ΑΝΑΦΕΡΟΝΤΑΙ ΚΑΠΟΙΕΣ ΚΙΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΔΙΠΛΩΜΑΤΙΚΕΣ/ΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤΙΚΕΣ ΑΠΟ
ΝΑΤΟ-ΗΠΑ-ΙΣΡΑΗΛ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΙΡΑΝ
ΑΣ ΤΙΣ ΔΟΥΜΕ ΟΜΩΣ ΑΝΑΛΥΤΙΚΑ
December 7, 2011
Press TV
The United States and
the Israeli regime have been engaged in a full-fledged undercover war
against Iran, political analyst Mark Dankof has told Press TV.
“The
war has actually started. It is just the question of when the wider
shooting war begins,” Dankof said in an interview with Press TV.
1>>Dankof cited the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists by Israeli-backed agents,
2>> the violation of Iranian airspace by US surveillance drones, and
3>>the new US-led economic sanctions imposed on Iran as examples of this undercover war.
He said the Mossad and the CIA have conducted these covert operations in collusion with terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), and Jundallah militants.
Citing essays written by M.J. Rosenberg and Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Dankof said the hostile policy of Israel and the US toward Iran has little or nothing to do with Tehran’s alleged nuclear program but is meant to help the Tel Aviv regime maintain its military supremacy in the Middle East.
Describing the Israel regime as a political and economic “liability” on US taxpayers, he said the United States is being dragged into a war with Iran by the influential Zionist lobby.
On November 12, during a debate among a number of Republican presidential hopefuls, calls ranging from executing covert operations such as terrorism and assassinations to launching a military strike on Iran to subvert Tehran’s nuclear program were made.
The calls for assassinations and terrorist acts directed at Iran are not idle threats as a number of Iranian scientists have been assassinated over the past few years, including Professor Majid Shahriari and Professor Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, who were both killed in 2010.
On Nov. 4, 2011, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, announced that Tehran has irrefutable evidence that proves the US government has been involved in anti-Iran conspiracies and has dispatched elements to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism in Iran and other regional countries.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used the false charge as as pretext to push for the imposition of sanctions on the country and to call for an attack on the country.
Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.
Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that such a measure could spark a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.
ΠΗΓΗ1>>Dankof cited the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists by Israeli-backed agents,
2>> the violation of Iranian airspace by US surveillance drones, and
3>>the new US-led economic sanctions imposed on Iran as examples of this undercover war.
He said the Mossad and the CIA have conducted these covert operations in collusion with terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), and Jundallah militants.
Citing essays written by M.J. Rosenberg and Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Dankof said the hostile policy of Israel and the US toward Iran has little or nothing to do with Tehran’s alleged nuclear program but is meant to help the Tel Aviv regime maintain its military supremacy in the Middle East.
Describing the Israel regime as a political and economic “liability” on US taxpayers, he said the United States is being dragged into a war with Iran by the influential Zionist lobby.
On November 12, during a debate among a number of Republican presidential hopefuls, calls ranging from executing covert operations such as terrorism and assassinations to launching a military strike on Iran to subvert Tehran’s nuclear program were made.
The calls for assassinations and terrorist acts directed at Iran are not idle threats as a number of Iranian scientists have been assassinated over the past few years, including Professor Majid Shahriari and Professor Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, who were both killed in 2010.
On Nov. 4, 2011, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, announced that Tehran has irrefutable evidence that proves the US government has been involved in anti-Iran conspiracies and has dispatched elements to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism in Iran and other regional countries.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used the false charge as as pretext to push for the imposition of sanctions on the country and to call for an attack on the country.
Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.
Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that such a measure could spark a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.
ΚΑΙ ΜΕΤΑ ΑΠΟ ΑΝΑΚΑΛΥΨΕΙΣ ΚΡΥΦΩΝ ΚΙΝΗΣΕΩΝ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΙΚΩΝ ΑΕΡΟΠΛΑΝΩΝ
ΑΠΟ ΙΡΑΝΙΚΑ ΠΟΛΕΜΙΚΑ
December 30, 2011
An Iranian warplane has spotted a US aircraft carrier during Tehran’s ongoing navy drill in the Persian Gulf, reports IRNA news agency. The US fleet’s maneuvers come after Iran threatened to block the oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran’s surveillance jet has shot a video and pictures of the American carrier, which was later identified as John C. Stennis. The US Fifth Fleet keeps a military base in Bahrain, while the ship was spotted in the Gulf of Oman after crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
“An Iranian vessel and surveillance plane have tracked, filmed and photographed a US aircraft carrier as it was entering the Gulf of Oman from the Persian Gulf,” said Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, Iran's navy chief, as cited by the official IRNA.
“The foreign fleet will be warned by Iranian forces if it enters the area of the drill," added Sayyari.
The US navy confirmed on Thursday the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis had indeed headed for the Gulf of Oman, accompanied by guided-missile cruiser Mobile Bay and several other vessels. But that was “a pre-planned, routine transit” as the group was to provide air support to allied troops in Afghanistan, said Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, the spokesperson for the US Fifth Fleet.
Since Saturday, Iran has been conducting a 10-day navy drill in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway for up to 40 per cent of world’s oil supply with the US and EU among major customers. Tehran has promised to block the strait if Washington sanctions Iran’s oil exports out of suspicions it is developing nuclear weapons.
While Tehran seems to be reaffirming its naval might in the region, Reuters reports all of its marine capabilities cannot be compared with the US Fifth Fleet located in the Persian Gulf, which lists over 20 ocean-range warships and 15,000 personnel.
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ΚΑΙ ΕΝΩ ΣΥΝΕΒΗΣΑΝ ΑΥΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΛΑ ΤΟΣΑ ΣΤΑ ΤΕΛΗ ΤΗΣ ΧΡΟΝΙΑΣ ΤΟΥ 2011
ΑΡΧΙΖΟΥΝ ΝΑ ΕΚΤΕΛΟΥΝΤΑΙ ΣΤΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΕΣ ΜΕΡΕΣ ΤΟΥ 2012 ΜΕΓΑΛΕΣ ΑΣΚΗΣΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΚΙΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΕΚΑΤΕΡΩΘΕΝ
January 4, 2012
Jerusalem Post - 2011-12-21
Israel
is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense
exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain
nuclear weapons.
