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Security, terrorism & Iran: What Netanyahu talked to Putin about, days ahead of Israeli election

netanyahu putin
© Sputnik / Sergey Guneev
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is in Russia meeting President Vladimir Putin and top ministers. The little we know from the talks suggests Netanyahu may be trying to drag Moscow into his fight against Iran-linked "destabilization."

The two leaders met in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi late on Thursday. Officially, the talks were outlined as a discussion on bilateral relations and various security issues - international terrorism and the situation in Syria. Putin said that both Russia and Israel are "well aware" of what terrorism is and said that cooperation is particularly important to combat it.

Netanyahu, for his part, singled out the issue of Iran, stating that Tel Aviv "won't tolerate Tehran's threats," yet again accusing it of using Syria's territory to wage "aggression" against Israel. The Israeli PM would like Moscow to share such a stance and ultimately see Iranian presence eliminated in Syria, Netanyahu's spokesman Evan Gary Cohen suggested.

Comment: RFE/RL provides more details on the meeting:
Israel must be given free rein to act against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on September 12 as talks concluded in Sochi where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss security coordination in Syria.

His visit comes as an expected tight general election vote for Israel's legislature, the Knesset, nears and as both sides work to avoid clashing in Syria, where Russia and Israel are engaged.

Israel has targeted Iranian elements in Syria with hundreds of strikes in a bid to prevent Tehran from establishing a permanent military presence there.

Both Russia and Iran, as well as Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hizballah have backed President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.

"Security coordination between us is always important, but it is especially important now, since in the past month there has been a serious increase in attempts by Iran to hit Israel from Syria and to place there precision missiles to use against us," Netanyahu said.

The leaders spoke for close to three hours after which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said both Russia and Israel agreed to maintain dialogue regarding their militaries' engagement in Syria.

After a separate meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Netanyahu said Israel's military needed to have "freedom of action" against Iran in the region.

The Israeli prime minister's right-wing Likud party is heading toward a close race against rivals in the September 17 elections in which voters from the former Soviet Union play an important role.

Moscow this week also expressed concern over Netanyahu's plan to annex part of the West Bank that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians seek for a state, saying its implementation could escalate tensions in the region

Netanyahu was accompanied during his visit by Israeli national-security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and Air Force chief Aviv Kochavi.

Last month, he met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv during the first visit of an Israeli prime minister to the former Soviet republic in two decades.
See also:


Star of David

Israel accused of planting mysterious spy devices near the White House - UPDATE: "anything is possible" - Trump

white house
© istock/Wikimedia Commons
The U.S. government concluded within the past two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cellphone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, according to three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

But unlike most other occasions when flagrant incidents of foreign spying have been discovered on American soil, the Trump administration did not rebuke the Israeli government, and there were no consequences for Israel's behavior, one of the former officials said.

The miniature surveillance devices, colloquially known as "StingRays," mimic regular cell towers to fool cellphones into giving them their locations and identity information. Formally called international mobile subscriber identity-catchers or IMSI-catchers, they also can capture the contents of calls and data use.

The devices were likely intended to spy on President Donald Trump, one of the former officials said, as well as his top aides and closest associates — though it's not clear whether the Israeli efforts were successful.

Comment: This news is but a tiny portion of the extent of Israeli/Zionist infiltration of US politics.

UPDATE: Friday 13th September @ 13:00 CET

RT reports:
Trump doesn't believe Israel spied on him but adds 'anything's possible'

US President Donald Trump said he finds it hard to believe Israel may have spied on the White House using cell-phone eavesdropping devices, after everything he's done for them - but left open the possibility the charges are true.

"I don't think the Israelis are spying on us. I really would find that hard to believe," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Thursday, adding, "My relationship with Israel has been great."

As an illustration, the US president brought up his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as well as the claim to the Golan Heights (taken from Syria in 1967), and exiting the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, so opposed by PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Anything is possible, but I don't believe it," Trump said.
It would be naive to think that Israel's infamous intelligence agency wouldn't be paying close attention to US politicians:


Flashlight

Truth: Pakistani interior minister confesses that country's ruling elite have 'destroyed the country' by conducting terrorism for the West


Comment: This is the kind of insight that is rarely articulated by elites anywhere; their culpability in wrecking their own country. As a member of PM Khan's cabinet, we can assume the interior minister had the blessing of his boss to say this...


pakistan terrorism cartoon

Blowback is a bitch
Pakistan's interior minister claims the "ruling elite" has "destroyed the country" and failed to garner international support over the Kashmir conflict with India, in a high-profile embarrassment for the Khan administration.

"People do not believe us in the international community. We say they [India] impose curfew and are not giving medicines to people of Jammu and Kashmir. People do not believe us, but they believe them," Interior Minister Brigadier Ijaz Ahmed Shah said during a Hum News talk show appearance on Wednesday evening.
"The ruling elite has destroyed the country. The ruling elite of this country destroyed the name. People think we are not a serious nation."

Comment: How can it be otherwise? As we outlined elsewhere, Pakistan's very economy relies on what are effectively grants provided by the US, UK and Saudi Arabia to hand out welfare to local warlords, who have, in turn, supplied terrorists/mercenaries to Afghan Mujahideen (1980s), terrorists targeting India and Iran, 'rebels' in Libya and Syria, and elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan (2000s).

