Daily Archives: 28. Mai 2023


28.05.2023 - 14:20 [ Newsweek ]

War Clouds Gather over Israel as Iran Makes Peace with Arab Rivals

(25.05.2023)

„Iran is everywhere,“ Amir Avivi, a brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces‘ (IDF) reserve, told Newsweek. „And it‘s not new, but what is new is that the possibility of war is getting bigger and bigger. There‘s more chance of a large-scale war than ever before, that is, in the last 20 or 30 years.“ (…)

Referring specifically to the U.S. role in „the Arab Spring and the breakup and division of the region,“ as well as the U.S. decision to sign the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement „without taking into account the needs of the Gulf countries“ among other developments, Lheedan argued that „there is no doubt that the United States has not in fact played a positive role in the region for more than 20 years.“

28.05.2023 - 13:55 [ Telegraph.co.uk ]

Bush ‚is planning nuclear strikes on Iran‘s secret sites‘

(09 April 2006)

Although Iran claims that its nuclear programme is peaceful, US and European intelligence agencies are certain that Teheran is trying to develop atomic weapons. In contrast to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, there are no disagreements within Western intelligence about Iran‘s plans.

This newspaper disclosed recently that senior Pentagon strategists are updating plans to strike Iran‘s nuclear sites with long-distance B2 bombers and submarine-launched missiles. And last week, the Sunday Telegraph reported a secret meeting at the Ministry of Defence where military chiefs and officials from Downing Street and the Foreign Office discussed the consequences of an American-led attack on Iran, and Britain‘s role in any such action.

28.05.2023 - 13:39 [ Washington Post ]

U.S. Is Studying Military Strike Options on Iran

(April 9, 2006)

In January, the president termed a nuclear-armed Iran „a grave threat to the security of the world,“ words that echoed language he used before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Vice President Cheney vowed „meaningful consequences“ if Iran does not give up any nuclear aspirations, and U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton refined the formula to „tangible and painful consequences.“ (…)

Israel is preparing, as well. The government recently leaked a contingency plan for attacking on its own if the United States does not, a plan involving airstrikes, commando teams, possibly missiles and even explosives-carrying dogs. Israel, which bombed Iraq‘s Osirak nuclear plant in 1981 to prevent it from being used to develop weapons, has built a replica of Natanz, according to Israeli media, but U.S. strategists do not believe Israel has the capacity to accomplish the mission without nuclear weapons. (…)

Pentagon planners are studying how to penetrate eight-foot-deep targets and are contemplating tactical nuclear devices.

28.05.2023 - 13:22 [ Seymour Hersh / New Yorker ]

The Iran Plans

(April 9, 2006)

American and European intelligence agencies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), agree that Iran is intent on developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons. (…)

One of the military’s initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites. (…)

The lack of reliable intelligence leaves military planners, given the goal of totally destroying the sites, little choice but to consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “Every other option, in the view of the nuclear weaponeers, would leave a gap,” the former senior intelligence official said. “ ‘Decisive’ is the key word of the Air Force’s planning. It’s a tough decision. But we made it in Japan.”

He went on, “Nuclear planners go through extensive training and learn the technical details of damage and fallout—we’re talking about mushroom clouds, radiation, mass casualties, and contamination over years. This is not an underground nuclear test, where all you see is the earth raised a little bit. These politicians don’t have a clue, and whenever anybody tries to get it out”—remove the nuclear option—“they’re shouted down.”

28.05.2023 - 13:20 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Israel fordert atomaren Angriff auf den Iran

(22. Juli 2006)

Dokumentation in zeitlicher Reihenfolge:

“Washington Times”, 31.01.2003,
Bush genehmigt Einsatz von Atomwaffen
Im geheimen “National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 17” Dokument genehmigt die US-Regierung den präventiven Einsatz von Atomwaffen, explizit zum Ausschalten unterirdischer Anlagen oder falls Alliierte mit chemischen oder biologischen Waffen angegriffen würden, so die Washington Times.

(…)

New Yorker, 08.04.2006 (Anm.: 17. April 2006 später vermerkter Erscheinungstermin), Seymour Hersh:
Laut Hersh plant die Bush-Administration und das Pentagon den Einsatz von atomaren B61-11 “bunker busters” gegen Iran´s unterirdischen Einrichtungen wie in Natans (Natanz). Anders seien Anlagen, die wie Natans unter 75 Fuß Erde und Gestein liege, nicht zu zerstören.
Kommentar eines Air-Force-Planers: “Es ist eine harte Entscheidung. Aber wir fällten sie in Japan.”
Die Entscheidung zur Option eines Atomkrieges rief offenbar größte Unruhe im Generalstab der US-Militärs hervor, einige Offiziere hätten mit Rücktritt gedroht, es wurde verlangt diese Option vom Tisch zu nehmen.
Doch das Weiße Haus habe das zurückgewiesen. “Was wollt Ihr denn? Die Option kam doch von Euch.”
Ein früherer Regierungsbeamter berichtete, die Bush Administration ginge von der irrwitzigen Annahme aus, daß das iranische religiöse Regime durch eine schwere Bombardierung zusammenbrechen und von der Bevölkerung gestürzt würde. (Anm.: s.o. das Ausplaudern der offensichtlich von Israel mitgebrachten Pläne von ex-Verteidigungsminister Moshe Ya´alon, dokumentiert in der Haaretz vom 11.03.2006)
“Als ich das hörte, war ich schockiert und fragte mich, ´Was haben die geraucht?´”, so der ehemalige Regierungsbeamte zu Seymour Hersh

28.05.2023 - 12:46 [ JNS.org ]

Dermer, Hanegbi to travel to DC for talks on Iran, Saudi-Israel peace

(May 25, 2023)

Addressing reports that Iran is building a nuclear facility deep enough underground to withstand U.S. “bunker buster” bombs, Hanegbi said at Herzliya Conference 2023 at Reichman University on Tuesday:

“It’s not a surprising thing. It’s the Iranian approach to move facilities underground to maintain their immunity. This of course limits the ability to attack, but what can be said is that there is no place that cannot be reached.”