Last week [11-18 December], Lt.-Gen. Frank
Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited
Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the
deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East.
The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel.
The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome.
Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division.
He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation exercises.
The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located there.
The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries along Israel’s northern and southern borders.
The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012.
Global Research Articles by Yaakov KatzΠΗΓΗ
ΜΕΤΑΚΙΝΗΣΗ ΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤΙΚΩΝ ΜΟΝΑΔΩΝ ΣΤΟ ΙΣΡΑΗΛ
Global Research, January 4, 2012
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been threatened with military action by the US and its allies for the last eight years.
Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian Gulf. The US Navy is deployed. Iran's naval exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran's Central Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran's currency.
Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian Gulf. The US Navy is deployed. Iran's naval exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran's Central Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran's currency.
Reacting to US threats, Iran declared that it would consider blocking the shipment of oil through the Strait of Hormuz:
"Roughly 40 percent of the world's oil tanker shipments transit the strait daily, carrying 15.5 million barrels of Saudi, Iraqi, Iranian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Qatari and United Arab Emirates crude oil, leading the United States Energy Information Administration to label the Strait of Hormuz "the world's most important oil chokepoint." (John C.K. Daly, War Imminent in Strait of Hormuz? $200 a Barrel Oil? Global Research, January 3, 2012)
The Globalization of War and the Demise of the American Republic
There is a symbiotic relationship between War and the Economic Crisis.
The planning of the Iran war is being carried out at the crossroads of a worldwide economic depression, which is conducive to widening social inequalities, mass unemployment and the impoverishment of large sectors of the world population.
The planning of the Iran war is being carried out at the crossroads of a worldwide economic depression, which is conducive to widening social inequalities, mass unemployment and the impoverishment of large sectors of the world population.
Crushing social movements
on the domestic front --including all forms of resistance to America's
military agenda and its neoliberal economic policies-- is an integral
part of the United States' hegemonic role Worldwide.
Does Constitutional Government in the eyes of the Obama Administration constitute an encroachment to "The Globalization of War"?
History tells us that an Empire cannot be built on the political foundations of a Republic.
In
this regard, it should come as no surprise that the new Iran sanctions
regime adopted by the US Congress became law on New Year's Eve, December
31st, on the same day Obama signed into law the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA 2012), which suspends civil liberties and allows
for the "Indefinite Detention of Americans". (See Michel Chossudovsky, The Inauguration of Police State USA 2012. Obama Signs the “National Defense Authorization Act ", Global Research, January 1, 2012)
The
Obama administration is intent upon crushing both social dissent as
well as antiwar protest. The American Republic is incompatible with
America's "long war". What is required is the instatement of a
"democratic dictatorship", a de facto military rule in civilian cloths.
Thousands of Troops to Israel
Advanced war preparations are ongoing. Barely mentioned by the Western media, although confirmed by Israeli press reports, the Pentagon is preparing to send several thousand US troops to Israel.
In
the context of ongoing war preparations, these troops are slated to
participate in joint US-Israeli military maneuvers in Spring 2012,
described by the Jerusalem Post as "the largest-ever missile defense exercise in [Israel's] history." (emphasis added)
Last week [11-18 December], Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel. (US commander visits Israel to finalize missile... Jerusalem Post December 21, 2011 emphasis added)
These
war games involve the testing of Israel's air defense system, which is
now fully integrated into the US global missile detection system,
following the installation (December 2008) of a new sophisticated X-band
early warning radar system. (See www.defense.gov/news/, December 30, 2011, .See also Sen. Joseph Azzolina, Protecting Israel from Iran's missiles, Bayshore News, December 26, 2008).
The US global missile detection system includes satellites, Aegis ships in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea as well as land-based Patriot radars and interceptors. In the context of planning the US-Israel Spring war games:
The US global missile detection system includes satellites, Aegis ships in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea as well as land-based Patriot radars and interceptors. In the context of planning the US-Israel Spring war games:
"The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel.The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome.Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division.He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation exercises.The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located there.The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries along Israel’s northern and southern borders.The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012. US commander visits Israel to finalize missile... Jerusalem Post December 21, 2011)
Integrated US-NATO-Israel Command Structures
Pursuant
to these joint US-Israel games, there are indications that the US is
also planning to increase the number of American troops stationed in
Israel.
Moreover, these military exercises
planned for next Spring are accompanied by a fundamental shift in
US-NATO-Israel command structures.
What is now unfolding at Washington's behest is an integration of US-Israel military command structures.
Washington
is not a reluctant partner, as some observers have suggested, "with the
Obama administration attempting to distance itself" from an Israeli
sponsored war on Iran. Quite the opposite!
Given the integration of Israel's air defense system into that of the US, Israel cannot, under any circumstances, wage a war on Iran without the US.
Moreover, since mid-2005, following the signing of a protacol between
NATO and Tel Aviv, Israel has beocme a de facto member of the Atlantic
Alliance.
The Pentagon calls the shots. The planned deployment of US troops in Israel is part and parcel of a US sponsored war.
In
the context of the Spring 2012 military drills, the United States
military will establish Command Posts in Israel. In turn, Israel's IDF
will establish Command Posts at United States European Command headquarters (EUCOM), in Stuttgart, Germany. (Ibid).
The ultimate objective of these command posts is to establish "joint [US-Israeli] task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East", (Ibid). In other words, these task forces will be involved in planning the deployment of troops and weapons systems directed against Iran, with Israel playing an important role as a launchpad for military action.
The ultimate objective of these command posts is to establish "joint [US-Israeli] task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East", (Ibid). In other words, these task forces will be involved in planning the deployment of troops and weapons systems directed against Iran, with Israel playing an important role as a launchpad for military action.
What these developments
suggest is that the war on Iran --which has been on the drawing board of
the Pentagon since 2003-- will involve the direct participation of
Israel under a unified US military command.
The
people of Israel are the unspoken victims of America's global military
agenda as well their own government's war plans directed against Iran.
They
are led to believe that Iran possesses nuclear weapons when in fact
Israel possesses an advanced nuclear arsenal, which is directed against
Iran.
