Iran and Syria Weekend War watch ......

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/china-shuns-us-and-invests-direct-iran-oil-fields

China Shuns US And Invests Direct In Iran Oil-Fields

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/08/2012 19:35 -0400

• China
 
• Crude
 
• Crude Oil
 
• Iran
 
• Iraq
 
• Natural Gas

Between Clinton's 'prices to be paid' andObama's new trade-war, is it any wonder the Chinese have decided to escalate their 'more-than-rhetoric'. After ignoring the sanctions and then receiving their exemption, PressTV reports tonight thatChina is to invest in developing north and south Iranian oil fields (which will produce 700,000 barrels per day of crude). One of the oil fields, Azadegan, has one of the world’s largest oil deposits, with in-place oil reserves estimated at 42 billion barrels - enough to tide China over a for a while - as Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi adds after 10-15 years of negotiations the decision has finally (and coincidentally very timely) been reachedas "the Chinese side has started its activities by investing USD 20 billion in the oil fields".

Via PressTV:

Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says China has agreed to invest USD20 billion in developing north and south Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields which will finally produce 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.

Speaking to reporters in a visit to the Petropars Company on Sunday, the oil minister said theagreement for developing Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields has been reached after 10-15 years of negotiations with the Chinese side.

He added that the Chinese side has started its activities by investing USD20 billion dollars in the oil fields.

"So far more than 20 drilling rigs have been installed in Azadegan and Yadavaran oil fields and plans have been made for the daily production of 700,000 bpd of crude oil [when development of both fields is complete],” Qasemi stated.

The minister said contracts have been signed for the development of 12 new oil fields in the past few months, adding, “Development of some fields, including Azar and Changouleh oil fields has also begun.”

Qasemi said necessary measures have been taken for the development of Darkhoein and Mansouri onshore oil fields as well as offshore fields such as Farzad A.

Yadavaran oil field is located in the southwestern Khuzestan Province bordering Iraq. The development project of the oil field is expected to be implemented in three phases. Upon the completion of all phases, some 300,000 barrels of oil are expected to be pumped out on a daily basis.

Azadegan oil field has one of the world’s largest oil deposits, with in-place oil reserves estimated at 42 billion barrels.

Iran holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.

The country's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of extractable oil. Moreover, heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves.

and......



http://www.infowars.com/un-bureaucracy-just-a-formality-before-us-military-attack-on-syria/

UN Bureaucracy Just a Formality Before US Military Attack On Syria

Susanne Posel
Infowars.com
July 7, 2012

The Syrian National Council (SNC) has rejected the international plan for regime change in Syria because current Syrian President Bashar Assad would have the right to participate in theagreement.

At a conference in Geneva this past weekend, the UN brokered “deal” for the “creation of a transitional national unity government” made the illusion to executive powers given to Syria. Russian representatives asserted that Assad should be part of the interim administration. The ultimate transitional government would also oversee the drafting of a new Syrian Constitution and advise the electoral process.

The international community, headed by the UN has agreed todevise a scheme to remove Assad from the Syrian government and chose his successor by “mutual consent”. Several oppositional groups in Syria are vying for representatives that might replace Assad.

Bassma Kodmani, spokesperson for the SNC states that the agreement is not assertive enough and lacks clear mechanisms for the regime change. Kodmani claims that the use of the UN Security Council (UNSC) during the “transition” should not be led by Assad.

Kodmani, who was a participant in the recent Bilderberg meeting in Chantilly, Virginia, has been pushing for an armed attack on Syria.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State displayed optimism at Assad’s removal. Clinton assured the conference attendees that Assad and his inner circle would not be allowed to participate in the “transitional government”.

Clinton, who has blamed Russia for their involvement in the US and UN’s efforts to force Assad out of power, says they have finally joined the US in backing the regime change. “They have committed to trying,” she said. “But they also admitted that they may or may not have enough leverage to convince not just one man, but a family and a regime that their time is over.”

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister remarked that Russian “will be only glad to support [a Syrian regime change].”

In Geneva, UN representative Kofi Annan’s six point peace plan was recommended once more for immediate implementation as facilitation for a cease-fire. Annan said that the plan could include members of the current Syrian regime theoretically. Annan said to the audience: “I think people who have blood on their hands are hopefully not the only people in Syria. I think the government will have to be formed through discussion, negotiations, and by mutual consent. And I will doubt that the Syrians — who have fought so hard for their independence, to be able to say how they’re governed and who governs them — will select people with blood on their hands to lead them.”

