Israel is deeply concerned, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Wednesday, on the eve of the new round of nuclear talks between theP5+1 group of world powers and Iran.
Steinitz, who returned over the weekend from strategic dialogue in Washington that focused largely on Iran, said that the Iranians have shown "no real flexibility."
The positions of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqhchi are no different than the positions of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. "The only thing that has changed is the tone," Steinitz said.
"The Iranians continue in their insistence now as they did under Ahmadinejad, to retain most of the centrifuges and the heavy water reactor in Arak. There is no real difference."
Steinitz said that Israel is "disturbed" and that "no deal is better than a bad deal."
"The Iranians continue in their insistence now as they did under Ahmadinejad, to retain most of the centrifuges and the heavy water reactor in Arak. There is no real difference."
Steinitz said that Israel is "disturbed" and that "no deal is better than a bad deal."
Steinitz also said that with the increased focus on the Islamic state, it is important for the international community to keep priorities correct, and "although it is important to defeat ISIS, if Iran gets nuclear weapons, it’s a different world for decades. This is the main threat to global security and should be the priority," he relayed.
Steinitz, in apparent reference to the fact that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been running the negotiations, will end her term at the end of the year, stressed that "the lack of agreement is not a failure" and that "if the P5+1 stands by its principles and commitments, its not a failure but a success."
Steinitz, in apparent reference to the fact that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been running the negotiations, will end her term at the end of the year, stressed that "the lack of agreement is not a failure" and that "if the P5+1 stands by its principles and commitments, its not a failure but a success."
Asked whether he came back from Washington more or less concerned, he answered "I went concerned and I came back concerned. I didn’t hear anything that the Iranians had made concessions that gave me hope."
In a speech on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Islamist terrorist groups such as ISIS, Hamas and Hezbollah to Nazis: “We know this. We’ve seen this before. There's a master race; now there's a master faith."
“The tactics are uniform. Terror first of all against your own people,” Netanyahu told attendees at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's (ICT) 14th annual conference held at Herzliya, an Israeli technology center located about six miles north of Tel Aviv.
“There's a master race; now there's a master faith. And that allows you to do anything to anyone, but first of all to your own people and then to everyone else,” Netanyahu continued, in a reference to Nazi ideology stemming from Adolf Hitler’s belief, detailed in his speeches and writings, that Aryans were the “master race.”
"And what do you do to everyone else? For that you use new techniques. And the new techniques involve first of all, taking over civilian populations, putting yourself inside civilian areas, contravening the laws of war and the Geneva Convention; using your people as human shields, the same people you execute; and then firing indiscriminately at civilians. You hide behind civilians, you fire on civilians. And you fire rockets and missiles.
"And this creates a whole new set of problems. And these problems are born of the fact that it's much harder to fight this kind of terror - much harder. It's much easier to fight an army: tanks, artillery, command centers, open spaces. You destroy that, you destroy the army. End of war.
"But these people, because they're forcing you to face up to the moral limits that democracies obey, are basically forcing you to fight a new war."
Netanyahu described what he called the "moral divide" between Islamic groups like Hamas and Western democracies.
Just over ten days ago, as the pro-independence forces in east Ukraine were on the march with significant gains on the battlefield, a ceasefire was signed in Minsk, Belarus. According to the terms of the ceasefire, the pro-independence fighters were to lay down their arms, cease their offensive to regain lost territory in the Donetsk and Lugansk region, and disband.
In exchange for this, the US-backed government in Kiev was to agree to an amnesty for pro-independence fighters, commit to economic development in the east, and agree to enshrine decentralization in law to provide autonomy to the east.
Most importantly, the ceasefire was to stop the Kiev government's shelling of major population centers in the east and stop the slaughter of military forces on both sides.
It turns out to be a grotesque sleight of hand, with Kiev receiving guarantees at the September 5, NATO summit in Wales that NATO members would provide the military equipment to finish the pro-independence forces in the east after the ceasefire gave time to re-group a badly beaten, largely conscript Ukrainian army.
This grand deception came to light yesterday, as Valery Heletey, defense minister of the US-backed regime in Kiev, bragged that, as Reuters put it:
We are already seeing the result of this bait and switch, as yesterday saw a dramatic resumption of the US-backed government's shelling civilian Donetsk, which is under control of the pro-independence movement.
The ceasefire provided pro-US Kiev forces time to regroup and absorb NATO weapons under the guise of stopping the violence, with the intent of slaughtering rather than negotiating with the pro-independence forces. This is no great surprise, as the February coup itself proceeded with US cooperation just as a compromise power-sharing agreement between the elected president, Yanukovich, and the Maidan rebels was signed.
It remains a great mystery why the pro-independence forces would strike a deal with a Kiev regime which came to power as a result of a US and EU sponsored coup in February, and whose veracity and track record of fair play is rather wanting.
A greater mystery perhaps, is why a Russia that was accused of "invading" Ukraine as the NATO summit kicked off, would agree to the decapitation of a Moscow-friendly independence movement next-door as it consolidated its gains.
Whatever the case, the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine is about to resume. The pro-US regime in Kiev, by deception, is about to claim bloody victory from the jaws of defeat.
