MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By KIM SENGUPTA and CATRINA STEWART – “Britain has formally opened talks with the Syrian opposition movement as international pressure continues to mount against the beleaguered regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Frances Guy, a former ambassador to Lebanon, met members of the exiled opposition in Paris yesterday. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, is to meet members of the Syrian opposition in London next week when they will also hold talks with senior officials in Downing Street.

Although the UK, along with other Western states like France – which appealed to the United Nations yesterday to impose tougher sanctions – has been in informal contact with the opposition for the last three months, the progression of the working relationship opens up the prospect of the rebels eventually being recognised as the country’s representatives and supplanting the Assad regime.

The West’s Libyan mission started in a similar fashion with the country’s revolutionaries, but senior diplomatic sources warned against drawing parallels. ‘This is not about recognition of them as the government – that is not the case,’ said a senior diplomatic source. ‘The difference with the Libyan situation was that the Libyan National Transitional Council controlled swathes of the country. We are asking the Syrian opposition to present a coherent set of policies and organise themselves.’ The Syrian National Council and the National Co-ordination Committee for Democratic Change are among the groups whose leaders have been involved in the talks.” Read more.

Syrian army defectors attack intelligence base near Damascus – “Syrian army defectors have attacked a string of military bases near Damascus, including an intelligence complex on the outskirts of the capital, in the first such reported assault on a major security facility in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Members of the Free Syrian Army fired shoulder-mounted rockets and machine guns at the compound run by Air Force Intelligence in Harasta, a suburb of the capital. A gunfight ensued and helicopters circled the area. The attack appeared to mark an escalation in armed confrontations between government and opposition forces instead of clashes involving street protesters.” Read more.

The “moderate and non-violent” Muslim Brotherhood — the group from which Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri began as activists — are now threatening violence. Who woulda thunk it? …

“Cairo (AsiaNews) – Thousands of supporters of Islamist parties rallied today in Tahrir Square to protest against excessive power wielded by the military. Led by the Muslim Brotherhood, the demonstration saw pro-democracy parties stay away. Although they too are against the military, they also oppose Islamist parties’ strong-arm tactics. The latter object to plans that would make the military the guardian of ‘constitutional legitimacy’, and thus give them a final say on the 28 November elections. Unless the proposed constitutional change is not shelved, Islamists say they would escalate their campaign.

‘The Muslim Brotherhood are provocateurs,’ said Fr Rafic Greiche, spokesman of the Egyptian catholic Church. ‘They are using these demonstrations to flex their muscle vis-à-vis the military and the nation. However, they are also showing their truer, most intransigent face, which they have cloaked so far under a veneer of moderate Islamic political activism. This could play in favour of pro-democracy parties who have Egypt’s interests at heart, and are not just vying for power.’

Public opinion polls indicate that the Muslim Brotherhood is leading among voters, especially in country’s poorest region, with about 30 per cent. Their camp includes some of the most intransigent and radical Islamic groups like Salafis who are the main instigators of anti-Christian violence.

For example, dozens of Salafis, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails, yesterday disrupted the memorial service for the victims of the massacre of Christians of 9 October, traditionally held 40 days after death.

For four hours, the procession of 500 people was blocked on a road that leads from a Coptic neighbourhood to the square where Egyptian state TV is located. Eventually, mourners were able to leave but could not make it to site of the memorial service. The attack left 32 people injured, Copts but also police agents brought in to stop the violence.

‘Unfortunately, it is too early to know what will happen over the next few months or if, as some analysts predict, the Muslim Brotherhood will win the elections,’ Fr Greiche said.

Egypt, the clergyman added, is very different from Tunisia, Algeria or Libya where Muslim represent more than 90 per cent of the population, and Christians are few and usually foreign-born.

‘In our country, the Christian community is ancient and represents more than 10 per cent of the population, which is more than 8,000,000 people. Despite their divisions, Liberal parties are winning people over, especially the better educated,’ the clergyman explained.

Nevertheless, ‘The situation remains very critical. We must be ready for any scenario and support those who are willing to take a stand for their country.’ (S.C.)” Source – AsiaNews.

US Would Be ‘Satisfied’ With a Muslim Brotherhood Win in Egypt – “The United States would be ‘satisfied’ should free elections in Egypt produce a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood, AFP reported Friday according to the US’s special coordinator for transitions in the Middle East, William Taylor. Taylor said the US would judge elected parties in the Middle East based ‘on what they do, and not what they’re called,’ AFP quoted him as saying. He added that he did not meet with Brotherhood officials in his latest visit to Cairo, but would have had he been given the chance.” Read more.

