U.S. nukes to remain in South

End Of Days News

 

After two Korea-U.S. joint military drills end, American vessels equipped with nuclear weapons will stay in South Korean waters to fully guarantee the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” in case North Korea attacks.

A high-ranking South Korean government official told the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday, “If North Korea makes a nuclear attack, retaliation can come from U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in Okinawa or Guam. But considering the time that might take, we need to have a nuclear weapon near the Korean Peninsula.

“By not withdrawing U.S. weapons participating in the Korea-U.S. military exercises, we decided to let them stay a while and see what happens in North Korea,” he said.

 

Read More: http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2968431&cloc=joongangdaily


N. Korean general says Pyongyang has nuke-tipped ICBMs on standby

End Of Days News

SEOUL, March 8 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean general said Thursday that the country has placed long-range missiles armed with nuclear warheads on standby, as Pyongyang said it will not bow to the United Nations resolution condemning its latest atomic weapons test.

According to the Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Colonel General Kang Pyo-yong said soldiers are already positioned to launch a war of reunification if the order is given by its leaders. The paper said the general made clear at a speech given at a rally in Pyongyang that intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and other rockets capable of attacking pre-set targets have been armed with various types of atomic warheads.
 

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2013/03/08/0200000000AEN20130308006300315.HTML

UN unanimously sanctions North Korea

End Of Days News

The UN Security Council voted unanimously to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea for its Feb. 12 underground nuclear test, hours after Pyongyang threatened a preemptive strike against the US and other “aggressors.” The new sanctions target “illicit activity” by North Korean diplomats, bulk transfers of cash by North Koreans, and banks and companies funneling cash or materials to support the country’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.

 

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3844/



Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner...A Chinese general who once threatened to use nuclear weapons against hundreds of U.S. cities will visit the Pentagon this week as part of a U.S.-China military exchange program

End Of Days News

 

A Chinese general who once threatened to use nuclear weapons against hundreds of U.S. cities will visit the Pentagon this week as part of a U.S.-China military exchange program.

Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, who is head of China’s National Defense University, will take part in a “familiarization exchange,” Maj. Catherine Wilkinson, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told the Free Beacon.

“The delegation will visit Hawaii and D.C.,” she said. “A military delegation from the U.S. Pacific Command will visit China later this year for a reciprocal exchange.”

Zhu will lead a group of 10 senior colonels from all branches of the Chinese military, Wilkinson said. She declined to provide the names of the officers.

Zhu is best known for inflammatory comments made to two foreign news reporters in 2005 when he said China would use nuclear weapons against the United States in any conflict over Taiwan.

A State Department spokesman at the time called the comments “highly irresponsible.”

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position [sic]-guided ammunition onto the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Zhu told reporters for the Financial Times and the Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal, according to their July 14, 2005, editions.

The comments raised questions within the Pentagon about the sincerity of China’s policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

Zhu’s comments also were the most explicit statement of Chinese strategic intent since 1995 when another general, Xiong Guangkai, implicitly threatened to use nuclear arms against Los Angeles if the United States defended Taiwan in a conflict.

“If the Americans are determined to interfere … we will be determined to respond,” Zhu said.

http://freebeacon.com/guess-whos-coming-to-dinner-3/

US, Israel: Iran cuts distance to nuclear bomb

End Of Days News

The US slammed as “provocative” the installment of 180 advanced centrifuge at Iran’s main uranium enrichment site at Natanz, stressing that this will be the six powers’ focus in the talks with Iran opening next Tuesday in Kazakhstan. The UN nuclear atomic agency in its latest report confirmed that the new IR-2m centrifuges can enrich three to five times faster than the outdated machines in use at Natanz until now.

The report's findings "prove that Iran continues to advance quickly to the red line" which Israel considers intolerable, said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, adding: "Iran is closer than ever to achieving enrichment for a nuclear bomb."

The "red line" also was a term Netanyahu used to the U.N. General Assembly. There, he said the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3755/

jihadist website posted a new threat by al Qaeda this week that promises to conduct “shocking” attacks on the United States and the West

End Of Days News

A jihadist website posted a new threat by al Qaeda this week that promises to conduct “shocking” attacks on the United States and the West.
The posting appeared on the Ansar al Mujahidin network Sunday and carried the headline, “Map of al Qaeda and its future strikes.”
The message, in Arabic, asks: “Where will the next strike by al Qaeda be?” A translation was obtained by Inside the Ring.
“The answer for it, in short: The coming strikes by al Qaeda, with God’s Might, will be in the heart of the land of nonbelief, America, and in France, Denmark, other countries in Europe, in the countries that helped and are helping France, and in other places that shall be named by al Qaeda at other times,” the threat states.
The attacks will be “strong, serious, alarming, earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying.”

Enlarge Photo

Hagel more >

Under a section of the post on the method of the attacks, the unidentified writer said the strikes would be “group and lone-wolf operations, in addition to the use of booby-trapped vehicles.”
“All operations will be recorded and published in due time,” the message said. “Let France be prepared, and let the helpers of France be prepared, for it is going to be a long war of attrition.”
The reference to France appears linked to the group’s plans for retaliation against the French-led military strikes in northern Mali in operations to oust al Qaeda terrorists from the North African country.
The Ansar al-Mujahidin network is a well-known jihadist forum that in the past has published reliably accurate propaganda messages from al Qaeda and its affiliates.
U.S. counterterrorism actions over the past 10 years have prevented al Qaeda from conducting major attacks. However, U.S. officials warn that the group continues to be dangerous, despite the killing of its top leaders in drone strikes and special operations.
A U.S. official said the threat is being taken seriously by the U.S. government.
“Extremists regularly make threats online,” he told Inside the Ring. “This one is not particularly unusual, but of course should be taken seriously.”
Retired officers on Hagel
Retired senior military officers on the right and left of the political spectrum are squaring off in the confirmation fight for former Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary who is set to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
Conservative former officers say Mr. Hagel is the wrong person to head the Pentagon because of his soft-line views on Iran, hostility toward Israel and support for cuts in U.S. military and nuclear forces.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/30/inside-the-ring-new-al-qaeda-threat/#ixzz2JZtWD5aR

GOG/MAGOG setup: Russia slams Israeli attack on Syria. US forces in Jordan on alert

End Of Days News


The Syrian announcement of an Israeli air strike on a military site near Damascus Wednesday, Jan. 30, drew strong condemnation from Moscow the next day: “Such action if confirmed would amount to unacceptable military interference in the war-ravaged country,” said the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry Thursday. “If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violate the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it.”

Israel has made no comment on the Damascus statement which described in detail an Israeli air strike against a “military research institute” near the capital. Witnesses say it was a plant for manufacturing “unconventional weapons.” The facility was destroyed and two staff members killed.

Lebanese sources later reported a Russian Mig-31 fighter had crossed over Sinai Wednesday in the direction of Israel. It veered west over the Mediterranean after encountering an Israeli warning not to intrude into its air space and continued flying over Lebanon.

debkafile’s military sources say that the only external military force in the eastern Mediterranean region is a fleet of 18 Russian warships, which includes landing-craft – among the largest in the Russian Navy – with 2,000 marines aboard.

According to various Middle East sources, the Syrian report of an Israeli air strike has touched off high military alerts across the region. Syria has put its Golan forces on the Israel border on combat readiness and the Lebanese and Jordanian armies are on alert. So too are the Russian fleet opposite Syria and the Lebanese army.

Our military sources report that Turkish units on the Syrian border are on high preparedness although Ankara played down the reports of the Israeli air strike in Syria, uncomfortable over the fact that the Israeli Air Force was the first external power to intervene directly in the Syrian conflict.

So too are the US air force units stationed at the Turkish Incerlik air base, the US special forces deployed at the Jordanian Mafraq air facility and the American, German and Dutch Patriot missile interceptors deployed in Turkey opposite Syria. Israel has been on high alert since last week.

The prevailing estimate in military and intelligence circles in Washington and NATO capitals is that the Israeli air attack on the Syrian military site near Damascus was but the opening shot for the coming round of military blows they expect to be exchanged in the near future between Israel, Syria and Hizballah, with Iran possibly waiting in the wings for a chance to pitch in.

http://www.debka.com/article/22724/Russia-slams-Israeli-attack-on-Syria-US-forces-in-Jordan-on-alert



Israeli Official Hints Pentagon Plans May Make Lone Strike on Iran Unnecessary

End Of Days News

JERUSALEM — Israel’s departing defense minister, Ehud Barak, said that the Pentagon had prepared sophisticated blueprints for a surgical operation to set back Iran’s nuclear program should the United States decide to attack — a statement that was a possible indication that Israel might have shelved any plans for a unilateral strike, at least for now.

