Weekly News Archive
Broadcast Notes
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CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH
MONDAY MAY 20, 2013
Muddled Israeli-U.S.
policies on Assad set stage for Golan offensive against Israel
Four days after a “senior Israeli official” warned Assad through
The New York Times of Wednesday, May 15 that he risks forfeiting
power if he retaliates for Israeli attacks on weapons supplies
to terrorists, “Israeli officials” were telling the London Times
of Saturday, May 18 something quite different: “An intact, but
weakened, Assad regime would be preferable,” they said. “Better
the devil we know than the demons we can only imagine if …
extremists from across the Arab world gain a foothold there.”
. . . .
Without going into whether the two sets of “Israeli officials”
were one and the same, their utterances are clearly making
Israel’s policy-makers and defense leaders look muddled and
uncertain – or, worse, unable to think clearly – about how to
cope with the menace building up on the Syrian Golan. This could
take the form of a Syrian war of attrition and/or a Hizballah
offensive against Upper and Western Galilee.
At all events, the Syrian civil conflict appears poised ready to
spill over to one or more of its neighbors, starting with Israel
as a result of six factors:
(1) President Barack Obama’s inability to make up his mind on
whether the US should intervene militarily in Syria – even in a
limited way, such as the imposition of no-fly zones or finding a
way to supply non-Islamist Syrian rebel groups with sorely
needed weapons.
(2) The US president’s refusal to recognize that chemical
weapons have already been used in Syria . . . “The US has
seen evidence of chemical weapons being used in Syria,” he said,
adding however, “it is important to get more specific details
about alleged chemical attacks.”
This comment was interpreted as the US president’s acceptance of
the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian war so long as it was
on a limited scale. Obama, like Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu, has therefore waved away another red line for
military intervention in the Syria conflict, by closing his eyes
to the evidence . . . .
(3) Following again in American footsteps, Israel failed to
prevent Russia sending advanced S-300 anti-air and Yakhont
anti-ship missiles to the Assad regime – both improved versions
which were outfitted with sophisticated radar to improve their
range and precision . . . .
(4) Strategic errors, which may turn out to be irreversible,
because they emanated from faulty assessments shared by Israel
and the Obama administration of the strengths on the Syrian
battlefield. To this day, the US, Israel and Turkey cling to the
belief that Assad’s days are numbered and refuse to recognize
the steady advances made by the Syrian army in its
counter-offensive for dislodging the rebels from land they
captured in more than two years of combat.
(5) This misreading of the Syrian ruler’s survivability is part
and parcel of the omission by Obama, Netanyahu and Erdogan to
appreciate and counter two major strategic changes overtaking
the region:
(a) They stood aside as Moscow, Tehran and Hizballah deepened their
military commitments to Assad’s fight for survival – starting
with the arrival of Russian military personnel in Syria to man
the sophisticated missiles supplied by Moscow until Syrian crews
were instructed in their use.
They didn’t raise a finger to interfere with the almost daily
Russian and Iranian air lifts to Syrian air bases of complete
brigades of elite Hizballah fighters and thousands of Iranian
Bassij militiamen who now control key war sectors.
Washington Jerusalem and even Jordan sat on their hands when
3,000 Iraqi members of the Asai’b al-Haq (League of the
Righteous) and Kataib Hizballah poured across the border into
Syria to support Assad’s war on the Syrian rebellion.
(b) Because they kept their distance from all these strategic
game-changers in and around Syria, the US and Israel lost their
chance to break up the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah alliance . .
. What Washington achieved by its hands-off stance on Syria
was the very opposite: Instead of weakening the triple alliance,
Obama has allowed it to be bolstered by Russian and Iraqi
increments.
It is no wonder, therefore, that Moscow, Tehran, Damascus and
Hizballah are behaving like winners and gearing up for the next
stage of the Syrian war, which, if Tehran and Hizballah have
their way, will evolve into a war of attrition against Israel
waged from the Syrian Golan . . . .
(6) A war of attrition against Israel from the Golan would not
be a new experience either for Damascus or Moscow. In 1974, from
March to May, Syrian forces, refusing to accept the defeat of
their 1973 offensive against Israel, launched a harsh war of
attrition from the same enclave, on the advice of their Soviet
patron. [At that time,] Damascus was forced to accept a
ceasefire on Golan which was observed from that day on until the
present.
This time, the big difference is that Moscow can leave the
heavy-lifting for a limited war on Israel to Tehran and
Hizballah.
Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah in one of his fiery speeches
expressed eagerness to make the Golan his new front for war on
Israel. And Friday, May 17, it was reported in Tehran that
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had entrusted al
Qods Brigades commander General Qassem Soleimani with the task
of sending troops to the Golan to embark on hostilities against
Israel.
Once they begin, it will be hard to stop the violence from
spreading to Israel’s borders with Lebanon, from Syria into
Turkey and from Jordan into Syria and Iraq.
Source: debka.com MORE
Syrian-Hizballah's
capture of Qusayr opens direct weapons route to Lebanon
Shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledged Sunday,
May 19, to maintain Israeli operations in Syria against the
passage of advanced Iranian weapons to the Lebanese Hizballah,
Syrian troops and their Hizballah comrades stormed al-Qasayr,
the northwestern town which commands the high road from Syrian
Homs to Lebanon’s Hermel Mountains.
This was a major victory: Iranian arms for Hizballah can now go
through from Syria to [their] destination unobstructed.
In more than two years of battling the Assad regime, this was
one of the rebels’ most devastating losses after three weeks of
bitter fighting and the last of a whole row of recent setbacks.
Bashar Assad in contrast has gained huge advantages from his al
Qusayr victory, as DEBKAfile’s military sources report:
(1) It cuts off the Syrian rebels’ main supply and
communications route via Lebanon through which their Arab
backers Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE send them fighters, arms
and funds.
