News items that look towards Ezekiel 38 & 39

[Shammu]

Sudanese president to fly to Turkey next week
"Sudanese president to fly to Turkey next week
Friday 15 August 2008 00:30.

August 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — President Omer al-Bashir will participate in a Turkey-African summit that will take place next week in Ankara. This will be the first time he flies overseas since his indictment by the International Criminal Court prosecutor."

Sudanese president to fly to Turkey next week

The name given this civilization comes from the Old Testament where Cush was one of the sons of Ham who settled in Northeast Africa. In the Bible and archaically, a large region covering northern Sudan, southern Egypt, and parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia were known as Cush. The Bible refers to Cush on a number of occasions. Some contend that this Cush was in southern Arabia.

All the pieces seem to be coming together.

[Shammu]

NATO ships in Black Sea not linked to Georgia
27.03.2008 @ 09:01 CET

Germany and other western European states are attempting to block Georgia and Ukraine from getting the green light to join NATO out of a fear of antagonising Russia.

Citing diplomatic sources, German daily Financial Times Deutschland says that a group of western countries do not want Tbilisi and Kiev to get candidate status for membership of the military alliance, something they are due to receive at a high-level summit in Bucharest next week.

At the 2-4 April meeting, Georgia and Ukraine are hoping to get approval for their membership action plans (MAP). This would be considered as a signal that their application bid is on the right track.

The camp of blocking states is said to include Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Luxembourg.

A fear of annoying Russia which is categorically against its two neighbours joining a military organisation to which it does not belong is behind the move.

Earlier in the week, incoming Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in a Financial Times interview that Moscow was "not happy" with the situation.

"We consider that it is extremely troublesome for the existing structure of European security," he said.

The move by Germany and France and others puts them in the path of US president George W. Bush, who is in favour of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO. Eastern EU member states such as Poland are also lobbying in favour of Tbilisi's and Kiev's membership.

Berlin opposition stems from a desire to keep talks on a compromise between Russia and the US on Washington's planned missile defence shield - to be placed in Poland and the Czech Republic and strongly opposed by Moscow - on track.

Meanwhile, Georgia has called on NATO not to bow to pressure from Russia.

Foreign minister David Bakradze said it would inflame tensions in the region if Moscow gets its way on this issue.

"'No' in Bucharest will be very clearly seen by some people in Moscow as their success, and it will be very clearly seen in Moscow that they have indirect veto right on NATO decisions," he said on Wednesday (26 March).

From all our experience with Russians, the most effective policy with Russians is policy based on principles, not on appeasement," he added.

NATO ships in Black Sea not linked to Georgia

[Shammu]

Abkhazia asks Russia to recognize independence
August 20, 2008

One of Georgia's breakaway regions has asked Russia to recognize independence, according to a report by the Russian news agency Interfax.

 Lawmakers in Abkhazia approved the request from President Sergei Bagapsh, Interfax reported. The president also called for a friendship and mutual assistance treaty, which would call for maintaining Russian peacekeepers in the region -- located in western Georgia.

"I propose that the Russian Federation recognize the Republic of Abkhazia as a sovereign and independent state and establish diplomatic relations between Abkhazia and Russia," Bagapsh said in his appeal.

The recent fighting between Russia and Georgia centered on developments in South Ossetia, the other breakaway region, where Georgia launched a large-scale attack on August 7 after a week of what it said were separatist attacks on villages near the enclave.

The next day Russia sent hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles across the international border, driving into Georgia from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

South Ossetian and Abkhaz authorities consider their regions independent. But Georgia considers those Russian-backed separatist areas part of Georgian territory, a position underscored by international law and agreements.

Russian officials have said those regions should have self-determination, and that the Russian government would support the people there in whatever they supported.

 President Bush on Wednesday called the invasion a "disproportionate response" and repeated his position on the breakaway regions.

"South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgia," Bush said, and the United States "will work with our allies to assure Georgia's independence and territorial integrity."

"Georgia has stood for freedom around the world, and now the world must stand with Georgia," Bush said in a speech at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Meanwhile, finance ministers for the Group of Seven nations -- the United States, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy -- pledged Wednesday to help war-wracked Georgia rebuild its economy and infrastructure.

"We, the G-7, stand ready to support Georgia in order to promote the continued health of the Georgian economy, maintain confidence in Georgia's financial system and support economic reconstruction," the ministers said in a joint statement.

The ministers urged Georgia, other nations, and organizations such as the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank and European Commission to support reconstruction efforts.

Also Wednesday, Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaking at the organization's headquarters in Geneva, said it would send workers to Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia, as well as bolster its presence in badly affected areas of Georgia.

Both Russia and Georgia have accused each other of ethnic cleansing during the conflict.

The Red Cross announcement came after discussions between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kellenberger.

Kellenberger said that the priority in South Ossetia would be to "restore contact between family members who have been separated by the conflict and to obtain information about people who remain unaccounted for," as well as "visit all those captured or detained in connection with the conflict to assess their treatment and living conditions."

