Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

[Didgevillage]

Ukraine became a totally failed state after the Maidan coup, backed by Zionist forces (inclusive of NATO).
The only way for Ukraine to survive is to make constitutional changes to be a loose federation, giving more autonomy to Russian-speaking Donbas (or let it become independent states).

Forget Crimea, because it was the whim of Khrushchev to place it under Ukraine without much thought, although it made little difference within the Soviet Union.

Be wary that Ashkenazi Jews want to come back from Israel, another failed state. Though Ukraine is a large country, can it afford to have a large Jewish presence in its midst?

Strengthen cultural and political ties with Russia, and forget about westernization. The west is corrupt.

[Hervé]

Ukraine’s president-in-waiting Zelensky vows to end conflict in Donbass with ‘POWERFUL INFOWAR’

RT
Published time: 21 Apr, 2019 20:04
Edited time: 22 Apr, 2019 08:04
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Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine on April 21, 2019. © Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko

Comedian-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelensky, set for a landslide win in Ukraine’s presidential vote, stayed true to character at his first press conference, dropping some flashy promises but refusing to go into boring detail.

Shortly after claiming electoral victory, Zelensky held a Q&A session with reporters at his campaign HQ in a Kiev business center. While the official results of the elections have yet to be announced, multiple exit polls suggest he secured more than 72 percent of votes.

Zelensky addressed the media in an easy-going manner. He spoke in a mix of Ukrainian and Russian, switching between the two languages, sometimes in one sentence. He also talked English a bit. But if the press hoped to shed light on the policies of the incoming president and his team, the conference actually generated more questions than answers.

Bringing the civil war in eastern Ukraine to an end appears to be one of the top priorities for Zelensky. Promising to announce some kind of a plan shortly, he asked the reporters for help in the upcoming “infowar” that he says would help end the conflict, which, since 2014, has been raging between Kiev’s troops and the rebel self-proclaimed republics.

We will launch a very powerful information war to end the war in Donbass.

He then vowed to “act within the Normandy format,” referring to the French-German-Russian-Ukrainian talks on war in Donbass, saying that “we will continue the Minsk process, we will restart it.”

Next up, Zelensky did not rule out – even if half-jokingly – that the outvoted president Petro Poroshenko could gain a government post if the public “asks so.”

Do you want me to appoint him? Then I will ask society… If they tell me that they want to see Petro Poroshenko in one post or another – maybe, I don't know.

Zelensky added, though, that he would like to try “new people” first. But the very team of the soon-to-be president still remains a mystery, as he’s refusing to provide any names, be it the new administration, the judiciary, or the country’s military.

“We have very serious acting generals who have authority in the army, you will definitely see them. I have no right to give the names of these people now, as there is an agreement with the generals,” Zelensky said cryptically, likewise not revealing his candidate for prosecutor general.

For now, Zelensky and his Servant of the People party – notably named after his own comedy show where he played a schoolteacher-turned-president – are promising to introduce the team “in the near future.”

[Sophocles]

Bjørn Nistad has some points to add (full article in Norwegian here):

However, the challenges facing Zelensky are enormous. He must put the oligarchs in place. He must clean up corruption and mismanagement. He must disarm the right-wing extremist bands that terrorize the population. He must rebuild a broken economy. He must solve the national question. He must make peace with the rebellious people of eastern Ukraine. He must find a solution to Ukraine's foreign policy challenges, which mean that the country ceases to be a ping-pong ball in major politics. He must free himself from the United States. And he must make an agreement with Putin.

When Ukraine became an independent state in 1991, the country was industrially well developed, and the standard of living was higher than in Russia. However, as in other former Soviet republics, the so-called oligarchs, a group of unscrupulous realms, managed to gain power in politics, community life and economics. And the result was corruption and mismanagement. An important reason for this to happen was that one failed to solve the national question, with endless disputes over language and culture that failed to gather the population to put the oligarchs in place as a result.

If Zelensky is to become anything but another failed Ukrainian head of state, he must resolve the national question.

And the only way to solve the national question in a country such as Ukraine - which is so complex that there is hardly any country - is to make the country a loose federation like Switzerland where the most important languages are equal, and where the people of the different regions has extensive autonomy in relation to language, culture and other issues.

[…]

Zelensky has to enter into an agreement with Putin. Ending the civil war in Ukraine and making the economy work again is not possible without getting into cooperation with Russia. As long as one considers Russia as an enemy, it will hardly be possible to solve the national question.

[…]

An indication of what we can expect from Zelensky will be his first state visit after the inauguration as president.

He should go to Moscow and make an appointment with Putin. But it will hardly happen. What we can hope for is that he goes to Berlin or Paris as a sign that he is trying to get European support to revive the collapsed Minsk agreements on how to end the civil war in Ukraine through political reform and decentralization. The worst thing is that Zelensky is going to Washington. It will be a sign that he has already become an American puppet like Poroshenko, with continued war and resolution as a result.

[Didgevillage]

From (crypto-Jew) oligarch to Jewish comedian...
Too funny to laugh, too sad to cry.
Not even a light at the end of the tunnel for Ukraine.

[Sophocles]

The Rada continues to push for full Ukrainiazation through law. More from Bjørn Nistad (full article in Norwegian):

Only four days after the election, April 25, the Rada, with 270 against 39 votes (and 4 abstentions), passed a law that would impose full Ukrainianization and stamping of Russian-speaking Ukrainians as other rank citizens. The consequences will be continued dissolution and war. And maybe the downfall of the Ukrainian state.


In the autumn of 2018, the Rada voted for a law intended to make Ukrainian the only language in Ukraine, and this language law has now been finalized.


According to the adopted law, all public servants, including professionals such as teachers and health professionals, should speak exclusively Ukrainian, both in the service and when acting publicly. The mass media must be Ukrainian. Employees in shops and restaurants must answer Ukrainian if they are approached in Ukrainian. Own language inspectors will be employed. And for violations of the language law there are high fines.


School and education must be Ukrainian. During a transitional period, the teaching of lower grade levels may partly take place in the languages of national minorities.


The purpose of the Duma decision is, according to political commentators, to place Zelensky in a difficult situation. If he endorses the language law, the promises of national reconciliation will appear to be false, and his support in the population will be drastically reduced. If he departs from the language law, he will conflict with nationalist elements, including gangs of armed high-nationalists.


To dissolve the Rada and print new elections so that a new Rada can be chosen that can revoke the language law, Zelensky hardly has the opportunity. The plan from Poroshenko and the Rada is to postpone the official proclamation of the election results and the inauguration of a new president so long as Zelensky does not have the opportunity to write new elections. Rada cannot be dissolved later than six months before an ordinary election. This means that if Zelensky is not a president before May 27, he will not be able to dissolve the Rada and print new elections.


