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[Lux Libertas - Light and Liberty] A U.S. Intelligence Breakthrough in the Persian Gulf? | Lux ...: But Evan Kohlmann, a counter-terrorism specialist who provides analysis for U.S. government agencies and who first spotted the web postings, told Declassified: “These kind of grabs are not all that common.”  “The idea that he would have personnel files on such a large cross section of Al Qaeda fighters is a remarkable gain,”

[THE NEW VILLAGE RADIO | Blog Talk Radio Feed] NATO's Role In The Military Encirclement Of Iran: 4,000 troops participated in the exercises, which “simulated a war pitting two regional countries and their ally against a neighbouring state which has invaded one of the two countries.” In late October of 2009 a two-day conference called NATO-UAE Relations and the Way Forward in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative was held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It gathered “together 300 participants, including the Secretary General of NATO, NATO Permanent Representatives on the North Atlantic Council, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and high level NATO officials with government representatives, opinion leaders, academics and senior scholars from countries in the Gulf region invited in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told an Al Arabiya correspondent that “NATO considers the Gulf region a continuation of the Euro Atlantic security area,” and in reference to Iran - which of course was not invited to the conference - “we all are seriously concerned about nuclear ambitions and about the nuclear domino-effect they could cause in a region that is pivotal for global stability and security.” In recent weeks the United States announced the sale of land-based interceptor missiles to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

[Never Yet Melted] Never Yet Melted » Al Qaeda's Finances: Fundraising efforts have also embraced new technologies—like the bit of telemarketing by Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second-in-command, who solicited donations through cell phone recordings that were distributed in 2008. Last June Abu al Yazid, a former al Qaeda money man who now runs its Afghan operations, made his pitch on a Web site controlled by al Qaeda leaders: “If a holy fighter does not have the money to get weapons, food, drink and the materials for jihad, he cannot fight jihad.”

[Mike Chambers Live] America's Shadowy Base World: from the country - and those in Afghanistan, as well as black sites like al-Udeid, the total number of U.S. bases overseas now must significantly exceed 1,000. Just exactly how many U.S. military bases (and allied facilities used by U.S. forces) are scattered across the globe may never be publicly known.

[Niqnaq] it seems increasingly unlikely that war against iran can be ...: 4,000 troops participated in the exercises, which “simulated a war pitting two regional countries and their ally against a neighbouring state which has invaded one of the two countries.” In late Oct 2009, a two-day conference called NATO-UAE Relations and the Way Forward in the ICI was held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. It gathered “together 300 participants, including the NATO Sec-Gen and Deputy Sec-Gen, NATO Permanent Representatives on the North Atlantic Council, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and high level NATO officials with government representatives, opinion leaders, academics and senior scholars from countries in the Gulf region invited in the ICI.” NATO Sec-Gen Rasmussen told an Al Arabiya correspondent:

[MEMG] MEMG: STRATFOR: Iranian Proxies: An Intricate and Active Web: The years of operating against the Shah's intelligence service, a brutal and efficient organization known as the SAVAK, taught the Iranian revolutionaries many hard-learned lessons about operational security and clandestine operations, and they incorporated many of these lessons into their handling of proxy operations. For example, it was very difficult for the U.S. government to prove that the Iranians, through their proxies, were behind the bombings of the U.S. Embassy (twice) and Marine barracks in Beirut or the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon.

[Stop NATO] NATO's Role In The Military Encirclement Of Iran « Stop NATO: The project received the name it did as it was inaugurated at the NATO summit in Istanbul which, after almost completing the absorption of all of Eastern Europe into the bloc, introduced the same graduated partnership process used earlier to incorporate ten new European members for the seven Mediterranean Dialogue nations in the Middle East and Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) and six states in the Persian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). All thirteen are covered under the ICI, but extending NATO military partnerships to six Persian Gulf nations for the first time was the most ambitious and significant aspect of the program.