He added that in Georgia the organization had already brought in more that 430 tons of food and other relief supplies for up to 25,000 people during the past week.

The civilian death toll from the conflict is unclear. Russia has said as many as 2,000 people were killed when Georgian forces cracked down on Tskhinvali, but Georgia said the death toll is in the hundreds.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates that nearly 160,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, from Georgia proper and South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia's deputy chief of staff of armed forces, said Wednesday that 64 of its soldiers died during fighting with Georgia, with another 323 wounded.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday that Russian forces were still inside Georgia, despite a European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement to withdraw -- and despite Moscow's saying it had begun pulling out Monday.

"We do not see signals of this happening," Scheffer said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. "There can be no business as usual with Russia under the present circumstances."

A statement from the ministers said that NATO members "remain concerned by Russia's actions," the statement said, calling Russian military action "disproportionate." Video Watch Georgia react to NATO statement

But Lavrov said NATO's accusations were "biased."

Abkhazia asks Russia to recognize independence

[Shammu]

Russians Seize Georgia Soldiers, U.S. Humvees

August 20, 2008

A top Russian general said Wednesday that 64 of the country's soldiers were killed in this month's fighting with Georgia and 323 were wounded.

The figure given by Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovistsyn, deputy head of the general staff, reduces the fatality toll from the initial figure of 74 but substantially raises the number of wounded. Russia previously had said about 170 were wounded.

Georgian officials have said they lost 160 soldiers and that 300 are missing. Russia claims Georgian losses are much higher.

Russia stood behind its pledge to withdraw its troops from most of neighboring Georgia by Friday, rebuffing pressure from the United States, United Nations and NATO to leave sooner.

It remains to be seen whether Russia will follow through with the pledge, as a Pentagon official said Tuesday that there appears to be no significant change in the Russian military's occupation of the region despite an earlier promises to withdraw.

Russia signed a cease-fire with Georgia on Saturday, but since then, its troops have appeared to be digging in rather than pulling back after the fighting over the rebel province of South Ossetia.

A FOX News crew on the ground in Georgia described the Russians as "crack and combat ready," and on Tuesday, Russian soldiers took about 20 Georgian troops prisoner at a key Black Sea port in western Georgia, blindfolding them and holding them at gunpoint. They also commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to a U.S. base. The vehicles had been used in a military exercise recently in Georgia involving U.S. and Georgian troops.

Yet there has some progress toward resolution of the dispute that reignited Cold War tensions. A small column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles left the strategic Georgian city of Gori, and the two countries exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war.

The U.N. Security Council held emergency consultations Tuesday over a draft proposal backing the cease-fire, calling for Georgia's sovereignty to be respected and pledging cooperation to peacekeepers and relief workers. But Russia's U.N. ambassador said Moscow could not support the proposal, Reuters reported.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council that the resolution, which was promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, should endorse the six-point peace plan signed by Georgia and Russia. Russia holds veto power on the Security Council, and since the resolution did not endorse the six-part plan, "the Russian Federation will not be able to support (it)," Reuters reported.

The Unseen War in Georgia

The deputy head of Russia's general staff, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said Russian forces plan to remain in Poti until a local administration is formed, but did not give further details. He also justified previous seizures of Georgian soldiers as necessary to crack down on soldiers who were "out of any kind of control ... acting without command."

An AP television crew has seen Russian troops in and around Poti all week, with local port officials saying the Russians had destroyed radar, boats and other Coast Guard equipment there.

Russian troops last week drove Georgian forces out of South Ossetia, where Georgia on Aug. 7 launched a heavy artillery barrage in the separatist Georgian province with close ties to Russia. Fighting also has flared in a second Russian-backed separatist region, Abkhazia.

The short war has driven tensions between Russia and the West to some of their highest levels since the breakup of the Soviet Union, but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has icily defended Russia's actions.

"Anyone who tries anything like that will face a crushing response," he said Monday. Later Medvedev handed out military medals to Russian soldiers involved in the fighting.

The cease-fire requires both sides to return to positions held before the fighting began, but Whitman said Tuesday morning in Washington that it didn't appear Russia had made any significant withdrawal of forces.

"So far we have not seen any significant movement out of Georgia," he said.

For the prisoner exchange Tuesday, two Russian military helicopters landed in the village of Igoeti, the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Soldiers and men in unmarked clothing got off and two people in stretchers were taken to Georgian officials.

Georgian ambulances later brought two other people to the Russian choppers. One was on a gurney.

Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia told reporters in Igoeti that 15 Georgians and five Russians were exchanged. "It went smoothly," he said. The operation also witnessed by Russian Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov, who commands troops in the area.

Lomaia said the exchange removed any pretext for Russians to keep holding positions in Igoeti, 30 miles west of Tbilisi, or anywhere else on Georgia's only significant east-west highway.

In Brussels, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was backing the setting up of a permanent NATO-Georgia Commission to solidify ties between the Western alliance and Georgia. Diplomats said Washington also supports increasing training for the Georgian military.

