Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/23

ITensions in the Gulf could reach a breaking point as a senior Iranian official said Iran would “definitely” close the Strait of Hormuz if an EU oil embargo disrupted the export of crude oil, the Iranian FARS news agency reports. The 27 EU foreign ministers officially adopted the measures later Monday. The embargo would immediately forbid new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products while existing contracts are allowed to run until July, 2012.ran oil sanctions spIran's FARS news agency is reporting: If the US seeks adventurism against Iran, the country "will make the world insecure for the Americans in the least possible time and all the US military men will be forced to leave the Middle-East region to save their lives", Vice-Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Jahangir Kosari told FNA on Monday.ark war of words between Tehran and Washington

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/23

Another war would destroy America’s painful recovery from the indebtedness of two wars and the 2008 economic crash. Gasoline prices would probably go up another dollar per gallon Iran has four times the population of Iraq, many times the military capability, and would seek support from other nations like Russia and China, possibly sparking an unpredictable regional war.

Link: http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-usrussia-reset-is-breaking-and-evidently-im-not-allowed-to-report-it/

Russia has accused the United States and NATO of large-scale violations of human rights during the military operation in Libya, including the deliberate murder of its leader Muammar Gaddafi and the killing of hundreds of civilians.

Link: http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/01/23/the-deaths-of-jfk-rfk%E2%80%94and-the-silence-of-the-lambs/

As the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy approaches, there is a growing flurry of material about—or even from—the Kennedy clan. This includes “insider” accounts and what are described as exciting, must-read and must-watch revelations.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/

The first major protest against an attack on Iran and Syria is scheduled for next Saturday, January 28, outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. The prospect of a new war in the Middle East is growing. As well as tightening sanctions, covert operations, assassinations and cyber attacks on Iran there is clear evidence of hostile US troop movements in to the region. The right in the US is pushing hard for intervention and these kind of provocations could spark war at any time. Meanwhile calls for intervention in Syria are getting louder and, as Jonathan Steele reported in the Guardian this week, there is a NATO backed military build up on Syria’s borders too. We need to start mobilising the anti-war majority now to swing the argument away from war. We are asking our supporters to do everything possible to publicise this protest and organise other protests and meetings locally.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/story/153850/americans_are_less_nationalistic_than_jingoist_politicians_think/

Are American politicians out of sync with the public when it comes to foreign policy? There is considerable reason to believe so. Throughout the scramble for the GOP presidential nomination, the major candidates have certainly been rabidly nationalistic. In a major foreign policy address on October 7, 2011, Mitt Romney proclaimed that “the twenty-first century can and must be an American Century.” Championing a vast military buildup, he argued that, to secure this “American Century,” the United States should have “the strongest military in the world.”

Link: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080621140829.1c1sxuqo&show_article=1

The UN atomic watchdog chief warned on Saturday that an attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme would turn the region into a fireball, as Tehran rejected an Israeli strike as "impossible."

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30306.htm

Is such a war in America’s interests? Consider.

While U.S. air and naval power would prevail, Iranian civilians would die, as some of their nuclear facilities are in populated areas. . . And a bloodied and beaten Iran would then go all-out for a bomb.All U.S. ships, including carriers in the Persian Gulf, would be at risk from shore-based anti-ship missiles and the hundreds of missile boats in Iran’s navy. Any sea battle would send oil prices to $200 and $300 a barrel. There goes the eurozone.Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iranian agents in Afghanistan and Iraq could set the region aflame. . And we lack the ground troops to invade and occupy a country three times the size of Iraq.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21593

The City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and the University of Virginia, passed on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2012, a resolution believed to be a first in the country, opposing the launching of a war on Iran, as well as calling for an end to current ground and drone wars engaged in by the United States and urging Congress and the President of the United States to significantly reduce military spending. Below is the text of the resolution, followed by an account of how it came to be. As other towns and cities have been inquiring about how they can do the same, this may prove helpful.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28740

Washington: Weeks after offering to sell its F-35 fifth generation fighter jets, the US said on Wednesday it was open to work with India on joint development of a ballistic missile shield. The offer was made by deputy assistant secretary of defence Robert Scher who said that the Indo-US defence ties were valuable and critical not only for the security and stability of the region, but globally

