The Years of Terror (I)

LONDON/BERLIN/RIYADH (Own report) – With its continued worldwide support for Salafis, Germany’s close partner, Saudi Arabia, is relentlessly fertilizing the soil for the growth of jihadi terror, according to the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). “The consequences of Saudi Arabia’s support for Salafism are catastrophic,” the SWP concludes in light of IS/Daesh activities in Europe. British experts are also sharply criticizing cooperation with Riyadh. If one seriously wants to combat jihadi terror, one “should start by stopping the mass export of Wahhabism’s intolerance and hatred from Saudi Arabia,” an insider recommends. This is, however, countered by Germany, other European powers and North America’s relentless cooperation with the Saudi ruling clan. Just a few weeks ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel launched regular military cooperation with the Saudi armed forces. Out of consideration for Riyadh, the British government has been withholding an investigation, showing the – presumably Saudi – financiers of British jihadis. This had been made known only three days before the latest terror attack in London.

Iran threatens Saudi Arabia

Hossein Dehqan (Reuters)

 

Iran’s defense minister threatens to leave no part of Saudi Arabia untouched if Riyadh “does anything ignorant”.

Iran’s defense minister threatened Saudi Arabia on Sunday, days after a Saudi prince ruled out dialogue with Tehran and said he would protect his kingdom from what he called Iranian efforts to dominate the Muslim world.

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“If the Saudis do anything ignorant, we will leave no area untouched except Mecca and Medina,” Dehqan said, according to the report, in comments made to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV.

Israeli intel: Iran has put together a secret 25,000-strong ‘foreign legion’ in Syria

The Iranian force is said to consist mostly of Afghan and Pakistani recruits.

 

Avi Dichter, chair of Israel’s foreign affairs and defense committee, told a visiting Swiss delegation on Nov. 3 that the Iranian-backed force was made mostly of recruits from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“This is a foreign legion of some 25,000 militants,” Dichter said. “They are fighting in Syria only against the rebels and not against ISIL.”

Saudi-Iranian war of words escalates: Grand Mufti states rulers of Persia are not Muslims

Saudi Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh

 

The top religious leader of Sunni Saudi Arabia further stoked the flames of tension with Shi’ite Iran on Sept. 6 by proclaiming that the leaders of the Islamic Republic in an area once known as Persia are not Muslims.

“We must understand that they are not Muslims, as they are the descendants of the Magus, and their animosity towards Muslims – especially the Sunnis – is very ancient,”Grand Mufti Abd al-Aziz Al ash-Sheikh said.

Turkey? In the EU?

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) recently made affectionate statements expressing admiration not for the European Union, but for the last Islamic caliphate — the Ottoman Empire, an expansionist Islamic realm that committed massacres, rapes, and sexual slavery of people in the lands it invaded. The question is when the EU will start acting like a self-respecting institution, and consider Turkey according to what it actually says and does? Pictured right: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

 

• “What is the conquest?” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his audience. “The conquest is Hijrah [expansion of Islam through emigration, following the example of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and his followers from Mecca to Medina]. The conquest is Al-Andalus [Muslim Spain]. … The conquest is Salah al-Din al-Ayubbi [Saladin]. … It is to hoist the flag of Islam in Jerusalem again. … The conquest is to have the courage, tenacity and sagacity to defy the entire world even at the hardest times.”
• “The EU needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU. Let everyone know it like that.” — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On April 25, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, while speaking at the High-Level EU-Turkey Economic Dialogue meeting in Istanbul, said that the full membership process to the European Union was Turkey’s most crucial strategic target.

Iran Guard simulates capture of Al Aqsa Mosque

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Thousands of paramilitary forces from the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard have held a war game simulating the capture of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque from Israeli control.

Iran’s state media reported Saturday that the forces stormed and “liberated” a replica of the mosque in the exercise. They say that 120 brigades from the Basij, the paramilitary unit of the Guard, participated in Friday’s exercise outside the holy city of Qom in central Iran.

Isis ‘has designs on’ Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem and is a danger to Europe, Vladimir Putin warns

Isis has designs on the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem and poses a danger to Europe, Vladimir Putin has reportedly said.

The Russian President said the situation is “very serious” and that Moscow is worried trained jihadists from the group – which refers to itself as the Islamic State – plan to return to EU countries and Russia, according to Russia Today.

Saudis Obtaining Pakistani Nukes?

These links [1, 2] discuss the probability that Saudi Arabia may soon be taking delivery of Pakistani nuclear warheads to put in the Saudi military inventory, making Saudi Arabia an instant nuclear power. I have addressed this possibility in previous posts, but it looks like this may become a reality very soon. Obviously, Saudi Arabia wants the ability to become a nuclear power immediately if Iran becomes a nuclear power. Since Saudi Arabia reportedly financed much of the development of the Pakistani nuclear weapons program, the Saudis likely have a right to obtain a certain number of the Pakistani warheads for themselves when the situation warrants.

There are those who doubt that this arrangement exists, but the reported fact that “at least two giant Saudi transport planes…are parked permanently at Kamra [Pakistan’s nuclear air base]” gives strong credibility to the report that the Saudis are ready to receive an unknown number of Pakistani nuclear weapons at a moment’s notice if Iran’s nuclear program indicates it has reached the ability to produce nuclear weapons. Why else would Saudi transport planes be parked regularly at Pakistan’s nuclear weapon-equipped airbase? At the very least, the Saudis want to have as many nukes as Iran. It is also not impossible that Saudi Arabia so fears a nuclear-armed Iran that it would take delivery of the Pakistani nukes to perform a pre-emptive strike on the Iranian bomb facilities. Saudi Arabia is the guardian of Mecca of Medina and sees itself as the leader of the Sunni Islamic peoples. Iran is the leader of the Shiite Islamic people.

This report indicates that it is not only the Israelis and Americans that might be considering a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. Sunni Arab Saudi Arabia has no intention of ever being dominated by the Shiite Persians. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are both Sunni Islamic nations.

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Finally, remember the old adage: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That has historically been a truism in Mideast politics. Iran is the growing enemy of both Israel and Saudi Arabia, so the Iranian nuclear program is pushing the Israelis and Saudis together as friends of necessity in this matter…whether they expected this to happen or not.

Full article: Saudis Obtaining Pakistani Nukes? (Steven Mcollins)