Zelensky will probably be forced to live with a Rada elected after the coup d'état in 2014 until the autumn of 2019, which represents a completely different policy than the national reconciliation he chose.


The politicians in the Duma have six months to adopt laws that restrict the president's power. And when the regular Duma election comes in October 2019, Zelensky is likely to be far less popular than today.


There is no doubt that the dissolution of Ukraine will be reinforced as a result of the adopted language and Ukrainian law. The majority of Ukrainians are Russian-speaking. That people in cities such as Kharkov and Odessa - or for that matter Kiev - want to be citizens of a state saying they speak the wrong language is questionable.


No responsible Russian government will allow the build-up of a Ukraine where Russian language and culture is eradicated. The full Ukrainian decision therefore raises the question of liquidation of the Ukrainian state. Or at least a replacement of today's Russian hostile regime.


A few days ago, Russian authorities declared that it would be easier to obtain Russian citizenship for people resident in the rebellious public Donetsk and Lugansk. Of course, the decision has a humanitarian dimension. And it can be interpreted as a signal to Zelensky that he should abide by the Minsk agreements to end the civil war in Ukraine through decentralization and political reforms if he wants to stay on the Donbass. But it can also be seen as a sign that the Russian side intends to annex Donbass. And since an annexation of the Donbass which handed over the rest of the Russian-speaking East Ukraine to Ukrainianization would be meaningless, we must assume that at least one annexation of much of Eastern Ukraine is being considered in the Kremlin.


One possible scenario is that in response to a Russian annexation of Donbass, Kiev is launching a military operation that gives Russia a pretext to occupy and annex much of Eastern Ukraine.


Or one can - and probably is more likely - from the Russian side to commit to producing so much dissatisfaction and chaos in Ukraine that today's Russian hostile regime breaks down. With a Rada and political elite apparently doing what they can to humiliate both Ukraine's newly elected president and the majority of Ukrainians, and with a Ukrainian economy in disintegration, it should not be particularly difficult.

[Hervé]

More Than 40 Members of the White Helmets Admit to Staging of Chemical Attacks in Syria

Sputnik
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 23:09 UTC

© AP Photo / Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets

At least 40 members of the White Helmets organization have admitted during recent interviews that they staged chemical attacks in Syria to provoke retaliation against President Bashar Assad, Foundation for the Study of Democracy Director Maxim Grigoriev said on Thursday as he unveiled the results of a new study at the UN.

"We have interviewed ... 40 members of the White Helmets, including those from Douma, who provided a detailed description of their methods commonly used by their organization to fake scenes," Grigoriev said.

The foundation conducted a fact-finding mission in Syria and located both White Helmets members and dozens of other people who participated in the staged attacks, Grigoriev said.

"Those people told us in detail how they had to participate in the staging for few dollars to buy some food for their families," he said.

One woman recounted how she was given white burial shroud to wrap herself up in and then told to lay on the ground and smear her mouth with toothpaste, Grigoriev said.

Another recalled being told to "close his eyes" as he was filmed being taken to a medical center by members of the White Helmets.

"Amar Al Mustafa Ibn Mohammad from Aleppo saw with his own eyes how they simulated a chemical attack, they brought children, laid them down, put civilians away and filmed children as if they died in the chemical attack," Grigoriev said.

A White Helmets member in Douma told the investigators that local children were given candies as rewards for their participation in the staged videos.

Grigoriev pointed out that the investigation cast considerable doubt on the findings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which blamed Assad for chemical attacks in Syria's Douma in 2018.

The OPCW's conclusions relied on falsified facts and untrustworthy or unidentified sources, he noted.

In March, the OPCW issued its final report on the investigation regarding the incident of alleged use of toxic chemicals as a weapon in Duma, Syria, in April 2018, which identified chlorine as "most likely" chemical agent used in the attack.

The facts presented in the foundation's investigation "confirm that the OPCW has deliberately failed to conduct an impartial assessment of the incident in Douma and raise doubts as to what else the organization is capable of making... in the future," Grigoriev said.

The Foundation for the Study of Democracy interviewed 15 witnesses at the site of the Douma attack, 40 members of the White Helmets who admitted faking attacks, and more than 25 others who saw the White Helmets stage the attacks. It also analyzed photographs and videos of the incident.

The White Helmets, also known as Syria Civil Defence (SCD), operates in parts of rebel-controlled Syria and Turkey and claims to be a group of volunteer rescue workers.

The Syrian and Russian governments have accused the White Helmets of staging several provocations involving chemical weapons to justify potential foreign interventions and the presence of foreign forces in Syria, as well as carry arms and support terrorist groups.

The OPCW investigation was launched after the White Helmets group published a video of the reported attack in Douma, which is located in the Damascus neighborhood of Eastern Ghouta. The video showed local residents, both adults and children, being treated in the hospital after the alleged attack.

The reports about the attack and the publication of the footage by the White Helmets prompted missile strikes by France, the United Kingdom and the United States on alleged chemical weapons production facilities in Damascus.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the claims about the alleged use of toxic chemicals by the Syrian government were aimed at justifying external military action.

Related:

• Russian UN rep in Geneva: 'Truth about White Helmets is gradually emerging'

• Ominous casting call: Russian MOD says White Helmets hiring locals for staged chemical attacks, paying in food

• Russian UN envoy: White Helmets working on a new false-flag chemical attack in Idlib province, Syria

• The White Helmets, alleged organ traders & child kidnappers who should be condemned, instead receive praise from mainstream media

• Russian military: White Helmets have shot at least nine chemical weapons videos & are staging rehearsals of alleged chemical attack

• Syrian Foreign Minister warns White Helmets kidnapped 44 children to stage chemical attack in Idlib

• Showing their true colors: Remaining Syrian White Helmets want evacuation to Al-Qaeda-held Idlib province

• Ben Swann's Reality Check: Who's funding the White Helmets?

[Didgevillage]

This is the reality of Kurdistan, Iraq.
These new western-style shopping malls, new housing developments, European cars, rampant consumerism...

This is not what we (generally) expect from "Iraq." It probably explains why there were Iraq Wars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrKP0KxGOU

[Hervé]

A Week In The Life Of The Empire

The Saker
May 9, 2019

Introduction

It is sometimes helpful not to look at any one specific issue in detail, but rather make a survey of ongoing processes instead. The resulting picture is neither better nor worse, it is simply different. This is what I want to do today: to take a bird’s eye view of our suffering planet.