The people of Israel as well as Western
public opinion, more generally, are also led to believe that Iran's
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants "to Wipe Israel off the Map", when
in fact this statement was concocted by the Western media, as a means of
demonizing the Iranian head of state as well as presenting Iran as a
threat to the security of Israel:
"Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map". Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made"(See Arash Norouzi, Israel: "Wiped off The Map". The Rumor of the Century, Fabricated by the US Media to Justify An All out War on Iran, Global Research, January 20, 2007)
Who wants to "wipe Israel off the Map"? Tehran or Washington? Ahmadinejad or Obama?
In
actual fact, the Obama administration as well as the Netanyahu
government indelibly constitute a threat to the people of Israel.
Tehran has since 2005 warned that it will retaliate if attacked, in the form of ballistic missile strikes directed against Israel as well as against US military facilities in the Persian Gulf, which would immediately lead us into a scenario of military escalation.
Tehran has since 2005 warned that it will retaliate if attacked, in the form of ballistic missile strikes directed against Israel as well as against US military facilities in the Persian Gulf, which would immediately lead us into a scenario of military escalation.
This
war would engulf a region extending from the Mediterranean to the
heartland of Central Asia. It would have devastating consequences,
resulting in a massive loss of life.
It would precipitate humanity into a World War III scenario.
Global Research Articles by Michel ChossudovskyΠΗΓΗ
ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΠΡΟΕΔΡΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΙΡΑΝ Η ΟΠΟΙΑ ΒΑΖΕΙ ΤΗ ΦΩΤΙΑ ΚΟΝΤΑ ΣΤΟ ΜΠΑΡΟΥΤΙ
Global Research Editor's Note
The following text by Arash Norouzi first published by the Mossadegh Project and Global Research in January 2007 confirms that the alleged "Wiped Off the Map" statement by Iran's president was never made.
The rumor was fabricated by the American media with a view to discrediting Iran's head of state and providing a justification for waging an all out war on Iran. the article provides of media manipulation and "propaganda in action".
Iran is blamed for refusing to abide by the "reasonable demands" of "the international community".
The following text by Arash Norouzi first published by the Mossadegh Project and Global Research in January 2007 confirms that the alleged "Wiped Off the Map" statement by Iran's president was never made.
The rumor was fabricated by the American media with a view to discrediting Iran's head of state and providing a justification for waging an all out war on Iran. the article provides of media manipulation and "propaganda in action".
Iran is blamed for refusing to abide by the "reasonable demands" of "the international community".
Realities
are twisted and turned upside down. Iran is being accused of wanting to
start a war. Inherent in US military doctrine, the victims of war are
heralded as the aggressor.
The threat to
global security comes from the US-NATO-Israel military alliance, which
is now threatening Iran with a pre-emptive attack with nuclear
warheads.
If Iran is attacked, we are potentially in a World War III scenario.
It is essential to dispel the fabrications of the Western media.
Iran does not constitute a threat to to Global Security.
Iran does not possess a nuclear weapons program. Iran does not constitute a threat to Israel.
Michel Chossudovsky, 25 September 2010
If Iran is attacked, we are potentially in a World War III scenario.
It is essential to dispel the fabrications of the Western media.
Iran does not constitute a threat to to Global Security.
Iran does not possess a nuclear weapons program. Iran does not constitute a threat to Israel.
Michel Chossudovsky, 25 September 2010
Wiped off The Map: The Rumor of the Century
by Arash Norouzi
Global Research, January 20, 2007
| |
Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map". Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as the following article will prove.
BACKGROUND:
On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly
elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a
program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled "The World Without
Zionism". Large posters surrounding him displayed this title prominently
in English, obviously for the benefit of the international press. Below
the poster's title was a slick graphic depicting an hour glass
containing planet Earth at its top. Two small round orbs representing
the United States and Israel are shown falling through the hour glass' narrow neck and crashing to the bottom.
Before
we get to the infamous remark, it's important to note that the "quote"
in question was itself a quote— they are the words of the late Ayatollah
Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution. Although he quoted
Khomeini to affirm his own position on Zionism, the actual words belong
to Khomeini and not Ahmadinejad. Thus, Ahmadinejad has
essentially been credited (or blamed) for a quote that is not
only unoriginal, but represents a viewpoint already in place well before
he ever took office.
THE ACTUAL QUOTE:
So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in farsi:
"Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad."
That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word "Regime", pronounced just like the English word with an extra "eh" sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime
off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he
instead uses the specific phrase "rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods" (regime
occupying Jerusalem).
So this raises the question.. what exactly did he want "wiped from the map"? The answer is: nothing. That's because the word "map" was never used. The Persian word for map, "nagsheh",
is not contained anywhere in his original farsi quote, or, for that
matter, anywhere in his entire speech. Nor was the western phrase "wipe
out" ever said. Yet we are led to believe that Iran's
President threatened to "wipe Israel off the map", despite never having
uttered the words "map", "wipe out" or even "Israel".
THE PROOF:
The full quote translated directly to English:
"The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time".
Word by word translation:
Imam
(Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e
(occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page
of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).
Here is the full transcript of the speech in farsi, archived on Ahmadinejad's web site
THE SPEECH AND CONTEXT:
While
the false "wiped off the map" extract has been repeated infinitely
without verification, Ahmadinejad's actual speech itself has been almost
entirely ignored. Given the importance placed on the "map" comment, it
would be sensible to present his words in their full context to get a
fuller understanding of his position. In fact, by looking at the entire
speech, there is a clear, logical trajectory leading up to his call
for a "world without Zionism". One may disagree with his reasoning, but
critical appraisals are infeasible without first knowing what that
reasoning is.
In
his speech, Ahmadinejad declares that Zionism is the West's apparatus
of political oppression against Muslims. He says the "Zionist regime"
was imposed on the Islamic world as a strategic bridgehead to ensure
domination of the region and its assets. Palestine, he insists, is the
frontline of the Islamic world's struggle with American hegemony,
and its fate will have repercussions for the entire Middle East.
