Bharat Rakshak

May be US asked Saudis to go ahead and use China to broker the agreement with Iran. Brings Iranian oil back in the international market and eases inflation. This will help US fed to keep the rates steady and not tilt US into recession.

errr...after Biden admonished Mbs in private on Khashogi when he went to Saudi? Unlikely.

In 2021 Russia and Saudi Arabia signed military cooperation.
...

Things are moving fast..ahead of some key meetings of countries, one in May and then in August...

After
Saudi-Iran (China)
Iran-UAE

Now
Saudi-Syria (Russia)
Saudi Arabia and Syria 'agree to reopen embassies

X-POST from Iran News & Discussions Thread........

Five Indian seafarers kept under judicial custody in Iran to return to India today

ANI Last Updated: Mar 24, 2023, 01:11 PM IST

Five Indian seafarers who were kept under judicial custody at Chabahar Central Jail in Iran for 403 days are set to return to India on Friday.

According to sources, the 5 Indian seafarers will reportedly arrive in Mumbai from Tehran via an Iran Air flight.

According to the President of the Indian World Forum, Puneet Singh Chandok, the repatriation of seafarers is facilitated by the Indian World Forum and is being borne by the Indian government.

The Embassy of India, Tehran after the direction of Delhi High Court to the Centre provided boarding and lodging to the seafarers and prior to that they were at the mercy of local samaritans.

Notably, Puneet Singh Chandhok, President of the Indian World Forum on July 12, 2021, raised the issue of the seafarers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well, according to sources.

These sailors, Aniket Sham Yenpure, Mandar Milind Worlikar, Naveen Singh, Pranav Kumar, and Thamizhselvan Rengasamy were apparently in judicial custody in Tehran for 403 days without any charges as investigations were completed with authorities in Chabahar and Konark, Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces in Iran.

According to the circumstances, the local court in Chabahar in its judgement on March 8, 2021, ruled the defendants innocent, and ordered their immediate release, following which they were released from prison on March 9, 2021, and taken for completing formalities to Konark.

Subsequently they were handed over their belongings etc but surprisingly they were not handed back their passports and identity documents including CDC by the local authorities, sources said.

Subsequently, a petition was filed by the family members of seafarers at Delhi High Court through legal counsel Gurinder Pal Singh seeking legal assistance from the Indian authorities as well as the issuance of a document to prove their identity.


https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 963706.cms

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... s?from=mdr

In a step that would lead to expansion of strategic ties, the Saudi Arabian cabinet has approved cooperation between Saudi and Indian intelligence agencies on combating terror and terror financing.

OIC
@OIC_OCI
OIC General Secretariat Denounces Acts of Violence Against #Muslims in Several States in #India on Ramnavmi https://twitter.com/OIC_OCI/status/1643 ... 09410?s=20

India slams OIC for its 'anti-India' agenda
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 247660.cms

CIA complained US was blindsided by Saudi outreach to Syria and Iran: Report
US spy chief expressed frustration with Saudi Arabia's independent foreign policy streak during a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/cia- ... ran-report

IndraD wrote:OIC
@OIC_OCI
OIC General Secretariat Denounces Acts of Violence Against #Muslims in Several States in #India on Ramnavmi https://twitter.com/OIC_OCI/status/1643 ... 09410?s=20

India slams OIC for its 'anti-India' agenda
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 247660.cms

This is just routine bullshit from the mohammedan global cult. Firing blanks.

A Turkish oil tanker with Marshall Islands-flag, carrying Kuwaiti oil, for US-based client Chevron, has all 24-crew of Indian origin, is seized by Iran for allegedly hitting one of its vessels.

Iran’s navy seizes oil tanker near Oman, heading for Houston

Iran’s Raisi praises Assad ‘victory’ on landmark Syria visit

DAMASCUS: Visiting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday hailed Syria’s Bashar Assad for overcoming sanctions and achieving “victory” in the country’s 12-year-long civil war, in which Tehran has been a major ally.

The Syria conflict has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry. While the front lines have mostly quietened in recent years, large parts of the country’s north remain outside government control. “Syria’s government and people have gone through great difficulties, and today we can say that you have overcome all these problems and achieved victory despite the threats and sanctions imposed on you,” Raisi told Assad, according to a statement from the Syrian presidency and Iran’s IRNA news agency.

Tehran has provided economic, political and military support to Syria, helping Damascus claw back most of the territory it lost at the start of the conflict and positioning itself in a leading role as Assad seeks to focus on reconstruction. Both countries remain under heavy Western sanctions.

