日々の感想

ゴーンさん関連の報道を見ていると、レバノン人的な行動パターン満載で、わたくし的には笑える。

ブラジル人として紹介され、付け足し情報としてレバノン出身と書かれることが多いが、彼の英語はポルトガル語なまりではなく、明らかなアラビア語なまり。そもそもグスン家（ローマ字通りに読む）は、レバノン本国で銀行を持っており（銀行員ではなく銀行家）、地べたを這いつくばるような貧困にあえぎ、命からがらブラジルに逃げた社会階層ではない。

彼の奥さんも基本人脈もレバノン人だし、どう解釈したってブラジル人ではなく、レバノン人でしょう。

それで、サウジの金持ちに投融資の話を持ちかけたり、持ちかけられたり、損失を日産のカネで補填したり、家族や出身地に日産のカネをばらまいたり。Saint Joseph大学は歴史ある良い大学だけれども、ここに1億円もの寄付？ほかにも、レバノンの社会福祉が日産から持ち出したカネで支えられてきたとか、ほんと、笑っちゃう。

お気の毒なのは日産の従業員の皆さん。司法取引制度を利用したから、日本人経営陣の責任追及はゆるくするんでしょ。この怒りをどこにぶつけますか？

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ゴーン被告の姉に１４年間で８千万円、「寄付」利用し資金還流　日産内部調査
産経新聞
1/15(火) 20:31配信
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190115-00000610-san-bus_all

　カルロス・ゴーン被告（６４）らの不正に関する日産自動車の内部調査の一部が１５日、判明した。ゴーン被告の姉と実体のないアドバイザー契約を結んでいた問題では、日産が１４年間で計７５万５千ドル（約８２３０万円）を支出。このほか、高級住宅の取得・改修費やヨットクラブの会費、大学への寄付など、私的な目的で使うさまざまな費用を日産に負担させていたという。日産はゴーン被告らに損害賠償を請求する方針だ。

　関係者によると、ゴーン被告の姉に関しては、２００３年３月に日産側から「『グローバル寄付諮問委員会』の委員に任命する」という内容のメールが送られた後、毎年、数万ドルが支払われていた。姉は「ミスター・ゴーンによろしくお伝えください」などと、ゴーン被告との血縁関係に言及せずに日産側とメールのやり取りをしていたという。関係者は「日産にこうした委員会は存在しない」と指摘している。日産は既に姉をブラジルの裁判所に提訴する手続きに入った。

　報酬には住宅費が含まれているにもかかわらず、ゴーン被告や家族が暮らす高級住宅を秘密裏に取得する枠組みが、関連会社を利用してつくられていたことも判明。東京都内の高級マンションの家賃は月１３６万円。レバノン・ベイルートの邸宅は９５０万ドルで取得し、７２０万ドル以上で改築しており、合わせて１８億円を超える支出だ。ゴーン被告の妻がシャンデリアの修繕費用６万５千ユーロ（約８０６万円）の請求書を日産宛てに送ることを連絡したメールも残っていた。

　また、ブラジルのヨットクラブの会費としては、６万３千ドルを支払うように法律事務所を通して求めていた。

　このほか、日産は正規の手続きを踏まず、ゴーン被告が育ったレバノンのセント・ジョセフ大学に１１〜１５年、計１００万ドルを寄付。現地事業は極めて小規模なほか、寄付の事実は公表されず、会社へのメリットは考えられない状況だ。この寄付により、大学の建物に「カルロス・ゴーン　スペース」と名付けた場所がつくられる構想もあったという。他の大学にも１０万ドル単位の寄付をしていた。

　一方、日産の西川（さいかわ）広人社長（６５）は、１５日付仏経済紙レゼコーのインタビューで、日産と連合を組む仏自動車大手ルノーの取締役会は、ゴーン被告の逮捕、起訴の内容を把握すれば、日産と同じく会長解任を決めるだろうと述べた。