At the same time, NATO foreign ministers were discussing possibly scaling back high-level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if it does not abandon crucial positions across Georgia. But there were differences within the alliance over how far to go in punishing Moscow.

At a separate meeting, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Russia agreed to allow 20 more international military monitors in and around South Ossetia.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb says the plan calls for the observers to be sent immediately to Tbilisi. The group already has nine observers based in South Ossetia.

The United Nations has estimated that the fighting displaced more than 158,000 people. U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Tbilisi on Tuesday to meet with government representatives to discuss the plight of tens of thousands of South Ossetians uprooted by Georgia's conflict with Russia.

Guterres then will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian officials, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.

Mahecic told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR, like other aid agencies, has not been able to reach the civilian population in much of South Ossetia because of security issues there. The area is now controlled by Russia.

"We have seen media reports indicating that people are being shot at while trying to leave the area," he said.

In Gori, most shops were shut and people milled around on the central square with its statue of the Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin.

"The city is a cold place now. People are fearful," says Nona Khizanishvili, 44, who fled Gori a week ago for an outlying village and returned Monday, trying to reach her son in Tbilisi.

Russians Seize Georgia Soldiers, U.S. Humvees

[Shammu]

King of Jordan to visit Russia on August 21-24
16:27
20/ 08/ 2008
   
MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - King Abdullah II of Jordan will visit Russia on August 21-24, the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.

The monarch will hold talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on August 24.

An agreement on the visit was reached in July, when Medvedev and Abdullah II met in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

King Abdullah II last visited Moscow in February, to discuss the situation in Iraq, Iran and the Middle East with then-President Vladimir Putin.

King of Jordan to visit Russia on August 21-24

[Shammu]

And I'll just bet Putin will be there with Medvedev on his lap and his hand going up the back of his jacket, just like Charlie McCarthy (for those of you old enough to remember him).

Now they too are meeting with Russia!! I understand now, how Jordan is destroyed in Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

Things sure have been moving awlful fast the past few days. Lets see, There has been Syria, Turkey, Iran, now Jordan........

[Shammu]

Joint Arab Force in Gaza
20 Av 5768, August 21, '08   
by Ze'ev Ben-Yechiel

Hamas told Egypt and Jordan Tuesday that they reject the proposal by the two countries to send a multinational Arab peacekeeping force to restore order to Gaza.

Spokesmen for the Palestinian Authority terrorist group that now governs Gaza said Tuesday that such a move would only deepen divisions among Gaza Arabs. They said it signals an attempt by Egypt and Jordan to reassert control over Gaza and Judea-Samaria.

According to the proposal, an Arab security force headed by Egypt would be deployed in Gaza to enable the PA to “reconstruct” their police forces, long since torn apart by infighting between supporters of Hamas and those loyal to the Fatah terror group, as part of an Egypt-led effort to reconcile the warring terrorist factions. The Egyptian state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) earlier reported that the two factions, which currently control the PA in Gaza and Judea-Samaria respectively, will meet to discuss ways to end their years-long struggle, in which dozens of terrorists as well as civilians have been killed.

The peacekeeping initiative was proposed earlier this week to Hamas by Egypt and Jordan, and it is backed by the Fatah-led PA government in Ramallah and by Saudi Arabia. The Saudis told visiting PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that they would do everything in their power to convince Hamas to accept it.

PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, a key Fatah supporter of the initiative, issued a statement from Ramallah that he believes that the proposal would be the only solution for peace between his group and Hamas.

Speaking for Hamas’s opposition to the move, Ayman Taha, a spokesman for the terror group, said that “Hamas is capable of imposing law and order in the Gaza Strip and we don't need external forces here. The deployment of Arab troops would only serve to consolidate the split between the West Bank and Gaza."

Abbas's support for the idea showed that he was "not serious" about ending the ongoing power struggle between his faction and Hamas, according to Taha.

The Hamas spokesman also denied the Tuesday report published by MENA that Egypt has invited representatives of Hamas and Fatah to Cairo for reconciliation talks, as well as reports that Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was planning to visit Cairo to discuss a resolution to the conflict.

Several Hamas leaders fear that the latest proposal from Egypt and Jordan is nothing more than an attempt to restore the situation existing prior to1967, when Egypt ruled Gaza while Jordan possessed Judea and Samaria.

"This initiative is totally unacceptable," said Ismail al-Ashkar, a Hamas legislator in Gaza. "We need Palestinian national forces that would be able to defend the homeland, and not Arab armies."

He, like Taha, denied the report of an imminent dialogue between Hamas and Fatah in Egypt.

However, Nabil Amr, the PA’s envoy to Cairo, confirmed that representatives of various Palestinian terror factions would indeed be meeting in Egypt next week to discuss implementation of a "national reconciliation." Amr did not indicate whether Hamas would be one of the “factions” attending.

Joint Arab Force in Gaza

[Shammu]

Arab peacekeeping force

Isn't that's what is called an oxymoron??

