GLOBAL WAR DANGER PERSISTS:
Anglo-Saudi Apparatus
Out To Sabotage Iran Talks
by Jeffrey Steinberg
Jan. 13—Following two suicide bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd Dec. 29-30, terrorists hit again last week, carrying out "blind terror" assassinations in the Black Sea city of Stavropol, making clear that Russia is a prime target for jihadist provocations as the country prepares to host the Sochi Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 9. The targeting of Russia and the attempts to demonize President Vladimir Putin are but the latest provocations coming from the Anglo-Saudi imperial nexus that is drawing the world ever closer to a new global conflict that could lead to thermonuclear extinction.
The source of the attacks against Russia is the same circles which were behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and the Benghazi attacks 11 years later, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed. The Anglo-Saudi apparatus behind the two 9/11 actions, and the current targeting of Russia, is now engaged in a desperate attempt to sabotage the ongoing P5+1 negotiations with Iran. If those Iran negotiations collapse, the net effect will be to restart the clock for military showdown with the Islamic Republic.
In Asia, the uncertain situation on the Korean peninsula represents yet another potential flashpoint for global war. All of these situations have taken a turn for the worse in the past week.
With respect to the Iran negotiations over the country's nuclear program, hard-line factions in both the U.S. and Iran are moving simultaneously to erect roadblocks in the way of the talks. Last week, 58 U.S. Senators, from both political parties, had signed onto a new Iran sanctions bill (S. 1881), that would kick in at the first sign of Iranian non-compliance with the interim agreement signed with the P5+1 in November. The Menendez-Schumer bill has been put on a fast track by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, under the rules of the Senate.
According to one senior U.S. intelligence official, bipartisan support for the bill is driven by a broad perception that President Barack Obama is weak and vulnerable. The argument is that if Obama, who has said he would veto the bill, proves to be incapable of defeating the Senate move for deal-busting sanctions, he will be unable to impose a tough verification system on the Iranians.
Inside Iran as well, hard-line factions associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Principalist faction of clerics, have moved to wreck the talks by attempting to create a Majlis (parliament) oversight body with veto power over the negotiations being conducted by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. So far, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has straddled the fence, neither endorsing the hard-line move, nor giving his public backing to President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif. Last week, a group of 100 Majlis members introduced a bill mandating 60% nuclear enrichment program, in the event of any new Western sanctions.
Geneva Agreement Moves Forward
Despite these attempted wrecking operations, P5+1 negotiators managed to finalize the implementation agreement last week in Geneva. It is expected that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors will be on the ground before the end of January to enforce the interim deal. The reality is that a breakthrough deal with Iran would fundamentally transform the Near East regional security landscape, opening the possibility of a successful Geneva II agreement to end the bloodbath in Syria. To prevent that from happening, Saudi Arabia has insisted that Iran be excluded from participating in the Geneva II talks.
In a recent visit to Riyadh, French President François Hollande aligned with the Saudi monarchy against Iranian participation, in return for a $4 billion Lebanon-France-Saudi arms deal that involved French promises to take an ultra-hard line inside the P5+1 negotiations. The French arms sale to the Lebanese Army, bankrolled by the Saudis, is aimed at creating the conditions for a direct confrontation inside Lebanon with Hezbollah. The Saudis have been furious that Hezbollah fighters have abetted the Syrian Army in the drive to defeat the hard-core jihadist factions of the Syrian opposition, a jihadist force wholly bankrolled by Persian Gulf states under Saudi leadership.
The only prospect for success at the Geneva II session scheduled for Jan. 22, is for the U.S., Russia, and China to come together to essentially dictate a ceasefire and transition. In one promising development, the removal of Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles has continued, with Russian and Chinese warships accompanying the American ship that is taking control of the chemical weapons and their destruction at sea. Such U.S.-Russia-China cooperation, is being actively promoted by a group of Obama Administration "realists," including Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, but has also been harshly criticized by key players in the Obama White House, including National Security Advisor Susan Rice and her top staffers. The White House "humanitarian interventionists" are de facto allied with neoconservative and American Israel Public Affairs CoCommittee (AIPAC) factions in Congress, and are now waging an all-out factional battle inside the Administration to wreck the war-avoidance efforts.
A Radical Malthusian Agenda
While a growing chorus of writers have been drawing the parallel between 1914—the start of World War I—and 2014, and warning of the danger of stumbling into global war, the reality of the situation is quite different, despite the reality of the war danger. The Anglo-Dutch oligarchy, with its Wall Street and Saudi appendages, is desperate to maintain power in the face of an imminent new financial blowout of their system and the continuing genuine economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region, as the trans-Atlantic collapses further.
The real war danger comes from the top, from the Anglo-Dutch imperial oligarchy, which is committed to the destruction and subjugation of Asia, including Russia and China. Given that this Anglo-Dutch faction is committed to a radical Malthusian agenda of mass population reduction, the temptation to start world war, despite the likelihood of such a war turning into a thermonuclear holocaust, is enormous.
It is for this reason that Lyndon LaRouche has been warning of the war danger and demanding the removal of the Anglo-Dutch pawn President Obama from office. LaRouche is not alone in his assessment of the prospect of imminent global war. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' new book, Duty, warning about the recurring danger of Presidents who are too quick to resort to military force, comes at a perfect moment.
