₦airaland Forum

Israelis may be responding to Russian helping Syria to recently both sink an Israeli submarine and shoot down an Israeli plane - not in mainstream news

On 4 May 2013 the Syrian navy apparently sunk one of these very same Israeli submarines, a German-built Dolphin.

This past Monday, 8 July 2013, the Israelis lost an F-16 fighter plane in the Mediterranean ... what is unsaid is that it was probably one of the Russian missiles in Syria that shot it down.

Much more is going on here than we can be sure of ...

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Also, there are some heavy connections between Russia and Israel ...

Of the 8 million people in Israel (not counting Palestinian territory occupied by them), 1.5 million are Arabs within Israel, and 1 million of the people in Israel are Russians, who came over in the 1990s when the average Russian was in dire poverty, on the basis they had a Jewish ancestor, welcomed by Israel because Israel wanted more Jews

Of these 1 million Israeli Russian-speakers, maybe half do not consider themselves Jewish, and are often Orthodox Christian in religion ... they went to Israel because it seemed less poor and had warmer weather. Some of these Russian Israelis actually have anti-Jewish hatred, put up swastika graffiti in Israel etc

Amid that big 1990s Russian migration, a number of KGB agents and sympathisers went to Israel, Russia even supplying them with fake documents about a Jewish ancestor so they could get instant Israeli citizenship under Israel's 'White Jew' programme (Israel mostly rejects Jews from Africa who are black)

Some of these Russian Israelis have headed back home ... but most stay, liking the warmer weather, and they have Russian TV, a Russian-speaking Israeli political party etc

There is also in general the enormously powerful Russian-speaking Jewish mafia, mostly kicked out of Russia to Israel, but still with links to the Russian homeland

Fast forward one week when we learn that in a perfectly unrelated event, a massive military drill involving naval forces, strategic bomber aircraft, missile-defense teams, tactical and strategic missiles, infantry, and armored vehicles took place in Russia's far east: a perfectly unrelated exercise that just happens to have 160,000 soliders, 1,000 tanks, 130 aircraft and 70 naval vessels that has been classified as the largest of its kind in the post-Soviet period.



From RFE:

An unspecified number of Tu-95MS strategic nuclear bomber aircraft reportedly were being readied for combat missions at an airbase in the Amur region. An armored brigade with some 100 tanks made a 1,100-kilometer rail journey from Buryatia to the Tsugol testing ground in Chita Oblast.
 
Tank commander Dmitry Manyukin told the Russian TV news station Rossia 24 on July 14 that his company's final objectives in the exercise had not yet been issued in order to test the ability of Russian troops to respond quickly to freshly received orders.
 
"The peculiarity [of this drill] is that [although] we deployed here 24 hours ... it hasn't yet been disclosed to us where we will move from here and what we will be ordered to accomplish," he said.
 
According to Manyukin, the emphasis on being prepared for rapid deployment was being emphasized by the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
 
"Since the appointment of the new Defense Minister [Sergei Shoigu], combat readiness has been treated very seriously," he said. "Very strict demands have been put in place for combat readiness ever since."
 
The 83rd Airborne Brigade has been ordered from its base in Ussuriisk to Sakhalin Island, where an amphibious assault will be carried out in coordination with assault ships "Oslyabya" and "Nikolai Vilkov" assault ships.
 
A mobile radiation, chemical, and biological defense brigade has also been taking part in the exercise.
And speaking of hands on...

Putin has said he might personally participate in the drill, which is scheduled to end on July 20.

While the (chemical) dust over Syria has yet to settle, one country is not waiting around before in tried and true fashion it kicks the proverbial hornets nest.

Only this time the recipient of Israeli aggression is not some small country that can hardly afford to defend itself against made in the US, state-of-the-art weapons: it is Russia, if only indirectly.

Last Friday, July 5, in the fog of the Egyptian coup, a contingent of 50 Russian-made Yakhont P-800 anti-ship missiles at the Syrian port-city of Latakia was destroyed. It has since become clear that the attack was launched by none other than an Israeli Dolphin-class (German-made) submarine according to a report in the British Sunday Times, which in turn contradicts a previous report that the attack had been the work of the Israeli air force.