War with Syria has begun covertly . Turkey has mobilized large numbers of troops “including at least 15 long-range artillery pieces and tanks – moved to the Syrian frontier from the eastern city of Diyarbakir.”

Ron Paul has been forthcoming in saying that the “Pentagon indeed has finalized plans” to attack Syria. Paul explains that Syria poses no “national security concerns” to America “that require such a foolish escalation of violence in the Middle East. There should be no doubt that our security interests are best served by completely staying out of the internal strife now raging in Syria.”CNN affirmed Paul’s assertion by reporting that the Pentagon has “finalized its assessment of what types of units would be needed, how many troops, and even the cost of certain potential operations.” An anonymous member of the Obama administration claims: “There is a sense that if the sectarian violence in Syria grows, it could be worse than what we saw in Iraq.”

Just as with the attack on Libya, the US armed forces will use a no-fly zone while simultaneously overseeing biological and chemical strategic sites. Central banking controlled nations like the US, Britain and France have discussed the war action against Syria. They have come together in training and “sharing of intelligence about what is happening in Syria with neighboring countries including Jordan, Turkey and Israel.”

Preparatory air strikes against Syria have been planned by the Obama administration. Both the US Navy and Air Force, participating in the no-fly zone with the British and French armed forces have “Their mission to knock out Assad’s central regime and military command centers so as to shake regime stability and restrict Syrian army and air force activity for subduing rebel action and wreaking violence on civilian populations.”

This use of UN military is without Congressional approval and an affront to the Constitutional guidelines of our American Republic. However, since Obama receives his military orders from the UN and NATO, he must feel justified in his unabashed use of our armed forces.

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/07/iran-to-sell-oil-through-private-consortium-to-evade-sanctions/

Iran to Sell Oil Through Private Consortium to Evade Sanctions

The illegitimate economic warfare against Iran is already wreaking havoc on their economy

by John Glaser, July 07, 2012

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Iran is trying to sell some of its oil through a private consortium in an attempt t circumvent the US-led international sanctions regime inflicting enormous pain on the Iranian economy.

“The head of the oil products exporters’ union,” reports Reuters, “said the agreement between the exporters’ union, Iran’s central bank, and the oil ministry would get around a European Union ban on shipping insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil.”

“In accordance with the agreement,” said Hassan Khosrojerdi, the exporters’ union head, ”it is planned that 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports will go through this private consortium.”

The supposed justification behind all the economic warfare against Iran is to pressure the Iranian government to give up its alleged ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons. But the consensus within the US intelligence community and indeed the Obama administration itself is that Iranhas no nuclear weapons program and has demonstrated no intention to start one.

The sanctions are really about placating Israel’s trumped-up concerns and trying to stoke internal discontent and pressure Tehran into making absurd concessions in international negotiations over their civilian nuclear program.

Writing in Foreign Affairs, celebrated international relations academic Kenneth Waltz argued that sanctions “primarily harm ordinary Iranians, with little purpose.”

A recent piece in Foreign Policy argued similarly that the people, not the regime, will be hurt by this economic warfare. The decreased oil revenues “will stay firmly in the hands of the hardliners and the repressive organs of the state. Meanwhile, youth unemployment — which already exceeds 70 percent – will rise higher, and the quality of life of the underprivileged and retirees reliant on government handouts for their meager existence will decline further.”

and more of  "  the terrorist of my terrorist is my friend "  twisted Sun Tzu  logic ....

US: MEK Must Vacate Iraqi Base or Jeopardize Bid to Change Status

The Iranian group has been lobbying to be taken of the State Department's list of terrorist organizations

by John Glaser, July 07, 2012

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The US has again warned the Iranian dissident group Mujahadin-e Khalq (MEK) that they must vacate vacate the Iraqi base Camp Ashraf and said if they don’t leave it will harm their chances of being delisted from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism, said the MEK must move out by the Iraqi government’s deadline on July 20.

The MEK has a long history of terrorist activity going back to the 1970′s and it remains on America’s official list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and has the goal of overthrowing the Iranian government. Because of this goal, there has been a big money push by many influential people in Washington to get the group removed from the State Department’s terrorist list, presumably to make it eligible for US funding to act against the Iranian regime.

