Some 250 Hezbollah dead in Qalamoun battle. Nasrallah pushes Lebanese army to enter Syrian war -http://www.debka.com/article/24595/Some-250-Hizballah-dead-in-Qalamoun-battle-Nasrallah-pushes-Lebanese-army-to-enter-Syrian-war-
Amid Hezbollah's rising war losses, its leader Hassan Nasrallah strongly urged the Lebanese chief of staff Gen. Jean Kahwagi to send his troops into battle over the strategic Qalamoun Mountain, alongside Hezbollah and the Syrian army, debkafile's military sources disclose. Nasrallah argued that the time had come for the Lebanese army to take a hand in the fighting, since the Syrian rebels led by Al Qaeda's Syrian arm, the Nusra Front, were shelling the eastern Beqaa Valley of Lebanon from their Syrian strongholds on the mountain that sits athwart the Syrian-Lebanese border. Thousands of jihadis, he said, were seizing land around the northeastern Lebanese villages of Arsal and Nahleh.
Another of Nasrallah's demands was for Gen. Kahwagi to bring out the Lebanese army's heavy artillery to shell rebel Qalamoun concentrations, positions and moving vehicles, because they endangered Lebanese national security.
The Lebanese general gave the Hezbollah chief a flat no. He declared the Lebanese army would not "slip" into any war inside the Syrian area of Qalamoun where Hezbollah and the Syrian army are currently fighting jihadis, but added: "The army is ready to confront any assault on Lebanese sovereignty and push back any infiltration by militants."
Tuesday, May 12, in Beirut, US Ambassador David Hale interceded in the argument: "I would say that ISIS posed no threat to Lebanon until Hezbollah went into the war in Syria and that provided the magnet that drew these terrorists here."
Listing the American weapons reaching Beirut of late, as Hellfire missiles fired from helicopters against ground targets, precision guided missiles and howitzers, the ambassador said firmly: "This is exactly what they (the Lebanese army) need to target this particular terrorism phenomenon."
debkafile's military and counter-terrorism sources don't believe that the Lebanese army chief will be able to hold out for long against the gradual ISIS and Nusra slide into his country. At the moment, the intruders are mostly fleeing Islamists, driven by the Syrian army and Hezbollah from their mountain positions and out of the eastern Lebanese border districts close to the battle front.
But although the Syrian army and Hezbollah are claiming to have taken strategic hills in the volatile border region last week, the battle is far from over and does not appear to be anywhere near a clear resolution.
Even when Syria and Hezbollah do achieve a local gain here or there, fresh ISIS and Nusra forces keep on pouring back - mostly from the north - to constantly open up new battlefronts on the Qalamoun mountains. Their commanders have already grasped that no one will stop them slipping back and forth between Syria and Lebanon - both to escape Syrian and Hezbollah fire and meanwhile to hit Hezbollah's rear strongholds in the Lebanese Beqaa.
Hezbollah's death toll in battle is soaring disastrously - at least 250 reported in the last few days, including 9 senior commanders.
Most military and intelligence experts agree that, as time goes by, however hard they try, the United States and Lebanese army will not be able to stem the jihadists' spillover into the Beqaa Valley.
reports inform that our world convulses with war-making and rumors of even more intense conflicts to come
White House hurling world toward prophetic end times - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com
The "president's" Middle East foreign policy of supporting both sides of Islam against the middle (also Islam) may well be pushing together the prophetic end time alliances of the Bible at an accelerated rate. The "president's" Arab Spring initiative of overthrowing stable Middle Eastern and African governments and replacing them with Sharia jihadists is one example. The spawning of the Islamic State (IS), whose leadership was reportedly trained in warfare strategies and tactics in Jordan by the US, is another example. Now there is an alliance forming between Saudi Arabia and the region that is central to leading an apocalyptic coalition against Israel as prophesied in ancient texts.
