. In contrast, some
countries have adopted a strategy of appeasement or reconciliation when
being hectored and bullied by world powers. Given the experiences of
these resistance countries, what do you think about their approach and
the concept of resistance?
Hellevig:
Naturally, resistance is the only choice, come what comes. At the same
time, the resistance strategy must be smart and strive to build bridges
to other countries outside the enemy. Tasnim: Do you think
countries that currently toe the line of major powers like the US ought
to emulate these experiences of resistance countries to protect their
independence and stand against unilateralism?
Hellevig:
Obviously they should. It’s a question of both the material and moral
well-being of the people and their very existence in the long-term. Look
at Ukraine; they succumbed to USA bullying and propaganda and now their
country has become the poorest in Europe although it used to be the
industrial powerhouse of the Soviet Union. And look at Germany, France,
and the whole European Union. Subjugated to the USA, they are being
ruined with a stagnant economy for more than a decade and deep social
and cultural crises. The traditional way of life of those European
countries is rapidly being destroyed with their social structures torn
apart. In fact, the very existence of those nations is now at risk.
Tasnim:
In an op-ed article written for Tasnim, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme
National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, warned the European countries
of the risks of inaction regarding the US administration’s unilateral
policies, saying the current EU leaders will be held accountable for
Europe’s future challenges. Shamkhani criticized Europe for becoming an
unimportant and passive actor that accepts humiliation at the hands of
the US and has to live with the destructive effects of Washington’s
unilateralism that have affected several international treaties. What is
your take on that? Isn’t it better for the EU to stand up to US
bullying and unilateralism?
Hellevig:
The European Union and its main constituent countries are not
independent nations as they have been taken over by US-led globalists.
Their armies belong to the US umbrella organization NATO, their
intelligence services are CIA branches, their media is owned by the
globalists, their capitalists are totally at the mercy of the US market
and its bullying terms, etc. Given these circumstances,
independent-minded politicians do not have a chance to come to power,
not in the individual states nor the totally undemocratic European
Union.
The problems are fortunately building up in the European
Union and with President Trump’s erratic policies the relationship is
becoming increasingly fraught. But things must get much worse before the
European people will mature to free themselves from the globalist yoke.
I am afraid, it will take an enormous financial and economic crisis to
bring that about. But this crisis will come for sure, sooner or later.
Paradoxically, an attack on Iran might be the final trigger for that.
And this is what holds the Americans at bay from Iran, at least for the
time being. On the other hand, the US economy is so bad with enormous
asset bubbles in every field of the economy, stock markets, housing
etc., massive budget and trade deficits and skyrocketing debt.
Therefore, there might be some people in the USA who could possibly
consider war and ensuing financial crisis as a means to extract the
country from those problems, to let everything crash and start the
global economy anew from ground zero.
The Trump-Putin meeting in Japan is crucial for both leaders—and for the world.
Despite determined attempts in Washington to sabotage such a “summit,” as I reported previously,
President Trump and Russian President Putin are still scheduled to meet
at the G-20 gathering in Japan this week. Iran will be at the top of
their agenda. The Trump administration seems determined to wage cold,
possibly even hot, war against the Islamic Republic, while for Moscow,
as emphasized by the Kremlin’s national security adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, on June 25, “Iran has been and will be an ally and partner of ours.”
Indeed, the importance of Iran (along with China) to Russia can
hardly be overstated. Among other reasons, as the West’s military
alliance encroaches ever more along Russia’s western borders, Iran is a
large, vital non-NATO neighbor. Still more, Teheran has done nothing to
incite Russia’s own millions of Muslim citizens against Moscow. Well
before Trump, powerful forces in Washington have long sought to project
Iran as America’s primary enemy in the Middle East, but for Moscow it is
a necessary “ally and partner.”
In normal political circumstances, Trump and Putin could
probably diminish any potential US-Russian conflict over Iran—and the
one still brewing in Syria as well. But both leaders come to the summit
with related political problems at home. For Trump, they are the
unproven but persistent allegations of “Russiagate.” For Putin, they are
economic.
As I have also previously explained,
while there was fairly traditional “meddling,” there was no “Russian
attack” on the 2016 American presidential election. But for many
mainstream American commentators, including the editorial page editor of The Washington Post,
it is an “obvious truth” and likely to happen again in 2020, adding
ominously that Trump is still “cozying up to the chief perpetrator,
Russian President Vladimir Putin.” A New York Times columnist goes further,
insisting that Russia “helped to throw the election” to Trump. Again,
there is no evidence whatsoever for these allegations. Also consider the
ongoing assault on Attorney General William Barr,
whose current investigation into the origins of “Russiagate” threatens
to conclude that the scandal originated not with Russia but with US
intelligence agencies under President Obama, in particular with the CIA
under John Brennan.