Putin trolls the Empire

It is all really simple: if the Ukrainians will give passports to Russian citizens, and we in Russia will be handing out passports to the Ukrainians, then sooner or later will will reach the expected result: everybody will have the same citizenship. This is something which we have to welcome.
Vladimir Putin

It appears that the Kremlin is very slowly changing its approach to the Ukrainian issue and is now relying more on unilateral actions. The first two measures taken by the Russians are maybe not “too little too late”, but certainly “just the bare minimum and at that, rather late”. Still, I can only salute the Kremlin’s newly found determination. Specifically, the Kremlin has banned the export of energy products to the Ukraine (special exemptions can still be granted on a case by case basis) and the Russians have decided to distribute Russian passports to the people of Novorussia. Good.

Zelenskii’s reaction to this decision came as the first clear sign that the poor man has no idea what he is doing and no plan as to how to deal with the Russians. He decided to crack a joke, (which he is reportedly good at), and declare that the Ukrainian passport was much better than the Russian one and that the Ukraine will start delivering Ukrainian passports to Russian citizens. Putin immediately replied with one of his typical comebacks declaring that he supports Zelenskii and that he looks forward to the day when Russians and Ukrainians will have the same citizenship again. Zelenskii had nothing to say to that.

Zelenskii finally finds something common to Russia and the Ukraine

I have been thinking long about this “a lot in common” between Ukraine and Russia. The reality is that today, after the annexation of the Crimea and the aggression in the Donbas, of the “common” things we have only one thing left – this is the state border. And control of every inch on the Ukrainian side, must be returned by Russia. Only then will we be able to continue the search for [things in] “common”
Vladimir Zelenskii

Well, almost. He did eventually make a Facebook post in which he declared that all that Russia and the Ukraine had in common was a border. This instantly made him the object of jokes and memes, since all Russians or Ukrainians know that Russia and the Ukraine have many old bonds which even 5 years of a vicious civil war and 5 years of hysterically anti-Russian propaganda could not sever. They range from having close relatives in the other country, to numerous trade and commercial transactions, to a common language. The closest thing to a real Ukrainian language would be the Surzhik which is roughly 50/50 in terms of vocabulary and whose pronunciation is closer to the south Russian one than to the Zapadenskii regional dialect spoken in the western Ukraine and which is used (and currently imposed) by the Ukronazi junta in Kiev.

The malignant manatee threatens the planet with fire and brimstone

We have Pompeo, a malignant manatee looking to start wars in which he will not risk his flabby amorphous ass also parading his Christianity. Bolton, a mean sonofabitch who belongs in a strait jacket, at least doesn’t pose as someone having a soul. And the Golden Tufted Cockatoo, too weak to control those around him, preening and tweeting. God save us.
Fred Reed

The term “malignant manatee” is not from me, the brilliant Fred Reed came up with this one, but I can only fully endorse it because it fits. Perfectly. And our malignant manatee sure is on a roll! Just this week he managed to threaten Venezuela, Iran, and even Russia and China together. I think that it is high time to declare that Pompeo is a bona fide nutcase, a dangerous, arrogant and ignorant psychopath whose crazy statements represent a direct threat to the entire planet. Not to say that his pal Bolton is any less crazy. Now combine these two rabid thugs with the spineless “Golden Tufted Cockatoo” (to use Fred Reed’s equally hilarious but accurate characterization) and you see that the planet is in big, big trouble.


Turns out that Putin is a crypto-Zionist and an Israeli puppet.

Here I won’t even bother with any quotes. The alternative Internet/blogosphere has, again, been hit by a wave of articles declaring that Putin is Netanyahu’s puppet and a crypto-Zionist. I have debunked that nonsense in the past (see here and here) and I won’t repeat it all here. Besides, what this surge in “Putin the Zionist” propaganda is, is not so much the result of a gradual realization about the true agenda or Putin himself as much as it is, yet again, a desperate scramble for clicks. I already discussed that recently too (see here). I will just reiterate my conclusion here: clickbaiters are never experts and experts are never clickbaiters.

Frankly, to all those who email me and ask “Is it really true? Putin is an Israeli puppet? He helps Netanyahu in Syria, does he not?!” I would suggest simply looking at what the Israelis and Zionists write about Putin (for starters, you can click here, here or here). Even better, ask the defenders of Putin the crytpo-Zionist to explain the hysterically anti-Putin campaign the US legacy Ziomedia has been engaged in for the past years! But don’t hold your breath for an answer – since Russia has comprehensively foiled all Israel’s many plans for Syria, it takes a remarkable determination not to see that Putin is hated by Neocons and Zionists alike, and for good cause, I would add.

Oh, and Putin is a crypto-Muslim too!

Yes, besides being a crypto-Zionist, Putin is also a crypto-Muslim. This latest nonsense usually comes from Alt-Right circles who can forgive Putin his friendliness to Israel, but not to Islam. These are the folks who believe that Putin is not a real defender of the “White Race”. They are opposed by those who believe that Putin and the Moscow Patriarchate will somehow jump-start the “Christian West”. We are talking about some hardcore “single-issue” folks here whose main disagreement is whether Jews or Muslims are to be hated (and feared!) most.

[Having had to deal with both groups myself – I have been accused of being a Jew, a Jew lover and a Muslim and a Muslim lover many times! – I know that reasoning with these folks is a total waste of time. Their paranoid hatred is completely incompatible with any fact-based and logical discussion. Besides, by arguing with them you threaten their income and livelihood – which due to their lack of expertise depends entirely on their ability to generate clickbait revenue. If you do engage with them, they will call you a Jew-lover or an Islam-lover and that’s it. Not worth your time IMHO].

The quasi-comical truth is that the Alt-Righters don’t get Russia *at all*. They keep transposing their narrow horizons on a nation with which they have absolutely nothing in common, not even religiously or racially (even if they think otherwise). Hence their love-hate relationship with Putin: on one hand, they would love to have a champion like Putin (Ann Coulter or Milo Yiannopoulos do not qualify), but on the other, they hate Putin for not endorsing their racist and fascist agenda. Truth be told: Russia has no use for these intellectual midgets.

Russia is “selling out” to the Taliban?
Well, since we are making a (tongue-in-cheek) “inventory” of all of Putin’s (and even Russia’s) sins, let’s include cozying up to the Taliban (who even agreed to put on Saint George’s Ribbons!) and… … and what exactly is happening here?

How about trying to bring peace back to Afghanistan? You know – the same thing Russia is doing in Venezuela, in Syria and elsewhere. This implies talking to the other side, and even striking smiling poses when asked by the press.

