US says Iran’s claimed naval alliance with Saudi, Gulf nations "defies reason"

US says Iran’s claimed naval alliance with Saudi, Gulf nations "defies reason"

    Monday, June 05, 2023   No comments

The US Fifth Fleet and the Combined Maritime Forces agreed on Iran's announcement of its intention to form a naval alliance with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

And the "Breaking Defense" website, which specializes in military news, quoted a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet and the Combined Maritime Forces, Tim Hawkins, as saying, "The alliance that Iran announced its intention to form with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries is illogical and defies reason."

Hawkins claimed that "Iran wants to form a maritime security alliance to protect the waters that threaten it," he said.

This American fear was accompanied by an Israeli fear, as Israeli media published a report describing Iran's decision as "disturbing."

China, on the other hand, through its foreign ministry, welcomed the Iranian-Saudi-Emarati collaboration. "We welcome the alliance that includes Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said. "We welcome the announcement of the formation of a joint naval alliance that includes Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and some other parties. This alliance enhances security and stability in the region." He added.

  

A secret meeting of the leaders of the world's major intelligence services in Singapore

A secret meeting of the leaders of the world's major intelligence services in Singapore

    Sunday, June 04, 2023   No comments

Five people told Reuters that senior officials from about two dozen of the world's top intelligence agencies held a secret meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Security Dialogue meetings in Singapore earlier this week.

They added that these meetings are organized by the Singapore government and held secretly in a separate location, as well as the security summit for several years. These meetings have not been previously disclosed.

US Director of National Intelligence Avril Heinz participated in the secret meeting representing the United States, while China was among the countries present, despite the state of tension between the two great powers.

An Indian source said Samant Goel, director of India's intelligence service, Research and Analysis Wing, also attended the meeting.

“The meeting is an important component of the international shadow agenda,” said a person familiar with the discussions. “Looking at the group of countries involved, this is not an intelligence meeting, but rather a way to advance a deeper understanding of the intent.”

"There is an unspoken code among the intelligence services that they can talk when they find it difficult to communicate and engage in diplomacy," he said. "It's a very important factor during times of tension, and the Singapore meeting helps reinforce that."

The five sources who discussed the meetings declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

A spokesman for Singapore's Ministry of Defense said that while attending the Shangri-La Security Dialogue, "participants, including senior officials from intelligence agencies, take the opportunity to meet with their counterparts".

He added, "The Ministry of Defense in Singapore may facilitate some of these bilateral or multilateral meetings... Participants consider that these meetings held on the sidelines of the (dialogue) are useful."

The BRICS countries call for a “rebalancing” of the global system.. and Lavrov confirms the discussion of the issue of Saudi Arabia’s acceptance of the alliance

The BRICS countries call for a “rebalancing” of the global system.. and Lavrov confirms the discussion of the issue of Saudi Arabia’s acceptance of the alliance

    Thursday, June 01, 2023   No comments

The foreign ministers of the BRICS countries, who met Thursday in the Cape, before a summit scheduled for August, whose preparations are dominated by the question of whether Vladimir Putin will come to South Africa or not, called for a "rebalancing" of the global system.

The BRICS countries include South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at the start of the meeting, "The multipolar world is rebalancing and the old methods cannot handle the new situations."

For her part, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said, "Our discussions today will focus on opportunities to strengthen and transform global governance systems."

Pretoria has long called for the BRICS countries to create balance in a world system dominated by the West.

In response to a question by journalists about the Russian president's attendance at the summit in August, the minister confirmed that "an invitation was extended to each of the five heads of state."

Pandor added that the South African government, which has not taken a position on the possible arrest of the Russian president, is studying "legal options."

Putin has been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for the "deportation" of Ukrainian children as part of Moscow's attack on Ukraine.

In theory, as a member of the International Criminal Court, South Africa is supposed to arrest the Russian president if he enters its territory. But the two countries maintain close relations.

Pretoria refuses to condemn Moscow since the start of the war on Ukraine, stressing that it takes a neutral position and prefers dialogue to resolve the crisis, which raises concern in the international arena.

In April, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Putin put South Africa "in a difficult position".

This week, the South African government granted diplomatic immunity to officials who attended the BRICS summit, saying it was standard procedure for organizing international conferences.

