Israeli Incursions into Lebanon and Syria

Update included !

Latest news from the Jerusalem Post are pointing at most recent operations of Israel's air force and which are probably directed against alleged Hezbollah activities in Syria, at the same time threatening Hezbollah locations in Lebanon.

Earlier on Friday, the Lebanese army announced that on Thursday, May 24, five Israeli Air Force planes circled above Lebanese territory for some 15 hours altogether. According to the report, most of the flights took place in the southern and northern regions of Lebanon, but one of them was mentioned to have circled above "all regions of the country." No offensive action or operation was said to have been carried out by the aircraft.

On Thursday, Syrian state media said a military airport near Homs had come under missile attack which was repelled by its air defense systems.

"One of our military airports in the central region was exposed to hostile missile aggression, and our air defense systems confronted the attack and prevented it from achieving its aim," state news agency SANA said.

SANA earlier reported sounds of explosions heard near the Dabaa airport, about 12 miles southwest of the central Syrian city of Homs and 6 miles from the Lebanese border.

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner, when asked about reports of the attack, said the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria did not carry it out and the coalition does not target Syrian government positions.




Israeli F-35 stealth fighters of US origin
now ready to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.



In Memoriam: Israeli pilots who refused bombing civilian targets.




The Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari was representing his country in the 2013 Venice Biennale with “Letter to a Refusing Pilot”. The film and video installation was inspired by French existentialist writer Albert Camus’ epistolary essay “Letters to a German Friend”, from which it takes the following quote: “I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice”.

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Danmark and
who is interested in North Korea's nuclear ambition.


By the way, US president Trump has not definitely excluded a meeting with Kim Jong-un
in June, maybe after recent emotions cooled off. However, this change of mind is neither
astonishing nor worth some fresh news tag. Let's just sit and wait what the little bird in his
head will twitter next on this subject.

Kim Meets Trump - A Tragedy for the People

Important News Update on May 24 ==> Update on the Dismantling of North Korea's Pungye-ri nuclear test site further down !

US president Donald Trump unexpectedly announced Thursday he is pulling out of the meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, ending – for now at least – the hopes of a historic reconciliation with the nuclear-armed hermit regime. [Time, USA, only some hours ago]

Here are quotations from an article published by Time, USA, on May 22 about shortcomings of a possible nuclear deal negociated between Trump and Kim Jong-un when it comes to the living conditions and human rights of most North Korean citizens. In other words: It's about Kim Jong-un possibly reaching a deal that would allow him to maintain his private concentration camp for just another decade, while giving himself the aura of a wise statesman acting at eye level with the cream of global leaders in order to establish some kind of " fake peace ".




The goal for Moon and Trump seems to be a gradual denuclearization of the DPRK. For Kim, a deal would mean the normalization of his regime, and a loosening of the sanctions that make it difficult for him and his cronies to make profits.

The media has created endless hype about these “peace talks” and the possibility of a Nobel Peace Prize for Moon and Trump. But what you very rarely, if ever, hear about are the nightmarish daily lives of 25 million people in North Korea.

Imagine being a North Korean defector. You risked your life to escape hell on earth, and you miraculously made it to freedom in South Korea. And you watch your new democratically-elected leader, President Moon. But you see that instead of promoting human rights in North Korea and expressing solidarity with your cause, he treats your former tormentor Kim Jong Un to an ostentatious feast while your family starves. You look at the press photos and watch as Moon and his colleagues smile and seem to be so genuinely happy—victorious even—as they try to make amends with a tyrant whose atrocities were compared by a United Nations inquiry to those committed by Nazi Germany in World War II.



Published by the Boston Herald.

..........

At this point in 2018 we have two decades of strong evidence to suggest that the Kim dictatorship manipulates peace talks to strengthen and cement its brutal rule. Sometimes, like in the case of the inter-Korean summit in 2000—a result of the former South Korean President Kim Dae- jung’s ‘Sunshine Policy’ of engaging with the North—these talks can even rescue and bail out the regime when it is at a moment of internal weakness. Many forget that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to South Korean president Kim Dae-jung in 2000 for bringing the Koreas together came after a payment of approximately $186 million to Pyongyang from Seoul when the Kim regime was close to economic collapse.

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Hong Kong.

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This Morning: Dismantling of Pungye-ri Nuclear Test Site
and Renewed Threats prior to the US - N Korean Summit.



Report from NBC News on May 24.

Threats to abandon the Kim-Trump summit, planned for June 12, came
from Pyongyang after US allegations that N Korea might end like Libya.




Report from Morning Post - Singapore 早报—新加坡 on May 24.

This morning journalists from five countries were driven to the test site where
they watched some enormous explosions from a 500 m distance. North Korea
denies that the Pungye-ri site had already been severely damaged during the
latest nuclear tests and therefore been abandoned.

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from the center of Madrid / Spain.

US Heading for " The Last Days of Pompeio "

Last Update: May 24

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo used his first major policy address to deliver a hard-line speech on Monday May 21, in which he demanded that Iran change just about everything regarding its behavior on the world stage. This being a "diplomatic" approach Tehran could not and would not accept, signs are indicating that US president Trump and his crew of hardliners is determined to trigger off a bloody war in the Middle East and which nobody, not even Israel, would wish to experience. After Trump's trashing of Pompeo's predecessor Rex Tillerson, America is now heading for "The last days of Pompeio".




New York Times on May 21, 2018




Al-Jazeera International on May 22, 2018

Today, early in the morning, the International service of Al-Jazeera published a comment on what the Trump administration now calls its Plan B in diplomacy with Iran. Here some quotations:

.....

The tough conditions in the US administration's so-called Plan B on Iran included Tehran withdrawing all its forces from Syria, halting uranium enrichment and nuclear-capable missiles, as well as ending support for a range of groups in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Pompeo described them as "very basic requirements" that were not "unreasonable".

But to Iran observers, the exacting demands he issued hark back to the decades of "failed" US policy that preceded the signing of the landmark nuclear agreement three years ago.

"Pompeo's post-nuclear deal Iran strategy leaves zero chance for diplomacy with Iran," said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, former spokesman for Tehran during its nuclear negotiations with the international community in 2005.

"It repeats the same coercive policy the US administration has implemented for four decades on Iran. This approach has already failed," he added.

.....

Click here for the complete article.




USA Today on May 22, 2018

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Battlefield Syria - From the Shadow into Daylight



What some media sources called the "War of Shadows" between Israel and Iran can now be seen at full daylight. On May 22, the Jerusalem Post came with the following news:

Israeli jets have continued to strike targets in Syria following the recent Iranian missile barrage against IDF posts in the Golan Heights, a senior Israel Air Force officer said on Tuesday.

“We can assume that there have been strikes since the last events in Syria. We have maintained our freedom of action over Syria,” he said during the Senior Air Force Conference in Herzliya.

Stressing that Israel will continue to carry out air strikes in the war-torn country, he said that Israel will continue to work with “determination” to thwart the entrenchment of Iran in Syria and the arming of Hezbollah.

“The Iranian resolve in the region continues and we keep operating and disrupting below the threshold of war,” he said.

The full story is available here !

The essential subject of that story is the statement of continued Israeli air strikes rather than a detailed deployment of Iranian missiles and related Israeli countermeasures and which seem to refer exclusively to earlier reported war activities from the beginning of May 2018.

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Visitor from Astana, Kazakhstan, in Central Asia and who reminds us of Iran's dilemma
and strategy in January 2012 (=> my blogspot) before the nuclear treaty with Iran came
into being. At that time, Iran tried to escape the encirclement of western nations.




US visitor from Irvine in the Los Angeles area and who is interested in Iran.

New Israeli Attack on Iranian Forces ?

On May 18, a military source reported that some heavy explosions took place at Hama air base in Syria and which is presumed to be a stronghold of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The below photo was taken by a witness who passed at the outside of the military facility.



