11th May, 2013
Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi says a Hezbollah-style resistance movement has emerged in Syria.
Hezbollah-style resistance movement forms in Syria
Posted by seumasach on May 11, 2013
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UK government cover-up on vaccines
Posted by seumasach on May 10, 2013
30 Years of Secret Official Transcripts Show UK Government Experts Cover Up Vaccine Hazards To Sell More Vaccines And Harm Your Kids
14th March, 2012
An extraordinary new paper published by a courageous doctor and investigative medical researcher has dug the dirt on 30 years of secret official transcripts of meetings of UK government vaccine committees and the supposedly independent medical “experts” sitting on them with their drug industry connections.
Posted in Ecological and Public Health Crisis | Tagged: vaccine dangers | Leave a Comment »
Saudis, Qatar fire UN torpedo at Syrian peace
Posted by seumasach on May 10, 2013
Kaveh Afrasiabi
10th May, 2013
UNITED NATIONS – It is a popular term at the United Nations. “Multilevel peace process” is used often to refer to complementary efforts in conflict-prevention, and the UN’s history is rich with countless such examples. Yet, somehow, the UN has misdirected its energy in the case of Syria, by entertaining a General Assembly resolution that, if adopted, will likely act as a disservice – call it negative input – with respect to the US-Russian peace conference planned for the end of May.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: global peace process, Multilevel peace process, Syria peace conference | Leave a Comment »
Shocking figures on child learning difficulties
Posted by seumasach on May 9, 2013
“The figures that have been uncovered reveal an unprecedented calamity in child health,”
“We have more children with mild to severe neurological problems than ever in our history, and it may be a significant factor that no plausible explanation is being offered by those responsible for public health matters’.
Fourfold rise in pupils who need extra support
6th May, 2013
THE number of children in Scottish schools who need extra help in the classroom due to conditions such as autism, ADHD and learning difficulties has shown a dramatic fourfold increase in the past ten years, figures reveal.
Read more
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Kerry couldn’t set Moscow River on fire
Posted by seumasach on May 9, 2013
“the US shifted its position on the core issue; namely, its demand that the Assad regime should quit as a prelude to any dialogue.”
M.K.Bhadrakumar
9th May, 2013
The foreplay of Russian-American high-level exchanges can be very revealing. This time too the two sides indulged in some robust shadow play in the run-up to the overnight “working visit” of the United States Secretary of State John Kerry to Moscow on Tuesday.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Russian diplomacy, US Russia cooperation, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
UN says US-backed opposition, not Syrian regime, used poison gas
Posted by seumasach on May 7, 2013
The imperial elite is in complete disarray as the UN uncharacteristically tells the truth
Alex Lantier
7th May, 2013
In a series of interviews, UN investigator Carla del Ponte said that sarin gas used in Syria was fired by the US-backed opposition, not the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Carla del Ponte | Leave a Comment »
Saudi urges UN action against Israel strikes on Syria
Posted by seumasach on May 7, 2013
The situation is now unimaginably convoluted: the ”dangerous violation” of the sovereignty of an Arab state is apparently the Saudis’ job since they are the co- backers, along with Israel, of the Syrian “rebels”
7th May, 2013
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday called for UN action to end Israeli strikes on Syria, describing the raids as a “dangerous violation” of the sovereignty of an Arab state, the official SPA news agency reported.
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Hamas condemns Israel for aggression against Syria
Posted by seumasach on May 6, 2013
Perhaps Hamas will now reconsider its misguided support for the “rebels”
6th May, 2013
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has slammed the Israeli regime for its recent act of aggression against Syria, calling for an end to the turmoil in the country.
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Syrian militants used chemical weapons: UN investigators
Posted by seumasach on May 6, 2013
5th May, 2013
United Nations investigators say they have found testimony from victims and medical staff that shows militants have used the nerve agent sarin in Syria, which has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687.
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Netanyahu picks China for first destination
Posted by seumasach on May 4, 2013
M.K.Bhadrakumar
3rd May, 2013
If Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to deeply disappoint his Chinese hosts for a third time in a row by calling off his visit, he had a very good alibi this time — Israeli foreign ministry is on a labour strike with diplomats fighting for more pay and better working conditions and protesting their department’s ‘downgrading’ by being divested recently of key roles that have been handed to other government institutions. (Such strikes can happen in Israel.)
