Category Archives: Cold-war

Iran launches destroyer in the Caspian Sea

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So. Sanctions seem to be working well, don’t they?

H/T Richard

AP:

By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press

PHOTO GALLERYAP PhotoLatest Iran Photos

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian on Sunday launched its domestically built destroyer in the Caspian Sea, the nation’s first heavy military presence in the oil-rich sea, state TV reported.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the guided-missile destroyer Jamaran-2 in the port city of Anzali, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Tehran.

After final tests, the report said, Jamaran-2 will join Iran’s naval fleet in the sea in coming months.

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Bolton: Israel has ‘very short period of time’ to strike Iran. Warns Tehran will soon possess nukes beyond Jewish state’s reach

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H/T Richard

Klein Online:

Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:33 AM EST

image

 

By KleinOnline.com staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a “very short period of time” to decide whether to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure before Tehran possesses nuclear weapons, warned former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton in a radio interview last night.

“Obviously in the short term Israel is focused on forming its own government,” stated Bolton.

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China’s expansionism echoes history

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This article is behind a pay wall, but you get the gist from the paragraph or two that is public.

The Australian:

IN recent months five uninhabited islands east of Taiwan and southwest of Japan have become a new global flashpoint. The Chinese now claim these islands – called the Diaoyu in China, the Diaoyutai in Taiwan and the Senkaku in Japan – and have repeatedly threatened Japanese control with military overflights and naval activity, including the provocative locking of weapons control radar on to a Japanese ship.

These East China Sea activities follow increased Chinese actions and threats in the South China Sea. China argues such coercion is appropriate since all such locations belong to China, but history shows these Chinese territorial claims lack substance.

Bear Bombers Over Guam

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H/T Magic Martin

Free Beacon

Russian nuclear bombers circle Guam

Russian Tu-95 Bear long rang bomber aircraft / AP

Russian Tu-95 Bear long rang bomber aircraft / AP

BY:

Two Russian nuclear-armed bombers circled the western Pacific island of Guam this week in the latest sign of Moscow’s growing strategic assertiveness toward the United States.

The Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bombers were equipped with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and were followed by U.S. jets as they circumnavigated Guam on Feb. 12 local time—hours before President Barack Obama’s state of the union address.

Air Force Capt. Kim Bender, a spokeswoman for the Pacific Air Force in Hawaii, confirmed the incident to the Washington Free Beacon and said Air Force F-15 jets based on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, “scrambled and responded to the aircraft.”

“The Tu-95s were intercepted and left the area in a northbound direction. No further actions occurred,” she said. Bender said no other details would be released “for operational security reasons.”

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North Korea Is Suspected of Conducting 3rd Nuclear Test

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H/T Gates of Vienna:

New York Times:

Lee Jin-Man/Associated Press

A South Korean watched news reporting about a possible nuclear test conducted by North Korea on a TV screen in Seoul on Tuesday.

By and
Published: February 11, 2013
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WASHINGTON — American and South Korean officials reported seismic activity in North Korea on Tuesday that appeared to be evidence of the country’s third, and long-threatened nuclear test and a new challenge for the Obama administration in its effort to keep the country from becoming a full-fledged nuclear power.

Multimedia

“We believe that North Korea has conducted a nuclear test,” said Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the South Korean Defense Ministry.

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Iran’s Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks

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H/T Dan F:

Yahoo News:

  • Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, in this file photo taken August 30, 2012. REUTERS/Hamid Forootan/ISNA

    View Photo

    Reuters/Reuters – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, in this file photo taken August 30, 2012. REUTERS/Hamid Forootan/ISNA

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last week, saying they would not solve the problem between them.

“Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem,” Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran’s air force carried on his official website.

“If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them,” he said.

“American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations.”

Khamenei made his comments just days after Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. “That offer stands but it must be real and tangible,” Biden said in Munich on Saturday.

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Iran is a nuclear state but has no intention to launch attack on Israel – Ahmadinejad

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Clearly the president of Iran is a student of Joseph Goebbels.

RT:

Published: 06 February, 2013, 21:54

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Al-Azhar headquarters in Cairo on February 5, 2013. (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Al-Azhar headquarters in Cairo on February 5, 2013. (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that Tehran has no intention of attacking Israel and that the world needs to cooperate with Iran. The comments came as the leader marked a historical visit to Cairo for the 12th Islamic Summit Conference.

“[Israel] wants to attack Iran, but we’re not preparing any attack against them because the purpose of our program is defense,” Ahmadinejad told Al-Ahram newspaper in an interview before his trip to Egypt.

The leader also reiterated that Zionists were trying to take over global power and wealth throughout the world, and that the best solution was for the world to cooperate with Iran.

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Is Turkey urging Syria to retaliate Israeli strike?

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H/T Golem Bar:

YNET:

En route to conference in presence of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Turkish foreign minister slams Syria’s inaction after alleged Israeli strike: Why can’t Assad do anything against Israel?; says his country will not stand by when a Muslim country is attacked

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu slammed Israel’s alleged strike in Syria, urging Damascus to retaliate, the Hurriyet news agency reported.