As recently as 2007, a State Department report warned that the MEK, retains “the capacity and will” to attack “Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and beyond.” In 2002, the Bush administration claimed Saddam Hussein’s support for the MEK ”terrorist” group justified a US invasion of Iraq.

After an extended and expensive lobbying effort on the part of the MEK, a congressional resolution was recently signed by 99 members of Congress asking the State Department to change the status of the group.

And as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told US lawmakers earlier this year, “Given the ongoing efforts to relocate the residents, MEK cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, the MeK’s main paramilitary base, will be a key factor in any decision regarding the MEK’s FTO status.”

and...

http://www.debka.com/article/22162/Clinton-Syria-on-brink-of-catastrophe-as-rebels-advance-The-region-in-danger

( Similar to Libya , we see that once again special op troops battling the government forces in lieu of any actual rebel armed force )

Clinton: Syria on brink of catastrophe as rebels advance. The region in danger

DEBKAfile Special Report July 8, 2012, 12:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Syrian rebels   Hillary Clinton   arms traffic   Bashar Assad 

Hillary Clinton warns of catastrophe to region

“There is still a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria, but to the region,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Tokyo, Sunday, July 8. She did not elaborate, but stressed earlier, “… the opposition is getting more effective in defense of themselves and going on the offensive against the Syrian military.”
DEBKAfile’s military sources note that her over-the-top language comes at a pivotal moment in the Syrian conflict: The rebels are winning more and more territory and not only encircling Damascus but fighting inside the capital. To save itself, the Assad regime which still controls the army outside Damascus may in desperation open up its arsenals and deploy weapons of mass destruction in a bid to drive off the rebels while also spreading the flames to other parts of the region, including Israel.

Persian Gulf sources reported Sunday that inside the capital, the Syrian army no longer moves troops in military convoys for fear of rebel attack. They now travel in unmarked civilian vehicles. Some officers prefer to stay on base for fear of assassination or kidnap on their way home.

Clinton did not explain how the rebels were suddenly able in the last few days to develop their ubiquitous capabilities, rising numbers and military organization - or where they procured weapons for their wholesale offensive against the Syrian army.

According to DEBKAfile’s intelligence and military sources, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have substantially stepped up the flow of munitions to the rebels. They are reaching combatants inside Syria as well as the trainees at Turkish military facilities.
Their numbers have, furthermore, risen to 50,000 armed men who are efficiently organized in 17 brigades. Fighting inside the country are 260 military units, each consisting of one or two battalions, which mostly range from 1,000-1,500 men - depending on the arena. Some are brigades of 3,000 men.
By the first week of July, the rebel army had put in place an efficient logistical system:

1. The Free Syrian Army had been able to establish a geographical presence in all of Syria’s provinces, barring the minority regions (Kurds and Druzes) which are outside the conflict, and the pro-regime Alawite region.
2.  A regional operational command was working in all those provinces (260). It was equipped with hi-tech communications connecting the provinces and linked to the FSA’s high command in Turkey.
3.  A well-organized arms smuggling ring was transferring weapons from one command to another as required for local attacks on Syrian military and security forces. This pipeline is fed by Turkish, Saudi and Qatari suppliers via Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey..
4.  A foreign “military adviser” is posted at each provincial command center. They are usually special forces experts mainly from the British, French, Turkish, Saudi and Qatari armies.
Up until last month, the rebels were fighting primarily to sever a strategic strip of land from Idlib in the north to Deraa in the south in order to tie down the regime in Damascus and its Allawite loyalist forces in the west and center and cut it off from the rest of the country.  

This goal has now been abandoned. Today, the anti-Assad forces are concentrating on a single objective: The regime’s overthrow.

and....


http://endthelie.com/2012/07/06/if-the-us-loses-syria-the-us-loses-its-empire/#ixzz1ztgQRX62

( War on Terror - should start a  " War of the Month "  Club like the old book clubs had . Seems like  the new logic is  " The terrorist of my terrorist is my friend  ! " )

If the US Loses Syria, the US Loses its Empire

US threatens Russia, China for not supporting campaign of terror in Syria.
by Tony Cartalucci

July 6, 2012 – The US’ increasingly unhinged rhetoric reached a new level of absurdity this week as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Western nations and their Arab proxies to “make it clear that Russia and China will pay a price because they are holding up progress” in regards to the US’ premeditated campaign of terrorism and violent regime change in Syria.