(2) Rebel positions in the nearby town of Homs become
increasingly vulnerable, as the Syrian army regains control of
the main highway links between Damascus, Homs and Aleppo.
(3) After the rebels were pushed out of al-Qasayr, Turkey
remains their only accessible source of supplies . . . .
(4) For Israel, the fall of al Qusayr means that while rebel
supply routes are shut down, supply routes open up for the free
movement of Iranian weapons from Syria straight to Hizballah
strongholds in Lebanon. This would be Hizballah’s reward for its
military aid to Assad’s army.
If Prime Minister Netanyahu was serious about his promise Sunday
to cut off Hizballah’s weapon routes from Syria, he has three
primary options to choose from – none of them easy, to say the
least.
(a) Military intervention in al Qusayr before the Syrian army and
Hizballah clinch their takeover of this strategic byway town.
This would catapult Israel into full-blown war with Syria and
Hizballah and is therefore a non-starter.
(b) Bombardment of the convoys carrying arms from Syria to Lebanon. This
won’t do much good. Having learned its lesson from the three
Israeli air strikes against arms convoys and depots this year,
Syria has now transferred the hardware disassembled into
component parts and passed them out among smuggling rings ato
move them under cover of dark into Lebanon.
(c) Attacks on the destination of those weapons – Hizballah depots in the
Hermel – after their delivery. This would almost certainly
trigger Hizballah war action against Israel.
Source:
debka.com
MORE
Note: see also Fierce Fighting Reveals Deeper
Hezbollah Involvement In Syrian Civil War - After months
of half-denials and doublespeak, Hezbollah appears now to be
openly intervening in Syria’s civil war, fighting alongside
regime forces amid new signals of defiance from President Bashar
Assad
LINK
Fears grow of clash
between Israel and Syria
JERUSALEM -- Fears about a possible escalation of violence
between Israel and Syria grew Sunday amid renewed Israeli
threats to destroy Syrian weapons caches and Syria's warnings of
retaliation.
After decades of relative calm along the two nations’ borders,
some Israeli officials say tensions with Syria have reached one
of the highest points since the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
During a Cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Israel would continue to act to prevent Syria’s
advanced weapons from falling into the hands of the Lebanese
militant group Hezbollah or other organizations deemed to be
terrorists.
“The Middle East is in one of its most sensitive periods in
decades with the escalating upheaval in Syria,’’ Netanyahu said.
“We are monitoring the changes there closely and are prepared
for any scenario.”
Israel has been accused of launching three air strikes this year
against Syrian weapons stockpiles and convoys, though officially
the Israeli government has not acknowledged its responsibility.
But Israeli officials have said repeatedly they will not
hesitate to attack if they fear weapons, including chemical
stockpiles, are at risk of falling into the wrong hands.
In response, Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose regime did not
retaliate for the previous three attacks, has signaled that he
will not tolerate a fourth strike.
His government has reportedly trained advanced
surface-to-surface missiles on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv,
with instructions to fire in the event of another Israeli
attack, according to information from reconnaissance satellite
imagery reported Sunday by the Times of London.
Israeli military officials have insisted that they do not wish
to interfere in the Syrian civil war or topple Assad’s regime,
and that they would limit military actions toward halting the
arms pipeline from Iran to Hezbollah.
At the same time, Israelis have warned Assad that if he strikes
back against Israel, he risks losing control of Syria because
Israel would respond with less restraint.
So far, the Israeli calculation that Assad is too weak and
distracted to respond has been proven correct. But some Israeli
defense analysts warn that Israel might be pushing its luck if
it attacks again.
“We might think Israel enjoys full freedom of action in Syria
because the regime knows what’s good for it,’’ said Shlomo Brom,
analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel
Aviv. “But this is an illusion because it ignores the fact that
when you push someone into a corner, they are ultimately forced
to react. I am not sure Assad is so far from this mind-set. This
could cause an escalation, and the question is whether such an
escalation serves Israel’s interests.” . . . .
Russia, which has maintained strong ties to the Assad regime,
also made a strong statement of support last week, vowing to
proceed with the sale of advanced S-300 air-defense missiles to
Syria despite a personal appeal from Netanyahu. Israel fears
such weapons will hinder its ability to launch air strikes over
Syria and Lebanon.
Many in Israel see the arms sale as a message to Israel and the
West that Russia will not tolerate outside intervention in
Syria.
“The Russians have shown determined support for Assad,” Major
General Amos Gilad, head of policy and political affairs
strategy for the Israel Defense Forces, told Israel Radio on
Friday. He said Syria “has become a battleground in which the
defense of Assad and his regime has become a central pillar of
Russian policy. That hasn’t changed and it has been the case
throughout the entire duration of the period. That is a very
tenaciously held position.”
For Israel, Russian support for Assad raises the stakes in its
evolving military strategy.
Initially Israelis believed Assad could not be toppled and that
despite his support for Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant
group Hamas, his survival was preferable because he had proved
to be something of a paper tiger when it came to militarily
confronting Israel. Even after Israel reportedly bombed a Syrian
nuclear facility in 2007, Assad did not respond.
Over the past year, Israelis came to believe that Assad could
not survive, though they have been reluctant to openly support
the rebels. They fear such support might backfire because of the
strong anti-Israel sentiments in Syria.
Now Israeli officials appear split on which outcome in
Syria will be worse for them: a victorious Assad regime that
continues to support Hezbollah with help from Iran, or a
takeover by al Qaeda-affiliated rebels who might be less
reluctant to strike Israel.