The UK Independent reports that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are shocking Western countries by uniting against the Assad regime in Syria. The Independent reports: "Relations had been fraught between the Turkish president and the late King Abdullah, primarily because of Turkey's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Saudi monarchy considers a threat. But [Turkey President Tayyip] Mr Erdogan stressed to Saudi officials that the lack of Western action in Syria, especially the failure to impose a "no-fly zone", meant that regional powers now needed to come together and take the lead to help the opposition." This has resulted in the material support of many terrorist groups with competing interests.
Saudi Arabia has supplied arms, training and money while Turkey has provided logistics, intelligence and free passage of jihadist groups such as the Army of Conquest, Ahrar al-Sham, Jund al-Aqsa and al-Nursa. Many of these groups have fought against the Islamic State at times, but also have fought in conjunction with the IS when it is fighting to overthrow the Assad regime. This is a hallmark of the Islamist. History, as far back as the Bible, indicates that when the Arab peoples are not warring against their enemies, they are warring against each other. As prophesied of the one considered the patriarch of Islam, Ishmael, the Bible says that he will be against every man and every man against him.
It is significant that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are aligning against Syria, both blaming the US for not being decisive enough in the Syrian conflict. The compromise is that the Saudis are accepting of a role for the Muslim Brotherhood, also a key ally of the current White House. These events have resulted in unlikely bedfellows, but coming into focus is the Ezekiel prophecy of an end time battle against Israel. Ezekiel 38:2 says, "Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him." Magog, Meshech and Tubal are located in modern Turkey. Chapter 38 also speaks of Libya, Ethiopia, Persia, Sheba and Dedan being involved. Persia is modern Iran. Dedan is located in Saudi Arabia. The White House foreign policy may be hurling the world toward this prophecy.
Obama Mulling Transfer of Weapons to Saudi Arabia Only Previously Given to Israel - By Ahuva Balofsky -
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/39185/israels-military-superiority-take-obama-mulls-selling-advanced-weaponry-saudi-arabia-middle-east/#wGOOSv8Or7jvAFuX.97 "Give us help against the adversary; for vain is the help of man." (Psalms 108:13)
In an effort to allay the concerns of Gulf States regarding American commitment to their security, US President Barack Obama may be preparing to sell key ally Saudi Arabia weapons that had been previously made available only to Israel, reported The Washington Times reported last week.
According to claims made by the report, the Obama administration is weighing whether to offer Riyadh GBU-28 bunker-buster bombs to mitigate concerns over the looming nuclear deal with Iran.
The White House is expected to renew its efforts to establish a region-wide defense system among the Gulf States against Iranian missiles. Accompanying the offer of assistance will likely be additional security commitments; arms sales, especially to replenish Saudi supplies following the assaults it led in Yemen and participated in against Islamic State militants in Syria; and further joint military exercises. The bunker-busters may be part of the deal.
In a 2008 congressional mandate, the US made a commitment to ensuring Israel's regional military superiority. To provide Saudi Arabia with the bunker busters without violating that mandate, the US may offer Israel the newer and stronger GBU-57 bunker-buster bomb. However, the US has been reluctant to share that technology with anyone to date, including Israel.
"We have to make sure any transfer of weapons to anyone in the region won't undermine Israel's ability to defend itself," one official said in the Washington Times report.
Other military equipment sales under consideration include Kuwait's proposed purchase of 28 Boeing Co. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet advanced fighter jets, the outcome of which a US official said is unclear. Another official stated Washington is unlikely to offer Lockheed's new top-flight F-35 fighter jet to the Gulf States, though it has been promised to Israel and is expected to be delivered next year.
Obama is set to host the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - at the White House and then at Camp David later this week. The US president must walk a fine line between placating his allies' concerns over the Iranian nuclear deal solidifying in the coming weeks and being drawn into Middle East conflicts by making too many security commitments.
Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors have expressed fears that the deal which lifts sanctions against Iran in exchange for reduced nuclear expansion will not deter the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear bomb or extending its influence in Syria, Yemen or Lebanon with its newly-released funds.
"It's a time to see what things might be required to be formalized," a senior US official said.
