When Russia does this it is condemned ...

"Israel must prepare its American ally sooner rather than later to know that Israel may not be able to sit idly by while Iran’s uses its new base to transfer more and more powerful weaponry to Hezbollah.

Serious questions need to be asked and debated in Jerusalem and Washington.

• How will Jordan and the more moderate Sunni States be affected by the permanent Iranian presence in Syria? • How will Israeli actions affect US-Israeli relations? • To what extent will Russia actively participate beyond coordinating with Syria and Iran? • Would a third recertification of the JCPOA in October increase Iranian adventurism in Lebanon and Syria? The Iranian hegemonic expansion is not a new phenomenon, but a long and wellplanned one, as it tries to reproduce the glory days of the ancient Persian empires. Today’s territorial gains in Syria should be considered phase two, with phase one beginning 30 years ago when Iran sponsored Hezbollah.

Phase two began during the 2011 “Arab Winter” with US president Barack Obama’s withdrawal from the region creating the opportunity for Iran to move into both Syria and Iraq.

In the past few years, Hezbollah has grown from a formidable terrorist entity to effectively controlling all of the Lebanese government with terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East and South America, all under Iranian control.

What we do know is that Iran and Hezbollah’s permanent presence in Syria is dangerous for Israel, America and the West.

It is not too late for American diplomatic leadership to balance interests and turn down the heat, but that would mean America challenging Russian authority to make the rules in Syria and renegotiating the deal in Amman.

If the administration fails to act, Congress should take the lead, speaking clearly to the American people about how Iran’s newfound dominance in the region undermines American national security interests.

Expect the EU to be completely unhelpful, as it is blinded by the economic benefits of the JCPOA. It will bend over backwards to be on the side of Iran.

Which brings us back to Israel. It has already sent high-level security and intelligence teams to speak to the Trump administration warning it about the evolving danger in Syria.

An American commitment to back up Israel if Iran does not decrease its presence in Syria would actually decrease the chance for conflict, as knowing the red lines might make Iran think twice before challenging Israel or expanding further into the Golan.

The Trump Middle East Israeli-Palestinian peace team should also refocus their efforts away from the improbable quest for conflict resolution and get their head into the real game in the Middle East, Iranian control of Syria, one that could set the region on fire."  Jpost - Mandel

--------------

You seldom see the hasbara mission of controlling the narrative in the US stated as clearly as this.  pl

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Why-Israel-needs-to-prepare-America-for-the-upcoming-conflict-in-Syria-504323

http://www.jpost.com/Author/ERIC-R-MANDEL

Comments

[Anna]

"Israeli media has reached the new moral low of openly begging the United States to prepare for war in Syria even if it means coming into direct confrontation with major Syrian allies like Russia and Iran.
In a recent article titled “Why Israel needs to Prepare America for the Upcoming War in Syria,” Jerusalem Post writer Eric R. Mandel (an American Zionist) proposes that the US government and people must be made war-willing partners of Israel in the event of any future attack by the Israeli Defense Forces against Syrian, Russian and/ or Iranian military targets. The article by Mandel is an outstanding example of how Israeli pro-war interest groups – speaking through right-wing Zionists in top American military and foreign policy circles – try to entice the US government and population into participating in wars that only benefit the hegemonic ambitions of Israel’s deep state." https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-media-begs-us-prepare-war-syria-russia-iran/
As if there were no Iraq war, no slaughter of civilians in Libya and Syria, and no American casualties plus some $6trillion lost on destroying the Middle East -- all that infamy thanks to the Israel-firsters and their traitorous enablers among American oilmen and the "perfumed princes" in the US government.
The ziocon treason has deep roots: http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=neoconinfluence&neoconinfluence_prominent_neoconservatives=neoconinfluence_richard_perle
"October 1970: FBI Wiretap Records Perle Disclosing Classified Information to Israeli Officials.
Early 1976: Neoconservative ‘Team B’ of Outside Intelligence Analysts Created.
March 1978: Congressional Staffer Offers Israeli Classified Material.
March 1981: Richard Perle Receives Large Sum from Israeli Arms Dealers. --March 23, 1981: Richard Perle Appointed to Position at Defense Department [!!!]
1982: Likely Israeli Spy Leaves Job in Washington for Position at Israeli Defense Firm after FBI Investigation.
March 1982: Neoconservative Fired for Giving Classified Information to Israeli Official.
1983: Neoconservative Arrives at Pentagon, Allegedly Acts as Israeli Agent within Defense Department.
May 1988 and After: Defense Official Attempts to Provide Israel with Classified Weapons Technology.
1991-1997: Group of Foreign Policy Analysts Recommends Interventionist Policy.
Autumn 1992: Influential Neoconservative Academic Advocates Breaking Up Middle Eastern Countries, Including Iraq..."
It looks as if the US exists at the pleasure of Israel-firsters, sorry to write that. If there is a country that needs regime change, it is the US. Let Israel-firsters send their sons and daughters and grandkids to defend their pet project of supremacist Eretz Israel, on Israel-firsters' dime.