Furthermore, the alleged Israeli naval strike was closely coordinated with the United States. While this open aggression on Russian interests in Syria for now remains unchallenged, one wonder what happens when the news hits that US-made weapons supporting Syrian "rebels" have been mysteriously blown up by Russian rockets and how furious the public outcry would be against such an open Russian provocation.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-14/israeli-german-made-subs-destroy-russian-missiles-syria-russia-holds-largest-post-so

1.  Should shipping through one of the world’s major world arteries, the Suez Canal, be imperiled  – as in case of sabotage by the Muslim Brotherhood or the armed Salafists of Sinai, a menace raised repeatedly by debkafile - the US military would be there to take charge of securing international shipping in the waterway.

2. The US maintains 1,000 army personnel in Sinai, most members of the 1st Cavalry Division, as part of the multinational force which monitors the 1979 Egyptian-Israel peace treaty provisions.

The Obama administration is keeping a close eye on the mounting Islamist violence in the peninsula and the Egyptian military campaign which was mounted, in close intelligence cooperation with Israel and the IDF, against two terrorist elements –the armed Salafist Bedouin associated with al Qaeda and the Palestinian Hamas of Gaza, whose operations have spilled out into Sinai.

US strategists see the fighting in Sinai escalating and spreading and allow that American military intervention may be called for – especially if US MFO service personnel are in harm’s way.

When Putin appeared inclined to offer the young American political asylum, Washington seems have decided to use the Latakia incident to apply the screws and, at the same time, teach him a lesson: If the Russians want Washington to keep the Israeli military on a leash, they must stop disregarding US views on the Syrian question and start playing ball with Obama.

For teaching the Egyptian generals a lesson, the administration resorted to tangible military steps: two amphibious assault ships carrying 2,600 Marines were moved to the southern Egyptian Red Sea coast.

Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, reported Thursday that the huge USS Kearsarge (1,800 Marines) and the USS San Antonio (with 800 Marines) had “moved up into the Red Sea and parked off Egypt,” a couple of nights ago, “because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

debkafile’s military sources report that the two vessels also carry a fleet of helicopters for ferrying the Marines to distant ground arenas.

The US has placed additional Marine units at Signonella base in southern Italy and slowpoke in Spain on the alert with orders to be ready to move at 60 minutes’ notice.

To calm the tension, the US Embassy in Egypt said on its website Saturday: "We deny false claims in the Egyptian press that US naval ships are in the vicinity of the Arabian Peninsula and the Suez Canal to militarily invade Egypt."

According to our sources, the US flotilla was brought in to warn Egyptian strongman Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his generals that if they took their persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood too far, American Marines stood ready to step in.

The United States is pissed off with both the egyptian military and Israel that is why they have exposed their attack on the Russians openly exposing Israel to reprisals. They are two ship load of US Marines off the coast of Egypt as we speak:

The Obama administration is signifying its strong disapproval of Israel and Egypt taking matters in their own hands in the last two weeks, debkafile’s military and Washington sources report: Israel was accused of independent military action against Syria, and the Egyptian army of persecuting the Muslim Brotherhood after deposing President Mohamed Morsi.  

Washington is also highly displeased with the campaign the Egyptian army launched after the coup, with Israel’s active support, to root out the Islamist terror blighting the Sinai Peninsula. US warships and marines are now parked off Egypt’s Red sea coast as a deterrent to the generals in Cairo.

For whipping Israeli into line, the administration used another method, i.e., Pentagon leaks naming Israeli air strikes as responsible for the explosions at the Syrian weapons depot outside the port town of Latakia on July 5, which demolished a fresh stock of Russian Yakhont (NATO codenamed SS-N-26) shore-to-ship missiles along with their advanced radar.

Although CNN ran this leak Friday, July 7, sourcing it to three separate unnamed US officials, the New York Times repeated the story Saturday and it was picked up by more US media for the third day running on Sunday.

Israel declined to comment on the report.