But the labor union refused to oblige ‘Bibi’, saying in a statement, “Out of consideration for Israel’s diplomatic standing, the historic importance of the trip, and the long-term damage that would be caused by canceling it, it has been decided to allow the visit [to China] to go ahead as planned.”
So, ‘Bibi’ is packing bags to hit the road for a five-day (May 6-10) China visit, finally, with halts of two days each in Shanghai and Beijing. The China Daily report, here, duly noted that this is Netanyahu’s first visit abroad since he took office for a third term in late March.”
His spokesman Mark Regev told Xinhua in Tel Aviv, “The fact that he has chosen China as his first destination demonstrates clearly the importance that the israeli government attaches to our relations with China.”
Both Chinese and Israeli reports harped on the strong economic content of Netanyahu’s mission to China. But an intriguing detail is that China is also hosting the head of the Palestine Authority Mahmoud Abbas nest week.
Regev vaguely alluded that the Chinese hosts could be setting up something important when he pointedly singled out the israeli-Palestinian peace process as a topic that Netanyahu will discuss with the Chinese leadership.
Regev commented on China’s role — “There is no substitute for direct, face to face negotiations [between Netanyahu and Abbas]. We [Israel] hope that all countries will encourage the expeditious return to direct talks.”
Of late, Netanyahu has been speaking about holding a referendum in Israel on a Palestine settlement. The United States Secretary of State John Kerry has visited Israel thrice already in the past two-month period. Israeli cabinet minister and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni (who is also Israel’s chief peace negotiator), said on Thursday after meeting Kerry that the latter is “completely involved, determined” to restart negotiations and that she herself felt it is “good news” that the Arab peace initiative is negotiable.
Of course, China has repeatedly signaled of late that the Middle East is one area where Beijing and Washington can and should work together as stakeholders in regional security and stability.
However, politics is meaningless for both Netanyahu and his Chinese hosts without the alluring prospect of a big breakthrough in the Chinese-Israeli economic relationship. Trade is steadily increasing and touches $10 billion currently.
But a big-ticket item that can transform the panorama phenomenally will be the proposed construction project on a railway line to Eilat connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean as a partial substitute for the Suez Canal.
The project was formally approved by the Israeli cabinet last month just in time for Netanyahu’s China visit. No doubt, it is an ambitious project with 173 kilometre long new track laying and involving 63 bridges and five tunnels (totalling ten kilometers).
The rail link will cut travel time within Israel dramatically and also develop a new transit route connecting Europe and Asia. Unsurprisingly, Chinese companies have shown keen interest in the project. Now, Netanyahu can be expected to probe how much money Beijing can put on the table to meet the estimated $30 billion cost of the project.
Netanyahu must be feeling encouraged that Beijing will be willing to invest in the project, since this is also a communication link of great strategic importance to China, which meshes well with its control over Gwadar Port in Pakistan and its plans to build a naval base Aden on the eastern approach to the Red Sea.
A big business delegation is accompanying Netanyahu to China. Clearly, the two countries are set to work to develop renewable energy technology and in fields such as IT. And of course, energy cooperation looms large on the radar once israel begins export of LNG from its massive Leviathan gas fields (whose revised estimates of reserves stand at a whopping 18.9 trillion cubic feet.)
But having said that, Netanyahu is sure to factor in that Chinese diplomacy in the Middle East is shifting gear and Israel must position itself in anticipation of the appearance of a historically new big power on the horizon.
The Middle Eastern geopolitical chessboard will never be the same again once China engages the region politically and strategically. A backgrounder by the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv University says it all rather explicitly (here)
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Obama’s “red line” a “mistake”
Posted by seumasach on May 4, 2013
Brzezinski Joins Lugar Warning Against U.S. Role in Syria
4th May, 2013
President Barack Obama’s declaration that a Syrian use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” was a mistake, according to two veteran U.S. foreign policy leaders who warned against deeper U.S. engagement there.
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