Report Says Iran May Be Keeping Elements of Nuclear Program in Syria, North Korea

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AlgeAs world powers race to close a nuclear deal with Iran, recent reports have indicated that not all elements of Iran’s nuclear program may be domestic, but that some of it may be located in Syria and as far away as North Korea. In light of the secrecy surrounding the talks going on in Lausanne, Switzerland these reports are receiving some attention, according to The Israel Project, a Washington DC-based advocacy group.

If true, the implications of the reports are far reaching. The Israel Project said that the debate in these reports “involves how Iran has dispersed its nuclear assets to Syria and North Korea, which means that any envisioned deal would only slow a part of the Iranian nuclear program, while flooding the Iranians with cash to bolster what’s left over.”

Last November, as an earlier deadline for the talks approached, the issue came up regarding Iran moving its nuclear program’s assets to Syria, but now the debate is including North Korea. And according to the Israel project, “Even if everything goes right in slowing Iran’s nuclear work on Iranian soil…the deal wouldn’t touch all of the places and ways the Iranians are going nuclear.”

The reports indicate that Germany’s Der Spiegel revealed the existence of an undisclosed nuclear facility in Syria where as much as 50 tons of enriched uranium may have been taken, so that while it remained in Syrian territory, it was nonetheless under Iranian control. The facility is located deep in the Qalamoun region, near the town of Qusayr, territory controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force and Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah. (Read more from “Report Says Iran May Be Keeping Elements of Nuclear Program in Syria, North Korea” HERE)

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The Pentagon Ups the Ante in Syria Fight

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JORDAN-MILITARY-EXERCISEThe Special Forces group that ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001 is preparing to deploy to Jordan to train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State, but many of the U.S. military’s most elite warriors have a gnawing fear that those efforts may be too little, too late.

Four years after the start of the uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the Army’s 5th Special Forces Group is getting ready to establish a multinational special operations task force in Jordan to train and equip Syrian rebel forces that the United States deems “moderate” — which means allied with neither the Islamic State nor al Qaeda’s local affiliate, al-Nusra Front.

But daunting challenges lie ahead for 5th Group. They include finding and vetting enough moderate rebels to make a difference on the battlefield; potential friction with the CIA, which has its own rebel training program going on in Jordan; the Obama administration’s refusal to let special operations forces fight alongside the rebel forces they have trained; and a confusing chain of command that none of the relevant American military headquarters seem willing or able to explain.

To complicate matters further, the general in charge of the training mission in Jordan is considered one of the special operations community’s most capable senior officers, but as things stand he is scheduled to rotate out of the country just as the training effort gets underway.

The stakes are enormously high for Washington and its allies. The Obama administration has publicly vowed to keep U.S. forces out of the line of fire in the campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, in part to guard against the prospect of more American fatalities in a conflict the U.S. public had overwhelmingly turned against in recent years. The White House is instead hoping that members of some of the military’s most secretive and elite units can rebuild the shattered Iraqi army and stand up a force of tribal militias willing to fight the Islamic State, while simultaneously helping to train and equip a new rebel force in Syria. Failure in either location is likely to embolden the United States’ enemies in the region — Iran, the Assad regime, the Islamic State, and al-Nusra Front — and seriously damage American prestige. (Read more from “The Pentagon Ups the Ante in Syria Fight” HERE)

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Netanyahu on Iran Deal: It Confirms Israel’s Worst Fears ‘and Even More So’ [+video]

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Netanyahu-Cabinet-March-2015-APBy Sharona Schwartz. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the emerging agreement being negotiated over Iran’s nuclear program confirmed all of Israel’s worst fears and warned that Iran was trying to “conquer the entire Middle East.”

“This agreement as it appears confirms all of our concerns and even more so,” Netanyahu said at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Netanyahu accused Iran of trying to control the entire Middle East and blasted what he termed a “Beirut-Damascus-Baghdad axis,” referring to Iran’s regional allies of Hezbollah, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iraq’s Shiites.