[Home] The 700 Military Bases of Afghanistan: A spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) tells TomDispatch that there are, at present, nearly 400 U.S. and coalition bases in Afghanistan, including camps, forward operating bases, and combat outposts. In addition, there are at least 300 Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) bases, most of them built, maintained, or supported by the U.S. A small number of the coalition sites are mega-bases like Kandahar Airfield, which boasts one of the busiest runways in the world, and Bagram Air Base, a former Soviet facility that received a makeover, complete with Burger King and Popeyes outlets, and now serves more than 20,000 U.S. troops, in addition to thousands of coalition forces and civilian contractors.

[Regards citoyens] The 700 Military Bases of Afghanistan - Black Sites in the Empire ...: A spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) tells TomDispatch that there are, at present, nearly 400 U.S. and coalition bases in Afghanistan, including camps, forward operating bases, and combat outposts. In addition, there are at least 300 Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) bases, most of them built, maintained, or supported by the U.S. A small number of the coalition sites are mega-bases like Kandahar Airfield, which boasts one of the busiest runways in the world, and Bagram Air Base, a former Soviet facility that received a makeover, complete with Burger King and Popeyes outlets, and now serves more than 20,000 U.S. troops, in addition to thousands of coalition forces and civilian contractors.

[This and That Online Blog] Al Qaeda bankrupt? Resorting to crime for money?: Fundraising efforts have also embraced new technologies–like the bit of telemarketing by Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second-in-command, who solicited donations through cell phone recordings that were distributed in 2008. Last June Abu al Yazid, a former al Qaeda money man who now runs its Afghan operations, made his pitch on a Web site controlled by al Qaeda leaders: “If a holy fighter does not have the money to get weapons, food, drink and the materials for jihad, he cannot fight jihad.”

[Cafe Talk Aggregator] War With Iran Tomorrow? | Rutabaga Ridgepole's Blog: debkafile's military sources report that not only are Syrian leaders beating war drums - Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said in Damascus: "Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities" - but Egyptian military sources have put out information purporting to outline Israel's preparations to strike Iran.

[Rethink Afghanistan War Blog] Tomgram: Nick Turse, America's Shadowy Base World: While bases in the Persian Gulf countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates are all listed, one conspicuously absent site is Al-Udeid Air Base, a billion-dollar facility in nearby Qatar, where the U.S. Air Force secretly oversees its on-going unmanned drone wars.

[Jay's Blog] Iranian Proxies: An Intricate And Active Web: One of the most impressive things about these early proxy efforts in Lebanon is that the IRGC and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security were both very young institutions at the time, and they were heavily pressured by the 1980 invasion of Iran by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, which was backed by the Gulf states and the United States. The Iranians also had to compete with the Amal movement, which was backed by Libya and Syria and which dominated the Lebanese Shiite landscape at the time.

[The Race for Iran] EXPLAINING THE CONCEPT OF “LIES” TO JEFFREY GOLDBERG (AND LEE ...: Goldberg contain an even higher concentration of lies and basic factual errors.  Frankly, we do not want to take the time to correct every single one of them.  However, we do want to address two that are particularly relevant to discussions of U.S. policy toward Iran.  One of Mr. Smith’s bigger lies is that we fabricated the “legend” that Iran sent in a “grand bargain” offer through Swiss intermediaries and peddled this false story to boost our standing as Iran experts.  This claim is dishonest on at least three levels. 

[blog.Tribulationperiod.com] blog.Tribulationperiod.com » Blog Archive » Syria is Challenging ...: This strategy is based on an alliance between Syria, Iran and Turkey, which, these countries hope, will also be joined by Iraq and by the Caucasus countries, so as to form a geographic continuum between four seas: the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. As part of the efforts to expand this alliance, and perhaps also as a sign of Syria’s mounting confidence, Syria offered to mediate in the crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan and between Armenia and Turkey.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Persian Gulf, Iran Reviews