In These New Times

A new paradigm for a post-imperial world

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

Asia Times

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.

Read more

Posted in Syria | Tagged: , , | 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

WSWS

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.

Read more

Posted in Syria | Tagged: | 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”

Daily Star

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.

Read more

Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »

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”

PressTV

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.

Read more

 

Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »

Syrian militants used chemical weapons: UN investigators

Posted by seumasach on May 6, 2013

PressTV

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.

Read more

Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »

Netanyahu picks China for first destination

Posted by seumasach on May 4, 2013

 

M.K.Bhadrakumar

Indian Punchline

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)

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Obama’s “red line” a “mistake”

Posted by seumasach on May 4, 2013

Brzezinski Joins Lugar Warning Against U.S. Role in Syria

Bloomberg

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.

Read more

Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »

Turkey becomes SCO partner

Posted by seumasach on May 4, 2013

Turkey becomes partner of China, Russia-led security bloc

Yahoo

26th April, 2013

ALMATY (Reuters) – NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a “dialogue partner” of a security bloc dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia.

Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Obama reaches out to Putin

Posted by seumasach on May 1, 2013

M.K.Bhadrakumar

Indian Punchline

30th April, 2013

The United States President Barack Obama’s second telephone conversation in successive weeks with President Vladimir Putin on Monday underscores the criticality of Russia’s cooperation at the present juncture for Washington on the foreign policy front.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Syria | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The attack on gold-update

Posted by seumasach on May 1, 2013

Paul Craig Roberts

Institute for Political Economy

16th April, 2013

April 18 Note: At the online retailer Gainesville coins, and everywhere else, the increased premiums above the spot price of gold and silver indicate that the demand for bullion possession, that is, the demand for the metal itself, is greater than the price established in the paper market by manipulation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Currency Wars | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

US attack on Syria would be suicide

Posted by seumasach on April 30, 2013

L’attaque états-unienne de la Syrie serait un acte suicidaire

Pierre Khalaf

Voltairenet

29th April, 2013

Le commandement syrien poursuit la mise en œuvre de ses nouveaux plans dans un timing politique et militaire adéquat, et à l’ombre d’une ambiance populaire résolument favorable à l’État et au président Bachar al-Assad, de l’aveu même des puissances occidentales.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »