Also see: Russia could use nuclear arms pre-emptively: general
"IS THE ‘FINAL CONFRONTATION’ FINALLY UPON US? ONE HOPES NOT, BUT THE SIGNS ARE NOT GOOD."
"I have for some time been warning of the impending final confrontation between the US-Israeli alliance and Iran. The pointers indicating that the moment of that final confrontation may have almost arrived are now too irresistible to ignore. I hope I’m wrong.
Here are a few of those pointers; some obvious, some not so obvious.
First off, of course, is the obvious; if it’s going to happen, then it has to happen soon because after next November Bush won’t be around and it is doubtful that his successor would even dream of it, let alone actually do it. So, as every day goes by, the reality of the final confrontation draws closer.
Other pointers are as follows. About eight weeks ago, toward the end of November last year, the US Navy put out tenders to charter extra ships to carry over a million barrels of ship and jet fuel for their warships and aircraft in the Straights of Hormuz off the coast of Iran. Before the end of January the carrier USS John C. Stennis will join the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower which is already cruising Persian Gulf waters. This extra fuel order comes on top of last August’s massive order from Israel for millions of litres military JP-8 jet fuel and military diesel fuel. Allowing time for the various House and Senate committees to approve the order, the fuel has either been recently delivered or is also on its way.
This activity comes atop an increasingly aggressive rhetoric from the US and Israel particularly after Bush’s recent visit to Israel and the region where he has unsuccessfully attempted to garner support among the Arab nations of the Middle East to put pressure on Iran over its so-called nuclear weapons program. However, because the other Arab nations know full well that the only nation in the region that has an interest in nuclear weapons, and actually has them, is Israel and because the other Arab nations also know full well that there is no evidence whatsoever of Iran wanting or having, or even having had, a program to obtain nuclear weapons, despite US and Israeli assertions to the contrary, and because the other Arab nations have heard all of this exact same rhetoric and lies before when the US and their allies invaded and destroyed Iraq, the other Arab nation declined to offer their support to Bush. Unfortunately, the Arab nation’s failure to support Bush is unlikely to stop Bush and his neoconservative cronies, together with Israel, from attacking Iran.
Heralding Bush’s visit to Israel and the region, which began on 9 January, was the bizarre and rather too conveniently well-timed episode of the five little Iranian outboard speedboats supposedly ‘harassing’ huge US warships in the Straights of Hormuz just prior to Bush’s arrival.
As soon as Bush had left Israel, Israeli terrorists resumed their slaughter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip saying that the killings were in response to Palestinian fighters launching rockets into Israel. Since Bush left, some thirty-nine Gazan Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli terrorists including a number of civilians. Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defence Minister, has warned of increased Israeli terrorist actions in the Gaza. While Israeli attacks against the Gaza have increased, the threatened all-out invasion has not yet come. Could it be that an attack against Hamas in the Gaza could come at the same time as an attack against Iran? Come to that, could it be that such attacks will also be coordinated with simultaneous attacks against Hizbollah in Lebanon and even Syria?
The Winograd report is likely to be released on 30 January. It is unlikely to be kind to Olmert thus raising the spectre again of Olmert being forced from office and the possibility of an election being called. Olmert survived a vote of no confidence by the skin of his teeth when the preliminary Winograd report was released at the end of April last year. It remains to be seen whether or not he’ll survive any further calls for his resignation when the full report is released. The extreme right-wing Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party recently resigned from Olmert’s coalition where he was deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Threats. It is likely that he will now join forces with Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to oust Olmert. Olmert desperately needs something to distract Israelis from his problems and bring Israelis back under his influence. What better than a war against your favourite enemy – and then resign as a hero rather than the loser of the Second Lebanon War.
And last, but not least, we still have the pleasure to come of Bush telling the world about the State of the Union. Who knows what he has in store for the world on 29 January. One can only hope that he doesn’t think a war with Iran will be something exciting to talk about and a fitting finale to his Presidency.
As I said, I do hope I’m wrong! posted by Damian Lataan at 10:52 AM"