Playing the role of 'Islamic State' in south Asia by supplying the 'raw material' for Jihadi, Inc. is hardly a sustainable development model. Those chickens were always going to come home to roost...


When asked directly whether Imran Khan and his top advisors ranked among the "ruling elite" Shah parried, saying "Everyone is responsible. Pakistan should now do a soul searching."


Comment: Yes, it needs fundamental, constitutional reorganization, if only in its outlook and not on paper. Accepting that India will develop to the point of exerting the kind of pan-Asian influence China today exerts is a good starting point.


Pakistan has been snubbed repeatedly on the Kashmir issue by the international diplomatic community. The United Nations told Khan's government to resolve the issue diplomatically but without external support, despite US President Donald Trump's rejected offer to mediate negotiations with India.

Comment: Yes, 'Big Brother USA' has essentially abandoned Pakistan. It has no choice, given China and India's rise, together with Russia taking on, for the meantime, much of the role of 'world policeman'. So Khan can play the Nazi card and the pity card, but in the end he has to accept that the only viable 'Big Brother relationship' for Pakistan is with the country it should always have been with: India.


Snakes in Suits

U.S. Attorney moving forward with charges against McCabe based on IG report findings

McCabe
© Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Former FBI director Andrew McCabe
District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu has recommended moving forward with charges against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as the Justice Department rejects a last-ditch appeal from the former top FBI official, a source familiar with the decision told SaraACarter.com.

Fox News first reported that McCabe's legal team said they received an email from the Department of Justice which said, "The Department rejected your appeal of the United States Attorney's Office's decision in this matter. Any further inquiries should be directed to the United States Attorney's Office."

Attorney General William Barr appointed Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the FBI's role in the probe against President Donald Trump's campaign.

A source familiar with the decision, told SaraACarter.com "that the line prosecution and Jessie Liu decided to move forward with the charges."

"McCabe and his team appealed the decision to the Deputy Attorney General and the DAG rejected the appeal," the source stated.

Star of David

Gilad Atzmon: The End of Israel

israel netanyahu
The lesson to be drawn from the current Israeli political stalemate is that Israel is imploding, breaking into the elements it has never managed to integrate into one. The schism is no longer the more quotidian dichotomy of Ashkenazi vs. Arab Jews (aka Sephardim); this divide is ideological, religious, spiritual, political, ethnic and cultural. Nor does it break down to Left and Right, Jewish Israelis are politically with the right even when they pretend to be 'Left.' Although some of the most astute critical voices of Israeli politics and Jewish fundamentalism are Israelis (such as Gideon Levi, Shlomo Sand, Israel Shamir and others), there is no political Israeli Left. Israeli politics break down into a lot of extreme right voters and many ordinary hawks. The Arab Joint List Party is practically the only Left party in the Israeli Knesset. This should not be surprising any more. Jewish Left, as I have been arguing for many years, is an oxymoron; Jewishness is a form of tribal identification and Left is universal. The 'tribal' and the 'universal' are like oil and water, they do not mix very well.

What is peculiar about the Israeli political divide is that the Israelis are more united than ever in their nationalist beliefs and in the primacy of their Jewish symptoms. Why is it, if the Israelis are so unified, that no one can form a government in their so-called 'Jewish State'?

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:


Magnify

Supporters of Kremlin critic Navalny subjected to searches throughout Russia - reports

Navalny
© REUTERS / Tatyana Makeyeva
Alexei Navalny at a polling station during the Moscow city council election.
Nationwide raids have reportedly targeted the supporters of opposition figure Aleksey Navalny in what they branded as government revenge for undermining the ruling party's election campaigns.

On Thursday morning, dozens of chapters of an opposition network led by Navalny were searched by Russian law enforcement, Navalny's right-hand man Leonid Volkov said. Branches in some 40 Russian cities as well as apartments of some employees were targeted, according to the activist.

The search warrants were apparently issued as part of an investigation into an alleged large-scale money laundering scheme, which investigators believe had been used to fund the operations of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), an NGO led by Navalny. The probe into it was launched in early August. Investigators said at the time they suspected as much as $15.3 million had been transferred into the NGO's coffers illegally over the past three years.

Comment: More on Navalny: See also: 700+ protesters at unsanctioned rally in Moscow, numbers and support dwindling


Eye 2

'If you don't vote Likud, Arabs will annihilate us all' - Netanyahu

Netanyahu
© AP/Sebastian Scheiner
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under fire again for anti-Arab comments made by his campaign, this time for a message on his official Facebook page telling voters "Arabs want to annihilate us all - women, children and men."

Israeli media reported that upon accessing Netanyahu's official page, viewers are greeted with an automated popup message in Hebrew with a message to voters, imploring them to "make sure" their friends and family vote Likud.

The preset message is written from the perspective of a volunteer with Netanyahu's campaign, who tells voters "I am donating my time because we cannot have a dangerous left-wing government... in a week's time," according to Haaretz's translation of the message.