Ahmadinejad acknowledges that the removal of America's powerful grip on the region via the Zionists may seem unimaginable to some, but reminds the audience that, as Khomeini predicted, other seemingly invincible empires have disappeared and now only exist in history books. He then proceeds to list three such regimes that have collapsed, crumbled or vanished, all within the last 30 years:
(1) The Shah of Iran- the U.S. installed monarch(2) The Soviet Union(3) Iran's former arch-enemy, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
In the
first and third examples, Ahmadinejad prefaces their
mention with Khomeini's own words foretelling that individual regime's
demise. He concludes by referring to Khomeini's unfulfilled wish: "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. This statement is very wise". This
is the passage that has been isolated, twisted and distorted so
famously. By measure of comparison, Ahmadinejad would seem to be calling
for regime change, not war.
THE ORIGIN:
One
may wonder: where did this false interpretation originate? Who is
responsible for the translation that has sparked such worldwide
controversy? The answer is surprising.
The inflammatory "wiped off the map" quote was first disseminated not by Iran's enemies, but by Iran itself. The Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's
official propaganda arm, used this phrasing in the English version of
some of their news releases covering the World Without Zionism
conference. International media including the BBC, Al Jazeera, Time
magazine and countless others picked up the IRNA quote and made
headlines out of it without verifying its accuracy, and rarely referring
to the source. Iran's
Foreign Minister soon attempted to clarify the statement, but the quote
had a life of its own. Though the IRNA wording was inaccurate and
misleading, the media assumed it was true, and besides, it made great
copy.
Amid heated wrangling over Iran's nuclear program, and months of continuous, unfounded accusations against Iran in an attempt to rally support for preemptive strikes against the country, the imperialists had just been handed the perfect raison d'être to invade. To the war hawks, it was a gift from the skies.
It
should be noted that in other references to the conference, the IRNA's
translation changed. For instance, "map" was replaced with "earth". In
some articles it was "The Qods occupier regime should be eliminated from
the surface of earth", or the similar "The Qods occupying regime must
be eliminated from the surface of earth". The inconsistency of the
IRNA's translation should be evidence enough of the unreliability of the
source, particularly when transcribing their news from Farsi into the
English language.
THE REACTION:
The mistranslated "wiped off the map" quote attributed to Iran's
President has been spread worldwide, repeated thousands of times in
international media, and prompted the denouncements of numerous world
leaders. Virtually every major and minor media outlet has published or
broadcast this false statement to the masses. Big news agencies such as
The Associated Press and Reuters refer to the misquote, literally, on an
almost daily basis.
Following
news of Iran's remark, condemnation was swift. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair expressed "revulsion" and implied that it might be
necessary to attack Iran. U.N. chief Kofi Annan cancelled his scheduled trip to Iran due to the controversy. Ariel Sharon demanded that Iran be expelled from the United Nations for calling for Israel's destruction. Shimon Peres, more than once, threatened to wipe Iran off the map. More recently, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned that Iran
is "preparing another holocaust for the Jewish state" is calling for
Ahmadinejad to be tried for war crimes for inciting genocide.
The artificial
quote has also been subject to additional alterations. U.S. officials
and media often take the liberty of dropping the "map" reference
altogether, replacing it with the more acutely threatening phrase "wipe
Israel off the face of the earth". Newspaper and magazine articles
dutifully report Ahmadinejad has "called for the destruction of Israel",
as do senior officials in the United States government.
President
George W. Bush said the comments represented a "specific threat" to
destroy Israel. In a March 2006 speech in Cleveland, Bush vowed he
would resort to war to protect Israel from Iran, because, "..the threat from Iran
is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally
Israel." Former Presidential advisor Richard Clarke told Australian TV
that Iran "talks openly about destroying Israel", and insists, "The President of Iran
has said repeatedly that he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the
earth". In an October 2006 interview with Amy Goodman, former UN Weapons
Inspector Scott Ritter referred to Ahmadinejad as "the idiot that comes
out and says really stupid, vile things, such as, 'It is the goal of Iran to wipe Israel off the face of the earth' ". The consensus is clear.
Confusing
matters further, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pontificates rather than give a
direct answer when questioned about the statement, such as in Lally Weymouth's Washington Post interview in September 2006:
Are you really serious when you say that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
We need to look at the scene in the Middle East — 60 years of war, 60 years of displacement, 60 years of conflict, not even a day of peace. Look at the war in Lebanon, the war in Gaza — what are the reasons for these conditions? We need to address and resolve the root problem.
Your suggestion is to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth?
Our
suggestion is very clear:... Let the Palestinian people decide their
fate in a free and fair referendum, and the result, whatever it is,
should be accepted.... The people with no roots there are now ruling the
land.
You've been quoted as saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth. Is that your belief?
What I have said has made my position clear. If we look at a map of the Middle East from 70 years ago...
So, the answer is yes, you do believe that it should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
Are
you asking me yes or no? Is this a test? Do you respect the right to
self-determination for the Palestinian nation? Yes or no? Is Palestine,
as a nation, considered a nation with the right to live under humane
conditions or not? Let's allow those rights to be enforced for these 5
million displaced people.
The
exchange is typical of Ahmadinejad's interviews with the American
media. Predictably, both Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes and CNN's Anderson
Cooper asked if he wants to "wipe Israel off the map". As usual, the
question is thrown back in the reporter's face with his standard "Don't
the Palestinians have rights?, etc." retort (which is never directly
answered either). Yet he never confirms the "map" comment to be
true. This did not prevent Anderson Cooper from referring to earlier
portions of his interview after a commercial break and lying, "as he
said earlier, he wants Israel wiped off the map".
Even
if every media outlet in the world were to retract the mistranslated
quote tomorrow, the major damage has already been done, providing the
groundwork for the next phase of disinformation: complete character
demonization. Ahmadinejad, we are told, is the next Hitler, a grave
threat to world peace who wants to bring about a new Holocaust.
According to some detractors, he not only wants to destroy Israel, but
after that, he will nuke America, and then Europe! An October 2006 memo titled Words of Hate: Iran's Escalating Threats released by the powerful Israeli lobby group AIPAC opens with the warning, "Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian leaders are issuing increasingly belligerent statements threatening to destroy the United States, Europe and Israel."
These claims not only fabricate an unsubstantiated threat, but assume
far more power than he actually possesses. Alarmists would be better off
monitoring the statements of the ultra-conservative Supreme Leader,
Ayatollah Khamenei, who holds the most power in Iran.
