Bharat Rakshak

If India decided that, once and for all, it refused to live under the threat of an unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan and intended to invade, we would never tell them it was up to them. If Taiwan had feared an attack from China across the Formosa Strait during the early 1970s, would Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger have told them it was their call rather than ours whether to launch a surprise attack? Even to put the question shows the absurdity of a superpower’s acquiescing to allies on critical questions of war and peace in a nuclear age.To be sure, Israel is a special ally, but that does not entitle it to make the decision on matters where United States interest and power are inextricably and centrally engaged. It is inconceivable that the United States would permit another ally dependent on American funds and American defense systems to take such a decision unilaterally. It is also inconceivable that we would permit another foreign government to intervene directly and forcefully in our political process to garner popular support for its policies over the objections of the administration.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague says any intervention in Syria would only be possible with the full backing of the United States.

Hague told Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Tuesday that he wasn’t advocating a military intervention, but that the option could not be ruled out amid an escalating crisis.

‘‘It would require intervention on a vastly greater scale than was the case in Libya, with no prospect at the moment of agreement at the U.N. Security Council, and would require the full involvement of the United States,’’ Hague told the committee.

Hague acknowledged he saw ‘‘major disadvantages’’ to an intervention.

He said he plans talks on Syria next week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

What do you make of reports of the formation of a new rebel group call the Syrian National Army, apparently supported by Turkey, France and the U.S.?

his is more or less the revolution “Take II” and hopefully lighter on the jihadist element. It’s the Western powers trying to right a wrong, to undo the ill-conceived strategy that they started out with. What is disturbing is that this signals that the Free Syrian Army has failed and that there is a need to start over, which will result in a serious loss of momentum, and possibly another conflict front that buys into Assad’s overall plan to weaken the rebels. The “new” rebel group is not in itself a bad development and its commander, defected Major General Muhammad al-Haj Ali purportedly is against international intervention in the form of the establishment of a no-fly zone, and he is correct in this at this point because Assad has blurred the lines too much to make a no-fly zone effective.

Why will this new group be more effective?\

It may not be. I think what is most important to understand, is that groups like the Free Syrian Army and this new Syrian National Army are by no means the backbone of the revolution. These groups largely are represented by exiled opposition leaders or defected military figures, who are not cohesive. Most of them are in Turkey and Jordan. On the ground, though, there are smaller rebel groups who have managed to establish their own organizational structures and who have been successful in replacing the regime, but not on a national level, only in small areas that are easier to control. It is this momentum upon which we need to build, and it is these smaller groups that the new Syrian National Army should focus on organizing into a national undertaking. If, from exile, the Syrian National Army can coordinate the efforts of these smaller groups instead of attempting to usurp them, they will be successful.

pentaiah wrote:British the shop keepers they are want to sit in the back seat and not take the heat by involving American lives and money. This will let them get away with out their embassies or consulates getting gutted. England the land of Cunning

Actually, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani said the electrical lines powering the buried plant at Fordow from the nearby city of Qom had been blown up by unknown saboteurs. The same thing happened at Iran’s Natanz plant at an unspecified earlier date, he told the annual member-state session of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

shyamd wrote:

pentaiah wrote:British the shop keepers they are want to sit in the back seat and not take the heat by involving American lives and money. This will let them get away with out their embassies or consulates getting gutted. England the land of Cunning

Lol it's funny how everyone goes off on rhetoric.

UK has deployed substantial amount of its special forces and RAF personell INSIDE Syria already. The scale has not been seen since the Iraq invasion. RAF has placed strike squadrons in Cyprus on the ready.

North Korea and Iran appear to be increasing their dealings in nuclear technology and missiles with each other under a breakthrough agreement reached between the two nations in Tehran three weeks ago.It’s likely the tempo of shipments of technology to Iran has increased,” says Bruce Bechtol, a former US intelligence official and author of two books and other studies on North Korea’s military buildup. “We have seen a large number of North Korean scientists visiting Iran.”
Concerns about the nature of North Korea’s exchanges with Iran have risen since Iran's science and technology minister, Farhad Daneshjoo, and North Korea’s foreign minister, Pak Ui-chun, signed the deal to cooperate on science and technology after a summit of “nonaligned nations” held in Tehran in late Augus
North Korea and Iran have been cooperating for years but never previously had a framework agreement that confirmed their longstanding relationship and also made clear their desire to build on it. The timing of the deal is significant, since Israel has been pressing for concerted action against Iran’s nuclear program while North Korea under new leader Kim Jong-un has been coming out with harsh denunciations of South Korean policies.

Cruisers, aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, submarines and minesweepers from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war, according to the British newspaper the Telegraph (see article: Armada of international naval power massing in the Gulf as Israel prepares an Iran strike http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... trike.html ).

This is certainly one of the largest build up and concentrations of military forces in the region since WWII.

The paper indicates that western leaders, including the United States are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any sort of pre-emptive military attack by attempting to "mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s oil traded by sea."

See video: Breaking: Iran to close Strait of Hormuz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzPHAFk7aGc

The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. It is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically-important choke points. On the north coast is Iran, and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman.

At its narrowest, the strait is 21 nautical miles (39 km) wide (see article: World Oil Transit Checkpoints http://www.eia.gov/countries/regions-to ... OTC#hormuz ).


See video: Iran: "We Can Destroy US Bases in Minutes & Israel Is A Good Target Too" - Elite Revolutionary Guard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAoHSJGR ... re=related

shyamd wrote:Rebels seized another town in central Syrias Raqqah province. Still fighting ongoing in Damascus even after rebels were said to have pulled out.

Rebels seize border post with turkey

shyamd wrote:I have posted negative news here actually - see here for an example

And I'm more concerned about the bigger picture - seizing/losing towns, battles, large operations by both sides. If you want to drill down on the individual cases - nothing stopping you from doing that since you have the time.

@martinchulov: Inside the city (aleppo) the popular support for FSA is not strong. In countryside much higher. Tough to gauge regime army morale

shyamd wrote:Rebels seized another town in central Syrias Raqqah province. Still fighting ongoing in Damascus even after rebels were said to have pulled out.

Rebels seize border post with turkey

Rebel fighters in Syria claim to have seized another border crossing into Turkey, from the control of President Assad's government forces. But around the capital Damascus, the rebels are losing ground. Three southern suburbs have been retaken by the president's forces. ITV's Bill Neely reports from Damascus.

brihaspati wrote:
Inside the city - support not strong: that is as far negatiev as you can go? You immediately balance it out with quoting that "countryside much higher", and "tough to guage" army morale [implying of course by the quoter - that it could go either way]. Overall it does not show negatives for the rebel groupings.

Did you find any news about the rebels militarily losing - moving away - retreating, suffering setbakcs, losses - anywhere?

Since you are indeed interested in the bigger picture, and bigger picture of course for you does not contain massacres/rapes/executions for propaganda which become merely incidents for you?