“Israel really has no clear preference between Assad’s regime
and that of the gangs who would succeed him and tear the country
to pieces,” said Mordechai Kedar, a Middle East expert at Bar-Ilan
University. “Each has its own dangerous characteristics.” [emphasis
added]
Source:
latimes.com
MORE
Note: see also Netanyahu: Not True That Israel Prefers
Assad To Rebels - "The statements attributed to an
Israeli intelligence officer do not represent the Israeli
government's position," Netanyahu said
LINK
Associated Press
CEO Calls Seizure of Phone Records Unconstitutional
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president and chief executive officer of
the Associated Press (AP) on Sunday called the government's
secret seizure of two months of reporters' phone records
"unconstitutional" and said the news cooperative had not ruled
out legal action against the Justice Department.
Gary Pruitt, in his first television interviews since it was
revealed the Justice Department subpoenaed phone records of AP
reporters and editors, said the move already has had a chilling
effect on journalism. Pruitt said the seizure has made sources
less willing to talk to AP journalists and, in the long term,
could limit Americans' information from all news outlets.
Pruitt told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the government has no
business monitoring the AP's newsgathering activities.
"And if they restrict that apparatus ... the people of the
United States will only know what the government wants them to
know and that's not what the framers of the Constitution had in
mind when they wrote the First Amendment," he said.
In a separate interview with the AP, Pruitt said the news
cooperative had not decided its next move but had not ruled out
legal action against the government. He said the Justice
Department's investigation is out of control and President
Barack Obama should rein it in.
"It's too early to know if we'll take legal action but I can
tell you we are positively displeased and we do feel that our
constitutional rights have been violated," Pruitt said.
"They've been secretive, they've been overbroad and abusive - so
much so that taken together, they are unconstitutional because
they violate our First Amendment rights," he added . . . .
Although the Justice Department has not explained why it
sought phone records from the AP, Pruitt pointed to a May 7,
2012, story that disclosed details of a successful CIA operation
in Yemen to stop an airliner bomb plot around the one-year
anniversary of the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.
The AP delayed publication of that story at the request of
government officials who said it would jeopardize national
security.
"We respected that, we acted responsibly, we held the story,"
Pruitt said.
Pruitt said that only after officials from two government
entities said the threat had passed did the AP publish the
story. He said the administration still asked that the story be
held until an official announcement the next day, a request the
AP rejected.
The news service viewed the story as important because White
House and Department of Homeland Security officials were saying
publicly there was no credible evidence of a terrorist threat to
the U.S. around the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death.
"So that was misleading to the American public. We felt the
American public needed to know this story," Pruitt said.
The AP has seen an effect on its newsgathering since the
disclosure of the Justice Department's subpoena, he said.
"Officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to
in the normal course of newsgathering are already saying to us
that they're a little reluctant to talk to us," Pruitt said.
"They fear that they will be monitored by the government."
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of personal
and work telephone records for several reporters and editors, as
well as general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and
Hartford, Connecticut, and for the main number for the AP in the
House of Representatives press gallery.
"It was sweeping and broad and beyond what they needed to do,"
Pruitt said.
He objected to the "Justice Department acting on its own being
the judge, jury and executioner in secret," saying the AP would
not back down.
"We're not going to be intimidated by the abusive tactics of the
Justice Department," he said.
Source: cnsnews.com MORE
________________________________
NEWS BRIEFS
________________________________
Netanyahu: Israel acts to deny Hezbollah Syrian arms
JERUSALEM -- Israel is "acting" to prevent Syrian weapons
reaching Lebanon's Hezbollah and will continue to do so, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. His remarks came two
weeks after Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus, which
a senior Israeli source said were aimed at preventing the
transfer of sophisticated Iranian arms to Hezbollah, the
Lebanese ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Netanyahu
said the Middle East was going through its most sensitive period
for decades, with the conflict in Syria at the centre of the
turmoil. "We are closely following developments and changes
there, and we are prepared for any scenario," he said at the
start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "The government of Israel
is acting in a responsible, determined and prudent manner to
ensure the supreme interest of the State of Israel which is the
security of its citizens according to the policy we set: to
prevent as far as possible leakage of advanced weapons to
Hezbollah and terrorist elements," he said. "We will ensure the
security interests of the citizens of Israel in the future."
Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not permit the
transfer of advanced weapons or chemical agents to Hezbollah or
to any other militant groups.
MORE
Report: Syria prepares missiles to
strike Tel Aviv
The Sunday Times reports that Syria is deploying advanced
Tishreen surface-to-surface missiles to strike Tel Aviv in case
Israel launches another attack. The paper cites “information
obtained by reconnaissance satellites tracking Syrian forces,”
without any other source. Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal
Makdad said in a broadcast Thursday, May 16, that if Israel
again attacked Syria, it would face an immediate and painful
response. Asked if he realized that his words meant war between
Israel and Syria, Makdan replied: “So what? So there’ll be war.”
Since January, Israel has conducted three air strikes in Syria
targeting shipments of Iranian weapons heading for transfer to
Hizballah. [no further content]
LINK
Note: see also [Israeli] Army: Syria Gunfire Hits
Israel-Occupied Golan - According to a military
spokeswoman, the shots were from small arms, and "most likely
were stray bullets, we don't know if it was intentional"
LINK
Kerry Returning to Middle East to
Discuss Syria Peace Plan
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back
to the Middle East this week to press his case for peace talks
between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad's regime amid
increasing signs the new U.S. strategy to halt the war is being
undermined by Russia. Kerry departs Monday for discussions with
the sultan of Oman. He then goes to Jordan to gather with 10 of
America's closest European and Arab partners to discuss how to
advance a political transition and end more than two years of
bloodshed in Syria, before traveling on to Israel. For the Syria
negotiations to succeed, the Obama administration is banking on
Russia's help.
MORE
In rare interview, Bashar al-Assad says
he will not step down
The Syrian ruler said in an interview Saturday from his palace
in Damascus with the Argentine newspaper Clarin, that he
welcomed dialogue. But the continuing lack of unity among the
myriad rebel groups meant that the opposition would be unable to
implement any ceasefire accords reached at an international
conference, such as surrendering arms. He denied his army had
used chemical weapons against the rebels and accused the West of
telling lies. “Israel,” he alleged “is directly supporting the
terrorist groups in two ways, firstly it gives them logistical
support and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to
attack them. For example, the rebels attacked a radar station
that is part of our anti-aircraft defenses, which can detect any
plane coming from overseas, especially from Israel." Assad went
on to remark that he wasn’t aware the Syrian people had granted
Secretary of State Kerry a mandate to choose its ruler. He
admitted the presence of “people from Hizballah and Iran” in the
country, but claimed they had been “coming and going in Syria
long before the crisis.” The Syrian ruler fully expected foreign
intervention, but thought it would be limited in nature. [no
further content]
LINK
Note: see these related stories:
Syrian President Welcomes US-Russian Peace Initiative ... But
Won't Step Down - "We have received the Russian-US
approach well and we hope that there will be an international
conference to help Syrians overcome the crisis," Clarin quoted
Assad as saying ... He added, however, that "we do not believe
that many Western countries really want a solution in Syria. And
we don't think that the forces that support the terrorists want
a solution to the crisis ... "We must be clear," he said ...
"There is confusion in the world over a political solution and
terrorism ... They think that a political conference will stop
terrorism on the ground ... This is unrealistic"
LINK
France Opposes Syria Conference If Iran Attends -
“What’s at stake is regional stability and we can’t see how a
country that represents a threat to this stability could attend
this conference”
LINK
Arab League to hold emergency
Syria meeting
CAIRO -- An Arab League committee on Syria will hold an
emergency meeting on Thursday ahead of an international peace
conference on ending the country's civil war, the bloc's deputy
leader said on Sunday. The foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt,
Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Sudan would discuss a US-Russian push for
a conference aimed at finding a political solution to the Syria
conflict, Ahmed Ben-Hilli told reporters. Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates would also join the meeting "to follow up
on developments in Syria in light of the US-Russian
understanding," he said. The conference is meant to include both
rebels and members of the regime -- a difficulty considering
some opposition members' refusal to recognise President Bashar
al-Assad as a negotiating partner. Moscow is also calling for
the inclusion on this occasion of its trading partner Iran and
US ally Saudi Arabia as a counterweight. [no further content]
LINK
Al-Qaeda's Syrian wing takes over the
oilfields once belonging to Assad
Up to 380,000 barrels of crude oil were previously produced by
wells around the city of Raqqa and in the desert region to its
east that are now in rebel hands - in particular Jabhat al-Nusra,
the al-Qaeda off-shoot which is the strongest faction in this
part of the country. Now the violently anti-Western jihadist
group, which has been steadily extending its control in the
region, is selling the crude oil to local entrepreneurs, who use
home-made refineries to produce low-grade petrol and other fuels
for Syrians facing acute shortages. The ability of Jabhat al-Nusra
to profit from the oil locally, despite international sanctions
which have hindered its sale abroad, will be particularly
worrying to the European Union, which has voted to ease the
embargo but at the same time wants to marginalise the extremist
group within the opposition. In the battle for the future of the
rebel cause, the oil-fields may begin to play an increasingly
strategic role. All are in the three provinces closest to Iraq -
Hasakeh, Deir al-Zour, and Raqqa, while the Iraqi border regions
are the homeland of the Islamic State of Iraq, as al-Qaeda's
branch in the country calls itself. It was fighters from Islamic
State of Iraq, both Iraqi and Syrian, who are thought to have
founded Jabhat al-Nusra as the protests against the rule of
President Assad turned into civil war.
MORE
[Note: Also see Syria's Nusra Front Eclipsed By Iraq's Al-Qaeda in today's More Newssection.]
Iran
dispatches warship to shadow Gulf exercises
Iran has dispatched one of its newest warships to shadow the
world's biggest mine-hunting exercise that has been taking place
over the last few days in the Gulf. The frigate Jamaran cruised
to within a mile of the western vessels, placing her "almost on
top of" the fleet conducting exercises to secure shipping, naval
sources said. Commanders stressed they did not view the frigate
as a threat and said day to day relations with the Iranian navy
were cordial, but its presence underlined the sensitivity of the
exercise in one of the world's most strategically important
waterways. The Jamaran, armed with missiles and torpedoes, was
built in Iran and launched in 2010, though it is based on a far
older design. Captain Jon Rodgers, commander of the USS Ponce
which is one of 35 ships taking part in the exercise, said the
Iranian and American navies regularly photographed each other as
the two navies - widely seen as potential foes - run up against
one another in the congested waters which many believe could be
a future flashpoint. He said: "As long as we are only taking
pictures, then we are good." The fortnight-long exercise in the
Gulf has seen 41 nations take part in drills aimed at protecting
shipping from mines, attack by small ships and guarding oil
platforms. Most of the vessels belong to Nato members but
Australia and some Arab states have also contributed ships.
MORE
Internet in 'coma' as Iran election
looms
TEHRAN -- Iran is tightening control of the Internet ahead of
next month's presidential election, mindful of violent street
protests that social networkers inspired last time around over
claims of fraud, users and experts say. The authorities deny
such claims, but have not explained exactly why service has
become slower. Businesses, banks and even state organisations
are not spared by the widespread disruption in the Internet,
local media say. "The Internet is in a coma," said the Ghanoon
daily in a report in early this month. "It only happens in Iran:
the election comes, the Internet goes," it said, quoting a tweet
in Farsi. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous other sites,
including thousands of Western ones, have been censored in Iran
since massive street demonstrations that followed the
re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
MORE
North Korea Test-Fires 3 Missiles
Kim Jong Un’s regime launched two guided missiles in the morning
and a third in the afternoon, all headed northeast into waters
off the country’s east coast, South Korean Defense Ministry
spokesman Kim Min Seok said by phone yesterday in Seoul. The
reason for the action was not clear, he said. South Korea’s
President Park Geun Hye hasn’t convened a national security
council meeting because the projectiles didn’t appear to be
medium-range Musudan missiles, Kim Haing, Park’s spokeswoman,
said by phone yesterday. While the South sees no signs of an
attack, the military has bolstered its surveillance and
maintains a state of high readiness, she said. “North Korea
routinely test-fires these short-range guided missiles that have
a range of up to 120 kilometers at least once a year to improve
target accuracy,” Kim Yeon Su, a professor at the Korea National
Defense University in Seoul, said by phone yesterday. “The
launches are not an exceptional event, unless they were
accompanied by the firing of longer-range missiles.”