Not willing to risk increased tensions with Israel, nor to require the approval of the Republican-controlled Senate, Obama is unlikely to seek a full security treaty with the Gulf States. However, a new high-level joint working group led by the Pentagon, one high-level source suggested, may be established to help the GCC overcome internal rivalries and begin cooperating on and coordinating its missile defense.
"Missile defense is absolutely critical to the GCC right now," said Riki Ellison, founder of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. "They're not as efficient playing separately as they would be all playing as one team."
The Gulf States want concrete offers, however, not vague promises. "This summit can't just be a big photo opportunity to pretend everybody's on the same page on Iran," one Arab diplomat said.
Is Russia Preparing for War? - By Matt Ward - http://www.raptureready.com/soap2/ward17.html
What are Vladimir Putin's intentions?
This is the question currently vexing the most experienced military and political minds in the United States and Europe.
While the Russian economy teeters on the brink of complete collapse, Vladimir Putin is frantically assembling a set of alliances that are formidable; alliances that would stand in direct opposition to the West. Behind the glare of the international mainstream media, Russia's Foreign Ministry is working overtime cementing old alliances and building new ones. While Putin is being vilified by the West, many leaders are actively embracing him.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis Russia has accelerated relations with North Korea and Kim Jong Un was recently confirmed an attendee at the annual Victory day Celebrations in Red Square on May 9th. A public backer of Bashir al-Assad in Syria for many years, Western governments openly suspect that the Russians are supplying all the arms Syria would ever need to successfully defeat ISIS and all opposition groups. The concern is that Russia is also arming Assad so that he can filter weapons to proxy organizations such as Hezbollah so that they, in some future contest, can open a front against Israel.
Venezuela, a country openly hostile to the United States has run with open arms into Putin's outstretched embrace. Moscow invests billions of dollars annually in Venezuela's oil industry. Venezuela serves one of Russia's main arms contractors in 2014-2015. The prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has openly hinted his desire to return to Soviet rule, provoking wide scale domestic disturbances.
Russia and Putin have also been cozying up to Alexis Tsipras' Syriza Party in Greece, the fledgling Greek government, which is a powerful opponent of European Union imposed sanctions against Russia. They have strangely become immediate and close allies.
All this may be dismissed as world leaders doing what world leaders do, but there are darker, more ominous signs that something is afoot. A dangerous game of brinkmanship is being played out.
Russia is proactively testing out NATO defenses, both in Western Europe and in mainland America.
In the last few months, in Europe alone, Russian military aircraft have disrupted civilian flights over sovereign Irish territory when two Russian Tu-95 Nuclear Bombers flew into and through Irish controlled airspace, causing two civilian airlines to reroute to avoid potential collisions. Both Russian aircraft were flying "dark," meaning their identifying transponders had been turned off. [1] This was on February 18th.
On the same day, February 18th, the British R.A.F, CAP (Combat Air Patrol) was scrambled to intercept two different Tu-95 Bombers off the coast of Cornwall, England. [2] In the previous week the Royal Navy intercepted, along with the French Navy, a Russian Naval Frigate operating and sailing in the English Channel; a highly unusual move in a very narrow stretch of water separating France from England.
On January 30th Russian Tu-95 Bombers were intercepted by UK Typhoon Jets over the North Sea on route to Sovereign British airspace. This is apparently only one, "...of many other encounters between Russian bombers and UK jets over the North Sea." [3]
Elsewhere, in the Black Sea, Russian military Jets are openly practicing attacking US led NATO ships.
"Sputnik News reports the aggressive maneuvers over the Black Sea yesterday involved a formation of three Su-30s and four Su-24s. The American USS Vicksberg, a Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser, and the Turkish frigate Turgut Reis were both the subject of mock attack runs on March 3, the news agency reports." [4] The Russian Air Force openly admits they are using these convoys as live practice for future war against NATO led forces.
In the Arctic several Russian Borei-class ballistic missile submarines are drilling and conducting exercises beneath the North Pole. These boats are amongst the most sophisticated and advanced in the Russian Naval arsenal and are at the very forefront of providing a nuclear deterrence against Russia's enemies. These fourth generation submarines are fearsome weapons. They are designed as stand-alone war machines and can deliver up to 16 ICBM's.
