War in The Middle East

[Anonymouse]

Re: War in The Middle East

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Chinese Mideast Envoy Behind Arab Demands

The mastermind behind the coordinated Arab demand for an immediate Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon is China's special envoy to the Middle East, Sun Bigan, who is currently visiting the region.

Sun, who is a veteran diplomat and one of China's leading Arabists, called Monday for an immediate unconditional ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Lebanese proxy army of Beijing's non-Arab Islamist ally, Iran.

"Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah should end hostilities immediately to avoid further deterioration of humanitarian crisis in Lebanon," Sun told a press conference in Damascus following a closed-door meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Shara.

Sun expressed China's willingness to intensify "consultation and coordination" with Arab nations.

As China Confidential reported on Sunday, Beijing is maneuvering to become a trusted intermediary--and maybe even a mediator--in the Middle East conflict. Sun is advancing the argument that the United States has lost credibility and influence in the region as a result of its steadfast support for Israel, and that a more neutral power--such as China-- is urgently needed to help end the fighting and reduce regional tensions.

The real objective is to weaken the US position--and ultimately drive the US from the region altogether.

Toward this end, China has been a major arms supplier to Hezbollah's sponsor. In the context of energy deals, Beijing has sold Iran tanks, planes, artillery, and cruise, anti-tank, surface-to-surface and anti-aircraft missiles. Chinese-designed missiles--including some that have been upgraded and improved by North Korea--have found their way into Hezbollah's arsenal of aerial terror.

China is also providing covert technical assistance to Iran's disputed nuclear development program--and supporting Iran diplomatically with a promise to block meaningful United Nations Security Council sanctions against the wannabe nuclear power.

http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/

Notice how China is subtly but slowly asserting itself as a regional power? It's aim is to present itself as a more balanced mediator since the U.S. has lost its credibility in its blind support for Israel. By doing this China is ensuring itself as a more balanced peace broker and mediator and to potentially disturb the U.S. hegemony in the region, which if history and recent events are any indicator, is headed to the gutter.

[Anonymouse]

Re: War in The Middle East

PLA Princeling Critiques US War on Terror

An unpublished essay by a leading Chinese military theoretician reportedly provides further insights into Beijing's view of the United States and its war with radical Islam.

Sources say the essay, by Liu Yazhou, has thus far been selectively circulated to top military officers and Communist Party officials, including President Hu Jintao and his Leading Small Group on foreign affairs.

Liu, as China Confidential has previously reported, is an extremely influential Lieutenant General and Deputy Political Commissar in the People's Liberation Army Air Force. A prolific author, Liu is best known for his essays and books on international affairs and strategy. The 51-year-old non-combatant officer is a dedicated nationalist and hardliner toward the US, Japan, and Taiwan--and the only serving PLA general to have visited the self-ruled island. He has traveled extensively overseas, including a stint in the US as a visiting professor at prestigious Stanford University.

Liu is also a son-in-law of the late Chinese president Li Xiannian, and a so-called princeling--meaning, a privileged offspring of a high Communist Party official--who has also been linked to the Shanghai clique led by China's unpopular former president, Jiang Zemin.

Liu's wide-ranging views include the idea that the West is engaged in a losing civilizational clash with rising, radical Islam, with which China must forge a strategic alliance via deepening ties to Iran. Like other PLA theoreticians, he extols the potential of "unrestricted warfare"--use of a variety of methods to isolate, weaken and ultimately defeat the enemy--and "winning without fighting" whenever possible, i.e. making maximum use of deception and diplomacy in the face of a technologically superior enemy, such as the "US hegemon." Liu also likes to talk in terms of the "Maoization" of the military, though it is not always clear what he means by this.

His clinical analysis of the US position with respect to radical Islam, however, is quite clear, according to our sources. Ironically, Liu's essay is supposedly in tune with the views of some US conservative critics of the Bush administration. His main point, reportedly, is that the US faltered following the 9/11 attacks when it failed to identify radical Islam, or Islamism, as its enemy and instead launched a "war on terror," sending a confused--and confusing--message to the American people. Sources say Liu argues that the reluctance to name Islamism as an enemy reflects (a) US unwillingness to completely break with decades of secretly supporting rightwing Islamic fundamentalism as a counterweight against secular radicals in the Middle East, and (b) US "weakness," by which he seems to mean an essentially idealistic and, in his opinion, ultimately self-defeating faith in its own democratic and humanitarian ideals, which prevent the US from taking truly drastic military action when necessary.