This over-exposure of alleged Israeli culpability certainly risked prodding Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad into retaliating for the Latakia bombardment.
Our sources find a second US motive behind this tactic  - this one relating to the standoff between Washington and Moscow over Edward Snowden, who has been holed up for three weeks in a hotel in the transit area of Moscow international airport tin defiance of US demands for his extradition to face trial for espionae.

Putin has steadily refused to hand him over to America.

The idea in Washington was to put the Russian president’s credibility on the line and embarrass him by showing Moscow as having "lost" a large consignment of Russian missiles for Syria.

The long range missile test by Israel a few days ago is a warning by Israel to Russia: Do not mess with us or we will obliterate Moscow.

Part of the build up to World War 3 will be the complete nuclear annihilation of DAMASCUS as prophesied in Isiah 17:1.

Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world for over 4000 years without being sacked by invasion or war. Who will destroy Damascus with a nuclear strike is anybody's guess.

The Israeli military has test-fired a new long-range ballistic missile reportedly capable of carrying a nuclear, chemical or biological warhead.

The military described Friday’s launch from a base on the Mediterranean coast as the test of the propulsion system of a missile on which it declined to elaborate, AFP reported.   

“This morning, Israel conducted a launching test from the Palmachim base of a rocket propulsion system,” the Israeli ministry for military affairs said in a brief statement.

“The scheduled test was pre-planned… and was carried out as expected,” it added.

Israeli media, citing analysts, said the test was very likely related to Israel’s Jericho ballistic missile system.

Aalysts say the most modern version of the system, the Jericho III, has a range of between 5,000 and 11,000 kilometers, and can carry a warhead of up to one ton.

The last test of a Jericho III missile was conducted in November 2011.

In 2008, the Israeli military test-fired another long-range ballistic missile, threatening to strike Iran.

The Israeli regime is widely believed to be the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The regime reportedly maintains between 200 and 400 atomic warheads, but under its policy of so-called nuclear ambiguity, it has never denied nor confirmed its possession of the weapons of mass destruction.

Furthermore, the Israeli regime has never allowed any inspection of its nuclear facilities and continues to defy international calls to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

MN/MHB

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/13/313543/israel-test-fires-nuclearcapable-missile/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhObUaGtS1Q&feature=c4-overview&list=UU5gtqdJOvhGdh-6WRO2CTpw

My previous post on developing WW3:-

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/07/07/israel-destroyed-syrian-weapons-depot/

A massive explosion last Thursday at a major Syrian weapons depot in Latakia, not far from the main port of Tartous, completely destroyed the facility and munitions stored there. Tartous is Syria’s main port. It is largely controlled by the Russian military, and the route by which all weapons transported by sea would enter Syria. As such, any advanced Russian weaponry would enter via Tartous and might be stored in the Latakia depot.

Though the Free Syrian Army took immediate credit for the attack, it was not the responsible party. A confidential Israeli source informs me that Israeli forces attacked the site. The target were components of Russia’s SA-300 anti-aircraft missile system which had been shipped by Russia to Tartous and stored in Latakia. Israel and exerted tremendous pressure on Vladimir Putin to cancel its contract to supply the missile batteries to Syria, since once they were operational they would render Israeli aircraft more vulnerable to attack. Israel, of course, will countenance no front-line state having even defensive weapons which give it superiority over Israeli weapons systems. In response to Israeli entreaties, Russia’s leader refused to budge and recommitted to providing the weapons to Assad. Apparently, he’d begun to follow through on his promise with these first shipments.


Site of Thursday’s attack

This is Israeli third attack inside Syria since January. It considerably escalates the conflict there since it is the first known attack by Israeli forces which destroyed Russian armaments. Though Putin was surely warned by Israel that this would happen if he went forward with the arms deal, actually attacking Russian munitions is an act to which Putin will not take kindly, to say the least.

Assad bragged publicly a month ago that the SA-300 deliveries had arrived. Turns out he was right. Perhaps he shouldn’t have shot his mouth off.

Israel’s Channel 10 aired a claim by Syria rebels that Israel attacked and Israel journalists tell their viewers that they know things they’re not allowed to tell. A clear indication of Israeli involvement. Haaretz reports that a Syrian army source called the explosion the result of a technical failure, which hardly seems credible.

