March 27, 2011

Israel, the U.S. and the Arab World

Israel Ready to React with 'Great Force': Netanyahu

AFP
March 24, 2011

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Friday that Israel is ready to act with "great force" in response to a spate of rocket fire by Gaza militants and a deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem.

Israel had been "subjected to bouts of terror and rocket attacks," Netanyahu told reporters before going into a meeting with Gates.

"We stand ready to act with great force and great determination to put a stop to it," he added, with officials saying Israel had not been hit by any projectiles Friday morning.

"Any civilised society will not tolerate such wanton attacks on its civilians," he said.

However, as Netanyahu spoke, Defence Minister Ehud Barak toured the Gaza border with army chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, saying that the situation seemed to be calming down.

"In the last 24 hours there has been no fire into our territory, but we continue to monitor the situation," Barak said, according to a statement from his office.

And Barak indicated that if the rocket attacks stopped, Israel would also halt its strikes into the Gaza Strip.

"We don't intend to let the terror organizations again disturb the order but we will do all we need to to return the (military) activity to the border line itself," he said.

Also, Barak said, Israel will deploy its "Iron Dome" multi-million-dollar missile defence system in southern Israel for the first time next week in the wake of rocket attacks.

"I authorised the army to deploy in the next few days the first battery of "Iron Dome" for an operational trial," he said.

The deployment of the Iron Dome interceptor, designed to combat short-range rocket threats from Gaza and Lebanon, has been delayed until now with officials saying operating crews needed more training and suggestions the system was prohibitively expensive.

Gates, a former CIA director with years of experience in Washington, said US-Israel security ties were as strong as they had ever been at a time when the region was in "turmoil."

On Thursday, he said in Tel Aviv that Washington firmly backed Israel's right to respond both to the rocket fire and the Jerusalem bombing, which he described as "repugnant acts".

But he suggested Israel should tread carefully or risk derailing the course of popular unrest sweeping Arab and Muslim countries in the Middle East.

The US defence chief is pressing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take "bold action" for peace despite soaring tensions, saying political upheaval in the region offered an opportunity.

After his meeting with Netanyahu, Gates travelled amid heavy security to the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the first such visit by a US defence chief.

Before their meeting, Fayyad told Gates it was a time of "great challenge throughout the region but also a time of opportunity, requiring a redoubling of the effort in pursuing the cause of peace, and justice and security."

Gates said he looked forward to discussing "prospects for a two-state solution".

Neither man made any statement following their roughly 45-minute meeting.

Israel's leaders have appeared reluctant to be dragged into another bloody war with Hamas, especially as they lacked international support for any new offensive on Gaza.

In the last week dozens of rockets have hit southern Israel. The vast majority of them were fired by Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al-Quds Brigade.

Israel has responded with airstrikes on Gaza.

Thursday's rocket fire on Ashdod came a day after the Al-Quds Brigades vowed to fire more at cities deep inside Israel as it entered "a new phase" of resistance.

And despite Hamas's pledge to rein in militants firing on Israel, Islamic Jihad's leadership insisted it would not stop its "resistance" unless Israel did the same.

March 24, 2011

Overrunning the Entire Middle East, Erasing Entire Civilizations and Building a Servile Homogeneous Regional Block to be Rolled into a Greater Global Government

Syria & Yemen: Tying up Globalist Loose Ends

By Tony Cartalucci, LandDestroyer.com
March 23, 2011

Once again, “claims” and “allegations” herald broader western meddling in the Middle East under the guise of the suspiciously ubiquitous “Arab Spring.” As the global corporate-financier oligarchy directs US, British, and French planes to bomb yet another Arab nation, their media tentacles are searching for sensationalism and sympathy in Syria to bolster destabilization efforts on the ground.

Indeed the “Otpor fist” that heralded unrest from Tunisia to Egypt is now being “raised” in Syria.

In a recent TIME magazine article titled, “Arab Spring: Is a Revolution Starting Up in Syria?,” it cites “descriptions” of protests, “claims” of government brutality, and “alleged details” of protesters rising up against the Syrian government, long slated for removal by the global corporate-financier oligarchs.