 

 

 

In an interview conducted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and published by The Daily Beast on Friday, Mr. Barak was asked if there was any way Israel could go to war with Iran over what many in the West believe is a nuclear weapons program without dragging in the United States.

Mr. Barak replied that there were more than just the two options — of full-scale war or allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons capability — in the event that sanctions and diplomacy failed.

“What we basically say is that if worse comes to worst, there should be a readiness and an ability to launch a surgical operation that will delay them by a significant time frame and probably convince them that it won’t work because the world is determined to block them,” he said.

Under orders from the White House, “the Pentagon prepared quite sophisticated, fine, extremely fine, scalpels,” Mr. Barak added, referring to the ability to carry out pinpoint strikes.

Herbert Krosney, an American-Israeli analyst and the author of a book about the arming of Iran and Iraq, said Mr. Barak’s statement now “indicates that there is close cooperation” between Israel and the United States following months of tension between the country’s leaders (though military and intelligence services continued to work together closely).

“I think there is a realization in Israel that it would be extremely difficult for Israel to operate alone,” he said.

Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was pushing hard for the Obama administration to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike, infuriating the administration. And Mr. Barak repeatedly warned that because of Israel’s more limited military capabilities, its own window of opportunity to carry out an effective strike was closing.

It has appeared that Mr. Barak has drifted away from Mr. Netanyahu in recent months, sounding more conciliatory toward the Obama administration, but even the prime minister has become less antagonistic.

The Pentagon declined to comment on The Daily Beast report, but a senior defense official said, “The U.S. military constantly plans for a range of contingencies we might face around the world, and our planning is often quite detailed.” The official added, “That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”

In recent years, Mr. Barak and Mr. Netanyahu had become increasingly alarmed as Iran moved forward with a nuclear program that it says is solely for peaceful purposes, but that Israel, the United States and others believe is geared toward producing a bomb. The two men consistently emphasized Israel’s doctrine of self-reliance for such existential issues.

But faced with tough opposition from Washington and public criticism from a string of former Israeli security chiefs, the prospect of an imminent unilateral Israeli strike receded in recent months.

In the past few weeks Mr. Netanyahu campaigned for re-election in Israel as a strong leader who, among other things, had managed to persuade the world to deal with the Iranian threat.

Mr. Netanyahu and his conservative Likud Party emerged weakened from the elections, with much of the Israeli electorate more focused on domestic issues. In a speech after the voting, he said, “The first challenge was and still is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” But he did not again threaten to go it alone.

In the interview last week, Mr. Barak did not specify what the Pentagon’s “scalpels” were. But there has been a broad effort at the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies to develop a series of options that could set back, though probably not halt, Iran’s nuclear progress.

The first was a covert plan called Olympic Games to undermine Iran’s nuclear enrichment plans with cyberattacks, according to participants in that program. The second layer of plans, American and other officials have said, involves covert means of interrupting the supply of uranium to Iran’s enrichment plants, or crippling the plants themselves. The biggest target is a deep underground plant called Fordo, near Qum. There, under a mountain, Iran is producing most of its medium-enriched uranium, which could be converted to bomb grade in a matter of months.

The site is hardened, and probably beyond Israel’s ability to destroy from the air. The United States recently added a weapon that officials believe could do significant damage: the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator,” a bomb that is designed to attack deep, hardened sites.

But the existence of any plans, officials note, does not indicate an intent to them carry them out.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/world/middleeast/defense-official-hints-that-israel-is-stepping-back-from-plans-to-unilaterally-attack-iran.html?_r=2&

US refueling for French warplanes as Timbuktu within sights

End Of Days News

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has approved the request from Paris to provide French warplanes with mid-air refueling as French-led forces in Mali advance on the key northern city of Timbuktu. Saturday, they captured the key town of Gao and other towns from Al Qaeda and rebel forces. Many Islamists fled into desert hideouts and will be hard to hunt down. The Pentagon is also discussing widening US involvement in the French-led campaign to liberate northern Mali from Islamist extremist rule by helping to transport troops from other African countries including Chad and Togo. The French are preparing to hand over securing Gao to forces from Niger and Chad.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3552/ 

RUSSIA TO WEST: We Told You Not To Overthrow Qaddafi!