We should therefore not be surprised, despite possible
positive national security results of the Trump-Putin summit in Japan,
if the US president is again widely accused of “treason,” as he so
shamefully was following his meeting with Putin in Helsinki in July
2018, and as I protested at that time. Even the Times’
once-dignified columnist pages thundered, “Trump, Treasonous Traitor”
and “Putin’s Lackey,” while senior US senators, Democrat and Republican
alike, did much the same.
Putin’s domestic problem, on the other hand, is economic and
social. Russia’s annual growth rate is barely 2 percent, real wages are
declining, popular protests against officialdom’s historically endemic
corruption are on the rise, and Putin’s approval rating, while still
high, is declining. A public dispute between two of Putin’s advisers has
broken out over what to do. On the one side is Alexei Kudrin, the
leading monetarist who has long warned against using billions of dollars
in Russia’s “rainy day” funds to spur investment and economic growth.
On the other is Sergei Glaziev, a kind of Keynesian, FDR New Dealer who
has no less persistently urged investing these funds in new domestic
infrastructure that would, he argues, result in rapid economic growth.
During his nearly 20 years as Kremlin leader, Putin has generally sided with the “rainy day” monetarists. But on June 20, during his annual television call-in event,
he suddenly, and elliptically, remarked that even Kudrin “has been
drifting towards” Glaziev. Not surprisingly, many Russian commentators
think this means that Putin himself is now “leaning toward Glaziev.” If
so, it is another reason why Putin has no interest in waging cold war
with the United States—why he wants instead, indeed even needs, a
historic, long-term détente.
It seems unlikely that President Trump or any of the
advisers currently around him understand this important struggle—and it
is a struggle—unfolding in the Russian policy elite. But if Trump wants a
major détente (or “cooperation,” as he has termed it) with Russia,
anyone who cares about international security and about the well-being
of the Russian people should support him in this pursuit. Especially at
this moment, when we are told by the director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research that “the risks of the use of nuclear weapons…are higher now than at any time since World War Two.”
This commentary is based on Stephen F. Cohen’s most recent weekly discussion with the host of The John Batchelor Show. Now in their sixth year, previous installments are at TheNation.com.
Call me a cynic, but here is my cynical thought of a day.
So
about forty years ago, the Democrats and their intellectual leader,
Brzezinski, wanted to get rid of the hated regime. What do they do? They
are utilizing the maniacs from Saudi Arabia, like Bin Laden, and their
CIA enablers, to suck Brezhnev into the war in Afghanistan.
When
Russians crossed the border, triumphant Brzezinski informed Carter that
he'd created a perfect trap: Russian Vietnam, that would put an end to the Soviet Empire.
Who hates Trump with the passion that equals Brzezinski's hatred of Russia? Democrats.
So they are egging or silently condoning the maniacs abroad (Saudis,
Israelis) and the maniacs at home (Bolton, Pompeo) -- to suck Trump into
his Vietnam: Iranian war. That would surely be the end of his
presidency.
It appears that Trump --probably encouraged by
Tucker Carlson (too bad Brezhnev and his regime never had such smart
conservatives on their side) has avoided this trap.
But the
bottom line, the cynical and intelligent Democrats, would go to bed with
a devil, just to get into WH. And damn the consequences.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing new
"strong sanctions" against Iran in response to Tehran's downing of an
American drone last week.
Trump said the latest sanctions would target Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump told reporters at the White House on
Monday that Khamenei and his associates would be denied access to
financial resources by the new sanctions.
Video footage of #Iran’s air defenses shooting down a high-altitude #US Navy surveillance #drone
has been posted on social media by the Iranian military. It shows the
missile launch and an explosion at the moment of interception. READ
MORE: https://on.rt.com/9wqt
CGI showing deployment of an Avangard glider by Russian Defense Ministry
The Russian defense ministry has conducted the final successful test of the Avangard hypersonic glider before its entry into service, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced. The weapon will be deployed in 2019, he added.