At that time it was still unclear whether this was an accident or an Israeli assault. Two days later, the below quoted Chinese source made allegations that this had been an Israeli operation.




人狠话不多：空袭革命卫队防空营，以色列用自己的方式驱赶伊朗人

"The werewolves don't make many words": Air raid on the air defense base
of the Revolutionary Guards. Israel has its own way of driving away the
Iranians.

人狠话不多，中东平头哥，很早就知道这句戏谑之言，但在看了以色列空军在叙利亚 持续的军事行动后，越发觉得这句话用来形容以色列最贴切不过了，以色列跟某些 成天吵吵着将谁谁谁从地球上抹去的国家不同，做的多，说的少，叙利亚境内的伊朗 基地和武装力量经常在遭到空袭后，俄罗斯和叙利亚、伊朗媒体会指责是以色列所为， 不管是美英法干的还是干脆就遭到了电子战攻击，唯独以色列政府和军方会礼貌性的 用一招外交套路用于回应：对此表示沉默。

"The werewolves don't make many words", the Middle-Eastern "brethren with the short-cut hair". [We] early knew that crude joke, but after having seen the Israeli air force in continued military operations in Syria, even more felt this kind of talk comes to describe Israel as the best fitting. Israel together with certain different countries, all the time noisily searching the Earth for any support, doing much but talking little. After Iranian bases and armed forces frequently suffered from air raids within the borders of Syria, [all that] Russia and Syria as well as Iranian media would criticize was Israel. However, when the US, Britain and France ... suffered from electronic warfare attack, Israel's government and military would only use a polite diplomatic way to react: On that we remain silent.

位于哈马的叙利亚空军基地发生大爆炸，据称是该基地的地下弹药库爆炸， 持续的爆炸严重摧毁了这个基地，甚至连地面上的机库都不可避免， 多架叙军战机被摧毁，目前还不清楚究竟是怎么回事，但越来越多人开始相信， 这又是以色列干的，原因是，部署在这个叙利亚空军基地的伊朗革命卫队 防空营也遭到了攻击！

When a giant explosion occurred on the Syrian air force base in Hama, it was said that should have been the underground ammunition store of the basis which exploded. Continuous explosions seriously devastated that base. Even aircraft hangars on the surface could not be saved. Many Syrian warplanes were destroyed. At the moment it is unclear what actually happened, but more and more people begin to believe this is concerned with Israel. The reason being the air defense facility of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards deployed on that very Syrian air force base and which was as well affected by attack.

[SoHu 搜狐 on May 20, 2018]




ارتفاع حصيلة انفجارات مطار حماة العسكري في سورية إلى 28 قتيلاً

As a result of the explosions at the military airport
of Hama in Syria, the death toll has risen to 28.

وخلال الأسابيع الماضية، استهدفت إسرائيل مرات عدة مواقع عسكرية في سوريا كان آخرها ليلة التاسع والعاشر من أيار/مايو، حيث أعلنت إسرائيل قصف عشرات الأهداف "الإيرانية" رداً على هجوم صاروخي قالت أيضاً أنه "إيراني" على الجولان المحتل.ـ

Editor's Note: The Arabic text is referring to the Israeli attacks that took place in the night from May 9-10, however, doesn't conclude that the Hama incident was necessarily connected with Israel.

[ALGHAD الغد, Amman / Jordan, on May 20, 2018]

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Visitor from Spain reminding the end of World War II.




Visitor from Pakistan referring to the Muslim Immigration Ban of US president Trump.

Trump's Global Patchwork Policies

新闻：伊朗军力在叙利亚国界

更新：美国制裁—中国帮助伊朗

NEWS UPDATE: On May 17, Lu Xi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said at a regular press conference that China will continue to maintain normal economic and trade contacts with Iran, including cooperation in the oil field.




NEWS UPDATE: On May 18, the European Union launched a bundle of plans intended to counter new US sanctions on Iran and the related implications for European companies doing business with the Islamic Republic.







