Friday - March 18, 2011
Halfway Around The World From Japan
This has been going around the blogosphere, but has seen only very limited coverage in the western MSM. Same old, same old. Yawn. It’s another “disaster narrowly avoided” story, just like the Fukushima reactor story that ought to be the lead in the MSM but isn’t. Instead they are indulging in an obscene orgy of fear mongering, but that’s another post.
Hey, can you remember back as far as 4 weeks ago? Remember when it was a news item that Iran was sending a navy ship through the Suez Canal? Guess where they went, and guess what was in the holds of that ship? Yup, you got it in one.
(March 16) The Israel Navy intercepted an estimated 50 tons of weapons from Iran yesterday aboard a cargo ship bound for the Gaza Strip, including sophisticated land-to-sea missiles that could have enabled Palestinian militants to hit ships at Ashdod Port or at sea, or other Israeli targets like a crude oil depot or a gas drilling rig, the navy said.
The weapons were aboard the Liberian-flagged Victoria, which naval commandos took over in the Mediterranean Sea. The shipment is estimated to be as large as that captured by Israel in 2002 aboard the Karine A, which was also headed for the Palestinians.
The Chinese-made C-704 missiles were “undoubtedly strategic weapons” that could have posed a significant threat to Israel’s coastal and marine infrastructure, said the navy’s deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Rani Ben-Yehuda.
He said Iran is known to possess these weapons. The shipment also included instruction manuals in Farsi, and there were other clues that explicitly showed Iranian involvement, said Ben-Yehuda.
The military released a photo of a booklet with the words “technical missile identification document” written in Farsi on the cover. It identified the system as a C-704 Nasr missile, and provided a serial number and date of issue in the Persian calendar.
“This isn’t just smuggling, but a state-supported undertaking whose central goal is to arm the terror organizations around us,” Ben-Yehuda said.
On March 13, Egypt’s military shelled seven vehicles carrying arms, likely Iranian-supplied, from Sudan over the border into Egypt. Several vehicles were destroyed and the weapons – intended for Hamas in Gaza – were seized.
On March 15, Israeli naval commandos seized a German-registered cargo ship, Victoria, in the Mediterranean, 320km off the Israeli coast. The Victoria, with 50 tons of Iranian weapons hidden aboard, had set out from the Syrian port of Latakia, stopped in Turkey, and was headed for Alexandria, Egypt. From there, the weapons were to be smuggled to Hamas in Gaza. According to Israeli officials, Turkey was not involved; the stop at a Turkish port is seen as an Iranian diversionary tactic. Among the weapons were a number of sophisticated radar-guided “C-704” anti-ship missiles made in Iran, based on a Chinese design. ...
On March 16, Turkey forced an Iranian cargo plane en route from Tehran to Syria to land at a Turkish airfield on suspicion it was carrying illicit nuclear material. According to Turkey’s Anatolia news agency, the anti-nuclear, biological and chemical unit of the country’s civil defence department took part in the inspection of the plane, lasting several hours. Following the search, Turkish officials said that no “material contrary to international standards,” had been found and allowed the plane to leave. While Turkey’s foreign ministry downplayed the affair, the assumption is that Turkey, which has recently been drawing closer to Iran in some other respects, would not force an Iranian plane to land unless it had solid intelligence that highly sensitive materiel was aboard.
...
While much of the Middle East, from North Africa to the Gulf Arab states, is undergoing upheavals, it appears that Iran is determined to exploit the situation and exacerbate the instability to its advantage. ... we have every reason to believe Iran will only escalate its efforts to funnel weapons into the hands of its extremist regional partners, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and may possibly be involved in aiding Syria’s undeclared nuclear program.
Good thing that the US has such a staunch president in charge who recognizes our real allies and our real enemies and does not hesitate to make fast and strong decisions and to take action when required in the ongoing fight against fundamentalist islam and terrorism. Hey, I heard that the US voted “present” on the Libya no-fly UN resolution that didn’t even come up for a vote until Gadhaffi had the rebels surrounded and on the ropes in the last city they hold. Yeah, that’s what I call world leadership from our president. Well, when he isn’t playing golf I mean.
Oops, my bad. It was Germany, Russia, China, Brazil, and India that “voted present” by abstaining on the UN Security Council vote. It’s merely that the US has no plan for it’s role in enforcing that no-fly thingy. Or was that the day before yesterday? Now the Hildabeast, our SoS (how appropriate is that acronym?) is talking tough, while France, UK, Canada et al ready planes, ships, and helicopters to go there and actually do something. Crivens, this administration has so many waffles they ought to open their own IHOP.
PS - Sarah Palin called for a no-fly zone WEEKS ago, long before the Arab League did. It’s such a shame that’s she’s so inexperienced and unqualified, isn’t it?
PPS - Secretary of State Clinton’s support of the Libyan rebels and the whole North African situation has left her quite frustrated in light of White House dithering. And to Obama, all she is is a punchline. Seriously.
Clinton is said to be especially peeved with the president’s waffling over how to encourage the kinds of Arab uprisings that have recently toppled regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and in particular his refusal to back a no-fly zone over Libya.
In the past week, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton’s former top adviser Anne-Marie Slaughter lashed out at Obama for the same reason. The tension has even spilled over into her dealings with European diplomats, with whom she met early this week. When French president Nicolas Sarkozy urged her to press the White House to take more aggressive action in Libya, Clinton repeatedly replied only, “There are difficulties,” according to Foreign Policy magazine.
“Frankly we are just completely puzzled,” one of the diplomats told Foreign Policy magazine. “We are wondering if this is a priority for the United States.”
Or as the insider described Obama’s foreign policy shop: “It’s amateur night.”
Obama himself made light of her strong feelings for supporting the opposition in a speech last week at the Gridiron Club Dinner, an annual gathering that traditionally features a stand-up comedy act by the president.
“I’ve dispatched Hillary to the Middle East to talk about how these countries can transition to new leaders — though, I’ve got to be honest, she’s gotten a little passionate about the subject,” Obama said to laughter from the audience, “These past few weeks it’s been tough falling asleep with Hillary out there on Pennsylvania Avenue shouting, throwing rocks at the window.”
Posted by Drew458
on 03/18/2011 at 12:12 PM
Filed Under: • Israel • War On Terror •
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