TWO WAR GAMES: THE COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION (CSTO) & THE SHANGHAI COOPERATIVE ORGANIZTION (SCO)

Perhaps most worrying of all the Iranian war-games coincided with two massive operations in Kazakhstan, by the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation), both launched on August 24.

The CSTO, Rubezh-2006 exercise, organised by Russia and involving Tajikstan, Krygistan and Kazakhstan took place near port city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan also took part in the SCO operation with China, police and special forces units from both countries took part in the exercise Tianshan one in the Almaty region near China, which is thought to have been closely co-ordinated with the Russian CSTO and the Iranian exercises.

Russia and China have signed a military cooperation agreement and are the main suppliers of advanced weapons to Iran and Syria

The joint drills in Kazakhstan are thought to have come in response to mis-trust of the U.S intentions in the region,

the threat of attack on Iran,

the U.S navy’s involvement in the re-building of Kazakhstan’s navy since 2003,

and Iranian fears that the U.S is attempting to build up their ally Azerbajan to counter Iranian influence

The Kazakhstan exercises were undoubtedly both preparation for a U.S attack on Iran

and a warning that if Iran is attacked, Russia and China won’t remain neutral.

ETHNICALLY CLEANSING THE ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST

Blood borders
How a better Middle East would look
By Ralph Peters

Maj. Peters, formerly assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence where he was responsible for future warfare, candidly outlines how the map of the Middle East should be fundamentally re-drawn, in a new imperial endeavour designed to correct past errors. “Without such major boundary revisions, we shall never see a more peaceful Middle East,” he observes, but then adds wryly: “Oh, and one other dirty little secret from 5,000 years of history: Ethnic cleansing works.”

“A Free Kurdistan, stretching from Diyarbakir through Tabriz, would be the most pro-Western state between Bulgaria and Japan.”

“Iraq’s three Sunni-majority provinces as a truncated state that might eventually choose to unify with a Syria that loses its littoral to a Mediterranean-oriented Greater Lebanon:

the Shia south of old Iraq “would form the basis of an Arab Shia State rimming much of the Persian Gulf.”

Jordan, a US-Israeli friend in the region, would “retain its current territory, with some southward expansion at Saudi expense.

the unnatural state of Saudi Arabia would suffer as great a dismantling as Pakistan.”

Iran too would “lose a great deal of territory to Unified Azerbaijan, Free Kurdistan, the Arab Shia State and Free Baluchistan, but would gain the provinces around Herat in today’s Afghanistan.”

As for the goals of this plan, Maj. Peters is equally candid...-- “and for access to oil supplies in a region that is destined to fight itself”.

“Those of us who can sort, digest, synthesize, and apply relevant knowledge soar--professionally, financially, politically, militarily, and socially. We, the winners, are a minority.”

The coming clash, then, is not really about blood, faith, ethnicity, at all. It is about the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

“we will become still wealthier, culturally more lethal, and increasingly powerful. We will excite hatreds without precedent.”

DIWANIYAH: TRYING TO WHITTLE AWAY THE POWER OF A RADICAL CLERIC

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army.

The Hezbollah of Iraq

Read here

THANKS TO WEBLOG: MY LEBANON IS BEING BURNED TO ASHES

The Israeli Merkava... D E S T R O Y E D


This picture was taken in the south of Lebanon during the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and it shows the Merkava destroyed, this laminated steel/nickel armored tank has been used thoroughly by IDF in their battle against Hezbollah resistence in south Lebanon.

Find Web Blog here

HIDING BEHIND MAMA'S SKIRT & STICKING OUT MY TONGUE

The Bees in the Lion's Carcass
by Uri Avnery
(Wednesday August 30 2006)

Ehud Olmert has found a convincing proof of his great victory over Hassan Nasrallah: "I am touring the country freely while Nasrallah is hiding in his bunker!"

At the moment, dozens of Israeli airplanes and helicopter gunships are standing by, ready to kill Nasrallah if he as much as shows himself. Nasrallah does not have a single airplane or helicopter to kill Olmert. The vast material superiority of the Israeli army over a guerilla organization is no achievement of Olmert - but Hizbullah's ability to survive the massive onslaught of our army is certainly the achievement of Nasrallah.