“Even as meetings proceed on this dangerous agreement, Iran’s proxies in Yemen are overrunning large sections of that country and are attempting to seize control of the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb straits which change the naval balance and the global oil supply,” Netanyahu said. “Iran is carrying out a pincer maneuver in the south as well in order to take over and conquer the entire Middle East.” (Read more from “Netanyahu on Iran Deal: It Confirms Israel’s Worst Fears ‘and Even More So’ [+video]” HERE)

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What to Worry About in an Iran Nuclear Deal

By Jeffrey Goldberg. I’m in Berlin, not Lausanne, and I haven’t spoken to anyone associated with the Iran nuclear negotiations in more than a week. Though there is a lot of good journalism being produced out of the talks, it is still difficult to discern what is actually happening at this moment. Those predisposed to believe that these negotiations will bring about a non-violent solution to the Iranian challenge, and also quite possibly encourage the Iranians to be more moderate in their approach to their neighbors, seem somewhat optimistic that the West will make the necessary compromises to win Iranian approval. Those who believe that the West is about to capitulate to Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, and set him on a path to the nuclear threshold seem to be praying that Iranian shortsightedness, or dumb luck on the part of the West, subvert these talks.

The more extreme positions on both sides are distasteful. The Pollyannas who not only seem to believe that Iran should be allowed to maintain an advanced nuclear infrastructure if it promises to behave nicely, but who also believe that this nuclear accord will somehow serve to convince the Iranians to moderate their approach to their neighbors and, for instance, stop sponsoring terrorism and murdering large numbers of people in Syria (among other places), are dangerous and naïve. On the other side, those who argue that no negotiated settlement will ever be good enough to keep Iran from the nuclear threshold—that only military action would guarantee an end to the Iranian nuclear program—believe that it is wise to start an actual war now in order to prevent a theoretical one later. If you believe that we are living in 1938, and that Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are playing the role of Czechoslovakia, then I suppose this position makes sense. I don’t think we are there, however.

I’ve been making lists of questions I have about the parameters of a framework deal, and a list of experts whose judgment I would trust to evaluate the technical aspects of a deal.

Here are a few questions that have, helped by various news stories about the talks, repeatedly crossed my mind in recent days. I would prefer to see a nuclear deal struck, of course, but unsatisfactory answers to these issues would be cause for real worry:

1) What will Saudi Arabia do in response to a deal? If the Saudis—who are already battling the Iranians on several fronts—actually head down the path toward nuclearization, then these negotiations will not have served the underlying purpose President Obama ascribed to them. The president has warned, in interviews with me and others, that a nuclear Iran would trigger a nuclear arms race across the Middle East, the world’s most volatile region. One goal of these talks is to assure the rest of the Middle East that Iran cannot achieve nuclear status. If Saudi Arabia (and Egypt and Turkey and the U.A.E.) does not believe that a deal will achieve this, then it will move on its own to counter the Persian nuclear threat. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Shock Claim: Why Obama Refused to Help Fight Boko Haram

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glassesAllegations are mounting that the Obama administration withheld weapons and intelligence support from Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram in an effort to boost the chances of the Muslim candidate for president, who is a client of the political firm founded by key Obama strategist David Axelrod.

Nigerians this weekend are deciding a very competitive race between incumbent Christian President Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan and retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who ruled as dictator there from 1983 until 1985, when he was removed through a coup. Buhari has previously vowed to institute Shariah law in the Muslim-dominated parts of the country if elected.

With the guidance of Axelrod’s firm, Buhari has tamped down talk of Shariah nearing election day and even added a Pentecostal Christian as his running mate.

Boko Haram is a radical Islamist terrorist group that recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. In recent years, Boko Haram has slaughtered entire villages, burned countless churches and targeted Christians and moderate Muslims for death. It received global attention last year for abducting nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls.

The Obama-Axelrod connection to the Nigerian elections and its impact on U.S. policy toward Boko Haram is laid out in a detailed piece by James Simpson for Accuracy in Media.