My source further notes that the FSA coordinated with the IDF and launched a rocket attack on nearby government military installations in order to distract loyalist forces from the real target. But the rebels played no role in the attack on the munitions cache. Their claim of responsibility conveniently takes Israel off the hook (until people read this report) and lessens pressure or condemnation on Israel for its third major attack inside Syria since January.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/14/israel-accused-russian-missiles-syria

US officials say Israel targeted advanced anti-ship cruise missiles near Syria's principal port city, Latakia, in an air attack this month, the New York Times reported.

The officials say the attack on 5 July near Latakia targeted a type of Russian-made missile called the Yakhont that Russia had sold to the Syrian government, the paper's website reported. Russia is a key political ally and arms supplier of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The officials provided no details on the strike, including the extent of the damage and how many missiles were used. The Times reported that the officials declined to be identified because they were discussing intelligence reports.

Israel maintains it is not involved in Syria's two-year-old civil war except to stop weapons transfers. The strike near Latakia was the fourth known air strike in Syria by Israel this year, the newspaper reported.

The attack came to light after Syrian rebels said they were not behind the explosions in Latakia on 5 July, according to the Times. Neither US nor Israeli officials have commented publicly on the report.

Reports surfaced earlier this year that Russia had delivered an advanced version of its Yakhont anti-ship cruise missile to Assad's regime even though Russia had said it was committed to peace talks. Those reports prompted the US to complain in May about an "ill-timed" step by Russia.

Such weapons would help to upgrade significantly Syria's capacity to target manned planes, drones and incoming missiles and would complicate efforts to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria if the US and other nations were to initiate one.

The Middle East has a complex political history. It is more than meets the eye. Friendship is very fluid. In diplomacy they are no permanent friends only permanent interests.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/10172463/Saudi-Arabia-targeting-Iran-and-Israel-with-ballistic-missiles.html

Images analysed by experts at IHS Jane's Intelligence Review has revealed a hitherto undisclosed surface-to-surface missile base deep in the Saudi desert, with capabilities for hitting both countries.

Analysts who examined the photos spotted two launch pads with markings pointing north-west towards Tel Aviv and north-east towards Tehran. They are designed for Saudi Arabia's arsenal of lorry-launched DF 3 missiles, which have a range of 1,500-2,500 miles and can carry a two-ton payload.

The base, believed to have been built within the last five years, gives an insight into Saudi strategic thinking at a time of heightened tensions in the Gulf.

While Saudi Arabia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, it has long maintained discreet back channel communications as part of attempts to promote stability in the region.

The two countries also have a mutual enemy in Iran, though, which has long seen Saudi Arabia as a rival power in the Gulf. Experts fear that if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would seek to follow suit.

Analysts at IHS Jane's believe that the kingdom is currently in the process of upgrading its missiles, although even the DF3, which dates back to the 1980s, is itself potentially big enough to carry a nuclear device.

The missile base, which is at al-Watah, around 125 miles south-west of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was discovered during a project by IHS Jane's to update their assessment of Saudi Arabia's military capabilities.

Gold, Bonds, And Stocks Soar As Bernanke Promises Moar | Zero Hedge

Good news everyone. Ben Shalom Bernanke just announced that they will be no tapering and Quantitative Easing will continue into the foreseeable future. Thus, Oil will climb and all other asset classes and the hedge funds who have bought our government bonds will only bring more money in to find a channel for the excessive money printing of the US Federal Reserve destroying bond yields on their own turfs.

Thank God the economic explosion is not going to happen soon. Life goes on.

Gold, Bonds, And Stocks Soar As Bernanke Promises Moar | Zero Hedge

Good news everyone. Ben Shalom Bernanke just announced that they will be no tapering and Quantitative Easing will continue into the foreseeable future. Thus, Oil will climb and all other asset classes and the hedge funds who have bought our government bonds will only bring more money in to find a channel for the excessive money printing of the US Federal Reserve destroying bond yields on their own turfs.

Thank God the economic explosion is not going to happen soon. Life goes on.