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced today, Thursday, that the issue of accepting Saudi Arabia into the BRICS alliance had already been discussed.

Lavrov told reporters, after a meeting of the BRICS Council of Foreign Ministers, that the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries had already discussed the issue of accepting Saudi Arabia into the group.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier today that "the issue of BRICS expansion will be discussed" during the ministerial meeting in Cape Town.

"There are many strong candidates to join BRICS, and Saudi Arabia is one of them," Ryabkov added.

He continued, "We support their candidacy unconditionally, and will do everything we can to ensure that the process of developing criteria for accepting new members is not delayed."

Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously announced that Russia would continue to develop relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the bilateral and multilateral levels, indicating that Moscow supports Riyadh's accession to the BRICS alliance.

During the last summit (2022), Argentina and Iran formally submitted their applications to join BRICS, a move strongly supported by Russia and China.

And the “BRICS” group is a bloc that includes Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa and India. It was founded in 2006, at a summit hosted by the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, and its name changed from “BRICS” to BRICS in 2011, after South Africa joined it. This international group aims to increase economic relations. between them in local currencies, which reduces dependence on the dollar.

Ukraine Official: Security of the entire Middle East region cannot be resolved without the complete de-occupation of Crimea

Ukraine Official: Security of the entire Middle East region cannot be resolved without the complete de-occupation of Crimea

    Tuesday, May 23, 2023   No comments

A cryptic statement linking Ukraine to the security of the Middle East, was made by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Danilov. Here it is:

“The issue of the security of the entire Middle East region... cannot be resolved without the complete de-occupation of Crimea."

 

UK’s Special Forces have been deployed operationally in at least 19 countries since 2011, including the Muslim-majority countries of Algeria, Iran, Oman, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen

UK’s Special Forces have been deployed operationally in at least 19 countries since 2011, including the Muslim-majority countries of Algeria, Iran, Oman, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen

    Tuesday, May 23, 2023   No comments

Mapping of national and international credible newspapers, undertaken by research charity Action on Armed Violence, shows that, since 2011,  UK Special Forces (UKSF) have been primed to contact or surveil hostile forces in Algeria, Estonia, France, Iran/Oman (Strait of Hormuz), Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mediterranean (Cyprus), Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

There are a further six sites where UKSF have trained foreign forces or where they have based themselves before launching into another country. These are: Burkina Faso, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Djibouti. There are also another seven locations, not included in the above lists, known to be used by UKSF for their own exercises and engagements. These are: Albania, Falklands, Gibraltar, Belize, Brunei, Malaysia, and Canada, although there are likely to be far more.

In addition, the UKSF operate in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These four countries are not included.

If all countries where the UK SF were reported operational (including training and in the UK itself) were added together, there would be 36 nations where such troops have been sent.

Reported UK Special Forces (UKSF) missions in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman and Libya demonstrate that British soldiers are regularly sent to engage in international conflicts without any parliamentary approval around UK involvement beforehand.

In the case of Syria, parliament explicitly voted against sending in troops in 2013. Yet there have been dozens of UKSF missions reported in the press in the past decade.

A decade of operations around the globe has thrown up some controversies.

German investigators: Ukraine blew up Nord Stream pipelines

German investigators: Ukraine blew up Nord Stream pipelines

    Tuesday, May 23, 2023   No comments

German investigators are sceptical of claims that Russian naval ships sabotaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines and are instead pursuing leads that point to the Ukrainian authorities, according to a report.

Three of the four strands of the pipelines, built to transport Russian gas to Germany on the bed of the Baltic Sea, were knocked out by underwater explosions last September, effectively severing the main energy link between the two countries.

Previously, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh blamed the US administration for the bombing of the Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline, which took place last September.

Earlier this year, the UNSC, which literally stands for the United Nations Security Council, and whose mission “is to maintain international peace and security;” failed to adopt a resolution that “would have established an international independent investigative commission into the September 2022 “acts of sabotage” committed on the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea.”

Thereafter, the US administration released its own report claiming that a pro-Ukraine group was behind the attack on the pipeline, a statement that was ridiculed by China, with Chinese official posting a reaction to the statement saying, "Is the [pro-Ukraine group] named Biden Administration?"