| Saturday, August 29, 2015 |
| IRAN: Israeli, Jordanian Officers Killed among Tens of Other Al-Nusra Commanders in Airstrike in Southern Syria |
| Israeli, Jordanian Officers Killed among Tens of Other Al-Nusra Commanders in Airstrike in Southern Syria Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:41 http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940607000669 TEHRAN (FNA - Fars News Agency)- The Syrian air force killed a large number of Takfiri militant commanders, including senior Israeli and Jordanian officers, in airstrikes on terrorists' positions in the Southern province of Dara'a. At least 42 Al-Nusra Front Takfiri terrorist commanders, including 3 Israeli and Jordanian officers, were killed in the Syrian warplanes' air raids in Dara'a. Military sources said that the Syrian airstrikes on al-Nusra Front positions incurred heavy losses on the Takfiri terrorists. In similar operations on Friday, over 100 militants of al-Nusra Front were killed in the Syrian fighter jets' operations in Dara'a. The sources said that, over 100 terrorists, most of them from al-Nusra Front, were killed in a series of army airstrikes that targeted their gatherings in Dael town in the countryside of the southern Dara'a city. On Thursday, the Syrian army troops killed 46 terrorists in military operations in Aleppo city. The terrorists were killed in al-Sayyed Ali area. Meanwhile, the army killed terrorists of al-Nusra Front, and destroyed their arms at the Western neighborhood of Bosra al-Sham in the Eastern countryside of Dara'a. |
Sunday, 30 August 2015
IRAN
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
IS TURKEY FOSTERING IS
ERDOGAN’S
DANGEROUS ISIS GAMES
TURKEY is a beautiful
land, rich in resources, with many highly intelligent and warm people. It also
happens to have a President who seems intent on destroying his once-proud
nation. More and more details are coming to light revealing that the ISLAMIC
STATE in IRAQ and SYRIA, variously known as ISIS, IS or DAESH, is being fed and
kept alive by RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN, the TURKISH President and by his TURKISH
intelligence service, including MIT, the TURKISH CIA. TURKEY, as a result of ERDOĞAN’S
pursuit of what some call a NEO-OTTOMAN EMPIRE fantasies that stretch all the
way to CHINA, SYRIA and IRAQ, threatens not only to destroy TURKEY but much of
the MIDDLE EAST if he continues on his present path.
In October 2014 US Vice
President JOE BIDEN told
a HARVARD gathering that ERDOĞAN’S regime was backing ISIS /ISIL with
“hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons…” BIDEN
later apologized clearly for tactical reasons to get ERDOGAN’S permission to use TURKEY’S INCIRLIK AIR BASE for
airstrikes against ISIS in SYRIA, but the dimensions of ERDOĞAN’S backing for ISIS since
revealed is far, far more than BIDEN hinted.
Background
Information:
2014 we
wrote: WHY IS TURKEY SUPPORTING ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTERS IN IRAQ?
TURKEY
WOULD MAKE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE SYRIAN CRISIS IF
IT COULD BRING ITSELF TO RISE ABOVE THE SECTARIAN CONSIDERATIONS THAT HAVE
DICTATED ITS REGIME CHANGE POLICY IN SYRIA
WESTERN
ARROGANCE AND IGNORANCE LED TO UNDERESTIMATE TURKEY
TURKEYS
ERRATIC FOREIGN POLICIES
TURKEY’S
FOREIGN POLICY POKER GAME
ISIS militants were
trained by US, and TURKISH Special Forces at secret bases in KONYA Province
inside the TURKISH border to SYRIA, over the past three
years. ERDOĞAN’S involvement in ISIS goes much deeper. At a time when WASHINGTON,
SAUDI ARABIA and even QATAR appear to have cut off their support for ISIS, they
remaining amazingly durable. The reason appears to be the scale of the backing
from ERDOĞAN and his fellow NEO-OTTOMAN SUNNI ISLAM Prime Minister, AHMET DAVUTOĞLU.
FAMILY BUSINESS FEEDS
ISIS?
 |
| Bilal ERDOGAN |
The prime source of money
feeding ISIS these days is sale of IRAQI oil from the MOSUL region oilfields
where they maintain a stronghold. The son of ERDOĞAN it seems is the man who
makes the export sales of ISIS-controlled oil possible.