MORE
Note: see also News Update:
North Korea Fires Sixth Missile In Three Days - North
Korea fired two short-range missiles on Monday, making six
launches in three days, and it condemned South Korea for
criticizing what it said were its legitimate military drills
LINK
Senator Portman: IRS will need
special counsel
Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Sunday said he believed a
special counsel to investigate the IRS targeting scandal would
ultimately be “necessary." Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,”
Portman welcomed an inspector general’s report and the launch of
congressional hearings, but said there were still many
unanswered questions. “I also think that special counsel is
going to end up being necessary here, because it has to be
independent of the White House,” said Portman of the ongoing
investigation. “What we do know is that politics was put ahead
of the public interest. And it was done in two of the most
sensitive areas of our government. One, of course, the tax
collection agency, which has this enormous power over all of us.
And second, our national security,” said Portman referring to
the Justice Department’s seizure of journalists’ phone records
in a leak probe. “There's a lot of issues here we need to get
bottom of. We need to find out what really happened and ensure
that we can begin to regain some trust in our government. That's
my concern,” he added.
MORE
Non-deportation rate drops ... to 99.2
percent
The Homeland Security Department has granted legal status to
99.2 percent of all illegal immigrants who have applied under
President Obama’s new non-deportation policy for young adults,
according to the latest numbers released Friday. That’s a slight
drop from the 99.5 percent approval rate reported last month.
The policy, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,
grants legal status to most illegal immigrants under the age of
31 who came to the U.S. before age 16 - usually brought by their
parents. They are allowed to remain in the U.S. without fear of
deportation, and are given work permits. Most states have agreed
to issue them driver’s licenses as well. DACA is seen as a
test-run should Congress pass a broad legalization for the 11
million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the U.S. That’s
one reason why the high approval rate is striking. Critics of
the Obama policy say a rate that high means the administration
isn’t doing much screening of those who are applying. But
supporters say the high rate makes sense given the motivated
pool of youngsters, known as “Dreamers” because of the Dream Act
legislation that would give them full citizenship rights.
MORE
CDC: 1 In 5 U.S. Children May
Have Mental Disorder
ATLANTA (CBS) -- Nearly 1 in 5 children in the U.S. suffers from
a mental disorder, and this number has been rising for more than
a decade. According to a study conducted by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, up to 20 percent of American
children are suffering from mental disorders such as
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety,
depression and autism . . . The CDC data was collected
between 1994 and 2011, and it shows that the number of children
being diagnosed with mental disorders has been steadily growing.
The study did not conclude exactly why the numbers are
increasing. More research is needed to determine the specific
causes of mental disorders, said Dr. Perou, and that greater
awareness could lead to an uptick in diagnoses. A host of
environmental factors, including chemical exposure and poverty,
also can affect a child’s mental health, she said. The study
also found that girls were more prone to depression and alcohol
abuse than boys, and that 6.8 percent of U.S. children are
affected by attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
MORE
Cancer Drug Linked to Flesh-Eating
Disease
Health Canada has issued warnings to the general public and to
healthcare professionals that the cancer treatment drug Avastin
has been linked to necrotizing fasciitis, an infection commonly
known as flesh-eating disease. The manufacturer of Avastin,
Hoffman-La Roche, has identified 52 serious cases of the
infection in patients who were taking Avastin between November
1997 and September 2012 . . . Company spokesperson Nancy
Zorzi said that the risk of a person developing the disease
while on Avastin “is rare” noting that it occurs in less than
0.1 per cent of cases. As of February 2013, there were about 1.3
million people worldwide being treated with Avastin. According
to Dr. Malcolm Moore, who is head of the Medical Oncology
division at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, between 5,000 and
10,000 patients annually in Canada are treated with the drug.
The FDA in the U.S. issued a similar warning in March regarding
the risks of developing flesh-eating disease in patients taking
Avastin. Dr. Moore said the infection is “an extremely rare
complication” and the warning that has been issued would
not change any decision to use the drug in cancer patients in
the future. [emphasis added]
MORE
Egypt Muslim-Christian clashes leave 1
dead
CAIRO -- Egyptian security officials say clashes between Muslims
and Christians in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria left
one man dead of a heart attack. Officials say the clashes in the
city's el-Dekheila suburb erupted when a Coptic man allegedly
sexually harassed a Muslim woman. Residents of the area fired
birdshot and threw Molotov cocktails at one another during the
Friday night fighting. Police say Christian resident Sherif
Sedky died of a heart attack during the clashes. Police forces
were beefed up around the local church Saturday in case of
further violence.
MORE
________________________________
MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY
________________________________
Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of Christian Media Daily or our host - Christian Media Network. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.
Syria's Nusra Front
eclipsed by Iraq's al-Qaeda
BEIRUT -- The most feared and effective rebel group battling
President Bashar Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being
eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond
overthrowing the Syrian leader.
Al-Qaeda’s Iraq-based wing, which nurtured Nusra in the early
stages of the rebellion against Assad, has moved in and
sidelined the organization, Nusra sources and other rebels say.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq includes thousands of foreign fighters whose
ultimate goal is not toppling Assad but the anti-Western jihad
of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri – a shift which could extend
Syria’s conflict well beyond any political accord between Assad
and his foes. The fighting has already cost at least 80,000
lives . . . .
