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A US-Iran war would be a disaster, ripple effects for decades


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 17:45 UTC
USS Abraham Lincoln Suez Canal
© Reuters/Dan Snow/U.S. Navy
USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier transits Suez Canal on way to 'send a message' to Iran.
The chant has been that the US doesn't want war, but stands ready to hit "swiftly and decisively"should Iran or its nebulous "proxies" attempt any attack against American "interests or citizens." As if on cue, such an apparent attempt came on Sunday, when oil tankers - two of them Saudi Arabian, one bound for the US - were hit by "sabotage" just off the Strait of Hormuz.

Nobody was hurt, no oil was spilled, and no-one has officially accused Iran - yet, - but unofficially, there already are reports that US officials are blaming the convenient culprit. Trump, in particular, didn't wait for confirmation, threatening the Iranians would "suffer greatly" if they "do anything."
And while analysts in even the mainstream media appear to be somewhat alarmed by the looming war, obviously spurred on by the militancy of Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, influential critical voices among Washington politicians are all but absent - despite the eerie similarities with the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Having sold out Assange, Moreno continues his persecution of perceived foes. Next in line: Ola Bini

Denis Rogatyuk
The Grayzone
Sun, 12 May 2019 00:00 UTC
MorenoBini
© Ochoa/AP/Idg
Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno • Software developer Ola Bini
The US-backed, neoliberal Ecuadorian leader is persecuting Swedish software developer Ola Bini for his political sympathies, censoring critical media, and jailing progressive leadership in a sweeping crackdown.

The arrest, sentencing and the plans for the extradition of Julian Assange from the United Kingdom to the United States continue to provoke waves of condemnation from all around the world, along with disgust at the government of Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno and its increasing subordination to the US.

This was the first time in living memory of many that a government allowed a foreign law enforcement agency to enter its sovereign territory - the Ecuadorian embassy in London - and take into its custody a publisher of journalism, whose status as a refugee had been recognized internationally by the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International and other international organizations.

As confirmed by a number of investigative articles and publications, this act of political cynicism was motivated by the acquisition of $4.2 billion in IMF loans, as well as the revelations published by Wikileaks of secret offshore bank accounts in Panama operated by Moreno's family members, known widely as the "INA Papers scandal".

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Is the Strait of Hormuz the new Gulf of Tonkin? Trump warns Iran it will 'suffer greatly' if it does 'anything'


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 09:32 UTC
BoltedTrumpPompous
© The Hill
John Bolton • President Trump • Mike Pompeo
Blame for the "sabotage operations" that damaged four oil tankers off the coast of the UAE has been placed at the feet of "Iran or Iran-backed proxies," courtesy of anonymous "US officials" breathlessly quoted by MSM.

Anonymous officials are an integral part of a good casus belli. Their deeds should be heroic enough that merely fact-checking their story reflects badly on the journalist attempting it. What kind of cynical reporter would question the bravery of "Curveball," the informant who spilled the beans about Saddam Hussein's "mobile biological weapons laboratories," sealing the doom of a million Iraqis with the Weapons of Mass Destruction myth? Yet credulous reporters are once again repeating the conclusions of an anonymous official without asking how he arrived at them.


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Footprints

Report: A US plan specifies deployment of 120K troops to counter Iran


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 06:14 UTC
Army drill
© Reuters/Romeo Ranoco
Donald Trump has reportedly been presented with a plan to send as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter the so-called Iranian threat, the New York Times reported.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan disclosed the updated military plan at a meeting of Trump's top security aides on Thursday, the publication said, quoting anonymous sources inside the administration.

Several options to tackle Tehran in the region were outlined to the president during the briefing, while "the uppermost option called for deploying 120,000 troops, which would take weeks or months to complete," the Times said.

While the revisions "ordered" by "hard-liners" do not promulgate a land invasion of Iran, "the development reflects the influence of Mr. Bolton, one of the administration's most virulent Iran hawks," The Times reported. Bolton has been a long-time advocate of using military force against Tehran, even penning an op-ed in 2015 titled "Top Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran."

Comment: More from Reuters:
President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied a New York Times report that U.S. officials were discussing a military plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter any attack or nuclear weapons acceleration by Iran. Trump told reporters at the White House:
"I think it's fake news, OK? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that."
The Times reported that Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated plan last week in a meeting of top national security aides that envisions sending as many as 120,000 American troops to the region if Iran attacks U.S. forces or accelerates work on its nuclear weapons.

The updated plan does not call for a land invasion of Iran, which would require far more troops, the Times reported, citing unidentified administration officials.

The plan reflects revisions ordered by Iran hawks including national security adviser John Bolton, the newspaper said.


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Airplane

House Aviation Subcommittee to review findings FAA overlooked 'critical safety risks' of Boeing 737Max


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 18:07 UTC
Boeing737Max
Senior officials at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) failed to properly oversee safety tests on the flight-control system of Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft, according to an internal investigation leaked to the press.

In an internal review set to be discussed before Congress on Wednesday, the FAA determined that its own personnel were lax in monitoring Boeing's safety assessments and effectively allowed the company to conduct the testing on its own, the Wall Street Journal reported.


