US Is Ready for Attack on Iran If Need Be, Says Ambassador to Israel

The United States is militarily ready to carry out a strike on Iran to stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon if international pressure fails, American ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said to an Israeli audience this week. The Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that “all options are on the table” to deal with an Iranian nuclear threat, but Shapiro’s comments went a step further in discussing the military’s preparations for the possibility.

“It would be preferable to solve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure, than to use military force,” Shapiro told representatives of Israel’s Bar Association on Tuesday.

“But that doesn’t mean that option isn’t fully available. Not just available, it’s ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready,” he said. [Read more...]

Does Greece Have The Energy For A Fight?

If Greece were a man, he would have aged decades in the past two weeks.

The grey hairs would be sprouting, the wrinkles showing. It has been an extraordinarily tumultuous time here.

This country has overcome so much in its long and rich history. But even Greeks are bewildered by what has happened in the last fortnight.

Roll back to 6 May: election day beneath a beautiful early summer sun. As predicted, an austerity-weary nation seized the chance to punish the much-reviled political establishment. [Read more...]

Oil Wars On The Horizon

Conflict and intrigue over valuable energy supplies have been features of the international landscape for a long time.  Major wars over oil have been fought every decade or so since World War I, and smaller engagements have erupted every few years; a flare-up or two in 2012, then, would be part of the normal scheme of things.  Instead, what we are now seeing is a whole cluster of oil-related clashes stretching across the globe, involving a dozen or so countries, with more popping up all the time.  Consider these flash-points as signals that we are entering an era of intensified conflict over energy.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, Argentina to the Philippines, here are the six areas of conflict — all tied to energy supplies — that have made news in just the first few months of 2012: [Read more...]

China’s Maritime Navy and Politics of Acknowledgement

When a Chinese admiral proposed a permanent naval base in the Gulf of Aden, to support its anti-piracy operations, the United States was quick to condemn such a suggestion. And as armed naval vessels from the Philippines claim they caught Chinese fishermen poaching over a South China Sea shoal, causing Chinese naval vessels to also become involved, U.S. officials have again reiterated their support in defending the Philippines and its navy. While both nations are at a tense standoff, some even assert that China is wanting to expand its sea power in the region for the purpose of energy exploration. [Read more...]

China, Russia Unjustified In Vetoing U.N. Resolution On Syria: Expert

A decision by China and Russia to block a United Nations resolution condemning Syria’s violent crushing of pro-democracy demonstrators is not justified and only promises greater catastrophe for the Arab country, according a Middle East expert.

Bill W. Wang, a former president of CNA and Middle East correspondent, said China and Russia, two veto-wielding members in the U.N. Security Council, voted Feb. 4 against the draft resolution aimed at ending the Syrian uprising, accusing council members backing the proposal of destroying the chance to solve the crisis through political negotiations, putting lopsided blame on President Bashar al-Assad’s administration, and forcing a change of government. [Read more...]

Russia, China Complicit In Carnage Inflicted On Syrians

By their double veto at the UN, they have chosen to back the Al Assad regime that is already wet spaghetti

The adjectives (or perhaps they were epithets) used to describe it were vociferous and blunt, rarely used in diplomatic parlance: the Syrian regime was identified as barbaric, criminal, tyrannical, savage, murderous and the rest of it, all intended to point to a whole gamut of villany committed by a government that, for the last 11 months, has slaughtered, incarcerated and tortured its own people.

Yet irrespective of the emotive language resorted to by various diplomats at the UN, it was clear from the outset that the resolution that came up for a vote at the Security Council last week, based on an Arab League plan intended to halt the bloodbath in Syria, would be still-born, blocked as had been anticipated by the double veto from Russia and China. The act soon had grotesque consequences. Bashar Al Assad’s regime took the veto as a green light to crush the protesters. [Read more...]

An Attack On Iran Must Be Stopped

As the US and UK gear up for another senseless war in the Middle East, one thing is certain – it will end in disaster

The Anglo-American aggression addicts haven’t kicked the habit. The team that brought you shock and awe and Operation Infinite Justice is gearing up for yet another crack at winning a senseless war in the Middle East.

This time the target is Iran, the pretence the regime’s imminent possession of nuclear weapons. But some things will remain the same – it will lead to slaughter and end in disaster. [Read more...]