Defence giants call for European drone program

Three top European defence firms called Sunday on governments to launch a program to manufacture drones that European countries are currently having to buy from Israel or the United States.

Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria

Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region.

For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East.

US warns of cyberattacks targeting medical devices

The FDA is warning that implanted medical devices, such as pacemakers and defibrillators, are often connected to networks that are vulnerable to cyber attacks that could shut down or manipulate the machinery.

China Set To Grab UAV Market While US Restricts Sales

PARIS: Psst. Hey mister. Wanna buy a UAV? China’s got drones for shooting, drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and drones for target practice. Cheap prices and no arms export restrictions.

And China may grab a significant share of the international market for just those reasons, according to a new report by the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Breaking Defense obtained a copy of the report: China’s Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry [sic]

The irony would be, of course, that the United States has largely created that demand by demonstrating the utility of drones (UAVs, Remotely Piloted Aircraft — RPAs — pick your term) in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq and other locales over the last decade.

Assad Prepares Offensive as Obama Promises Rebels Arms

It looks as if we’ve moved from “years away from war” to months away, or even weeks. As mentioned in previous submissions, the Assad regime is not going to give up easy and is going to bring down the entire Middle East with him should he realize he has only moments left of being in power. The entire region is at a critical boiling point.

President Barack Obama’s decision to send some light weapons to Syrian rebels may be too little and too late to thwart a regime offensive to retake Aleppo, the nation’s largest city and commercial capital.

Regime forces supported by fighters from the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah have moved north after defeating rebels in al-Qusair, a setback that triggered concern in Washington that Iran and its Lebanese ally are tipping the balance in favor of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

“Arming the Syrian rebels is unlikely to tip the balance in their favor,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center. “It might have made a difference a year ago, but, today, the Assad regime — particularly after re-taking Qusair — has the advantage.”

Jordan wargames: Patriot batteries, F-16s and 4,500 US troops near Syrian border

Multinational military exercise ‘Eager Lion’ has been launched in Jordan amid condemnation from neighboring Syria and its ally Russia. The US brings Patriot missile batteries to the Syrian border, which could remain deployed afterwards.

The exercises will last for 12 days, bringing together about 8,000 personnel from 19 countries, mostly Arabic, but also including the US and Europe. The maneuvers will also involve some 3,000 Jordanian and 500 British troops. 

Obama’s Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston Bombers

Homeland Insecurity: The White House assures that tracking our every phone call and keystroke is to stop terrorists, and yet it won’t snoop in mosques, where the terrorists are.

That’s right, the government’s sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown terrorists are radicalized.

Admiral: Global Special Operations ‘Network’ To Be Unveiled This Fall

WASHINGTON — In September, America’s top special operator plans to sit down with US geographic combatant commanders to finally lay out plans for what he has been calling the “global SOF network.”

“We’re going to lay that out in a very visual fashion” for the commanders, said Adm. William McRaven, head of US Special Operations Command. He made his remarks during a luncheon wrapping up a two-day “Positioning Special Operations Forces [SOF] for Global Challenges” conference convened by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis here.

U.S.: Syria used chemical weapons, crossing “red line”

The Assad regime has turned the tide and now the rebels will be further armed to turn the tables once again. This can now essentially be declared an open war. Syria has to be overthrown or in in a perpetual state of chaos and dysfunction in order to render it useless and weaken its mutual defense pact with Iran — Iran being the main target. Another factor to consider is that Obama’s Syria could prove to be George Bush’s Iraq, or worse. As we speak, and on a daily basis, Damascus is continuing to be turned into a pile of rubble. Will Isaiah 17:1 be fulfilled? Only time will tell… Don’t count on the Assad to go out easy or make a deal to retire in safety on beach front property. Assad also knows what happened to Mubarak of Egypt, Ghadaffi of Libya and Hussein of Iraq.

The Obama administration has concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government used chemical weapons against the rebels seeking to overthrow him and, in a major policy shift, President Obama has decided to supply military support to the rebels, the White House announced Thursday.

“The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the [Supreme Military Council]. That includes military support,” Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes told reporters.

President Obama has repeatedly said that the use of chemical weapons is a “red line” that, if crossed, would be a “game changer” for more U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war.

“The President has been clear that the use of chemical weapons – or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups – is a red line for the United States,” said Rhodes in a separate written statement.

“The President has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has,” he continued.

Cairo: Cabinet Minister Talks of War with US, Israel

An Obama administration overturned Egypt has lead predictably to a regime more extreme than the last. As a result, the government openly talks about the United States and Israel as Egypt’s enemies, as well as waging war against the two.

An Egyptian official spoke about war with the United States and Israel during a cabinet meeting officiated by President Mohammed Morsi.

Morsi gathered his ministers to discuss a response to Ethiopia’s plan to build a dam on the Nile River.

According to media reports, ministers were unaware the discussion was being aired live on Egyptian television. Later, the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) provided a video of the meeting with English subtitles.

Assad seen winning back territory; U.S. intel ‘on Syria was totally wrong’

Officials said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been briefed of the likelihood of an Assad victory that would end the more than two-year revolt in Syria.

The officials said Israeli preparations could include military reinforcements in the Golan Heights and northern Israel as well as additional aid from the United States.

New geopolitical rivalry between Europe and Russia

In November 2013 Vilnius will host the summit of Eastern Partnership, the EU program on closer cooperation with the post-Soviet countries which is operating since May 2009. The participants of the program are Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. In recent times Belarus has showed active interest to Eastern Partnership. Despite political contradictions, the leadership of the country expects invitation to Vilnius from the EU.