International

S. Korea, US begin military exercise: spokesman

(AFP) SEOUL — South Korea and the United States Monday began a major military exercise, a Seoul spokesman said, despite North Korea’s threats of possible retaliation.

A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the annual Key Resolve drill had started but gave no details. The computerised command post exercise will continue until March 9.

The North’s National Defence Commission has denounced the annual drill — which will be followed by joint air, ground and naval field training exercise Foal Eagle from March 1 to April 30 — as a “silent declaration of war”.

“Our army and people will foil the moves of the group of traitors to the nation and warmongers at home and abroad for a new war with a sacred war of our own style,” the commission, the North’s top ruling body, said on Saturday.

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US preparing for military intervention in Syria?

(RT.com) The US and other NATO countries could soon launch a ground assault on Syria. The final decision will be made soon, following this week’s Tunis conference where allied countries will meet to discuss possible scenarios of military intervention.

Sources in Washington tell Israeli news agency Debka that the Pentagon is currently drafting the approach they want America to take in the Syria ordeal, and once it is ready for the president, Obama could approve military action. Debka adds, however, that the decision will also depend on what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes away from this week’s Tunis conference.

Representatives from 80 countries across the glove are expected to descend on Tunis on Friday under the name “Friends of Syria.” Should Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and the UAR support a western intervention in Syria, Clinton could offer an endorsement to the Pentagon, who will in turn finish their draft for war plans and send them to the White House for approval. According to Debka’s sources, UK, France, Italy and Turkey also prepare to send their troops into Syria.

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Iran suspends oil exports to France, UK

(CNN) Iran’s oil ministry announced Sunday that it had stopped crude exports to British and French companies.

The order came several days after Iran threatened to cut oil exports to some European Union countries in retaliation for sanctions put in place by the EU and the United States in January, a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

“Iran has no difficulty in selling and exporting its crude oil. … We have our own customers and have designated alternatives for our oil sales. We shall sell to new customers, who will replace French and UK companies,” ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar said.

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Iran launches Spanish TV channel

(Guardian UK) Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has officially launched a Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to “dominance seekers” – remarks that were an apparent dig at the US and the west.

Iran’s broadcasting company said Hispan TV, the first Spanish-language channel airing from the Middle East, will broadcast news, documentaries, movies and Iranian films 24 hours a day.

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Iran steps up threats to shutter Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN, Iran (USA Today via AP) – Two Iranian lawmakers on Monday stepped up threats their country would shutter the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude flows, in retaliation for oil sanctions on Tehran.

The warnings came as EU nations agreed in Brussels on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over the country’s controversial nuclear program. The measure includes an immediate embargo on new contracts for Iranian crude and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.

Iran has repeatedly warned it would choke off the strait if sanctions affect its oil sales, and two lawmakers ratcheted up the rhetoric on Monday.

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Saudi Nuclear Deal with China?

(Washington Times) China fired a ground-based anti-satellite missile into space in January 2007, destroying a weather satellite and causing tens of thousands of pieces of debris to threaten orbiting spacecraft. A U.S. and Russian satellite collision in 2009 also has been mentioned as a reason for seeking space operations guidelines.

SAUDI NUCLEAR WATCH

U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching Saudi Arabia for signs that the oil-rich kingdom will seek to develop nuclear weapons, amid tensions in the region centered on Iran’s nuclear program.

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Russia says strike on Iran would be ‘catastrophe’

(The Times of India) Russia on Wednesday warned that a military strike on Iran would be a “catastrophe” with the severest consequences which risked inflaming existing tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

“As for the chances of this catastrophe happening, you would have to ask those constantly mentioning it as an option that remains on the table,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said when asked on the chances of military action.

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Iran Threatens U.S., Persian Gulf Cities with Missile Attacks

(USA News) Iran might pound Persian Gulf cities with ballistic missiles and use swift boats to attack American war ships in an attempt to dissuade a U.S. attack on its nuclear arms sites, a new report states.

[Iran Flexes Military Muscle in Persian Gulf.]

Tehran likely would employ a mixed game plan against the U.S. military consisting of “advanced technology” and “guerilla tactics,” according to a research organization with close ties to the Pentagon.

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US denies killing Iran nuclear scientist with magnetic bomb

(MSNBC) TEHRAN, Iran — Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET: The Obama administration is denying any role in the killing of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. “had absolutely nothing to do” with Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan’s death and the U.S. condemns “all acts of violence, including acts of violence like what is being reported today.”

Published at 9:46 am ET: Two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and wounding two people on Wednesday, a semiofficial news agency reported.

The attack in Tehran bore a strong resemblance to earlier killings of scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program.

Hillary Clinton: Iran’s Straits of Hormuz threats ‘provocative and dangerous’

(Telegraph UK) Calling it “the lifeline” that moves oil and gas around the world, US Secretary of State says Iran’s threats to close the Strait of Hormuz were “provocative and dangerous.”

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US calls for release of its citizen sentenced to death

(Telegraph UK) The US State Department condemns the death sentence of a American former marine of Iranian descent on charges that he was spying for the CIA.

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U.S. military moves carriers, denies Iran link

(Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Wednesday that a new aircraft carrier strike group had arrived in the Arabian Sea and that another was on its way to the region, but denied any link to recent tensions with Iran and portrayed the movements as routine.

The shift in the powerful U.S. naval assets comes at a moment of heightened tensions with Iran, which has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz – the world’s most important oil shipping lane – if U.S. and EU sanctions over its nuclear program cut off its oil exports.

The U.S. military has said it will halt any blockade of the strategic strait and the top U.S. naval officer acknowledged on Tuesday that preparing for a potential conflict there was something that “keeps me awake at night.”

Still, the Pentagon denied any direct link between recent tensions and the movement of aircraft carriers.

“I don’t want to leave anybody with the impression that we’re somehow (speeding) two carriers over there because we’re concerned about what happened, you know, today in Iran. It’s just not the case,” said Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez mock US disapproval of them

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez mocked US its move to expel a Venezuelan diplomat at the start of a visit to four left-leaning Latin American nations.

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Ramping up to war with Iran?

Here are a series of stories that are on the wires today, put them all together and ask yourself where this may be leading, and assess how you think the President is addressing the brewing crisis.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez mock US disapproval of them, joke about Nukes

U.S. military moves aircraft carrier strike group to the Arabian Se, denies link to Iran tensions

US calls for release of American citizen set for execution in Iran

Iran Says Nuclear Scientist’s Murder Shows Foreign-Backed Terror Campaign

Iranian president arrives in Cuba; U.S. warns of ‘dangerous alliance’

US denies killing Iran nuclear scientist with magnetic bomb

Hillary Clinton: Iran’s Straits of Hormuz threats ‘provocative and dangerous’

US presses China over Iran oil imports

All of these stories are out on the wires today, mostly from foreign news outlets. You have to wonder why it’s not getting hardly ANY coverage here at home in the USA. Thoughts?

Obama announces new, leaner military approach

(The Washington Post) The U.S. military will steadily shrink the Army and Marine Corps, reduce forces in Europe and probably make further cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the Obama administration said Thursday in a preview of how it intends to reshape the armed forces after a decade of war. The downsizing of the Pentagon, prompted by the country’s dire fiscal problems, means that the military will depend more on coalitions with allies and avoid the large-scale counterinsurgency and nation-building operations that have marked the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead, the Pentagon will invest more heavily in Special Operations forces, which have a smaller footprint and require less money than conventional units, as well as drone aircraft and cybersecurity, defense officials said. The military will also shift its focus to Asia to counter China’s rising influence and North Korea’s unpredictability. Despite the end of the Iraq war, administration officials said they would keep a large presence in the Middle East, where tensions with Iran are worsening. The strategy review was unveiled by President Obama in a rare visit to the Pentagon, where he was flanked by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, the Joint Chiefs and other officials who sought to project an image of undiminished military power even as they gird for an era of austerity that will necessitate a more restrained use of military force and more modest foreign policy goals.

Read the full story HERE.