When Samson the Hero saw a swarm of bees making honey in the carcass of a lion he ramarked: "Out of the strong came forth sweetness." (Judges 14). (That's the same Samson who was abducted by the Philistines and became the first suicide bomber in the history of this country.) Can this phrase become true this time too? Can something good come out of this horrible war?

KHUZESTAN: A POTENTIAL KOSOVO?

BRITTISH TROOPS MOBILIZING ON THE IRANIAN BORDER
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

August 30, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

• 90% of Iran's oil is in the province of Khuzestan

• Iran's undeveloped Yadavaran oil field is in Khuzestan

• China has signed a $70 billion deal with Iran which includes Yadavaran

Khuzestan is conveniently next to Iraq and would be one of the first—if not ‘the first’—strategic objectives or goals to secure if Iran where to be invaded and vital Iranian oil supplies kept on the market.

Khuzestan could find itself in a "state of autonomy" under Anglo-American protection much like Kosovo.

It is also no mere coincidence that the British government have strong ties and nurture separatist movements outside Iran declaring to represent Khuzestan.

The British Army unit, the Queen’s Royal Hussars on August 24, 2006 ‘abandoned’ their base (Abu Naji [their base]) near Amarah (Al-Amarah) the capital city of the province of Maysan.

What is noteworthy about the abandonment of the British base in Maysan is that British troops have been redeployed onto the Iranian border. The unit has also simultaneously downgraded to even lighter, more flexible, and quicker equipment by "giving up their Challenger tanks and Warrior armoured fighting vehicles in favour of stripped-down Landrovers armed with machineguns and "will remain constantly on the move and be re-supplied by air drops."

While British officials are maintaining no desire or preparations for a conflict with Iran, more British troops are being mobilized and deployed to Iraq at the same time. The Light Infantry of the 2nd Battalion, another unit with rapid deployment capabilities, is deploying to the southern Iraqi border with Iran. The 2nd Battalion is being sent to Iraq under the pretext of working in the Rear Operations Battle Group which will provide escorts for military convoys and security for British forces and bases in Basra.12

KAZAKHSTAN: WHICH WAY GOES THE OIL?

China lays down the Gauntlet in Energy War


F. William Engdahl



On December 15, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) inaugurated an oil pipeline running from Kazakhstan to northwest China. The pipeline will undercut the geopolitical significance of the Washington-backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)oil pipeline which opened this past summer amid big fanfare and support from Washington.

The geopolitical chess game for the control of the energy flows of Central Asia and overall of Eurasia from the Atlantic to the China Sea is sharply evident in the latest developments.

...China is reportedly considering asking Russian companies to help it fill the pipeline with oil, until Kazakh supply is sufficient.

...closer China-Kazakhstan-Russia energy cooperation - the nightmare scenario of Washington.

The new China pipeline runs 962 kilometers (598 miles) and will take China a third of the way to Kashagan in the Caspian Sea

Kashagan is the largest new oil discovery in decades and exceeds the size of the North Sea.

...a huge field offshore Kazakhstan southwest of Tengiz, has confirmed enormous oil deposits there.

In October, Beijing scored a second major geopolitical coup when China completed a $4.18 billion takeover of PetroKazakhstan Inc. It was, in a sense, revenge on Washington for the blocking of the China acquisition of Unocal. US oil majors had made major efforts to lock up Kazakhstan oil after discovery of major oil offshore in the Kashagan field. They failed. ExxonMobil was charged with bribery of Kazakh officials to win a presence in the Kazakh oil business, and a senior Mobil executive was later jailed on US tax evasion in New York tied to the Kazakh bribery payments.

Now China has opened an oil flow out of Kazakhstan to the East, not the West.

This has major strategic implications for the future of the Washington-backed BTC oil pipeline. That pipeline was built by the Caspian Oil Consortium headed by British Petroleum

Its construction was undertaken on the assumption that it would carry not only Baku oil, but also a major share of Kazakh oil from Tengiz and offshore Kashagan oil fields. Oops!

