Ethiopia Ignores Egyptian Warnings on Nile

JERUSALEM — Defying threats of war emanating from Egypt, Ethiopia’s parliament has endorsed an agreement with five other African countries refuting Egypt’s claim to near-exclusive rights to the waters of the Nile River.

The vote last Thursday was approved unanimously by the 547-member legislature after Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that Egypt’s leaders would not go to war unless they “go mad.”

Persian Gulf states ‘unable to protect themselves’

Despite massive spending on Western weapons, the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf are “unable to secure themselves from any external threat” — meaning Iran — and are running up huge public and foreign debt, a Gulf think tank says.

Omar al-Shehabi, director of the Gulf Center for Development Policies in Kuwait, said that even though the defense expenditure of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states is the highest in the world, exceeding the combined military spending of Israel and Britain, they still have to “rely on Western countries to provide military protection and security.”

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.

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. 

German Intelligence: 95% of free army non-Syrian extremist groups

Berlin, (SANA)- German “Die Welt” daily said that only 5% of the armed terrorists in the so-called Free Army are Syrians, while 95% of them are extremist groups which came from several African countries to jihad in Syria baked by the Gulf and Arab countries.

The daily quoted intelligence experts in Germany as saying : ” The German intelligence has an official and detailed account of the nationalities of the rebels in Syria and their locations in the country,”

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.

China And The Biggest Territory Grab Since World War II

As with countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, Israel is not even included on the maps — even within in-flight maps aboard middle eastern airliners.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that China’s mapping authority, Sinomaps Press, issued a new map of the country showing 80% of the South China Sea as internal Chinese water.

Israeli intelligence denies first Russian S-300s arrive in Syria – contrary to Assad’s claim

Senior Israeli intelligence sources emphasized to debkafile Thursday May 30 that Syria had still not received the first consignment of Russian S-300 anti-missile batteries – contrary to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s claim.

Directly taunting Israel, Syrian president Bashar Assad said in an interview prerecorded for broadcast Thursday night, May 30, that the first batch of Russian S-300 anti-air missiles has arrived in Syria and a second consignment was on the way. The broadcast was scheduled to air simultaneously over Hizballah’s Al Manar and Syrian state television channels.

Israel says will act to prevent S-300 missile systems from becoming operational

As history has shown, Israel is good on its word. In this case, it would get Russia further invovled in the Middle East powder keg — especially if Russian personnel are the operators who man the advanced equipment, which sometimes they are.

Netanyahu tells European foreign ministers that if the Russian missile systems get into Syria, Israel’s ‘entire airspace will become a no-fly zone’ and therefore it ‘cannot stand idly by.’

Israel’s National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror sketched out what Jerusalem’s “red line” is vis-à-vis the S-300 missile systems Russia intends to send to Syria before the 27 European Union ambassadors in Israel.