Needless to say, the thugs running the AngloZionst Empire have accused Russia or aiding and even arming the Taliban. And why not? This is no more ridiculous than saying that Saddam and Iran are helping al-Qaeda, or than saying that Russia “hacked” DNC computers, or told Maduro not to run for his life. Hey! We are living in “Skripal times” and the rules of evidence have changed to “highly likely” – so why not claim that Russia is also selling out to the Taliban (maybe even on Netanyahu’s orders?).

In the meantime, Russian soldiers are busy ducking missiles…
Yep, apparently unaware that their Commander-in-Chief is a puppet of both Israel and the worldwide Islamic Ummah, Russian servicemen are ducking missiles in Syria. The latest attack saw them shoot 36 missiles (and one targeting drone) out of the sky. This is good news, of course, but this just goes to show that these (US and Israel backed) Islamists shooting these missiles have not been informed that the Russian military in Syria is here to help Netanyahu and Trump. Somebody should probably tell them.

Conclusion: just one more crazy and terrifying week, with many more to come
I tried to be a little tongue-in-cheek here, but the reality is that what is taking place before our eyes is both absolutely insane and most terrifying. Why? Because the world is now ruled by a most dangerous gang of ignorant thugs who are very rapidly losing their grip on our planet and who is simply neither intellectually equipped to understand, nor deal with this very complex and rapidly changing situation.

What we are seeing is a full-spectrum collapse of the unipolar world and its gradual, but also inexorable, replacement with a multi-polar world in which things like “speaking with your adversaries or even enemies” becomes the norm rather than the exception. Even more importantly, this is a world in which US threats always fall on deaf ears simply because nobody takes the US seriously anymore. While the US military probably has the capability to re-invade Grenada or “bring democracy” to the inhabitants of the North Sentinel Island – no adults in the room will be impressed (least of all the Iranians!).

It is this quiet indifference which enrages the likes of Pompeo, Bolton or Trump – for all their narcissistic chest-thumping – they are, and will forever remain, the ultimate losers – folks who simply couldn’t get *anything* done. Even more terrifying is their sense of total impunity. If Obama was “democracy with a human face” then Trump is “democracy with a simian face” – not much better.

When I think that a “Golden Tufted Cockatoo” (to use Fred Reeds wonderful image) has the authority to press the nuclear button I feel terrified. I also realize that the survival of the human species will depend on Putin and Xi and their ability to gradually disarm or neutralize the US threat without triggering a nuclear war.

These are truly terrifying times. If you are not terrified, then you are delusional.

But if being terrified is a natural and absolutely normal reaction, we need to overcome it and fearlessly resist. Like Maduro does, surrounded by his men.

This refusal to be afraid, even while being terrified, is how we will eventually defeat the Empire!

Venezuela is, by far, the weakest link in the chain of resistance to the Empire. But look at these faces! All I can say is this: may the courage of the kids protecting not only Maduro, but also the sovereignty of their country, be an inspiration to us all, no matter how terrified we are.

UPDATE: turns out that it was not Russia or Cuba which are responsible for the failed coup. According to Neocon US Senator from Florida, Venezuela regime change crusader Marco Rubio, it’s the Chinese! I wonder whom the US leaders are going to blame next? Any guesses?

[Ba-ba-Ra]

Thanks for the above post Herve.

It made me laugh, it made me cry and in the end I realized that what I should be doing is praying!~

[Hervé]

Jim Stone thinking some out of the box ready made false flag:


FALSE FLAG ON IRAN PLAN BLOWN TO H*LL

Want to stop a false flag? Just report it a few hours before it is supposed to happen!

The plan was to blow up oil tankers in a UAE operated port in the strait of Hormuz, and blame it on Iran.

PROBLEM:
The Lebanese media jumped the gun, and released news of the attack before American planes which were witnessed by "numerous people" dropped their bombs. They could not overcome the social media backlash from this and called off the attacks.

That's the only thing that fits.

Here is the story, according to Sputnik:

"Several heavy explosions occurred early on Sunday in the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, a number of media reports say. The reports, citing eyewitnesses, further suggested that American and French warplanes have been seen flying over the port at the time of the incident.

The government of Fujairah denied on Sunday media reports about several heavy explosions taking place at the emirate's port, insisting that the port is functioning as usual.

"The press service of the Fujairah government denied media reports about powerful explosions in the emirate's port earlier this day and confirmed that ship traffic is as usual," the state-run WAM news agency reports.

Earlier in the day, the Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen broadcaster said, citing local media that several heavy explosions occurred in the port of Fujairah.

The blasts were heard between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. local time (00:00 — 03:00 GMT), the broadcaster reported, adding that from seven to 10 oil tankers were in flames. The broadcaster continued by saying that the real cause of the incident has still been unknown."

Jim's comment: So there you have it. Here's what I think:

Someone spilled the beans because they did not want this to go forward as planned. The U.S. was not going to have who did it identified so clearly, so they called it off.

Fact: You can't see "French and American" planes during such an attack, let alone at the time the report states the attack happened because it was dark so someone who knew who was going to do this ratted it out and to make sense of it all, the reports said people saw the planes, when in fact no one did but someone knew. That's the only explanation that fits.

UPDATE: I know when the false flag was supposed to happen. It was supposed to happen at 8:30 AM CST, just on time for the American news feed. I am not going to say how I came up with the exact time. I am now totally convinced there really was going to be a false flag attack to kick off a war with Iran this morning (Sunday) and someone BLEW IT.

I am not going to say how I know.

Yep, MILK THAT RAMADAN FATIGUE just like prime a-holes would. And they then bitch about a Yom Kippur war.

======================================

If Jim's thinking is correct, then someone got clever and wagged the dog first

[Didgevillage]

Neither Putin nor Trump has the total control of respective countries. There are all kinds of forces (not necessarily military) at work.

A few things to consider if Putin puts on yarmulka and Muslim headgear, so to speak.
Slavic Russians comprise only 80% of the Russian Federation.
Putin doesn't want a violent destruction of Israel, given the presence of Russians living there who are not necessarily Jewish.

There is a strong presence of Muslims in Russia, only a few hundred miles east of Moscow (Tatarstan), in addition to other Muslim minorities from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Ukraine is not really a foreign country for Russians and vice versa. "Ukraine" literally meant "borderland" and Kiev is the "mother of Russian cities"

[Cara]

I am in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This is what the local daily newspaper (The National) is reporting on this incident. It is the lead story on The National’s website.

++++++++++

Two Saudi tankers off Fujairah coast targets of 'sabotage attack'


Al Mayadeen used graphics and breaking news banners to claim Fujairah port and tankers anchored just off the coast were on fire.

The National
May 13, 2019

Two Saudi oil tankers came under "sabotage attack" off the UAE coast, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday, quoting the Saudi energy minister.