[nChrist]

And I'll just bet Putin will be there with Medvedev on his lap and his hand going up the back of his jacket, just like Charlie McCarthy (for those of you old enough to remember him). :o :o :o

Now they too are meeting with Russia!! I understand now, how Jordan is destroyed in Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

Things sure have been moving awlful fast the past few days. Lets see, There has been Syria, Turkey, Iran, now Jordan........

YES BROTHER!

Things are moving so fast that they're almost impossible to keep up with. The Middle East is like a beehive of activity, and it appears that the giant puzzle of Bible Prophecy is being prepared to fall into place. Thanks for sharing the great articles with us. They are timely.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Christian Quotes 165 -
What is earth's greatest joy and privilege?
"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. "Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are
gone and that her sins are pardoned." Isaiah 40:1-2
What is earth's greatest joy and privilege? It is to
bring a ray of comfort to the broken heart.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort
others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give
them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:4
 -- John MacDuff  1895

[Soldier4Christ]

Another part of ancient Persia looks like it may soon be falling away from the U.S.

Suicide bombing at Pakistan arms factory kills 50

Twin suicide bombings at a massive weapons factory near Pakistan's capital killed at least 50 people Thursday, dashing hopes for an end to turmoil following Pervez Musharraf's ouster as president.

The ruling coalition government, made up of traditional rivals who were united primarily in their determination to force Musharraf from office, meanwhile appeared veering toward collapse.

The two main parties have been unable to bridge key differences, like whether judges fired by the one-time military ruler should be quickly reinstated and who should succeed him as president.

Pakistanis have urged the civilian government to stop bickering and turn quickly to tackling the country's problems from an economic downturn to extremist violence in the volatile northwest, where fighting between security forces and Islamic militants has escalated in recent weeks.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursday's blasts at the government arms factory 20 miles west of Islamabad, which occurred as workers were heading home.

Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for Pakistani Taliban groups, told The Associated Press the attacks were in revenge for military airstrikes in Bajur, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border.

Similar bombings would be carried out in other major cities, including Islamabad, unless the operations were halted, he said.

The arms factory lies on the road heading toward Pakistan's troubled northwest.

Asghar Mahmood, a doctor at the Pakistan Ordnance Factories hospital said 50 were killed and over 100 wounded, many of them critically. Security officials said the death toll would likely rise.

Rana Tanveer, who was working at a bank about 200 yards from one of the gates where a bomber struck, said he was among the first to reach the scene.

"All around the gate I saw blood and human flesh. People helped the injured and took them in their cars and even on motorbikes to the hospital," he said. "Seven or eight people were already dead and another 10 people were breathing their last."

Musharraf, who had been a key supporter of the U.S. war on terrorism, resigned Monday to dodge the humiliation of impeachment following nearly nine years in power.

The coalition government, meanwhile, has resumed debate over how to restore dozens of Supreme Court judges Musharraf fired last year to avoid legal challenges to his rule.

The maneuver deepened his unpopularity, propelling his rivals to victory in parliamentary elections five months ago, and turned the judges into controversial political figures.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party threatened Thursday to leave the ruling coalition unless the judges were quickly reinstated and the coalition's biggest bloc, the Pakistan People's Party, appeared to be lining up smaller parties to keep control of parliament in case that happened.

"The future of this coalition is linked to the restoration of judges," Sharif's spokesman Sadiqul Farooq told The Associated Press. "If the judges are not restored, we will prefer to sit on opposition benches."

Sharif wants to restore the all the justices, who could help him if he decides to seek revenge against Musharraf, who ousted the former premier in a 1999 coup, jailed him and then banished him to exile in Saudi Arabia.

But Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, is less enthusiastic. He has accused former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry of being too political.

Analysts say he also may be worried the former chief justice would revive corruption cases against him or facilitate legal action against Musharraf—a destabilizing move sure to dismay the country's Western backers, especially the United States.

The People's Party said Thursday it was committed to restoring the judges but that it had other priorities as well, including improving the lives of ordinary Pakistanis who are struggling with chronic food and fuel shortages.

"We hope the coalition will not break," Farzana Raja, the ruling party's spokeswoman, told Pakistani Waqt news channel.

The coalition also must seek agreement on a candidate for the presidency. The new leader must be elected by lawmakers by mid-September.

The People's Party insisted this week that, as the largest party in the coalition, it has the right to choose the new head of state, something unlikely to go over well with Sharif.

Though they have yet to name a candidate, party members were talking up a candidacy for Zardari, who comes from the well-off southern province of Sindh.

Sharif's party was arguing for a president from one of the smaller province—Baluchistan or North West Frontier—in order to strengthen Pakistan's strained federation.

[Shammu]

Turkey bows to the dark side

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit is a sign that the West can no longer take Turkey for granted as a staunch ally against Iran.
By Soner Cagaptay
August 19, 2008

ISTANBUL, TURKEY -- Praying in Istanbul's Blue Mosque on Friday, I witnessed firsthand Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's international publicity coup.