[Patrick Armstrong]

"Iranian control of Syria"
Gee, how did that come to pass?
Do we detect a bit of hysteria here? As in -- RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S COLLAPSING!
But an interesting set of questions now appear.
1. Yes, Iran is now a major influence in Syria (and Lebanon and Iraq).
2. US power is declining and maybe turning more inward.
3. Hezbollah is a lot more powerful and has a LOT more (victorious) fighting experience
4. Syria ditto

So now what?

The World is Changed.

(Can't get the prelude to LOTR out of my mind. "And Soros, the enemy of the free peoples of Middle Earth, was defeated."Ah. But one can dream".)

[The Beaver]

The pip-squeaker for the Heritage Foundation does not help:

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/In-special-Jpost-oped-Haley-says-time-for-UNIFIL-to-confront-Hezbollah-504268

Does she work for the US or Israel?
Danny Danon is a big influencer at the UN since she is still on the learning curve as she has lost two key collaborators 2 months ago.

[Bandolero]

Patrick

'"Iranian control of Syria"
Gee, how did that come to pass?'

What I find amazing is that the media seems to think nobody remembers the past. For example the media seem to think everyone forgot that just a bit more of a year before the attempt of armed regime change in Syria started Syria and Iran had agreed a mutual defense pact. Iranian Press TV reported back than that Syria and Iran promsied each other to jointly confront any attack on Damascus or Tehran:

https://youtu.be/9YBb-BmBmq8

So, why is Iran in Syria? It's simple: Iran is a trustworthy ally and a friend who does show up in time of need. And then, do the media think everyone forgot what Israel wanted from regime change in Syria? Eg former Mossad director Efraim Halevy was, quite early in the war, already very bluntly saying what Israel wanted from regime change in Syria. As per NYT Feb. 7, 2012: Iran’s Achilles’ Heel - To Weaken Iran, Start With Syria

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/opinion/to-weaken-iran-start-with-syria.html

What did Israel expect Tehran would do when Damascus is under attack? Of course, Iran does show up.

[Croesus]

one passage that you didn't quote, Col, contradicted all else:

"As former head of the National Security Council Yaakov Amidror said, “At the end of the day it is our responsibility, not the responsibility of the Americans, or the Russians, to guarantee ourselves, and we will take all the measures that are needed for that.”

Does that mean USA will sit this one out, Israel doesn't need us?
Will Congress have only AARP lobbyists to contend with (plus a few pharma suits)?
Will AIPAC forego its annual meeting in favor of working with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild inner city Baltimore?

[turcopolier]

Croesus

that does not contadict anything. that is their standard BS. It means nothing since what they want is to use us without admitting that they need us. pl

[Stumpy]

Col. Lang, Croesus,

My favorite game, code word substitution. "Responsibility" = "God-given Right".

[turcopolier]

stumpy

The interesting thing about the Israeli attitude and our reaction to it is that we have been programmed to accept it and do, but Israel's geostrategic position is slipping. pl

[Christian Chuba]

"An American commitment to back up Israel if Iran does not decrease its presence in Syria would actually decrease the chance for conflict..."

I feel better already. Our demands on Iran are always so clear cut, reasonable, and easy to understand. If they don't abide by this, and we all know what 'this' is, then Iran has crossed a red line and it's time to go to war.

Our Foreign Policy Establishment is insane.

I think this is a sign of being a sociopath, the inability or lack of interest, to see things from someone else's perspective. I don't pretend to understand Iran but collectively, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon have recently lost over 300,000 people and I'm not counting the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Maybe, just maybe, collective self-defense could be a factor in their actions. They probably have other motives but most people react after being hit over the head with a 2 by 4. After all, Netanyahu is going bonkers over the prospect of potential, future danger. Syria and Lebanon aren't out of the woods yet.

[turcopolier]

James

IMO Iran makes a lot of that materiel now and did in 2006. pl

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Jpost TL/DR: Let's you and him fight!

[Ivan]

Strange thing is, every time the Israelis with their confreres in the US, come up with a plan to weaken Iran, the Iranians end up being strengthened. All the Israelis had to do with the Syrians was to come to some kind of understanding with Assad. They had similar understandings before with the elder Assad. But instead of sympathizing with a people in imminent danger from the Islamic throat-cutters, they cheered the Wahabeast on, providing cover through the so-called think tanks and Israeli firsters such as Max Boot. And when opportunities arose to inveigle the Americans to attack Syria, through the device of debatable chemical attacks, the Israelis were full on, in demanding a total defenestration of Syria. Their behaviour and indifference to the fears and sufferings of the Syrians has convinced me, who used to be a 110% sympathiser of Israel, that now that the Israelis have made their bed, they should lie in it.

[MRW]

Sharmine Narwani was one of Patrick Armstrong’s links in his recent Russian Federation Sitrep published here.
Israel’s Geopolitical Gut Check
A once favorable balance of power has shifted, clipping Tel Aviv's wings.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/israels-geopolitical-gut-check/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s consultations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi went nowhere too. Russian accounts of those talks describe a highly “agitated” and “emotional” Netanyahu who was told in no uncertain terms by a calm Putin: “Iran is Russia’s strategic ally in the Middle East.” To Netanyahu, Putin offered what must have comparatively felt like crumbs: “Israel is also an important partner of Russia in the region.”

The Israeli prime minister and other senior officials went on the offensive after that meeting, promising to “defend ourselves by all means” from Iran’s ambitions in Syria, and threatening military attacks on Assad’s “palace in Damascus.”

But the Russians clearly hadn’t forgotten that shortly after Netanyahu’s last encounter with Putin in March, Israel launched strikes against Russia’s Syrian ally, one of which came dangerously near Russian troops.

This time around, it seems Putin was set on drawing new red lines with Israel. In the aftermath of the Netanyahu meeting, the Russians announced the establishment of a unified air defense system with Syria, “capable of destroying targets within a range of up to 400 kilometers at an altitude of up to 35 kilometers.”

The whole thing is worth reading. Sharmine is no slouch; she’s based out of Beirut now.

[Adrestia]

'Israeli jets hit Syria's Masyaf chemical site' - reports
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41184867

The Syrian army says Israeli jets have attacked a military base in the west of the country, amid reports of a strike on a suspected chemical weapons site.

A statement said rockets fired from Lebanese airspace hit the site near Masyaf, killing two soldiers.

Arab media and a monitoring group reported that a chemical weapons production facility was targeted.

Israel, which has carried out clandestine attacks on weapons sites in Syria before, has not commented.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to discuss the reports, saying it does not comment on operational matters.

Lebanese media also reported that Israeli jets had violated Lebanese airspace.

The incident comes a day after UN human rights investigators said they had concluded a Syrian Air Force jet had dropped a bomb containing the nerve agent Sarin on a rebel-held town in April.

At least 83 people were killed in that attack, most of them women and children, according to the investigators.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the incident in Khan Sheikhoun - which prompted the US to launch a missile strike on an airbase - was a "fabrication".

[Adrestia]

Forgotten to paste this. After the text above

He has insisted his forces destroyed their entire chemical arsenal under a deal brokered by the US and Russia after a Sarin attack outside Damascus in 2013.

However, a Western intelligence agency told the BBC in May that the Syrian government was continuing to produce chemical munitions at three main sites - at Masyaf, and at Dummar and Barzeh, both just outside Damascus. All three are branches of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC).

[Anna]

Israel is itching for war: https://www.rt.com/news/402270-syrian-military-israel-strike/
"Israeli plane strikes Syrian positions in Hama province, kills two servicemen"

[Roger Vose]

Facebook turns over info on Russian ads to Mueller: report

http://thehill.com/news-by-subject/technology/349567-facebook-turns-over-info-on-russian-ads-to-mueller-report

Facebook has turned over its data on ads bought by a Russian company during the 2016 election to special counsel Robert Mueller, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The tech company gave Mueller’s team copies of the ads as well as the identities of the ads’ buyers, a source told Reuters.

The handover of information comes after Facebook revealed earlier Wednesday that thousands of ads posted on the site over the past two years were linked to fake Facebook accounts based out of Russia.

Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, said nearly 500 accounts had spent roughly $100,000 on about 3,000 ads, but that the accounts had since been suspended.

Facebook reportedly informed congressional investigators about the ads on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.

The same group pushing this Russophobia stuff and the hasbara stuff are the very same folks using our military to relentlessly bomb and invade their ancient ethnic enemies in the Old World.

[Roger Vose]

Sorry, forgot to add an end to that HTML blockquote.

[Yeah, Right]

"Israeli plane strikes Syrian positions in Hama province, kills two servicemen"

Hmmmm. If this is supposed to be a chemical weapons production facility then a grand total of Two Dead Syrian Soldiers would suggest that... those Israeli missiles didn't strike a chemical weapons production facility.

Or do the Israelis have a magic bomb that denatures nerve gas even as it is blowing that stockpile sky-high?

[MRW]

Did this just happen, or is it a repeat of what happened five months ago? Confusing.

[Seamus Padraig]

Bibi's in total panic now! His whole life's work -- Greater Israel -- has now officially come a cropper. Naturally he wants the US to go to war with Iran. I sure hope Mattis and McMaster are cooler heads than I've been giving them credit for.

[Yeah, Right]

Call me old-fashioned, but I tend to believe that a country has a sovereign right to form whatever alliances it wants, and to invite onto its soil whatever forces its ally is willing to commit.

After all, how many US soldiers are stationed in Germany? Or in Japan? Or in South Korea?

I get that Israel doesn't **like** the idea of Iranian troops being located on Syrian soil. Sure, its unnerving that they are right there rather than all that way away in that far-off place you still dream about bombing.

But, you know, we're talking about SYRIAN soil here, and if Assad invites Iranian foot-soldiery onto his soil then He Is acting Well Within His Rights To Issue That Invitation, and Iran is Well Within Its Rights To Accept That Invite.

Unlike, you know, all those Israeli soldiers who have planted their Big Fat Arses on the Golan Heights.

Assad didn't invite any of those gate-crashers onto his soil, he certainly doesn't want them there, and he isn't hesitant to say so.

Israeli chutzpah. It really knows no bounds, does it?

[The Porkchop Express]

"Got them all vectors of their spleen." That is a crucial point in understanding US-Israeli relations. They will not and can not, under any circumstances, admit to needing us more than we need them.

As an aside, I remember seeing t-shirts on sale in Tel Aviv (this was July 2006, by the way) with an American F-15 on the front with the caption, "Don't worry America, Israel is on the way." I was flummoxed and a bit offended. When I told a few Israelis later about the t-shirt and registered some displeasure with it, I asked if they understood the Americans likely paid for/FMF'd the F-15s and that their cushy state welfare system is a byproduct of the Americans subsidizing their defense expenditures. They pulled a thinly veiled anti-semite card, proceeded to give me a historiography lesson, and refused to answer directly.

[Thomas]

"Strange thing is, every time the Israelis with their confreres in the US, come up with a plan to weaken Iran, the Iranians end up being strengthened"

Maybe Lord God is fighting against them? Perhaps they should make an effort to go to synagogue this week and pay special attention when reading the Parsha.

"Their behaviour and indifference to the fears and sufferings of the Syrians has convinced me, who used to be a 110% sympathiser of Israel, that now that the Israelis have made their bed, they should lie in it."

You are not the only one.

[mike]

SDF has 25,000 Arab tribesman. Plus small units of Syriac Christians and Turkmen.

Reportedly even small contingent Syrian-Circassians from Manbij, although I had thought most of those had either immigrated to the US or Jordan, or returned to the Caucasus.