A hypersonic glider is a special type of a warhead, which can fly through the atmosphere at a high speed. This extends the range of a missile, potentially increases accuracy and makes defending against it harder through unexpected maneuvers. But prolonged controlled flight requires special protection of the glider from heat and shock produced at hypersonic speeds. China, the US and Russia are considered the most advanced nations in the relevant technologies, and Moscow claims it is winning the race with the Avangard project.
“The test was finished just now in a complete success,” Putin told the cabinet on Wednesday. “All its specifications were confirmed.”
The president said the first regiment armed with missiles carrying Avangard gliders will be deployed in Russia next year.
"It’s a big event for the armed forces, and probably for the entire country. Russia has a new kind of strategic weapons."
In a separate statement, the Kremlin said that the Avangard glider tested on Wednesday was fired from the Dombarovsky site in southern Russia and targeted the test range in Kura in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The glider performed vertical and horizontal maneuvers in flight and accurately hit its intended target at a range, the statement said.
Avangard is one of five advanced weapon systems, which Putin presented in March this year as Russia’s response to the development by the US of anti-ballistic missile systems. Washington insists that its global ABM shield is meant to protect it and its allies from states like Iran and North Korea. Moscow believes it to be deception and sees the American effort as an attempt to undermine Russia’s nuclear deterrence.
The glider allows attacking targets that would normally be protected from a traditional ballistic missile warhead. It can take a course around land sites and warships with anti-ballistic missile capabilities or rely on its speed and maneuverability to avoid interception.
The project remains highly classified and even the appearance of the glider was not shown to the public. The video of the test released by the defense ministry showed only the launch of the carrier vehicle, but not the deployment of the glider, it’s flight or the moment it hit the target. According to Moscow’s statements’ Avangard can travel at the speed of over 20 Mach and its composite material hull withstands temperatures of up to 2,000 Celsius. The weapon is believed to be impossible to counter by any ABM systems for decades to come.
Yemen and the politics of denial and deceit. The Trump administration’s continued support of the Saudi-led war is morally indefensible and strategically counter-productive. Blaming Iran for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen only ensures more suffering. It is time to end this senseless conflict.
CrossTalking with Joshua Landis and Giorgio Cafiero.
European countries have vowed to maintain “effective financial channels” and to keep trading with Tehran after the US announced that the EU is not among those spared from its sweeping sanctions against Iran.
European countries suddenly discovered that they were not on the list of the ‘lucky ones’ that their ally, the US, decided to exempt from the new wave of all-encompassing sanctions it plans to unleash on Iran. The sanctions, targeting Iran’s shipping, finance and energy sectors, which come into force on November 5, are also designed to punish those countries that dared to do business with the Islamic Republic in defiance of the US pressure.
Only eight nations were graciously granted exemptions by the US, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. However, Pompeo made it clear that the EU as a single entity is not on the list, sparking an angry reaction from the US’ western allies. Washington also specifically mentioned thatit plans to target the special mechanism the EU has been creating to circumvent the restrictions, prompting its allies to fight back.
In response, the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, together with the foreign and finance ministers of Germany, France and the UK, vowed to maintain “effective financial channels with Iran” and in particular to continue buying the Islamic Republic’s oil and gas.
They also said that despite Washington’s pressure the EU is still committed to establishing a “Special Purpose Vehicle” for Iran-EU trade. The European nations will seek to protect its companies engaged in “legitimate business with Iran,” the statement said, adding that the EU will cooperate with Russia and China in particular to achieve these goals.
Since its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the US has been pursuing a policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, vowing to bring its oil exports to ‘zero’, much to the dismay of the European countries, which praise the agreement as “a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture” and have re-affirmed their commitment to the deal.
Washington, meanwhile, seems to be ready to stop at nothing to force Tehran to bow to its wishes, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin even threatening sanctions against the international service SWIFT, if it refuses to block Iran’s transactions.
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has hit the
ringleaders responsible for a terrorist attack on a military parade in
Ahvaz on September 22, which killed 30 people and injured over 60. READ
MORE: https://on.rt.com/9fi4
On September 17, I posted my column, “Evidence is no longer a Western
value.” I used as an example the blame that has been put on Russia for
the shot down Malaysian airliner. No evidence whatsoever exists for
the accusation, and massive evidence has been presented that the
airliner was shot down by the neonazis that seized power as a result of
the Washington-organized coup in Ukraine.
Blame was fixed on Russia not by any evidence but by continuous
evidence-free accusations that began the moment the airliner was shot
down. Anyone who asked for evidence was treated as a “Putin apologist.”