Liu reportedly refers to the Iraq war as a strategic blunder that nevertheless underscores the increasing importance of air power in modern warfare. He is said to argue that any force seeking to combat the US must develop its own air power--from the hijacked airplanes Al Qaeda terrorists used to attack the US on 9/11 to the rockets and missiles of Hezbollah.

Liu's essay apparently conforms with current PLA thinking about the war in Lebanon between Israel and Iran's proxy army. Yesterday, China Confidential reported that PLA analysts contend that Hezbollah cannot be decisively defeated and disarmed without World War II-style flattening of the 20 or more Lebanese villages in which Hezbollah hides and houses its Iranian-supplied missiles. An aerial bombardment of this magnitude would mean massive civilian casualties--which increasingly isolated Israel can't afford. Therefore, PLA strategists are said to argue, Israel is restrained by sensitivity to world opinion from militarily crushing its enemy.

http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/

[Illuminator]

Re: War in The Middle East



TURKEY: TV PULLS HOLOCAUST FILM AFTER PRO-GOVERNMENT PAPER CRITICISES AIRING


Istanbul, 3 August (AKI) - Turkish state television broadcaster TRT's decision to drop from its programme schedule the Oscar-winning film "The Pianist" which deals with the Holocaust, has drawn criticism by those who say the axing was prompted by government pressure. The film which tells the story of a young Polish xxxish pianist who escapes the mass murder of xxxs by the Nazis during World War II was scheduled to be shown on Wednesday night. But without prior announcement an American film "Wall Street" was broadcast in its place.

Last week the daily Yeni Safak, which is considered close to government said the decision to show The Pianist represented "bad timing while Israel was continuing its bombing campaign in Lebanon."

On Thurday the liberal daily Radikal attacked TRT's decision to pull the film questioning its independence by suggesting that it had buckled to pressure from Yeni Safak.

TRT refused to comment on the reasons for its decision, but one official said the broadcaster had recieved many calls from the public asking it not to show the film.

TRT and several private TV channels have shown the film, which was made in 2002 and won three Academy Awards, including Best Director for Roman Polanski, several times in the past.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been highly criticial of Israel since it began its intervention in Lebanon three weeks ago.

Traditionally Turkey is one of the few Islamic nations to have had good relations with Israel.


(Vah/Aki)


Aug-03-06 16:30

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=CultureAndMedia&loid=8.0.327387152&par=0

[karoaper]

Re: War in The Middle East

With France now backing the Lebanese cease-fire terms, the rest of the security council will as well. I'd imagine the next step would be to start putting pressure on the UK with the goal being to isolate America?

What are the chances at breaking up the UK-US alliance here?

Anyway, the opposing axis in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East is forming.

With the

Central Asian former Soviet Republics, Russia, Armenia, Iran, Syria

vs

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Israel, America

The US/UK split will take place hopefully once the rest of England breaks from Blair. Already the foreign minister (god knows how many MPs, like that George Galloway from Mouse's post) had made statements that sharply differ from Blair's rhetoric. Unlike US, where Democrat, Republican, Liberal and Conservative alike are pro-Israeli, same is not necessarily true in England. Hopefully, some of those voices will take charge of British politics.

[Anonymouse]

Re: War in The Middle East

The US/UK split will take place hopefully once the rest of England breaks from Blair. Already the foreign minister (god knows how many MPs, like that George Galloway from Mouse's post) had made statements that sharply differ from Blair's rhetoric. Unlike US, where Democrat, Republican, Liberal and Conservative alike are pro-Israeli, same is not necessarily true in England. Hopefully, some of those voices will take charge of British politics.

I think America will be the biggest loser of all in all of this for its blind loyalties to Israel. Once in a while it is helpful for a sovereign country to actually act as such and stand up for its own interests. But not for America and sadly so. When you compare the writings of the Framers of the Constitution, such as George Washington and his Farewell Address, even Presidents from the past, even as recent as Eisenhower, you can see how drastic the deviation is from the course outlined for a republic.

[D3ADSY]

Re: War in The Middle East

I'm getting conflicting reports, some news sites say Israeli forces are pushing into Lebanon and others are saying Ehud Olmert has put military operations on hold for a few days to try and reach a cease-fire. Looks like another feint.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

Very Impressive Day for the Hizbollah fighters.

The 15 IDF soldiers were killed in a series of firefights across the front. In the most serious incident, nine reserve paratroopers were killed and 11 wounded by anti-tank missiles fired on a house in the village of Debel, in the central sector. Four reservists from an armored brigade were killed in a tank explosion, apparently caused by anti-tank missiles, in the town of Ayta al-Shaab. An infantryman was killed late Wednesday when he was hit by a mortar in Marjayoun.