こういうのを「貧すれば鈍する」と言う。関連記事

トランプほどの金持ちだったら、お抱えのシェフなり民間の高級ケータリング・サービスを使って、きちんとした食事を提供することなど簡単にできたでしょうに。警備のフィルターを通す時間がなかったか？

大金持ち兼大統領が、国の英雄を招待する席に、一般の米国人が普段食べている数百円のバーガー類を用意し、Great American Food.とか言ってのける。恥ずかしくないのかな？いつまでもAmerica Firstやってろ。

スミソニアン博物館も閉鎖されているとか。給与不払いが長引くと、貴重な収蔵品が次々とマーケットに出回るようになるかもしれませんよ。

米国メキシコ国境に彼が建てたいと考えているコンクリート壁は、イスラエルが最初に建設し、治安国防上の効果が非常に高かったので、世界中の政府関係者から注目された。しかし、イスラエルは壁建設に1円だって拠出していない。全額を米国政府が国庫から負担した。米国人の生活水準を下げて、遠いイスラエルに壁を建設した。今度、メキシコ国境に壁を作るからといって、イスラエル政府なり大金持ちのユダヤ人が寄付を出すという話は、どこにもない。あのケチな民族集団が1円だって出すものですか。

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White House Welcomes College Football Champions With Fast-Food Buffet
Daniel Victor
Jan. 15, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/trump-burgers-fast-food.html

As is tradition, President Trump hosted the champions of college football, the Clemson Tigers, for a celebration of their athletic achievement at the White House on Monday.

The food he offered them was far less traditional.

Piles of burgers and fish sandwiches from McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King, still in their boxes and wrappers, were served on trays in the candlelit dining room. Tubs of dipping sauces were stacked in silver gravy boats. On another table, heat lamps kept French fries and Domino’s pizzas warm. Salads were available, too.

It was an opulent setting for fast-food fare. Visiting players are typically offered a meal from the White House kitchen, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, said the government shutdown necessitated a new menu.

“Because the Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security, much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed — so the president is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone’s favorite fast foods,” she said.

The substitution didn’t seem to bother Mr. Trump, and perhaps even delighted him.

“I like it all,” he told reporters before the players arrived. “It’s all good stuff. Great American food.”

Mr. Trump has long professed a love for fast food. He values its efficiency and consistency, and as a self-professed “germaphobe,” has said uniform health standards make him more confident in its cleanliness. He used to eat it several times per week.

He’s far from alone in loving fast food. About one-third of American adults eat fast food on any given day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, the sight of the fast-food cartons inside the stately White House dining room struck some observers on social media as incongruous — or lacking in hospitality for a celebration. (No players looked particularly dissatisfied as cameras rolled.)

It also promoted cuisine that nutritionists warn is high in calories, fat and sodium, and that increases the risk of cardiovascular and other diseases.

Such events, ostensibly a tribute to championship teams, are unavoidably political. Mr. Trump abruptly disinvited the N.F.L. champion Philadelphia Eagles last year after most of the players and coaches said they would boycott the visit. The Golden State Warriors declined to visit after winning the N.B.A. championship last year.

With reporters gathered before the players arrived, on a day he stayed inside the White House, Mr. Trump was eager to drive the discussion back to the weekslong government shutdown. After showing off the food spread, he pivoted to making his case for Republican unity and the need for the border wall.

“It should have happened 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and it’s going to happen now, it’s going to happen now,” he said.

Without missing a beat, he continued: “Thank you very much, everybody. Enjoy your food.”