美国“退群”点燃中东火药桶

America's "leaving the flock" ignited the Middle Eastern powder keg.

5月11日，伊朗民众在德黑兰参加反美游行，抗议美国退出伊核协议。

On May 11, Iranian people in Tehran participated in anti-US demonstrations to
protest against the United States' withdrawal from the nuclear treaty with Iran.

[SINA 新浪新闻中心, Shanghai, on May 16, 2018]


Editor's Comment:

Even before US president Trump started his private talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, planned to be held in Singapore on June 12, he finds himself already discredited by his own disturbing and unwise foreign policies.

A few political and economic subjects, in some way connected with each other, have to be mentioned in order to underline such evaluation:

1) Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear treaty with Iran, together with the announcement of new sanctions. That decision and its implications had to lead, both, friends and foes of America to the same conclusion and which is: Nobody can trust America any longer. Even more as Trump's adage: "America First" is still ringing in the ears of foreign leaders.

However, at times when partners and enemies of America are forced to find new alliances and business partners, Trump's "America First" could finally turn into "America Alone".

Trump's plannings for the introduction of tariffs on some imported goods and which are intended to support domestic industries, have already become an embarrassment for other developed countries, even though most of such plannings are being postponed for the moment. Anyway, the regulation of foreign trade with the help of tariffs has already been proven to be of little value. At least, that is what most experts would tell you. In fact, such policy would lead to some kind of "tit for tat".



Trump after imposing tariffs on aluminium and steel:
"Trade wars are good, and easy to win."

And now, additional US sanctions are threatening such companies in the US and abroad that still dare doing business with Iran.

Like some biting Russian comment on that ?

2) The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, accompanied by moving the US embassy to the holy city, was an unexpected and completely unnecessary decision. When Trump's family members, and who are practising Jews, attended the inauguration of the new embassy equipped with branded caps, this sent two related signals to the world.
- Trump is running his own country like a family trust with a Jewish connection.
- The United States lost their credibility as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians when a traditionally strong relationship between America's Jewish community and Israel suddenly lay bare under the eyes of the world, and which is something other US administrations tried to avoid. Moreover all that happened on Israel's 70ies anniversary when culminating protest of furious Palestinians was to be expected anyway.

3) Furthermore and possibly decisive in Trump's negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the fact that Trump discredited the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA when he questioned the agency's controlling efficiency in the survey of the nuclear treaty with Iran.

How then could he "sell" a nuclear disarmament treaty with North Korea to his own people and the world after insisting that the IAEA as the only worldwide accepted controlling tool could not be trusted.

Regarding North Korea's latest decision to skip a round of negotiations with the South because of joint US and South Korean military drills and steady US demands of a complete denuclearisation, one might even expect that it would not be Trump who walked out of the Singapore meeting but rather Kim Jong-un.




Donald Trump’s White House is undermining the international system for detecting illicit nuclear activity just as he may be about to need it.

U.S. National Security Council adviser John Bolton said in an interview this week with ABC that “we don’t have adequate inspections” in Iran, where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has established the most comprehensive monitoring regime ever imposed without a military invasion.

That’s the same United Nations organization that will have to keep track of North Korea’s uranium stocks if Trump’s efforts to broker an agreement with Kim Jong Un bear fruit.

[Quotations from Bloomberg on May 16, 2018. Read the complete article on IAEA monitoring !]




North Korea threw President Trump’s planned summit meeting with its leader, Kim Jong-un, into doubt on Wednesday, threatening to call off the landmark encounter if the United States insisted on “unilateral nuclear abandonment.”

The statement, made by the North’s disarmament negotiator, came hours after state media warned that the summit meeting might be canceled to protest a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea that began this week.

The warnings caught Trump administration officials off guard and set off an internal debate over whether Mr. Kim was merely posturing in advance of the meeting in Singapore next month or was erecting a serious new hurdle.

