Wednesday 28 August 2013

The European Union Times

Putin Orders Massive Strike Against Saudi Arabia If West Attacks Syria

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 08:05 AM PDT

A grim “urgent action memorandum” issued today from the office of President Putin to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is ordering a “massive military strike” against Saudi Arabia in the event that the West attacks Syria.
According to Kremlin sources familiar with this extraordinary “war order,” Putin became “enraged” after his early August meeting with Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan who warned that if Russia did not accept the defeat of Syria, Saudi Arabia would unleash Chechen terrorists under their control to cause mass death and chaos during the Winter Olympics scheduled to be held 7-23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Lebanese newspaper As-Safir confirmed this amazing threat against Russia saying that Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord by stating: “I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us.”

Prince Bandar went on to say that Chechens operating in Syria were a pressure tool that could be switched on an off. “These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role in Syria’s political future.”
London’s The Telegraph News Service further reported today that Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria, an offer Putin replied to by saying “Our stance on Assad will never change. We believe that the Syrian regime is the best speaker on behalf of the Syrian people, and not those liver eaters” [Putin said referring to footage showing a Jihadist rebel eating the heart and liver of a Syrian soldier HERE], and which Prince Bandar in turn warned that there can be “no escape from the military option” if Russia declines the olive branch.

Critical to note, and as we had previously reported on in our 28 January 2013 report “Obama Plan For World War III Stuns Russia,” the Federal Security Services (FSB) confirmed the validity of the released hacked emails of the British based defence company, Britam Defence that stunningly warned the Obama regime was preparing to unleash a series of attacks against both Syria and Iran in a move Russian intelligence experts warned could very well cause World War III.
According to this FSB report, Britam Defence, one of the largest private mercenary forces in the world, was the target of a “massive hack” of its computer files by an “unknown state sponsored entity” this past January who then released a number of critical emails between its top two executives, founder Philip Doughty and his Business Development Director David Goulding.
The two most concerning emails between Doughty and Goulding, this report says, states that the Obama regime has approved a “false flag” attack in Syria using chemical weapons, and that Britam has been approved to participate in the West’s warn on Iran, and as we can read:
Email 1: Phil, We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington. We’ll have to deliver a CW (chemical weapon) to Homs (Syria), a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record. Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion? Kind regards David
Email 2: Phil, Please see attached details of preparatory measures concerning the Iranian issue. Participation of Britam in the operation is confirmed by the Saudis.
With the events now spiraling out of control in Syria, and London’s Independent News Service now reporting that Prince Bandar is “pushing for war,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich further warned the West today by stating, “Attempts to bypass the Security Council, once again to create artificial groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught with new suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa.”
Heedless of Russian warnings which have fallen on deaf ears, however, British Prime Minister David Cameron this morning recalled the British Parliament to vote on attacking Syria as the Obama regime abruptly cancelled their meeting with Russia scheduled for tomorrow on finding a path to peace for Syria, and the West begins its plans to attack the Syrian nation “within days.”
As Syria itself has warned that should it be attacked by the West there will be “global chaos,” the Western peoples themselves have not been told of the fact that on 17 May 2013, Putin ordered Russian military forces to “immediately move” from Local War to Regional War operational status and to be “fully prepared” to expand to Large-Scale War should either the US or EU enter into the Syrian Civil War, a situation they are still in at this very hour.
With Putin’s previous order, and as we had reported on in our 17 May report “Russia Issues “All-Out War” Alert Over Syria,” and now combined with his new ordering of massive retaliatory strikes against Saudi Arabia, any attack on Syria is viewed by Russia as being an attack on itself.
And as we had previously explained in great detail, the fight over Syria, being led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and their lap-dog Western allies, has but one single objective: To break Russia’s hold on the European Union natural gas market which a pipeline through Syria would accomplish, and as reported by London’s Financial Times News Service this past June:

“The tiny gas-rich state of Qatar has spent as much as $3bn over the past two years supporting the rebellion in Syria, far exceeding any other government, but is now being nudged aside by Saudi Arabia as the prime source of arms to rebels.
The cost of Qatar’s intervention, its latest push to back an Arab revolt, amounts to a fraction of its international investment portfolio. But its financial support for the revolution that has turned into a vicious civil war dramatically overshadows western backing for the opposition.
Qatar [also] has proposed a gas pipeline from the Gulf to Turkey in a sign the emirate is considering a further expansion of exports from the world’s biggest gasfield after it finishes an ambitious programme to more than double its capacity to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG).”