エルドアンが2018年12月にベネズエラ訪問。ベネズエラ側の担当大臣がトルコを訪問。この担当者の名前がモロにシリア南部だなぁと思ってWikiで調べたら案の定、ドゥルーズだった。政治的には代々イラク・バアス党のベネズエラ幹部。本人は警察・治安畑で、最近では経済分野もまとめて大統領から任されている事実上のナンバー2。

中南米にはレバシリ移民が非常に多く、政治家にも散見され、別に珍しいことでも何でもないが、ベネズエラには石油産業の労働者として特に集まった経緯がある。

シリア戦の間は、シリアに原油タンカーを送り続けるなど米国の制裁に頑迷に抵抗していたが、さもありなんという背景があった。

従来米国陣営であったトルコが、反米ベネズエラの資金繰りを直接的に支援するという意味で、この記事は興味深い。もちろん米国は怒っている。ちなみにトルコは、イランによる金を使った資金決済の場になっている。

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Venezuela And Turkey Unite To Refine Tons Of Gold Amid US Sanctions
Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/15/2019 - 14:15

Authored by Ragip Soylu via Middle East Eye,

Venezuela and Turkey are working on a deal to ship tonnes of gold to refine and certify in the Turkish city of Corum this year.

Facing sanctions and international pressure, Venezuela is increasingly turning to Turkey as a partner in the Middle East. Ankara will provide a host of services to Caracas, including building hospital and schools and providing humanitarian aid as a part of the gold refining deal.

Venezuelan Minister of Industries and National Production Tareck El Aissami will finalise a deal on the gold trade during a visit to Turkey on Wednesday. He will also tour an industrial complex in Corum, where Ahlatci Metal company has a refinery with an annual capacity of 365 tonnes, according to a spokesperson from the Turkish precious metals company.

Aissami is visiting Turkey amid US sanctions against Venezuelan gold imports, which are further debilitating the country's failing economy that is in need of fresh capital. Aissami himself is targeted by a set of sanctions by the European Union and the US due to allegations of corruption and drug trafficking.

The new deal has been in the making since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Venezuela in December. Erdogan had personally introduced businessman Ahmet Ahlatci to president Nicolas Maduro as a likely candidate to refine the gold.
Venezuelan gold

Mehmet Ozkan, a former Turkish official who worked on bilateral relations with Venezuela until last year, said that Caracas has been exporting its gold to Turkey for safekeeping since the beginning of last year.

But now, Ozkan added, the main objective was to refine the raw metal and create a capital inflow to Venezuela, likely in the form of services because of US sanctions that prohibit financial institutions from dealing with Venezuela in dollars.

Turkish statistics indicate that Turkey imported $900m in gold - about 23.6 tonnes - from Venezuela in the first nine months of 2018.

Ozkan, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Global Policy, said gold is replacing oil as Venezuela's chief source of income.

"They have significant problems in producing and refining the oil," he said of Venezuela.

"Most of the oil income also has been automatically deducted by the international parties for Venezuelan debt overseas. Naturally gold came forward as a good choice," Ozkan said.

Venezuelan gold, however, has been suffering from controversies, including environmental concerns and allegations of involvement of organised crime in the industry.

And with recent US sanctions that criminalise gold imports from the country, the industry is expected to dwindle. It remains to be seen whether or not Venezuela will be able to continue to export more than 20 tonnes of gold in 2019.

However, Turkey maintains close contacts with Caracas, and last week Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay attended the official inauguration of Maduro for his second term as president.
Diplomacy and sanctions

A Turkish source with knowledge of Turkish-Venezuela relations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ties were based on mutual disdain of the West and some form of economic opportunity.

Ankara may also play a role as mediator for regional politics in South America, the source added.

For example, the source said, Colombia and Venezuela, who endure tense relations that hit rock bottom last year with threats of military clashes, have secretly tried to explore turning to Ankara as an arbiter to conduct reconciliation talks.

Ozkan says Turkey’s relations with Venezuela will probably deepen the problems between Ankara and Washington, adding to the strain of ties between the NATO allies because of disagreements over US sanctions on Iran.

At an event in Washington last year, Marshall Billingslea, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the US Treasury Department, accused the Turkish government of skirting international sanctions by purchasing tonnes of Venezuelan gold.