“Why didn’t (Bashar) Assad even throw a pebble when Israeli jets were flying over his palace and playing with the dignity of his country?” Davutoglu told reporters Saturday on his way to an international conference on Syria in Munich, which Defense Minister Ehud Barak is also expected to attend.

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Report: IAF strike in Syria hit Iranian Guards

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J-Post:

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON, YAAKOV LAPPIN
02/01/2013 03:00

Iraqi paper quotes source as saying alleged Israeli strike caused heavy casualties among Iranian Guards stationed at Syrian facility.

IAF plane takes part in maneuvers [file]

IAF plane takes part in maneuvers [file] Photo: IDF spokesperson

Iraqi daily Azzaman quoted a Western diplomatic source as saying Thursday that the alleged Israeli attack on Syria reported on Wednesday caused heavy casualties among special Iranian Guards stationed at the Syrian facility. The source also said that the attack took place more than 48 hours before it was reported, eventually being leaked by Israel.

The source for the story, who was interviewed by the paper in London, said that the report about a strike on a convoy to Lebanon was probably meant to divert attention away from the main objective of the operation, which used F-16 aircraft to fire at least eight guided missiles at the facility.

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Ex-CIA man: Iran blast largest sabotage in decades

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J-Post:

Former Revolutionary Guard tells ‘Post’ that such a blow to Fordow nuclear facility would harm Iran drastically.

Iran's Ahmadinejad at Natanz nuclear facility

Iran’s Ahmadinejad at Natanz nuclear facility Photo: Ho New / Reuters

Iranian dissident-turned CIA operative Reza Kahlili told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that an alleged blast at the Fordow nuclear installation in Iran is “the largest case of sabotage in decades.”

Although it has not yet been verified, a report by  Kahlili, according to which a massive blast rocked Iran’s key Fordow nuclear installation last week, continued to spread on Monday.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization has dismissed reports of an explosion as “Western propaganda,” while The Sunday Times cited Israeli intelligence figures as confirming the claim.

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As Dispute Over Islands Escalates, Japan and China Send Fighter Jets to the Scene

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H/T Fjordman

NY Times:

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A view of the islands in the East China Sea that are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Control of them would give China unobserved access to the Pacific, something it lacks.

By
Published: January 18, 2013
Hitoshi Maeshiro/European Pressphoto Agency

The Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, center, and other officials visited an air base on Okinawa on Friday.

Last week, the Chinese government sent a civilian surveillance plane, a twin propeller aircraft, to fly near the uninhabited islands at the heart of a growing feud between China and Japan. Tokyo, in response, ordered F-15 fighter jets to take a look at what it considered Chinese meddling. The Chinese then sent their own fighters.

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Iran Navy to Deploy to Mediterranean

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H/T Richard

RIAN.Ru

Iran Navy to Deploy to Mediterranean

Iran Navy to Deploy to Mediterranean

© REUTERS/ Fars News/Hamed Jafarnejad

23:52 16/01/2013

MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) – Iran will deploy a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean Sea, Navy chief Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday.

“The Navy’s 24th fleet of warships will patrol the north of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea for three months and will even sail as far as southeastern Asian countries,” Sayyari was quoted by Press TV as saying.

The 23rd fleet of warships will return to the country next week, he added.

Referring to the Navy’s recent drill, dubbed Velayat 91, Sayyari said the maneuver displayed Iran’s naval capability and its ability to counter any threat against the interests of the Islamic Republic.

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15 minutes of the 90 minute debate on Iranian nuclear weapons from C-SPAN Toronto

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The whole debate is 90 minutes and actually its pretty good. Even the people arguing against the proposition that Iran must be stopped at all costs do a good job of anesthetizing the people into allowing a Nuclear Iran, to be perfectly honest.

The whole debate can be heard here but below is about 15 minutes of Charles Krauthammer and an Israeli envoy speaking in favour of the proposition.

Fleet of Russian warships reportedly en route to Syria to head off a Western attack

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H/T Magic Martin

Times of Israel:

Israel and the US said to be mulling a military campaign to secure chemical weapons held by Moscow’s civil war-ravaged ally

By January 6, 2013, 4:57 am
The Russian warship Varyag (photo credit: CC BY randychiu, Flickr)

The Russian warship Varyag (photo credit: CC BY randychiu, Flickr)

A flotilla of five Russian warships laden with hundreds of troops, which is headed toward Syria, is a show of force meant to deter Western armies from intervening in the war-torn nation, the London-based Sunday Times reported.

Previous reports cited Russian diplomats to the effect that the vessels were being put in place in order to evacuate thousands of Russians who still remain in Syria if the situation in the country called for it.

However, a Russian intelligence source was quoted on Sunday as saying that the presence of over 300 marines on the ships was meant as a deterrent to keep countries hostile to the Bashar Assad regime — a key ally of the Kremlin — from landing special forces in the country.

“Russia should be prepared for any developments, as it believes the situation in Syria might reach its peak before Easter,” a Russian diplomatic source was quoted as saying.

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