"Two Saudi oil tankers were subjected to a sabotage attack in the exclusive economic zone of the United Arab Emirates, off the coast of the Emirate of Fujairah, while on their way to cross into the Arabian Gulf," SPA cited Khalid Al Falih as saying.

The UAE on Sunday said the sabotage targeted four boats, without elaborating or naming suspects. It came just hours after Iranian and Lebanese media outlets aired false reports of explosions at the nearby Emirati port in Fujairah, which bunkers and ships oil.

He said one tanker was en route to the kingdom to be loaded with Saudi crude oil to be sent to the United States.

He did not identify the tankers.

He said: "Fortunately, the attack didn't lead to any casualties or oil spill; however, it caused significant damage to the structures of the two vessels."

The US has issued a new alert to maritime traffic over alleged "acts of sabotage" of ships off the coast of the UAE amid heightened regional tensions between American and Iran.

The US Maritime Administration, which stressing the incidents had not been confirmed, warned shippers early on Monday to exercise caution when travelling past Fujairah, a port city on the eastern edge of the UAE on the Gulf of Oman.

It gave co-ordinates of the alleged sabotage, putting it just north of Fujairah.

No one was hurt and Abu Dhabi called on world powers to help keep maritime traffic safe.

Fujairah port is the only terminal in the UAE located on the Arabian Sea coast, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, through which most Gulf oil exports pass, and which Iran has repeatedly threatened to close in case of a military confrontation with Washington.

The small emirate has an oil terminal and a pipeline that delivers crude oil from Abu Dhabi which sits on the majority of UAE oil reserves.

The Pentagon said Friday that it was deploying an amphibious assault ship and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to bolster an aircraft carrier force sent to counter alleged threats from Iran.

The increasing tensions come as Tehran said Wednesday it had stopped respecting limits on its nuclear activities agreed under a 2015 deal with major powers.

Iran said it was responding to the sweeping unilateral sanctions that Washington has re-imposed since it quit the agreement one year ago, which have dealt a severe blow to the Iranian economy.

Updated: May 13, 2019 08:55 AM

+++++++++++

From here: https://www.thenational.ae/world/men...ttack-1.860663

[Hervé]

Leaked Douma Report: Establishment Narrative Managers struggle with new Syria plot holes

Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.com
Tue, 21 May 2019 00:00 UTC

Elliot Higgins - Idrees Ahmad

It has been about a week since the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (WGSPM) published a leaked internal document from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) investigation into an alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria last year. The document, whose authenticity the OPCW has confirmed, contends that the official story which was used to justify an air strike by the US, UK and France about poison gas being dropped on civilians from Syrian government helicopters is scientifically implausible, saying

"In summary, observations at the scene of the two locations, together with subsequent analysis, suggest that there is a higher probability that both cylinders were manually placed at those two locations rather than being delivered from aircraft."

The document, titled "Engineering Assessment of Two Cylinders Observed at the Douma Incident", was signed by a man named Ian Henderson, whose name is seen listed in expert leadership positions on OPCW documents from as far back as 1998 and as recently as 2018. The OPCW hid this information from the public, for reasons it has yet to attempt to justify.

The fact that a longtime OPCW-trained investigator wildly dissented with the OPCW's official conclusions within the OPCW's own investigation should obviously have been made public knowledge, and this revelation should obviously have made headline news throughout the western media. Instead, it's been completely ignored. Only a few alternative media outlets and the usual Russian publications have covered it.

"According to ProQuest database, [Peter] Hitchens' piece is the only mention in any UK corporate newspaper so far," tweeted media analysis site Media Lens yesterday.

Media Lens @medialens

According to ProQuest database, Hitchens' piece is the only mention in any UK corporate newspaper so far. Impressive discipline. https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2019/05/peter-hitchens-empty-green-seats-that-prove-we-are-careering-towards-a-catastrophe.html …

Peter Hitchens ✔ @ClarkeMicah

Kind of you to say so, but I have done very little, simply reported on the emergence of an important document, information about which was readily available to any alert reporter, or even a dozy one like me. . https://twitter.com/IsabelO20183051/status/1130070499277660160 …

9:21 AM - May 20, 2019

So there's a total media blackout on this story from the usual plutocratic news outlets, which is a huge story in and of itself. Just as significantly, the less well-known propagandists who are typically the first to attack any argument which casts doubt on the "Assad is a child-gassing monster who must be stopped at all cost" imperial narrative have been incredibly feeble in their attempts to dispute this new revelation.

Bellingcat is a pro-NATO narrative management firm which has defended ridiculous Syria regime change propaganda like the Bana Alabed psyop, and is consistently elevated with fawning puff pieces and collaborative reports from major mass media outlets like the Guardian and the New York Times. As of this writing it has published absolutely nothing on the Engineering Assessment. Nothing for, nothing against. Nothing. The outlet's incredibly shady founder, Eliot Higgins, has responded to this new revelation by pinninga tweet citing a completely baseless theory that the WGSPM "got played by a disgruntled OPCW employee."

"This reporting by @Brian_Whit on the leaked Douma report that the conspiracy theorists and chemical weapon denialists are so excited about is consistent with what I'm hearing. Looks like they all got played by a disgruntled OPCW employee," Higgins tweeted with a link to a Medium article by UK reporter and virulent Syria regime change cheerleader Brian Whitaker, adding,

"This is why the Syrian Propaganda Group needs to work on verifying things it decides to republish, even if it fits with their attempts to deny chemical weapon use in Syria, otherwise they just get played by people with their own agenda."

The silliness of this argument was pointed out by journalist Aaron Maté, who responded, "What 'reporting'? He's citing rumors that he acknowledges are 'not confirmed.' Regardless, the document comes from OPCW, as Whitaker's update notes. The question now is whose findings are accurate - and there's nothing in this article that challenges the leaked findings."

Maté highlighted portions of the text that Higgins shared from Whitaker's article, which I will put in bold here:

"One story circulating in the chemical weapons community (though not confirmed) is that Henderson had wanted to join the FFM and got rebuffed but was then given permission to do some investigating on the sidelines of the FFM. The suggestion (again, not confirmed) is that this was a way of extending his contract at the OPCW. If true, it might explain how he appeared to be working with the FFM while not (according to the OPCW press office) actually being part of it."

Even if all of the completely unconfirmed things Whitaker is speculating are true, it wouldn't actually negate the importance of the Engineering Assessment; this is merely an attempt to divert attention from the message to the messenger. And, again, this was a post that Higgins pinned to the top of his Twitter profile. It was his very best argument.