Bilal ERDOĞAN owns
several maritime companies. He has allegedly signed contracts with EUROPEAN
operating companies to carry IRAQI stolen oil to different ASIAN countries. The
TURKISH government buys IRAQI plundered oil which is being produced from the IRAQI
seized oil wells. BILAL ERDOĞAN’S maritime
companies own special wharfs in BEIRUT and CEYHAN ports that are transporting
ISIS’ smuggled crude oil in JAPAN-bound oil tankers.
GÜRSEL TEKIN vice-president
of the TURKISH Republican Peoples’ Party, CHP, declared in a recent TURKISH
media interview, “President ERDOĞAN claims that according to international
transportation conventions there is no legal infraction concerning BILAL’S
illicit activities and his son is doing an ordinary business with the
registered JAPANESE companies, but in fact BILAL ERDOĞAN is up to his neck in
complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be
immune from any judicial prosecution.” TEKIN adds that BILAL’S maritime company
doing the oil trades for ISIS, BMZ Ltd, is “a family business and president ERDOĞAN’S
close relatives hold shares in BMZ and they misused public funds and took
illicit loans from TURKISH banks.”
FIRST
AID
In addition to son BILAL’S
illegal and lucrative oil trading for ISIS, SÜMEYYE ERDOĞAN, the daughter of
the TURKISH President apparently runs a secret hospital camp inside TURKEY just
over the SYRIAN border where TURKISH army trucks daily bring in scores of
wounded ISIS JIHADISTS to be patched up and sent back to wage the bloody JIHAD in
SYRIA, according to the testimony of a nurse who was recruited to work there
until it was discovered she was a member of the ALAWITE branch of ISLAM, the
same as SYRIAN President BASHAR AL-ASSAD who ERDOĞAN seems hell-bent on toppling.
TURKISH citizen RAMAZAN
BAŞOL, captured this month by KURDISH People’s Defence Units, YPG, as he attempted to join ISIS from KONYA
province, told his captors that he was sent to ISIS by the ‘İSMAIL AĞA SECT,’ a
strict TURKISH Islam sect reported to be tied to RECEP ERDOĞAN. BAŞOL said the
sect recruits members and provides logistic support to the radical ISLAMIST
organization. He added that the Sect gives jihad training in neighborhoods of KONYA
and sends those trained here to join ISIS gangs in SYRIA.
According to FRENCH
geopolitical analyst, THIERRY MEYSSAN, RECEP ERDOĞAN “organised the pillage of SYRIA,
dismantled all the factories in ALEPPO, the economic capital, and stole the
machine-tools. Similarly, he organised the theft of archeological treasures and
set up an international market in ANTIOCH…with the help of General BENOÎT PUGA,
Chief of Staff for the ELYSÉE, he organised a false-flag operation intended to
provoke the launching of a war by the ATLANTIC ALLIANCE – the chemical bombing
of la GHOUTTA in DAMASCUS, in August 2013. “
TURKEY
AND FRANCE – A UNITED SYRIAN STRATEGY?
Background
Information: 2013 we wrote
FRANCES
INTENTIONS TO CREATE A “BUFFER” ZONE AND A “NO-FLY” ZONE HAD TO BE ABOLISHED
MEYSSAN claims that the SYRIA
strategy of ERDOĞAN was initially secretly developed in coordination with
former FRENCH Foreign Minister ALAIN JUPPÉ and ERDOĞAN’S then Foreign Minister AHMET
DAVUTOĞLU, in 2011, after Juppe won a hesitant ERDOĞAN to the idea of
supporting the attack on traditional TURKISH ally SYRIA in return for a promise
of FRENCH support for TURKISH membership in the EU. FRANCE later backed out,
leaving ERDOĞAN to continue the SYRIAN bloodbath largely on his own using ISIS.