Ahmadinejad's visit produced little in terms of substantive policy; the signing of a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline deal was put off. But Ahmadinejad got something just as valuable: a chance to spin his own image, court popularity and bash the United States and Israel.

I've long been fond of the Blue Mosque because it is where, many years ago, I attended my first Friday prayers. Last Friday, though, I felt uncomfortable in the prayer hall, where I found myself in front of God but next to Ahmadinejad, who turned the ritual into a political show.

Departing from established practice of having visiting Muslim heads of state pray in a smaller mosque in Istanbul, the government allowed Ahmadinejad to pray in the Blue Mosque, Turkey's symbol of tolerant Ottoman Islam. With permission from Turkish authorities, he also allowed Iranian television to videotape him during the entire prayer, in violation of Islamic tradition, which requires quiet and intimate communion between God and the faithful. There was so much commotion around Ahmadinejad that the imam had to chide the congregants. Then, as he left the mosque, Ahmadinejad got out of his car to encourage a crowd of about 300 to chant, "Death to Israel! Death to America!"

Even without this behavior, any visit from a leader representing an authoritarian, anti-Western autocracy would have created controversy in Turkey just a few years ago. Not today. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government not only opened the Blue Mosque to Ahmadinejad but accommodated his refusal to pay respects at the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey -- a major violation of protocol for an official visit.

In 1996, when Iran's president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, refused to go to Ataturk's mausoleum, snubbing Turkey's identity as a secular pro-Western state, it led to a public outcry and sharp criticism of Iran. Relations soured. When the Iranian ambassador suggested a few months later that Turkey should follow Sharia law, he was forced to leave the country.

This time, though, the AKP government has taken a different stance, playing down the diplomatic insult. It moved the meeting from the capital, Ankara, to Istanbul and labeled it a "working" meeting rather than an official visit. Yet all sorts of AKP officials flocked to Istanbul to meet with the Iranian president.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan asked the Turkish public to ignore the snub and instead "focus on the big picture." It is the "big picture," though, that is most disconcerting. By extending an invitation to Ahmadinejad, the first such move by any NATO or European Union member country, Turkey has broken ranks with the West. The West can no longer take Turkey for granted as a staunch ally against Tehran.

In the past, Turkey stood with the West, especially after the 1979 Islamist revolution in Iran. Also, Tehran gave refuge to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which carried out terror attacks in Turkey from bases in Iran. Since the Iraq war began, however, Iran has shifted tactics to win Turkey's heart. While the U.S. delayed taking action, Iran actually bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, since the AKP assumed power in Turkey in 2002, bilateral visits with Iran have boomed; Ahmadinejad's trip crowns dozens of visits by high-level officials. Trade has boomed as well, increasing from $1.2 billion in 2002 to $8 billion today. And even though the two countries didn't formalize the deal last week, plans are still going forward for a $3.5-billion Turkish investment in Iranian gas fields -- this at a time when the West is adopting financial sanctions against Iran to cripple Tehran's ability to make a nuclear bomb. If there were any doubts about a Turkish-Iranian rapprochement, they were laid to rest last week: During Ahmadinejad's visit, the two countries agreed to make 2009 an "Iran-Turkey year of culture" -- marked by regular cultural and political programs and exchanges -- to bring the two countries closer.

Ahmadinejad's visit also speaks volumes about the future of Turkish-U.S. ties regarding Iran. According to a recent opinion poll in Turkey, when asked what the country should do in the event of a U.S. attack against Iran, only 4% of respondents said Turkey should support the U.S., while 33% wanted to back Iran and 63% chose neutrality.

As I shared the canopy of the Blue Mosque's divine dome with Ahmadinejad, I could not help but ponder how far Turkish foreign policy has shifted since 2002. Before, Turkey picked allies based on shared values -- democracy, Western identity, secular politics and the principle of open society -- that appeared to reflect the Turkish soul. Iran has not become a pro-Western, secular democracy since 1996, nor have Tehran's mullahs accepted gender equality or the idea of a free society. Yet Ankara has had a change of heart toward Tehran. Years from now, Ahmadinejad's visit to Istanbul will be remembered as the tipping point at which the West lost Turkey, and Turkey lost its soul.

Turkey bows to the dark side

[Shammu]

Turkey inched closer to ratifying ICC statute during Al-Bashir’s visit
Friday 22 August 2008.

August 20, 2008 (ANKARA) – The Turkish government moved ahead in its plans to ratify the Rome Statute which forms the basis of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Turkish daily ‘Today’s Zaman’ reported that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Monday released a long-awaited EU reform package that suggests changes to a number of local laws and ratification of a number of International treaties including the Rome Statute.

The ratification now heads to the Turkish parliament for consideration and a vote before it becomes official.

Ironically the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir started an official visit to Turkey on the same day where he took part in the Turkish-African summit along with other leaders.

This is Al-Bashir’s first visit since the ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced in mid-July that he requested an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir.

Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.