Yemen as well, cited as an example of Western hypocrisy for not garnering it’s own UN “no-fly zone” in reality doesn’t need one, as the British created and managed Muslim Brotherhood and elements within the Yemeni army are already on their way to ousting President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Mohammed Qahtan, Yemen’s Al-Islah (Muslim Brotherhood) leader, is leading the calls to oust Saleh from power, not “the people of Yemen.” In a March 23, 2011 Reuters report, Qahtan was quoted as warning Saleh,

“We will arrive where you are and we will remove you.”

In the same report, the US gives yet another shocking display of feigned surprise over the Middle East upheaval, voicing concerns that Saleh’s ouster would be a blow to their fight against “Al Qaeda.”

As we will soon see, such upheaval has been in the works for 20 years, and this dishonesty now being portrayed since the unrest began in Tunisia is yet another look into the bottomless well of depravity from which our “leadership” reigns.

The Greater Middle East

Concurrently the US is providing Al-Qaeda linked militant extremists in Libya with air support in their bid to oust Qaddafi. A recent US Army report aired by geopolitical analyst and historian Dr. Webster Tarpley shows the US Army noticed in 2007 that many of the Al Qaeda operatives sent to destabilize Iraq were from Libya. More specifically, these operatives were from the current eastern rebel strongholds of Benghazi and Darnah, now under the protection of a US led no-fly zone.

While this may seem to defy all reason, it only does so if measured against the now discredited official narrative peddled since the “War on Terror” began on September 11, 2001. If America is truly waging global war against Al Qaeda, indeed, nothing about the current crisis in the Middle East makes sense, officially or unofficially.

If however, Al Qaeda represents a militant force still as armed, supported, and directed by the West as it was during its US-backed inception during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980′s, it makes perfect sense.

Al Qaeda has made it possible for the US to not only justify its own military adventures in the Middle East, but has given them a militant force to badger target regimes as an alternative to the “moderate” Muslim Brotherhood and the US State Department’s armies of youth activists. That America and Al Qaeda appear as “mortal enemies” helps the global corporate-financier oligarchy exert military force while circumventing the untidy anti-Western sentiment that accompanies each Western intervention.

The broader plan, of course, is to overrun the entire Middle East, erase entire civilizations and build a servile homogeneous regional block to be rolled into a greater global government. While this sounds like the stuff of wild conspiracy theories, former NATO commander Wesley Clark stated that in 1991, Paul Wolfowitz was already determined to use US military might to conquer the Middle East.


CFR and International Crisis Group member Wesley Clark, makes a shocking confession confirming the imperialist designs of the corporate-financier oligarchy. Before Bush was even put into office in 2000, the plan to seize the Middle East was already well underway, with 9/11 the opening act. It has more to do with global domination than simply “oil.”

Considering the irrefutable evidence that the current unrest in the Middle East is a result of a premeditated Western plot given the full support of the US State Department, Department of Defense, globalist corporations and now the US military in Libya, it is quite clear the plan Clark described back in 2007 is being rushed through to conclusion. The culmination will be war with Iran.

Clark specifically cites as the architects of this decades spanning plan, the “Project for a New American Century (PNAC).” PNAC is a “Neo-Con” cadre within the globalist combine that has been recently peddling cartoonish propaganda to incite war with Iran. Their serendipitously timed propaganda film “Iranium” focusing on aggressive support for another “Green Revolution” in Iran, just so happened to be released in January 2011 at the height of the unrest sweeping the Arab world. These same “Neo-Cons” are also complicit with supporting the various uprisings via an extensive network of NGOs funded and supported by the Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy.

The Rest of the World

Clark’s prophetic words in 2007 also shed light on the Russian factor – unwilling or unable to stop US military aggression against their own allies back in the 1990′s, and with the recent failure to vote down UNSC r.1973 regarding Libya, they embolden the West to continue their march toward Tehran.

Of course, both Russia and China are dealing with a myriad of destabilization efforts both on their borders and within.

Russia, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been struggling against Western-aligned oligarchs including the likes of Mikhail Khodorkovsky who attempted to erect a George Soros-style “Open Russian Society” network of NGOs, complete with Jacob Rothschild and Henry Kissinger sitting on its board of directors. Khodorkovsky was eventually stopped, and now resides in a Siberian prison cell courtesy of Vladamir Putin.

To this day, Khodorkovsky is being supported, and his imprisonment leveraged by the West to create tension within Russia via globalist lobbying firms like Robert Amsterdam’s Amsterdam & Peroff. Ongoing destabilization efforts in neighboring Belarus, openly backed by the US State Department and creatures like Joe Lieberman, are also taxing Russia’s ability to confront the West’s encroachment elsewhere.