Raisi’s visit is the first by an Iranian president to Syria since the war broke out, and comes at a time when more regional capitals are re-engaging with the internationally isolated government in Damascus. The large Iranian delegation includes the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, oil, roads and urban development as well as telecommunications.

https://www.axios.com/2023/05/06/saudi- ... east-biden

U.S., Saudi, Emirati and Indian national security advisers are expected on Sunday to discuss a possible major joint infrastructure project to connect Gulf and Arab countries via a network of railways that would also be connected to India via shipping lanes from ports in the region, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Axios.....

Israel raised the idea of connecting the region through railways during the I2U2 meetings over the last year. Part of the idea was to use India’s expertise on such big infrastructure projects, the former Israeli official said.

https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/a-c ... ne-project
A complicated web behind Qatar’s submarine project
Abhinandan Mishra, May 14, 2023
NEW DELHI: On 18 May, the Qatar government is likely to present its charges against the eight Indian nationals who have been in detention since August last year.
Till now, neither the Qatar government, nor the Indian government has shared the details about the allegations under which they have been kept under detention; however, as per unsubstantiated media reports, they were allegedly trying to get details about a submarine project that Qatar navy is working on.
As per these media reports, one of the companies that was a part of this Qatari submarine project is Italian naval ship manufacturing company, Fincantieri. However, as reported by this newspaper earlier (Qatar’s Dahra Global is downing shutters, Indians asked to quit), Fincantieri has categorically denied manufacturing any submarine or any underwater vessel in any form for the Qatar government.
With Fincantieri out of the picture, as per the investigation carried out by The Sunday Guardian, it is likely that a Qatari defence entity, alongwith two other Italian companies, might be behind this entire fiasco that has led to the solitary confinement for the Indian nationals, all ex-Indian Navy officials who were working for “Dahra Global”.
This entire saga is about a maze of companies and cross holdings that stretches from Doha to Milan involving influential members of the Qatari rulers and their close associates. In 2019, “Cabi Cattaneo”, an Italian ship making company got a contract of 190 million euros from the Qatar navy to make two midget submarines for the Gulf country.
This project, as per sources aware of the matter, was being executed with the help of another Italian ship-making company, “M23”, which is a part of another Italian ship maker, “GSE Trieste”.
The top leadership of M23, as per details gathered by this newspaper, among others includes Toufic Abi Fadel, who enjoys closeness with the Qatari ruling family and is right now the legal head of “Barzan Holdings” a Doha-based Qatari government entity which is a part of the Qatar defence ministry that was brought into existence in March 2018 to focus on empowering the capabilities of the Qatari military.
The chairman of Barzan Holdings is Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, who is also the Minister of State for Defence of Qatar. According to him, Barzan Holdings’ main objective is to meet Qatar’s long-term defence and security needs.
In simple words, Barzan Holding ensures Qatar’s spending on defence needs are monitored at every level. This is also done, as is evident in the present case, by appointing someone from its own organization in the decision-making body of the foreign company that gets the defence contract.
.....
Gautam

A Second Quad in the Making in the Middle East?

The national security advisors (NSAs) of four countries — India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United States — met in Saudi Arabia recently. This is potentially a second Quad in the making involving the Middle Eastern states, the other Quad being India-Israel-UAE-U.S. or the I2U2.

A White House statement of the meeting said that the four NSAs — U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and National Security Advisor of India Ajit Doval — met on May 7 in order “to advance their shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region.” The meeting is a reflection of “unprecedented intensification of India-U.S. engagement on West Asia” at multiple levels.

While the relationship is expanding, Saudi Arabia is still not ready to normalize relations with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is still hopeful of Israel’s ability to work out potentially a strong partnership, saying that “the sky’s the limit. And even the sky’s not the limit, because there are many opportunities in space as well.” Interestingly, Saudi Arabia is trying to strike a deal for a big prize – Riyadh is looking for “security guarantees from the United States, help with developing a civilian nuclear program and fewer restrictions on U.S. arms sales as its price for normalizing relations with Israel.” According to latest media reports, the Biden administration appears confident of getting a Saudi-Israel peace deal before the year ends.

While both India and the United States have had a long-term presence in the Middle East, what is possibly driving the fresh momentum is the increasing role played by China in the region, such as brokering peace between regional archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. In early March, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani and Saudi National Security Adviser Musaid bin Muhammad Al-Aiban signed an agreement in Beijing ending years of hostilities and re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Middle East is also an important component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Chinese state-owned companies are building rail lines, roads, ports, and power projects across the region.