This took evidence out of the picture.
Wherever we look in these times, we see evidence-free accusations
established as absolute facts: Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass
destruction,” “Iranian nukes,” “Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the
Trump/Putin conspiracy that stole the 2016 US presidential election,
Syrian use of poison gas. Not a scrap of evidence exists for any of
these accusations, but the truth of the accusations is established in
many minds worldwide.
Science gave the world the principle of evidence-based fact, which
did away with the burning of witches and political decisions based in
superstitution. Truth became a force.
But truth can get in the way of agendas, and as elites recovered
their power from the social, political, and economic reforms of a
previous era, truth was divided into categories and cut so fine that it
disappeared. For the elite truth became identical to their economic
interests, and Identity Politics stripped truth of its universal
meaning and reduced truth to self-pleading race and gender truth.
The result is that today truth is established not by evidence but by repetition of accusations and falsehoods.
This made it easy to destroy people and countries by lies alone. Who
remembers Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International
Monetary Fund and at the time the likely future president of France?
Strauss-Kahn was out of step with Washington which wanted its puppet
Sarkozy reelected. Strauss-Kahn came to New York and was accused by a
hotel maid of sexual assault. He was arrested and jailed. The New York
district attorney and media whores pronounced him guillty.
Roger Stone: Deep State Prepared To Remove Trump By Any Means Necessary
Simultaneously, on cue, a French woman made the same claim. Case
closed. No evidence. Just claims. Then it emerged that the hotel maid
had just had very large sums of money far above her income level
deposited to her bank account. Even more damning, it was revealed that
Sarkozy knew of Strauss-Kahn’s arrest before the police announced it.
The case fell apart, and the New York district attorney publicly
apologized. But Strauss-Kahn had been forced to resign as Director of
the IMF and was out of the French presidential election. So Washington
won.
Today it is a common, routine tactic for both US political parties to
produce a woman to bring accusations of sexual harassment, abuse, or
assault against any heterosexual male appointee or nominee that either
party regards to be out of step with its agenda. It happens so
regularly that no sentinent person can possibly believe the woman.
Sexual assault has been reduced to one of the dirty tricks of politics.
As hard as false accusations can be on individuals, they destroy
entire countries. Just consider the destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya, currently Yemen, and Washington has not given up on the same fate
for Syria and Iran. Based on nothing but Washington’s endlessly
repeated false accusations, millions of peoples have been murdered,
maimed, orphened, widowed, displaced, and sent as refugees overrunning
Europe.
There is not a scrap of evidence anywhere that justifies Washington’s
enormous crimes against humanity. Yet, these crimes that in a
truth-conscious world would have resulted in several entire governments
of the United States standing accused in the International Criminal
Court, or the War Crimes Court, or whichever court, and perhaps in all
of them, are ignored, because accusation alone against the destroyed
countries and peoples sufficed to justify Washington’s war crimes
against humanity.
What I have described is a truth-free world. There is no place for
truth in the world that the West has created. The Western hostility to
truth is overwhelming. As I write truth-tellers are being banned from
Facebook, Twitter, and PayPal. Google makes their sites almost
impossible to find. Throughout the Western World truth has been
redefined as “Conspiracy Theory.”
Elites such as George Soros and innumerable tax-financed government
agencies, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, spend taxpayers’
money discrediting those who tell the truth. Many in governments want
truth-tellers locked up as enemies of the state, by which they mean
“enemies of the self-interests of the ruling elites.”
You don’t need to believe me. Here are four books written by
honorable persons, meticulously documented, full of evidence that make
it clear that American elites have no respect whatsoever for truth.
Truth is something that is in their way.
One of the books is Charlie Savage’s Takeover. Savage shows
how Dick Cheney used the George W. Bush regime and 9/11 to destroy the
separation of powers and the civil liberties in the US Constitution.
When you read Savage’s book you will discover that the America that you
think is here is not here. In its place is a dictatorship available to
any president clever enough to use it. Savage’s book is one of the best
pieces of investigative reporting that I have read.
The Roman system of government never recovered from Caesar crossing
the Rubicon. I doubt that the US Constitution will ever recover from
Dick Cheney.
Two of the books are by David Ray Griffin, one of the last and most determined of American protagonists for truth. In his book, Bush and Cheney: How They Ruined America and the World,
Griffin makes, a decade after Savage, the same case against Dick
Cheney. When two independently minded researchers reach the same
conclusion, you can bet it is on the money. If the world survives
Washington’s orchestrated conflict with Russia, Cheney will go down in
history as the person who destroyed American constitutional government.