Eliot Higgins ✔ @EliotHiggins
· May 17, 2019

Replying to @EliotHiggins
This is why the Syrian Propaganda Group needs to work on verifying things it decides to republish, even if it fits with their attempts to deny chemical weapon use in Syria, otherwise they just get played by people with their own agenda.

Aaron Maté ✔ @aaronjmate

What "reporting"? He's citing rumors that he acknowledges are "not confirmed." Regardless, the document comes from OPCW, as Whitaker's update notes. The question now is whose findings are accurate -- and there's nothing in this article that challenges the leaked findings. pic.twitter.com/vK2s2Aar9V

11:48 PM - May 17, 2019

It is not terribly surprising that Higgins has struggled to address this new revelation, partly because there's not much ground upon which for him to do so, and partly because in the midst of an online debate in the wake of the alleged Douma attacks he already conceded that one of the gas cylinders may have been manually placed where it was photographed.

"Again, you're assuming it was photographed in its original resting place and not moved. Keep up," Higgins tweeted following the April 2018 incident in response to someone questioning the strange placement and circumstances of one of the cylinders. It was lying on an unbroken bed in relatively good condition and people were rightly perplexed as to why it hadn't shattered the bed base upon impact.

Idrees Ahmad, a particularly loathsome anti-Assad regime change propagandist who has smoothly transitioned into an anti-Maduro regime change propagandist as well when the US empire focused its crosshairs on Venezuela, has had similar difficulty in addressing the leaked document. Ahmad flipped out and posted dozens of tweets in response to Susan Sarandon sharing my article about the OPCW's admission that the Henderson report is legitimate. His arguments range in brilliance from falsely claiming that I am an "Australian fascist", to repeatedly arguing that Henderson's conclusions differ from the official OPCW report (duh), to repeatedly regurgitating Higgins' aforementioned baseless argument about Henderson being a "disgruntled OPCW employee".

So they've really got nothing. There is no actual argument to be made that the OPCW had any business keeping the public in the dark about a dissenting assessment about the Douma incident signed by a longtime OPCW investigator. Or if there is I haven't seen it, and I've been looking in all the usual places one might expect such an argument to appear.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions about the Douma incident. The leaked document doesn't by itself prove that the Engineering Assessment is correct and the official OPCW findings are incorrect, it just proves that there were other analyses which differed sharply with the official conclusions we've been permitted to see, and that we weren't permitted to see those analyses. In a post-Iraq invasion world, this by itself is entirely unacceptable. And, rather than pushing for answers and accountability, the so-called journalists of the largest media outlets in the west are completely ignoring it.


Related:

• OPCW confirms leak of covered-up report, suggesting Douma incident 'false-flag' is genuine

• 'Unpublished OPCW report' implies 'chemical attack' in Syria's Douma was staged

• Summary of OPCW's Douma, Syria Report: No Sarin or Chlorine deaths

[Hervé]

Ukraine’s own examination found that the use of the UAF against the population of Donbass is illegal

The Saker
Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard
Source: http://alternatio.org/events/all/item/70936-ekspertiza-gpu-ustanovila-chto-ispolzovanie-vsu-protiv-naseleniya-donbassa-nezakonno

May 30, 2019

The Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass are being used illegally ― such a conclusion, shocking for “patriots”, was made by experts of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.

According to Oleg Zhivotov, the lawyer of the former head of the General Staff of the UAF Vladimir Zamana, who is suspected of committing treason and dismantling the Ukrainian army during the period from 2011 to 2013, when he allegedly reduced the number of UAF troops, the results of the examination are contained in the notice of suspicion handed to his client. He stressed that the conclusions of experts of the Prosecutor General’s Office completely confirm the accusations of Russia about the illegality of Ukraine’s use of the army against its own people.

“For the first time in the history of Ukraine, in this case I do not know whom the experts and prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine work for. We have this examination, and its name and conclusion were directly rammed into the notice of suspicion handed to Vladimir Mikhaylovich; this phrase is included.

For the first time in the history of Ukraine experts have established that, according to Article 17 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot be used in any conflict inside the country. They are intended only for repelling external aggression,” said Zhivotov during a press conference in Kiev.

“What Russian propaganda repeatedly spoke about – that our Armed Forces are involved in the ATO [anti-terrorist operation] illegally; in Ukraine an examination has established this for the first time in the country’s history. Nobody pays attention to all the remarks made by the defence to the court – that we ourselves document ourselves for the International Court of Justice concerning such crimes,” he complained.

Zhivotov considers that the result of the examination endangers Ukraine. In addition, the conclusions of the examination cannot be cancelled, since they have already been documented.

“There was an examination, it cannot be cancelled, and it is impossible to withdraw it too. I.e., we have an official procedural document in the case which now any enemy can refer to and accuse any serviceman who has been involved in the ATO,” stressed the lawyer. After all, it turns out that everyone who fought in Donbass has violated the Constitution of Ukraine. This threatens any Ukrainian soldier, National Guard soldier, or volunteer.

The Ukrainian soldiers who fought in Donbass can become even more vulnerable during their trips abroad. The National Guard soldier and participant of war Vitaly Markiv [accused of killing the photographer Andrea Rocchelli and his Russian translator Andrey Mironov in Donbass – ed] has been in prison in the city of Pavia in Italy for two years. According to the Italian charges, the National Guard was an illegal armed group, and not a state structure, and Markiv acted not as the serviceman, but as an armed militant.

Such precedents await Ukrainian military personnel in other countries too, and now it is possible to also refer to the conclusions of Ukraine’s own examinations. This will help interested persons prosecute Ukrainian military personnel.

However, the Geneva Convention can come to the rescue of soldiers – after all, they were under the oath and acted in accordance with orders. But Petro Poroshenko, as the Supreme Commander, is not protected by the convention.

[c0rv0]

Since 2009, when Bill published The Anglo-Saxon Mission I been following the evolution of the "plan". Whoever is involved with PMOs (program Management Office)know that plans need continuously to be adjusted and adapted to the current situation.
In the Thread American Exceptionalism and new World Order: the Political side of Disclosure I suggest that the current "War Disclosure" by TTSA is part of a bigger political move to empower the USA (and other Anglo Friends) to take over the the "enemy" (China, Russia, Iran) and unify the world.
This key quote from Tom DeLonge explain it all:

The United States is the leader, it's doing the majority of the work and it's pushing everybody. We're the first country for the free mind, for the free people. There's a reason. It's because we were the enlightened idea of a people. And that idea spread. We call it democracy, we call it Western civilization. Even on this pretty big ugly deal, America is working for the countries that hate it. We're out there fighting something for them. It's unreal. It's really inspiring.