It was made public as early as 2007 by Seymour Hersh in his report “The Redirection” published in the New Yorker that the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and others were gathering, funding, arming, and deploying a front of violent sectarian extremists, many with ties to Al Qaeda, to undermine, destabilize, and eventually lead to the overthrow of the governments of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. The violent campaign was rolled out publicly in the wake of a similarly premeditated geopolitical ploy, the so-called “Arab Spring,” and has since then been clearly exposed as the work of violent terrorist networks. Ironically, these terrorist networks are those allegedly the impetus of the “War on Terror,” now paradoxically being funded, armed, and politically backed by the West. 

It was reported that Libyan terrorists led by Abdul Hakim Belhaj, commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a US State Department-listed “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” had joined the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) along with sectarian extremists from Iraq who specialize in the indiscriminate terrorist bombings now ravaging Syria.

In fact, the true nature of Syria’s “rebels” has become so well known, that recent attempts to sway public opinion with continued, but unsubstantiated reports of  “atrocities” aimed at demonizing the Syrian government have been met with skepticism, doubt, and even indignation by the public – giving nations like Russia and China not only the opportunity to defy Western dictates, but a moral imperative to do so as well.

Collapsing Legitimacy Leads to Collapsing Empires

The global hegemony of Wall Street and London has been built behind a facade of “human rights,” “freedom,” and “democracy.” As these principles are eroded back home in the West, their use for dressing up otherwise naked imperialism, corporate monopolization, and military aggression abroad has become overt and increasingly ineffective.

While the US Secretary of State attempts to blame Russia and China for “holding up progress” in the West’s campaign of premeditated destabilization in Syria, it is more likely that the West’s own loss of legitimacy is the true reason it has not successfully convinced the world to go along with what is increasingly appearing to be a self-serving and very untenable agenda.

Should the US fail in its attempts to overthrow the government of Syria, and quite likely even if it does manage to succeed at this late hour, so much damage has been done to the West’s credibility, as well as to the credibility of its allegedly independent institutions, that future gambits will be even more difficult to execute. As the West’s economy and geopolitical power crumbles and its reach becomes less subtle and more adversarial, shareholders will seek more secure investments, financially, politically, and even tactically.

Maintaining an empire relies on an immense global infrastructure the West still possesses – but it is an infrastructure that is meeting competition from not only rival hegemonies, but from within individual nations as well, on both a national and grassroots level. Empires are also built on psychological factors such as faith in one’s institutions and fear of one’s military prowess. The West has been increasingly faltering in all respects in a world where these concepts are becoming increasingly challenged by shifting social, economic, and technological paradigms.

What the West should be doing is positioning itself for this changing world – instead it is clinging to a crumbling empire, scrambling to build a global paradigm rendered antiquated long before it has even been implemented. Boycotting the corporate-financier interests behind this attempt at establishing global hegemony willaccelerate and ensure its failure – while resolving ourselves to creating genuine institutions on a local and national level for and by the people will ensure that we are not left in disarray once these corrupt globalist institutions are rendered moot.

and....

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/06/249635/india-starts-purchasing-iran-crude-oil/

India starts purchasing Iranian oil in tankers

File photo shows Iran Najm supertanker.

Fri Jul 6, 2012 4:21PM GMT

2

India has started purchasing Iran's crude in tankers owned by the Islamic Republic, in an attempt to prevent the US-engineered EU sanctions from disrupting Iranian oil shipments to the Asian country.

State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is importing crude in a Suezmax tanker belonging to National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), Reuters reported on Thursday. HPCL is scheduled to lift a second Suezmax from the Kharg port in the Persian Gulf on June 25-27. 

Moreover, Essar Oil - an India-based company engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas - has recently loaded a cargo of about one million barrels of Iranian crude oil from the Kharg port in the Persian Gulf.

NITC allocated an Aframax vessel called Iran Amol to Essar in July for supplying two cargoes of 400,000 barrels each.

Meanwhile, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited are also slated to load five Aframaxes of Iranian oil.

Indian refiners imported about 346,600 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil in June, up 42.5 percent from May, according to Reuters.

On January 23, under pressure from the United States, the European Union's foreign ministers approved new sanctions against Tehran. The sanctions, which mean to prevent member states from buying Iranian crude or doing business with its central bank, entered into force as of July 1.

