Category Archives: Iran

Espionage, Iran, Israel, Mossad, nuclear Iran

Nuclear Talks: Bibi Bond, KGBibi, Lebanon or Yemen…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks. The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said .The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others………………”

The famous tail spying on the famous dog the better to be able to wag it. So Netanyahu got some trusted Americans to spy for him. He also got some trusted ‘European officials’ (yes, there are some) to help, could be French, could be others. Interesting: a foreign leader gets American and possibly European bureaucrats and/or diplomats to spy for him on other U.S. diplomats in order to use the information with the Congress to derail American diplomatic talks. Might as well have the Mossad or that Las Vegas gambling tycoon as part of the US delegation. Or, maybe worse, have a former Republican congressional aide as part of the delegation. They used to shoot these people, didn’t they? Interesting to see how members of the Senate and Congress react (probably McCain advising Obama to get over his tantrum, please)

It is almost like being in a more peaceful version of a milder Yemen (or Lebanon): different political fighting factions, some of them allied with foreign powers. Except here is no real fighting. Just a push for war.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Blockade of Iran, Iran, U.S. Foreign Policy, United Nations International Organizations

Kerry and Zarif: Three Is Not a Crowd in France………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“A veto-proof, bipartisan majority of House lawmakers have signed an open letter to President Barack Obama warning him that any nuclear deal with Iran will effectively require congressional approval for implementation. A group of bipartisan senators have penned a bill mandating that any deal be reviewed and approved by Congress, but the House letter notes that lawmakers have another way to halt an agreement — by refusing to roll back sanctions………..”

Secretary of State John Kerry and Javad Zarif of Iran have been seeing each other a lot. Mr. Kerry has probably seen the Iranian minister more than any other foreign minister, certainly much more than Avigdor Liberman (I know, I know: Avigdor Who?) or Benyamin Netanyahu. I am sure he is content with not seeing the latter two, as would any minister or leader outside the United States. They seem to get along fine, might even be bonding: there are smiles and lakeside walks and long chats. But underneath it all there are short taut strings for both men, the Iranian and the American.
I can just imagine the Frenchie Laurent Fabius lurking around, crashing their intimate talks, wanting to hear it all, scheming to throw new wrenches into the process. A representative of other non-participating potentates. And to think that there is a French equivalent of “three is a crowd“, although this may not always be the case in France, if you get my drift.
It is remotely possible that if the Iran nuclear talks are derailed by the many evil forces working to do so, one of these men will defect to the other country. It can be either one of them. Unless they both defect at the same time…….

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, U.S. Foreign Policy, United Nations International Organizations

Nuclear Prince: Saudi Ambassador to Israel and AIPAC……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“‘If Iran has ability to enrich uranium… we’ll want the same,’ former head of Saudi intelligence says, warning a nuclear deal with Iran could spur nuclear proliferation in Gulf. Any terms that world powers grant Iran under a nuclear deal will be sought by Saudi Arabia and other countries, risking wider proliferation of atomic technology, a senior Saudi prince warned on Monday in a BBC interview. “I’ve always said whatever comes out of these talks, we will want the same,” said Prince Turki al-Faisal, who has previously served as head of Saudi intelligence and Riyadh’s ambassador to Washington and London but is no longer a government official……………”

Sounds fair enough: everybody has the right to peaceful (and safe) nuclear energy. As long as they stick to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) rules to ensure peaceful use, as the Iranians claim they are doing. The problem is: the Saudis need to close a few of their ubiquitous Shari’a colleges and expand the sciences. Re-educate all these Wahhabi clerics-in-the-making to become scientists. That takes time, maybe a generation or two before they are nuclear-ready. Or they can take the usual easy way: offer many millions and buy a few foreign scientists.

Prince Turki al-Faisal al Saud has become the de facto Saudi ambassador to Israel, and to AIPAC. Saying and doing things the other, more official princes can’t say or do publicly, especially about the ‘nuclear’ issue. A ‘good cop, bad cop‘ number for the Wahhabi faithful. So, maybe he will also one day ask for the “same thing” that Israel is believed to have (although Israel has never signed the NPT). Like about 100+ reported nuclear warheads, ready to go. Just to protect the Islamic Holy Sites from who knows what……..