Each ICBM has a speed and maneuverability rating of 10 (out of 10). What makes them deadly though is that these subs employ revolutionary Hull technology, not shared by America, which allows them to run super deep and super silent, enabling them to approach the shoreline of a target and deliver a strike without being detected. They are an unassailable first strike weapons and they are vigorously drilling as we speak. [5]
Russia's missile command has also just begun testing its Strategic Nuclear Weapons Readiness. This, in a highly unusual move, is completely unannounced and without precedent.
Putin has also signed off on a new set of Soviet military doctrines that have enshrined NATO as Russia's main existential rival. [6] This taking place on December 26, 2014 and Putin himself has declared that the Russian military strength is now "unmatchable."
Putin genuinely believes that the Russian army is the best in the world, and to that end he is spending vast amounts of money. Their economy does not have a militarization upgrading existing infrastructure and active military campaigns (such as Crimea and Ukraine). Indeed, Russia has just completed an upgraded state of the art command and control center underneath Moscow at an estimated cost of billions of U.S. dollars.
All this is quite literally killing the Russian economy.
There is historical precedent for what Russia is doing. In 1939, Europe wrongly believed that Adolf Hitler was an economic genius. Within just six short years Hitler had transformed the German economy and reduced the number of unemployed from 6 million to a little under half a million German men. Germany had been transformed by an economic miracle.
The trouble was, it was all based on a lie.
The economic recovery was false. In 1936, Hitler had appointed Herman Goering as Reich Economics Minister and together they hatched a secret plan, called the Four Year Plan. The simple aim of this plan was "Autarky," to ensure that the German nation would be ready and able to fight a war within four short years, by 1939, regardless of the financial costs.
To accomplish this, Hitler spent billions of Reich marks that Germany did not have. The German government expenditure, 1932 to 1938, began at around 7 billion Reich marks per year and ballooned to over 30 Billion Reich marks per year by 1938!
This ensured the imminent collapse of the German economy. Hitler knew this though and was nonplussed.
Hitler was nonplussed because all his economic decisions were predicated upon the sure knowledge that he would pay these huge sums back through war. Hitler's plan was to launch Blitzkrieg, "Lightening War" against his European enemies and then simply consume host nations' economies into Germany's; thus nullifying the huge amount Germany had spent preparing for war.
The condition of the German economy actually guaranteed war.
When we look at Russia and its own ruined economy, an economy that is dying a little more each and every day, I question whether the condition of the Russian economy at this point also guarantees war. The Rubble is so weak it is near collapse, yet Russia continues to spend vast, huge sums of money that the economy simply cannot accommodate. None of this spending is underpinned by Russia's oil reserves (as the bottom has fallen out of the Russian oil market).
Could Russia be actively preparing for an imminent war, in much the same way that Germany and Hitler did during the mid-1930s?
Fortunately, we do not have to rely upon historical precedent or detailed real time analysis to understand what is going to happen for, "The Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His counsel to His servants" (Amos 3:7).
We have the Bible and it tells us clearly what the motivation is for Gog when he begins to make his moves: "'Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?'" (Ezekiel 38:13).
This short sentence on its own fits so neatly into the current geopolitical Russian situation that it is simply mindboggling to consider it was written thousands years ago.
Russia comes to "...take a plunder," in much the same way that Hitler did with his "Blitzkreig" of Europe.
"And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, 'I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land'" (Ezekiel 38: 3-12).
The prophesied alliances are all in place, all the actors involved seem to be making themselves ready. All we await is for the hook to be placed into the jaw of Gog and then for the Lord to, "...bring thee forth."
Russia is coming to "...take a plunder," and we know ultimately where this will end. It will end on the mountains of Israel with Russia's utter destruction.