For Boko Haram to fail, we have to engage the citizens in those states. Help them with education, good healthcare and poverty reduction through massive agricultural initiative and a well regulated and armed local militia to counter the Boko Haram insurgents. The key to victory is the people and not the military alone.

Years later, he would say that his rethinking began with one memorable interview with a senior Vietcong captain. He was asked very early in the interview if he thought the Vietcong could win the war, and he said no.

But pages later, he was asked if he thought that the US could win the war, and he said no.

The second answer profoundly changes the meaning of the first. He didn't think in terms of winning or losing at all, which is a very different proposition. An enemy who is indifferent to the outcome of a battle is the most dangerous enemy of all.

Now why did Kellen see this and Goure did not? Because Goure didn't have the gift.

Goure was someone who filtered what he heard through his own biases. His biases were that this was 1965. The US was the most powerful country in the history of the world. North Vietnam was a speck that had barely entered the Industrial Revolution.

In just the first bombing campaign of the war, Operation Rolling Thunder, the US dropped as many bombs on this tiny speck as the RAF dropped on all of Germany throughout WWII.

Goure looked at the numbers and he could not believe that anyone could stand up in the face of that kind of assault. So he read that second sentence in the interview and he stopped listening.


Kellen was different. He had the gift. He was 20 when Hitler took over in Germany and he immediately packed his bags and didn't return until after the war was over. When asked why he left when he did, he would always say the same thing: "I had a feeling."

An enemy who is indifferent to the outcome of a battle is the most dangerous enemy of all”

Hitler made it perfectly plain what his attitude towards the Jews was in those years, but most people didn't listen. Kellen did. That doesn't sound like a great accomplishment, but it was.

Listening is hard because the more you listen, the more unsettling the world becomes. It's a lot easier just to place your hands over your ears and not listen at all.

So Kellen stood up and said that Goure was wrong, that the Vietcong were not giving up and were not demoralised. It was not, he said, a battle the US could win - not today, not tomorrow and not the day after tomorrow.

It is not because they can defeat the government but they feel the government cannot defeat them. They will wage a continuous war of resistance to wear out government forces.

This truce is because of Ramadan. After the holy month we might expect fireworks to resume.

It sounds like a joke but I can guarantee serious flooding in one or two weeks never seen before in this country.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/03/us-climate-extremes-idUSBRE9620HF20130703


(Reuters) - The world suffered unprecedented climate extremes in the decade to 2010, from heatwaves in Europe and droughts in Australia to floods in Pakistan, against a backdrop of global warming, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.

Every year of the decade except 2008 was among the 10 warmest since records began in the 1850s, with 2010 the hottest, according to the study by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The number of daily heat records far outstripped lows.

It said many extremes could be explained by natural variations - freak storms and droughts have happened throughout history - but that rising emissions of man-made greenhouse gases also played a role.

"Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing our climate, with far-reaching implications for our environment and our oceans, which are absorbing both carbon dioxide and heat," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement.

The study said damaging extremes included Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, floods in Pakistan in 2010, droughts in the Amazon basin, Australia and East Africa and a retreat of Arctic sea ice.

Deaths from extreme events totaled 370,000 people, up 20 percent from the 1990s, the Geneva-based WMO said, though the world population also rose sharply over the period, from 5.3 billion in 1990 to 6.9 billion in 2010.

Just saw this on BBC WEATHER a huge rain loud system heading towards West Africa in a few days to weeks with the possibility of a HURRICANE over LAGOS. Please make adequate preparations for this extreme weather system.

To be fore warned is to be fore armed. Evacuate to higher grounds.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130523_hurricaneoutlook_atlantic.html


Three climate factors that strongly control Atlantic hurricane activity are expected to come together to produce an active or extremely active 2013 hurricane season. These are:

A continuation of the atmospheric climate pattern, which includes a strong west African monsoon, that is responsible for the ongoing era of high activity for Atlantic hurricanes that began in 1995;

Warmer-than-average water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea; and

El Niño is not expected to develop and suppress hurricane formation.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/act-of-war-israel-attacks-syrian-weapons-depot-containing-advanced-russian-arms/5341940

A massive explosion last Thursday at a major Syrian weapons depot in Latakia, not far from the main port of Tartus, completely destroyed the facility and munitions stored there.