At the end of 2004, Beijing signed a $70 billion energy agreement with Tehran,

...agreed to buy 250 million tons of LNG over 30 years from Iran, as well as to develop the giant Yadavaran field (located in Khuzestan)

A second phase in the Iran-China strategic energy cooperation will involve constructing a pipeline in Iran to take oil some 386 kilometers to the Caspian Sea, there to link up with the planned pipeline from China into Kazakhstan.

KAZAKHSTAN: PRESIDENT NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV HEADS FOR KENNEBUNKPORT FOR A WEEKEND WITH THE BUSH FAMILY

With Kazakh's Visit, Bush Priorities Clash
Autocrat Leads an Oil-Rich Country

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 29, 2006; Page A01

...the trip will take place in late September. A spokesman for former president George H.W. Bush confirmed that Nazarbayev will visit Kennebunkport as part of his U.S. stay. "An old friend of his was in the U.S. and he extended an invitation,"

Kazakhstan, a vast nation of 15 million on the Central Asian steppe, has emerged as an increasingly important player in the world energy market. With the largest crude oil reserves in the Caspian Sea region, Kazakhstan pumps 1.2 million barrels a day and exports 1 million of that. The Kazakh government hopes to boost production to 3.5 million barrels a day by 2015, rivaling Iran. U.S. and Russian companies and governments have competed for access to its oil.

U.S. prosecutors have charged businessman James H. Giffen with steering $78 million in bribes to Nazarbayev and one of his former prime ministers in the 1990s in exchange for influence in oil transactions.

Giffen's attorneys have argued that he is not guilty because his actions were sanctioned by the U.S. government. Giffen says he disclosed his activities to agencies including the CIA and was encouraged to continue for national security reasons. The Justice Department is appealing a court decision allowing the defense. The case is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 16

CHAVEZ: VENEZUELA, SYRIA UNITED VS. U.S.

...shared a "decisive and firm" stance against U.S. "imperialism" and "domination."

...trumpeted his opposition to Washington's global influence and advanced what he calls a "multipolar" vision of world affairs.

...coincide with Venezuela's push to win a rotating seat on the
U.N. Security Council, over U.S. opposition.

"We want to cooperate to build a new world where states' and people's self-determination are respected,"

Earlier this month, Chavez compared Israel's attacks on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon to the Holocaust and withdrew Venezuela's ambassador to the Jewish state. Israel responded by recalling its ambassador to Venezuela, criticizing what it called Chavez's "one-sided policy" and "wild slurs."

"WE ARE PREPARING OUR NEXT STEPS"

Words of the Sixth Comission of the EZLN for the Second Indigenous Gathering of the Yucatan Peninsula

By Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos The Other Mexico

August 29, 2006

SECOND PENINSULAR INDIGENOUS REUNION
Candelaria, Campeche, Mexico

August 2006

...Our cause as Indian peoples is alive and present, thanks to, among other things, our friends from the National Indigenous Congress, especially the Indian peoples of the Central-Pacific region.

With them, we have begun a new step which seeks a new way of doing politics, anti-capitalist and of the left, to raise a national program of struggle and a new constitution, and which we call the Other Campaign.

In this movement we are learning to call compañero and compañera ..., the many people who are stripped, exploited, unappreciated, and repressed by a system that has made money its law and fakery its doctrine.

As different as we are, we have found equal ground when we searched for and found the party responsible for our pains: the capitalist system.

Freedom which has been taken from our friends the prisoners of Atenco, and from the hundreds of political prisoners, disappeared, and persecuted in our country.

Justice which is now denied to the Oaxacan people who, in the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, demand the exit of the bad governor Ulises Ruiz.

Democracy which was converted into fraud and shameless mockery in the past presidential elections, and which is at the point of converting itself into the fall of the electoral process.

We know that towards that end we must destroy the capitalist system and search, together, for an other country.

Along the way, we also have to construct our space as different kinds of people, defending our identity and history.

As the Indian peoples that we are, this construction cannot be set aside nor subordinated.

With that cordial thought we are preparing our next steps.

And here is our word.

In these times of noise and confusion, the word comes back to finding ourselves among those that are like us.

Up there above they offer us a road....

But that road doesn’t lead to where we want to go.

The place where our march will find liberty, justice, and democracy, doesn’t exist.

We have to create it.