War is coming for sure, what I wonder is if this will start where everyone is looking (Iran, Syria, Ukraine and so on) or will surprise all with something completely unexpected....

[silvanelf]

Posted by c0rv0 (here)
War is coming for sure, what I wonder is if this will start where everyone is looking (Iran, Syria, Ukraine and so on) or will surprise all with something completely unexpected....

"They" won't start a war unless they are nearly sure of the outcome.

But there was at least one incident when WW3 was avoided at the last moment. Obviously we don't know when "they" think that they can control the outcome of a large scale warfare or even WW3.

[Hervé]

Posted by silvanelf (here)
[...]
"They" won't start a war unless they are nearly sure of the outcome.

But there was at least one incident when WW3 was avoided at the last moment. Obviously we don't know when "they" think that they can control the outcome of a large scale warfare or even WW3.

It would help if you could fluff your opinion with references/links...

Here is one case of being 7 minutes away from a nuclear war:

The attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, left 34 dead and 174 wounded, along with myriad unresolved questions even after Israel admitted responsibility, claiming it had acted in error.
[...]
Indeed, one of the more sobering scenarios is that American planes "equipped with nuclear warheads" were seven minutes away from bombing Cairo, perhaps escalating the conflict to the brink of World War III, but were called off when the ship's distress signal was heard.
[...]
Disturbingly, the author's solid research indicates that the United States and Israel collaborated in planning, executing, and covering up this operation in order to implicate Egypt, bomb Cairo, and precipitate Gamal Abdel Nasser's downfall. The author astutely points out that it wouldn't be the first time the American government resorted to such tactics, citing Maine in 1898 and the Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. She also contextualizes the Liberty incident amid "the hothouse of 1967," signalling the Cold War's paranoia and brinkmanship together with the Vietnam War escalation and oil supply concerns.
[...]

...False Flags, they are called nowadays... why was it called off? Simply because the SOS sent indicated the attack failed in sinking the ship since its radio was still on... that implied survivors and witnesses.

[silvanelf]

Posted by Hervé (here)

Posted by silvanelf (here)
[...]
"They" won't start a war unless they are nearly sure of the outcome.

But there was at least one incident when WW3 was avoided at the last moment. Obviously we don't know when "they" think that they can control the outcome of a large scale warfare or even WW3.

It would help if you could fluff your opinion with references/links...

At first I couldn't remember sufficient details to retrieve the news report, therefore I could not provide a link.

Ok, I've found it now. Emphasis mine.

RUSSIA SITREP April 12, 2016 by Scott

Hours after the Russia-bound Metrojet flight 9268 A321 with Russian vacationers exploded in the sky over Sinai on October 31st, 2015, President Putin had not come on TV to address the people of Russia. Many immediately questioned why. Many observers had also noticed that before this act of terror and hours after it there was a coordinated influx of messages on social media declaring that Russian planes would be dropping down from the skies everywhere until, mind you, Russians surrender to some mysterious forces. If you go back on Twitter and search for those messages you might still find some of them, but the majority of them mysteriously vanished just as coordinated as they appeared. Russian planes have not been dropping from the skies by the hundreds, as it was projected.

So… Where was President Putin for several hours between the explosion of the plane and him talking to the Minister of Defense, Shoigu, on the news?

Minutes after the terror attack on the Russian passenger jet, the airborne strategic command center aboard an Ilyushin Il-80 aircraft, took off.

Immediately after, far away in the US, Obama was whisked away from Washington on his helicopter and the US “Doomsday plane” took off and started circling around. Russia’s nuclear forces took aim at major US targets. Apparently, some exchange of words took place between the Russians and Washingtonians.

When President Putin was finally seen on the news many people commented that he looked like he was “just taken off a cross.”

Whatever gleeful reaction was expressed by some Europeans and Americans on the account of the death of many Russian passengers, they apparently didn’t realize that these could be their last day on earth.

I am bringing up this little known factoid to illustrate that Russia’s government is not going to dance around when it comes to the preservation of peace and stability in the country. And that any attempt of such will be immediately forwarded back to Washington, militarily speaking. This all in accord with Russia’s new Military Doctrine 2014.

-- snip --

https://thesaker.is/russia-sitrep-ap...2016-by-scott/

[Hervé]

‘Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what happened’: Iran’s FM on tanker ‘attacks’ in Gulf of Oman

RT
Published time: 13 Jun, 2019 10:41
Edited time: 13 Jun, 2019 11:33
Get short URL

Image reportedly showing smoke coming from one of the tankers said to have been attacked, May 13, 2019 © AFP PHOTO / HO / IRIB

Iran’s foreign minister has labeled the reported attack on two “Japan-related” oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman as “suspicious,” occurring just as Japanese Prime Minister Abe came to Tehran for major talks.

Expressing his misgivings on Twitter, Javad Zarif noted that the incidents on the two vessels on Thursday, one of which had been reportedly struck by a torpedo, had occurred as Abe sat down for “extensive and friendly” discussions with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Javad Zarif ✔ @JZarif

Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks.

Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.

Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative.

765
11:54 AM - Jun 13, 2019

"Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning"

He added that it is “imperative” that regional talks proposed by Tehran and aimed at de-escalating tensions in the Gulf go ahead.

Earlier in the day, Iran said it rescued 44 sailors from two tankers named as Front Altair and Kokuka Courageous. One of them was reportedly hit with a torpedo, but there is no official confirmation of the claim.

In May, four oil tankers were targeted off the coast of the UAE, with exact details of the incident still shrouded in secrecy. Bolton has laid the blame for the assault on Iran, yet Washington, to date, has failed to provide any evidence of complicity.


DETAILS TO FOLLOW


Related:
Iran says it rescued 44 sailors after 2 tankers were ‘reportedly attacked’ in Gulf of Oman

[Hervé]

Persian Gulf tanker attacks: Israel has silent underwater nuclear submarines

Sebastien Roblin The National Interest
Tue, 14 May 2019 18:20 UTC

The 2,400 ton Dolphin 2 model is based on the state-of-the-art Type 212 submarine, which features Air-Independent Propulsion technology and swim faster at twenty-five knots. While diesel submarines rely on noisy air-consuming diesel generators which require the submarine to regularly surface or snorkel, AIP-powered submarines can swim underwater very quietly at low speeds for weeks at a time.

(This article first appeared last year.)

One of Israel's Dolphin-class nuclear submarines © Reuters

Israel has never officially admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.

Unofficially, Tel Aviv wants everyone to know it has them, and doesn't hesitate to make thinly-veiled references to its willingness to use them if confronted by an existential threat. Estimates on the size of Tel Aviv's nuclear stockpile range from 80 to 300 nuclear weapons, the latter number exceeding China's arsenal.