As Iran's U.N. Press Officer, M.A. Mohammadi, complained to The Washington Post in a June 2006 letter:
It
is not amazing at all, the pick-and-choose approach of highlighting the
misinterpreted remarks of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
October and ignoring this month's remarks by Iran's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that "We have no problem with
the world. We are not a threat whatsoever to the world, and the world
knows it. We will never start a war. We have no intention of going to
war with any state."
The
Israeli government has milked every drop of the spurious quote to its
supposed advantage. In her September 2006 address to the United Nations
General Assembly, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni accused Iran
of working to nuke Israel and bully the world. "They speak proudly and
openly of their desire to 'wipe Israel off the map.' And now, by their
actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective to imperil
the region and threaten the world." Addressing the threat in December, a
fervent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert inadvertently disclosed that his
country already possesses nuclear weapons: "We have never threatened any
nation with annihilation. Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly
threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same
level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America,
France, Israel, Russia?"
MEDIA IRRESPONSIBILITY:
On December 13, 2006, more than a year after The World Without Zionism conference, two leading Israeli newspapers, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, published reports of a renewed threat from Ahmadinejad. The Jerusalem Post's headline was Ahmadinejad: Israel will be 'wiped out', while Haaretz posted the title Ahmadinejad at Holocaust conference: Israel will 'soon be wiped out'.
Where did they get their information? It turns out that both papers, like most American and western media, rely heavily on write ups by news wire services such as the Associated Press and Reuters as a source for their articles. Sure enough, their sources are in fact December 12th articles by Reuter's Paul Hughes [Iran president says Israel's days are numbered], and the AP's Ali Akbar Dareini [Iran President: Israel Will be wiped out].
The
first five paragraphs of the Haaretz article, credited to "Haaretz
Service and Agencies", are plagiarized almost 100% from the first five
paragraphs of the Reuters piece. The only difference is that Haaretz
changed "the Jewish state" to "Israel" in the second paragraph,
otherwise they are identical.
The Jerusalem
Post article by Herb Keinon pilfers from both the Reuters and AP
stories. Like Haaretz, it uses the following Ahmadinejad quote without
attribution: ["Just as the Soviet Union
was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon
be wiped out," he added]. Another passage apparently relies on an IRNA
report:
"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union
was, and humanity will achieve freedom," Ahmadinejad said at Tuesday's
meeting with the conference participants in his offices, according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
He said elections should be held among "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."
Once
again, the first sentence above was wholly plagiarized from the AP
article. The second sentence was also the same, except "He called for
elections" became "He said elections should be held..".
It gets more interesting.
The quote used in the original AP article and copied in The Jerusalem Post article supposedly derives from the IRNA. If true, this can easily be checked. Care to find out? Go to:
There you will discover the actual IRNA quote was:
"As the Soviet Union disappeared, the Zionist regime will also vanish and humanity will be liberated".
Compare this to the alleged IRNA quote reported by the Associated Press:
"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom".
In the IRNA's actual report, the Zionist regime will vanish just as the Soviet Union disappeared. Vanish. Disappear. In the dishonest AP version, the Zionist regime will be "wiped out". And how will it be wiped out? "The same way the Soviet Union was". Rather than imply a military threat or escalation in rhetoric, this reference to Russia actually validates the intended meaning of Ahmadinejad's previous misinterpreted anti-Zionist statements.
What
has just been demonstrated is irrefutable proof of media manipulation
and propaganda in action. The AP deliberately alters an IRNA quote to
sound more threatening. The Israeli media not only repeats the fake
quote but also steals the original authors' words. The unsuspecting
public reads this, forms an opinion and supports unnecessary wars of
aggression, presented as self defense, based on the misinformation.
This scenario mirrors the kind of false claims that led to the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, a war now widely viewed as a catastrophic mistake. And yet the Bush administration and the compliant corporate media continue to marinate in propaganda and speculation about attacking Iraq's much larger and more formidable neighbor, Iran. Most of this rests on the unproven assumption that Iran is building nuclear weapons, and the lie that Iran has vowed to physically destroy Israel. Given its scope and potentially disastrous outcome, all this amounts to what is arguably the rumor of the century.
Iran's
President has written two rather philosophical letters to America. In
his first letter, he pointed out that "History shows us that oppressive
and cruel governments do not survive". With this statement, Ahmadinejad
has also projected the outcome of his own backwards regime, which will
likewise "vanish from the page of time".
Arash Norouzi is an artist and co-founder of The Mossadegh Project
Global Research Articles by Arash Norouzi
ΠΡΟΕΤΟΙΜΑΖΟΥΝ ΤΟ ΕΔΑΦΟΣ
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Global Research, November 10, 2011
| |
Israel’s
all-powerful lobby in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), an organization composed of Israeli collaborators,
infiltrators, and outright traitors to the United States, is
steamrolling through the House of Representatives H.R. 1905, which would
prohibit the President of the United States, the Secretary of State,
members of the U.S. Foreign Service, or any special envoy from engaging
in any sort of diplomatic contact, official or unofficial, with any
member or agent of the government of Iran. Only when the President
informs the requisite committees may he proceed with engaging on
diplomatic contact with Iran. Israel has de facto control over the
foreign affairs committees of Congress, so any White House notification
of the need to contact Iranian officials would be instantly transmitted
to Binyamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem and Israel would then
circumvent any U.S.-Iranian contact. AIPAC, with its resolution, is
further making the United States a vassal of the Jewish state.
Israel’s
strategy is to make certain that its plans to attack Iran’s nuclear
facilities and, perhaps other targets, meet no opposition from
diplomatic circles in the United States… Israel has placed its own
interests well beyond and in contravention of those of the United
States.
Faced with the prospect of
an Israeli attack on Iran, backed by Saudi Arabia – Israel’s secret
ally in the region – has had ripple effects across the Middle East and Asia.
Countries
in Asia are scrambling to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) as full members. Confronted by a belligerent United States, NATO,
and Israel intent on toppling the governments of Syria and Iran, the
economic, cultural, and de facto collective security pact that comprises
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
announced after its prime ministers' summit in St. Petersburg that SCO
would soon be opening its doors for full membership for Pakistan, Iran,
and India. The Asian nations want to freeze the United States out of
interference in Asia.
Ahead of the St.