Hezbollah hiding 100,000 missiles that can hit north, army says - http://www.timesofisrael.com/hezbollah-hiding-100000-missiles-that-can-hit-north-army-says/
If war breaks out, IDF warns, Israel will strike at south Lebanon's rocket arsenals, wherever they are placed
The Lebanese group Hezbollah has built up a massive arsenal of rockets and other advanced weapons in Shi'ite villages of southern Lebanon, a senior Israeli intelligence official said Wednesday, warning civilians would be at risk if war breaks out.
According to the official, Hezbollah has an estimated 100,000 short-range rockets capable of striking northern Israel, several thousand missiles that can reach Tel Aviv and central Israel and hundreds more that can strike the entire country.
Most of the weapons have been transferred to Lebanon through war-torn Syria, coming from Hezbollah's key allies, the Syrian government and Iran, he said.
The official showed reporters satellite photos of what Israeli intelligence believes are Hezbollah positions in dozens of Shiite villages in southern Lebanon.
The photos were marked with dozens of red icons, signaling what are believed to be missile launchers, arms depots, underground tunnels and command posts.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines, said an estimated 200 villages have been turned into "military strongholds."
One photo showed the village of Muhaybib, with a population of around 1,000 people and 90 buildings, of which more than a third had been marked as Hezbollah assets. In the larger village of Shaqra, with some 4,000 people, Israeli intelligence identified Hezbollah targets in around 400 out of some 1,200 buildings.
The army refused to allow publication of the images.
If war breaks out and Hezbollah fires missiles at Israel, these buildings will be targeted by Israel's air force, the official said, adding that Israel would give civilians time to evacuate.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006 that killed some 1,200 Lebanese, including hundreds of civilians, and 160 Israelis and caused heavy damage to Lebanon's infrastructure.
Though another Israel-Hezbollah war is always possible, analysts say the group has no interest in renewing hostilities while it is busy fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces against rebels trying to topple him in Syria.
Qalamoun battle is do-or-die for Bashar Assad, Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's General Soleimani - http://www.debka.com/article/24590/Qalamoun-battle-is-do-or-die-for-Bashar-Assad-Hassan-Nasrallah-and-Iran's-Gen-Soleimani-
Two contenders are locked in a fateful contest to win the strategic Qalamoun Mts. on the Syrian-Lebanese border: The Syrian army and its Hezbollah ally are fighting tooth and nail against the opposition Army of Conquest, which is spearheaded by Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's Syrian branch. This battle has all of a sudden attained the proportions of a critical regional contest, which poses dire consequences for the Iran-Syrian-Hezbollah alliance at large and its three prime movers, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nastrallah, and their overall commander, Iran's Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Al Qods Brigades.
With so much hanging in the balance, it is no wonder that Hezbollah issued confused communiqués on the battle, until Nasrallah interceded Tuesday, May 5 to say: "We have not issued a statement, and we will not issue a statement. When we launch a (Qalamoun) operation, it will be obvious to everyone."
The operation is, however, already in full flight. Neither Nasrallah nor anyone else can predict its outcome for sure, because a radical, unforeseen shift has taken place in the balance of strength. For the first time in nearly five years of Syrian civil war, the United States has lined up with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE to give the Syrian opposition heavy weapons. Had they been supplied earlier, the war might have ended sooner and many of the hundreds of thousands of victims might have been saved.
Also, after a long silence, senior Obama administration spokesmen were finally willing to blast the Assad regime for his heinous war crimes.
Friday, May 8, three senior spokesmen confirmed as "strong and credible" the reports that the Syrian army had reverted to the use of chemical weapons. They were Robert Malik, US ambassador to the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, US Undersecretary of State Antony Nlnken and US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power.
They were willing to "disclose" a fact - long common knowledge in the region - that the Syrian army had retained a part of its chemical stockpile. This disclosure exposed the much-acclaimed US-Russian accord concluded by Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the end of 2013, forcing Assad to surrender his chemical arsenal, as a more or less dead letter.
On the heels of the US accusation, PCWU international inspectors revealed that traces of sarin and VX nerve agents were found in Syria last December and in January.