 

On Wednesday Russia blamed Western countries for creating the current turmoil in Africa by arming Libyan rebels, Timothy Heritage and Gabriela Baczynska of Reuters report. 

"Those whom the French and Africans are fighting now in Mali are the [same] people who ... our Western partners armed so that they would overthrow the Gaddafi regime," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference.
The toppling of Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi led to "perhaps the greatest proliferation of weapons of war from any modern conflict," Emergency Director of Human Rights Watch Peter Bouckaert told The Telegraph.
Those weapons stockpiles were raided by both sides, and both sides had connections with radical militants.
In 2011 Pepe Escobar of the Asia Times noted that the main rebel group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), had formed a "merger" with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM) in 2007.
And the well-armed Tuareg rebels who fought on Qaddafi's side subsequently returned to northern Mali where they, along with jihadist groups including AQIM, declared the Texas-sized area an independent country in April 2012.
Now France has 2,300 troops on the ground in Mali to retake northern Mali, and several Western countries (including the U.S.) are providing logistical and intelligence support for an offensive that looks like it will take a while.
"The situation in Mali feels the consequence of events in Libya," Lavrov said. "The seizure of hostages in Algeria was a wake-up call."
A senior Algerian official told The New York Times that the militants who seized an oil field in Algeria last week bought their weapons in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
Russia has also accused the West of arming Syrian rebels in an attempt to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and there is evidence that the allegations hold some truth.
Lavrov noted that the unrest across the Middle East could play into the hands of radical militants.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-says-the-west-created-terrorist-problem-in-mali-2013-1#ixzz2Iv3qLqNj

Algiers don't want US help! They probably don't trust us...DO YOU REALLY BLAME THEM?

US was not aware of raid to free hostages, says official

Pentagon chief spokesman calls Algeria incident a ‘serious and sensitive situation’; Algiers refused US offer of hostage-rescue teams

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration appeared to be in the dark Thursday about a hostage situation at a natural gas plant in Algeria, where Algerian forces launched a military assault to free dozens of foreign hostages, including an unknown number of Americans, held by Islamist militants.

An administration official said the U.S. was not aware of the raid to free the hostages in advance. The U.S. was offering no details about how many American hostages had been taken and whether they were still in captivity or even alive.

The U.S. condemned the militants for seizing the isolated plant 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) south of the capital, Algiers, in the Sahara Desert.

Militants with the Masked Brigade, a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot that has been speaking through a Mauritanian news outlet, said the Algerians opened fire Thursday as the militants tried to leave the vast Ain Amenas energy complex with their hostages. They claimed that 35 hostages and 15 militants died but seven hostages survived when Algerian helicopters strafed their convoy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said U.S. counterterrorism officials were in touch with their Algerian counterparts and that she planned to speak Thursday with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal for the second time in as many days. She made a vague reference to ongoing U.S. “planning,” without elaborating.

“The security of our Americans who are held hostage is our highest priority,” Clinton told reporters. “Because of the fluidity and the fact that there is a lot of planning going on, I cannot give you any further details.”

“This is a serious and sensitive situation,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in England. Little said military officials were actively seeking information, and that Panetta had been briefed by senior military officials.

Ahead of the raid, U.S. officials had been urging the Algerians to be cautious in their actions, but did not know a rescue mission was planned, said the administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Militants earlier said they were holding seven Americans, but the administration confirmed only that Americans were among those taken.

“We are deeply concerned about any loss of innocent life and are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

During her conversation with Algeria’s prime minister Wednesday, Clinton expressed Washington’s “willingness to be helpful,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. They also discussed what type of assistance might be needed, Nuland added, but declined to provide details.

A senior U.S. military official said the military offered Algeria hostage-rescue teams on Wednesdays, but the offer was refused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the offer publicly.

Nuland said the United States also was in contact with American businesses across North Africa and the Middle East to help them guard against the possibility of copycat attacks.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-was-not-aware-of-raid-to-free-hostages-says-official/ 

US president and Israeli prime minister have never been as deeply at odds and for so long, says former top US diplomat

The relationship between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “the most dysfunctional” ever between an American president and an Israeli prime minister, a veteran former American diplomat said Thursday.

Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center who served under six secretaries of state in both Republican and Democratic administrations, added that while there had been strained personal relationships between the two countries top leaders’ in the past, this breakdown was unique in that it had not been corrected in four years, and would now likely be extended with Obama’s re-election and Netanyahu’s likely re-election next week.

Speaking on Warren Olney’s NPR show “To the point,” Miller noted that both Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin, and George H.W. Bush and Yitzhak Shamir had difficult relationships, but in both those cases a common cause emerged to improve the connection. In the case of Carter-Begin, it was the opportunity to make peace with Egypt, and in the case of Bush-Shamir, it was the struggle against Saddam Hussein, where Shamir agreed not to retaliate for Saddam’s Scud missile attacks on Israel.

No such common cause had emerged to salvage the dysfunctional Obama-Netanyahu relationship, he said, noting that even the shared concern over Iran’s nuclear drive was characterized by the “significant difference” between the two men over how to handle the threat.

Miller said he did not share the consequent sense of “cosmic Oy Vey” felt by some over a potential drastic deterioration in ties between the two allied countries. The US-Israel relationship is “too important to fail,” he said.”

Still, he said, the two men “mistrust one another” and “have very little confidence in one another.”

He blamed both men for the situation, saying of Obama, “He looks at Israel and emotes more along the lines that Israel is a national security problem.”

Earlier this week, Obama was quoted as saying that Netanyahu does not know what Israel’s best interests are, and is a “political coward.” Netanyahu hit back by saying that only the Israeli people would determine where their best interests lie.

Obama’s reported comments and Netanyahu’s response have been widely highlighted in these final days of the Israeli election campaign; Israel votes on Tuesday. Critics of the prime minister accuse him of jeopardizing the alliance; his supporters argue that the friction underlines Netanyahu’s robust leadership.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-netanyahu-relationship-is-most-dysfunctional-ever/ 

US downplays report confirming Syrian chemical attack

Account in Foreign Policy about agent deployed by Assad forces inconsistent with what America ‘believes to be true,’ says spokesman

The White House early Wednesday cast doubt on, but did not outright deny, that a secret State Department cable had confirmed accounts of a chemical weapons attack orchestrated by the Syrian regime in the city of Homs in December 2012.

“The reporting we have seen from media sources regarding alleged chemical weapons incidents in Syria has not been consistent with what we believe to be true about the Syrian chemical weapons program,” said Tommy Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman, in a statement released on Tuesday.

The comment came close on the heels of a report in Foreign Policy Magazine to the effect that investigations by US diplomats into a Syrian army attack in Homs on December 23, 2012, found that President Bashar Assad’s forces had used a chemical known as “Agent 15″ or “BZ.”

The conclusions were sent to Washington in a diplomatic cable signed last week by the US consul-general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, the report said.

After the attack, rebels released video showing alleged victims gasping for breath and vomiting, raising speculation that Assad had ordered that chemical agents be used in the bitter civil war which has claimed some 60,000 lives in under two years.

The use of unconventional weapons by regime forces in Syria has the potential to broaden the conflict in the war-torn country. US President Barak Obama in August said that the deployment of chemical weapons would be a game-changer.

“We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us, and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front, or the use of chemical weapons,” he said at the time. “That would change my calculations significantly. That would change my calculus; that would change my equation.”

According to the Foreign Policy report, investigators spoke to doctors and activists before sending the cable with the damning conclusions. The report cited a US government official who had apparently seen the communication.

“We can’t definitely say 100 percent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 [a chemical weapon] was used in Homs on December 23,” the official was quoted as saying.

Wired Magazine’s national security blog, The Danger Room, explained that Agent 15 is a hallucinogen rather than a lethal compound. During the Cold War, the US military tested the agent on its own soldiers, but there are no previous reports to date of it being weaponized, the blog said. The Danger Room said Assad was not known to be in possession of the agent.

Vietor, the White House spokesman, reiterated Obama’s warning that the use of chemical weapons would provoke a response from the US.

“The president was very clear when he said that if the Assad regime makes the tragic mistake of using chemical weapons, or fails to meet its obligation to secure them, the regime will be held accountable,” he said.