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                         Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Arab Revolutions, Caliphate, Iran, Jordan, Mossad, Syria, US Foreign Policy

Qassem Suleimani Pops Up in Amman: Good Housekeeping Seal, LOL or SOS?…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Debkafile’s military and intelligence sources reveal exclusively that Gen. Qassem Soleiman, commander of the Revolutionary Guards elite Al Qods Brigades, paid a groundbreaking visit last Thursday, March 5, to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as guest of Gen. Faisal Al-Shoulbaki, director of General Intelligence and a close adviser to King Abdullah II.The visit, encouraged by Obama administration policy, showed one of America’s oldest Sunni Arab allies, recognizing the di rection of the trending regional reality to jump the lines over to Tehran. Iran’s grab for Middle East influence is now reaching from four capitals, Baghdad, Damascus, Sanaa, Beirut to a fifth, Amman………………..”

Some of these Israeli not-official-anymore sources are beginning to sound as crazy as many Arab sources. Almost as crazy. Especially when it comes to Iranian Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani and his travels in the region. This Israeli narrative claims that he has visited Amman recently, smack in the humorless kingdom of Jordan. While he was still in Iraq shoring up the campaign against the murderous Caliphate of ISIS in Tikrit. Or maybe in Syria, or along the Kurdish border. Or was that Yemen? Still, it is possible that he snuck into Amman for a quickie, but unlikely. Unless he intends to participate in training the New New Syrian opposition, the New Improved FSA, the latest iteration that is being financed by the Saudis, Emiratis, et al. But it can’t be: this new FSA is reported to have the Good HouseKeeping Seal of Approval, from the Capitol to Riyadh.

As early as early 2013, some Persian Gulf media, owned by the oligarchy, claimed that he, Suleimani, was in Egypt, apparently holed up at some Cairo hotel. Meeting his Egyptian (Muslim Brotherhood) counterparts over drinks at a Cairo bar. The goal was clearly to discredit the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo for improbably mixing with such company of ill-repute. It was to set the stage for the Gulf-financed military coup d’etat by General Al Sisi (who promoted himself to Field Marshal after the coup).

In case you are confused, here are links to some earlier posts of the General’s travels and various dastardly acts he has been engaged in:

OH OH, QASSEM SULEIMANI IS BACK STALKING YOUR DREAMS………

FIRST BLOOD? IRANIANS IN THE BATTLE FOR IRAQ………..

QASSEM SULEIMANI: PLOTTER WITH MORSI, DRUG SMUGGLER TO GCC, ELECTION MANAGER IN IRAQ ………….

BREAKING NEWS: NETANYAHU TO BLAME IRAN’S QASSEM SULEIMANI FOR LIBYA TERROR ATTACK……….

MORE ON IRAN’S QASSEM SULEIMANI: SOLVING THE MYSTERY…………

PREDICTABLE SYRIAN WAR: IRANIAN SULEIMANI TO ASSAD, FRENCH ANTI-AIRCRAFT TO FSA……………

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                         Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Ali Khamenei, Iran, Islam, Theocracy, US Foreign Policy

Roger Cohen on Eschatology, Ayatollahs, the Mahdi, the Rapture, and God’s Promise to Congress……

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“First, under our Constitution, while the president negotiates international agreements, he has no power to conclude them because the supreme leader, who is basically keeping the chair warm for the Prophet, controls all matters of domestic and foreign security and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. (By the way, the supreme leader, whose name is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, thinks your letter to us is a sign your political system is “disintegrating” — if that’s any help.) So, in effect, the president is standing in for the supreme leader, who is standing in for the hidden imam, who disappeared in the ninth century but could show up whenever. We hope that is clear. In the case of a nuclear accord, it would no doubt be debated by our Majlis, a unicameral consultative assembly or parliament with 290 members, but the debate would not make a whole lot of difference to anything……….”