Twenty-five soldiers were wounded in Wednesday's actions, six seriously. Two of the seriously wounded were members of the standing army; the rest of the wounded were reservists. They were evacuated to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, the Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed and the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya for treatment. Five of the soldiers killed on Wednesday were identified Thursday: Sergeant Major Igor Kovalik, 26, of Nazareth Ilit; Captain Gilad Shtokelman, 26, of Tamrat; Captain Leon Schmuker, 30, of Beit Nehemiya; Sergeant Major Noam Goldman, 27, of Tel Aviv; and Sergeant Major David Samidov, 25, of Jerusalem.

The guerillas are equipped with anti-tank missiles, which have previously caused losses among the IDF troops in the area. The fighting, which has raged in the area since Monday night, continued as the security cabinet met in Jerusalem, approving the expansion of the IDF's ground offensive in Lebanon. Also on Wednesday, operations were expanded to the eastern sector, where a division began operating near the towns of Marj Ayoun, Khiam and Kila. Thus far, there has been relatively little opposition in this sector.

The IDF said the operation in the eastern sector is not part of the plans made Wednesday to expand the ground offensive, but merely a tactical maneuver. The army is still waiting for a directive to launch its larger operation that was approved Wednesday by the cabinet, and includes occupation of the area south of the Litani River. Wednesday's battles began with an incident at 7:30 A.M. when a reserve paratrooper was killed and 10 of his comrades were wounded - one seriously, one moderately and eight lightly - by friendly fire from an IDF tank in the village of A-Taibeh in the eastern sector of South Lebanon.

At around 1:40 P.M., an IDF Merkava tank was struck by an explosive device in the village of Aita al-Shaab in the western sector. The tank's four crew members were killed instantly. The IDF is still investigating the source of the explosion. The kind of damage sustained by the tank (its turret was blown off) appears to indicate that the vehicle was hit by a large explosive device, but a senior Northern Command officer told Haaretz on Wednesday night that it was more likely that the Merkava had been hit by an anti-tank missile.

IDF troops in the area reported seeing the missile in flight. Efforts to extract the tank and four dead crew members took place under heavy fire, and continued late into Wednesday night. The day's harshest incident occured at 2:00 P.M. when one or two anti-tank missiles were fired at an IDF force that had occupied a house in Debel. The missile strike left nine soldiers dead, including two who died on their way to the hospital, and 11 wounded, including three seriously, four moderately and four lightly.

Rescue efforts again were severely hampered by intense Hezbollah gunfire. Commanders in the sector said Wednesday night that Hezbollah guerrillas were closely following the movement of Israeli forces. They said the group is analyzing the IDF's firing positions, and doing a good job of pinpointing those locations where the forces are exposed. One issue the IDF will examine in the Debel incident is whether there it was justified to have so many soldiers in the same house.

At 6:30 P.M. Wednesday, an anti-tank missile was fired at an IDF armored personnel carrier in Bint Jbail, seriously wounding two Golani soldiers. Shortly thereafter, at 7:40 P.M., mortars were launched at an IDF force in Marjayoun, in the eastern sector of South Lebanon, killing one soldier and moderately wounding two others. Operations in the eastern sector are being carried out by a division, the fourth division-level force operating in South Lebanon. Thus far, the division has been met with relatively little Hezbollah resistance compared to the battles the IDF has been waging against the organization in other sectors. Haaretz - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/748556.html

We are hearing a lot of talk about large numbers of Hizbollah fighters geting killed in Lebanon - its all Bullkaka.

Due to its inability to stop the Hizbollah for over a month now, the IDF has been on an international media propaganda blitz. If you count the numbers of Hizbollah they claim to have killed it would number more than the entire armed wing of the Hizbollah. Trust me, had they really killed large numbers of Hizbollah fighters we would be seeing their corpses being praded around by brave IDF men. I have spent many hours searching Israeli sources for such pictures, I have only been able to count about ten dead Hizbollah fighters within Israeli pictures. And the story about the Iranian revolutionary guard men killed by the IDF is bullkaka as well.

One more note: I am noticing that a lot of sensitive information, such as numbers of IDF men killed and/or wounded, is being disseminated by Hizbollah sources before Israeli sources. This leads me to believe that Hizbollah is successfully fielding surveillance equipment with which it is able to intercept IDF communications.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

Also note that terror alerts and a sudden surge of terrorist activity has began as well.

First Al-Qaeda announces it is merging with the Egyptian Islamists.

Then we have seven Egyptian "students" entering the US illigally and disappearing.

Today 911 the movie opens nation wide.

And breaking news - London police have disrupted what they believe was a major terrorist plot to blow up aircraft in flight.