Originally, Israel's nuclear forces relied on air-dropped nuclear bombs and Jericho ballistic missiles. For example, when Egyptian and Syrian armies attacked Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a squadron of eight Israeli F-4 Phantom jets loaded with nuclear bombs was placed on alert by Prime Minister Golda Meir, ready to unleash nuclear bombs on Cairo and Damascus should the Arab armies break through.

Though Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, Tel Aviv is preoccupied by the fear that an adversary might one day attempt a first strike to destroy its nuclear missiles and strike planes on the ground before they can retaliate. Currently, the only hostile states likely to acquire such a capability are Iran or Syria.

To forestall such a strategy, Israeli has aggressively targeted missile and nuclear technology programs in Iraq, Syria and Iran with air raids, sabotage and assassination campaigns. However, it also has developed a second-strike capability - that is, a survivable weapon which promises certain nuclear retaliation no matter how effective an enemy's first strike.

Most nuclear powers operate nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines which can spend months quietly submerged deep underwater and at any moment unleash ocean-spanning ballistic missiles to rain apocalyptic destruction on an adversary's major centers. Because there's little chance of finding all of these subs before they fire, they serve as one hell of a disincentive to even think about a first strike.

But nuclear-powered submarines and SLBMs are prohibitively expensive for a country with the population of New Jersey - so Israeli found a more affordable alternative.

Berlin's Unconventional Apology
During the 1991 Gulf War, it emerged that German scientists and firms had played a role in dispersing ballistic missile and chemical weapons technology to various Arab governments-technology which aided Saddam Hussein in bombarding Israel with Scud missiles. This in fact was a long-running sore point: in the early 1960s, Israeli agents even carried out assassination attempts, kidnappings and bombings targeting German weapons scientists working on behalf of Arab governments.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl hatched a plan to simultaneously compensate Israel for the damages, while generating business for German shipbuilders suffering a downturn due to post-Cold War defense cuts. Starting in the 1970s, German shipbuilder HDW began churning Type 209 diesel electric submarines for export, with nearly 60 still operational around the globe. One Type 209, the San Luis, managed to ambush Royal Navy vessels twice during the Falkland War, though it failed to sink any ship due to the defective torpedoes.

Kohl offered to fully-subsidize the construction of two enlarged Type 209s, designated the Dolphin-class, as well as cover 50 percent of the cost of a third boat in 1994. The Dolphins displaced 1,900-tons while submerged, measured 57-meters long and are manned by a crew of 35-though they can accommodate up to ten special forces personnel. These entered service 1999-2000 as the INS Dolphin, Leviathan and Tekumah ("Revival").

Each Dolphin came equipped with six regular tubes for firing 533-millimeter DM2A4 heavyweight fiber-optic guided torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles-as well as four 650-millimeter mega-sized tubes, which are rare in modern submarines. These tubes can be used to deploy naval commandos for reconnaissance and sabotage missions, which have played a major role in Israeli submarine operations.

However, the plus-size torpedo tubes have a useful additional function: they can accommodate especially large submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM) - missiles large enough to carry a nuclear warhead. While a ballistic missile arcs into space traveling at many times the speed of sound, cruise missiles fly much slower and skim low over the earth's surface.

In the 1990s the United States declined to provide Israel with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles due to the rules of the Missile Technology Control Regime prohibiting transfer of cruise missile with a range exceeding 300 miles.

Instead, Tel Aviv went ahead and developed their own. In 2000, U.S. Navy radars detected test launches of Israeli SLCMs in the Indian Ocean that struck a target 930 miles away. The weapon is generally believed to be the Popeye Turbo - an adaptation of a subsonic air-launched cruise missile that can allegedly carry a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead. However, the SLCM's characteristics are veiled in secrecy and some sources suggest a different missile type entirely is used. An Israeli Dolphin submarine may have struck the Syrian port of Latakia with a conventional cruise missile in 2013 due to reports of a shipment of Russian P-800 anti-ship missiles.

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu then purchased three more German submarines, arousing considerable controversy as many felt additional boats were unnecessary. In 2012, Der Spiegel published an expose detailing how German engineers were well-aware of the Dolphin 2's intended role as nuclear-weapon delivery system, arousing some controversy with the public, as Chancellor Merkel supposedly agreed to the sale in exchange for unrealized promises from Netanyahu to adopt a more conciliatory policy towards the Palestinians. Israel has nonetheless received two of the Dolphin 2s, the Rahav ('Neptune') and Tanin ('Crocodile') with the Dakar expected in 2018 or 2019.

The 2,400 ton Dolphin 2 model is based on the state-of-the-art Type 212 submarine, which features Air-Independent Propulsion technology and swim faster at twenty-five knots. While diesel submarines rely on noisy air-consuming diesel generators which require the submarine to regularly surface or snorkel, AIP-powered submarines can swim underwater very quietly at low speeds for weeks at a time.

This not only means they are stealthier sea-control platforms, but makes them more viable for lengthy nuclear deterrence patrols. Currently, the Chinese AIP-powered Type 32 Qing-class is the only AIP-powered submarine in service armed with ballistic missiles.

However, as fellow TNI writer Robert Farley points out, there are geographic obstacles that diminish the practicality of Israel's sea-based nuclear deterrence. For now, there is only one intended target: Iran, a country which lies hundreds of miles away from Israel. While Tehran lies barely within the supposed 930-mile range of an Israeli submarine deployed from their base in Haifa into the Mediterranean Sea, the missiles would have to spend over an hour overflying Syria and Iraq, posing navigational and survivability challenges.

A closer avenue for attack would lie in the Persian Gulf, but this would involve transiting the submarines through the Suez Canal (controlled by Egypt), around Africa (impractically far for the Dolphin-class), or stationing some at the naval base at Eilat, which faces the Gulf of Aqaba on the southern tip of Israel and is surrounded by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In short, deploying Israeli submarines to Iran's southern flank would require some degree of cooperation and logistical support from other Middle Eastern states that might not be forthcoming in a crisis scenario.

Farley is probably correct in arguing that the Israel's nuclear-tipped SLCMs are less practical than Tel Aviv's other nuclear-delivery platforms. For that matter, Israel doesn't currently face any adversaries with nuclear capabilities to deter against. However, like the idea of second-strike capability in general, the threat of sea-launched nukes may be more intended political weapon than one strictly intended for its military effectiveness.

About the author:

Sébastien Roblin holds a master's degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring.

Related: One month after 4 merchant ships are "sabotaged"...

• Another false-flag: Two more oil tankers attacked in Gulf of Oman, possibly with torpedoes