In this same book, Griffin also examines the official 9/11 story and
exposes it as a total fabrication with no connection to any truth
whatsoever. He takes up this case in his current, just released book
with Elizabeth Woodworth, 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation.
Anyone who is still brainwashed by the official 9/11 story can
immediately free themselves from their deception by reading this book.
There is no longer any doubt that 9/11 was an inside orchestrated event
for the purpose of unleashing two decades, with more to come, of
American aggression in the Middle East.
Griffin does not leave a single official statement about 9/11
standing as not a single official claim is based on any factual evidence
whatsoever.
For seventeen years the world has been fed a pack of total lies based
on nothing but accusations and in the face of massive evidence produced
not by some collection of political hacks sitting as a 9/11 Commission,
but by thousands of experts. Yet for seventeen years false accusations
prevailed over heavily documented facts presented by disinterested
experts called “conspiracy theorists” by those intent on covering up
their crimes.
The fourth book is Mary Mapes’ Truth and Duty. Mary Mapes
is the CBS producer whose team carefully prepared for Dan Rather the 60
Minutes report on George W. Bush’s failure to perform his Texas Air
National Guard duty. Her story was absolutely correct, but she and
Rather were destroyed by accusation alone. The Republicans set in
attack mode the right-wing bloggers, and soon the official media joined
in for the purpose of elevating their ratings at CBS’s expense.
CBS was vulnerable, because it was no longer independent but a part
of Viacom’s empire. Mapes was already in trouble, because she had broken
the Abu Ghraib torture story just at the moment that Bush and Cheney
declared: “America doesn’t torture.” As the Cheney/Bush regime put
pressure on Viacom, a corporate executive told Mapes: “You don’t have
any idea how many millions of dollars Viacom is spending on lobbying in
Wasington, and nothing you’ve done in the past year has helped.”
There you have it. The Viacom executives had no interest whatsoever
in the truth, only in what advanced their lobbying interests in
Washington. Mapes, a truth-teller had to go, and she did. And so did
Dan Rather.
Today in America no member of the print and TV media or NPR dares to
get within a hundred miles of the truth. It would be a career-ending
event.
Without a media dedicated to truth, there can be no control over government.
Ask yourselves where you can read articles like this. If you do not
support the remaining portals of truth, you will find yourselves bound,
like the Elven-kings, Dwarf-lords and Mortal Men in J.R.R. Tolkien’s
Lord of the Rings, “in the darkness” by the elites’ ability to control
the explanations that comprise your reality.
Identity Politics has destroyed the very conception of truth
independent of race and gender. Science itself becomes discredited as
does civilization:
Those behind the terrorist attack at the Ahvaz military parade
will face “unforgettable vengeance,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said,
as Tehran persists in accusing Washington and its regional allies of
orchestrating the assault.
Up to 29 people were
killed and more than 60 others injured after gunmen fired
indiscriminately at the crowd during a military parade in the
southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday. Several terrorist groups
and the separatist ‘Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz’ have
claimed responsibility for the attack; all four gunmen were killed in
the ensuing stand-off.
Now the influential Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says it
knows who organized the attack, while adding they are willing to pursue
the attackers “regionally and beyond.” “Considering
[the Guards’] full knowledge about the centers of deployment of the
criminal terrorists’ leaders... they will face a deadly and
unforgettable vengeance in the near future,” the IRGC said in a statement Sunday.
The
senior IRGC commanders said that the militants that carried out the
attack were trained by the Gulf states and were ultimately backed by the
US.
Tehran has, meanwhile, openly blamed the US and its allies in the Middle East for backing the attackers. Washington seeks to “create chaos and turmoil” in Iran so that the US can “take charge”
of the Islamic Republic, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on
Sunday, before leaving for New York to attend a UN General Assembly
meeting.
“The Persian Gulf states are providing monetary, military and political support for these groups,” he added, while accusing the US of being “the sponsor of all these small mercenary countries in the region.” At the same time, he said that Iran’s response to “these crimes” will be “within the framework of law.” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also called the attack a “continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States.”
Washington has denied all the accusations and said that the incident has become the result of the Iranian government’s “oppressive” policies.
“He can blame us all he wants. The thing he’s got to do is look at the mirror,” the US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley told CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ referring to Rouhani. She also said that Washington “is not looking to do regime change in Iran” or “anywhere” else.