The breakup of an important part of Syria’s opposition, already
splintered into hundreds of armed groups, worsens the dilemma
faced by the West as it debates whether intervention to support
the rebels will result in arms being placed in the hands of
hostile Islamist militants. And if the West were to intervene,
it may now be under pressure to attack al-Qaeda opposition
forces rather than Assad.
“Nusra is now two Nusras. One that is pursuing al-Qaeda’s agenda
of a greater Islamic nation, and another that is Syrian with a
national agenda to help us fight Assad,” said a senior rebel
commander in Syria who has close ties to the Nusra Front.
“It is disintegrating from within.”
Others said that Nusra’s Syrian contingent has already
effectively collapsed, with its leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani
keeping a low profile and his fighters drifting off to join
other rebel groups . . . .
Many Syrians turned a blind eye to the growing presence of
foreign and Arab jihadi fighters in its ranks because Nusra
fighters cooperated with other rebel brigades, worked to curb
looting and provided help for displaced Syrians.
By contrast the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, who has moved into northern Syria to take tighter
control over al-Qaeda operations in the country, has few
admirers among Syrian fighters.
They see him as a brutal figure with little time for the
intricacies of Syria’s struggle, focused less on toppling Assad
and more on imposing a radical Islamist rule including religious
courts and public executions. Many accuse him privately of
hijacking their revolution.
“We reject his presence here on the ground. He should take his
fighters and go back to Iraq,” said a Nusra source who is close
to Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani. “We are not happy with
the way he operates or with his methods.”
Baghdadi’s announcement in early April that his Islamic State of
Iraq was formally merging with Nusra to form the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant clearly took the Syrian Nusra rebels by
surprise.
Golani said he had not been consulted and, while swearing
allegiance to al-Qaeda’s Zawahri, insisted his fighters would
continue to operate under their own Nusra Front banner.
“Golani pledged religious allegiance to Zawahri, but not
political or military [allegiance],” said the Nusra source close
to Golani. “It was an attempt by Golani to keep his distance
from Baghdadi.”
But the move did not help. Soon after, in a direct challenge to
Golani, Baghdadi traveled from Iraq to a town in Syria’s Aleppo
province, where he was joined by Arab and foreign jihadis who
had formerly fought for Golani’s Nusra.
Rebels say the rift continued to widen and the foreign and Arab
wing is now operating formally under the banner of the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant, while many Syrian Nusra fighters
have dispersed to join other Islamist brigades . . . .
. . . Syrian Nusra fighters who spoke to Reuters said
they feared Baghdadi’s supporters would alienate Syrians in the
same way their hard-line agenda turned Iraqis against them ...
Source: Reuters / dailystar.com.lb MORE
Commentary:
Cell Phone Towers, HAARP,
Weather Modification and Mind Control (Jim Stone)
Excerpt:
The fact that your brain operates on frequencies leaves it open
to manipulation via electronic means. Since different moods are
reflected by different frequencies, it is possible to
electronically force people to be relaxed when they should be
angry, laugh when they should be appalled, and give loyalty when
they should rebel. There are a number of ways that this can be
accomplished, and this report will touch on a few of them.
Source:
therebel.org
MORE
Note: see these related items:
Danger: Mind Controllers At Work! (5-15-05) - This is
the last significant report Joe Vialls ever did ... When I saw
this, I knew he would not be around to complete the other parts
LINK
Commentary: Looming Health
Crisis: Wireless Technology And The Toxification of America
- In April 2012, the American Academy of Environmental
Medicine (AAEM), a national organization of medical and
osteopathic physicians, issued a formal position paper on the
health effects of RF and EMF exposure based on a literature
review of the most recent research ... “Genetic damage,
reproductive defects, cancer, neurological degeneration and
nervous system dysfunction, immune system dysfunction, cognitive
effects, protein and peptide damage, kidney damage, and
developmental effects have all been reported in the
peer-reviewed scientific literature,” AAEM concluded
LINK
Commentary:
U.S. Suspends Constitution in Permanent
World War on Terror (Eric Blair)
Two disturbing developments have occurred in the last couple of
days that have gone relatively unnoticed compared to the recent
IRS, AP, and Benghazi scandals.
First, the senate is debating an expansion of the already broad
powers of the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) so
the U.S. can essentially engage any area in the world in the war
on terror, including America. Which brings us to the second
development: the Pentagon has recently granted itself police
powers on American soil.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Sheehan told Congress
yesterday that the AUMF authorized the US military to operate on
a worldwide battlefield from Boston to Pakistan. Sheehan
emphasized that the Administration is authorized to put boots on
the ground wherever the enemy chooses to base themselves,
essentially ignoring the declaration of war clause in the US
Constitution . . . .
Glenn Greenwald wrote an excellent piece describing how this
hearing reveals the not-so-secret plan to make the war on terror
a permanent fixture in Western society.
Greenwald writes: "It is hard to resist the conclusion
that this war has no purpose other than its own eternal
perpetuation. This war is not a means to any end but rather is
the end in itself. Not only is it the end itself, but it is also
its own fuel: it is precisely this endless war - justified in
the name of stopping the threat of terrorism - that is the
single greatest cause of that threat."
A self-perpetuating permanent war against a shadowy undefinable
enemy appears to be the future of American foreign policy. How
convenient for the war machine and tyrants who claim
surveillance is safety.
But perhaps most disturbing of all of this is the military's
authority to police American streets as if it was in civil war.
For all those still in denial that America is a militarized
police state, this should be the ultimate cure to your delusion.
