Zero Hedge – by Tyler DurdenBack in 2013 it was Syria where the world was gearing for imminent military action after a relentless series of false flag provocations by the United States (intent on securing a Qatar gas pipeline to Europe) which in the last minute was deftly diffused by Vladimir Putin. In 2014, it was the Ukraine’s turn, and after a prolonged campaign orchestrated by Victoria Nuland and the US State Department (again) which succeeded in the now traditional violent coup (see Egypt and Libya), once again saw Putin victorious, after yesterday’s annexation of the all important Crimean peninsula, achieved without the firing of one shot.
So now that Putin has succeeded in trouncing the US twice in a row, it is time to poke some old, well-known geopolitical wounds, such as Iran. And who better to do it than Israel, where as Haaretz reports, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have ordered the army to continue preparing for a possible military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities at a cost of at least 10 billion shekels ($2.89 billion) this year, despite the talks between Iran and the West, according to recent statements by senior military officers.”
To be sure there is a tangible benefit for all those involved: moar war means more military spending means more “broken windows” means more “GDP.”
Three Knesset members who were present at Knesset joint committee hearings on Israel Defense Forces plans that were held in January and February say they learned during the hearings that 10 billion shekels to 12 billion shekels of the defense budget would be allocated this year for preparations for a strike on Iran, approximately the same amount that was allocated in 2013.
Yet unlike the US where warmongering has become an art, if not a science, in Israel these things are taken far more seriously:
The IDF representatives said the army had received a clear directive from government officials from the political echelon – meaning Netanyahu and Ya’alon – to continue readying for a possible independent strike by Israel on the Iranian nuclear sites, regardless of the talks now happening between Iran and the West, the three MKs said.
As for the diplomatic cover for a potential attack, it is well-known, and the same one used for the past 3 years – attack Iran before it can nuke Israel and obliterate it from the face of the earth.
Ever since the interim accord between Iran and the six powers was reached, Netanyahu has stressed that Israel will not consider itself bound by it. In the last few weeks, as talks on a permanent accord have resumed, Netanyahu has upped his rhetoric on the Iranian issue, and is again making implied threats about a possible unilateral Israeli strike on the Iranian nuclear sites.
“My friends, I believe that letting Iran enrich uranium would open up the floodgates,” Netanyahu said at the AIPAC conference earlier this month. “That must not happen. And we will make sure it does not happen.”
Ironically, this time Israel may see pushback from none other than the US itself, which mysteriously over the past 6 months has transformed itself from Iran’s most hated enemy to a willing partner who sees Iran as nothing short of a frontier market (not to mention source of natural resources).
However, the US too realizes that it needs “military outs” with Ukraine seemingly diffused for the time being. Which is why yesterday, a few hours after Russia peacefully annexed Crimea, the US made its feeble response known, when it suspended operations of the Syrian Embassy in Washington and its consulates and told diplomats and staff who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents to leave the country. The justification of this oddly timed move came from the U.S. special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein who said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had refused to step down and was responsible for atrocities against Syrians.
And this was news to the US? More from Reuters:
“We have determined it is unacceptable for individuals appointed by that regime to conduct diplomatic or consular operations in the United States,” said Rubinstein, whose appointment was announced by the State Department on Monday.
“Consequently, the United States notified the Syrian government today that it must immediately suspend operations of its embassy in Washington, D.C., and its honorary consulates in Troy, Michigan, and Houston, Texas,” he said in a statement.
In other words, the US tried to impose its “moral superiority” codex on yet another country, which for all intents and purposes was a proxy of Russian strength in the middle east, i.e., punish the Kremlin by kicking out Syria. Surely Putin was in tears.
The only problem is that it is now beyond obvious to virtually everyone in the world that the framework of Pax Americana is only applicable to the increasingly self-deluded United States, and of course the Group of 7 most insolvent nations, whose debt ponzi schemes are ever more reliant on a centrally planned regime of low interest rates and free money. For everyone else it is now just as obvious that when provoked, the best the US can do is simply impose some sanctions, and shut down embassies… while it prints trillions of dollars in “paper wealth” each year of course.