Her words came just a day after the US presidential lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said that the Iranian government will be toppled. “I don’t know when we’re going to overthrow them … but it’s going to happen,” he told the members of Iranian expat and dissident communities in the US at a so-called ‘Iran Uprising Summit’.
US will overthrow Iranian govt once socio-economic conditions there are ripe for revolution - Trump’s lawyer https://t.co/pETYdlsgfT
That event was held on the day of the deadly attack in Ahvaz. The US
State Department, however, rushed to distance itself from Giuliani’s
comments, stating that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer does not speak for
the administration.
Meanwhile, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS)
which earlier claimed responsibility for the incident, released a video
that purports to show the alleged assailants planning to carry out the
attack. The authenticity of the footage cannot be independently
verified.
Iranian
Armed Forces spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, told IRNA that
the militants who had committed a terrorist attack on a military parade
in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday were linked to the United
States and Israel.
“These
terrorists are not members of the Daesh* [terrorist group, banned
in Russia] and do not belong to groups fighting the Islamic system.
These people are linked to the United States and [Israeli intelligence
service] Mossad. These militants were organized and trained by two
countries of the Persian Gulf,” Shekarchi said in an interview with a
local agency.
The spokesman added that the servicemen had killed all four militants who committed the attack.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused “regional terror sponsors and their US masters” of organizing the attack. Related: Terrorist attack at Iranian military parade kills over 20
The
minister’s statement came as a response to the incident reported
earlier in the day when armed militants opened fire at the parade,
leaving at least 25 people killed and another 60 were injured, according
to media reports.
The Saudi-linked Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
*Daesh, also known as Islamic State, ISIS or ISIL is a terrorist group, banned in the United States, Russia and many other countries.
See previous coverage and live updates on the article below.
ST.PETERSBURG
(Sputnik) - Israel is unlikely to freely use Syrian airspace in the wake
of the crash of a Russian Il-20 military aircraft over the
Mediterranean Sea, Yakov Kedmi, a former high-ranking Israeli
intelligence official, told Sputnik.
"There
was an agreement between Israel and Russia that the actions of Israel
in Syria's airspace would not endanger lives of Russian troops. Israel
breached this commitment… What happens next will depend on the position
of Israel. Most likely, Israel will no longer be able to enjoy the same
freedom in the sky of Syria as it did before the incident," Kedmi said.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) earlier in the day that Israel would
share all information on the incident with Moscow. The IDF expressed
regret over the deaths of the Russian troops and put the blame
on Damascus and Tehran.
"Israel's attack in itself, regardless of the
consequences, was an irresponsible step, because there is not a single
facility on the territory of Syria that might have been used by Iran and
whose destruction would have justified an attack on it, which could
endanger the Russian troops," Kedmi said.
According
to the IDF, the Israeli jets were targeting a facility in Syria which
contained "systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons" that
could be sent "on behalf of Iran" to Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
Israel, as well as many other states, considers the movement a terrorist
organization.
The Russian Hmeimim airbase had lost contact with the crew of the Russian Il-20 military aircraft
late on Monday during the attack of four Israeli F-16 aircraft
on Syrian targets in the province of Latakia. The Russian Defense
Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the Israeli military deliberately
created a dangerous situation by using the Russian aircraft as a shield
against Syrian air defense systems. As a result, the Il-20 jet was
downed by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system.
Will Russia-Israel ties suffer after downing of Il-20 military plane off Syrian coast?
Moscow and Tel Aviv had long enjoyed fairly good ties despite
the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, but they are now at risk as
Russia blames Israel for the downing its warplane off Syrian coast and
the crew's death.
Although the plane was
technically shot down by a Syrian missile, Russia made it clear who it
blames in the tragedy, saying that Israeli pilots used the Russian Il-20
as a cover.
The Middle East historically remained a place of bitter
rivalries. Tension grew increasingly high after the Arab Spring brought
more havoc to an already complex region, riddled with colliding
interests and clashing ambitious of various actors, large and small.
Nevertheless, Russia and Israel had always managed to keep good
relations.
This year alone President Vladimir Putin met
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu three times, and every time
the media didn’t get much details from closed-door discussions. Through
delicate behind-the-scenes diplomacy Moscow maintained a close, working
relations with Israel. The fact that it’s one of US closest allies was
never an issue for Moscow. Russia itself kept developing ties with
Turkey and Iran, Israel’s arch-nemesis, while managing to address
Israel’s concerns too.