[The New York Times on May 15, 2018]

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Porto / Portugal and who is interested in Iran.




Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Tel Aviv / Israel and who is interested in Iran.

Israel's Anniversary - Palestine Exploding

Last Update: May 16

On the occasion of Israel's 70th anniversary and on behalf of US president Trump, the American embassy to Israel was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Donald Trump's delegation to the re-opening celebrations included his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, both adherents to the Jewish belief.



The "Jewish Connection in the White House" celebrating in Jerusalem.

Quoting Israel's minister of defense A. Liberman from the above article:
Israelis celebrated life after Eurovision win, Palestinians glorify death.
I presume this remark is qualifying for racism. In case of the Palestinians
and who are Semites like any other Arab nation, this would mean some
kind of Anti-Semitism and which should get him locked up in my country.

[The Times of Israel on May 15, 2018]




Cartoon published in the United Arab Emirates.




美国又双叒叕遭“千夫所指”！中东多国罕见统一立场 快看

Lots and lots of times America is facing now a "thousand accusing fingers" !
Many countries in the Middle East share a common position rarely be seen.

The Chinese article is mentioning a daily death toll of 59 among Palestinian protesters adding to 2800 wounded.

[ZYNEWS 中原网 on May 15, 2018]


Latest News:

The Palestinian envoy to Washington has been recalled to Ramallah in protest over the U.S. relocating its embassy to Jerusalem.

Israel says the military has delivered eight trucks full of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops firing from across the border killed nearly 60 Palestinians at mass border protests on Monday.

[Mercury News in San José, California, on May 16, 2018]

Iran Cutting America Into Its Flesh

关键时刻！伊朗率先亮剑美国，停止流通美元，白宫：已被彻底抛弃

A critical moment ! Iran took the lead in ["cutting"] the US by stopping to
spread US Dollars. The White House: Already completely abandoned.

最近，据媒体报道称，由于特朗普一意孤行的宣布退出伊核协定， 并且决议单方面制裁伊朗，因此伊朗也率先向全球的主导货币“美元”开刀亮剑， 一声令下，伊朗将枪口对准了美国的货币，决定停止流通美元， 并且取而代之的以欧元作为国际流通货币，对于中国来说，这无疑是一个好消息， 因为美国一直掌握着美元的价值，进而主导全球经济，现在美元的地位日益被取代， 白宫官员也评论称：美元已经开始被彻底抛弃了。

Recently media reported that, because of Trump's decision for a one- sided declaration of withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement and [his] resolution to put unilateral sanctions on Iran, Iran has taken the lead in "cutting apart" the US Dollar as a leading currency. And by order, Iran, aligned by the muzzle of the gun to the US currency, decided to stop circulating US Dollars, thus helping to replace it by the Euro to become the currency flowing to foreign countries.

As China is concerned, this is undoubtedly good news because America has always been [in firm control of] the US Dollar's price, thereby leading the global economy. Now the Dollar's status is being replaced on a daily basis, or as a White House official put it: The dollar has already begun to be completely abandoned.

[SOHU 搜狐 on May 15, 2018]

China - 1st Homemade Aircraft Carrier in Sea Trial

Last Update: May 14

This morning, China's first homemade aircraft carrier left Dalian Shipyard for sea trials. After its launch from the Dalian construction dock on April 26, 2017, it has been fully equipped for its first deployment at sea. The warship, up to now unnamed, makes up for the second of its kind in China's navy. China's first aircraft carrier, the "Liaoning", is based on a half-finished warship of Soviet origin which offered Chinese ship builders an opportunity to train their skills.



首艘国产航母海试，各国航母如何通过“考试”？

First homemade aircraft carrier in sea test. - How do carriers
from different countries pass the "examination" ?

The Chinese article refers to the testing of US carriers belonging to
the most advanced Ford class and French aircraft carrier De Gaulle.

