Diplomat: Obama Seeking 'Revenge' on Netanyahu

The White House's latest tirade against Israel is due to revenge over failed V15 campaign, to distract Americans from Iran, source says.

By Tova Dvorin


US-Israel relations have been especially tense over the past several days, with US President Barack Obama giving a particularly cold reception toPrime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's re-election last week.

The many harsh statements that have been made over the past week are not in a vacuum, according to a senior diplomat - who claims that the multiple condemnations are indeed a form of "revenge" from the ObamaAdministration against Netanyahu.

"The White House has three main motives," the source explained to Walla! News. "One, revenge (for Netanyahu's speech in Congress). Two, frustration. It's no secret that they were involved in an attempt to bring down the Netanyahu and we know that clearly, and they have failed. Three, the government's attempt to shift the focus from them because the negotiations with Iran to the Palestinian issue."

According to the expert, Obama is specifically attempting to use "deterioration in the Palestinian territories" as an excuse to draw attention away from the disastrous - and unpopular - Iran nuclear deal, despite the fact that "he knows that the only place preserving the stability of the Middle East at the moment is here."

The senior official heavily criticizes the Obama administration's handling of Israel and the issue of peace talks, asking why the issue of "settlements" in Jewish areas of Judea and Samaria are suddenly the most important policy issue on the agenda.

"Look what we have done so far with the construction in the settlements," the official fired. "We took upon ourselves all of the restrictions from the [Ariel] Sharon - [George W.] Bush era, which allowed natural growth but not the establishment of new settlements."

"But this administration does not understand the Sharon-Bush terms," he continued. "Their policy is a "no brick" policy, and it doesn't make any sense."

The White House has levied toward Israel since Netanyahu's victory, including a set of remarks later Monday night whereby it stated that Israel's "occupation must end."

Credit to http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

Poland Calls Military Reservists as US Armored Columns Roll Through Country

The Polish army has summoned its reserve forces for military exercises “immediately,” the Ministry of Defense announced on Monday – the same day a high-profile United States military convoy arrived in the country.

In an interview with a Polish TV station, General Bogusław Pacek, adviser to Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, said such an operation, where reservists are obligated to reach a given military unit within hours, is “the perfect test” of their readiness to perform.


According to a statement issued by the Defense Ministry on Monday, the exercise is “conducted in line with plans to check the operational and mobilization readiness in the Armed Forces in 2015, and stems from the [army’s] need to accumulate well-trained reserve troops.”

General Pacek said military leaders would not be informed about the whereabouts of the unit beforehand so as to ensure reliable results of the test.

Polish military officials told Radio Poland that several reservists have been called to take part in the military exercises. Some 12,000 are to be called for throughout the year.

The US "Dragoon Ride" convoy started last week and traveled from Estonia through Latvia and Lithuania before entering Poland on Monday. Flying US flags, dozens of Stryker and other armored vehicles from the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment are driving down the roads on their way back to their base in Germany.



In an apparent reference to Russia, General Pacek said that the convoy is a sign to "those in the East" that NATO is strong and united.

Operation "Atlantic Resolve," of which the convoy is a part, was launched by the United States following Crimea's reunification with Russia, and has seen the staging of military exercises in states which border Russia, as well as in the Black Sea.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed its concerns over the increasing military presence of NATO forces near Russia's territory and has stressed that Crimea's referendum, in which over 96 percent of Crimean voters backed a move to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia, was held in full compliance with democratic procedures and international rule of law.

Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov criticized the “Dragoon Ride,” slamming “some countries, which cockily demonstrate their strength at Russia’s borders.”