And in what is, perhaps, the most unimaginable cause to start World War III over Syria was noted by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich who said this past week: “We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a provocative nature,” he stressed. “In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet, in particular that the materials of the incident and accusations against government troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action.”
For the West to have so sloppily engineered yet another “false flag” attack to justify a war where they posted the videos of this so-called chemical weapons attack a full day before it was said to occur is the height of arrogance and disdain, but which their sleep-walking citizens, yet again, will fall for as they have done so many times in the past.
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UK gathers warplanes, military hardware in Cyprus base near Syria

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 07:36 AM PDT

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

“Warplanes and military transporters” have reportedly been moved to Britain’s Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus in the latest sign of the allied forces’ preparations for a military strike on Syria amid bellicose rhetoric against the Syrian government.
Two commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca, Cyprus, claim to have spotted C-130 transport planes from their own aircraft and small formations of possibly European fighter jets from their radar screens, according to the Guardian.
Akrotiri airbase is less than 100 miles from Syria, making it a likely hub for a bombing campaign. Residents near the airfield confirmed to the Guardian that “activity there has been much higher than normal over the past 48 hours.”
The upsurge in flight activity has been denied by a spokesman for Britain’s airbases in Cyprus, Reuters reported, also citing Cyprus’s Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides as saying that he doubted the airbases would be used if Western powers did take action against Syria.
“I have the impression that the British bases won’t play any primary role… because they are not needed, but we will have to see,” Kasoulides told Cypriot state radio.
Downing Street says armed forces are drawing up contingency plans for military action in Syria, Reuters reported.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday recalled members of parliament from their summer break for an urgent discussion. The session is due to be held on Thursday to vote on a possible military response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria.
Meanwhile, top military officials from ten Western and Middle Eastern nations – led by US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and his Jordanian counterpart – met in Amman, Jordan, to discuss potential military action in Syria. This follows reports that Dempsey presented potential military options to the White House over the weekend.
On Friday, Reuters revealed the US Navy was expanding its Mediterranean presence with a fourth ship capable launching long-range, subsonic cruise missiles to reach land targets in Syria.
British military assets already near Syria include four warships, the Navy’s flagship HMS Bulwark, a helicopter carrier and two frigates near Albania. Meanwhile France – another key player in the possible conflict – has its jet fighters stationed in the United Arab Emirates if needed
The Obama administration has little doubt the regime of Assad deployed chemical weapons on the outskirts of Damascus last week, killing hundreds, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday.
Reports from Syria of chemical warfare “should shock the conscience of the world,” Kerry said, adding that the indiscriminate slaughter of women and children carried out by the Assad regime constitutes a “moral obscenity.”
President Barack Obama has yet to make a determination about how the US will respond, Kerry said, but a decision would be forthcoming.
US officials told the Washington Post late Monday such an attack would likely be limited to no more than a couple of days. According to the sources, determining when the attack would take place depends on an intelligence report on Syria’s culpability for the chemical attack, consultation with allies and the US Congress and a determination that an attack by US and its allies follows international law.
“While investigators are gathering additional information on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts, informed by conscious and guided by common sense,” Sec. Kerry said. “The reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, the first-hand accounts from the humanitarian organizations on the ground . . . these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us are real: that chemical weapons were used in Syria.”
While top US officials hint at some unequivocal evidence implicating the Syrian government in the chemical attack, anonymous sources told NBC News late Monday the US is planning to release evidence as soon as Tuesday “to prepare the public for a possible military response.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday during a phone call with British Prime Minister David Cameron that there is no evidence such an attack had occurred. “President Putin said that they did not have evidence of whether a chemical weapons attack had taken place or who was responsible,” a British government spokesperson said after the meeting.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed during an emergency press conference in Moscow that the US, Britain and other countries have assembled a “powerful force” and are “readying their ships and planes” for a possible invasion in Syria.
“Official Washington, London and Paris say they have incontrovertible evidence that the Syrian government is behind the chemical attack in Damascus, but they have not yet presented this evidence,” Lavrov said, expressing particular outrage with the newly introduced possibility of NATO staging a strike on Syria without a United Nations mandate.
UN investigators were in the Damascus area Monday, taking samples from the site of Wednesday’s alleged chemical attack in an eastern suburb. The UN team was quickly forced to return to the government checkpoint to replace their car, which “was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area,” a spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Martin Nesirky, said.
The United Nations assured that it was still possible for the team of experts to gather necessary evidence despite the time elapsed since the alleged attack. Ban Ki-moon added that the UN will “register a strong complaint” to both the Syrian government and opposition forces as a result of the attack in an effort to stem future aggression against investigation teams.
Back in Washington, White House press Secretary Jay Carney weighed in with a statement of his own Monday, saying use of chemical weapons on a widespread scale outside of Damascus on August 21 was “undeniable.”
“As Ban Ki-moon said last week, the UN investigation will not determine who used these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used – a judgment that is already clear to the world,” Carney said, adding that it is “profoundly in the interest of the United States and the international community that that violation of an international norm be responded to.”
Further, neither Sec. Kerry nor Carney stated what countries agree or disagree with the American narrative of Assad’s alleged chemical attack. Carney did say the president is seeking guidance from members of the US Congress on using force against Syria.
Pursuant to the War Powers Resolution, passed in the US in 1973, use of military force is limited to instances when a formal declaration of war has been declared, specific statutory authorization is granted or during a national emergency. Without immediate congressional approval, the President can commit troops without a declaration of war. In that case, the President must submit a report to Congress on the details of that action. Then after the 60-day period, Congress must approve further action, though the War Powers Resolution has been violated by US presidents in the past. The White House posited in 2011 that US military action without congressional approval in Libya did not violate the War Powers Resolution based on US forces’ supposed limited role in the NATO-led campaign.
While western forces appear ready for possible military action against Syria, Obama said in an interview Friday the United States should be wary of “being drawn into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region.”
Obama went on to express reservations for becoming involved in the 30-month Syrian conflict due to a lack of international consensus.
“If the US goes in and attacks another country without a UN mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, [and] do we have the coalition to make it work?” said Obama.
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel confirmed late last week that US military forces are preparing for the possibility that President Obama would order a strike.
“The Defense Department has a responsibility to provide the president with options for contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces, positioning our assets, to be able to carry out different options — whatever options the president might choose,” Hagel said Friday, adding a decision must be made quickly given “there may be another (chemical) attack.”
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Demand For Gas Masks in Israel Soars as Syria Attack Nears