Gen. JOHN R. ALLEN, an
opponent of OBAMA’S IRAN peace strategy, now US diplomatic envoy coordinating
the coalition against the ISLAMIC STATE, exceeded his authorized role after
meeting with ERDOĞAN and “promised to create a « no-fly zone » ninety miles
wide, over SYRIAN territory, along the whole border with TURKEY, supposedly
intended to help SYRIAN refugees fleeing from their government, but in reality
to apply the « JUPPÉ-WRIGHT plan ». The TURKISH Prime Minister, AHMET DAVUTOĞLU,
revealed US support for the project on the TV channel A Haber by
launching a bombing raid against the PKK.” MEYSSAN adds.
Background
Information: TURKEY
There are never winners
in war and ERDOĞAN’S war against SYRIA’S ASSAD demonstrates that in bold. TURKEY
and the world deserve better. AHMET DAVUTOĞLU’S famous “Zero Problems With Neighbors” foreign policy has been turned into
massive problems with all neighbors due to the foolish ambitions of ERDOĞAN and
his gang.
By F. William Engdahl via
NSNBC
Friday, 21 August 2015
LATIN AMERICA’S REAL CORRUPTION CRISIS
THE
OUTFLOWS OF ILLICIT CASH FROM LATIN AMERICA ARE A STAGGERING TAX ON ITS
CITIZENS.
The leaders of major LATIN AMERICAN countries
– ARGENTINA, BRAZIL. CHILE and MEXICO – are enmeshed in scandals.
Background
Information:
CRIME AND
CORRUPTION ARE TWO OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST MULTINATIONAL INDUSTRIES
CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS OFTEN THRIVED BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE UNAVAILABLE SERVICES OR
FILLING THE NEEDS THAT TRADITIONAL POLITICAL STRUCTURES COULD NOT FILL
MEXICAN
president ENRIQUE PENA NIETO could have been speaking for
the whole continent, not just his own country, when he stated in a recent
interview, “Today there is, without doubt, a sensation of incredulity and
distrust…there has been a loss of confidence and this has sown suspicion and
doubt.”
Corruption is nothing new to LATIN
AMERICA. To be sure, the plethora of current prominent scandals is setting some
new records. But public distrust has increased to no small degree by the
growing understanding that the seemingly endless corruption is directly causing
enormous economic problems for almost all citizens.
NOT DAY TO DAY
PETTY CRIME BUT ORGANIZED CRIME SYNIDCATES AND CORRUPTION THAT COMES WITH IT IS
THE TRUE CANCER OF LATIN AMERICA
According to
estimates by the Institute of
International Finance, real economic growth in the region was an estimated 0.4%
for 2014. The IIF forecasts that it will be a scant 0.2% in 2015.
And, in the midst of this virtual
economic stagnation, the region is being drained on a massive scale of “dirty”
cash, flowing overseas to be laundered on behalf of LATIN AMERICAN tax evaders,
criminal networks, and corrupt politicians and public officials.
Meanwhile,
according to Global Financial
Integrity, illicit financial flows out of LATIN AMERICA are running at
around an annual 3% of GDP.
This is probably a conservative
estimate, because it is largely based on analysis of official trade and balance
of payments statistics, which cannot capture illicit funds from all criminal
organizations.
Given those numbers, just imagine how
different public attitudes might be if all that stolen cash, resulting from
corruption and crime and fleeing the continent, were not the spoils of thievery
— but were instead legitimately invested in new jobs and the domestic economies
of LATIN AMERICA.
LATAM - FROM STABLE AND RISING
REAL ECONOMIC GROWTH TO STAGNATION
The outflows of illicit cash from the
region are a staggering tax on its citizens. They are now taking a continent
from the road of stable and rising real economic growth to stagnation.
There is nothing new about the scale
of the illicit outflows, but for much of the last dozen years, they were seen
against the background of strong LATIN AMERICAN growth. This was a period, for
example, when the percentage of very poor people in LATIN AMERICA fell from 42%
to 25%.
But today, governments in many
countries are under siege as a direct result of scandals, and their economic
policies seem uncertain, while slowing world economic growth is adding to
difficulties.
The economy of the largest country in
the region, BRAZIL, is, as The Economist magazine reported in early March, “in
its worst mess since the early 1990s.” Indeed, the current corruption scandal
surrounding PETROBRAS is the largest in the country’s history.