Joe Lieberman misappropriates the American people’s time by
obsessing over Belarus’ internal affairs while his own nation teeters
on economic collapse, ironically caused by imperialist pursuits.

China has been the subject of encirclement and meddling for over two centuries. The US currently occupies South Korea, Japan, and Afghanistan, with a concerted and ongoing effort to destabilize relations within and between India and Pakistan, as well as efforts to stoke color revolutions in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. All of this is aimed at disrupting China’s ability to challenge Anglo-American hegemony in Asia.

China is no stranger to the effects of foreign, imperialistic meddling.
Its recent history is more or less a continuum of
fending off the ill-effects of foreign occupation and foreign
backed regimes including the devastating “Great Leap
Forward” by Mao Zedong.

Domestically, a “Jasmine Revolution” was averted by Chinese officials on the back of January’s Egyptian unrest. The US State Department and the BBC are now pledging to assist “activists” inside China (and Iran) with circumventing measures put in place to prevent another attempted uprising. Creating instability inside a nation of over a billion people with regional diversity rivaling that of Europe will undoubtedly result in thousands, perhaps millions of deaths (see the rise of Mao) and gives us another instructive look into the motivations and “values” of our alleged leadership.

As reported previously, this current globalist blitzkrieg signals the largest geopolitical reordering since WW2. It is but one step, albeit a large step, toward a unipolar one world government centered around the global corporate-financier oligarchy. Considering that it is a gambit 20 years in the making, we should not wonder why operations in Libya have taken precedence over the unfolding disaster in Japan.

We should however be outraged, as the men that lord over us and dominate our nations financially and industrially are irrefutably committing real crimes against humanity through aggression and criminal negligence.

For more information on alternative economics, getting self-sufficient and moving on without the parasitic, incompetent, criminal globalist oligarchs:

Naming Names: Your Real Government
The Lost Key to Real Revolution
Boycott the Globalists
Alternative Economics
Self-Sufficiency

Tony Cartalucci’s articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer Report.

China

Is China Gearing Up For WW3?

CNN
March 23, 2011

March 23, 2011

A View of the NWO War Room

By Zen Gardner, www.zengardner.com
March 22, 2011

Notice their 'world of war' is played on a Masonic checkerboard of 'opposites'

Nothing like a map to know where you're going. In the case of the NWO, the world is like a chess game, where they move all the major pieces and just crush the pawns that get in the way.

But if you want to know what's coming, look how clearly things appear when you can assess where power is placed. Here are a few things I found enlightening when looking at the global positioning of the invading US arm of the NWO, precursor of the Army of the "United Nations".

1. The official statistics:

The U.S. maintains 716 operational military bases in 110 countries. There are 250,000 military personnel, men and women, employed on those bases. The annual cost of the US military presence is in the billions.

The sweep of history:

WW II ends, and the U.S. corporate elite sees its future in the war industry, an endless production of bigger and more destructive arsenals. A good pretext is the threat from the USSR, the escalation of fear, the arms race, the creation of the “communist menace.”

Always, there is the need for an enemy (Castro, Ho Chi MInh); after glasnost, new enemies are found: Chavez, Iran, drugs, then Al Qaeda and terrorism. Source

2. Now let's see where the U.S. air and military bases are in the middle east.

http://rupeenews.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/50-us-bases-in-the-middle-east-a.jpg

That doesn't look good for Iran now, does it...

Over 50 U.S. reported airbases in this vicinity alone...and this was in 2008!

3. Here's a map indicating which countries have one or more full fledged military bases.

http://rupeenews.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/us-bases-around-iran.jpg

U.S. military bases circa 2008

4. This map shows what it calls "Obama's big game".

We know he's just a puppet, but they revel in exalting images since that's what they'll ultimately set up for the world to worship in some form.

This is supposed to represent regional powers in the Middle East, the countries hosting US bases, those with nuclear power capability, as well as the "core of the Pakistan match and the strategic crisis ellipse."

http://temi.repubblica.it/UserFiles/limes-heartland/Image/Maps/409_Obama_big_game_800.jpg

Again, doesn't look real good for Iran. One just might get the impression this "encircling power" would very much like that last piece of this regional pie now, wouldn't you?