[Investigative journalist Jim Simpson was interviewed several weeks ago on the Joe Miller Show:]

[Editor’s note: For the exhaustive and heavily cited article that lays out the theory described above, please click HERE]

(Read more from “Shock Claim: Why Obama Refused to Help Fight Boko Haram” HERE)

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Google Controls What We Buy, the News We Read — and Obama’s Policies

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The New Digital Age - 2014 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive FestivalIt’s 2020. The New England Patriots, winners of six straight Super Bowls, are having yet another routine meeting with the Commissioner’s Office.

Deputy NFL Commissioner Tom Brady and his chief of staff, Rob Gronkowski, OK a rule change that forgives the Patriots for illegally taping other teams and deflating football over the preceding years. Meanwhile, members of the Patriots continue to happily contribute funding for the commissioner’s new 45-room castle in Turks and Caicos, and Bill Belichick agrees to continue coaching the commissioner’s 12-year-old son in Pop Warner football.

Would that bother anyone? Because the above is pretty much going on today, only the team is called Google and the commissioner is the president of the United States.

Sure, since we’re talking about politics, the giving and taking of favors works in a slightly more indirect way. But only slightly. As Michael Kinsley used to say, the scandal about corruption in Washington is not the stuff that’s illegal but the stuff that’s legal.

A former Google officer is the president’s chief technology adviser. Google employees contributed more to President Obama’s re-election than did employees of any other company except Microsoft. Google lobbyists met with Obama White House officials 230 times. By comparison, lobbyists from rival Comcast have been admitted to the inner sanctum a mere 20 or so times in the same period. (Read more from “Google Controls What We Buy, the News We Read — and Obama’s Policies” HERE)

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UPDATE: Allegation that Co-Pilot of Germanwings Catastrophic Crash was a Recent Islamic Convert Under Fire

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pilotBy John Nelson. The author of the German source suggesting that the Germanwings co-pilot was a recent Muslim convert is Michael Manhiemmer. He writes for a blog called “German PI-News.” PI stands for “politically incorrect.” It appears the only news sites carrying the possibility of him being a Muslim convert are disseminating Manhiemmer’s original piece. There are also some other websites like the Gateway Pundit that are disseminating a Facebook fan page with an ISIS theme which are also of questionable sources. The Gateway Pundit screenshot revealed that the page had only been setup an hour before Facebook removed it. It too appears to be a hoax as no terror organizations have stepped up to take credit for the crash.

The German and French authorities whom have searched the premises of the Lubitz Household have revealed two doctor notes telling him not to go to work and prescription drugs consistent with mental illness. His ex-girlfriend also revealed his mental illness and suggested that Lubitz would do something that would change the airline industries forever. The New York Post is also saying that his ex-girlfriend had told Andreas Lubitz that she was also pregnant and likely carrying his baby. Other theories, of which there are numerous, suggest that he knew his flying career was over as soon as his company knew of his mental state (7). She had also revealed that he was disgruntled over pay with the value airline company, and Lubitz knew because of his psychological condition that he could never operate a long range flying aircraft.

As it stands, the potential for him being a Muslim-convert is very remote as nothing totally conclusive has been released to make firm that case. Furthermore, all the major indications are leaning towards him not being Muslim, and being mentally ill. That isn’t to mean that one should draw an unfair parallel between those ideas, but rather observe the potential for inexplicable acts of vengeance regardless of how they originate. Additionally, Lubitz was able to hide his medical information from his employer for years as he passed the airline psychological testing, and never informed his employer of his existing medical condition. Subsequently, the recent absense from his work appears to be the result of him receiving medical treatment for his eyes, and possibily time taken off for “burnout syndrome,” which sounds a kin to a nervous breakdown. At present, reports that anti-depression medication were found to be in his home.

It could be noted that people who are depressed don’t normally commit mass murder. However, given that his dreams of flying were likely to cease, previous existing conditions regarding his mental state, and girlfriend potentially being pregnant, this confluence of problems likely pushed him over the edge. What has become more clear is there is not anything consistent with an ideological or religious motive lending a terrorist label to be appropriate. Mass-Murder and homocide by means of suicide appear to be the most likely explanation.