India’s Oil Ministry has asked the country’s Finance Ministry to get state-owned reinsurer General Insurance Corp. to provide insurance coverage for domestic ships transferring crude from Iran, Chaturvedi added.

India is one of the biggest customers of the Iranian crude. The Asian country reportedly accounts for more than 10 percent of the Islamic Republic’s annual oil exports. 


India and China picking up some of the slack from Europe - Swiss a surprise though.....

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/06/249681/switzerland-defies-us-eu-ban-on-iran-oil/

Switzerland defies US, EU ban on Iran oil

Fri Jul 6, 2012 11:31PM GMT

13

Switzerland will continue to purchase Iranian oil in defiance of the European Union sanctions on the Islamic Republic that came into effect on July 1.

The Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs stated that Switzerland will not join the oil embargo against Iran, despite pressure from the United States and the EU, IRNA reported on Friday.

Switzerland says that any decision on the import, sale, and transport of Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products and their insurance coverage should be made by the parties to the trade themselves. In response to a question by the Swiss news agency SDA/ATS, a Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Switzerland wants to maintain good relations with Iran. 

In April, the Swiss government also exempted the Central Bank of Iran from the asset freeze that is part of the EU sanctions.

Last month, US Ambassador to Switzerland Donald S. Beyer expressed “disappointment” over Swiss officials’ refusal to comply with the US-engineered EU sanctions on Iran.

On July 1, under US pressure, the EU imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors, which had been approved by the bloc’s foreign ministers on January 23.

In March, the US administration approved new embargoes on Iranian crude that penalize other countries for buying or selling Iran’s oil. The sanctions took effect on June 28.

The United States has no embassy in Iran and the Swiss Embassy in Tehran has hosted the US Interests Section in the country since late 1979. 


http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2357/732/Its_Final_U.S._Will_Strike_Iran,_Says_Saudi_Informant.html

 Beaconequity

The triggering event to WWIII could be as early as October, according to Debka-Net-Weekly’sintelligence moles. Iran cannot be allowed to sell Iranian oil for any other currency other than the U.S. dollar—a fatal mistake Iraq’s Saddam Hussein made in his quest to lead the charge to undermine U.S. dollar hegemony in 2000.

“It is already decided,” one Saudi prince told an unnamed European official, according to Debka-Net-Weekly. When asked by the ‘European’ if America will back out of the hatched plan to strike Iran, the prince said, “Anything can happen, of course. But this time we’re sure the American decision to attack is final and we are already making appropriate preparations.”

However, according to the source, the prince doesn’t know if a strike on Iran will come before or after the elections in November. But, “the question now isn’t if the Americans will attack Iran, but when,” the prince said.

And the Saudis should know best. Fears of an Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia run deep in the kingdom for its role in allowing a formidable US presence in the Persian Gulf for more than four decades, a sin for which Saudi Arabia will never be forgiven by the Muslim alliance in the region, and has necessitated a close U.S.-Saudi alliance to counter threats from Iraq (no longer an issue), Saudi Shiites and Iran.

Iran’s hatred for the U.S. can be traced to 1953, the year of a successful coup by MI6 and the CIA to overthrow the Mohammad Mosaddegh government. But after the fall of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, in 1979, decades of Iranian defiance of American demands to open Persian oil fields to the West, in a similar manner to the Saudi kingdom’s quid pro quo with Washington regarding access to Saudi Arabia’s abundant Ghawar oil fields, have been repeatedly spurned by Iran’s secular and religious leadership. But as long as the Iranians continued to transact in U.S. dollars for Persian oil, a strong case for averting a high-risk war with Iran at this time could be made.

But, Feb. 27, 2012, Iran crossed the proverbial line in the sand following an American-led effort to cut Iran from the international bank clearing system, called SWIFT. The Persian central bank announced that, not only will any country doing business with Iran be allowed to pay in any currency other than the U.S. dollar, but those countries wishing to transact in gold (anti-dollar) are encouraged to do so, with the latter option especially troublesome and defiant.

“Significant difficulties in making dollar payments to Iranian banks have forced Iran’s trading partners to look for alternative ways to settle transactions, including direct barter deals,” according to Reuters.

“In its trade transactions with other countries, Iran does not limit itself to the U.S. dollar, and the country can pay using its own currency,” Reuters quoted central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani as saying. “If a country should so choose, it can pay in gold and we would accept that without any reservation.”