The new Obama administration's diplomatic offensive against Assad came as the Qalamoun showdown attained momentous proportions, after two weeks of heavy Syrian military war reverses in the north. The sharp US edge was also directed at Gen. Soleimani, who is responsible for Iran's supply of chorine-filled barrel bombs dropped by the Syrian air force on civilians in rebel-held areas.
Washington has refocused its attention on Syrian-Iranian chemical warfare out of two broader considerations:
1. Iran's cavalier contempt for the international accords and treaties banning chemical weapons raises tough questions about Tehran's credibility and trustworthiness for upholding the comprehensive nuclear accord currently in negotiation with the Six Powers. Can Iran be trusted to honor any commitment to allow the "intrusive inspections" of its nuclear sites, which President Barack Obama has pledged as the underpinning of any accord?
2. President Obama has just lately adopted a plan some members of his National Security Council put forward: It is to get the Iranians moving on the nuclear deal by applying a painful prod in the form of a wedge in the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) leadership. IRGC chief Gen. Ali Jafari is being elevated as a "moderate" and the "good guy" of the regime, while Gen. Soleimani, the Al Qods chief, who orchestrates IRGC's external subversive operations, is fingered as the "bad guy.'
Jafary is also to receive economic incentives for accepting the nuclear accord, while denouncing Soleimani, leading light of Iran's military interventions in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, may have the added benefit of forcing Tehran to pull in its horns in those conflicts.
Time will tell whether this tactic is effective. As matters stand in May 2015, it is hoped that undercutting Soleimani's repute will impinge on the level of Iranian military involvement in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. A decision by Tehran to downscale its military support for the Syrian and Hezbollah armed forces may undo them in the battle of Qalamoun. This defeat will seriously undermine Assad, Nasrallah and Soleimani. And so the Syrian opposition and its backers have all the more reason to push hard to win this fateful encounter.
Saudi Arabia vows to set off new Middle East arms race and 'match Iran's nuclear capability' - Adam Withnall - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-vows-to-set-off-new-middle-east-arms-race-and-match-irans-nuclear-capability-10250789.html
Saudi Arabia has threatened to spark a new kind of nuclear arms race in the Middle East, setting out a bullish stance ahead of a rare, high-profile meeting of the US and its Gulf allies at Camp David.
President Barack Obama faces an almost impossible balancing act between making overtures to Iran that will allow it to pursue its nuclear program for energy purposes, and appeasing the security fears of Sunni Arab leaders.
On the table in American-Iranian talks is the prospect that the latter will be allowed to keep 5,000 centrifuges, used to enrich uranium, and a growing research and development operation.
But tensions over the US's thawing policy towards Tehran will loom large over the meetings, already threatened by the decision of key states to send lower-level dignitaries.
According to the New York Times, one Arab leader who is preparing to meet Mr Obama today has said: "We can't sit back and be nowhere as Iran is allowed to retain much of its capability and amass its research."
And while the figure behind this claim asked to remain anonymous until he had put it directly to the President, the Times said it was the same message as that touted by former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal, who said in South Korea recently: "Whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too."
It sets up the prospect of a new kind of arms race between the Middle East's various parties - the implication being that if Iran is to be left to its nuclear program, why shouldn't Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE?
The Gulf leaders are concerned that the White House's nuclear deal with Tehran, instead of limiting the threat posed by that state, will allow Iran to grow into a dangerously destabilizing force in the region.
President Obama wants to win round the visiting Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in order to convince the US Congress that its Iran deal has regional backing.
And White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday that the bulk of the Camp David talks will center on allaying security fears to get that vote of confidence.
"That will be the essence of the conversations," Mr Earnest said. "What can we do to modernize and deepen that security cooperation?
"Much of what the president has in mind is helping the GCC countries use the hardware that they have to better coordinate their efforts and better provide for the security of their citizens."
The most high-profile absence at the summit is the Saudi King Salman. On Sunday, it was announced that the king would not be travelling to the US - just two days after the White House confirmed he was coming.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will represent Saudi Arabia instead, in what was an embarrassing snub for the President.
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