Something big is brewing.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

"They were in the final stages of planning for execution" -- Michael Chertoff US homeland security

Psyops at its worst

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

Three additional Egyptian students who were being sought for failing to turn up for an exchange program at Montana State University were taken into custody Thursday.

Muslim groups criticized President Bush Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a “war with Islamic fascists,” saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.

Vice President xxxx Cheney has continued the Bush Administration's push to characterize the primary loss of Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) as an indication that the Democratic party is weakening on security issues, RAW STORY has learned.

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have been found among Hizbollah guerrillas slain by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, Israel's Channel 10 television reported on Wednesday citing diplomatic sources. It said the Iranians were identified by documents found on their bodies, but gave no further details on how many were discovered or when.

Scare the public and then do what you want. Yet the clue to it all lies right here:

French minister says plotters likely Pakistani

PARIS (Reuters) - The perpetrators of a foiled attempt to blow up airliners flying from Britain to the United States are likely to be of Pakistani origin, France's Interior Minister said on Thursday. "In two to three days we'll have more concrete information on the modus operandi of this terrorist group, that appears to be of Pakistani origin," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters.

Pakistan is America's, England's and Israel's closest regional ally. Government bodies with the United States and elsewhere rely on the utter stupidity of their citizenry in order to impliment their unholy agendas. I ask again: If the souce of Islamic problems, including Al-Qaeda, is in Pakistan why do we have 150,000 troops in Iraq and are currently seeking ways to attack Syria and Iran? It is well known, outside of the US, that the Al-Qaeda is most probably a branch of Pakistan's ISI with close high-level ties with Saudi Arabia. And it is also well known within the region that the ISI and the CIA are two sides of the same coin.

These aforementioned events are nothing but scare operations intended to convince the general public that we are under attack and we must stike hard against our enemies. And just sit back and watch how this "terror" plot by a bunch of Pakistanis and Egyptians get turned into an excuse to attack Syria and Iran.

Yesterday the warpigs in Washington got a scare when the blood-thirsty kike Lieberman got defeted in Connecticut Primaries. Yesterday there was a lot of talk about the anti-war movement gaining public support in the up-coming elections. Today, political analysts are asking whether or not the American public would still support the anti-war movement after what happened in London. And one asked - if the Democrat Party Primaries in Connecticut where held today would Lieberman have won?

Too bad the majority of the population in the western world is too stupid to understand what is really going on in the world today.

We are headed towards a clash with Iran and Syria. Iran will not be an easy target. Thus, the authorities must whip up a frenzy within the general public. The public must be made to see red. I wont be surprised if all this mess ends up with a mushroom cloud over Tehran. And as they did in Japan some sixty years ago, they will say that the best option they had to save the lives of countless Americans and Israelis was to kill a few hundred thousand Iranians and, in doing so, free them from an "evil" regime.

One World Order is upon us.

[skhara]

Re: War in The Middle East

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4779757.stm

Text: Hezbollah leader defiant
The leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, broadcast an extended address on Wednesday 9 August. These are excerpts from his television address.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Nasrallah backed the Lebanese government's plan for ending the conflict
I address you anew as we approach the end of the first month of this barbaric and aggressive war which the Zionists imposed on Lebanon and on every human being, stone, location, and symbol in Lebanon...

When the prime minister presented the seven-point plan and was discussed in the government, we dealt positively with this plan... The Lebanese Government proposed a seven-point plan, but the Americans and the French responded with the draft resolution that has been submitted to the Security Council.

The least that can be said about this draft resolution is that it is unfair and unjust and gives the Israelis more than what they wanted or asked for... this draft resolution in essence wanted to give the Israelis through politics and international pressures what they failed to obtain through fighting.


You will not be able to stay on our land. If you enter it, we will drive you out by force. We will turn the land of our precious south into a graveyard for the Zionist invaders
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah

Nasrallah rallies support
The government's decision on its preparedness to send 15,000 soldiers from the Lebanese Army to be deployed in all this area will greatly help Lebanon and its friends to press for amending the draft resolution, which is being prepared and debated at the Security Council, and will open the way for an appropriate political treatment that can lead to halting the aggression against Lebanon.

... This [planned deployment] is, in our opinion, an honourable, national solution because it is the national army that will be deployed on the border, and not invading forces, mercenary forces, or forces that take orders from the enemies, but the national army that takes orders from the elected Lebanese Government - in this sense, as a solution, we accept it...

The deployment of the Lebanese Army will help preserve sovereignty and independence. This is a better and a more appropriate alternative to the deployment of international forces, especially since we do not know which orders they follow or what their mission or duty will be.