Jeff Morey of AlterNet writes: "By making a few subtle changes
to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled 'Defense Support of
Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies' the military has quietly
granted itself the ability to police the streets without
obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent
that has been in place for more than two centuries.
"The most objectionable aspect of the regulatory change is the
inclusion of vague language that permits military intervention
in the event of 'civil disturbances.' According to the rule:
'Federal military commanders have the authority, in
extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization
by the President is impossible and duly constituted local
authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage
temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell
large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.' ”
A law from 1878 called the Posse Comitatus Act was put in place
to prevent the Department of Defense from interfering with local
law enforcement. But now, the DoD claims they've had this
authority for over 100 years.
"The authorization has been around over 100 years; it’s not a
new authority. It’s been there but it hasn’t been exercised.
This is a carryover of domestic policy," said an unnamed defense
official who also emphasized that all soldiers take an oath to
defend the Constitution against all enemies "foreign and
domestic" indicating that citizens are a threat to the
Constitution.
Yet, the Constitution is a document that polices the government,
not the people. In other words, the only people who can be
"enemies" of the Constitution are those who took an oath to
defend it. Therefore, only government officials can be an enemy
the Constitution.
This follows a recent West Point study that sought to define the
American people as "domestic enemies" in order to justify
soldiers breaking their oath to corral pesky citizens.
The West Point Terrorism Center wrote that "conspiracy
theorists" who worry that local law enforcement will be steadily
replaced by federally-controlled law enforcement could
potentially be a domestic enemy: "Some groups are driven by a
strong conviction that the American political system and its
proxies were hijacked by external forces interested in promoting
a “New World Order,” (NWO) in which the United States will be
embedded in the UN or another version of global government. The
NWO will be advanced, they believe, via steady transition of
powers from local to federal law-enforcement agencies, i.e., the
transformation of local police and law-enforcement agencies into
a federally controlled “National Police” agency that will in
turn merge with a 'Multi-National Peace Keeping Force.' The
latter deployment on US soil will be justified via a domestic
campaign implemented by interested parties that will emphasize
American society’s deficiencies and US government incompetency."
So, as the US military claims to have the authority to be a
"National Police" force, researchers who claim there is an
agenda to do just that are now labeled as domestic terrorists?
Does this make any sense? Will oath takers see through these
ridiculous interpretations and engage the real domestic enemy to
the Constitution? Or will they just follow orders when the time
comes to crack down on Americans? [emphasis added]
Source: activistpost.com MORE
________________________________
ADDITIONAL NEWS & ANALYSIS
________________________________
Israel warns against Russian arms supply to Syria (Followup)
LINK
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Army Radio: "(Weapons)
could reach others in Syria or Lebanon and be used against
Israel"
Activists: Syria rebels seize Alawite
villages in Hama
LINK
Rebels in Syria have seized control of four
deserted Alawite villages in the central province of Hama
Russian Pacific Fleet Warships Enter
Mediterranean For First Time In Decades ... To Park In Cyprus
LINK
In a historic event, the Russian Pacific fleet,
for the first time in decades, crossed the Suez Canal and
entered the Mediterranean, [destination] Cyprus' port of
Limassol
Syrian opposition meets in Madrid over
conflict
LINK
Branches of the divided Syrian opposition held
talks in Madrid on Monday seeking to harmonize their approach to
the country's bloody civil war, their Spanish government hosts
said ... The talks included Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, who resigned
last week as leader of the Syrian National Coalition, plus other
members of the coalition and "various movements" of the
opposition to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad
Hundreds march in Cairo for Mursi ouster
LINK
Hundreds of people marched on Cairo’s Tahrir
Square Friday calling for Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammad
Mursi to resign and demanding early elections
Protesting Egyptian police block Israel
border crossing
LINK
Egyptian police enraged by the kidnapping of seven
of their colleagues by Islamist gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula
blocked a commercial border crossing with Israel on Sunday
News Update:
Egypt army sends reinforcements to Sinai after kidnapping
LINK
Egypt's army sent reinforcements into the Sinai Peninsula
on Monday after President Mohamed Mursi said there would be no
talks with militant Islamists who have abducted seven members of
the security forces
After crushing Mali Islamists, France
pushes deal with Tuaregs
LINK
France is backing secretive talks being held in
neighboring Burkina Faso, designed to allow the July elections
to take place, while urging Bamako to address Tuaregs'
long-standing demands for autonomy for their desert homeland ...
Many Malians question why France would not boldly confront the
MNLA as it had done the coalition of al Qaeda-linked rebels
___________
Benghazi: What Did the CIA Know, and When Did it Know it?
... The CIA's Cover Up May be the Real Mystery
LINK
The assault had targeted a CIA annex in addition
to a temporary State Department mission ... As the Washington
Post‘s Glenn Kessler wrote: "From the State Department
perspective, this was an attack on a CIA operation, perhaps by
the very people the CIA was battling, and the ambassador [Chris
Stevens] tragically was in the wrong place at the wrong time ...
But, for obvious reasons, the administration could not publicly
admit that Benghazi was mostly a secret CIA effort"
___________
Congressman Gets Standing Ovation for Telling IRS It
Strikes Fear Into Americans
LINK
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania): “You get a
letter from you folks, or a phone call, it’s with terror that
you look at it, and now this kind of reconfirms that - you know
what - they can do almost anything they want, to anybody they
want, anytime they want ... This is very chilling for the
American people ... When the IRS comes in, you’re not allowed to
be shoddy, you’re not allowed to be run horribly, you’re not
allowed to make mistakes, you’re not allowed to do one thing
that doesn’t come in compliance ... If you do, you’re held
responsible right then ... I just think the American people have
seen what’s going on right now in their government, this is
absolutely an overreach and this is an outrage for all America"
Watchdog: Senior Obama administration
officials were told of IRS probe last year
LINK
Russell George, Treasury’s inspector general (IG)
for tax administration, testified that he told the department’s
general counsel and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin about
the probe around June of 2012
Inspector General On IRS Scandal:
'Clear Evidence' of Wrongdoing LINK
“Was the IRS using inappropriate criteria in its
review of organizations applying for tax-exempt status?” George
said ... “Yes ... Was the IRS delaying their applications? ...
