Russia announced Friday it was renovating a Syrian port for use by the Russian fleet in what signal an effort for a better foothold in the Mediterranean amid the rift with the United States over Georgia. (AP)
In his new book “The War Within,” Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward details a telling White House meeting on Iran in spring 2007 (p. 334):
“I think we need to do something to get engaged with these guys,” Fallon said. Iraq shared a 900-mile border with Iran, and he needed guidance and a strategy for dealing with the Iranians.
“Well,” Bush said, “these are assholes.”
Fallon was stunned. Declaring them “assholes” was not a strategy. Lots of words and ideas were thrown around at the meeting, especially about the Iranian leaders. They were bad, evil, out of touch with their people. But no one offered a real approach.
The Daily Telegraph can disclose that Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, reacted with fury when David Miliband and he spoke on the telephone. Lavrov objected to being lectured by the British. Such was the repeated use of the “F-word” according to one insider who has seen the transcript, it was difficult to draft a readable note of the conversation. One unconfirmed report suggested that Lavrov said: “Who are you to fucking lecture me?” He also asked Miliband in equally blunt terms whether he knew anything of Russia’s history. One Whitehall insider said: “It was effing this and effing that. It was not what you would call diplomatic language. It was rather shocking.” The Foreign Secretary had been putting forward Britain and Europe’s objections to the actions of Russia, which began when their tanks rolled into the breakaway region of South Ossetia last month. Miliband has said that Europe should reassess its ties with Russia after its “aggressive” behaviour. It is also understood that Miliband was asked about Britain and America’s invasion of Iraq, when Russian actions in Georgia were questioned, during the tense conversation that took place recently. – Andrew Porter, Daily Telegraph
Mérida, September 11, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)– On Wednesday night Mario Silva, on the program “La Hojilla” (The Razorblade) showed a recording from an unidentified source in which various military personnel, some retired and some active, were planning a coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. The coup plan aimed to take the Miraflores Palace, the headquarters of the government and the president’s office. Among the participants in the recording were vice admiral Carlos Alberto Millan Millan, who was also inspector general of the National Armed Forces, general of the National Guard Wilfredo Barroso Herrera, brigade general of Aviation, and Eduardo Baez Torrealba, who was involved in the April 2002 coup attempt.
On Israel’s right to defend itself against a nuclear-armed and bellicose Iranian regime, Palin agreed with McCain that the country had a right to take action:
Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don’t think that we should second-guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.
Iran, she said, presented a threat not only to Israel but to “everyone in the world” :
We have got to make sure that these weapons of mass destruction, that nuclear weapons are not given to those hands of Ahmadinejad, not that he would use them, but that he would allow terrorists to be able to use them.
US Senate votes to deploy more foreign radars Russia Today
The US senate has unanimously voted to deploy another radar station in a foreign country, according to RIA Novosti. An amendment to the federal defense budget, proposed by Republican Senator John Kyl, was passed on Wednesday. It would see $89 million allocated to “the activation and deployment of the AN/TPY-2 forward-based X-band radar to a classified location”. X-band radar of the type proposed by the Senate works on the same wavelength as a microwave oven, and would be similar in design to the one currently slated for deployment in the Czech Republic. Serious concerns have been raised for the safety of people living near these radars, for example in the Czech Republic where 60% remain opposed to the planned US radar in their country. There has been much speculation about where the “classified location” might be, and analysists have advanced Japan, Israel and Georgia as possibilities. Japan is reportedly eager to work with America on issues of missile defence, due to its close proximity to nuclear powers China and North Korea. RT‘s expert guest Ruslan Pukhov said this makes Japan an ideal location for a radar base.
The Senate vote comes in the wake of Israeli media reports, first appearing in Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz in August, and later confirmed by Pentagon officials, that an X-band radar will be deployed in Israel’s Negev desert. The radar will be operated by US military staff, making it the first time that US Army personnel will be permanently based in Israel, according to Haaretz. Under the agreement the Israeli radar will be linked to the US satellite system, and both countries will have access to early warnings of impending missile attacks. The radar deployment was reportedly discussed at meetings between the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, and US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates. A source in the Russian intelligence community told RIA Novosti on Thursday that the radar installation is planned for deployment in Israel. Following recent tensions in the Caucasus, Georgia has also been hinted at, by analysts, as a possible host of a US radar system. Georgian radars were linked to the NATO surveillance network at the beginning of September. Georgia’s current radar surveillance system is Russian-made.
Niqnaq 