Even though China may not be referred to or written in bold letters, integrating different geographies such as South Asia and the Middle East in innovative ways to bring about greater collaboration in infrastructure, technology development, defense and security is much needed to moderate China’s creeping presence in the Middle East and elsewhere. Given that I2U2 is a forum that is up and running, the U.S. and India are exploring additional combinations of partnerships to make their efforts worthwhile.

I2U2 and now I2US

SSridhar wrote:I2U2 and now I2US

SUUI or ISUU / IS-UU
SI-U2 or See You too

Tying ourselves into geometric knots it seems... I propose I2S2, its a regional affaire. We dont need US' long butt extending until here for perpetuity. They have made enough mess.

So is this just a boost-glide vehicle?

Looks like Qatar requires serious public shaming and spanking - Illegally holding Indian naval veterans.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/na ... 7d5c&ei=19

Eight naval veterans (Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and sailor Ragesh) are taken away from their homes in Doha by Qatar’s Ministry of Interior for questioning. The naval veterans were working for an Omani firm based in Doha, Dhara. They never returned home and have been in detention ever since.

krithivas wrote: ↑18 Jul 2023 01:04 Looks like Qatar requires serious public shaming and spanking - Illegally holding Indian naval veterans.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/na ... 7d5c&ei=19

Eight naval veterans (Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and sailor Ragesh) are taken away from their homes in Doha by Qatar’s Ministry of Interior for questioning. The naval veterans were working for an Omani firm based in Doha, Dhara. They never returned home and have been in detention ever since.

While I won't deny these are IN veterans, what were so many doing in Qatar? And who were they working for? We need to find out.
Three are Captains and four are Commanders. Fairly high-rank veterans.
What's the Omani firm name and its background?

1) https://thewire.in/rights/family-member ... for-pardon

"Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services"

...Indian media reported that they were senior employees of Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, a company advising on a Qatari programme aimed at obtaining high-tech Italian-made submarines that could evade radar detection.

Pakistani newspaper The News International reported last week that the company is now being shut down by Qatar, with as many as 75 Indian nationals, the majority of whom are former navy personnel, being told they were being let go by the end of May.


...Qatar had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2020 with Italian-based shipbuilding firm Fincantieri SpA to build submarines as part of a larger project involving the construction of a naval base and maintenance of its military fleet. The MoU has reportedly not been implemented.

A Fincantieri representative told Al Jazeera that the company currently has no existing contracts for submarines with Qatar, but continues work on finishing seven surface vessels – including four corvettes, one amphibious vessel and two patrol vessels – based on a 2016 agreement with the Qatari Ministry of Defence.
..
U212 Near Future Submarine
The submarines that Qatar is seeking are reportedly a smaller variety of the U212 Near Future Submarine, an ambitious submarine project in Italy built in cooperation with a German firm...
...
The Pakistan Navy already operates midget submarines built by Italy and enjoys increasingly close ties with Qatar, while India is concerned about Pakistan potentially looking to acquire stealth technologies embedded in the new submarines.

Last year, when no details about the reason for the arrest of the eight Indian nationals had been publicised, Indian media had accused Pakistan of trying to “muddy the waters” with misleading reports.

Some Indian media outlets had even hinted at a Pakistani role in the arrests, citing social media posts online that speculated about the case.

It is an ISI hit on IN veterans.

I doubt it. GoI has been very tightlipped about the whole issue. India is working out something in the background but remains to be seen if it will work.

Their getting arrested by Qatar is most likely ISI tip-off.

RoyG wrote: ↑21 Jul 2023 23:52 I doubt it. GoI has been very tightlipped about the whole issue. India is working out something in the background but remains to be seen if it will work.

IIRC the was a paki major/colonel who was picked up by us, in Nepal.

If the pakis are behind this (any info on how and when these personnel were recruited?), they might demand a swap.

there are suggestions US is preparing for a war on Iran, lots of army pieces being moved to Gulf bases, Kissinger was in China recently to ask them to keep quiet when it happens: thread https://twitter.com/Kathleen_Tyson_/sta ... 95810?s=20

Similar rumbles in UK media https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/0 ... an-repeat/
The US Navy is preparing for war in the Persian Gulf. The Iranians just never learn

One more nation the USA will run away from with tail firmly tucked between it's legs.

Turkey aiming to build 65nm chips domestically.