Yes ... And finally, did the IRS ask inappropriate and
unnecessary questions of applicant? ... Yes”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ig-irs-scandal-clear-evidence-wrongdoing
IRS Commissioner [Steve Miller] on
Scandal: 'We Provided Horrible Customer Service'
LINK
New Update:
Obama's Point Man: 'The Law Is Irrelevant'
LINK
"What does the president believe? ... Does the president
believe that would be illegal?" ABC's 'This Week' host George
Stephanopoulos asked ... "I can't speak to the law here ... The
law is irrelevant," replied Dan Pfeiffer (who was introduced as
"the strategist at the center of White House damage control")
... "The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was
stopped ... It needs to be - it needs to be fixed so we ensure
it never happens again" ... "You don't really mean the law is
irrelevant, do you?" Stephanopoulos asked Pfeiffer ... "What I
mean is that, whether it's legal or illegal is not important to
the fact that the conduct doesn't matter ... The Department of
Justice has said they're looking into the legality of this ...
The president is not going to wait for that. We have to make
sure it doesn't happen again, regardless of how that turns out"
IRS sued for seizing 60 million
medical records
LINK
___________
[analysis]: A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe
LINK
When the Justice Department began investigating
possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in
2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a
working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material
... They used security badge access records to track the
reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department ... They
traced the timing of his calls with a State Department security
adviser suspected of sharing the classified report ... They
obtained a search warrant for the reporter’s personal e-mails
... Privacy protections limit searching or seizing a reporter’s
work, but not when there is evidence that the journalist broke
the law against unauthorized leaks ... A federal judge signed
off on the search warrant - agreeing that there was probable
cause that Rosen was a co-conspirator
___________
Press Conference: 54 Colorado Sheriffs File Suit Against
Anti-Gun Bills (Video)
LINK
___________
House Judiciary Committee drone hearing: one step closer to
legislation restricting drone use
LINK
___________
Iran's
ambassador to Russia: Tehran ready to allow experts to Parchin
in exchange for deal with IAEA
LINK
Tehran is ready to explain every “suspicious”
point of the country’s nuclear program as well as allow experts
to Parchin nuclear facility if the IAEA agrees to sign a
protocol detailing all its questions, the Iranian ambassador to
Russia says ... The protocol should contain all IAEA’s concerns
about Parchin and all other objects which the agency suspects of
being nuke-oriented, Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi has told the
Russian media ... “And if they don’t find anything, let’s close
Iran’s nuclear file and remove it from the UN Security Council”
Iran presidential nominees seeking U.S.
ties risk ban
LINK
Russia Developing 'Terrorist-Killer Robots'
LINK
Suspected U.S. drone in Yemen kills 4 militants
LINK
Frenemy Alert:
[analysis]: Why was a Sunday
Times report on U.S. government ties to al-Qaeda chief
spiked?
LINK
Sibel Edmonds claimed that Ayman al-Zawahiri, current
head of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s deputy at the time, had
innumerable, regular meetings at the U.S. embassy in Baku,
Azerbaijan, with U.S. military and intelligence officials
between 1997 and 2001, as part of an operation known as ‘Gladio
B’ ... Al-Zawahiri, she charged, as well as various members of
the bin Laden family and other mujahideen, were transported on
NATO planes to various parts of Central Asia and the Balkans to
participate in Pentagon-backed destabilisation operations ...
According to two Sunday Times journalists, this and related
revelations had been confirmed by senior Pentagon and MI6
officials as part of a four-part investigative series that [was]
supposed to run in 2008 ... The Sunday Times journalists
described how the story was inexplicably dropped under the
pressure of undisclosed “interest groups”, which, they suggest,
were associated with the U.S. State Department
Former detainee '90% of Guantanamo
prisoners are innocent people sold to U.S. Government'
(Interview)
LINK
'Monsanto Protection Act' might be
repealed in Senate
LINK
The so-called Monsanto Protection Act signed into
law earlier this year caused such an outrage that people around
the world are planning to protest the biotech company later this
month ... Now a United States senator, Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon),
is expected to try and repeal that law
[analysis]: HOW SOME STATES DID NOT LEGALLY
RATIFY THE sixteenth AMENDMENT
LINK
The 16th amendment was not legally ratified and
that Secretary of State Philander Knox was not merely in error,
but committed fraud when he declared it ratified in February
1913 ... What follows is a summary of some of the major findings
for many of the states, showing that their ratifications were
not legal and should not have been counted ...
Vermont could be first U.S. state to
mandate GMO food labeling
LINK
USGS: 6.8-magnitude quake strikes off Chile
LINK
5.9 Earthquake Strikes Japan Off Fukushima Coast
LINK
Alaska volcano shoots ash 15,000 feet into the air
LINK
One of Alaska's most restless volcanoes - the Pavlof
Volcano, located 625 miles southwest of Anchorage - shot an ash
cloud 15,000 feet into the air Friday in an ongoing eruption
[Scientists]: Dark, massive asteroid to fly
by Earth on May 31
LINK
It's 1.7 miles long ... Its surface is covered in
a sticky black substance similar to the gunk at the bottom of a
barbecue [?!] ... At
its closest approach the asteroid will still be 3.6 million
miles from our planet, but it will be close enough for powerful
radar antennas to see features as small as 12 feet across
HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS: Join the Sound Body Yahoo group (part of the Christian Media ministry) to receive regular health eblasts LINK
________________________________
"The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be
accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist ...
War is Peace."
George Orwell, '1984'
________________________________