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Chess

US plays carrot-and-stick game with India over their plans to buy Russian defense systems


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 16:15 UTC
Russian S-400
© Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
Russian S-400 air defense missile systems during a parade in Moscow.
The US has long vowed sanctions if India buys the S-400 from Russia, but now it is offering its THAAD and Patriot missiles as an alternative. But the sticks-and-carrots game won't help the US get its way, an analyst told RT.

Washington has pitched Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile defense systems to India last month. Other details of the generous offer are shrouded in mystery, but it obviously comes to outweigh the $5 billion deal India has signed with Russia to acquire the S-400 air defense systems.

Simultaneously, the US seemed to have reeled back its threat of sanctions, choosing to go soft with India this time. This tactic looks particularly interesting when compared to the enormous pressure Washington is piling on Turkey, another future operator of the cutting-edge S-400.
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Chess

As US pressures India to cut Iran oil import, Indians ask what Iranian FM can offer in rushed talks


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 18:44 UTC
zarif
© AFP / AFP / SAJJAD HUSSAIN
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif
While the plane of the Iranian Foreign Minister was landing at the New Delhi airport for unexpected talks with his Indian counterpart, Indians have been wondering about the timing and purpose of this last-moment scheduled meeting.

Javad Zarif has come at a peculiar time, in the middle of India's general elections. If he was to wait two more weeks, he could arrange talks with a new government, but the urgency of the meeting speaks volumes.

But as Washington puts pressure on Iranian oil importers, some Indians agree that some issues cannot wait.

India was once Iran's top oil client after China. Then the US and sanctions stepped in. Last year India, along with seven other nations, received a waiver from Washington which allowed them to import some oil. But earlier this month, the US renewed sanctions and New Delhi had to stop any purchases of Iranian crude. But while big politics are being decided in high places, Indians themselves seem positive about Iran, with many saying India should stick to its vows to Iran.
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Light Sabers

Lavrov and Pompeo agree to work on nukes control but clash on Venezuela, election interference


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 18:27 UTC
pompeo and lavrov
© Reuters / Pavel Golovkin
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concluded the Sochi talks by agreeing to cooperate on nuclear arms control. The two diplomats, however, could not reach agreement on Venezuela.

After emerging from a sit-down in the Russian Black Sea resort on Tuesday, Pompeo and Lavrov both talked of their governments' desire to improve relations, currently at a low ebb. Lavrov described the meeting as "frank and useful," while Pompeo said the US "stands ready to find common ground" with Russia.

As predicted, nuclear arms control was top of the agenda, following the Trump administration's recent withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Pompeo and Lavrov seemed open to cooperation on establishing new arms control pacts, with Pompeo restating President Donald Trump's desire to bring China into any future deal.

With the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty set to expire in February 2021, Pompeo said that Washington is willing to work towards extending the deal by five years, while the Russian FM said he hopes any future agreements will be "positively received by both nations."

Comment: Putin also met with Pompeo in Sochi and made it clear he wants to restore relations between Russia and the US since the Mueller inquiry exonerated Trump:
"As you know, just a few days ago, I had the pleasure of talking with the US president on the phone," Putin told Pompeo on Tuesday, as the two met in Sochi. "I got the impression that the [US] president was inclined to re-establish Russian-American relations and contacts to resolve together the issues that are of mutual interest to us."

"For our part, we have more than once said that we would also like to fully restore relations, and we hope that now the conditions for that have been met," Putin added.


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Heart

Tulsi Gabbard on Joe Rogan podcast: I'd drop all charges against Assange and Snowden

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Tue, 14 May 2019 18:17 UTC
tulsi on joe rogan
In midst of an interesting and wide-ranging discussion on the Joe Rogan Experience, Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said that if elected president she would drop all charges against NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"What would you do about Julian Assange? What would you do about Edward Snowden?" Rogan asked in the latter part of the episode.

"As far as dropping the charges?" Gabbard asked.

"If you're president of the world right now, what do you do?"

"Yeah, dropping the charges," Gabbard replied.

Comment: Watch the full interview with Tulsi Gabbard below:



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Gold Coins

Gold prices on fire, sparked by US-China trade war


RT
Tue, 14 May 2019 16:53 UTC
gold on fire
© Reuters / Ilya Naymushin
Non-ferrous metals plant in Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Renewed trade war fears are breathing life into the gold market, according to Phil Streible, senior market analyst at RJO Futures, who also pointed to growing investor fears over the possibility of a rate cut.

"Potentially down the road, if equities slow down, and if the global economy slows down enough, you might see the Fed cut rates, that's what's breathing life right now into that gold market," Streible told Kitco News.

Gold prices jumped on the news of China's tariff retaliation against the US, retaking the $1,300 key level. The yellow metal, which has been trading well below its key psychological level for the last few weeks, reacted as a safe haven asset on Monday, gaining one percent and hitting $1,303.26, which is its highest in over a month. Gold steadied on Tuesday, trading at $1297.60 an ounce as of 9:12 GMT.
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