自分で認めたら駄目でしょってやつ。ま、知ってたけどね（爆）。

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Israel's Top Commander Finally Spills Secrets Of "Invisible War" In Syria
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/14/2019 - 21:25

For years Israel denied allegations that it had a role in funding and weaponizing the anti-Assad insurgency in Syria, and more often military officials responded "no comment" even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of Israeli weapons documented in al-Qaeda linked insurgents' hands, but this all changed in a new British Sunday Times interview with outgoing Israeli army commander Gadi Eisenkot, who has finally confirmed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) supplied weapons to rebels across the border "for self-defense," and further perhaps more stunningly, has admitted to long waging an "invisible war in Syria" that involved "thousands of attacks".

The interview constitutes the first time that any current top Israeli military or government official has fully acknowledged sending anything beyond "humanitarian supplies," such as medical aid to Syrian militants seeking to topple the Assad government; and yet it still appears the country's military chief is slow playing the confirmation, only acknowledging the IDF provided "light weapons" — even after years of reporting has definitively uncovered an expansive Israeli program to arm dozens of insurgent groups and pay their salaries, including known affiliates of al-Qaeda in Syria.

This comes after the Syrian government has for years accused Israel of partnering with the west and gulf countries, such as the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey of funding and weaponizing an al-Qaeda/ISIS insurgency as part of covert regime change operations aimed at Damascus and its allies Iran and Hezbollah. Since then, countries like Qatar have come forward to reveal just how vast their covert role in fueling the Syrian war really was, which we covered in our story, In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War.

The Sunday Times relates a key confession that comes out of Lt.-Gen Gadi Eisenkot's explosive interview as follows:

Eisenkot acknowledged for the first time, however, that Israel had supplied rebel groups in the border area with light weapons “for self-defence”.

Israel was a hidden player on a crowded Syrian battlefield.

Eisenkot positively boasted in the interview that “We operated in an area controlled by the Russians, sometimes attacking targets a kilometre or two from Russian positions,” in order to strike at Iranian assets in Syria.

The rare "confession" of sorts comes at a moment the White House says it's moving forward on President Trump's previously announced US troop pullout from Syria, something which has rattled Israel's leadership, which has argued that Iran will become entrenched near Israel's border as a result. Eisenkot's words appear a warning to Iran that Tel Aviv aims to maintain operational capability inside Syria.

On this point the IDF chief admitted to "thousands" of attacks inside Syria:

“We carried out thousands of attacks [in recent years] without taking responsibility and without asking for credit,” he told the Sunday Times.

Given that prior military officials have typically put this number at "hundreds", often from 200 to 400, this is an astounding admission that confirms Israel and Syria have been in a de facto state of open war since the first acknowledged Israeli airstrikes began in 2013.

Commenting on a prior report, The Times of Israel, summarized the timeline of Israel's support to the anti-Assad insurgency as follows:

Foreign Policy said that Israel’s support for the rebel groups began in 2013, funding groups in places such as Quneitra and Daraa. It ended this summer as the regime’s forces advanced and made increasing gains in southern Syria against rebels. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops regained control of the border area in July.

The Syrian army said in 2013 that it had seized Israeli weapons in rebel hands.

The report said Israel sent the rebel groups weapons that included assault rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers, and vehicles. It initially sent the rebels US-made M16 rifles that would not identify Jerusalem as the source, and later began supplying guns and ammo from an Iranian shipment to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that Israel captured in 2009, according to Foreign Policy.

But a number of analysts have suggested Israeli support to the opposition began even closer to the start of the conflict.

A prior Wall Street Journal investigation found that this relationship involved weapons transfers, salary payments to anti-Assad fighters, and treatment of wounded jihadists in Israeli hospitals, the latter which was widely promoted in photo ops picturing Netanyahu himself greeting militants. As even former Acting Director of the CIA Michael Morell once directly told the Israeli public, Israel's "dangerous game" in Syria consists in getting in bed with al-Qaeda in order to fight Shia Iran.
Prior widely shared photo of Israeli soldiers speaking face to face with al-Qaeda fighters near the Israeli occupied Golan heights in Syria.