It is totally diverting the attention
of the BRAZILIAN government and parliament from addressing the formidable
economic challenges that the country now confronts. Moreover, over $50 billion
in PETROBRAS’S stock market value has been lost over the last six months
because of the scandal, which in turn has had a major negative impact on the
overall BRAZILIAN stock exchange
PETROBRAS, the mostly state-owned
largest corporation in BRAZIL, illustrates part of the broader problem in many LATIN
AMERICAN countries of close corrupt relationships between major enterprises,
corporate executives, and powerful politicians and the political parties. For
many years, top executives of the company took large kickbacks from domestic
and foreign companies in return for allocating major contracts.
Based on information from former PETROBRAS
executives, public prosecutors are now firing on all cylinders as they file
arrest warrants on a wholesale scale. In mid-March, the treasurer of the ruling
Workers’ Party and 26 others were formally charged with corruption.
The leaders of both the upper and
lower houses of parliament are being investigated. So far, President DILMA
ROUSSEFF, who a few years ago served as the board chairman of PETROBRAS, is not
on the investigation list. However, hundreds of thousands of BRAZILIANS took to
the streets to protest and call for her impeachment.
The kickbacks from domestic and
foreign companies at PETROBRAS and at its affiliates, went into the pockets of
the PETROBRAS officials, as well as into the hands of prominent politicians and
political party campaign funds. Many of the bribes were paid into secret SWISS bank
accounts.
CORRUPTION IS EVERYWHERE
In MEXICO, both president NIETO and
Finance Minister LUIS VIDEGARAY are now under investigation for having bought
grand homes for allegedly very low prices from business people who have won
lucrative government contracts.
In CHILE, President MICHELLE BACHELET
is under fire, not only because her son has allegedly obtained major funding
from firms allegedly involved in government deals, but also because one of the
country’s largest ever political corruption scandals is unfolding, which
involves major financial institutions and several key government ministries.
Not to be undone, ARGENTINA’S
president CHRISTINA KIRCHNER is besieged by scandals, ranging from allegations
that she has vastly enriched herself while in office, to allegedly being
involved in the alleged murder of a prominent lawyer.
Another aspect of the problem
involves organized crime. For example, monitors at Transparency International –
COLOMBIA note that at the core of the country’s corruption is state capture by
illegal actors.
According to known sources, some of
the biggest corruption involves secret payments by multinational oil and mining
companies to local authorities and the guerrilla groups to ensure their basic
security as well.
GFI develops its data from official
statistics, mostly on the balance of payments, and it may understate the true
volume of illicit financial flows by not entirely capturing the cash of
organized crime.
What is very clear is that the huge
amount of illicit flows from the region is massively undermining trade and
commerce and making it extraordinarily difficult for honest business people to
compete.
HOW THE MONEY FLOWS
RAYMOND BAKER, GFI’s founder and
president, said that, “Misinvoicing – the deliberate misrepresentation of the
value of goods being shipped – is not a source of black money; it is the
mechanism through which black money leaves a country.
Recent data show that on average (on
a global basis), close to 80% of all cross-border illicit flows move through
this method.”
GFI’s research suggests that the LATIN
AMERICAN countries that suffer the greatest impact in this regard are MEXICO
and BRAZIL.
Corrupt politicians, officials, their
business partners and gangsters all seek to transfer their ill-gotten gains
into solid investments in major foreign business centers, where the real
ownership of the assets is totally secret.
Much of the illicit financial
outflows from LATIN AMERICA undoubtedly find their way into fine art, blue chip
corporate stocks and ritzy apartments and mansions in MIAMI and in NEW YORK.
The corrupt employ armies of lawyers,
consultants, accountants and bankers to create foreign holding companies
registered in places like the BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS where no questions are
asked about the origin of the wealth.
These shell companies hide the true
beneficial owners of the assets and are used as the investment vehicles to
launder the illicit cash.
PRESSURE IS MOUNTING, BUT IS IT ENOUGH?
The only good news is that pressures
are mounting on banks from public prosecutors and bank regulatory authorities
to end the secrecy that enables the corrupt to park their cash far from the
location of their crimes.
In January 2013, HSBC, one of the
world’s largest banks, agreed to pay a $1.92 billion fine to U.S. authorities
for allegedly laundering MEXICAN drug cartel money into the UNITED STATES.
This case has served to encourage
greater investigations of major global banks and the effort has now been given
a boost by the very high profile disclosure of 100,000 secret accounts at
HSBC’s private bank in GENEVA, as reported by the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists.
Rarely before have so many political
leaders in LATIN AMERICA been as low in the popularity opinion polls as today.
Corruption scandals are taking a far heavier toll than in the past it seems.
The major cause for this is the painfully evident ties between corruption and
stagnant economic growth.
But, important, the current mood has
been sharpened by courageous journalists and judges: the former have exposed
corruption cases with great zeal, while the latter are showing exceptional
courage by confronting political establishments.
Adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and
Monitoring from the original article written by Frank Vogl via The Globalist
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
AFRICA – DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
AN ELECTION CRISIS IN DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO COULD MEAN WAR
By
Neil Thompson via EurasiaReview, originally published by Geopolitical
Monitor.com
Back in January, the capital of
Kinshasa and other cities were rocked by widespread protests when DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) President JOSEPH KABILA’S regime tried to pass a law
requiring a national census to be held before future elections. The opposition
reacted furiously, accusing the president, who has been in power since 2001, of
seeking to prolong his term in office. Eventually the census proposal was
dropped and the government backed off, announcing that presidential elections
would be held in November 2016. That clock is now ticking, and there are few
indications the government is seriously preparing for a post-Kabila future. On
the contrary, events in neighboring BURUNDI may be encouraging some people
around the president to think again.
ELECTED
AUTOCRATS HAVE LEARNED TO MANIPULATE CONSTITUTIONS AND EXPLOIT WEAK JUDICIAL
SYSTEMS
As electoral norms spread through
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA in the 1990s, a number of strongmen emerged who rigged
elections to keep themselves in power indefinitely. Term limits were introduced
into the constitutions of countries like BURUNDI or the CONGO precisely to
prevent the emergence of such an electoral dictatorship. Alas from RUSSIA to
TURKEY to eastern AFRICA, in the twenty-first century elected autocrats have
learned to manipulate constitutions and exploit weak judicial systems to their
advantage. Now the apparent success of BURUNDI’S PIERRE NKURUNZIZA in
side-stepping constitutional term limits in BURUNDI shows how the spirit of the
law can still be evaded if a legal pretext can be patched together by the party
in power.
The politics of BURUNDI, RWANDA,
and the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO have all been tragically tied together by
conflict and instability spreading from one to the other, so BURUNDI’S example
does not auger well for its fragile neighbors’ future stability and good
governance. President NKURUNZIZA’S claim that his first term in office should
not be counted because he had not been elected has a certain plausibility but
was grossly irresponsible in a fragile and ethnically divided polity. At the
first sign of a serious backlash a statesman would have dropped his bid and
allowed a caretaker government to oversee a proper election. Instead, after
stacking the constitutional court with his supporters, NKURUNZIZA is accused of
pressuring it to rule in his favor so he could stand for a third term behind a
façade of judicial approval.
He had to ride out violent
opposition protests and a coup attempt that together cost dozens of lives, but
he has managed to secure himself an extra few years in power.
Few people believe the BURUNDIAN
president’s claims to respect legal and constitutional restraints on his power
and prerogatives. In an unprecedented rebuff, NKURUNZIZA’S re-election was not
even observed by the AFRICAN UNION. Alas, in the bear-pits of his neighbors’
politics many leaders will be keen to follow his recent example. For example,
there are no doubts that the fourteen year-old regime of JOSEPH KABILA next
door is any less devious in protecting its monopoly on executive power. With
the right court rulings and parliamentary maneuvering, the DRC’s own term limit
issue could be circumvented. Mr KABILA could swap chair whilst remaining in
power simply by stripping the presidency of its powers whilst increasing those
of another power center such as the prime minister’s office. As the reaction on
the streets of KINSHASA in January showed however, there are few signs it could
be done without bloodshed.
IN
THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REGION CONTESTS FOR POWER WITHIN STATES ARE ALWAYS
NERVE-WRACKING MOMENTS
Sadly the present KINSHASA regime
has precious little democratic traditions to restrain its maneuverings. The
current president inherited his position from his father when the latter was
assassinated. The presidential incumbent before that was another JOSEPH, the
infamous MOBUTU, who looted the DRC for thirty years and murdered or exiled any
political opposition. Four years prior to the present drama in BURUNDI, the
DRC’s 2011 election results had already brought opposition accusations that the
CONGO’S Supreme Court had not examined electoral results thoroughly enough when
it awarded the victory to the incumbent KABILA administration. How much truth
there is in this matters less than the fact that many in the CONGOLESE
opposition are likely to believe the judiciary is biased against them. If the
DRC’s Court became an actor in any kind of constitutional crisis in the run up
to next year’s elections it would not be seen as a neutral institution but as a
tool of the ruling KINSHASA clique.
In the AFRICAN Great Lakes region
contests for power within states are always nerve-wracking moments for their
neighbors because of the ease with which instability in one can spread to the
others. The Second CONGO War is a prime example of this transmission of
instability from one part of the Great Lakes region through porous borders to
another. The conflict was triggered in aftermath of the RWANDAN genocide when ‘HUTU
power’ extremists fled from their country into eastern CONGO following their
defeat at the hands of TUTSI forces. Since the eastern DRC was home to previous
waves of HUTU and TUTSI refugees from both BURUNDI and RWANDA and their
descendants, the RWANDAN HUTU militias swiftly added to eastern CONGO’S own
swirling bush wars, and brought their genocidal ideology with them. A much
wider war was sparked when KINSHASA prevaricated and seemed unable or unwilling
to control the situation in the east. RWANDA and UGANDA promptly invaded and
placed JOSEPH KABILA’S father LAURENT in power, trigging a region-wide struggle
involving nine AFRICAN states. Millions died across the DRC and peace has only
sporadically returned since then.
MUCH
EFFORTS HAVE BEEN SPENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN BURUNDI, RWANDA, AND
THE DRC TRYING TO PREVENT NEW BLOOD SPREAD
The weakness of the DRC to armed
incursions from its neighbors is reason to be concerned when those states start
to look fragile themselves. The peace between the DRC, RWANDA, and BURUNDI
remains extremely brittle. In the east of the CONGO the remnants of the RWANDAN
HUTU militias, local MAI-MAI militants, and assorted other armed groups still
pose a threat to civilians, if not to KINSHASA. Meanwhile in May, as tensions
in BURUNDI escalated, the RWANDAN government seemed to be preparing the
diplomatic ground for an armed intervention if ethnic killings broke out there.
Fortunately the BURUNDI situation has been resolved for now without escalating
into inter-ethnic fighting, both because President NKURUNZIZA’S re-election bid
was opposed by many members of his own HUTU ethnic group, and because he
successfully seems to have bought off some of the opposition, splitting it
politically.
Much money, time, and energy has
been spent by the international community in BURUNDI, RWANDA, and the DRC
trying to prevent a return to the tidal wave of blood that soaked all three
countries between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. That may all be at risk if
the KABILA regime takes a leaf from President NKURUNZIZA’S book. Repeated
rebellions against KINSHASA, some of them backed from neighboring RWANDA and UGANDA,
have rocked the DRC since the end of the Second CONGO War, which ran from 1997
to about 2003. It is a testament both to the weakness of the CONGO’S central
government and the susceptibility of the DRC’s east to its neighbors that the
embers of RWANDAN-linked revolts were not fully stamped out until 2013, and
that the KABILA regime needed repeated international intercessions to do so.
It is therefore difficult to see
how KINSHASA can extended JOSEPH KABILA’S term of office as neatly as PIERRE
NKURUNZIZA has in BURUNDI. The DRC is a much larger country than its neighbors
and there are simply too many armed groups beyond the control of the security
forces. Meanwhile the army itself is divided and weak, full of former rebel
fighters and widely distrusted for its corruption and brutality. Any bid by KINSHASA
to stay in power using a legalistic fig-leaf would almost certainly trigger a
new revolt in the east and possibility other parts of the DRC and if KABILA’S
actions were to spark another uprising against his regime it is debatable if
the West would intervene to save him.