Petersburg summit, Russia and China strongly warned the West against
any military attack on Iran. The words being used in international
diplomacy are reminiscent of the Cold War era, however, it is the West
that is playing to role of the aggressor, albeit an aggressor led around
by Israel and its intelligence spies and assets embedded in the upper
echelons of governments in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, and within
the United Nations hierarchy.
Even
America's vassal state of Afghanistan, eager to break free of the bonds
of NATO and Washington, has attained observer status in SCO. Recent
comments by the deputy commander of NATO training in Afghanistan, U.S.
Army Major General Peter Fuller, that the Afghan government leadership
is erratic, ungrateful, and isolated from reality because President
Hamid Karzai said Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in an American
war on Pakistan, resulted in Fuller’s firing. Fuller’s comments also
resulted in Karzai asking for observer status in SCO as American
aggression against the Muslim world and opposition to sovereignty for
Palestine has seen Washington’s standing around the world plummet.
Another
nation where the CIA, Pentagon, has their agents creeping and crawling,
Mongolia, is also a SCO observer. There are also SCO "partners in
dialogue" -- nations that could attain SCO observer or membership status
in the future. Partners in dialogue nations include Belarus, Sri Lanka,
and one that should worry Tel Aviv and Washington, Turkey, a NATO
member. Moscow and Ankara agree that Turkey should eventually become a
full SCO member. Turkey has close historical and cultural links with the
Turkic nations of central Asia and with many of the autonomous Turkic
republics of Russia, including Tuva, Bashkortostan, and Adygeya.
Turkey
has grown tired of Israeli interference in its internal and external
affairs, as witnessed by the vicious and bloody Israeli attack on the
Turkish Gaza aid vessel, the Mavi Marmara; Mossad support for Kurdish
PKK terrorist attacks in Turkey; and covert Israeli entanglement in the
Ergenekon "deep state" network in Turkey.
Iran
has now seen Israel's most-open secret ally, Saudi Arabia, appoint the
former Egyptian intelligence chief and close Netanyahu friend, Omar
Suleiman, as an adviser to Saudi heir apparent, Crown Prince Nayef bin
Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who is also the Interior Minister. The
Jerusalem-Riyadh axis is being further cemented as the Obama
administration is shifting 4,000 troops from Iraq to Kuwait and beefing
up other U.S. military assets in Bahrain -- home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet
– and Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman. The CIA and Pentagon have
set up Predator drone bases in Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia, and,
reportedly, Saudi Arabia.
The
president-elect of Kyrgyzstan, Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev, has
announced he wants the U.S. and NATO to leave the Manas Transit Center
airbase in his country after the current lease expires in 2014. Already,
Soros-funded non-governmental organization (NGO) agents in Kyrgyzstan
are attempting to suggest that under the new Kyrgyz constitution,
Atambaev does not have the authority to close the base. It is this type
of U.S. interference in the affairs of the nations of Asia that has SCO
readying an expansion of its membership to include two nations that have
received direct U.S. military threats: Iran and Pakistan. Suspicion of
U.S. intentions and military plans has also made Washington’s request to
enter SCO as a partner in dialogue a dead issue. Washington’s interest
in attending SCO summits as a “partner” says more about the CIA’s
inability to crack into the inner workings of SCO, even through
erstwhile “allies” like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Mongolia, than in
having any great desire to “dialogue” with SCO members and observers.
After all, AIPAC and its minions have managed to jam through the U.S.
House a law that prohibits any U.S. diplomatic contact with Tehran’s
officials.
President Obama is under
tremendous pressure from the Israel Lobby during an election year to
support an Israeli military strike on Iran, action that will inevitably
lead the United States military in the Gulf region into war against Iran
on behalf of the Tel Aviv/west Jerusalem regime. At the G-20 summit in
Cannes, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was overheard telling Obama, "I
cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar." To which Obama replied, "you're
fed up, but I have to deal with him every day."
The
Sarkozy-Obama interchange is instructive. Obama did not disagree that
Netanyahu is a patent liar who will do anything or say anything to
advance Israeli and global Zionist interests over all else, even to the
point of lying about a bogus Iranian nuclear weapons threat to promote a
military attack on Iran.
Israel,
using its agents of influence in the UN delegations of the United
States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Sweden, and the Netherlands, has
ensured that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General
Yukiya Amano has tainted his agency's report on Iranian nuclear
developments in a manner that would have never been tolerated by his
predecessor, Mohammed ElBaradei. Amano certainly took no interest in the
fact that his own nation, Japan, was secretly producing nuclear weapons
at the Fukushima nuclear complex in contravention of IAEA rules. The
aftermath of the destructive earthquake in Japan laid open the secret
work going on at Fukushima. Amano is perfectly willing to act as a
cipher for Israel and the Israel Lobby in "discovering" IAEA violations
by Iran.
The Bulletin of Atomic
Scientist's "Doomsday Clock," a measure of how close the world is to
nuclear war, now stands at six minutes until midnight. With the
machinations of Israel toward Iran, the internal meltdown of Obama's
White House staff with the demotion of chief of staff Bill Daley, and
the invitation by SCO to Iran to come under the protective security
umbrella of Russia and China, the clock has just jumped ahead several
minutes.
Wayne Madsen is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Wayne Madsen
ΠΗΓΗ
ΕΝΤΩΜΕΤΑΞΥ ΕΝΩ ΟΛΕΣ ΟΙ ΚΙΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΔΕΙΧΝΟΥΝ ΠΟΛΕΜΟ ΚΑΠΟΙΟΙ ΡΙΧΝΟΥΝ ΣΤΑΧΤΗ ΣΤΑ ΜΑΤΙΑ ΙΣΩΣ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΑΠΟΣΥΝΤΟΝΙΣΟΥΝ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΠΕΝΑΝΤΙ ΕΜΠΛΕΚΟΜΕΝΟΥΣ
Global Research, January 5, 2012
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Currently, the US is following a trajectory of past unsuccessful empires that were unable to sustain themselves resulting in an eventual collapse from within. The US is currently running up a budget deficit which is not only threatening to bankrupt its entire economy, but also threatening the hegemony of its sole instrument for advantage and influence on the world stage – the US dollar. Any threat to the supremacy of the dollar is also a threat to the empire.