65nm starting is not bad. But the ? is whether they would be able to pull it off.

https://thewire.in/world/qatar-former-i ... 0in%20Doha.

excerpts

The eight former Indian Navy officers who have been detained in Qatar for ten months and are facing a trial have been moved out of solitary confinement, according to the New Indian Express. They are now lodged on a twin-sharing basis in Doha.

some other details

“Families of the veterans who are in Doha, or those who come visiting from India, are allowed to meet them. Once a week, phone calls are also being permitted to those who have families back home in India,” the source added.

The charges against the officers have not yet been revealed, even though two hearings in the trial against them were held in July. The next hearing will be on October 3.

the relationship of the pm with mbs seems quite friendly, this grouping with uae is seen in most policies of the region that india makes, the recently launched corridor or the previous i2u2 summit, uae seems to be in the middleman role for india in the region with saudia as its main backer, how does that leave the other countries wrt india:

• oman - has had friendly relations with india before any else in the region, though i have not heard any new initiatives or groupings with oman also included, the old king was friendly towards india, saudia and oman are also cool on certain topics, oman for eg is not on the saudia coalition against yemen
  
  qatar - the most inimical towards india, funds the muslim brotherhood, close relation with the turkic block and the four-fathered
  
  bahrain, kuwait - dont know about these 2 tbh, i think that they follow the gcc diktat which is mainly decided by the above players
  
  jordan - unfriendly relations with saudia, probably lukewarm towards india, is us territory
  
  iraq - rc by iran
  
  iran - who can say truly, fickle and bounded by trade restrictions?
  
  yemen - no central authority figure

Including North Africa in separate post as not literally related to the thread topic but rather thematically:

Egypt- issues with Qatar backed mb, now firmly against it, seems neutral in gcc or tilting towards the saudi-uae block

Libya-now rip, gaddafi was another father of katorastan

Algeria- inimical to India, friendly with the turkey qatar block, invited turkish warships to attack libyan shores, brics candidature vetoed by India apparently at french request

Morocco, sadr, Tunisia, sudan are also in this grouping, maybe Chad as well, though that is more Bedouin animism themed Islam than arab Islam, though I do not have any report of overt or covert support or enimity

X Posting from Terroristan dhaga. This is of more relevance here.

Mukesh.Kumar wrote: ↑12 Sep 2023 19:21

williams wrote: ↑11 Sep 2023 01:57



........

The N-S and pan-GCC backbone will be GCC Rail. Project's been round for donkey's years, and without major Indian goods flowing through this, the project may not be viable. Of course, they are doing this to provide an alternate to Suez (and kind of goes with the historic route through Arabia.

Oman will become part of this. Check the map. Duqm, port once it becomes operational will enable avoidance of narrow Persian Gulf and Hormuz Strait. Even then because of topography and the Rub-al Khali, UAE will be a transit point in the network.

Post from six years ago on strategic value of Duqm and GCC Rail network and how it avoids the choke points of Hormuz.

Looks like one more entitled dick who learned from his northern neighbour:

https://www.firstpost.com/world/no-corr ... 13812.html

Cyrano wrote: ↑12 Sep 2023 22:30 Looks like one more entitled dick who learned from his northern neighbour:

https://www.firstpost.com/world/no-corr ... 13812.html

That stmt reeks of pakiness

Atmavik wrote: ↑12 Sep 2023 23:05

Cyrano wrote: ↑12 Sep 2023 22:30 Looks like one more entitled dick who learned from his northern neighbour:

https://www.firstpost.com/world/no-corr ... 13812.html

That stmt reeks of pakiness

who cares what the turkey wants.

"The shipping and railway lines will pass through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, then reach to Greece and Europe.

and that is their problem.

Cyrano wrote: ↑12 Sep 2023 22:30 Looks like one more entitled dick who learned from his northern neighbour:

https://www.firstpost.com/world/no-corr ... 13812.html

As long as Erdogan thinks he's the Ottoman Emperor, others won't forget the fall of Constantinople and the lost land connection to Asia.

drnayar wrote: ↑13 Sep 2023 00:18 ...
who cares what the turkey wants.

"The shipping and railway lines will pass through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, then reach to Greece and Europe.

and that is their problem.

Understood that it's strategically important to have multiple routes, but will the route not be more costly as compared to the Suez route?

I have seen discussion from experts working in the trans-national logistics industry and they mention issues like multi-loading/offloading, trains capacity vs ship capacity etc

The consensus is that SA and others will have to give significant subsidies to make the end cost of goods to be competitive to the one via the Suez.