In recent years, multiple current and former Israeli defense officials have gone so far as to say that ISIS is ultimately preferable to Iran and Assad. For example, former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren in 2014 surprised the audience at Colorado's Aspen Ideas Festival when he said in comments related to ISIS that, "the lesser evil is the Sunnis over the Shias." Oren, while articulating Israeli defense policy, fully acknowledged he thought ISIS was "the lesser evil."

Likewise, for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials the chief concern was never the black clad death cult which filmed itself beheading Americans and burning people alive, but the possibility of, in the words of Henry Kissinger, "a Shia and pro-Iran territorial belt reaching from Tehran to Beirut" and establishment of "an Iranian radical empire."

What is clear, and now finally settled for the historical record, is that for years Israeli concealed its "hidden hand" in the proxy war while feigning merely "humanitarian aid" — something now fully admitted by Israel's top military commander. In other words the humanitarian smokescreen was cover for a full-on covert war on Damascus, as we and many other independent outlets have reported many times, and for years. Yet another past "conspiracy theory" becomes today's incontrovertible fact.

シリア戦が、企画担当者が意図しない方向で収まりつつあり、その結果、戦争を仕掛けた側の同盟関係が破綻し始めている。トルコが厄介者扱いに格下げされ、大国トルコに対抗する必要上、湾岸アラブ諸国がシリアに擦り寄りつつある。しかし、そんなことでシリアがイランとの同盟関係を切るわけがない。

戦前は、シリア領空の一部に、シリア空軍が活動できない飛行禁止空域を設置しようとしていた。今はシリア領空にイスラエル空軍機が入ることができない飛行禁止空域がロシアによって設定されている。しかも、ロシアはシリアに対し、イスラエル国内のいかなる目標も正確に爆撃できる精密誘導ミサイルを供与した（関連記事）。シリア戦後の政治的枠組みを作るのは米国ではなくロシアであり、そのロシアを怒らせる原因を作ったのはイスラエルだから、ぐうの音も出ない。

先にトランプ米国大統領が突然、シリアからの米軍撤退を発表したあと、イスラエルのネタンヤフ首相は再考を要請したが、トランプは「米国はイスラエルに対し年45億ドルの援助を供与しており、それで十分」と無感情に返答。ネタンヤフは、顔面にビンタを食らわされた気持ち（爆）。

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Entering A Major Regional Reset: The Syria Outcome Will Haunt Those Who Started This War
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/14/2019 - 23:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-14/entering-major-regional-reset-syria-outcome-will-haunt-those-who-started-war

Authored by Alastair Crooked via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The Middle East is metamorphosing. New fault-lines are emerging, yet Trump’s foreign policy ‘hawks’ still try to stage ‘old movies’ in a new ‘theatre’.

The ‘old movie’ is for the US to ‘stand up’ Sunni, Arab states, and lead them towards confronting ‘bad actor’ Iran. ‘Team Bolton’ is reverting back to the old 1996 Clean Break script – as if nothing has changed. State Department officials have been briefing that Secretary Pompeo’s address in Cairo on Thursday was “slated to tell his audience (although he may not name the former president), that Obama misled the people of the Middle East about the true source of terrorism, including what contributed to the rise of the Islamic State. Pompeo will insist that Iran, a country Obama tried to engage, is the real terrorist culprit. The speech’s drafts also have Pompeo suggesting that Iran could learn from the Saudis about human rights, and the rule of law.”

Well, at least that speech should raise a chuckle around the region. In practice however, the regional fault-line has moved on: It is no longer so much Iran. GCC States have a new agenda, and are now far more concerned to contain Turkey, and to put a halt to Turkish influence spreading throughout the Levant. GCC states fear that President Erdogan, given the emotional and psychological wave of antipathy unleashed by the Khashoggi murder, may be mobilising newly re-energised Muslim Brotherhood, Gulf networks. The aim being to leverage present Gulf economic woes, and the general hollowing out of any broader GCC ‘vision’, in order to undercut the rigid Gulf ‘Arab system’ (tribal monarchy). The Brotherhood favours a soft Islamist reform of the Gulf monarchies – along lines, such as that once advocated by Jamal Khashoggi .