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28737

The United States continues to decline Russian requests to come up with binding guarantees that no American of NATO missile defence installation based on European soil will compromise Russia’s deterrence capability. Touching on this matter in his marathon media interview Wednesday, Prime Minister Putin called attention to dangerous plans to deploy American ABMs in Georgia. He said Russia would try to sort out the matter in cooperation with the Georgian opposition and would also target missiles at any Georgian-based ABMs.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28743

MOSCOW: The United States was not an onlooker in the Libyan events and took full control over the NATO operation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.But the U.S. was not an onlooker because in the first days of strikes it used its potential in full, when Libyan air defence was brought out of operation, by delivering intelligence information to its European allies and providing firing support, including from unmanned aircraft. Surely, Americans took full control – we analysed this. “We are concerned about the attempts to repeat the Libyan scenario in Syria. We sincerely tell our American and European partners about it by warning against repeating any variants of using force regardless who and wherefrom is it,” Lavrov said.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28879

He serves their purposes. He and his regime have recently authorized the deployment of another large military unit of Georgian troops to Afghanistan to serve under NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. When they arrive to join their cohorts already there, the Georgian troop contingent in Afghanistan will be the largest of any non-full NATO member, exceeding even the 1,550 troops that Australia currently has in Afghanistan. So they are providing cannon fodder.Anyone who’s fighting against the United States is actually some sort of a weird terrorist even if they are defending their own country.As to how the US will maintain its control over the Asia-Pacific region through the South China Sea issue, the CNAS study suggested a US-led multilateral security mechanism to counter China's growing power in the region. A new safety network would be formed with major players around China, such as Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia. These points clearly outline America's eagerness to force its own rule upon the South China Sea. Although accusing China of attempting to dominate the South China Sea, it is fairly obvious that the one who wants to rule the region is the US. One classic example is the recent US sanction on companies in China, Singapore and the UAE for what the US said is selling refined oil to Iran.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28734

Having recently doubled the number of US aircraft carrier battle groups within striking distance of the Persian Gulf, the Obama administration reportedly used back channels last weekend to deliver a threatening ultimatum to the Iranian government. It identified “red lines”, which, if Iran crosses them, would trigger a US attack. Chief among these is Tehran making good on a threat made last month to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which at least a fifth of the world’s oil must pass, in retaliation for what amounts to a looming US-European sanctions blockade designed to strangle the Iranian economy and permit “regime change” in this country of 70 million people

Link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/iran-j18.shtml

The march towards sweeping economic sanctions against Iran together with continuing military threats against the country from both the US and Israel are ratcheting up global tensions to an increasingly dangerous level.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28518

This and other reports suggest that Israel and the US are on a war footing. We are at a very dangerous crossroads in our history. The US and Israel are deploying troops and military hardware in the context of a major air defense exercise. They are also involved in major naval war games in the Persian Gulf. Meanwhile, reservist US Air Force pilots have been dispatched to the Middle East.

Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106478

A former senior adviser on the Middle East to the last four U.S. presidents says that "the negatives far outweigh the positives" of war with Iran and the United States should augment Israel's nuclear weapons delivery systems to dissuade it from attacking the Islamic Republic.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30271.htm

Since my January 11 column http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/01/11/the-next-war-on-washingtons-agenda/ and the news alert posted on January 14 http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/01/14/news-alert/, more confirmation that Washington is moving the world toward a dangerous war has appeared. The Obama regime is using its Ministry of Propaganda, a.k.a., the American media, to spread the story that President Obama, Pentagon chief Panetta, and other high US officials are delivering strong warnings to Israel not to attack Iran.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/us-supremacy-in-cyberspace-4585/

Prof. Igor Panarin - The United States was first to approach cyberspace as a new sphere of military action, along with the existing military domains such as land, sea, air and space. The concept dates back to 1998, but it was only interpreted into a concrete action plan following the war in South Ossetia in August 2008, which did not play out well for the US and its Georgian proxy.