It is difficult to calculate the outcome of a western attack against Iran -because there are so many variables.
For centuries, even Rome required a moral mandate as it conquered the known world. As was the case with the Iraqi invasion and occupation in 2003, the West and its Axis powers led by Washington will require a multi-nation coalition backed by some form of moral mandate in order to move forward with their plans.
Previously, a US-UK campaign against Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction was waged through the UN, and was sufficient at the time in achieving a minimal sway in public opinion needed from both the American and British people, justifying their governments’ foreign policy goals enough to get the war off the ground. But the cost in 2012 of pushing forward under false pretences with both Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003, means that the Axis coalition powers have already played their best hand under the current social democratic system.
It is clear now, after multiple failures by the UN’s IAEA to implicate Iran in developing nuclear weapons that a moral mandate is not there, so despite the best efforts of the hawks and FOX News, there cannot be the sway in public opinion needed to move forward militarily. The only remaining technique available to trigger a military conflagration is a false flag attack orchestrated by either the US, Israel or the UK, whereby Iran can be blamed for firing the ‘first shot’.
As far as the Islamic Republic of Iran is concerned, the war has already begun. US-backed sanctions imposed against the Central Bank of Iran have been put into effect, even though no proof has actually been presented to the UN justifying such a pre-war move. But sanctions are still the first step in a physical war. The result of the Axis open abuse of the UN’s Security Council resolution process, a number of influential nations have already announced their disregard for these US-backed sanctions.
This week, South Korea has announced that despite the White House’s wishes, it will still be buying roughly 10 percent of its crude oil from Iran in 2012. China is also defying the US call for sanctions, stating it will ‘resume its existing trade relationship’ with Iran this year. In 2012, China plans to make Iran its no.2 oil importer, adding to an already existing relationship worth approximately $30 billion per year. The West are in no position to challenge China over Iran at present. This means that the Axis powers will struggle to keep anything near an air-tight international mandate. They may hurt Iran in the short-term, but in the long run, such sanctions will have no teeth.
The cost to America and Europe of dragging out this ‘war of words’
The most likely outcome in the first part of 2012, is the West dragging a war of words via press briefings and imperial rhetoric. An increasingly media savvy Iran will naturally follow suit, winning favour at home as the underdog in this imperial clash. The result is a war of the words in the media.
But even the cost of this ‘posturing war’ to the US and Europe may be too much to bear at this time.
Even the threat of an attack on Iran will automatically drive oil speculators to push up the price of oil futures, which will in turn raise the price of oil at the pump at a time when Western businesses and consumers can hardly afford it. And this series of events is already in motion. The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s busiest oil shipping lane, with 17 million barrels of oil per day passing through. Iranian announcements this week stating they will not only defend their territorial waters, but retaliate by closing the Strait’s shipping lanes if it’s attacked by the US or Israel – have already driven up the global price, with the price of Brent Crude jumping another $5 today to an eight-month high of $111.65 per barrel. CNN reported this week:
Oil prices surged 4% Tuesday, fuelled by continued anxiety over Iran’s growing threat to shut down the Strait of Hormuz after the Iranian military launched a missile test.The picture gets progressively worse as the US-Iran face-off continues into 2012. Business Insider released a report today detailing a likely scenario whereby barrel costs skyrocket to $150:
“It’s mostly about Iran right now,” said Peter Beutel, analyst with energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover. “That’s the most bullish factor.”
Oil prices jumped 4.2% to settle at $102.96 a barrel. That’s the highest closing price since May 10, when prices ended the day at $103.88 a barrel.
Managers of the Guinness Global Energy fund have warned of an oil price spike to $150 per barrel if Iran were to carry out its threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz and blocking 15% of global oil exports.Cash windfall for the oil industry
“The exports transported through the Strait of Hormuz are equivalent to two Saudi Arabia’s or two Russia’s, so the potential impact on the price is massive. We do not think this will happen but we cannot rule it out completely.”
OPEC oil producing Gulf nations led by monarchies Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, will certainly benefit financially from any initial UN sanctions as well as any protracted stand-off between the West and Iran fueled by hype, with speculation driving up the price of oil, allowing the producer nations to effectively printing money overnight.
GCC foreign companies and joint ventures include Aramco, Harken Oil (Bush family company), Texas Oil, Union Oil of California, and a host of others. Distributors and retail winners include the likes of Exxon, Royal Dutch/Shell, BP, Chevron, Getty, Phillips, Texaco, Mobil, Occidental/Gulf and Amoco. Each of these transnational oil refiners, distributors and retailers can expect a cash windfall and a rise in their all-important share prices, but more importantly, the current crisis will be an opportunity for this cartel - to fix a new, higher price at the pump.
Even if the stand-off were to climb down between the West and Iran, and the price per barrel were to somehow drop back below $100, this cartel of oil companies will still work to maintain a new higher overall pricing standard at the pump. Past price relationships between barrel price and pump price will verify this cartel practice. The economic implications, particularly on American and European economies which relies so heavily on petroleum to distribute and deliver staples like food and other day-to-day goods – could be horrific, instigating a wave of inflation on an already inflation-battered US consumer. Likewise, such a crisis will have a negative effect on the value empire’s holy grail – the US dollar.
A spike in US prices will also trigger-off that old predictable debate during the coming 2012 US Presidential election cycle – over lifting any moratoriums on domestic oil drilling within the United States (drill baby, drill). If any are lifted, again, it’s yet another win for the oil industry and its shareholders.
Risks involved in a regional conflict
For a perspective of the Libyan model of intervention, NATO is unlikely to involve itself in a large-scale military operation in Iran. It would prove too costly from both economic and political standpoints.
Neither the US or Israel has engaged in a bona fide naval conflict in decades. In the case of the US, owner of the world’s largest navy, its last true naval military affair was WWII. As Great Britain painfully discovered during its costly Falkland Island War adventure, even one rudimentary French-made Exocet Missile launched by Argentina below radar, was enough to not only cripple a major piece of its naval fleet, but also enough of a black eye to nearly derail majority public support for their ill-conceived war effort from the opposition and back-benchers home in London.