Credit to sputniknews

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/news/20150324/1019914769.html#ixzz3VM16Nm8V

US House Votes 348-48 To Arm Ukraine, Russia Warns Lethal Aid Will "Explode The Whole Situation"

Yesterday, in a vote that largely slid under the radar, the House of Representatives passed a resolution urging Obama to send lethal aid to Ukraine, providing offensive, not just "defensive" weapons to the Ukraine army - the same insolvent, hyperinflating Ukraine which, with a Caa3/CC credit rating, last week started preparations to issue sovereign debt with a US guarantee, in essence making it a part of the United States (something the US previously did as a favor to Egypt before the Muslim Brotherhood puppet regime was swept from power by the local army).

The resolution passed with broad bipartisan support by a count of 348 to 48.

According to DW,  the measure urges Obama to provide Ukraine with "lethal defensive weapon systems" that would better enable Ukraine to defend its territory from "the unprovoked and continuing aggression of the Russian Federation."

"Policy like this should not be partisan," said House Democrat Eliot Engel, the lead sponsor of the resolution. "That is why we are rising today as Democrats and Republicans, really as Americans, to say enough is enough in Ukraine."

Engel, a New York Democrat, has decided that he knows better than Europe what is the best option for Ukraine's people - a Europe, and especially Germany, which has repeatedly said it rejects a push to give western arms to the Ukraine army, and warned that Russia under President Vladimir Putin has become "a clear threat to half century of American commitment to an investment in a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. A Europe where borders are not changed by force."

This war has left thousands of dead, tens of thousands wounded, a million displaced, and has begun to threaten the post-Cold War stability of Europe," Engel said.

Odd, perhaps the US state department should have thought of that in a little over a year ago when Victoria Nuland was plotting how to most effectively put her puppet government in charge of Kiev and how to overthrow the lawfully elected president in a US-sponsored coup.

Then again, one glance at the Rep. Engel's career donors provides some explanation for his tenacity to start another armed conflict and to escalate what he himself defines as a cold war into a warm one.

So what will Obama do? As a reminder, the president has been far more eager to sit this one out, and giving Europe the upper hand when it comes to the decision if and when to escalate the proxy civil war in Ukraine.  To be sure, the vote puts even more pressure on the Obama administration, which has repeatedly said it was considering providing lethal aid to Ukraine; it just never dared to actually pull the trigger. Several months ago, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said we would "absolutely consider" providing lethal aid, sentiments that were echoed by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who said that he was also "inclined" in that direction.

Obama's options may be even more limited after NATO's top military commander General Philip Breedlove said Sunday that the West should "consider all our tools" to assist Ukraine, including sending defensive weapons to areas held by pro-Russian rebels.

For now the president is delaying because according to the State Department, the White House is waiting to see whether the second Minsk ceasefire will hold before deciding whether to deliver lethal assistance.

Ironically, the biggest stumbling block ahead of an outright overture to World War III, may be Hillary Clinton herself. The former SecState, currently embroiled in an e-mail communication scandal, was recently revealed to have been a recipient of some very generous foreign donations into the Clinton foundation: donations where Ukraine was at the very top!

Considering last week's news of a just as dangerous cold war being waged between Obama's right hand (wo)man, Valerie Jarrett, and the Clintons, it is perhaps just as likely that Obama, whose foreign policy team is absolutely abysmal and whose offshore "achievements" can best be described as a disaster, is not eager to get involved in Ukraine not so much to avert the cold war with Russia to turn hot, but to make Hillary's life difficult as she launches her challenge to Obama's favorite populist Elizabeth Warren.

Then again, when it comes to calling the foreign shots, the US president is merely a figurehead, and the real decision-maker has always been the US military-industrial complex. So while Obama may stall sending weapons, he will ultimately get a tap on the shoulder from the gentle folks shown on the table below, who will soon demand something in exchange for their millions in lobby funding.

The prepackaged spin is already ready: "sending weapons to the Kiev government would not mean involvement in a new war for America", claimed the abovementioned Eliot Engel who sponsored the document. “The people of Ukraine are not looking for American troops," Engel said. "They are just looking for the weapons.”

Beautiful. And if weapons the Ukraine wants, the US MIC will be delighted to provide them.

So the only question is how Russia will responds to this escalation: according to RT, "Washington's decision to supply Ukraine with ammunition and weapons would “explode the whole situation” in eastern Ukraine and Russia would be forced to respond “appropriately,” Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the end of February.

“It would be a major blow to the Minsk agreements and would explode the whole situation,” TASS quoted Ryabkov as saying.

In other words, bullish for stocks - just think of the central-bank monetary paradrops that World War III would unleash.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Guns, Gold & A Getaway Plan

SWEDEN, NATO REPORT RUSSIAN MILITARY PLANES OVER BALTIC SEA

The Swedish Air Force and NATO jets on Tuesday tracked four Russian combat aircraft flying with their transponders turned off over the Baltic Sea, officials said.

The Russian planes - two long-range, nuclear-capable Tu-22M3 bombers and two Sukhoi Su-27 fighters - were flying in international airspace, according to Sweden's Armed Forces and alliance sources.

NATO said it scrambled Danish jets and Italian jets based in Lithuania early Tuesday to identify the Russian aircraft which it said were heading to the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.

"The Russian military aircraft did not use their onboard transponder; they were not in contact with civilian Air Traffic Control and they were not on a pre-filed flight plan," a NATO military officer said on condition he not be identified by name in keeping with alliance practice.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said it was "unacceptable" for the Russian planes to be flying with shut-off transponders that are necessary for identifying aircraft on radar, calling it violation of international aviation rules.

"This has happened now on a number of occasions and in a very challenging way," Wallstrom told reporters in Stockholm. "We are tired of always having to protest against this kind of ... breach of rules."

NATO and Sweden, which is not a member of the alliance, have reported an increase in Russian air maneuvers over the Baltic Sea in recent years.

Tuesday's sighting comes as Finnish and Swedish military aircraft are preparing to train with U.S. fighters over the Baltic Sea, and American and NATO forces continue military exercises in the Baltic countries.

The Swedish military said the threat against Sweden had not grown but that the armed forces were watching the "increased activity" in the region.




Credits to Customewire.org

George Soros Warns Greece "Is Going Down The Drain"

“Right now we are at the cusp," billionaire George Soros tells Bloomberg TV in this brief clip, the chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go "down the drain." The 84-year-old fears that talks between Greece and 'the institutions' could "break down," adding that  "Greece is a long-festering problem that was mishandled from the beginning by all parties," concluding that the chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go "down the drain." Finally, Soros notes, what worries him the most is Ukraine.

As Bloomberg reports,

The chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go “down the drain,” billionaire investor George Soros said.

“It’s now a lose-lose game and the best that can happen is actually muddling through,” Soros, 84, said in a Bloomberg Television interview due to air Tuesday. “Greece is a long-festering problem that was mishandled from the beginning by all parties.”

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government needs to persuade its creditors to sign off on a package of economic measures to free up long-withheld aid payments that will keep the country afloat. Since his January election victory, he has tried to shape an alternative to the austerity program set out in the nation’s bailout agreement, spurring concern that Greece may be forced out of the euro.

The negotiations between Tsipras’s Syriza government and the institutions helping finance the Greek economy -- the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- could result in a “breakdown,” leading to the country leaving the common currency area, Soros said in the interview at his London home.

“You can keep on pushing it back indefinitely,” making interest payments without writing down debt, Soros said. “But in the meantime there will be no primary surplus because Greece is going down the drain.”

Soros said in January 2012 that the odds are in the direction of Greece leaving the euro region.

“Right now we are at the cusp and I can see both possibilities,” he said in Tuesday’s interview.

And concludes with some thoughts on Ukraine...

...the war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and rebel militia supported by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin concerns him the most.

Without more external financial assistance the “new Ukraine” probably will gradually deteriorate and “become like the old Ukraine so that the oligarchs come back and assert their power,” he said. “That fight has actually started in the last week or so.”

 Credits to Zero Hedge

Germany defies NATO