Turkey’s leadership in any case is convinced that it was the UAE (MbZ specifically) that was the author behind the Kurdish buffer being constructed, and mini-state ‘plot’ against Turkey – in conjunction with Israel and the US. Understandably, Gulf states now fear possible Turkish retribution for their weaponising of Kurdish aspirations in this way.

And Turkey is seen (by GCC States) as already working in close co-ordination with fellow Muslim Brotherhood patron and GCC member, Qatar, to divide the collapsing Council. This prefigures a new round to the MB versus Saudi Wahhabism spat for the soul of Sunni Islam.

GGC states therefore, are hoping to stand-up a ‘front’ to balance Turkey in the Levant. And to this end, they are trying to recruit President Assad back into the Arab fold (which is to say, into the Arab League), and to have him act, jointly with them, as an Arab counter to Turkey.

The point here is obvious: President Assad is closely allied to Iran – and so is Moscow and Turkey. To be fashionably Iranophobic – as Pompeo might wish the GCC to be – simply would spoil the GCC’s anti-Turkey ‘play’. Syria indeed may be (justly) skeptical of Turkey’s actions and intent in Syria, but from President Assad’s perspective, Iran and Russia are absolutely crucial to the managing of an erratic Turkey. Turkey does represent an existential Syrian concern. And trying to lever President Assad – or Lebanon or Turkey – away from Iran, would be absurd. It won’t happen. And the GCC states have enough nous to understand this now (after their stinging defeat in Syria). The Gulf anti-Iranian stance has had ‘the burner’ turned sharply down, (except when their need is to stroke US feathers).

They can see clearly that the Master of Ceremonies in the Levant – putting together the new regional ‘order’ – is not Mr Bolton, but Moscow, with Tehran (and occasionally Ankara), playing their equal part ‘from behind the curtain’.

Presumably, America’s intelligence services know, (and Gulf states certainly are aware), that in any case, Iranian forces are almost all gone from Syria (though of course Syria’s ‘Iranian connection’ remains as firm, as ever) – even as Pompeo and Israel say the precisely the opposite: that they are pushing-back hard at the ‘threatening’ Iranian military ‘footprint’ in Syria. Few in the region will believe it.

The second notable emerging regional fault line then, evidently is the one that is opening between Turkey and the US and Israel. Turkey ‘gets it’: Erdogan ‘gets it’ very clearly: that Washington now deeply distrusts him, suspects that Turkey is accelerating into Moscow and Beijing’s orbit, and that DC would be happy to see him gone – and a more NATO-friendly leader installed in his stead.

And it must be clear to Washington too ‘why’ Turkey would be heading ‘East’. Erdogan precisely needs Russia and Iran to act as MCs to moderate his difficult relations with Damascus for the future. Erdogan needs Russia and Iran even more, to broker a suitable political solution to the Kurds in Syria. He needs China too, to support his economy.

And Erdogan is fully aware that Israel (more than Gulf States) still hankers after the old Ben Gurion ideal of an ethnic Kurdish state – allied with Israel, and sitting atop major oil resources – to be inserted at the very pivot to south-west and central Asia: And at Turkey’s vulnerable underbelly.

The Israeli’s articulated their support for a Kurdish state quite plainly at the time of Barzani’s failed independence initiative in Iraq. But Erdogan simply, unmistakably, has said to this ‘never’ (to Bolton, this week). Nonetheless, Ankara still needs Russian and Iranian collaboration to allow Bolton to ‘climb down his tree’ of a Kurdish mini-state in Syria. He needs Russia to broker a Syrian-led buffer, vice an American-Kurdish tourniquet, strapped around his southern border.