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German PI-News: Co-Pilot Was a Recent Muslim Convert

By Speisa. According to Michael Mannheimer, a writer for German PI-News, Germany now has its own 9/11, thanks to the convert to Islam, [the plane’s co-pilot] Andreas Lubitz.

Translation from German:

All evidence indicates that the copilot of Airbus machine in his six-months break during his training as a pilot in Germanwings, converted to Islam and subsequently either by the order of “radical”, ie. devout Muslims , or received the order from the book of terror, the Quran, on his own accord decided to carry out this mass murder. As a radical mosque in Bremen is in the center of the investigation, in which the convert was staying often, it can be assumed that he – as Mohammed Atta, in the attack against New York – received his instructions directly from the immediate vicinity of the mosque.

Converts are the most important weapon of Islam, because their resume do not suggest that they often are particularly violent Muslims. Thus, Germany now has its own 9/11, but in a reduced form. And so it is clear that Islam is a terrorist organization that are in accordance with §129a of the Criminal Code to prohibit it and to investigate its followers. But nothing will happen. One can bet that the apologists (media, politics, “Islamic Scholars”) will agree to assign this an act of a “mentally unstable” man, and you can bet that now, once again the mantra of how supposedly peaceful Islam is will continue. And worse still, the attacks by the left against those who have always warned against Islam, will be angrier and merciless . . .

Hopefully we’ll know in a few days if this article is accurate. (Read more from “Co-Pilot of Germanwings Crash Was Recent Islamic Convert” HERE)

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Germanwings Crash: What We Know About the Flight’s Harrowing Final 10 Minutes

By Olivia Smith. Here’s a breakdown of what we know about Flight 9525’s last moments, based on information released by authorities:

At 10:30 a.m., the plane is flying at 38,000 feet.

At some point around this time, the pilot is heard asking the co-pilot to take over the controls. A chair is heard moving and a door is heard closing.

At 10:31 a.m., the plane starts losing altitude.

The co-pilot is alone at the controls, and the accelerated descent is made manually. The pilot is heard knocking on the door and asking over the speaker to enter the cockpit. There is no response from the co-pilot. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Germanwings Captain Tried to Break into Locked Cockpit Door ‘with an Axe’ as Plane Was Descending

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German WingsBy Heather Saul. The captain of the doomed Germanwings plane reportedly used an axe to break down the cockpit door in the final moments before his co-pilot “intentionally” descended the plane, German media has suggested.

Evidence from the cockpit voice recorder suggested the captain of the Airbus A320, who The Independent understands is named Patrick Sondenheimer, left the flightdeck mid-journey, presumably to go to the toilet. Prosecutors say he returned to find his co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had barricaded himself inside and had sent the plane into descent over the French Alps.

French investigators said the captain can be heard asking “several times” for access after identifying himself, but received no response. He then banged on the door before trying to forcefully gain entry, with one investigator telling The New York Times: “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.” (Read more from “Germanwings Captain Tried to Break into Locked Cockpit Door ‘with an Axe’ as Plane Was Descending” HERE)

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Germanwings Crash Co-Pilot Hid Illness from Airline

By Celine Jankowiak with Deborah Cole in Berlin. The Germanwings co-pilot who crashed his Airbus into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, hid a serious illness from the airline, prosecutors said Friday amid reports he was severely depressed. [Problem with this story line: depressed individuals generally don’t commit mass murder]

The black box voice recorder indicates that Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked his captain out of the cockpit on Tuesday and deliberately flew Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside, French officials say, in what appears to have been a case of suicide and mass murder.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that all the signs were “pointing towards an act that we can’t describe: criminal, crazy, suicidal”.

German prosecutors revealed that searches of Lubitz’s homes netted “medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment”, including “torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash”.

They did not specify the illness. (Read more from this story HERE)

[For reports in the German press that the co-pilot was a recent Muslim convert, click HERE]

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Tunisian Town near ‘Star Wars’ Backdrop Now Features in Battle Against ISIS

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Star WarsThe desert and dun-colored cliffs around the town of Tataouine were once the backdrop for the movie “Star Wars,” much of which was filmed in this neglected corner of Tunisia in 1976. This struggling town on the fringes of the Sahara still draws a few fans of the movie but now finds itself part of a real conflict, as a way-station for jihadists crossing the Libyan border 60 miles to the east.

