From DEBKAfile, February 25, 2008, 10:55 PM (GMT+02:00):
...the first Persian Gulf exercise without the US in many years began Feb. 24. It will last ten days. It is also the first time the United Arab Emirates and France have invoked their 19-year old military pact. France has contributed 1,500 navy marine and air force personnel to the exercise; the UAE, 1,500 and Qatar 3,000 troops. ... a number of the advanced French Rafale B and naval units are deployed in the exercise.
While Iran is not explicitly targeted, the objectives of the maneuver are to practice repulsing marine landings by sea on the Gulf participants’ shores and missile attacks from the east, i.e. Iran. The joint force is also drilling tactics to defend their oil and gas fields and oil ports.
While the Saudi army is not directly participating in the maneuver, King Abdullah has permitted some of the air and naval movements to take place in the kingdom’s territorial waters and over its air space.
...It will be France’s first military foothold in the Persian Gulf region. French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the UAE government agreed to establish this base with the approval of US president George W. Bush during their respective Gulf tours last month.
Showing posts with label Gulf States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gulf States. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Iran: the region’s ‘black sheep’
From The Arab Times (Kuwait), 18th Jan 2007 : Web Edition No: 12766, by Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief....
BY exaggerating its capabilities, Iran is hallucinating and thinking that it can do more than it is able to. Tehran believes it is God’s regime and acts under the orders of the Almighty. Iran’s imagination is running wild making it believe in its own myth. Gulf countries have come to the conclusion that Iran has become an uncontrollable power which can harm not only itself but also its neighbors.
As a country infected with such dangerous imagination, Iran sees itself capable of taking on the mighty United States. It thinks it can control the region and force its policies on its supporters.This explains the behavior of Tehran in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. It also explains the current visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Latin American countries, which are well-known for their anti-US policies. If Iran wants to nominate itself as a leader of the region, then we must awake it from its dream and remind it that all Gulf countries are united.
Iran’s dreams of expanding its power have brought it under the scrutiny of the United States, which is closely monitoring Tehran’s activities in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine where it is creating chaos and instability.
In this tense atmosphere, Ahmadinejad has angered Americans by visiting countries located in their backyard. The Iranian President has donated two billion dollars to the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez for a fund to support countries which are against Washington....Iran is declaring war against the United States and trying to drag the Gulf countries into it without any thought for the tragic consequences of this dangerous game.
Tehran continues to stand against the international community, ignore warnings to abandon its nuclear program and insist on teasing superpowers. In 2003 as a part of its preemptive strike policy the US attacked Iraq, which was thought to have nuclear warheads. We wonder what Iran is trying to do by angering and challenging the United States.In our opinion a US strike on Iran is imminent to correct Tehran’s misguided policies, and prevent that country from becoming a black sheep in the Middle East...
BY exaggerating its capabilities, Iran is hallucinating and thinking that it can do more than it is able to. Tehran believes it is God’s regime and acts under the orders of the Almighty. Iran’s imagination is running wild making it believe in its own myth. Gulf countries have come to the conclusion that Iran has become an uncontrollable power which can harm not only itself but also its neighbors.
As a country infected with such dangerous imagination, Iran sees itself capable of taking on the mighty United States. It thinks it can control the region and force its policies on its supporters.This explains the behavior of Tehran in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. It also explains the current visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Latin American countries, which are well-known for their anti-US policies. If Iran wants to nominate itself as a leader of the region, then we must awake it from its dream and remind it that all Gulf countries are united.
Iran’s dreams of expanding its power have brought it under the scrutiny of the United States, which is closely monitoring Tehran’s activities in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine where it is creating chaos and instability.
In this tense atmosphere, Ahmadinejad has angered Americans by visiting countries located in their backyard. The Iranian President has donated two billion dollars to the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez for a fund to support countries which are against Washington....Iran is declaring war against the United States and trying to drag the Gulf countries into it without any thought for the tragic consequences of this dangerous game.
Tehran continues to stand against the international community, ignore warnings to abandon its nuclear program and insist on teasing superpowers. In 2003 as a part of its preemptive strike policy the US attacked Iraq, which was thought to have nuclear warheads. We wonder what Iran is trying to do by angering and challenging the United States.In our opinion a US strike on Iran is imminent to correct Tehran’s misguided policies, and prevent that country from becoming a black sheep in the Middle East...
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