For Russia, Israel is not only an important, geopolitical partner with alleged
nuclear capabilities, situated in the heart of the world’s most
turbulent region. It’s also home of about 1.3 million expats from
post-Soviet countries. This large diaspora plays a significant role for
Russia when it tailors its approach to Tel Aviv.
Even the war in Syria, where Israel - in hopes of curbing Iranian influence - supported and armed controversial anti-government militants, didn’t result in a serious crisis in relations with Russia.
Over the course of the conflict, the IDF had conducted numerous airstrikes against targets in Syria and even launched missiles
at Syrian jets. Each attack was strongly condemned by both Syria and
Russia who had been pointing out that any military incursion into the
country without the government’s and UN’s approval is illegal.
But
the raid on Latakia and the collateral damage in a form of a downed
Russian military plane can inflict grave damage on the relations between
the states. Israel stands firmly against the strengthening of the
Turkish or Iranian grip in the region, so its recent actions may be an
attempt to remind everyone that the Syrian crisis has other stakeholders
involved. Especially, since just the day before the tragic incident
with the Russia plane Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyp Erdogan reached a settlement on the situation around Idlib, the last militant stronghold beyond the control of the Syrian government.
Iran's representative to the United Nations slams the United States for
its illegal military presence in Syria, describing it as an act of
aggression.
Gholam-Ali Khoshrou who was speaking at the Security Council’s special
session on Syria said Iran is on the ground in that country on an
invitation by Damascus. He added that Tehran is playing a constructive
role in bringing peace and prosperity to Syria and supports all efforts
toward a political solution. During the meeting held on Russia’s
request, US ambassador Nikky Haley accused Russia and Iran of failing to
protect civilians in Idlib province. She also threatened the use of
force if the Syrian army uses chemical weapons. In reaction, the Russian
ambassador accused the extremist groups of planning to launch a false
flag chemical attack in Idlib.
The law of unintended consequences has forced China’s hand in Syria.
As the battle for Idlib draws near, China is set to fight Al Qaeda
trained Uyghur jihadists in Syria in order to help the Syrian government
retake their territory, preventing those very jihadist terrorists from
returning to Xinjiang province and sewing the seeds of partition in
China.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and International Affairs and Security
Analyst, from Moscow, Mark Sleboda discuss how the American plan to
partition Syria has pressured China to take part in an already crowded
and complicated conflict.
The US policy of permanently balkanizing Syria appears to be a foregone conclusion, even as the Syrian Arab Army and Russian forces proceed with their last major counter-terrorism operation in Idlib.
According to Wolfgang Mühlberger, senior fellow for EU-Mideast
relations at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs, “Idlib is
the very Arab Kandahar with potentially more than 100,000 experienced, battle-hardened Sunni jihadi fighters hiding between the civilians.”
This high number is due to the amalgamation of
all the militants from de-confliction zones or reconquered battle zones
(e.g., Aleppo, Ghouta, Deraa, etc.) throughout Syria that have been
shipped to Idlib over the past couple of years, as well as remnants of
the Free Syrian Army.
However, despite Washington acknowledging that the governorate is an Al Qaeda safe haven for militants from over 100 countries, the tripartite powers of the UK, US and France are now asking Germany to
join planned airstrikes against Syria – as soon as President Bashar
al-Assad gives them the green light by using chemical weapons.
It is not entirely clear why the US believes the
Syrian president would deliberately provoke western airstrikes on
Syrian forces when they are on a winning streak in their war with the
terrorists, but it does seem apparent that Washington intends to prevent
Syria from regaining sovereignty over Idlib.
As discussed in a previous Asia Times article,
RAND Corporation drew up a Syria partition plan wherein the US would
occupy the northeast, Turkey the northwest, Russia and Iran the coastal
area and large parts of the Syrian desert, and Israel and Jordan the
southwest.
The US zone would contain oil fields where 90% of Syria’s pre-war oil production took place, while Israel would control the newly discovered oil reserves in
the Golan Heights. Turkey’s control of Idlib as a safe haven for
militants would put continued pressure on the Syrian government, and a
balkanized Syria would be weak and less likely to provide a viable base
for Iran and Hezbollah to attack Israel.
However, the partition of Idlib as a jihadi sanctuary has important
implications for another actor – China. Back in August, there were reports that Beijing would participate in the Battle for Idlib due to the presence of Chinese Uyghur jihadi colonies. If Turkey controls Idlib, China fears Ankara and the West would exploit Uyghur militants as proxies to destabilize Xinjiang.
Idlib proxies to destabilize Xinjiang?
There are historical reasons for this concern, given that the CIA tried to destabilize Xinjiang and supported separatists in Tibet during the Cold War. As Israeli sinologist Yizhak Shichor pointed
out, in the 1950s Washington tried to exploit Muslim grievances against
China and the Soviet Union, by attempting to form a Middle Eastern
Islamic pact to organize fifth columns in these countries.
Brian Fishman, a counter-terrorism expert at the New America Foundation, also noted that in the 1990s Osama Bin Laden accused
the US and CIA of inciting conflict between Chinese and Muslims. After a
series of 1997 bombings in Xinjiang that Beijing ascribes to Uyghur
separatists, bin Laden blamed the CIA in an interview, saying,
“The United States wants to incite conflict between China and the
Muslims. The Muslims of Xinjiang are blamed for the bomb blasts in
Beijing. But I think these explosions were sponsored by the American
CIA.”
Interestingly at the time, Al Qaeda had its eyes on the West and
largely ignored Uyghur separatism as a Chinese domestic issue. But as
Fishman assessed, over time the transnational problem of al Qaeda and
its allies, and the increasing prominence of Uyghurs in jihadi
propaganda, meant that China could no longer avoid them.
Indeed, given that the 2016 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan was a joint operation between Al Nusra and its Uyghur affiliate Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP);
the continual supply of advanced weaponry and tacit Western support for
TIP due to its intermingling with the “rebel” opposition; professional
military training by the private security company Malhama Tactical to improve TIP’s warfighting capabilities; and TIPs ultimate goal to attack China, James Dorsey at
the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore argued
that Beijing mulling military intervention in Idlib underscores the
gravity of this threat to China’s core interests.
Currently, China seems to be steering clear of direct military
involvement and instead relies on Syria and Russia, but it would be
concerned should Western powers block Damascus and Moscow’s campaign to
reclaim Idlib and continue to partition a safe zone for Uyghur militants.
Moreover, as Jacob Zenn from
the Jamestown Foundation pointed out, China is also concerned by “the
prospect of re-shaping the borders in the Middle East that could lead to
new conceptions of sovereignty and statehood – not only in the region but elsewhere throughout the Islamic world, including Central Asia and Xinjiang.’
Xinjiang at heart of Belt and Road Initiative
Now it appears that a Western united front is emerging to confront China on human rights issues, using various tools of media coverage, economic sanctions, political activism by NGOs and think tanks to internationalize the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang.
Similar to Israel’s dilemma over the internationalization of
the Palestinian issue, China is bracing itself for a destabilization
campaign and possible call for secession and partition of the province
from Chinese sovereignty.
This perception is due to US backing of the Munich-based World Uyghur
Congress, which aspires to revert Xinjiang to an independent East
Turkistan. The first president of the Congress was Erkin Alptekin, son
of Isa Alptekin, who headed the short-lived First East Turkestan
Republic in Kashgar (November 12, 1933 to February 6, 1934), and also
served as an advisor to the CIA while working at Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty in Munich.
The Alptekin family and Xinjiang secession enjoy strong support from
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who while being mayor of
Istanbul in 1995, named a section of the Blue Mosque park after Isa
Alptekin and built a memorial to commemorate Eastern Turkistani martyrs
who lost their lives in the “struggle for independence.”
Given resource-rich Xinjiang is at the heart of
the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), destabilizing the province would
not only spoil the plan for Eurasian integration and development, but
also weaken China’s economy by cutting off its overland energy supply
from Central Asia and the Middle East, hamper its market access, and
keep Beijing bogged down in an ethnoreligious conflict.
While this may augment current Washington’s trade war against the
Middle Kingdom and weaken the Pentagon’s “peer competitor,” by
deliberately stoking Chinese fears about Xinjiang destabilization and
increasing radicalization, thereby egging Beijing to clamp down on
Uyghurs, is in effect exploiting the ethnic Uyghur’s plight for narrow
geopolitical agenda.
And as Yizhack Shichor perceived,
“Vocal criticism of China related to its Uyghur persecution comes
primarily, in fact almost entirely from outside the Middle East, from
Western non-Muslim countries…[which] may have little do to with loving
the Uyghurs, and much more to do with opposing China.”
Liberteon
.jpg){kind=link}