“Current and former US intelligence officials estimate that any Israeli attack on nuclear sites in Iran would go far beyond airstrikes from F-15 and F-16 fighter jets and likely include electronic warfare against the Islamic Republic’s electric grid, Internet, cell phone network, and emergency frequencies for firemen and police officers.

The officials, who based their assessment on a US intelligence report published last summer, told the Daily Beast news website that Israel has been assembling a multibillion-dollar array of high-tech weapons that would allow it to jam, blind, and deafen Tehran’s defenses in the case of a pre-emptive aerial strike.

According to the officials, one of the weapons Israel has developed is capable of mimicking a maintenance cell phone signal that commands a cell network to ‘sleep,’ effectively stopping transmissions. The Israelis also have jammers capable of creating interference within Iran’s emergency frequencies for first responders, they told the Daily Beast.

The sources also said that in case of an attack on Iran, Israel would likely exploit a vulnerability that American officials detected two years ago in Iran’s big-city electric grids, which are not ‘air-gapped’—meaning they are connected to the Internet and therefore vulnerable to a Stuxnet-style cyberattack.

One source told the Daily Beast that Israel has the capability to bring a denial-of-service attack to nodes of Iran’s command and control system that rely on the Internet.

According to the report, the likely delivery method for the electronic elements of this attack would be a drone the size of a jumbo jet.

The Daily Beast said Israel had already employed some of the technology at its disposal during its alleged aerial attack on a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007.” Read more.

Israel watches as world rejects Iran sanctions – “Israel watched the developments at the IAEA in Vienna on Thursday very closely, yet was unable to convince the world to implement crippling sanctions on Iran that would convince it to jettison its military nuclear program. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in an interview in the morning from Canada with Israel Radio, said Jerusalem was engaged in an ‘intensive world struggle to enlist world leaders’ to support sanctions. ‘Our goal is to ensure that as a result of the recent IAEA report there are practical actions and steps taken to stop Iran.’ That report, issued last week, said Iran was working to develop a nuclear-weapon design and was conducting extensive research and tests for those weapons. On Thursday, a resolution was agreed upon in Vienna by the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, to slam Iran for its defiance, but stopped short of sending the matter back to the UN Security Council for another round of sanctions.” Read more.

By Gavriel Queenann – “Newly acquired intelligence reports indicate several Arab countries in the Middle East are lobbying the US to strike Iran this year, Israel’s Channel 10 reported.

According to the report, which is said to be making its rounds in Britain’s political circles, Saudi Arabia wants the Obama administration to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities before the final withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

US president has vowed to close the door on American military involvement in Iraq by year’s end, but Riyadh is reportedly afraid Iran will use the American exit to take over the country.

Since 2008, officials in the Iraqi interim government have complained to Washington that both Iran and Saudi Arabia were, respectively, funding the Shiite and Sunni insurgencies that have plagued the country since the US-led invasion that toppled late dictator Sadam Hussein.

Security experts say Baghdad’s security forces are unprepared to confront the rival insurgencies that hold Iraq in their grip – and that Obama’s dogged drive to fulfill his campaign promise may have disastrous consequences both for the region and US interests.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies have been locked in a strategic battle with Iran for hegemony over the Persian Gulf – and have accused Tehran of seeking to destabilize the region through its ‘Shiite Diaspora.’

Gulf Arab leaders have sought to exert pressure on Iran and its regional allies – most notably Syrian president Bashar al-Assad – by allying themselves with Western powers opposed to Tehran’s aggressive posture.

They have also joined western powers in targeting Iran’s nuclear program, which they see as targeting them first and foremost – rather than Israel, who Iran has threatened repeatedly with destruction.” Read more.

But wait! Who cares about what would happen if the suicidal death cult leadership of Iran acquired nuclear weapons to strike Israel, the United States and their allies.  It’s all about the economy, stupid …

U.S. Defense Secretary: Iran strike will hurt world economy – “U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned on the eve of talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that a strike on Iran could harm the world economy, saying the U.S. focus was on diplomatic pressure and sanctions. ‘There are going to be economic consequences to that (an Iran strike), that could impact not just on our economy but the world economy,’ Panetta told reporters traveling with him on Thursday to Canada, where he will attend a security forum and hold bilateral talks with Barak.” Read more.