Even if an arrest warrant was issued during Al-Bashir’s visit, Turkey had no obligation to apprehend the Sudanese head of state since they are not members of The Hague based court.

Turkey has been hesitant for years to join the ICC but the European Union stipulates ratification of the Rome Statute for Ankara to be eligible for its membership. The government has also been under pressure from human rights group to proceed with ICC membership.

Ankara initially wanted incorporation of terrorism crimes into the Statute before it can endorse. Any changes to the Rome Statute must approved by the 108 countries comprising ICC members.

Some Turkish parliamentarians from the opposition indicated that they will vote against the ratification saying they want terrorism to be part of the ICC jurisdiction.

The ruling Justice and Development Party controls 341 of the 550 available seats in the legislative body. According to the Turkish electoral system, this translates to 46.6% voting power.

The ICC is steadily gaining international recognition as world countries ratify the Rome Statute. Three states ratified the treaty this year; Madagascar, Suriname and Cooks Islands. Major countries such as the US, China, Russia and India have yet to sign the convention.

If an arrest warrant is issued for Al-Bashir he is vulnerable to be arrested in any ICC member country he travels to.

The Sudanese president hinted in an interview with Reuters that he may only visit countries which are not members of the ICC.

“We are not concerned about traveling, ourselves, we have good relations with a number of countries that do not have relations with the ICC” he said.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC triggered the provisions under the Statute that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security

Turkey inched closer to ratifying ICC statute during Al-Bashir’s visit

[Shammu]

US warship sails through straits, Russia suspicious
Aug 23, 2008

In a move likely to heat up tensions between the United States and Russia over a conflict in the troubled Caucasus, a US Navy warship sailed through the Turkish Straits yesterday to take relief supplies to Georgia.

The guided missile destroyer USS McFaul passed through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, and two other ships, the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas and the command ship USS Mount Whitney, will follow in the coming days. "The USS McFaul is under way now, having taken on humanitarian supplies for the people of Georgia," a spokes-man for the US Navy in Europe said.

The two Navy ships and a US Coast Guard cutter are carrying relief supplies, including bottled water, blankets, hygiene kits, baby food, milk and nappies, said Cdr. Scott Miller, spokesman for the US 6th Fleet. He stated that the McFaul and the Dallas were expected to arrive in Georgia next week and the Mount Whitney around the end of the month.

A Polish ship also passed through the Turkish Straits yesterday, but Turkish diplomatic sources emphasized that the ship was headed to the Black Sea to take part in a NATO task mission that sources said had been planned months ago.

Russia, which occupied part of Georgia in response to a Georgian military offensive in the pro-Russia breakaway region of South Ossetia early this month, expressed concern over the US Navy ships' trip to the Black Sea. "From the Russian point of view … the usefulness of this operation is extremely dubious," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff was quoted by Reuters as saying when asked about the US Navy mission to deliver aid to Georgia.

The ships are part of a humanitarian mission, but observers say it is also a message of military deterrence by the United States to Russia. The US military had already begun delivering relief supplies by air a week ago.

Turkey, which has close ties with neighboring Georgia and is a key strategic ally of Washington, has been walking a delicate diplomatic line during the Caucasus conflict in order not to antagonize Russia. Ankara, which has developed its trade ties with Russia and relies on imports from Russia to meet its natural gas needs, fears it could be caught in the middle of an undesired, Cold War-type confrontation between Russia and the United States if tensions rise further. Hoping for peaceful resolution of the crisis, Ankara has been floating a proposal for a regional cooperation platform that is planned to include Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The US request to send warships to the Black Sea put Ankara in a difficult position as it insists all passages through the Turkish Straits, the only sea outlet to the Black Sea, must be in compliance with the international Montreux Convention. The US had initially planned to send two Navy hospital ships that each weigh 70,000 tons, far above the maximum weight allowed in the Montreux Convention. Ankara refused, prompting further negotiations with the United States to find a compromise. The three ships now headed to Georgia all meet the standards set by the Montreux Convention.

There were concerns that the US could force Turkey to agree to changes to the convention to be able to give a military message to Russia by sending the two hospital ships. But Matt Bryza, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said earlier this week that the US had no intention of seeking revisions to the Montreux Convention.

CHP questions policy

The rising tensions have increased opposition pressure on the government at home. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which views government efforts to create a Caucasus regional platform to resolve regional crises with suspicion, yesterday formally requested a statement on whether the US ships transiting the Turkish Straits met Montreux standards.

The CHP's Onur Öymen issued a formal inquiry to Foreign Minister Ali Babacan over whether the United States complied with Montreux requirements that all warship transits have to be declared to Turkish authorities eight days in advance.

Foreign Ministry officials state that Ankara has not been forced to compromise, as the three ships meet the requirements stipulated by the Montreux Convention. "As has been the case for around seven decades, we haven't made any exception to the 1936 Montreux Convention, and we will never make such an exception. Turkey is extremely sensitive on this issue," an official told Today's Zaman on Thursday.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday issued a written statement in which it reiterated that foreign-flagged military ships are passing through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea in line with the notices conveyed to Turkish authorities and in compliance with the Montreux Convention.

"In this context, four ships belonging to the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 -- Spain (SPS Almirante Don Juan de Borbon), Germany (FGS Luebeck), Poland (ORP General Kazimierz Pulaski) and US (USS Taylor) -- will visit the ports of Constanza in Romania and Varna in Bulgaria in the west Black Sea and our country's İstanbul ports for training and as part of NATO's planned activities approved in October 2007. Excluding this, passages of other foreign military ships including those of the US are being done in line with the Montreux Convention," the statement said.

US warship sails through straits, Russia suspicious

[Shammu]

US-Soviet Tensions Give Iran, Syria Room to Maneuver
Thursday, August 21, 2008
By Julie Stahl

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called on Russia Wednesday to get behind tougher sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear pursuit, but the mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow could stymie that process, an expert here said.
 
Russia and the international community understand that the world cannot afford a nuclear Iran. “But there is a gap between this understanding and the translation [into action] especially when it comes to United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Livni told foreign journalists in Jerusalem on Thursday.
 
“Time is of the essence,” Livni said. “[It is] my belief that Russia has the best understanding about the situation about its own interest. I do hope that not only Russia but other states join not only the understanding of the need to stop Iran but join more effective sanctions in order to do so,” she said.
 
The West believes Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover for developing an atomic bomb. Iran denies the charges and has so far defied international sanctions intended to persuade Tehran to stop enriching uranium – a process which can make nuclear fuel or be used in the making of a bomb.
 
The international community is threatening a fourth round of sanctions, but without the support of Russia (and China) there won’t be another Security Council resolution.
 
Russian expert Dr. Baruch Gurgurevitz from the University of Haifa said that might not be so easy to obtain from Russia considering the friction with the U.S.
 
“If there is no tension between Russia and the West or the U.S. and Russia, there is a better chance to put pressure on Iran,” Gurgurevitz told CNSNews.com.
 
“As tension increases [between the U.S. and Russia], Iran will benefit from it,” Gurgurevitz said.
 
Russia’s Foreign Ministry threatened on Wednesday to go beyond diplomacy in its reaction to the signing of a U.S. deal with Poland to place part of a missile defense system there, the Associated Press reported.
 
That followed a warning from a Russian general last week, who said Poland risked a Russian attack, possibly with nuclear weapons, for agreeing to host the American system.
 
Russia also reportedly said Wednesday that it planned to cut all military ties with NATO.
 
Tensions between the former Cold War foes have been mounting since fighting erupted between Russia and Georgia – which wants to join NATO – two weeks ago over the disputed area of South Ossetia.
 
Russia, which is helping Iran complete its $800 million nuclear reactor, has also sold major weapons systems to the radical Islamic republic including tanks, air-to-air missiles and combat aircraft.
 
Iran claimed last year that Russia would equip it with one of the most advanced anti-aircraft missile systems, the S-300, though Moscow denies it has sold the system to Tehran. Iran already possesses Russia’s TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles.
 
Gurgurevitz said the mounting tensions could make Russia less likely to be flexible in pressuring Iran, he said. Russia is more likely to use the issue of Iran as part of its carrot and stick tactic, he said.
 
Gurgurevitz said Iranian ally Syria also hopes to exploit current East-West tensions.
 
Syrian President Bashar Assad was in Russia Thursday as part of a two-day trip, which he said Wednesday would focus on talks about military cooperation and weapons purchases.
 
Assad is trying to capitalize on the tensions and get Russia to base anti-aircraft missiles there. Assad knows that the tensions give him more room to maneuver, Gurgurevitz said.
 
Assad reportedly has offered to host Russian short-range missile batteries as a response to the U.S. missile defense deal with Poland.
 
Livni said such a move would destabilize the region. Syria, she noted, is trying to de-stabilize Lebanon by smuggling and transferring weapons to Hezbollah, and Syria has connections with Hamas and other terror groups. According to Livni, Russia has no interest in destabilizing the region.
 
There has also been some concern in Israel that Israeli training of Georgian troops and sale of equipment to Georgia – something that has angered Russia – might prompt Moscow to retaliate by selling more advanced weapons to Syria.
 
But apparently in a move to allay those fears, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday. Olmert’s office said the two leaders talked about regional and bilateral issues as well as advancing relations, reports said.