However it would also be
difficult for neighboring governments in BURUNDI, UGANDA and RAWAND to overlook
the security and financial incentives of meddling in the DRC’s factional
politics. If one country starts to back an armed movement, the others will
follow suit, threatening a return to regional instability. Despite the dangers,
the temptation for KABILA to stay on somehow will be strong, as will the
pressure on him from members of his inner circle. The DRC’s best hope is that
President KABILA has learned from his father and his namesake’s mistakes and
does not try to outstay his welcome as President NKURUNZIZA has done in BURUNDI.
Peace in the Great Lakes region could soon depend on the CONGO not following in
its neighbor’s footsteps.
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
SYRIA, RUSSIA, TURKEY AND THE USA
SIX
RUSSIAN MIG-31 INTERCEPTOR AIRCRAFT LAND IN DAMASCUS
IN RESPONSE TO US
STATIONING OF F 16 AIRCRAFT IN TURKEY
Six RUSSIAN MiG-31 FOXHOUND
interceptor aircraft from MOSCOW landed Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the MEZZE Airbase
situated in DAMASCUS international airport, DEBKAfile’s military and
intelligence sources disclose. They were followed shortly after by giant An-124
Condor transports, which delivered 1,000 Kornet-9M133 third-generation
anti-tank guided missiles.
The RUSSIAN airlift of advanced
weapons for BASHAR ASSAD’S army will last for several days. It betokens MOSCOW’S
intention to keep up its support for the SYRIAN ruler and counter – by military
means if necessary - any secret IRANIAN diplomatic machinations for terminating
the SYRIA war and with it the ASSAD regime – such as have been reported in the
past week in WESTERN and ARAB capitals, especially in the GULF.
REMINISCE
OF LIBYAN EQUATION DONE WITHOUT RUSSIA
Our sources report that the
decision to send the SYRIAN ruler advanced aircraft and missiles could only
have come from the top, i.e. President VLADIMIR PUTIN. It took direct aim at
the latest moves made by the US, TURKEY, IRAN and SAUDI ARABIA for ending the SYRIAN
war. Every formula they came up with entailed ASSAD’S exit, either in stages or
at once.
RUSSIAN Foreign Minister SERGEY
LAVROV made it crystal clear to visiting SAUDI Foreign Minister ADEL AL-JUBAIR on
Aug. 11 that MOSCOW would not stand still for any changes in ASSAD’S position
in DAMASCUS. The Migs and Antonovs which landed in DAMASCUS Tuesday were meant
not only as a buttress for the SYRIAN ruler’s regime but as a rescue operation.
The message for WASHINGTON and ANKARA
was that MOSCOW would oppose any US and TURKISH plans to establish a no-fly
zone over SYRIA, or intervene directly in the SYRIAN conflict.
The RUSSIANS sent exactly six MiG
interceptors to match the six F-16 fighters the US deployed at the TURKISH
INCERLIK air base on Aug. 9.
So if President BARACK OBAMA decides
to deploy more AMERICAN planes at the TURKISH base, he may expect PUTIN to
reciprocate with the same number for DAMASCUS.
Background
Information:
RUSSIA'S REVENGE FOR LIBYA
As mentioned numerous times, RUSSIA and CHINA felt
that they were left out of the equation regarding the LIBYAN operation
instigated by the USA, FRANCE and BRITAIN. CHINA and RUSSIA invested heavily in
LIBYA prior to the toppling of the LIBYAN regime, only to find out that they
were kept completely out of the picture regarding the true intentions the
Western coalition force had in mind with LIBYA once the regime was removed,
namely tap the oil reserves of LIBYA.
Subsequently RUSSIA and CHINA learned their lesson
and thus would not make the same mistake regarding SYRIA, permitting LIBYAN
style intervention by WESTERN and GULF STATES coalition forces. No matter that
SYRIA lacks oil reserves or other natural resources worth fighting over, their
veto was more of a symbolic gesture telling WESTERN and GULF STATES coalition
forces: that’s how far you can go this time around, but no further.
Note from the Editor: Above paragraph was written
by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring in June 2012 and included into this
analysis
Unlike in LIBYA, RUSSIA and CHINA this time around
will not tolerate to be left out of the SYRIAN equation and energy game
Via DEBKAfile