That latest transgression, just as all the other transgressions of Iran since 1979, this time, the de-linking of the U.S. dollar to Iranian oil, must be punished, according to MIT professor and U.S. foreign policy expert Noam Chomsky.

“Iran broke ranks with the United States in 1979, and this is a crime for which it has to be punished,” said Chomski in a discussion with Gilbert Archcar for the book, Perilous Power. “And it goes way beyond rational state interests. As with Cuba, it’s the Mafia mentality: You can’t allow disobedience to exist; it’s too dangerous because other people might get the idea that they can be disobedient as well. So Iran’s going to have to be punished for that act of disobedience.”

Punishment of Iran through sanctions for an uncooperative regime regarding U.S. interests in the Middle East is one thing, dropping the U.S. dollar is quite another—an act so grave that, if the U.S. allows Iran to go unchallenged or unpunished, other countries seeking to ditch the poorly managed dollar will do so, as well. That’s the line in the sand that must lead to military action, according to William Clark, author of The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker.

Written some time prior to Feb. 2012, Clark, at that time, focused his discussion on the dollar-euro rivalry for international trade as it relates to Iran’s Oil Bourse. Iran’s goal of only accepting euros for its oil is enough to find Iran in hot water, but Iran’s one-step-further threat to U.S. dollar hegemony by including gold in its February 2012 announcement, the Achilles’ Heel of the nonredeemable U.S. dollar, only serves to underscore Clark’s thesis that much more.

and.....

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/nato-nixes-syria-action-plan-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=24876&NewsCatID=359

NATO nixes Syria action plan

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

EPA Photo

Serkan Demirtaşserkan.demirtas@tdn.com.tr

NATO rejected Turkey’s request for the adoption of a contingency plan to include the establishment a no-fly zone over Syrian airspace, which was made during a meeting last week in Brussels after Turkey invoked Article Four of the NATO Treaty in response to Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet in international airspace.

“NATO members did not give a green light to Turkey’s plan. No one in the alliance seems to be ready for a military engagement in this part of the world,” a Western diplomatic source told the Hürriyet Daily News Thursday.

Turkey brought its proposal to the table at a meeting June 26 where it invoked Article 4 of the treaty, after Syria downed its RF4-E jet in international airspace. Although Turkey’s request came right after the June 22 attack, it based its request on its year-long concerns that it could face security problems stemming from a massive refugee influx toward Turkey as hundreds of thousands of Syrians flee Bashar al-Assad’s government.

“To establish a no-fly zone requires a large number of jets in combat-ready status and of course one has to be ready to accept losses. The Syrian anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles are quite successful,” another Western diplomat said. A new process began June 30 after the Geneva meeting with the participation of Russia, the diplomat said, adding that “After Geneva, there will be no U.N. Security Council resolution and of course no no-fly zones. It’s not the time to show muscles in that area.”“It is true that we have proposed a contingency plan,” a Turkish diplomatic source said yesterday. “Work to draft a contingency plan with NATO has begun at the [office] of the SACEUR [Supreme Allied Commander].”

As NATO members did not pave the way for the adoption of the Turkish plan, the alliance has instructed SACEUR to work on the preparation of another contingency plan, the Daily News has learned. There is no chance that the NATO Council would adopt any plan entailing military deployment in the region, such as establishing a no-fly zone, sources said. The Supreme Allied Commander is one of NATO’s two strategic commanders and is responsible to the Military Committee for the conduct of all NATOmilitary operations.

“It goes without saying that Turkey can count on NATO,” alliance head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday. “NATO is of course prepared to defend Turkey if necessary.”

Turkey’s contingency plan suggested the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syrian airspace and a buffer zone inside Syria in the event of a massive influx, which could push hundreds of thousands of Syrians toward the Turkish border. Turkey expressed this concern in the very early days of the Syrian crisis, but it brought it to the alliance’s agenda for the first time last week. As Syrian security forces continue massing near Aleppo, one of largest cities of Syria with 4 million inhabitants, there are concerns that a military operation in the city could push an unexpected massive wave of people to the Turkish border. Turkish officials believe that as more groups in Aleppo join the opposition, more attention should be given to Aleppo in the days ahead.