Tartus is Syria’s main port. It is largely controlled by the Russian military, and the route by which all weapons transported by sea would enter Syria. As such, any advanced Russian weaponry would enter via Tartous and might be stored in the Latakia depot.

Though the Free Syrian Army took immediate credit for the attack, it was not the responsible party.

A confidential Israeli source informs me that Israeli forces attacked the site. The target were components of Russia’s SA-300 anti-aircraft missile system which had been shipped by Russia to Tartus and stored in Latakia.

Indeed, the army chief is determined not to let Washington interfere with his next moves, realizing that the Muslim Brotherhood’s president dismissal was but the first step in a process which must be followed up if it is not to implode in chaos.

At least another six months are needed for the rewriting of the constitution, installing a working interim administration and setting up elections for the presidency and parliament. In that time, Egypt will be on a knife’s edge. debkafile’s Middle East sources report the army chief plans two steps for cutting through the tension, in the knowledge that the first, at least, will be strongly censured by Washington:

1. The Muslim Brotherhood’s top leadership was more or less decapitated when the army seized power Wednesday, July 3. Next, the generals plan to send security forces to fan out across the country for mass arrests of thousands of local activists. They will be confined in detention centers already in preparation.

By this action, Gen. El-Sisi will be treading in the footsteps of Gemal Abdul Nasser in the fifties and Anwar Sadat in the seventies. Those rulers kept thousands of Muslim Brotherhood national and field operatives in prison and under tight control for years before gradually letting them out on condition they did not run for office.

The army chief, while bracing for Washington’s condemnation, is also assured of approval by the Gulf rulers led by the Saudi royal house.

Likewise, if the US cuts off or reduces military aid to Egypt, currently running at $1.3 billion a year, the Egyptian strongman has Gulf guarantees to make up the difference.
Cairo’s post-coup military rulers are therefore squaring up for a major collision with Washington, which would also encompass their backers, the conservative pro-West Arab governments of the Persian Gulf.

At the same time, say our Middle East sources, Gen. El-Sisis is looking to the long term. He believes that his alignment with the Gulf will eventually lead to back to an understanding with the United States, although he will have to ride out the initial rift with the Obama administration.

2. The second step he plans is a crackdown on the estimated 10,000 armed Salafists, some of them working for al Qaeda, who have made Sinai their stamping ground.
debkafile’s military sources recall that as a past military intelligence chief, later commander of Egyptian forces in Sinai, Gen. El-Sisi is thoroughly acquainted with the terrain and conditions of the peninsula.

Our intelligence sources disclose that the generals in Cairo now believe the Muslim Brotherhood regime deliberately turned a blind eye in the past year to the massive flow of weapons smuggled in from Libya into Sinai and onto the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Brotherhood, it appears, had been quietly accumulating an arsenal for the contingency of its downfall by setting up a clandestine armed "Center of Revolt" for resistance operations against any takeover of rule in Cairo.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/07/07/israel-destroyed-syrian-weapons-depot/

A massive explosion last Thursday at a major Syrian weapons depot in Latakia, not far from the main port of Tartous, completely destroyed the facility and munitions stored there. Tartous is Syria’s main port. It is largely controlled by the Russian military, and the route by which all weapons transported by sea would enter Syria. As such, any advanced Russian weaponry would enter via Tartous and might be stored in the Latakia depot.

Though the Free Syrian Army took immediate credit for the attack, it was not the responsible party. A confidential Israeli source informs me that Israeli forces attacked the site. The target were components of Russia’s SA-300 anti-aircraft missile system which had been shipped by Russia to Tartous and stored in Latakia. Israel and exerted tremendous pressure on Vladimir Putin to cancel its contract to supply the missile batteries to Syria, since once they were operational they would render Israeli aircraft more vulnerable to attack. Israel, of course, will countenance no front-line state having even defensive weapons which give it superiority over Israeli weapons systems. In response to Israeli entreaties, Russia’s leader refused to budge and recommitted to providing the weapons to Assad. Apparently, he’d begun to follow through on his promise with these first shipments.