And so it is, for example, with the thinking that says only one man or one woman matters, that the collective isn’t worth anything, doesn’t count, that individual well-being is what we should seek out, even at the cost of ending up with collective evil.

And this is the thought that’s right now in charge and is our government and truth imposed on our Indian lands.

And this is the thought that seeks to exterminate us as we are and try to convert our history, our culture, our land, our dignity to commodities.

But there was and still there is another way of thinking.

The thinking that knows that the one who lives up above off our blood and the one who lives below making the world go round with his labor are not equal.

And here we say:

A tomorrow of freedom, justice, and democracy which we need and deserve will be our color, the color of the earth, or it will not be at all.

Compañeros and compañeros, accept our, the smallest thing in the world that right now is just a thought and a step in shadows, but which is beginning to peek through into the wee hours of a new day, one which will strip the morning of fear and shame.

With the Indian peoples!

Freedom for the prisoners of Atenco!

Justice for the people of Oaxaca!

Democracy for the Mexico from below!

LOPEZ OBRADOR VOWS TO FORM PARALLEL GOVERNMENT

Updated: 6:13 p.m. ET Aug 29, 2006

MEXICO CITY - Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, convinced he won’t be awarded the presidency, has vowed to create a parallel leftist government and is urging Mexicans not to recognize the apparent victory of the ruling party’s Felipe Calderon.

• plans to create his own government to rule from the streets,
• could turn those protest camps into the core of a violent revolt,


• in the southern city of Oaxaca, outraged citizens’ groups joined the protests, setting fire to buildings and public buses, seizing radio and TV stations and forcing the closure of businesses

• “Everything we do, from property taxes to permits to natural resources, will go through the ’legitimate government,”’
• Lopez Obrador to set up his own treasury department
• “We do not recognize Felipe Calderon as president, nor any officials he appoints, nor any acts carried out by his de-facto government,” said AMLO


• Lopez Obrador has ruled out negotiations with what he calls the “spurious” and “imposed” government.
• Lopez Obrador’s plan is to have his government help the poor, oppose privatizations and make the news media more “truthful and objective.”

• supporters are already planning to hold an alternative swearing in ceremony to rival the official inauguration on Dec. 1.



• President Benito Juarez, who led a roving, “unofficial” presidency from 1863 to 1867 during the French invasion, before driving out the invaders and executing the French-installed Emperor Maximilian.

MOHANDAS K. GANDHI: "THE SEVEN SINS OF THE WORLD"

1. Wealth without work.
2. Pleasure without conscience.
3. Knowledge without character.
4. Commerce without morality.
5. Science without humanity.
6. Worship without sacrifice.
7. Politics without principles

According to Arun Gandhi, the essence of his grandfather’s teachings might best be summed up in a list of “The Seven Sins of the World”

To these seven, Arun later added one of his own, even more pertinent in our own time, he believes:

• Rights without responsibilities.

They’re not “sins” in a personal sense alone—but rather, in a wider social or collective sense. They are the practices, Gandhi taught, which keep a society from realizing its deeper purposes; which keep it from becoming whole and united, a truly beloved community.

RUMSFIELD: "WHAT BOTHERS ME MOST IS HOW CLEVER THE ENEMY IS"

Not only that, but: "The enemy lies constantly _ almost totally without penalty,"


And Furthermore: "They're Dithpicable!!"

RUMSFIELD: TERRORISTS MANIPULATING MEDIA

Rumsfeld: Terrorists Manipulating Media

By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 29, 2006; 2:29 AM

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday he is deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in "manipulating the media" to influence Westerners.

"That's the thing that keeps me up at night," ...

"What bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is," he continued, launching an extensive broadside at Islamic extremist groups which he said are trying to undermine Western support for the war on terror.

"They are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"They can lie with impunity," he said, while U.S. troops are held to a high standard of conduct.

"The enemy lies constantly _ almost totally without penalty," he told the veterans group

"The enemy is so much better at communicating," he added. "I wish we were better at countering that because the constant drumbeat of things they say _ all of which are not true _ is harmful. It's cumulative. And it does weaken people's will and lessen their determination, and raise questions in their minds as to whether the cost is worth it," he said alluding to Americans and other Westerners.