The Mobile Phone NetEase 手机网易网 Network (NTS China)




中国电视CCTV4的“今天关注”在5月6日是中海军的首艘国产航母。

China's CCTV 4 reporting on May 6 about the features of the
country's 2nd aircraft carrier, now awaiting its first sea tests.
1st test of a Z-18 carrier based copter landing on the warship.




096型核潜艇（北约代号：唐级，英语：Tang-class）是中国人民解
放军海军目前研制中第三代弹道导弹核潜艇，094型核潜艇的后继型。

096 submarines (Nato code: Tang class) were developed by China's PLA navy
as 3rd generation nuclear submarines equipped with ballistic missiles. They are
successors to the preceding model 094.


Further News from China:



伊朗外长火速访问中国 为挽救伊核协议做最后的努力

Iran's foreign minister hurriedly visiting China
in last effort to save Iran's nuclear agreement.

[ZYNEWS 中原网 on May 14, 2018]


China’s petrochemical imports from Iran are not expected to take a major hit upon America's re-imposition of sanctions against the Middle Eastern country. Use the following link to know more:
China-Iran petrochemical trades insulated from US sanctions by ICIS - Chemical Industry News
The possibility of having to cut oil imports from Iran should not hurt China as much, amid a glut in domestic supply of oil products, said She Jianyue, chief analyst at state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.

“Oil is not a big problem. For one, China can switch to other suppliers to replace Iran quite easily, particularly Russia. For another, China may not need to import that much of oil at all,” She said.

“We are exporting more and more gasoline and diesel, which means our refineries have processed too much oil into those transportation fuel. So, cutting imports from a single supplier will not be a problem,” he added.

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Visitors from Stockholm, Sweden, and Sheffield, Britain,
and who are interested in China's aircraft carriers.

War on Iran - Implications for Europe

On the Probability of a Fully-Fledged
War between Israel and Iran in Syria.




استطلاع: 54% من الإسرائيليين يتوقعون حربا مع إيران

Found out: 54% of all Israelis are in expectation of war with Iran.

The Arabic article is quoting Israel's daily "Maarev".

[El-Watan News الوطن,Cairo, on May 11, 2018]




ما احتمالات نشوب حرب إسرائيلية إيرانية في سوريا؟

What is the probability of an outbreak of
war [between] Iran and Israel in Syria?

وفي استطلاع أجراه موقع أورينت نت حول إمكانية اندلاع حرب إيرانية إسرائيلية بمفهومها التقليدي في سوريا، شككت النسبة العظمة من المصوتين في إمكانية حدوثها، حيث صوت 71.29 من مجمل المصوتين على الاستطلاع بعدم نشوب حرب بين الطرفين مستقبلاً، بينما لم تستبعد النسبة المتبقية تطور الأحداث بين الجانبين إلى حرب لا يمكن توقع نتائجها أو الأطراف التي يمكن أن تنخرط بها.ـ

In a poll conducted by Orient Net on the possibility of a war breaking out between Iran and Israel in its traditional sense in Syria, the percentage of voters who cast doubt on the possibility of its happening was 71,29% of all voters in the poll, [excluding] a future outbreak of war between the opponents. Whereas the remaining percentage did not exclude the development of events between both sides [leading] to a war where neither the results nor the parties involved could be [predicted].

[Orient News تلفزيون أورينت on May 11, 2018]

Editor's Note:

Orient News is a Dubai based broadcaster with a strong focus on Syria. It was once based in Damascus until Syrian state security allegedly raided their station and made an end to their transmissions.

The above opinion poll should therefore, at least partially, rely on Syrian Arabs. Its result is fitting with analytical approaches made by different media from Russia and the West, and whose evaluations recognize a desire of the Netanyahu administration to destabilize the regime in Tehran by limited military action rather than fully-fledged war. This, however, comes at a time when leading clerics in the Islamic Republic of Iran are furiously propagating the brandnew adage "Death to the US - Death to Israel" among their numerous followers.


The Political and Economic Implications
for Europe after Trump's Iran Decision.