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 07:30 AM PDT

Demand for gas masks in Israel is soaring in anticipation of western air strikes on Syria that could heighten the chances of Israel coming under chemical weapons attack from its northern neighbor.
Reports of “hordes” of Israelis flocking to post offices, which are responsible for distributing the gas masks and chemical protection kits, have emerged in recent days.
“According to the Israel Post Office, requests for kits were quadruple those of a regular Sunday,” reports Israeli National News.
Neighborhood bomb shelters and other “safe rooms” are also being prepared as tensions escalate, with many predicting that cruise missile attacks will be launched on Syria at some point this week.
Meanwhile, UN chemical weapons inspectors in Syria have come under attack from snipers, forcing them to temporarily suspend their work.
Syrian state TV blamed the attack, during which a UN vehicle was deliberately shot at multiple times, on rebels in the area. FSA militants have previously kidnapped UN troops in the Golan Heights.
The UN workers returned to the inspection area after replacing the vehicle. Videos posted on YouTube show rebel fighters operating sniper guns via remote control.
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US begins war on Syria as early as Thursday

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 07:18 AM PDT

The guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107)

Senior American officials say the United States has planned to launch missile strikes against Syria “as early as Thursday” in order to punish Damascus over the alleged use of chemical weapons.
The unnamed officials told NBC News on Tuesday that the “three days” of strikes would be limited in scope, and aimed at “sending a message to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad rather than degrading his military capabilities.”
On Monday night, four US warships were deployed in the Mediterranean within cruise missile range of Syria.
American defense officials said if the US wants to send a message to Assad, the most likely military action would be a Tomahawk missile strike, launched from a ship in the Mediterranean.
The US military has beefed up equipment during the past weeks. Several nuclear-powered submarines are reportedly in the water near Syria, also cruise-missile equipped.
The report came one day after US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on Tuesday accused Kerry of lying about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, challenging Washington and its allies to provide evidence.
This is while the UN inspectors are still in Syria to investigate the chemical weapons attacks and they are not scheduled to leave the country until Sunday.
Russia and China have both warned against a US-led military intervention in Syria. Moscow says a military action would have “catastrophic consequences” for the entire region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told British Prime Minister David Cameron in a telephone call Monday that there was no evidence that an attack had taken place or who was responsible.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Monday that the use of force without a U.N. mandate would violate international law.
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World’s largest potash company’s CEO arrested in Belarus

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 07:01 AM PDT

Vladislav Baumgertner handcuffed and led into a holding cell, as shown by Belorusian state TV chanel ‘Novosti’. Taken from a video by ONT TV channel.

The CEO of Russia’s Uralkali, the world’s largest potash producer, has been detained and charged in Belarus for at least two months, and could face up to 10 years in prison for cutting out its Belarusian fertilizer partner.
Belarusian officials detained Vladislav Baumgertner Monday as he was departing the Minsk airport after he was invited to the capital by the Belarusian Prime Minister, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov.
Baumgertner is charged with ‘abusing power’ as chairman of Belarusian Potash Co. ‘Belaruskali’ and causing damages of about $100 million.
Uralkali shares tumbled on trading floors in London after news of the arrest went mainstream, losing 5.96 percent to $23.20 per share at 10:41am BST.
Potash is a key ingredient in fertilizer farmers use to protect their crops from drought. Prices have fallen more than 5 percent since Uralkali withdrew from its trade venture with its neighbor, breaking up its world-wide pricing consortium overnight and causing potash stocks to crash.
The businessman is currently being interrogated, and has Belarusian legal representation.

