Published: September 22, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War - FM Kouchner "I Will Go to Tehran" - Military Parade- Iran
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - RAPID FIRE NEWS-PARIS - ROME - VIENNA WATCH - Eurasia Theatre: Paris - Rome - Madrid - Tokyo- Delhi - Moscow - Warsaw - Washington - London - Berlin - Vienna/Tirana - Ankara - Damascus - Islamabad - Beijing - Tehran; "I AM Willing to Go to Tehran" - France Fm Kouchner - "all The World's Experts are Worried" - Iran Stages Military Parade on New Weaponry for Sacred Offense - Chief of Indian Army General J J Singh States Indian Army Ready to Defend Arunachal Pradesh - No repeat of 1962 - Arms Dealer Arrested in Serbia - Beijing Wants Advance Notice on Demonstrations
Night Watch: PARIS - France Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's frightened and desperate offer of going to Tehran, in a near panic effort to avoid war, is an enormous triumph for Tehran. The Western capital-Paris, that played the lead role in the scheme of having the Ayatollah Khomeini replace the Shah of Iran in 1979, to provide Moscow reasons to conduct more invasions south toward the Persian Gulf and re-occupy Iran, as they were in World War II, is now desperate to avoid the inevitable- war, at all costs. As always Tehran is prepared to entertain the myth the West is desperately clinging to that somehow a deal can be made and war will not happen. In reality, of course, World War III began in 1994, but it has not yet reached its (f)allout climax with Iran more obviously attacking its main enemy the West-India. That is something Tehran has been preparing since 1986 when it revived its nuclear program and with massive support from Beijing. China supplied Iran either directly or through North Korea, because China wants Iran and the Jihad to continue to weaken three of China's rivals, the West-India-Russia. [
LEFIGARO]
But right now Kouchner is attempting to say his remarks a week ago, on the world should prepare for the worst, war with Iran, were perhaps misinterpreted. The linked article-interview is from the established French daily Le Figaro, which reflect the views and concerns of the French establishment. Bernard Kouchner was interviewed by Alain Barluet and Renaud Giraud, here is a brief excerpt of Kouchner's response to the question should the French government continue negotiations-dialogue with Tehran, "We do not oppose dialogue with the Iranians-on the contrary. We have always maintained it. I myself have received Ali Larijani (Chairman of the Iranian Security Council in Chief of Iran's Foreign Policy and Defense) in Paris. I am due to meet with my Iranian counterpart in New York (Manouchehr Mottaki). Not a week goes by without my telephoning Mr. Larijani. We say to all those who misinterpreted words taken out of context that we are willing to persevere with the dialogue with the Iranians without fear of failure. No failure will make us abandon the necessary dialogue; a solution must be found. Above all, I do not want to attribute ulterior motives to Iran, though some observers believe that the agreement that Iran reached with the IAEA is a way of playing for time. All the world's experts are worried."
Tehran - Some of their very real reasons for worry were on display during the military parades of Iran's Sacred Defense Week now taking place in Tehran. The Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Joint Staff for Logistics and Industrial Research, Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naqdi stated every type of equipment whether, uniforms, mortars, armored vehicles, tanks, artillery have all been made by Iranian technicians and represent only 10% of Iran's weapons-industrial capacity. Naqdi was speaking at a press conference and when asked about Iran's weapons exports he replied, "No seller unveils his customers." It has been reported Iran has been exporting weapons to 60 countries. [IRNA]
Tehran - Iran uses its weapons exports to not only keep war going in various regional theatres but also as preparation for Tehran's entry into those wars and one of the new weapons, which will lead Iran's Sacred Offense is the new ballistic missile Ghadr (power) with a range of 900 miles (1,800 km) and can be launched more quickly than the Shahab-3, probably because the Ghadr has less range. Most articles have reported the Shahab-3's range as up to 1,250 miles. [ALJAZEERA]
Tehran - Naqdi also discussed the variety of drones and unmanned aircraft Iran's weapons industry now manufactures as well as speed boats with guided weapons, jet fighters and helicopters. He then added ominously Iran is not displaying all of its weapons for reasons of ambush-surprise attack. I suspect the general may be referring to the satellites Iran has been launching that could be equipped with laser. In 1996, Reuters mentioned Iran was involved in laser research. In 1987, U. S. Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger mentioned laser can be used to set cities on fire and the Soviet Union was testing it somewhere in the Middle East, he did not say where so I assumed Afghanistan. It was before Moscow's withdraw and a lot can happen in Afghanistan with it not being reported. A few years later when the Soviet Union broke up the news mentioned Russian scientists were going south in search of employment. [IRNA]
Kolkata - One of the main joint operations target of the Iran-China Axis, India, is strengthening its defenses in India's northeast province of Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China and Burma. China invaded India here in 1962 October, with the fighting extending into November and south into Assam state towards the Bay of Bengal. China did so well India had to fire its Defense Minister. The territorial dispute is still active because in November last year China's Ambassador to India, stated Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory and in December China-Pakistan held joint maneuvers just west of Kashmir. However, today Indian Chief of Army Staff General J J Singh stated, "Indian Army is fully prepared to defend its borders along China. I can assure you that a 1962 like situation will not be repeated. We are fully prepared to defend ourselves." Singh was speaking in Fort Williams Army Eastern Command Headquarters in Kolkata. The Indian government is constructing road infrastructure that will improve not only the areas defenses but also improve troop movement. Sino-Indian maneuvers are scheduled for next month but I suspect Beijing will use them in an attempt to lure India into a false sense of security. [IRNA]
Tiananmen - The Central Government in Beijing wants demonstrations opposed to the government to give 20 days advance notice. Fourteen thousand rallies and "large scale mass activities" are held every year in China involving 300 million people, a quarter of the population. The 14,000 are the ones the government tries to approve of but even some of those can become hostile to any local authority representing Beijing. Xinhua quoted an anonymous official with the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, "With large numbers of participants, large scale mass activities present more security problems and high risks." But the problem for Beijing is so many demonstrations are spontaneous it is impossible to control all of them. [XINHUA]
Kosovska Mitrovica - AP reports rare cooperation between police in the Serbia's Kosovo province and authorities in Belgrade resulted in the arrest of a Kosovo Albanian weapons dealer with connections to Islamic Jihad groups. The vast majority of Albanians in Kosovo, though they are Muslim they are secular and know extremist groups can be a threat to anyone. International weapons dealing was the element Germany and the European Union (EU) in Brussels ignored when they led the recognition of Yugoslavia's division and perhaps assumed the crisis could be resolved through a series of diplomatic conferences. [SERBIANNA]
Night Watch Information Service
www.crossfirewar.com
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