Link: http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/santorum-on-nuclear-iran-despicable-me/

“Eying the white house and sucking up to Israel lobby, presidential candidate Rick Santorum OKs assassination of Academics and scientists as long as they work in Iran”

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/increasing-concern-over-oil-prices-iran/2012/01/13/gIQAP98PzP_story.html

The price of crude oil and growing tensions with Iran are bubbling to the top of economists’ and policymakers’ worry lists for 2012, as U.S. and European Union sanctions threaten to reduce the sales of Iranian oil and put pressure on one of the world’s largest petroleum exporters.

Link: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/01/14/americas-last-chance/

America has one last chance, and it is a very slim one... or they can descend into tyranny... he is the only candidate who is not owned lock, stock, and barrel by the military-security complex, Wall Street, and the Israel Lobby. All of the others, including President Obama, are owned by exactly the same interest groups. There are no differences between them. Every candidate except Ron Paul stands for war and a police state, and all have demonstrated their complete and total subservience to Israel.

Link: http://rt.com/politics/syria-iran-nato-rogozin-749/

The escalating conflict around Iran should be contained by common effort, otherwise the promising Arab Spring will grow into a “scorching Arab Summer,” says Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s former envoy to NATO. “Iran is our close neighbor, just south of the Caucasus. Should anything happen to Iran, should Iran get drawn into any political or military hardships, this will be a direct threat to our national security,” stressed Rogozin. Dmitry Rogozin, who served as Russia’s special envoy to NATO in 2008-2011, was appointed deputy prime minister by Vladimir Putin in December. On Friday he was bidding farewell to his NATO colleagues in the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.

Link: http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28645

It is with great disappointment that I receive the news from foreign media publications and Libyan sources that our President now has 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in Malta and they are about to make their descent into Libya. For those of you who have not followed closely the situation in Libya, the resistance to the rule of the National Transitional Council is strong. The National Transitional Council (NTC) cast of characters has about as much support on the ground as did Mahmoud Abbas before the United Nations request for Palestinian statehood or Afghanistan's regal-looking but politically impotent Hamid Karzai or for that matter, George W Bush after eight years.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/story/153749/obama_shows_his_war-mongering_side/

Obama aims to create a neat, high-tech image of war, and act like everything is in control.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21577

It is not a matter of being optimistic or pessimistic, knowing or not knowing elementary things, of being responsible or not for events. Those who would like to be thought of as politicians should be thrown onto the trash heap of history when, as the norm goes, they have no idea about everything or almost everything related to it in that activity.

Link: http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28542

With ongoing war games on both sides, armed hostilities between the US-Israel led coalition and Iran are, according to Israeli military analysts, "dangerously close". There has been a massive deployment of troops which have been dispatched to the Middle East, not to mention the redeployment of US and allied troops previously stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nine thousand US troops have been dispatched to Israel to participate in what is described by the Israeli press as the largest joint air defense war exercise in Israeli history.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/pent-j07.shtml

The military strategy unveiled by President Barack Obama Thursday keeps massive spending on the US war machine largely intact, while shifting its focus decisively toward China. Obama made an unprecedented appearance at the Pentagon Thursday, marking the first time that a US president has personally participated in the presentation of such a defense strategic guidance document, which presents in broad strokes the priorities and direction for the US armed forces.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/05-6

US stoking fears for public to support "the next wild burgeoning arms race in the Pacific." At a news briefing at the Pentagon today, President Obama revealed today his strategy for a new defense strategy. “This ‘slimmed down’ plan continues the trend to rely increasingly on fighting the two wars with technology (drones) and ‘precision’ strategic bombing," stated Beau Grosscup, professor of international relations at California State University in Chico. In the preamble to the new plan, Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense, Obama writes:

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/hadi-j05.shtml

Today's opening of the trial of a US Marine in connection with the 2005 massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha casts a spotlight on the criminal character of the nine-year war and occupation carried out under the Bush and Obama administrations.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/pers-j04.shtml

The year begins with the looming threat of a new American war, this time against Iran. In the latest sharp exchange of words, the US yesterday brushed aside an Iranian warning that the American aircraft carrier, USS John C. Stennis should not return to the Persian Gulf as it constitutes a threat to Iran.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30158.htm