So Why Haven't They?

Iran claims this would happen if attacked:

Official Says Iran Would Destroy Israel If Attacked

Iran tested missiles this week

Iran tested missiles this week

July 12, 2008

TEHRAN -- Iran would destroy Israel and 32 U.S. military bases in the Middle East if the Islamic republic was attacked over its disputed nuclear program, a senior official has been quoted as saying.

"The U.S. knows full well that with the smallest move against Iran, Israel and 32 U.S. military bases in the region would not be out of the reach of our missiles and would be destroyed," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Mojtaba Zolnour as saying on July 12.

Zolnour is the deputy of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. Source

And then there's the Israeli factor...what are they giving away in visual maps?

http://catastrophist.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/map_israel_strike_iran_laura-canali_09.jpg

A little predictive programming, bra? Oh, how many are itching for this insanity!

Epilogue

An Iran attack may be the "straw that breaks the camel's back" that brings Russia and China into the fray. Not good for anyone on the planet. WW3 on steroids.

But things are moving fast. They're currently busy taking out the little dominoes first in Egypt and Libya, with more to follow for whatever reason, "by hook or by crook", you can be sure. It's been "in the cards" for a long time to the insiders.

But this is big.

The day will very soon come for an Iran attack, but it's clear they're getting their ducks in a row while working on world opinion to reach a satisfactory saturation of their propaganda.

As if it matters.

That they coerced the Arab League, a once "renegade anti-imperialist" organization, to concur with the invasion of a fellow Arab country, you knew they'd made some serious headway replacing, bullying and buying out Arab leaders of the region. Very telling of what lies beneath the surface of reported news.

The headway the NWO has made is staggering.

The rest is going to follow 'like night follows day', an apt metaphor.

Just wondering about it all, Zen


March 16, 2011

U.S. and the Arab World

Iran concerns fuel U.S. wariness on Libya intervention

The Envoy
March 16, 2011

As Libyan forces continue their rapid advance against poorly equipped rebels, many within the Washington and international foreign policy community have been urging the United States to stop deliberating and back a proposed multilateral no-fly zone to curb Muammar Gadhafi's brutal crackdown.

But some in D.C. policy circles fear that humanitarian intervention in Libya could have the unintended effect of straining the international alliance trying to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, while also expanding anti-American sentiment in the volatile region. In particular, writes Jerry Seib of the Wall Street Journal, some national security hands in the Obama administration worry that a U.S.-led international military intervention in Libya would play directly into Iranian narratives about U.S. interference in the Middle East and designs on its oil fields:

Those wary of intervening, including many in the Obama administration, worry that Western intervention will play directly into the narrative Tehran's leaders have been spinning to justify cracking down on their own dissidents: that the U.S. and its Zionist allies are waiting to take advantage of any Mideast unrest to seize control of the region and its oil assets.

This Iranian narrative holds that the protesters in Tehran's streets are either active or unwitting agents of this insidious American conspiracy. Because any military intervention in Libya inevitably would be led by American forces, it would be used to further the argument. Indeed, an examination of statements by Iranian leaders in recent days shows this is precisely how they are framing the Libya question.

With Iran in position to make trouble by fomenting unrest among its Shiite brethren in nearby Bahrain, the question of how Mideast turmoil might advance Tehran's interests already loomed large. Now it figures to play more directly into the Libya debate, for Tehran is trying to play both sides of the argument, rhetorically supporting the Libyan rebels while opposing Western help for them.
However, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter--who dealt with many of the same debates about no-fly-zones and UN resolutions during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts in the 1990s--argues that an international intervention in Libya need not be so complex:
A no-fly zone can be imposed in a matter of hours, likely with low military risk, as NATO demonstrated over Bosnia in the mid-1990s and as a coalition did over Iraq after 1991. As Gates argued, this might also require suppressing Libyan air defenses -- but that is also a relatively straightforward military proposition.

In sum, the course is clear. Washington should push for the rapid institution of a no-fly zone against the Qaddafi regime. This no-fly zone could be undertaken by NATO, the European Union, or by a "coalition of the willing" that includes the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and a few others. This could prove necessary if, despite the backing of the Arab League, the GCC, and the OIC, some NATO allies still do not want to act. Both Turkey and Germany remain reluctant -- Ankara because of the precedent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Berlin out of its historic reluctance to use force. They may have some silent partners among other NATO allies.