I admit it is funny, this tongue-in-cheek dabbling in Eschatology, assured to piss off the dour mullahs. A few mistakes: he does not keep a seat warm for the Prophet, nobody believes he will rise again: Roger Cohen got the wrong guy. It is Lent, but ‘His’ body did not rise and vanish, it is still buried in the old grave at Madinah. Unless the Saudi princes remove it to build a mall or a hotel.

But it comes from someone who possibly believes that GOD has promised all of Jerusalem and the West Bank to a certain ‘chosen’ people. Or most people around him do believe in some version of it. Someone who often writes about a Congress and Senate most of whose members also believe in it. As well as believe that when the Rapture occurs at the end of time, all others, especially the Jewish people, and maybe even Al-Qaeda and ISIS killers, will convert to the true faith and start speaking English and join mega-buck churches………..
Still, he makes the point……..
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                         Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Iran, Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Politics

The New American Jihadist Movement: Over There ……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“In 2006, when the Times published a piece revealing that the government, in the name of fighting terrorism, had collected the private financial information of Americans who had nothing to do with terrorism, Cotton, then an Army lieutenant stationed in Baghdad, sent a letter to the newspaper, saying that the editors should be put “behind bars.” ………… In 2012, he was elected to the House, where one of his first acts was to call for an amendment to a sanctions bill that would impose penalties not only on those who broke the law but also on their relatives, including their “great-grandkids,” “to the third degree of sanguinity.” The amendment failed—as the Washington Post pointed out, it was blatantly unconstitutional—but Cotton didn’t have much time for regret, because he had already decided to run for the Senate against Mark Pryor, the two-term Democratic incumbent, with the backing of the Tea Party Express…………..”

He said: “impose penalties not only on those who broke the law but also on their relatives, including their “great-grandkids,” “to the third degree of sanguinity.” But then he was a brash young man at the time. A brash middle-aged but powerful man can be even more dangerous.

The various American wars in the Middle East and in Muslim lands have created a whole cottage industry of people and institutions that profit from warmongering and guilt by association. And the prospects are promising for more. Never been more promising.

They have had their eyes set on an Iran war, Mother of all Middle East wars. Even the Bush (43) chickenhawks would not take the plunge: shows you how far the Republicans (and a few Democrats) have gone. Imagine how long it could last and how much it would cost and how high some defense company shares can go. And how higher that would raise the barrier along the Jordan River, even higher, one of the goals that are not articulated.

Oh, and about “the letter” to Iran meant to scuttle the nuclear negotiations and possibly provoke a new Middle East war. Juan Cole reports that Tom Cotton received over $700, 000 for his senate campaign from the right-wing Emergency Committee for Israel, another group of well-funded and frustrated but hopeful chickenhawks. Principles, even those of warmongering, don’t come cheap. But then most Republicans and many Democrats in Washington already know that.

It is a new American Jihadist movement. Just like the terrorist Caliphate of ISIS, it seeks to dominate here and to impose its will and that of its donors ‘over there’. Through continued political war here, and continued military campaigns ‘over there’.  That requires a lot of money.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Ali Khamenei, Iran, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Politics, United Nations International Organizations

Khamenei on Washington: Deceit, Disintegration, Backstabbing, and a Zionist Clown……

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Ayatollah Khamenei called the Republicans’ letter to Tehran ‘the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration. The GOP’s insistence that any deal struck by president Obama could be null and void when he leaves office is a sign of America’s ‘tricks and deceits’. ………… The Supreme said a ‘Zionist clown’ had delivered a speech in Washington…………….”

The Ayatollah also knows a lot about American politics. He is not as naive and ignorant as he seems to Westerners. He has been around, knows the world. He is himself multi-ethnic and knows several languages, at least three, probably four or five: much more than any senator or member of Congress. He is just applying some new diplomatic pressure here, with the other world powers, especially the Europeans, in mind. With the the help of some foolish Republican senators who were too blinded by their own partisan passions to worry about the national interest.