US-Soviet Tensions Give Iran, Syria Room to Maneuver
~~~~~~~

The Soviet war machine is moving right along the prophetic track...... My own opinion is, I just can't see how it all could slow down, now...

Yes I've decided to call Russia the Soviet Union again, after reading the news today..

[Shammu]

Russia can undermine U.S. interests in many arenas

By Peter Baker
Published: August 21, 2008

The president of Syria spent two days in Russia this week with a shopping list of sophisticated weapons he wanted to buy. The visit may prove a harbinger of things to come.

If the conflict in Georgia ushers in a sustained period of renewed animosity between Russia and the West, Washington fears that a newly emboldened but estranged Moscow could use its influence, money, energy resources, United Nations Security Council veto and, yes, its arms industry to undermine American interests around the world.

Although Russia has long supplied arms to Syria, it has held back until now on providing the next generation of ballistic missiles. But President Bashar al-Assad of Syria made it clear that he was hoping to capitalize on rising tensions between Moscow and the West when he rushed to the resort city of Sochi to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev.

The list of ways a more hostile Russia could cause problems for the United States extends far beyond Syria and the mountains of Georgia. In addition to increased arms sales to other anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela, policymakers and specialists here envision a freeze in cooperation on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation, manipulation of oil and natural gas supplies, pressure against U.S. military bases in Central Asia and the collapse of efforts to extend Cold War-era arms-control treaties.

"It's Iran, it's the UN," said Angela Stent, who served as the top Russia officer at the U.S. government's National Intelligence Council until 2006 and now directs Russian studies at Georgetown University. "It's all the counterterrorism and counternarcotics programs, Syria, Venezuela, Hamas - there are any number of issues over which they can be less cooperative than they've been. And of course, energy."

Michael McFaul, a Stanford University professor and the chief Russia adviser for Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said, "The potential is big because at the end of the day, they are the hegemon in that region and we are not and that's a fact." McFaul said Russia appeared intent on trying to "disrupt the international order" and had the capacity to succeed.

Russia may yet hold back from some of the more disruptive options, depending on how both sides act in the next few weeks and months. Many in Washington hope Russia will restrain itself out of its own self-interest; Moscow, for instance, does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons either, and so has incentive to continue working with the United States to press Tehran to give up its uranium enrichment program.

Moscow may also be checked by the desire of its economic elite to remain on the path to integration with the rest of the world. The main Russian stock index fell sharply in recent days, costing investors - many of whom have close ties to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's circle - $11 billion.

Still, although the confrontation over Georgia had been building for years, the outbreak of violence demonstrated just how abruptly the international scene can change. Now Russia is the top focus in Washington, and some veteran diplomats fret about the situation spiraling out of control.

"Outrage is not a policy," said Strobe Talbott, who was deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton and is now president of the Brookings Institution. "Worry is not a policy. Indignation is not a policy."

"Even though outrage, worry and indignation are all appropriate in this situation, they shouldn't be mistaken for policy and they shouldn't be mistaken for strategy," he added.

For Washington, there are limited options for applying pressure. Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wants to throw Russia out of the Group of 8 major powers. Such an action would effectively admit the failure of 17 years of bipartisan policy aimed at incorporating Russia into the international order.

Yet Washington's menu of options pales by comparison with Moscow's. Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said, "There's a lot more" that the United States needs from Russia than the other way around, citing efforts to secure old Soviet nuclear arms, support the war effort in Afghanistan and force Iran and North Korea to give up nuclear programs. "Hence Russia has all the leverage," she said.

In forecasting Russia's potential for causing headaches, most specialists look first to Ukraine, which wants to join NATO. The nightmare scenario circulating in recent days is an attempt by Moscow to claim the strategic Crimean peninsula to secure access to the Black Sea. Ukrainian lawmakers are investigating reports that Russia has been granting passports en masse to ethnic Russians living in Crimea, a tactic Moscow used in the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to justify intervention to protect its citizens.

Arms sales, as Assad's visit underscored, represent another way Russia could create problems. Israeli and Western governments have already been alarmed about reports that the first elements of a Russian-built S-300 antiaircraft missile system are being delivered to Iran, which could use them to shoot down any U.S. or Israeli planes that seek to bomb nuclear facilities, should that ever be attempted.

Russia could make it more difficult for the United States and NATO to support forces in Afghanistan. Russia agreed in April to allow NATO to send nonlethal supplies overland through its territory en route to Afghanistan, a transit right it could easily revoke. Russia could also turn up pressure on Kyrgyzstan to evict U.S. forces that support operations in Afghanistan and could block any large-scale return to Uzbekistan, which kicked the Americans out in 2005.

"The argument would be: Why help NATO?" said Celeste Wallander, a Russia scholar at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service.

Even beyond the dispute over Iran, Russia could obstruct the United States at the UN Security Council on a range of other issues. Just last month, Russia vetoed sanctions against Zimbabwe's government, a move seen as a slap at Washington.

"If Russia's feeling churlish, they can pretty much bring to a grinding halt any kind of coercive actions, like economic sanctions or anything else," said Peter Feaver, a former strategic adviser at the National Security Council.

Russia could also accelerate its withdrawal from arms-control structures. It has already suspended the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty to protest U.S. missile defense plans and threatened to pull out of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty. Renewed tension could unravel a recently signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreement and doom negotiations to extend soon-to-expire strategic arms control verification programs.

"Ironically, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there's always been the concern about Russia becoming a spoiler," said Stent, the Georgetown professor, "and now we could see the realization of that."

Russia can undermine U.S. interests in many arenas