Obama and Netanyahu are engaged in intense maneuvering over Netanyahu's aim of entangling the United States in an Israeli war against Iran. Netanyahu is exploiting the extraordinary influence his right-wing Likud Party exercises over the Republican Party and the U.S. Congress on matters related to Israel in order to maximise the likelihood that the United States would participate in an attack on Iran.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/iraniraq-defectors-and-disinformation-4574/

Official Washington has a soft spot for “defectors” from hostile nations, especially if their tales of perfidy about their ex-homelands fit with favored policy. That was the case with Iraq before the 2003 invasion and now with Iran, but these “defectors” often tell lies. Iranian Army CadetsA new American war hysteria is rising, this time over Iran, and – like its predecessor with Iraq – this one employs “defectors” who come forward, often under the umbrella of neocon organizations, to impart alarming tales.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/04-12

It is as if they learned nothing at all from the lies and imperial lust for power that dragged us into a murderous, multi-trillion dollar war with Iraq. On Friday, the New York Times editorial board lauded U.S. military threats against Iran and called for “maximum economic pressure” to be brought to bear against the country. And this is America’s most influential “liberal” newspaper. The right-wing hate media, which reaches an audience in the tens of millions every day, is even worse

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219331.html

Interview with James Morris, political commentator. The US has played down fears of an escalation of tensions with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, saying it does not seek a confrontation with Tehran. The Pentagon, however, still insists that it has no plans to withdraw American warships from the region. Iran has long accused the US of adopting hostile policies. Press TV talks with James Morris, a political commentator in Los Angeles, to get his insight on the issue. Below is an approximate transcription of the interview:

Link: http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/ron-paul-and-the-killing-machine-by-mike-whitney/

Ron Paul is the only antiwar candidate who has a (microscopic) chance of winning in 2012. He’s also the only candidate who will make an effort to restore the Bill of Rights and reverse Congress’s decision to allow the president to “indefinitely” imprison American citizens without due process. For these reasons alone, Paul should garner the support of leftists, liberals, and progressives. But he won’t, because liberals are convinced that Paul will try to dismantle the social programs upon which the elderly, the infirm, and the vulnerable depend.

Link: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/engaging-non-state-armed-groups-4569/

The US State Department wants to open channels to non-state actors, but its policy at the practical level is still muddled.
Limiting US foreign relations to state-to-state diplomacy flies in the face of recent global developments. Since 2008, conflicts between a state and one or more non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have vastly outnumbered inter-state conflicts, according to the Human Security Report 2009/2010.
One problem that impedes engaging with NSAGs is that they are often classified as terrorist organizations. The term ‘terrorist’ is however sometimes used as a politically-motivated weapon against a target NSAG.
"While all terrorist groups are by definition NSAGs, not all NSAGs are terrorist groups," Knopf acknowledged. "But the State Department has shied away from engagement with many NSAGs."

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2011/dec2011/pers-d31.shtml

The Obama administration’s bellicose stance towards Iran is setting the stage for a dangerous slide towards war in the Persian Gulf. Having provoked Tehran with legislation for what amounts to an oil embargo, the US is threatening Iran with military action if it retaliates by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.

Link: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m84412&hd=&size=1&l=e

While the unconcealed hypocrisy that led to the emergence of a new Libya fades from the public consciousness, the governments of the West are beginning to reap the profits of their investments. Under a mandate to protect civilians, these allied forces armed radical factions of Islamist fighters and showered white phosphorus tipped ordnanceonto densely populated residential areas.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/u-3-5-billion-arms-sale-uae-amid-154211697.html%3B_ylt%3DAouBfDy5OU2f5AjBX5hynDGs0NUE%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTNsYTQxZjRhBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBGUARwa2cDYzk2MjgwZWYtY2YxMy0zOGUxLWE0NWUtMmQ3MmMxN2Q5NWVlBHBvcwM2BHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyA2IwNDNmMzkwLT

The United States has signed a $3.5 billion sale of an advanced antimissile interception system to the United Arab Emirates, part of an accelerating military buildup of its friends and allies near Iran.