Site of Thursday’s attack
This is Israeli third attack inside Syria since January. It considerably escalates the conflict there since it is the first known attack by Israeli forces which destroyed Russian armaments. Though Putin was surely warned by Israel that this would happen if he went forward with the arms deal, actually attacking Russian munitions is an act to which Putin will not take kindly, to say the least.

Assad bragged publicly a month ago that the SA-300 deliveries had arrived. Turns out he was right. Perhaps he shouldn’t have shot his mouth off.

Israel’s Channel 10 aired a claim by Syria rebels that Israel attacked and Israel journalists tell their viewers that they know things they’re not allowed to tell. A clear indication of Israeli involvement. Haaretz reports that a Syrian army source called the explosion the result of a technical failure, which hardly seems credible.

My source further notes that the FSA coordinated with the IDF and launched a rocket attack on nearby government military installations in order to distract loyalist forces from the real target. But the rebels played no role in the attack on the munitions cache. Their claim of responsibility conveniently takes Israel off the hook (until people read this report) and lessens pressure or condemnation on Israel for its third major attack inside Syria since January.

It’s all the stranger that Haaretz’s Amos Harel, in writing about the incident would write this:

Israel wasn’t mentioned in connection with Thursday’s incident in Latakia. It doesn’t intervene in events in Syria.

Apparently, Israelis believe that “intervention” means invading the country with boots on the ground. When it sends its jet planes to bomb Syrian targets inside the country, that’s not considered intervention. This is further evidence of Israeli delusions and self-denial about their level of interference in the affairs of frontline Arab states. Such refusal to acknowledge Israel’s real role allows Israelis to believe falsely they’re innocent bystanders, sometimes even victims (!) in the affairs in the region.

How does Harel think Israel coordinated the FSA diversionary attack near Latakia? With smoke signals? No, Israeli intelligence has created a tacit alliance with the rebels who serve Israel’s interests when Assad acts in ways Israel believes will harm it. Hezbollah’s role in the Qusayr fight may have caused alarm in the Israeli defense ministry, which may’ve seen this as further evidence of escalation inside Syria. If Israel could take Hezbollah down a peg or two after its victory taking the Syria town on Assad’s behalf, it would be eager to do so. In this sense, the Syrian civil war is a proxy battle between Israel and Hezbollah who are itching for their next direct confrontation (the last one being in 2006).

Israel launched a very similar raid several months ago on the Sudanese capital Khartoum, in which it destroyed a major government arms depot. It’s known that Iran ships its weapons to Hamas and Syria via ports on the Arabian Sea, from where they’re shipped via Sudan to points north. Again, Israel has sucked countries throughout the region into the vortex of its own conflict with the Palestinians. If this doesn’t prove that this conflict is a major destabilizing force in the region, nothing will.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/03/nigeria-china-idUSL5N0F93N620130703?feedType=RSS&feedName=industrialsSector&rpc=43

ABUJA, July 3 (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to China next week to sign off on $3 billion in Chinese loans to build infrastructure in Africa's most populous country, the finance minister said on Wednesday.

The agreed loans will come from the Chinese government and will be based on interest rates of less than 3 percent over a 15-20 year period, Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

The deal underscores increasing Chinese interest in Africa and its resources - Nigeria is the continent's top oil producer - in competition with Western powers.

Okonjo-Iweala estimates Nigeria needs $10 billion a year of investment to improve infrastructure like roads and electricity to keep up with a rapidly growing population, already some 170 million, and to sustain economic growth at around 6-7 percent.

U.S. President Barack Obama launched a $7 billion initiative on Sunday to help Africa with electricity shortages but this is dwarfed by the $20 million in loans China has promised the continent. Obama did not visit Nigeria.

"We know that China fuelled its growth by really keeping one step ahead in terms of infrastructure ... we need roads, we need power, we need help on aviation, agriculture," Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters at the presidential villa in the capital.

China has made a string of cheap loans in the past few years to countries in Africa, a continent which supplies oil and raw materials like copper and uranium to the world's most populous country and second-largest economy.

The loans to Nigeria include $500 million to build airport terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano; and over $700 million to build a hydroelectric power plant in Niger State.

It also includes $600 million to build a light railway in the capital Abuja, most of which has already been invested on a project due to be completed early next year.

Lending at below market rates to fund infrastructure projects using Chinese firms has enabled Beijing to cement relationships in Africa while subsidising its construction industry.

Nigeria's central bank governor Lamido Sanusi warned African governments in March that China's pursuit of raw materials and markets for its manufactured goods on the continent carried "a whiff of colonialism" similar to that introduced by Europeans in centuries past.

"I'm not of the school that says 'look this is colonialism' ... We should be open to whoever wants to invest and help us finance our needs," Okonjo-Iweala said.

The loans are part of a $7.9 billion external borrowing plan approved by Nigeria's national assembly last year as government seeks to up cheaper external borrowing and limit domestic debt.

Okonjo-Iweala said the delegation travelling to China on July 7 would also be discussing China's interest in oil from Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa's top producer.

"They want more oil and gas ... we have something they want now and they have something we want, so you have grounds for negotiations," Okonjo-Iweala said.

With the discovery of shale oil and gas in the United States, Nigeria is losing its biggest customer and looking for new buyers. India has been increasing its imports from Nigeria. ($1 = 160.1000 Nigerian Naira

http://www.punchng.com/news/nigeria-is-due-for-revolution-tambuwal/

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, has said a revolution is due in Nigeria because of endemic corruption in the country, coupled with the general disaffection of the people with the ruling elite.

He said the kind of conditions that must subsist in order for any talk of revolution to be taken seriously were widely evident.

Tambuwal stated these in Lagos on Tuesday at the 2013 Distinguished Management Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered). The occasion had the theme, ‘The role of the legislature on the economic, infrastructural and ethical revolution in Nigeria’, where he was invited as a guest speaker.

He said, “The most compelling reasons for revolution throughout the ages were injustice, crushing poverty, marginalisation, rampant corruption, lawlessness, joblessness, and general disaffection with the ruling elite. You will agree with me that these describe conditions in our nation now, to a very large degree.”

Tambuwal, who was represented by the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budget and Research, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, said over the years, successive governments made efforts to deal with this menace, but to no avail.

“That these conditions exist is well known to all persons in authority but the results of these successive efforts have failed to yield the desired results. This therefore is the justification for the radical change from the present approach to a revolutionary one,” he stressed.

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/en/news/item/15792-randy-bishop-paraded-in-p-harcourt-for-raping-girl,-15.html

A Port Harcourt-based bishop (names withheld) was, on Tuesday, paraded before the media by the Rivers State police command for allegedly raping a 15-year old girl.
Although he claimed to have both been hypnotised as well as set up by a colleague bishop, the cleric confessed to having a “carnal knowledge” of the teenager in question.

He said his ordeal was orchestrated by another bishop in whose office the immoral act took place, adding that plot to ensnare and embarrass him followed on the desire of his brother bishop to displace him as the chairman of all bishops in the state, a post he (the accused bishop) currently occupied.

The accused also denied reports that he assisted in aborting the pregnancy that resulted from the illicit act with the teenager, alleging that it was the girl’s father who did the abortion, while he, the bishop, paid for the cost.

“We have different colleges of bishops. I am the chairman of Communion of Bishops in Rivers State. Well, what actually happened was a set-up. It was set up by my enemies. I have so many people who are my enemies. The man who is in-charge of where I went to minister is my enemy. He is the person that set me up.

“He invited me to his church for a programme. And, after the programme, he set me up because of what we are dragging. We are dragging chairmanship of the communion and that was why he set me up.

“I was surprised when I saw her pulling off her skirt and others. But, before you knew it, I had a carnal knowledge of her. That is the truth of the matter.
“She started laughing at me. She said ‘are you angry?’ I told her that I did not know what she had hypnotized me for. She said I should not bother. I was so angry and annoyed that I called some of my pastors and made a confession that I did not know what was happening,” he said.