One more thing: he is right about at least one thing. An Israeli clown did make a speech in Washington earlier this month. A repetitive stale speech.

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Iran, Middle East Nuclear, Sanctions, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Senate

Iran, the West, and the Myths of the Crippling Blockade and a Political War……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

It is now required by law. Every time any media outlet or expert in the United States mentions the Western blockade against Iran, they must add “crippling”. There are no more just “sanctions”, there are only “crippling sanctions“.
No doubt the blockade is hurting Iran, negatively affecting the living standards of the average Iranian. That is why they voted for a reformist during the last election. Too bad there are no effective sanctions against that other power, the only real nuclear power in the Middle East. Then maybe we’ll discover that they also have a reformist strain and vote their whining demagogue out of office. 

Back to Iran. The sanctions are truly hurting Iran. They are not ‘crippling’, not by any measure. That is a myth used in the West and parroted by the media. A crippled country does not grow more powerful and does not extend its regional sphere of influence, and does not allow its people to travel and does not multiply its centrifuges several fold. Not after 35 years of “crippling” sanctions. A ‘crippled’ country does not defy the world powers and withstand serious sustained economic warfare from some of its neighbors.

So forget the ‘crippling sanctions’. Now it has to be either an agreement or a policy of simple containment (forget about this political war that is allegedly still on the table)……….

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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GCC, Iran, Persian Gulf, Piss-Up in a Brewery

More Gulf Military Exercises Near the Strait of Hormuz…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Some Arab media quote a UAE (Emirates) ‘prominent analyst’ that a number of GCC countries will hold naval military exercises in the Persian Gulf. The analyst mentioned something about the exercise being a message to a ‘threatening Iran’. But he also hinted that enhanced operational field coordination is an important goal. In other words, learning to organize the proverbial piss-up in a brewery, which is more essential for the success of any military operation than accumulating expensive hardware.

They report the exercises will be held in the area of the Strait of Hormuz and not far from three disputed islands that are held by Iran (Abu Moussa, and the Tunbs). It is not clear to me how close to Hormuz they will be held, if they will be held at all. Nor how reliable this ‘analyst’ who leaked the news is, although they report that he is ‘close’ to UAE policy-makers. No report if some of the participating countries that heavily use imported mercenaries (UAE, Bahrain) will bring along these foreign mercenaries to join the exercises.
This comes days after the Iranians held their own exercises near the area, where they targeted a replica of a U.S. naval warship (a flat top). A cute but snidely touch by the humorless mullahs, although the timing may not have been smart.

No doubt the region is getting weirder by the week. From the Gulf to Libya. Which possibly explains the state of this particular post of mine.

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Iran, Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Politics, U.S. Senate

U.S. Senate Goes Completely Banana Republic: Knesset Deals Directly with Iran……

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Republican senators warned Iran on Monday that any nuclear deal made with U.S. President Barack Obama could last only as long as he remains in office, in an unusual intervention into U.S. foreign policy-making. The letter, signed by 46 U.S. senators, says Congress plays a role in ratifying international agreements and points out that Obama will leave office in January 2017, while many in Congress will remain in Washington long after that. “We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei,” …………..”

This is unheard of. In no world power, even a third rate power, would the legislature try to sabotage the foreign policy of the executive branch. Nowhere else, not so openly. Except in the United States, which now has a Senate/Congress that would do justice to a banana republic. They have done it twice within this month, and it is early in March. First by secretly inviting a foreign leader, Netanyahu, to come to Washington and attack the American foreign policy and try to sabotage it. Now they are addressing, warning, Iranians directly that any deal with the president will expire in 2017.

Except that is not the point. They are assuming that Washington can have its way, even with a political class running amok, pushing the world toward another unnecessary war. The fools will drive the other P5 away. Germany, France, Britain (maybe), Russia, and China are not beholden to the powerful Israeli lobby. Their politicians are not dependent on, nay owned by, right-wing special interest money in the USA or in Israel. Mostly they do represent the people who vote for them.


Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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