"A secular left-wing weak government that relies on Arabs who want to destroy us all - women, children and men, and will enable a nuclear Iran that will eliminate us," the message continues, saying "we cannot allow this to happen!"

Comment: See also:


Mr. Potato

Trump thumping Bolton is a good start!

bolton
© Gage Skidmore/Flickr/Creative Commons
John Bolton, former National Security Advisor
Donald Trump finally fired National Security Advisor and all-around disgraceful human being John Bolton.

Good riddance.

Bolton was a diversity hire by Trump. His allegiance to the Israeli Firsters who helped get Trump into power, namely Sheldon Adelson, got him the job.

The strongest Iran hawk in Washington in the wake of John McCain's brain tumor valiantly giving up its life to end McCain's, Bolton's role was to keep Trump on program delivering maximum force and intimidation to everyone who so much as looked sideways at the U.S.

He was the proxy in the White House for liar and war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The turning point was Trump's refusal to take Bolton's bait to retaliate against Iran for shooting down the Global Hawk Drone back in June.

After the incident I asked the question, "Who Survives the Iran Counter-Offensive?" I expected then that one of Bolton, Mike "The Buffet Line" Pompeo at State or Gina "Miss Rendition" Haspel at CIA to be fired within six to eight weeks.

It took Trump eleven.

Comment: See also:
Sheldon Adelson needs Donald Trump more than Trump needs Adelson (no kidding!)


Snowflake Cold

Is an Iran thaw in the offing? With Bolton gone, Trump hints at lifting Tehran sanctions

RouhaniTrump
© Global Research
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani • US President Donald Trump
Days after saying he had "no problem" meeting his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, and soon after firing his hawkish adviser John Bolton, US President Donald Trump has hinted he may lift some sanctions on Tehran.

Iran has been under crippling US economic sanctions since the US unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or Iran Nuclear Deal). Relations between Washington and Tehran have since deteriorated, with the sanctions accompanied by a military buildup in the Persian Gulf and back-and-forth threats from both sides.

But, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump gave a vague hint that detente could be on the way. "We'll see what happens," he said, when asked about easing sanctions on Iran, with a view to meeting Rouhani at the UN General Assembly later this month.

Though "we'll see what happens" is a favorite answer of Trump's, his use of the phrase marks a softening of his rhetoric towards Iran and its leadership, which as recently as July involved threats of further sanctions and open war.

Comment: In addition from Sputnik, 11/9/2019: Bolton tried to forcefully prevent Trump U-turn on Iran
During one of the last meetings at the White House that US National Security Adviser John Bolton attended during his tenure, he argued "forcefully" for Trump's idea to ease sanctions pressure on Iran to be buried, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.

The discussed move to ease pressure was supposed to raise the chances of organising talks with Tehran on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly session in September 2019. While the proposal was reportedly supported by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Bolton remained unmoved, and later in the day Trump decided to sack him, Bloomberg's sources claim. Bolton insists that he filed his resignation letter himself.
More from Sputnik, 12/9/2019: Netanyahu expects US to stay very tough after Bolton exit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview that he expects the Trump administration to remain "very, very tough" on Iran after the departure of US National Security Advisor John Bolton, recognized as the White House's main pro-military hawk, The Hill reported Wednesday.

"So I am convinced, I have no doubts at all, that in any situation — with talks, without talks — President Trump and his administration will be very, very tough with Iran," Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 20.


Sounds like 'a warning' to Trump.


Netanyahu reportedly cited sanctions against the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) introduced by the White House on 10 September, shortly after Bolton's departure was announced, as evidence that the Trump administration is keen to continue its "maximum pressure" policy on Tehran.

"I do believe they'd like to make a deal," Trump told reporters at the White House, according to The New York Times. "If they do, that's great; and if they don't, that's great too. But they have tremendous financial difficulty, and the sanctions are getting tougher and tougher."

Tehran repeatedly said it views the removal of sanctions as a precondition for any negotiations with Washington. Following his [Bolton's] departure, Tehran welcomed the move, urging Trump to shun "warmongers."

Speaking in an interview, Netanyahu refrained from further comment on Trump's moves, pointing out that it is the president and Pompeo who will decide.

"Look, the one who formally crafted the American policy was Pompeo [...] and president Trump of course. But I'm not getting into the personality changes in this administration," Netanyahu said in the interview.

As Iran's top diplomat remains persona non grata in Washington, Trump will have a difficult time making a deal with Tehran.



Attention

Trump: Bolton was 'way out of line' on Venezuela, but Pompeo offers more of the same

Pompeo/Bolton/Venez protest
© Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins; Joshua Roberts/Lucas Jackson
Venezuela protest • US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo • Former US security advisor John Bolton
Speaking for the first time about reasons for firing his national security advisor John Bolton, US President Donald Trump said he was "way out of line" on Venezuela, even as the State Department doubled down on regime change.

"I disagreed with John Bolton on his attitudes about Venezuela. I thought he was way out of line," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Wednesday.

The failed attempt to effect regime change in Caracas - which Bolton has been at the forefront of since January - was only one of the issues the president brought up. Bolton's sabotage of denuclearization talks with North Korea, earlier this year, was another.