At the same time, the West should begin arming the rebels and trying to peel off Qaddafi supporters, by publicly declaring that those who desert Qaddafi now will not be excluded from roles in Libya's post-Qaddafi future. [...] Libyans will need the help of the West not just in getting rid of Qaddafi but also in building their lives after him
But President Barack Obama--who met with his national security team about Libya Tuesday--does not yet seem fully convinced that the United States should wade into action that would require rebuilding another Middle Eastern nation.
"The President instructed his team to continue to fully engage in the discussions at the United Nations, NATO and with partners and organizations in the region," a White House read-out stated, seemingly indicating that action on the no-fly project remains in the discussion and planning stage.
Early reports on Wednesday, however, indicated that the United States is now playing a leading role in the pending UN Security Council debate on assembling a multilateral approach to enforcing no-fly restrictions over Libya.

Among the more prominent no-fly skeptics are some key lawmakers specializing in foreign policy matters, such as Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"Given the costs of a no-fly zone, the risks that our involvement would escalate, the uncertain reception in the Arab street of any American intervention in an Arab country, the potential for civilian deaths, the unpredictability of the endgame, the strains on our military, and other factors, it is doubtful that U.S. interests would be served by imposing a no-fly zone over Libya," Lugar said Monday.

March 15, 2011

Israel and the Arab World



Israel Seizes Ship with Iran Arms for Gaza

Reuters
March 15, 2011

Israeli naval commandos on Tuesday seized a cargo ship in the Mediterranean carrying what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were Iranian-supplied weapons intended for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

A military spokeswoman said Israeli forces met no resistance when they intercepted the German-owned "Victoria" some 200 miles from Israel and were taking the vessel to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Israel maintains a land and naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, an Islamist movement opposed to peace with the Jewish state.

The military said the vessel had set off from the Syrian port of Latakia and stopped in Mersin, Turkey, before heading toward Alexandria in Egypt. Turkey has no involvement in the arms shipment, the military said.

Palestinians use a network of tunnels to smuggle weapons and other goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said he personally approved the operation, which he told reporters was carried out "on the high seas in accordance with international law."
"Many weapons were found on board, intended for terrorist forces in the heart of Gaza," Netanyahu said. "Iran is the source of the weaponry."
IRANIAN DENIAL

Asked about Israel's allegation that it seized Iranian arms on the vessel, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said: "Don't trust Israeli media news. There is no such thing. We do not confirm it in any way."

An Israeli military spokesman said an initial search turned up three containers loaded with arms and more cargo would be examined after the ship reached Israel.

Last May, there was an international outcry when Israeli naval commandos seized a Turkish ship that was part of a flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade.

The soldiers met violent resistance from pro-Palestinian activists when they boarded the cruise vessel Mavi Marmara and killed nine of them, in an incident that strained Israel's ties with Ankara.

In 2009, about 100 miles off Israel's Mediterranean coast, Israeli commandos seized the Francop, a freighter the Israeli military said was carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian arms, including rockets, to Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

Nine years ago, Israeli forces intercepted the merchant ship Karine-A in the Red Sea and brought it to the Israeli port of Eilat, where the military displayed 50 tonnes of weapons, including rockets, which Israel said Iran had sent to Palestinian militants.

March 8, 2011

Muslim Brotherhood and the Revolutions



Obama is Said to be Favoring Arab Sovereignty Over the Temple Mount!

"The Middle East peace plan that United States President Barack Obama will unveil soon involves the creation of a Palestinian Authority state by 2011 and the transfer of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem [presumably including the Temple Mount] to Arab-Muslim sovereignty... He intends to set an ambitious timetable for completing the peace deal -- something that will please Arabs but may irritate Israel." - Gil Ronen, Obama Plan: Temple Mount Under Arab-Muslim Sovereignty, Israel National News, August 23, 2009

By David Bay, Cutting Edge Ministries
August 24, 2009

There is no doubt that the Illuminati plans to address the issue of sovereignty over the Temple Mount.

