Assad Warns of Regional "Earthquake" If West Attacks

Assad and Qaddafi (source)

Western countries "are going to ratchet up the pressure, definitely," Assad told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"But Syria is different in every respect from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen. The history is different. The politics is different."

"Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake."

...

NATO military intervention in Libya played a decisive role in toppling Muammar Gaddafi, the third Arab leader to be overthrown after the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

Western nations have shown no appetite to repeat their Libyan operation in Syria, but demonstrators are increasingly calling for a "no-fly zone" over their country.

"Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?" Assad said. "Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region."

Since the start of protests in March, Syrian authorities have blamed the violence on foreign-backed gunmen and religious extremists they say have killed 1,100 soldiers and police.

Syria has barred most international media, making it hard to verify accounts from activists and authorities.

read it all here

Waaay Ahead of Mainstream Media

This is a sample of today's top story:

Syrian President Bashar Assad warned western countries on Tuesday that if Syria comes under NATO attack it would fire missiles at Tel Aviv, Iranian semi-official news agency FARS reported.

During a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu Assad allegedly threatened: "If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than 6 hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv."

-Jpost

Now for some reason mainstream media picked up on this story today, October 4th, while I Posted this story here September 26th.. hmm..

Assad Fears Israel and Turkey Will Occupy Syria, Plans to Launch 5,000 Missiles/hour On Israel if Attacked by NATO: Source

John Batchelor Travelled with colleague Aaron Klein, WABC, to Golan Heights last week to meet with Syrian source who lives in the borderland between Syria and Occupied Syria and Lebanon and Israel. Speaks of the Bashar Assad regime standing bloody-minded firm against the protesters in the Sunni cities of Homs and Homa.

Russia to build sea-based 'missile shield' / Russia to Supply Syria with Advanced Anti-Ship Missiles

Russia is planning to develop its own sea-based missile defense system, a Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday.

"According to our analysis, this system will be very efficient and meet the norms of international maritime law," said Vladimir Kozin, a deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's information and press department.

Kozin did not give any further details on the future missile defense system. He was speaking at a video conference between Moscow and Kiev on European security.

The move is almost certain to be interpreted as Russia's response to NATO's European missile shield, which it says it needs to counter potential missile attacks from "rogue states," such as Iran and North Korea.

Iran Demands Turkey Explain NATO Missile Shield on Its Soil

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi on Saturday called on Turkey to explain its plan to deploy a NATO missile shield system in its territory, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Salehi said the radar system which will be set up in Turkey has caused concerns in Iran and other neighboring countries, according to Mehr.

Iran does not think such a system is necessary, taking into consideration the current developments in the region, Salehi said, adding that Iran hopes that Turkey will provide necessary explanations on this issue.

Iran always seeks to solve its problems with the neighboring countries and to move in the direction of ensuring peace, security and stability in the region, the Iranian foreign minister said, " We hope to continue the same path in the future."

Salehi also expressed hopes that all the regional countries will narrow their differences and avoid providing any opportunity for their enemies who are seeking to sow discord among the regional nations.

According to earlier reports, a NATO warning radar system is going to be deployed in Turkey by the end of this year and it will be used to track missile launched from Iran.

xinhua

Video: ISAF Fighting Off The Taliban Embassy Attackers in Afghanistan

Check out these YouTube videos uploaded by ISAF showing U.S. Army soldiers, Marines, and unidentified troops in Desert Combat Uniforms armed with Kalashnikovs (Salamander says they’re Macedonian) fighting off Taliban insurgents during Tuesday’s attack on the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul.

While the insurgents failed to do serious harm to the embassy and its staff (though there were numerous Afghan casualties) they did seem to gain a PR victory due to the amount of media attention the incident received.

ISAF went on a PR offensive of its own, though, including a great twitter fight between ISAF and the Taliban during the kinetic assault. These videos are another part of that offensive. Just like insurgents love to broadcast their battlefield exploits, NATO is now showing off it’s fighting prowess in a timely manner. Enjoy.

h/t defenseTech

The Dilemma America Faces When Allies Fight: Turkey vs. Israel & Japan vs. South Korea

Relations between Turkey and Israel grow more tense and ugly by the day. There is even growing speculation that the two countries might come to blows. Ankara’s pledge to provide naval escorts for future humanitarian relief flotillas headed for Gaza certainly has the potential to trigger such a conflict.

If that scenario took place, it would put the United States in a horrific dilemma. Although there is no legal obligation to defend Israel, that country has long been Washington’s favorite partner in the region, and it exerts a powerful emotional hold on major portions of the American population. Yet Turkey is a fellow member of NATO, and the United States has an explicit treaty obligation to assist that country if it is attacked.

If fighting erupted between Israeli and Turkish forces and Ankara invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which proclaims that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all, Washington would face a nightmare scenario. U.S. leaders would then have to decide if Turkey was the victim of aggression or had provoked an attack. The likelihood is that if forced to choose between Israel and Turkey, Washington would find that Turkey was at fault. Regarding Israel as an aggressor whose conduct mandated a U.S. military response is utterly unthinkable, especially given the firestorm such a decision would create at home.

But if the United States reneged on its Article 5 commitment, Turkey would almost certainly withdraw from NATO, and relations between Washington and Ankara would plunge into the deep freeze. Other alliance members would certainly wonder about the reliability of their security commitment under Article 5. In short, the episode could well be the death blow for NATO.

The possibility of an armed clash between Israel and Turkey is not the only instance in which Washington has reason to worry. Throughout the Cold War, U.S. officials worried repeatedly that war might break out between NATO members (and long-time adversaries) Greece and Turkey. That risk reached an extremely dangerous level in 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus and expelled the Greek Cypriot population from the northern portion of the island. Although tensions between Athens and Ankara have receded somewhat in the past few years, the possibility of a clash has not disappeared.


On the other side of the world, Japan and South Korea have frequently been at odds—especially regarding a territorial dispute over some small islands (known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan) in the East China Sea. There have been several instances of naval deployments by both countries that could easily have gotten out of hand.