Russia on Tuesday accused the West of ignoring its warnings about the growing terrorist threat in Syria, and claimed that the moderate rebel front – the one the Obama administration wants to arm as part of its anti-ISIS strategy – “no longer exists.”
The remarks by Russia’s ambassador in Geneva Alexey Borodavkin came during a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which was discussing the most recent report by a U.N.-mandated independent commission of inquiry into the conflict.
The report, released late last month and roughly covering the first half of this year, recorded atrocities by the Assad regime and by some of its opponents, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL).
“The commission in its report,” Borodavkin told the council through a translator, “recognizes that the Syrian government is working against a huge army of trained armed terrorists.”
“The Free Syrian Army no longer exists,” he continued. “Armed groups qualified as ‘moderate’ are closely coordinating their activities with terrorist groups.”
The report also says that where “groups labeled as moderate” managed to score military successes against the regime they did so “closely coordinating with extremist groups, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.”
Borodavkin used his intervention in Geneva to chide countries – especially Western countries opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad – for their approach to the three-and-a-half-year civil war.
“It’s clearer than ever that the real threat to Syrian statehood and the whole region is the activity of terrorist groups,” he said.
“I’d like to remind you that Russia right from the beginning suggested that we unite the efforts of the international community, the Syrian authorities and the moderate opposition to combat jihadists.
“If we had been heard at the time, the spread of this cancerous tumor could have been stopped,” Borodavkin said.
He was referring to the rebel Syrian Al-Nusra Front’s takeover of the UNDOF Bravo Line on the Syrian side of the Golan.
Amb. Ja’afari went further and claimed Israel had actively helped the Al-Nusra fighters. “As you know, Jabhat Al-Nusra fighters, terrorist fighters, as you know according to the Security Council resolutions, an offshoot of the Al Qaeda, affiliated to Al Qaeda... these terrorist fighters of the Al-Nusra Front have succeeded with the help of the Israeli side, and the Qatari intervention, and assistance and involvement... succeeded in occupying almost all the Syrian side of the of the line of demarcation, meaning that the terrorists have replaced, so far, the UNDOF forces on the Syrian side of the Line of the Demarcation.”
Amb. Ja’afari went further and claimed Israel had actively helped the Al-Nusra fighters. “As you know, Jabhat Al-Nusra fighters, terrorist fighters, as you know according to the Security Council resolutions, an offshoot of the Al Qaeda, affiliated to Al Qaeda... these terrorist fighters of the Al-Nusra Front have succeeded with the help of the Israeli side, and the Qatari intervention, and assistance and involvement... succeeded in occupying almost all the Syrian side of the of the line of demarcation, meaning that the terrorists have replaced, so far, the UNDOF forces on the Syrian side of the Line of the Demarcation.”
Russia is going to increase its military presence on the Crimean Peninsula as “the situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply,” Russian Defense Minister announced.
The plan released by Sergey Shoigu is due to the increased “presence of foreign military” in “the immediate vicinity” of Russia’s borders.
"The deployment of proper and self-sufficient forces in the direction of Crimea is one of [our] top priorities," he said.
“The military-political situation in the southwestern strategic direction has changed significantly since the beginning of the current year. This is largely due to the expansion of the territory of [Russia’s] Southern Military District after Crimea joined Russia,” Shoigu said.
The Russian Defense Ministry will also consider setting up technical missile bases in “each military district.”
"We will discuss proposals to create missile technical bases in each military district. The creation of more autonomous units of storage and transportation [of missiles] will allow us to fully use missile military units when they are used in different operating directions and at a considerable distance from each other,"Shoigu said.
In response to the Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement, NATO warned that any increase in Russian troops in the Crimea region “will further undermine the ceasefire currently in place,” Reuters said, citing the alliance’s spokesperson.
"We have seen reports that Russia intends to increase its troop presence in Crimea. Such a move can only increase tensions and it will further undermine the ceasefire currently in place as well as the security of the region, which Russian actions have gravely eroded," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told the news agency.
Ukraine is currently hosting military drills code-named “Rapid Trident” that involves a total of 1,300 troops from 15 nations, either active NATO members or would-be members.
Russia has warned that NATO’s progress towards the east and Ukraine, which the military bloc sees as a potential member, will trigger a strong reaction.
In July, Putin said that the alliance’s military build-up near Russia’s borders, which includes a US-built missile defense system, is not just for defensive purposes, but is an “offensive weapon” and an “element of the US offensive system deployed outside the mainland.”
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4 comments:
Comments and observations I'm getting from a friend in the Epicenter indicates they're fully expecting the 30 day cease fire to end when the calendar says 31 days. This corresponds to both Rosh Hashana and, I believe, the second blood moon.
Geepers, what interesting times.
Rosh Hashana,that would be Feast of Trumpets. Here is an article I found. I think it is worth reading. We are all so eagerly waiting in anticipation for our Lord to arrive.
http://www.hebroots.org/hebrootsarchive/9807/980715_c.html
Psalm 27
4 One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
5 For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
Hi George,
Great article,thank you for sharing!
Scott, as always thank you for your faithful work as a watchman.
Time is short! Look up!
Sandra
Amen!!!!!!
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