In NEWS1052, I report that the New England Director of the House of Theosophy stated that one of the "breakthrough" events in allowing Antichrist to appear would be the creation of a single worship center for all Monotheistic faiths in the region, i.e., Jews, Muslims, Christians. However, the Director refused to answer my specific question as to whether this combination worship center would be built on the Temple Mount.
"As the U.N. General Assembly meets in late September, Obama aims to announce the opening of a new negotiating process between Israelis and Palestinians, along with 'confidence-building' steps by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and a number of Arab governments ... Obama 'will probably lay out at least a partial vision of the two-state settlement that all sides now say they support, and the course that negotiations should take. More significantly, he intends to set an ambitious timetable for completing the peace deal -- something that will please Arabs but may irritate Israel'."
I cannot fathom how Prime Minister Netanyahu could force this part of the plan for a Palestinian State down Israel's throat. The Temple Mount Faithful has created a cornerstone for the next Temple and enjoys wide public support. Even many secular Jews support the building of a new Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount, which means that Israel must control that area.

Could immensely strong Orthodox resistance to Arab control over the Temple Mount lead to a public campaign against them which would erode their power by making them appear to be unrealistic and too radical? After all, the Director of the House of Theosophy in Boston stated that one of the major goals of the "New Jerusalem Covenant Project" was to eliminate the Orthodox influence in Israel.

We can only wait to see how this Palestinian State plan unfolds, but one matter is certain: events are going to be very interesting and will fulfill prophecy.

Prophecies of Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24:15 and Revelation 11:1-12 reveal that Solomon's Temple is built for Antichrist to use. This prophetic reality means that the new Temple is built after the World War III, which is designed to produce the Man of Sin. Most significantly, the Illuminati Plan, as revealed in "The Armageddon Script," states that the New David (Antichrist) will travel to the Temple Mount and stand amongst the "rubble of the Dome of the Rock" ( p. 233-35).

Thus, the Illuminati plans to destroy the Dome of the Rock during the World War III fighting so that their Antichrist can rebuild Solomon's Temple. This reality means that Arabs will retain control over the Temple Mount until the moment Antichrist comes to the world scene and seizes it for the Jews so his temple can be created.

Read More...

March 7, 2011

Israel, the U.S. and the Arab World

Israel Provides Henchmen for Gaddafi

Israeli arms distribution company Global CST has reportedly, under the authorization of Tel Aviv, provided Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi with African mercenaries to clamp down on anti-government protesters.

Press TV
March 2, 2011

Egyptian sources have revealed that the Israeli company has so far provided Gaddafi's regime with 50,000 African mercenaries to attack the civilian anti-government protesters in Libya.

The arms company was previously convicted in an African country over illegal deals, News-Israel website reported.

Sources say Global CST had obtained the permission for providing the mercenaries to Gaddafi from the Israeli officials in advance.

Earlier, Global CST general manager had met with the head of the Israeli Intelligence Agencies (Aman) and Defense Minister Ehud Barak and obtained the permission for the measure.

The company representatives also met with Abdullah Sanusi, the head of Libyan Internal Intelligence, in Chad to discuss the details for a final agreement, the report says.

The mercenaries who attack the civilians in Tripoli have mostly come from Chad.

Gaddafi regime pays $2000 per day for each mercenary. The mercenaries receive $100 per day and the remaining goes to Global CST, the report says.

Meanwhile, the United States has demanded the UN Security Council (UNSC) to remove the provisions of charging mercenaries with war crimes in the killing of Libyan civilians.

The request is for the UNSC to word the resolution in a way that no one from an outside country that is not a member of the International Criminal Court could be prosecuted by the Court for their actions in Libya.

The Libyan revolution, inspired by the recent revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, sparked nearly two weeks ago.

Brutal crackdown by the Libyan regime on anti-government protesters has left thousands of people dead so far.

China

China Challenges U.S. Predominance in Asia-Pacific

Associated Press
Mar 7, 2011

When China launched threatening war games off Taiwan 15 years ago on the eve of an election on the self-governing island, the U.S. deployed two aircraft carriers, and China quickly backed down.

Things don't seem so one-sided any more.

China's military has been on a spending spree at a time that the debt-ridden U.S. government is looking to cut defense costs. On Friday, China announced a 12.7 percent hike for this year, the latest in a string of double-digit increases.

That trend has triggered worries in Congress and among security analysts about whether the United States can maintain its decades-long military predominance in the economically crucial Asia-Pacific.

While the U.S. military has been drained by 10 years of costly conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, China has developed air, naval and missile capabilities that could undercut U.S. superiority in China's backyard.