“I would expect that the Syrian authorities will do all they can to avoid any escalation and any such unacceptable incident as we saw when they shot down a Turkish aircraft,” Rasmussen said yesterday at a joint news conference with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa.

and...

http://www.debka.com/article/22159/After-8-763-soldiers-killed-and-a-stream-of-defectors-Assad-still-thinks-he-can-win

After 8,763 soldiers killed and a stream of defectors, Assad still thinks he can win

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 6, 2012, 6:29 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Bashar Assad   Syrian army   Syrian defections   Hillary Clinton 

Brig.-Gen Manas Tlass deserts his master

In its 17-month crackdown on dissent, the Syrian army had by early July, lost 8,763 dead and 21,357 wounded. Some units lost a quarter of their manpower. Around 600 tanks and APCs – six percent of the Syrian armored corps fleet – were crippled. Around 200 can be fixed but repairs will take three months.

Defections from all ranks up to general are depleting combat divisions. All in all, the Syrian army has never been hit with this scale of casualties and losses. Yet Bashar Assad and his ruling family, some members of whom hold high military, security and intelligence command, show no cracks or fear of impending failure.

Just the reverse: President Assad boasted to the Turkish Hurriyet in a recent interview that were it not for the majority support he enjoys from the Syrian people he would have fallen like the Persian Shah in 1979.

The Syrian ruler is generally unfazed by the stream of high officers defecting to the rebels because, as DEBKAfile reported on July 2 – he has quietly made a clean sweep of long-serving elite commanders, especially Sunnis, and replaced them with younger Alawite officers, drawn from security and intelligence agencies and the loyal, exceptionally brutal Alawite Shabiha militia.
Some of the defectors are generals who were quietly retired on full pay; others, mid-ranking officers who see their prospects of promotion vanishing in the incoming surge of young Alawite officers awarded top jobs.
The latest high-ranking defector, Brig.-Gen. Manaf Tlass, 105th Brigade commander of the Republic Guard belongs to the second category, DEBKAfile’s intelligences disclose. His desertion is potentially a lot more damaging to the regime –politically rather than militarily.

He did not abscond to rebel ranks in Turkey as the Syrian opposition reported Friday, July 6, but headed for Paris to join his father, Gen. Mustafa Tlass, former Syrian Defense Minister who served Bashar Assad and his father for 40 years, and his daughter Nahed Ojjeh, widow of the leading Saudi arms dealer Akkram Ojjeh.
Both have good connections around the Arab world and are close to the Russian ruling elite in Moscow.
Mustafa Tlass left Syria five months ago over a conflict of loyalties: The prominent Sunni Tlass clan spearheaded the anti- Assad revolt in Rastan, a town near Homs. To avoid taking sides, Tass senior decamped. 

His son, Brig.-Gen. Manaf, served in the Republic Guard defending the presidential place on Mount Qasioun, the nerve center of Assad’s vicious campaign to suppress dissent. As a member of the presidential inner circle, he was certainly part of the military establishment running that campaign.

Indeed, Assad rewarded his loyalty by letting him keep his job, only putting his promotion to general on hold.
Manaf, realizing his career prospects as a Sunni had been overtaken by the advancing Allawitization of the top Syrian command, decided to join his father.
According to our sources, he actually flew out of Damascus on June 26, not this week as widely reported.
From their new base in Paris, the heads of the Tlass clan have yet to decide which way to jump – whether to make use of their excellent connections in Moscow or join up with the pro-Western “Friends of Syria” Western-Arab group whose latest meeting in Paris, Friday, July 6, was chaired by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Assad regime would suffer a serious setback if the Tlasses opted for the West and its Arab enemies.

US diplomats are therefore going out of their way to rope them in. They have turned to Firas Tlass, the powerful Syrian clan’s Dubai-based “finance minister,” for help. Above all, they are going to great lengths to dissuade these prominent Sunnis from gravitating toward their old ties in Moscow.

and....

WikiLeaks “Syrian Files” Obtained by Flame to Set Up Assad

Susanne Posel
Infowars.com
July 7, 2012

WikiLeaks has releaseddamning emails embarrassing Syria and exposing “Syria’s opponents”, says Julian Assange. There were more than 2.4 million emails that show correspondence between “Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies” between August 2006 and March 2012.

The Associated Press reports, “WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison told journalists at London’s Frontline Club that the emails reveal interactions between the Syrian government and Western companies, although she declined to go into much further detail. … WikiLeaks posted only a handful of the documents to its website Thursday, but the disclosure — whose source WikiLeaks has not made clear — wouldn’t be the first major leak of Syrian emails.”