“LET’S FACE IT”

[Germany's federal chancellor] Merkel told Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone call on Thursday [May 10] that she supported maintaining the nuclear accord as long as Tehran upholds its side of the deal. [French president] Macron told Rouhani the same a day earlier.

Germany, France and Britain want talks to be held in a broader format on Iran’s ballistic missile program and its regional activities - including in Syria and Yemen.

In her speech in Aachen [/ Germany where she met with Macron], Merkel urged the European Union to strengthen its foreign and defense policy, arguing that Europe could no longer fully rely on the United States to protect it.

“Let’s face it, Europe is still in its infancy with regard to the common foreign policy,” she said. “And it will be existentially necessary to make progress here because the nature of conflicts has completely changed since the end of the Cold War.”

Pointing to the civil war in Syria, Merkel said that many of the global conflicts today were flaring on the doorstep of Europe.

“And it is no longer the case that the United States of America will simply protect us. Instead, Europe has to take its destiny into its own hands. That is the task for the future.”

Macron echoed the call to flesh out Europe’s common foreign and defense policy. “We made the choice to build peace in the Middle East. Other powers ... haven’t kept their word,” Macron said, without naming a country directly.

“We must succeed in building our own sovereignty, which in this region, will be the guarantor of stability,” he said.

[Quotations from Reuters news agency on May 10, 2018]


US Sanctions Getting Tough on EU Trade.


European business relations with Iran and which have been established after the easing of sanctions in the frame of the 2015 Nuclear Deal are now being endangered. This is because, under US law, one-sided US trade sanctions imply as well the sanctioning of such foreign companies doing business with Iran and the US at the same time.

The delivery of about one hundred passenger planes sold to Iran by the multi-national European manufacturer Airbus might serve as an example. It should be noted that jobs in different European countries could be endangered if the Trump administration hampered Airbus activities in the US and which would be fine for US competitors. Such is the policy of "America First". But even that doesn't work as it should do: US manufacturer Boeing, for example, is now being caught red-handed with a similar deal comprising several billion US $: Boeing plane deal at risk as US pulls out of Iran nuclear deal.



On the other hand, there will be no new sanctions on Iran ordered by the United Nations Security Council as the US representative there would have no chance to pass the veto of other council members. Business relations with Iran would then remain legal on the basis of international law. However some European companies might tend to crack down under US pressure and which is wreaking havoc on Europe's national economies.

Trump - The Gambler

“Obviously Trump has an appetite for risk that has led him to huge successes and four
bankruptcies. This is clearly another example of a hugely risky negotiating strategy that
could yield extremely positive results or be a potential disaster.”

Quotation from Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,
who has advocated on fixing shortcomings in the Iran nuclear deal. His comment on
Trump was made in the frame of upcoming talks between Trump and Kim Jong-un.

..............................

Israel - Preemptive Strike

Last Update: May 11

First news arrived from Israel where Israeli positions on the Golan Heights have come under missile attack. This should have been an operation by Syrian and probably Iranian backed units and which seems to be related with attacks launched by Israeli forces on enemy positions in the Quneitra region. Quneitra is a Syrian border town in the Golan area.

A local Israeli media source comes with the following report:

In the early hours local time in Israel on May 10, 2018, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that at least 20 unspecified rockets had landed in the Golan, but caused no injuries. Alert sirens reportedly went off in the Israeli communities of Majdal Shams, Neve Ativ, Nimrod, Masa’ade, Buqa’ata, Odem, and El Rom and Iron Dome systems fired an unknown number of interceptors and shot down at least some of the incoming projectiles. The attacks immediately followed reported Israeli artillery strikes on forces aligned with Syria's dictator Bashar Al Assad, possibly Iranian-backed militias and their Iranian advisers, in the Syrian city of Baath in the Quneitra Governorate.

"The IDF sees this Iranian attack on Israel with severity," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told The Times of Israel shortly after midnight on May 10, 2018. "This event is not over," he stressed at the time.