China is still decades away from building a military as strong as the United States. It has not fought a major conflict since a border war with Vietnam in 1979 and is not a Soviet-style rival threatening American soil.

But the shift raises questions about whether the U.S. can meet its commitment to maintain a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific for decades — a matter not just of global prestige but also seen as critical for safeguarding shipping lanes vital for world trade and protecting allies.

China already has an innate geographical advantage in any conflict in the west Pacific. One expert posits that with its military buildup, China could conquer Taiwan by the end of the decade even if the U.S. military intervenes.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Relations between the two, long seen as a potential flash point, have warmed in the past two years. But China's assertion of territorial claims in the South China Sea, which it has declared as a "core interest" — essentially something it could go to war over — has spooked its neighbors and fortified their support for a strong U.S. presence in the region. Even former enemy Vietnam is forging military ties with the U.S.

Last week, the Philippines deployed two warplanes after a ship searching for oil complained it was harassed by two Chinese patrol boats in the South China Sea. Japan scrambled F-15 fighter jets after Chinese surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft flew near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
"As China's military has gotten more capable and China has behaved more aggressively, a number of countries are looking at the U.S. as a hedge to make sure they can maintain independence, security and stability," said Abraham Denmark, director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
But those allies question whether the U.S. can retain its freedom to operate in the region, and whether its economy — highly indebted to China and struggling to recover from a recession — can sustain its high level of military spending, said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center of Strategic and International Studies think tank.

The U.S. Pacific Command has 325,000 personnel, five aircraft carrier strike groups, 180 ships and nearly 2,000 aircraft. Tens of thousands of forces stay on China's doorstep at long-established bases in South Korea and Japan.

China's defense spending is still dwarfed by the United States. Even if China really invests twice as much in its military as its official $91.5 billion budget, which some analysts believe, that is still only about a quarter of U.S. spending. It has no aircraft carriers and lags the U.S. in defense technology. Some of its most vaunted recent military advances will take years to reach operation.

For example, China test flew its stealth fighter in January, months earlier than U.S. intelligence expected, but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says China will still only have a couple of hundred of these "fifth-generation" jets by 2025, when the United States should have 1,500.

But China's growing array of aircraft, naval and submarine vessels, ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-satellite and cyber war capabilities already enable it to project power beyond its shores. It plans new submarines, larger naval destroyers and transport aircraft that could expand that reach further.

Roger Cliff, a respected defense researcher who recently testified before a congressional hearing on China, says many of the missiles and strike aircraft have a range of about 900 miles, which put them within attacking distance of virtually all U.S. air and naval bases in the region. They include the DF-21D missile which is designed to target aircraft carriers. It employs technology that no other U.S. rival has mastered. It does not appear to have been tested yet against a maneuvering target at sea.

Cliff said if trends continue, China should have sufficient missiles and precision bombs by the end of the decade to render inoperable for a week or more all airfields on Taiwan and U.S. air bases in Okinawa, Japan, and possibly others farther away. He said there are between 40 and 50 Chinese air bases within 500 miles of Taiwan, each generally hosting a squadron of 24 aircraft, which could overwhelm superior U.S. aircraft through sheer numbers. If China acquired amphibious landing vehicles, he forecast it could conquer Taiwan.

If U.S. military planners are worried about that possibility, they aren't showing it. They say plans to cap defense spending within five years won't derail modernization plans. Pacific Command chief Adm. Robert Willard said last month that while the U.S. carefully watches China's growing military capabilities — and urges greater openness from China about them — the United States does not need to change its strategy.

China maintains it does not have offensive intentions, and analysts say that military action in the region would hurt its export-driven economy which could threaten what its government prizes above all else — domestic stability. The U.S. military presence may also benefit China as it restrains neighbors like South Korea and Japan from seeking nuclear weapons.

As U.S. and Chinese forces increasingly rub up against each other in the west Pacific, the U.S. says it wants to promote military ties with China to prevent a chance skirmish and for China to develop as a "responsible major power." To date, China has been reluctant to engage meaningfully after the recent restoration of military ties that were cut over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
"This is not the Cold War with two rival camps facing each other," said Michael Schiffer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia. "We are seeking a military-military relationship that is broad and deep enough to manage our differences while expanding on areas of common interest."
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