Earlier this month, before the gun attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis, three young men were arrested here as they allegedly made plans to cross into Libya to join a terrorist network. A local official told CNN they had since been taken to Tunis for questioning.

Two arms caches have also been found in the region this month, one of which included rocket-propelled grenade launchers and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition, thought to have been removed from a Libyan armory in the aftermath of Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster in 2011.

Driving near the border, it’s quickly obvious why the Tunisian government is so anxious about Libya’s implosion and the emergence there of an ISIS affiliate whose tentacles stretch half-way across the country. This open space is vast and sparsely populated. Smugglers’ tracks criss-cross the endless scrub and steep, arid hills that run along the border. Gasoline, drugs and other contraband have long been smuggled across the frontier.

Near the town of Remada, south of Tataouine, a couple of soldiers manned a checkpoint. They wore protective jackets — whether for show or because of the perceived threat from Islamist militants, it’s hard to know. When we arrived, passports were requested and phone calls made. We were escorted into the town and politely but firmly told we could go no further without written authorization. (Read more from “Tunisian Town near ‘Star Wars’ Backdrop Now Features in Battle Against ISIS” HERE)

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Russia’s Return to Nicaragua Worrying Many in Central America, Washington

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Photo Credit: McClatchy DC

Photo Credit: McClatchy DC

Russia is rekindling its once-strong ties to Nicaragua, possibly including providing the Central American nation with jet fighters, stoking unease as far away as the Andes in South America.

Later this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will arrive in Nicaragua as part of a swing through four Latin American nations, the culmination to a series of high-level Russian visits to this Central American nation in the past year. Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu paid a two-day visit, and in January the head of Russia’s upper house of Parliament arrived. Russian leader Vladimir Putin visited in June.

The rumored provision of the Russian jet fighters to Nicaragua has spawned fears of an arms race in Central America and once again made Nicaragua a bit player in the geopolitical to-and-fro between Washington and Moscow.

The chief spokesman for the Sandinista Front on international matters, National Assembly Deputy Jacinto Suárez, defended the possible acquisition of the fighter planes on Thursday and said Nicaragua’s relations with Russia have taken “a qualitative leap.”

“Everyone has the right to defend their national sovereignty. Why should anyone feel threatened by this?” Suárez said at a news conference, declining to confirm whether Nicaragua would obtain the aircraft and adding that they might come as a donation rather than a purchase. (Read more from “Russia’s Return to Nicaragua Worrying Many in Central America” HERE)

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Russia Continues Aggressive Stance, Demands Removal of American Nuclear Weapons from Europe

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VPBy Newsmax. Russia called for a ban on American nuclear weapons in parts of Europe, saying the U.S. is breaking an international agreement by holding joint nuclear training missions with NATO allies that don’t possess such weapons.

Using ships and airfields as well as training crews from non-nuclear states from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in such exercises is “in direct contradiction to the letter and spirit” of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement on its website. (Read more from “Russia: US Must Remove Its Nuclear Weapons from Europe” HERE)

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Vladimir Putin’s ‘Night Wolves’ Biker Gang Storms Ukraine

By Mary Chastain. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biker gang, the Night Wolves, is causing a ruckus in east Ukraine as it lends a hand to the pro-Russian rebels and Russian soldiers.

“My love for my homeland, for my territory, is my life,” announced Vitali, the leader of the east Ukraine branch.

The Night Wolves originated in Russia in 1983 and is very close to Putin, who even rode with them during a bike festival in August 2011.

“I’m a Night Wolf, not a rebel,” claimed Vitali. “I’m just defending my homeland.”

Vitali, who also goes by “Prosecutor,” is based in Lugansk. The headquarters includes “two charred Ukrainian tank turrets” as decoration items at the entrance. He said his men destroyed the tanks “during a battle with government troops” and calls them their “trophies.” The majority of the members in Lugansk are from Ukraine, but some members from Russia leaked in. (Read more from this story HERE)

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