Harrison said that the “material is embarrassing to Syria” but claims that Syria’s opponents will equally be ashamed. “It helps us not merely to criticize one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it.”Called “The Syrian Files” numerous diplomatic correspondences are more of an exposure to insider information than WikiLeaks disclosure concerning the US government’s role and responsibility in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The hacked emails include:

• Correspondence from the Baath party
• Contains information on foreign affairs, finance and Assad’s presidential business
• Records of financial transfers from Syrian ministries to nations
• Over 68,000 are in Russian

Russia is in arms trade with Syria even though the UN with pressure from the US has imposed sanctions against Assad’s government because of the fake revolution called the Arab Spring that was inspired and controlled by Soros infiltrators and the CIA.

WikiLeaks and Assange have not “verified all the emails” because of the sheer volume, however they claim that they are “statistically confident” that the files they have obtained are genuine.

Questions concern Assange’s connections to the CIA and his ability to expose “leaked” information. As a psy-op, the manifestation of Assange and WikiLeaks has effectively used engineered operations of secret document exposure to give the appearance of forced political responsibility for intelligence and policy failures. This is detailed in the CIA document entitled,The Secret Team .

The CIA connection to Assange creates an avenue where fake leaks of documents can be made to give the illusion to the public that they are privy to secret information.

Meanwhile, the CIA “people-power coup” has been integral in many fake revolutions both in the streets of foreign nations and on the internet.

WikiLeaks assisted the US government’s overthrow of the Tunisian government. Assange’s portrayal as a lone wolf just trying to expose corruption has aided the US government as the perfect psy-op cover that convinces individuals to rally in favor of their hero, Julian Assange, and keep his crusade alive.These emails come just prior to the meeting in Paris where the Friends of Syria group, which supports Assad’s removal. Russia, who is not attending the meeting, says that this is a ruse to combine efforts against Assad and create more international support for a force regime change and pending military strike.

Haaretz reported back in February that Anonymous hacked into Syrian servers and extracted emails. These emails supposedly exposed, among other things, Assad’s wife’s “shopping sprees”; however the obviousness of this claim is simply propaganda intended to defame the Assad government while the Obama administration, Israel and the UN “peacemakers” publicly decry for either war or Assad’s “voluntary stepping down”.

While the arrest of Ryan Cleary, member of LuzSec, was first announced, it became apparent that the LuzSec – Anonymous link was concrete . The origination of Anonymous is traceable to the CIA as an attempt of the US government to create a false flag threat that justifies the Obama administration’s restriction of information flow and freedom on the internet.

The hacktivist movement has spawned new off-shoots of the main groups Anonymous and LuzSec, named “LuzSec Reborn”, “MalSec”, and “SpexSec”. These groups are using the same techniques as Anonymous, with new names. The nature of these groups is to wreak havoc, break apart, and come together under a different name to begin the process over again.

During on the of the CIA directed “hacks”, Anonymous gained information from foreign servers in Syria. This was achieved with the use of Flame, the descendent of Stuxnet. These US government agents posing as hacktivists are pretending to be independent persons in a nameless, faceless hacking group hell-bent on cyber-attacking government agencies.

Flame, analyzed by Eugene Kaspersky, of the Russian Kaspersky Lab, was found to be capable of:

• Stealing data via USB memory stick
• Steal information whether or not the computer is connected to the internet
• Have the exact same programing properties as Stuxnet
• Linked usage to the US government and Israel

The leaks Assange has revealed directly benefit the US, Israeli and UN campaign to remove Assad from his governmental seat and implant a stooge, just as was done with the “ election ” of Muslim Brotherhood member Muhammad Morsi.

In Egypt, the move of Morsi to presidential power benefits the US government as Morsi has already destroyed the Egyptian constitution, disbanded their parliament, and made clear assertions of compliance with Israeli agendas to remove Assad from power in Syria.

The case against Assad is mounting, although it is mostly propaganda taken as fact and spun in the mainstream media worldwide. This “revelation” from WikiLeaks assists the desire of Obama, Netanyahu and the UN to control the Syrian government.

This is all very easy to understand: a CIA operation where information stolen from Syrian computer servers by Flame (which is the cyber-weapon of the US government) was given to Anonymous (who are CIA agents) and “leaked” by WikiLeaks (the fake whistleblower website).