It is unlikely however, that despite the real threat that America’s arming of the Kurds poses to Turkey, that Erdogan really wants to invade Syria – though he threatens it – and though John Bolton’s ‘conditions’ may end by leaving Turkey no option, but to do it. Since, for sure, Erdogan understands that a messy Turkish invasion of Syria would send the delicately balanced Turkish Lire into free-fall.

Still … Turkey, Syria, Iran and Russia now all want America gone from Syria. And for a moment, it seemed it might proceed smoothly after Trump had acquiesced to Erdogan’s arguments, during their celebrated telephone call. But then – Senator Lindsay Graham demurred (against the backdrop of massed howls of anguish issuing from the Beltway foreign policy think-tanks). Bolton did the walk-back, by making US withdrawal from Syria contingent on conditions (ones seemingly designed not to be met) and not tied any specific timeline. President Erdogan was not amused.

It should be obvious now that we are entering a major regional re-set: The US is leaving Syria. Bolton’s attempted withdrawal-reversal has been rebuffed. And the US, in any event, forfeited the confidence of the Kurds in consequence to the original Trump statement. The Kurds now are orientated toward Damascus and Russia is mediating a settlement.

It may take a while, but the US is going. Kurdish forces (other than those linked with the PKK) are likely to be assimilated into the Syrian army, and the ‘buffer’ will not be directed against Turkey, but will be a mix of Syrian army and Kurdish elements – under Syrian command – but whose overall conduct towards Turkey will be invigilated by Russia. And the Syrian army will, in due time, clear Idlib from a resurgent al-Qaida (HTS).

The Arab states are returning to their embassies in Damascus – partly out of fear that the whipsaw of American policy, its radical polarisation, and its proclivity to be wholly or partially ‘walked-back’ by the Deep State – might leave the Gulf unexpectedly ‘orphaned’ at any time. In effect, the GCC states are ‘hedging’ against this risk by trying to reconnect a bifurcated Arab sphere, and to give it a new ‘purpose’ and credibility – as a balance against Turkey, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood (Syria’s old nemesis).

And yet – there remains still another layer to this calculus, as described by veteran Middle East journalist, Elijah Magnier:

“Indeed the Levant is returning to the centre of Middle East and world attention in a stronger position than in 2011. Syria has advanced precision missiles that can hit any building in Israel. Assad also has an air defence system he would have never dreamed of before 2011 – thanks to Israel’s continuous violation of its airspace, and its defiance of Russian authority. Hezbollah has constructed bases for its long and medium range precision missiles in the mountains and has created a bond with Syria that it could never have established – if not for the war. Iran has established a strategic brotherhood with Syria, thanks to its role in defeating the regime change plan.

NATO’s support for the growth of ISIS has created a bond between Syria and Iraq that no Muslim or Baathist link could ever have created: Iraq has a “carte blanche” to bomb ISIS locations in Syria without the consent of the Syrian leadership, and the Iraqi security forces can walk into Syria anytime they see fit to fight ISIS. The anti-Israel axis has never been stronger than it is today. That is the result of 2011-2018 war imposed on Syria”.

Yes. This is the third of the newly emergent fault-lines: that of Israel on the one hand, and the emerging reality in the Syrian north, on the other – a shadow that has returned to haunt the original instigators of the ‘war’ to undermine Syria. PM Netanyahu since has put all the Israeli eggs into the Trump family ‘basket’. It was Netanyahu’s relationship with Trump which was presented in Israel as being the true ‘Deal of the Century’ (and not the Palestinian one). Yet when Bibi complained forcefully about US withdrawal from Syria (leaving Syria vulnerable, Netanyahu asserts, to an Iranian insertion of smart missiles), Trump nonchalantly replied that the US gives Israel $ 4.5 billion per year – “You’ll be all right”, Trump riposted.

It was seen in Israel as an extraordinary slap to the PM’s face. But Israelis cannot avoid, but to acknowledge, some responsibility for creating precisely the circumstances of which they now loudly complain.

