russia + iran = love

I remember talking with one of my Russian friends about the eventual Russian participation in an invasion of Israel. She was rather stunned and taken aback that Russia would have anything to do with that whatsoever.. why would Russia care about Israel, she asked. Interestingly, the Russian/Syrian/Iranian alliance is leading toward two eventualities - the total destruction of Damascus and the invasion of Israel led by a Russian/Iranian axis. Those war clouds are gathering.. Israel will not stand by and allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.. by taking action they will be de facto targeting Russian engineers, military and equipment..

From DEKBAfile

Russia jilts six-power sanctions front against Iran’s nuclear defiance
DEBKAfile Special Report

September 24, 2008, 1:54 PM (GMT+02:00)


Russian Tor-M1 batteries delivered to shield Iran's nuclear sites
Moscow’s actions spoke louder than the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Semitic, anti-American rantings at the UN General Assembly Tuesday, Sept. 23 - despite the applause he won in the chamber.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow said that Russia will not attend the meeting called for Thursday of the five UN Security Council permanent members’ foreign ministers plus Germany to approve more sanctions against Iran for its nuclear defiance. Using blunt, undiplomatic words, the ministry said: “We do not see any fire that requires us to toss everything aside and meet to discuss Iran's nuclear program in the middle of a packed week at the United Nations General Assembly.”

Reflecting the post-Georgian conflict frictions besetting Russian-US relations, the statement harshly criticized Washington, saying: “It would be very desirable for Washington to finally decide what it wants in its relations with Moscow. If it wants to punish Russia, this is one thing. If it agrees we have common interests… that is another. To use the words of Condoleezza Rice, you can’t have it both ways.”

DEBKAfile’s political sources report that Moscow’s action has buried the hopes publicly entertained by President George W. Bush and Israel’s Shimon Peres that a joint international diplomatic front would persuade Iran to give up its military nuclear aspirations and obey UN resolutions.

The Russians are consistent in their new policy of promoting their influence in the anti-American sector of the Middle East. Saturday, Sept. 19, official spokesmen did not rule out the sale to Iran of advanced S-300 anti-air missiles, having just completed the delivery to Iran of 29 Tor-M1 missile batteries for deployment at its nuclear sites.

Early Wednesday, Ahmadinejad proclaimed at the UN General Assembly: “The Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse” and “The American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road.”

The Iranian president delivered his outrageous speech to the world, safe in the knowledge that his Islamic regime is backed by Russia.

At the opposite end of the moral spectrum stood Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who demanded in her UN speech that Iran extradite five ex-officials to stand trial for the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The attack killed 85 people, left 150 injured. Among the terrorists accused of the violent attack are

ex-president Hashem Rafsanjani and a member of the Lebanese Hizballah, a group which Tehran uses for its anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish terrorist operations.

russian lies..

did anyone really believe them ?? the problem here is that the russian advance is going on with no real concrete reporting. there are a lot of rumors and not a lot of fact. it appears as if russia is going to push until the georgian president is out of power.

the implications here are significant as the west stumbles over a response and western aligned nations watch while no one comes to aid. this may make many of them reconsider their alignment.


OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia (AP) — Russian troops and paramilitaries thrust deep into Georgia on Wednesday, rolling into the strategic city of Gori and violating the truce designed to end the six-day war that has uprooted 100,000 people and scarred the Georgian landscape. Georgian officials said Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians, who denied the claim. An AP reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles leaving the city, roaring southeast.

the war no one is reporting ??

it's still early yet, i suppose, but it's like pulling teeth to find information on the russian invasion of georgia --



from DEBKAfile

Georgian tanks and infantry, aided by Israeli military advisers, captured the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, early Friday, Aug. 8, bringing the Georgian-Russian conflict over the province to a military climax.
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin threatened a “military response.”
Former Soviet Georgia called up its military reserves after Russian warplanes bombed its new positions in the renegade province.
In Moscow’s first response to the fall of Tskhinvali, president Dimitry Medvedev ordered the Russian army to prepare for a national emergency after calling the UN Security Council into emergency session early Friday.
Reinforcements were rushed to the Russian “peacekeeping force” present in the region to support the separatists.
Georgian tanks entered the capital after heavy overnight heavy aerial strikes, in which dozens of people were killed.
Lado Gurgenidze, Georgia's prime minister, said on Friday that Georgia will continue its military operation in South Ossetia until a "durable peace" is reached. "As soon as a durable peace takes hold we need to move forward with dialogue and peaceful negotiations."
DEBKAfile’s geopolitical experts note that on the surface level, the Russians are backing the separatists of S. Ossetia and neighboring Abkhazia as payback for the strengthening of American influence in tiny Georgia and its 4.5 million inhabitants. However, more immediately, the conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region.
The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines.
Saakashvili need only back away from this plan for Moscow to ditch the two provinces’ revolt against Tbilisi. As long as he sticks to his guns, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will wage separatist wars.
DEBKAfile discloses Israel’s interest in the conflict from its exclusive military sources:
Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean.
Aware of Moscow’s sensitivity on the oil question, Israel offered Russia a stake in the project but was rejected.
Last year, the Georgian president commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics. They also offer instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel.
These advisers were undoubtedly deeply involved in the Georgian army’s preparations to conquer the South Ossetian capital Friday.
In recent weeks, Moscow has repeatedly demanded that Jerusalem halt its military assistance to Georgia, finally threatening a crisis in bilateral relations. Israel responded by saying that the only assistance rendered Tbilisi was “defensive.”
This has not gone down well in the Kremlin. Therefore, as the military crisis intensifies in South Ossetia, Moscow may be expected to punish Israel for its intervention.