Uralkali General Director Vladislav Baumgertner

“As the investigation continues, this time period may be extended and other punishment applied,” said Pavel Traulko, a spokesman for Belarus’s Investigative Committee.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin warned Belarus that the arrest of the chief executive of Uralkali could strain diplomatic relations between the two neighbors.
The Russian Embassy in Belarus has requested a meeting with Baumgertner, but so far there has been no response, according to Russian embassy advisor Vladimir Marchukov.
A meeting could take place later Tuesday, as the Uralkali CEO’s lawyer and mother are due to fly to Minsk.
If found guilty, Uralkali assets and property could be confiscated by the Belarusian government.
Belarus law enforcement officials have issued warrants for four other top Uralkali executives: Oleg Petrov, director of sales and marketing; Konstantin Solodovnikov, first deputy general director; Igor Evstratova, deputy general director for finance; and Dmitry Samoilov, head of the freight division.
The officials are believed to be in Moscow and Interpol has been informed of the warrants.
“The grounds for prosecution were that they have committed an abuse of power for private gain, that caused substantial harm to state and public interests of the Republic of Belarus, as well as the large scale damage to Belaruskali and BPC,” news agencies quote the Investigation Committee.

Vladislav Baumgertner handcuffed and led into a holding cell, as shown by Belorusian state TV chanel ‘Novosti’. Taken from a video by ONT TV channel.

‘Crude provocation’
The arrest has escalated the cross-border dispute between the two largest potash companies from the former Soviet Union.
Russia hasn’t responded kindly to the detention, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has sworn to resolve the matter using all available means.
“What happened today is beyond all bounds. We think this is a very strange situation, given the nature of our relationship,” Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.
Uralkali’s spokesman Aleksander Babinsky described Monday’s arrest of the CEO as a ‘‘crude provocation of Belarusian authorities” and is ‘appalled’.
Uralkali unilaterally announced the end of its 8-year trade agreement with the Belarusian potash company, breaking up the world-wide pricing consortium in favor of exporting from its own unit in order to bolster its market position over time.
“I will never agree to form a joint venture with Uralkali,” Belaruskali CEO Valery Krienko told reporters on Monday.
Trading disputes arose when Belaruskali started selling outside of the joint venture, which caused the Russian company to suddenly quit the consortium on June 30.
In December, Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko cancelled Uralkali’s exclusive right to Belaruskali’s production.
On July 25, just days before Baumgertner quit the venture, Lukashenko appointed Elena Kudryavets as the new company director, and she was tasked to ‘not lose the Russian company’
Stacked deck
Baumgertner is facing criminal charges of “abuse of power” in his role as chairman of the Belarusian operation, as his decisions are viewed as only benefiting Russian parties.
“They were double-dealing, or rather triple-dealing and cheating in the self-interest… of the Russian shareholders,” a spokesman for the Belarusian Investigative Committee, Pavel Traulko, told Interfax.
The July 30 breakup of the Russian-Belarusian consortium caused the price of potash to fall worldwide, hurting both Uralkali’s and Belaruskali’s market capitalization. Belarusian prosecutors are alleging that, in advance of the breakup, Russian affiliates were able to use their inside knowledge to sell off stocks.
In the game of Russian fertilizer roulette, key billionaire shareholders cashed out before the sudden split that led to a fall of nearly 25 percent in Uralkali’s market capitalization. In June, shareholder Zelimkhan Mutsoev sold his 6.4 per cent stake back to the company for $1.3 billion, while Aleksnder Nesis sold off a 5 percent stake over a two-month period before the break with Belaruskali.
Suleiman Kerimov, formerly the majority shareholder in Uralkali, nearly halved his holdings in Uralkali in the last year. In August 2012, Kerimov held a 55.3 percent stake in the potash giant, but his stake was estimated at just 17.16 percent at the time of the breakup of the cartel, on July 30.
Baumgertner previously told Bloomberg News in an interview that the price of potash may fall below $300 per ton. In 2009 prices were over $900 per ton.
“If the share prices of potash companies are plummeting, this makes it easier for Russians to take over Belarusian producers,” said Forbrig, a senior program officer at the US German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told Bloomberg. “If share prices of potash companies are plummeting, this makes it easier for Russians to take over Belarusian producers.”
State-owned Belaruskali has been the country’s most profitable company, and accounted for nearly 6 percent of total exports. Before the July consortium breakup, the former Soviet Union’s two largest potash companies controlled 40 percent of global potash exports, effectively controlling prices in the $20 billion market.
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