However, last week Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that it would be nearly impossible to prevent the Syrian government from using its chemical weapons. He claimed that the US must instead rely on deterrence and continue warning Syria that using such weapons would be unacceptable.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-downplays-report-confirming-syrian-chemical-attack/

 

 

Washington ignores “compelling” evidence of Syrian chemical warfare

A leaked State Department report by US diplomats in Turkey, which made a “compelling case” that Bashar Assad’s forces had used poison gas, was cited by the online magazine Foreign Report Tuesday. It was dismissed by National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, who said there was no evidence had taken new steps toward using chemical weapons.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3470/ 

Almost impossible to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons, US Army chief says

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has largely ruled out sending in ground troops to secure Syrian chemical weapons under hostile circumstances, but the Pentagon could provide some forces if the Assad regime ever agrees to a peaceful transition, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that it will be nearly impossible to prevent the Syrian government from using its chemical weapons, so the US must rely on deterrence and continue warning Syria that using them would be unacceptable.

“The act of preventing the use of chemical weapons would be almost unachievable,” Dempsey said during a Pentagon press conference. “You would have to have such clarity of intelligence, you know, persistent surveillance, you’d have to actually see it before it happened, and that’s — that’s unlikely, to be sure.”

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Panetta says his biggest concern is how the US and allies would secure the chemical and biological weapons sites scattered across Syria and ensure the components don’t end up in the wrong hands if the regime falls, particularly under violent conditions. He said the US is preparing no options for having US ground troops in that country if the regime falls while under attack.

But, he added, “you always have to keep the possibility that, if there is a peaceful transition and international organizations get involved, that they might ask for assistance in that situation.”

There are widespread worries among allies and countries in the region that if Syrian President Bashar Assad is toppled, Islamic extremists could gain control of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons, which includes sarin and mustard gas.

And there are lingering worries that Assad might use his chemical weapons, perhaps on his own people, in a last-ditch effort to save his regime.

President Barack Obama has said the regime’s use of chemical weapons against the rebels would be a “red line” and change his “calculus” about possible military intervention there.

Fears escalated early last month when US officials said there was evidence that Syrian forces had begun preparing sarin, a nerve agent, for possible use in bombs. But Panetta later said that it appeared the Syrian government had slowed its preparations for the possible use of the weapons.

The Pentagon has put together a variety of options for securing the weapons under a range of circumstances, Dempsey said. And he acknowledged the US has been in contact with NATO allies, such as the Czech Republic, who have developed capabilities for handling chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. 

But Dempsey said no specific request has been made of the Czech Republic.

At least 60,000 people have died during Assad’s two-year crackdown on rebels, according to a recent UN estimate.

Opposition fighters have seized large swaths of territory in northern Syria, and on Thursday activists said they now control parts of a strategic air base. But despite significant rebel advances on the battlefield, the opposition remains outgunned by government forces and has been unable to break a stalemate on the ground.

Panetta on Thursday said he believes there is a strong likelihood that Assad will ultimately leave power.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-troops-could-help-secure-syrian-weapons/ 

US Drone Use Setting Off New Global Arms Race

US Drone Use Setting Off New Global Arms Race

The proliferation of drone technology is, justifiably but hypocritically, generating concern in Washington

 

With the US’s dramatic expansion of drone use for both surveillance and targeted bombings, a veritable arms race in unmanned aerial vehicles has begun, prompting concern from some in Washington worried about international rivals using drones like the US does.

“The number of countries that have acquired or developed drones expanded to more than 75, up from about 40 in 2005, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress,” USA Today reports.

Both China and Japan are working on sophisticated drone technology as their territorial disputes get more intense. Pakistan is also attempting to acquire armed drone systems, apparently with help from China. And Iran is known to have fielded their own drones.

Even the United Nations has expressed interest in acquiring their own drones, reportedly for use in peacekeeping missions.

The proliferation of drone technology is justifiably generating some concern in Washington. The prospect of other countries using drones in the same lawless, lethal, unaccountable way the US has is unnerving to Americans, who have long believed they should not be subject to the rules everybody else must follow.

“When we possess such weaponry, it turns out there is nothing unnerving or disturbing, apocalyptic or dystopian about it,” Tom Engelhardt observes in Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050.

But “when the first Iranian or Russian or Chinese missile-armed drones start knocking off their chosen sets of ‘terrorists,’ we won’t like it one bit,” Engelhardt warns. “Then let’s see what we think about the right of any nation to summarily execute its enemies—and anyone else in the vicinity—by drone.”

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/01/09/us-drone-use-setting-off-new-global-arms-race/

Iran's Spy Chief Secretly Advised Muslim Brotherhood To Push Back Against The US

 

Providing more evidence of the warming ties between Iran and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the Times of London reports that the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Suleimani, made a secret two-day visit to Egypt just after Christmas to meet with officials close to President Mohammed Morsi.

The Times describes the visit as “another blow to Cairo’s fragile relationship with the West,” and quotes an Egyptian official saying it was meant to “send a message to America.”

The Times of London reports:

Mr Suleimani, who oversees Iran’s proxy militias across the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas, travelled at the invitation of Mr Morsi’s Government and his powerful backers in the Muslim Brotherhood.

The spy chief met Essam al-Haddad, foreign affairs adviser to Mr Morsi, and officials from the Brotherhood to advise the government on building its security and intelligence apparatus independent of the national intelligence services, which are controlled by Egypt’s military.

The paper says its report was confirmed by two members of Maktab al-Irshad, the Muslim Brotherhood’s guidance office. One unnamed official said, “The government requested a high-level meeting with Iranian officials. Iran sent Suleimani.”

“The meeting was intended to send a message to America, which is putting pressure on the Egyptian government, that we should be allowed to have other alliances with anyone we please,” the official added.

The Quds Force which Suleimani commands is an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which is tasked with exporting the Islamic revolution outside Iran. It is credited with helping set up Hezbollah in Lebanon in the 1980s, targeting U.S. troops in Iraq and providing arms and training for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The U.S. also accused it in 2011 of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and planning to bomb Israel’s embassy in Washington.

The Times explains that sending such a senior official is a reflection of how seriously the Ayatollah regime takes this forging relationship.

President Morsi visited Iran in August, the first visit by an Egyptian president since the Iranian revolution more than thirty years ago. Another high-profile meeting is scheduled for this week.Iran’s Fars News reports that Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will visit Cairo Thursday where he plans to discuss Egyptian-Iranian relations and the Syrian crisis. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says Salehi will discuss avenues for expanding Egyptian-Iranian ties.

In September, Morsi met with the Iranian foreign minister in Cairo, at which time he emphasized the importance of strong ties between the two countries.

Fars News quoted Morsi as saying: “When the followers of unrighteousness are united in their unrighteous path, why should not we go united in our right position when dealing with global challenges.”

While in Cairo, Salehi also plans to meet with top Sunni cleric Ahmed al-Tayyeb who serves as the Grand Imam of al-Azhar and as president of Al-Azhar University.

Read more: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-irans-spy-chief-secretly-advised-muslim-brotherhood-in-attempt-to-send-a-message-to-america/#ixzz2HbPbVU5c

The United States is abandoning Britain in favor of a new friend—the European Union.

 

 

British Euroskeptics have long dreamed of leaving the European Union and forming a new relationship with the Commonwealth and the United States. Unlike the EU, this alliance would share Britain’s fundamental values—their laws flow from the same tradition. It would be a trade alliance that would benefit all involved.

The problem is, America’s not interested. It’s more pro-European than most of Europe is.
America’s response to Britain’s growing Euroskepticism shows that it views Britain as a bridge to Europe, rather than an important ally in its own right. If Britain leaves the EU, its usefulness to America is over.
The UK Independence Party is growing in popularity. Prime Minister David Cameron recently said that a British EU exit was “imaginable.” Faced with this shift, U.S. President Barack Obama himself is reportedly lobbying Cameron to keep Britain in.
The Telegraph’s diplomatic correspondent Alex Spillius reported that “the issue was raised by President Barack Obama in a video-conference call with the prime minister” on December 18.
American diplomats are also raising the issue. “It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America’s national interest,” Spillius reported a “senior U.S. administration official” as saying.
The sheer hypocrisy of a nation formed because it didn’t want foreign control over its affairs (no taxation without representation) telling Britain that it must subordinate itself to Brussels has offended many in Britain. But America’s shift in priorities has some logic. Britain used to be a major power, and the European Union used to be a bickering trading organization. Now, Britain is steadily shrinking in power and prestige while Europe is growing into a more powerful political union (though the bickering continues.)
Britain doesn’t have the clout that it used to, so America is looking for a new ally that does.
The fact is, the U.S. administration no longer sees Britain as its friend. Its friend is Europe. The administration’s European track record proves it.
Washington-based foreign affairs correspondent Nile Gardiner details this track record in a blog post for the Telegraph. In January 2011, America’s ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman, said, “I want to stress that the UK needs to remain in the EU.”
Stronger British participation in Europe “is crucial if, together, we are going to meet all the global challenges facing us, including climate change and security,” he said. “But let’s be clear: All key issues must run through Europe.”
In 2010, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Brussels could claim the title of “capital of the free world.” He praised steps toward closer integration, like the signing of the Lisbon Treaty. “The Obama-Biden administration has no doubt about the need for and strongly supports a vibrant European Union,” he said. “We believe it’s absolutely essential to American prosperity and long-term security.”
Now, America’s support for Europe could be set to move beyond rhetoric. Many commentators expect a new U.S.-EU trade initiative to be announced early this year.
“Despite approving noises from both sides of the ocean over the years, a comprehensive EU-U.S. trade deal has never seriously been attempted,” wrote the Wall Street Journal last month. “That could be about to change, and a good thing too.”
Both sides see a transatlantic free-trade deal as a cost-free way to boost the economy.
European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht recently said that “Perhaps not a marriage, but certainly a closer partnership” between the EU and the U.S. was in order. De Gucht is still discussing the feasibility of such a plan with U.S. authorities, but said, “I am confident we will be able to deliver it very soon.”
The idea also has strong support in the U.S. In November, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported the idea, saying, “If we work at it, and if we get this right, an agreement that opens markets and liberalizes trade would shore up our global competitiveness for the next century, creating jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars for our economies.”
President Obama, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy called for “a bold initiative to expand trade and investment” in a joint statement earlier in the year.
“2013 presents the best moment for a serious U.S. trade initiative since Mr. Obama was first elected,” wrote Edward Luce in the Financial Times just over a week ago. “Most European governments, including the French and particularly the Germans and British, are also enthusiastic.”
Luce sees the deal as more than an economic partnership. He heralded “the geostrategic benefits to what is likely to be called the ‘transatlantic partnership.’”
“By 2030, Asia’s economy will be larger than that of the U.S. and EU combined according to the U.S. National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends report,” he wrote.
“By acting now when they still account for half the world’s economy, the U.S. and EU still possess the leverage to set the global standards that others, including China, are likely to follow,” he continued. “Five years on, it may be too late. In the words of a senior EU official, the round would be ‘strategic not tactical, global not bilateral.’”
Such a free-trade deal would not be easy. It would require many compromises, which Brussels may not be willing to make. But the recent surge in interest in a transatlantic free-trade partnership shows that America is keen on pursuing an alliance with Europe.
Even America’s so-called “Asian pivot” is pushing it toward this alliance. It’s a little counterintuitive, but if America wants to focus more attention on Asia, then it must have a strong, reliable partner across the Atlantic to cover for it. This is why America is trying to persuade EU countries to spend more on defense, rather than relying on the U.S. The U.S. seems like it would even favor a strong military union in Europe.
It’s still a bit of an exaggeration to say the EU is now America’s new best friend. It’s the direction transatlantic relations are heading, not a destination that has already been reached.
But they will get there. Two important trends the Trumpet has watched for years are the breakdown in relations between Britain, America and Israel, and America’s growing love for Europe, and especially Europe’s leader, Germany.
America can see that its global power is diminishing. But rather than addressing the cause of it, it is trying to build up a new power in Europe.
The loss of America’s power ultimately gets back to individual morality and a refusal to trust God for deliverance. This loss of power isn’t causing the U.S. to turn back to God in repentance; instead America is turning to its new European ally.
Bible prophecy reveals that this trust will be betrayed in a frightening and horrible way, but it will teach America a vital lesson. The American people will ultimately learn to trust God, not other nations, for protection.

https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10239.21791.0.0/britain/americas-new-best-friend

US urges Israel, Palestinians to take steps to renew talks

Now is the time for real leadership on the part of the both the Palestinians and Israelis, in order to return to negotiations, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday in a daily press briefing.

"We urge both sides to clearly demonstrate that they’re serious about achieving two states living side by side in peace and security," she continued.

"So we call on Israel, we call on the Palestinians to cease any kind of counterproductive, unilateral actions and to take concrete steps to return to direct negotiations so that all the issues can be discussed, and the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security can be realized," she added.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=298220