This report is accompanied by private live footage from neighbouring locations.




Morning news coming from Israel's newspaper Haaretz on May 10, 2018.




محلل عسكرى: الهجمات الإسرائيلية في سوريا ضربة استباقية ضد إيران

Military analyst: Israeli attacks in Syria are a preemptive strike against Iran.

قال المحلل العسكري الإسرائيلي "أليكس فيشمان" لصحيفة "يديعوت احرونوت" إن النشاطات العسكرية في سوريا، لها تفسير واحد، وهى أن إسرائيل لم تنتظر لحظة حتى يستعد الإيرانيون لتنفيذ أي نشاط عدائي ضدها وسواء كان القصف مرتبطًا بشكل مباشر باستعدادات إيران لهجوم انتقامي من إسرائيل، أم كان هدفًا عاديا فإن هذا يُسمى ضربة استباقية.ـ

Editor's Note: The article is referring to military analyst Alex Fishman who is a writer for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

[El-Balad البلد, Cairo, on May 10, 2018]




إسرائيل تشن هجمات داخل سوريا ردا على "قصف إيراني"ـ

Israel launches attacks inside Syria in response to "Iranian bombardment".

BBC Arabic reporting from Damascus on Israel launching 70 missiles and 28 warplanes
against Iranian operated military facilities all over Syria, especially targeting the region of
Damascus and Homs, the Golan Heights and other places. => Follow their link to watch
the original video !

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Copenhagen, Denmark, and who is interested in Iran.




The Arabic Peninsula and Central Asia are entirely under
the influence of the EMPIRE. Well, not entirely ......

The New Arab on May 11, 2018

Iran - The Trump Decision

Evening Update on May 8:.................. War is On (May 8-9 further down !) US president Donald Trump declares US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran's president Rouhani condemns US president Trump's decision, at the same time declaring that Iran would stick to the treaty as long as it benefits Iran. European leaders from France, Germany and Great Britain, as well as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, regret Trump's decision. The United Nations UN Secretary General delivered a similar statement. - War is On - About two hours after Trump and Rouhani delivered their speeches, Arab sources from the region reported about "increased missile activity" in Syria. Here an article first published by Middle East Online ميدل ايست اونلاين in London on May 8: اسرائيل تتوعد بتدمير لبنان اذا هاجمها حزب الله Israel threatens with the annihilation of Lebanon when being attacked by Hezbollah. وزير التعليم الاسرائيلي يعلن أن المواجهة أصبحت مع إيران وليس أذرعها فقط ملوحا بتحويل سوريا إلى فيتنام بالنسبة للإيرانيين.ـ Israel's minister of education announced that the confrontation with Iran [in the morning] was not only an advance but as well threatening Syria with a transformation into [another] Vietnam with Iranian connections. 以色列：无需美国帮助也能独自把伊朗炸回石器时代 Israel - It doesn't need America's help, but could as well bomb Iran by itself back to the Stone Age. 最后，不得不说以色列最后的杀手锏了。根据最近曝光 的美国前国务卿鲍威尔的相关邮件，“中东一霸”以色列 拥有至少250余枚核弹。 Finally one cannot avoid mentioning Israel's ultimate "killing mace". Relying on recently exposed interrelated mail of former Secretary of of State [Colin] Powell, "Middle Eastern hegemonist" Israel should be in the possession of at least more than 250 nuclear bombs. [SoHu 搜狐 on May 9, 2018]

Latest news by Reuters press agency:
U.S. President Donald Trump will announce on Tuesday whether he will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. Tehran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the United States in 2015.

Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. But the withdrawal of the United States would probably sink the deal. If that happens, Iran could retaliate by undermining the interests of Washington and its allies in the Middle East.

Here are some possible scenarios: What could Iran do if Trump pulls out of nuclear deal?


British foreign minister Boris Johnson warns Trump on skipping the nuclear treaty with Iran.





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Visitors to "blueprint news" within 2 hours in the morning of May 9, 2018.




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