Similarly, the Iranian defense has the capability to sink not one, but many US Naval ships currently flexing their muscles on the periphery of Iranian territorial waters. Such an event would register with shock and horror in the US public mind, but worse, may be used by Washington hawks to justify a revenge nuclear strike against Iranian civilians. Both Washington and Tel Aviv have already raised the talking point of deploying “tactical nukes” against Iran. Such foreshadowing should not be ignored, as it is often a clear indicator of things to come.
Any nuclear conflagration by the US or Israel would most certainly result in a global backlash against the West – at its worst acting as a procession into the hot stages of World War III – or at its very least, re-balkanizing the geopolitical scene into a New Cold War, with the West on one side and Iran, China, Pakistan, and Russia on the other.
Watch author Patrick Henningsen in this segment from Al Jazeera’s program Empire: Targeting Iran, as analysts spec out potential wargames between the West and Iran:
Another factor seldom mentioned by vocal proponents of regime change in Iran, like Hillary Clinton and neocon war hawks in Washington, is that any attack on Iran will most certainly mean that all US allies in the region will become a potential target. This means it is unlikely that those wealthy and developed GCC countries would remain untouched by a conflict happening only a mere hundreds of miles away. Neither would nearby major US military installations in Iraq, Qatar and Afghanistan. All are likely targets in a hot Iranian conflict.
Petrol monarchies like the UAE (most notably Abu Dhabi and Dubai), Kuwait and Qatar currently rely heavily on a high standard of living and complete domestic security and stability in order to survive as societies. These fragile petrol monarchies rely on a very thin veneer of law and order – one which props up their marketing image of a luxurious “Middle East destination”. Any Iranian retaliation against these fragile US allies would result in a massive flight of persons, ex-pats and financial capital from the GCC to much safer havens – like Europe, the US, or Singapore.
If there is to be a war, it will be the US, UK, France, Israel and their allies who will do the fighting. But the GCC would still need to defend itself from reprisals. In December 2011, the United States announced a $3.48 billion arms deal with the UAE, which included state-of-the-art THAD missile defense systems, as part of a wider American effort to build up missile defenses among Gulf allies to counter Iran. In addition, the US and Saudi Arabia signed a $1.7 billion deal earlier in 2011 to boost the country’s Patriot missiles and Kuwait purchased 209 GEM-T missiles at a cost of $900 million. This regional missile defense strategy will need land-based interceptors to knock out incoming missiles, backed up by a detection network aboard a team of US Navy Aegis-class warships.
Although these are significant acquisitions on the part of the GCC, they are by no means blanket protection from an Iranian retaliation, and are most likely the result of America’s arms industry, in its honored tradition, bleeding the GCC of cash with yet more expensive hardware, a hard sell based on fear and war hype.
Taking all this into account, and noting the incredibly concentration of wealth in the GCC, it’s hard to see a scenario where the monied interests would tolerate such a risk to their progressive Arabian project that they have spend decades investing in and building from scratch.
Post-Bombing Blowback
Aside from the GCC risk, it is with near certainty that one could predict a full-scale regional backlash, and genuine uprising around the Muslim world should the US or Israel come good on their threats of a pre-emptive strike against Iran. Iranian civilian deaths could not be avoided, and hence, their would be a blood price to pay by the West in the eyes of many Muslims. Such a pan-Arab uprising would stretch US and Israel capabilities in the region past their ability to maintain control of the situation. The results for Israel could be dire in such a scenario, and it’s only expected that a tit-for-tat would spiral into a long regional conflict.
The West’s best chance to weather such a storm would be to overtake, or set up a military base in either Lebanon or Syria in order to neutralize traditional Iranian ally and Israeli opponent – Hezbollah – currently based in Lebanon. Without wiping out Hezbollah’s military capabilities, Israel cannot safely move forward with a unilateral/US attack on Iran. The time table for such a Syria or Lebanese take-down would put any possible attack on Iran well into late 2012, or even 2013 and beyond.
A Giant Dirty Bomb
If the US or Israel were to hit any of the said Iranian nuclear facilities or reactors, it has the potential to become a giant ‘dirty bomb’. In such a scenario, the civilian deaths could exceed 1,000,000 and a radioactive fall-out would certainly spill over into the surrounding US clients like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait and possibly as far as Israel/Palestine, Turkey, Georgia, Pakistan, India and parts of southern Europe.
Following such a radiological event, the West would certainly be blamed for any and all environmental damage and death which occurs, resulting in a massive loss of international face, followed by massive financial reparations which would ultimately cripple their already weak economies. Worse than this however, it would certainly throw the global economy into a long economic depression.
Most sane analysts would agree, this is a risk too high, and a price too high to pay. So the real question remains then, are analysts in Washington and Tel Aviv sane enough to make policy decisions?
An Israeli driven effort
Like previous AIPAC campaigns to hit Iraq, the current drive to isolate and demonize Iran has been cooked up in the Israeli lobby’s kitchen. Due to a revolving wheel of campaign contributions to each and every US Congress and Senate candidate, ‘putting Israel first’ has become a top priority for any politician with any ambition in Washington. If any official steps out of line and criticizes Israel, AIPAC functionaries like the ADL and SPLC are sprung into action and a PR campaign is usually waged against the offending public official.
The Israeli lobby will claim that a pre-emptive strike on Iran is needed because Iran has stated that it wishes to, “Wipe Israel off the map”. Most war hawks would be surprised when they learn that such words were never actually spoken by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Shouldn’t this revelation change the entire Israeli perspective? It should, but it doesn’t. Regardless of any evidence to the contrary, the lobby and its media partners will continue repeating their faux version of the event as if it were something that actually happened, or spelled a genuine threat to the physical state of Israel. Likewise, US politicians will in turn acknowledge the lobby’s version of events, themselves repeating the very same faux threat – as if this somehow justify plans for a pre-emptive strike on Iran.
What is most important here again, is that at no point during any of this political maneuvering, could either the US, or Israel produce any compelling evidence at all that Iran has, or is near possessing a nuclear weapon in their military arsenal. Even if they could fabricate such evidence to start a war, there are simply too many pieces out of place on the grand chessboard right now to indicate an imminent attack on Iran in the spring or summer of 2012.
So far, however, the clear winner is the oil industry and the OPEC nations, winning a shift in wealth from the global middle class into the hands of petrol monarchies and oil company shareholders.
Patrick Henningsen is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Patrick Henningsen
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