Here, I come to the field developments in the ongoing war. In the last televised speech, I said that the enemy will resort to, in light of the continued military failures, further attacks against the infrastructure, civilian installations, and civilians. This is exactly what has been taking place; namely, more massacres...

The killing of civilians, including men, women, and children, is taking place deliberately since it is the only painful method available to this military helpless and bloodthirsty enemy to put pressure on the Lebanese, the resistance, and the state.

In addition, there is continued targeting of residential places and systematic destruction of houses and buildings in the southern suburb. For instance, there are vacant buildings, but everyday they come to demolish a number of these buildings. Are these not war crimes? Is not the killing of children and women a war crime? Is not the demolition of vacant buildings that are distant from the battlefield and that are not used in any way and have nothing to do with Hezbollah's leaders and fighters considered a war crime? This is in addition to the continued destruction of what remains of the Lebanese infrastructure.

Does anyone believe that all these bridges, roads, and infrastructure were destroyed only to cut off the resistance's supply lines? Is this a logical and reasonable matter or the goal is to destroy the infrastructure to exercise pressure on the Lebanese? The killing of civilians aims to put pressure on the Lebanese and the destruction of houses aims to put pressure on the Lebanese so as to surrender, yield to, and accept the Israeli conditions on the basis of which the war was originally waged.

As a matter of fact, it is very regrettable and unsurprising that the Security Council's draft resolutions hold no blame for the Zionists over all their war crimes, massacres, acts of genocide in Lebanon, and systematic destruction of Lebanon. The capture of two Israeli soldiers in a purely military operation deserves all this condemnation and denunciation by the international community, whereas the response which destroyed buildings, killed people, and violated all laws and norms does not deserve any blame.

... We are still holding fast in the field. We are still strong and capable. This, in itself, is a great achievement for the resistance and a big failure for the enemy in achieving the targets they announced with regard to the resistance. We are still fighting in the front villages and frontline. Although, we do not intend to retain territory, the hero and valiant resistance men insist on continuing to fight until the last bullet.

Imagine that fighting is continuing in the border town of Ait al-Shaab until this minute. The same thing is happening in other border towns. Your sons and brothers among the mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance are in fact making miracles there and setting an example of heroic and brave jihad that is unprecedented in history.

So far, a large number of Merkava tanks have been destroyed. This point is important. Over 60 Merkava tanks and a large number, scores of military bulldozers and scores of military personnel carriers have been destroyed so far. More than 100 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and military bulldozers have been destroyed until this hour.

I will not speak about the killed and wounded among the settlers [Israelis], but I will speak about the officers and soldiers. So far, more than 100 officers and soldiers have been killed and more than 400 officers and soldiers have been wounded in the confrontations, dozens of them are in critical condition, as admitted by the enemy itself. This concerns the ground confrontation.

As for the rocket bombardment, the activity of the resistance is still the way it was in the first days. When Olmert said that Hezbollah was no longer the way it was, your sons and brothers, the mujahideen of the resistance, answered him by 350 rockets, which fell on various Zionist military bases and colonies in northern occupied Palestine [Israel].

Until this moment, the enemy has failed to reduce or weaken this rocket capability that is available to Hezbollah and the resistance. Consequently, the residents of these areas have remained in shelters and a large number of them have left. This is in addition to significant economic, material, financial, and human losses, which the enemy is still hiding.

Notice that throughout the previous Arab wars, the Israelis used to declare their losses, while the Arabs used to hide them. But today, when Lebanon is bombed, buildings are destroyed, martyrs fall, massacres are committed, despite the negative psychological impact of these scenes sometimes, everything is declared. The Zionists, meanwhile, are hiding everything. Where do hundreds of rockets fall? So far, they have spoken about more than 3,000 rockets that have fallen on them. We assert to you that these rockets are guided by God and are guided technically and are not fired indiscriminately.

In all events, the Israelis have so far not managed to control the border strip, which they said they want to go back to, as the case was previously¿ Nonetheless, I tell the Zionists: You can come to any place; you can stage an incursion; land your airborne troops; and enter this village or that point.

However, all of this will cost you a great deal. You will not be able to stay on our land. If you enter it, we will drive you out by force. We will turn the land of our precious south into a graveyard for the Zionist invaders.

To the Arabs of Haifa I have a special message. I say that we have been pained and are still pained for the loss of your martyrs and for your wounded. I urge you, I appeal to you to leave this city. I hope you would do that. In the past, your presence there and what happened to you has made us hesitate in attacking this city... Please spare us this hesitation and spare your blood, which is our blood, and leave this city.