28.05.2023 - 12:05 [ Haaretz ]

Netanyahu’s Cabinet Ministers in Race to See Who Is Most Fascist

The sixth Netanyahu government is beginning to look like a totalitarian caricature. There is almost no move associated with totalitarianism that has not been proposed by one of its extremist members and adopted by the rest of the incompetents it comprises, in their competition to see who can be more fully full fascist.

28.05.2023 - 11:45 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

“Die Linke”: (Euro-) Kapitalismus-Rettung um jeden Preis

(25.November 2013)

Die seit Jahren von den Funktionären dieser sehr alten Partei organisiert gestreuten Propaganda über D-Mark-Nationalisten-Kapitalisten als vermeintlich einzigen Gegnern des Euro-Finanz- und Währungssystems, können alle selbst widerlegen, wenn sie sich ausnahmsweise 10 Sekunden Zeit zum Nachdenken nehmen.

Noch nie wurde in der gesamten Geschichte der Menschheit ein Finanzsystem durch das vorhergehende ersetzt. Ein neues Finanzsystem wäre neu.

Haben wir das jetzt alle verstanden?

28.05.2023 - 11:40 [ Karo CH / Nitter ]

Die EZB hebt Zinsen weiter an. Das Resultat weiter steigender Zinsen aber könnte die Wirtschaft in Deutschland noch stärker unter Druck bringen. Vor allem für die deutsche Industrie weisen alle Indikatoren weiter nach unten.

(…)

28.05.2023 - 11:07 [ Tablet Magazine ]

A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century

The first phase of the information war was marked by distinctively human displays of incompetence and brute-force intimidation. But the next stage, already underway, is being carried out through both scalable processes of artificial intelligence and algorithmic pre-censorship that are invisibly encoded into the infrastructure of the internet, where they can alter the perceptions of billions of people.

Something monstrous is taking shape in America. Formally, it exhibits the synergy of state and corporate power in service of a tribal zeal that is the hallmark of fascism. Yet anyone who spends time in America and is not a brainwashed zealot can tell that it is not a fascist country. What is coming into being is a new form of government and social organization that is as different from mid-twentieth century liberal democracy as the early American republic was from the British monarchism that it grew out of and eventually supplanted. A state organized on the principle that it exists to protect the sovereign rights of individuals, is being replaced by a digital leviathan that wields power through opaque algorithms and the manipulation of digital swarms.

28.05.2023 - 11:06 [ TaxResearch.org.uk ]

Suppose we have an interest rate / inflation spiral now, and it’s been created by the Bank of England?

I suspect the Bank to deny this, but they have already admitted their models of inflation based on their own understandings of the issue do not work, so little weight should be given to that.

Instead it‘s time to cut rates and remove the only excuse businesses have to increase prices because interest rates are the only cost expected to remain high, and excessively so, from now into the future.

28.05.2023 - 11:02 [ Bloomberg ]

Gas Price Plunge Brings Relief to Europe After Energy Panic

European gas prices have plunged to the lowest since mid-2021, when Russia was just beginning to squeeze supplies before its invasion of Ukraine, helping to reverse a surge in inflation and bring relief to consumers.

28.05.2023 - 10:55 [ theGuardian.com ]

Bank of England raises UK interest rates to 4.5%

(11 May 2023)

The Bank of England has raised interest rates by a quarter of a point to 4.5% as it forecast inflation would stay higher for longer than previously expected and the economy would perform more strongly.

28.05.2023 - 10:47 [ Sky.com ]

Supermarkets ‚to be urged to cap price on some foods‘

The scheme would aim to get retailers charging the lowest possible amount for some basic products like milk and bread, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

A Number 10 source said the plans are at „drawing board stage“ and would not involve government-imposed price controls.

28.05.2023 - 00:10 [ theHill.com ]

Why I believe RFK Jr. will be the 2024 Democratic nominee

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch recently used a statement in a lawsuit over the Title 42 public health order to give a scathing overview of how civil liberties were trampled during the COVID era.

The U.S., he wrote, may “have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country….Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale. Governors and local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes. They shuttered businesses and schools, public and private. They closed churches even as they allowed casinos and other favored businesses to carry on. They threatened violators not just with civil penalties but with criminal sanctions too.”

Many on the left now condemning Kennedy as an “anti-vaxxer” might have no problem with these draconian actions. But guess what? Tens of millions of Americans did and still do.

28.05.2023 - 00:05 [ News.cn ]

Full text: China‘s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis

(2023-02-24)

1. Respecting the sovereignty of all countries. Universally recognized international law, including the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, must be strictly observed. The sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld. All countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, are equal members of the international community. All parties should jointly uphold the basic norms governing international relations and defend international fairness and justice. Equal and uniform application of international law should be promoted, while double standards must be rejected.

2. Abandoning the Cold War mentality. The security of a country should not be pursued at the expense of others. The security of a region should not be achieved by strengthening or expanding military blocs. The legitimate security interests and concerns of all countries must be taken seriously and addressed properly. There is no simple solution to a complex issue. All parties should, following the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security and bearing in mind the long-term peace and stability of the world, help forge a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture. All parties should oppose the pursuit of one‘s own security at the cost of others‘ security, prevent bloc confrontation, and work together for peace and stability on the Eurasian Continent.

3. Ceasing hostilities. Conflict and war benefit no one. All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control. All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually deescalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire.