Archive for month: August, 2014

The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says US President Barack Obama has been “too cautious” in dealing with the ISIL terrorist group.

“I think I’ve learned one thing about this president, and that is he’s very cautious. Maybe in this instance, too cautious,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether Obama’s admission that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to confront ISIL projected weakness.

The senior lawmaker said that the Defense and State departments “have been putting plans together” and expressed hope that those plans will “coalesce into a strategy.”

 “So there is good reason for people to come together now and begin to approach this as a very real threat, that it in fact is,” the senator added.

Feinstein, who has been assessing threats to US national security for years, characterized ISIL as “the first group that has the wherewithal in terms of financing, the fighting machine in terms of a structure — heavy equipment, heavy explosives [and] the ability to move quickly.”

“This is a group of people who are extraordinarily dangerous. And they’ll kill with abandon,” he continued.

Meanwhile, two senior Republican senators argued that the Obama administration needed to respond to the threat of ISIL with a robust military action.

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) dismissed Obama’s limited airstrikes against the terrorist group in Iraq as “tactical and reactive half-measures.”

“Continuing to confront ISIS in Iraq, but not in Syria, would be fighting with one hand tied behind our back,” they wrote, using another acronym for the group. “We need a military plan to defeat ISIS, wherever it is.”

Obama’s statement Thursday that the US lacked a strategy to address the growing threat of ISIL was greeted with intense criticism on Capitol Hill. The US president said he was not planning to significantly expand the military action against ISIL anytime soon.

The terrorist organization commands a vast stretch of territory from central Syria to the environs of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.

HRJ/HRJ

Iran has successfully test-fired Bavar-373 indigenous missile defense system.

Commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said on Saturday that Bavar-373 fired its first successful shot.

He added that the system, developed as an alternative with superior capabilities to the Russian S-300 after Moscow canceled its contract with Tehran, works better than certain similar long-range missile systems manufactured by other countries.

Fars News Agency published on Friday the first images of Bavar-373 system, saying that it is meant to carry the message of self-sufficiency of Iranian armed forces to the world.

In February, Brigadier General Esmaili said the missile is expected to be ready by March 2015.

He said the infrastructure for manufacturing Bavar-373 had been prepared and the “bottlenecks” in the project removed.

On August 28, the Islamic Republic also successfully test-fired indigenously designed and manufactured Talaash 3 (endeavor) missile defense system.

Talaash 3, which has a range of more than 200 kilometers, had successfully been put to test and would be unveiled on September 22.

Over the past years, Iran has attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems.

On August 24, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled two marine cruise missiles, Ghadir and Nasr-e Basir, as well as two unmanned aerial vehicles, Karrar-4 and Mohajer-4, during a ceremony in Tehran.

The Islamic Republic has so far designed and manufactured a variety of indigenous missiles, including Sayyad-2, Khalij-e-Fars (Persian Gulf), Mehrab (Altar), Ra’d (Thunder), Qader (Mighty), Nour (Light) and Zafar (Triumph).

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured its neighbors that its military might poses no threat to other countries, insisting that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.

DB/HSN/HMV

Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury, has criticized the European Union’s newly proposed sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, calling the 28 member-state bloc a US “puppet.”

“It’s really up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin what happens. It’s not up to the EU. The EU is a puppet state of the United States. They’re being hurt by the sanctions that Washington has forced Europeans to impose on Russia,” he said in an interview with Press TV.

“The main hurt is only Europeans, not Russians,” he added.

The European Union announced on Saturday that it would impose further sanctions against Moscow over the incursion of Russian troops into Ukraine.

“The whole question is whether the people in Washington [are] trying to control Russia or going to lose their European Empire. That’s the question before the world, will Europe sacrifice itself in order to serve American pressure against Russia, Craig Roberts explained. “I doubt it. I don’t think that’s possible. The government, the leaders might, but not the people.”

“The German people I don’t think will stand for this when they see all the hurt coming to Germany because the idiot in Washington is trying to hurt Russia. It’s not going to happen, so what we are about to witness in my view is a collapse of American power,” he continued. 

On Sunday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the bloc’s heads of state tasked their executive body to “urgently” prepare tougher economic sanctions that could be adopted within a week.

He said the EU “stands ready to take further significant steps in light of the evolution of the situation on the ground.” “Everybody is fully aware that we have to act quickly.”

White House National Security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden welcomed the EU’s move.

“We welcome the European Council’s consensus today to show strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to prepare further sanctions for consideration in coming days,” she said.

The United States and the European Union have already imposed asset freezes and travel bans on senior Russian officials.

Washington and its allies accuse Moscow of supporting pro-Russian forces fighting against the Kiev government in eastern Ukraine, but the Kremlin denies the allegations.

AGB/HRJ

European Union leaders have named Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to replace Herman van Rompuy as president of the European Council.

The announcement was made by Van Rompuy, the outgoing European Council leader, during a press conference in Brussels.

“I come from a country that deeply believes in a united Europe,” Tusk said.

Van Rompuy praised Tusk and “the determined and confident way he has steered Poland through the economic crisis, and managed to maintain steady economic growth.”

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt also congratulated Tusk after the vote.

“He will be a good and result-oriented president of the European Council who will listen to member states. I look forward to co-operating with him,” Thorning-Schmidt said.

Last month, the 57-year-old Polish premier’s candidacy had been resisted by British Prime Minister David Cameron after the two had fallen out over EU labor migration and freedom of movement regulations. However, the two premiers patched up their differences last week.

“I understand many of David Cameron’s proposals concerning reforming the European Union and I think they are acceptable to many reasonable politicians in Europe, also those proposals that address the abuse of the free movement of persons within the EU,” Tusk said.

Tusk has been the prime minister of Poland since 2007.

The announcement comes a day after Italian Foreign Minister Fedrica Mogherini was named as the EU’s new foreign policy chief, replacing Catherine Ashton.

SZH/HMV