Bottom line: Things have not gone according to plan: America is not shaping the new Levantine ‘order’ – Moscow is. And Israel’s continual, blatant disregard of Russia’s own interests in the Levant, firstly infuriated, and finally has provoked the Russian high command into declaring the northern Middle East a putative no-fly zone for Israel. This represents a major strategic reversal for Netanyahu (and the US).

And finally, it is this repeating pattern of statements being made by the US President on foreign policy that are then almost casually contradicted, or ‘conditioned’, by some or other part of the US bureaucracy, that poses to the region (and beyond) the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. The pattern clearly is one of an isolated President, with officials emptying his statements of executive authority (until subsequently endorsed, or denied, by the US bureaucracy). It is making Trump almost irrelevant (in terms of the setting of foreign policy).

Is this then a stealth process – knowingly contrived – incrementally to remove Trump from power? A hollowing out of his Presidential prerogatives (leaving him only as a disruptive Twitterer) – achieved, without all the disruption and mess, of formally removing him from office? We shall see.

And what next? Well, as Simon Henderson observes, no one is sure – everyone is left wondering:

“What’s up with Secretary Pompeo’s extended tour of the Middle East? The short answer is that he is trying to sell/explain President Trump’s “we are leaving Syria” policy to America’s friends … Amman, Jordan; Cairo, Egypt; Manama, Bahrain; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE); Doha, Qatar; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Muscat, Oman; Kuwait City, Kuwait. Wow, even with his own jet and no immigration hassles, that’s an exhausting itinerary … The fact that there now are eight stops in eight days, probably reflects the amount of explaining that needs to be done.”

中国にある米国大使館の面積が10エーカーであるのに対し、バグダードの米国大使館は104エーカー（単純計算で648.7メートル四方相当）と世界最大の面積を誇る。この大使館と米国本国との間に資機材の搬送があるのは自然なことである。ところが在バグダード米国大使館は、欧州、南北アメリカ、アフリカ、アジアの各国に大量の物資を輸出しているのである。その一端がWikileaksによって暴かれた。一体何を輸出しているのか。

フィンランドのMalmi空港に物流各社が持っている倉庫に並び、米国大使館が巨大な倉庫を持っており、米国旗の腕に付けたフィンランド兵が警備している。イラクから届いた何千キロもの貨物がここに一時保管されている。記者が警備兵に質問したら、当惑していた。・・・

（中略）

シリアで活動するアル・カーイダ、IS系武装組織が保有していることが確認されている武器に付けられているシリアル番号（365）が、米国が欧州同盟国経由でイラクに提供された武器と非常に近い番号（286）であった。365と286は1つの塊の提供物であったと推察される。・・・

・・・などなど。

---

The Secret Logistics of America’s Global Deep State
Eric ZUESSE | 10.01.2019
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/01/10/secret-logistics-of-america-global-deep-state.html

Why is America’s Baghdad Embassy the world’s largest embassy — and the largest by far?

"It's as if the US Embassy is there not only to protect American interests, but to manage the entire world from the heart of the capital, Baghdad.”

— Iraqi Sheikh Qassim Al Ta’ee, as quoted on 27 December 2011 in Al Iraq News and translated by Ibrahim Zaidan from the original Arabic by Nicholas Dagher

Zaidan’s article went on to say:

The world's largest embassy is situated in the Green Zone and fortified by three walls, another barrier of concrete slabs, followed by barbed wire fences and a wall of sandbags. It covers an area of 104 acres, six times larger than UN headquarters in New York and ten times larger than the new embassy Washington is building in Beijing – which is just 10 acres.

[Editor's' Note: The ten-acre US Embassy in Beijing is the second largest overseas construction project in the history of the Department of State — and the 104-acre US Embassy in Iraq is the largest.]

So, America's largest diplomatic mission is surrounded by high concrete walls, is painted in black, brown and grey and is completely isolated from its environment. … The United States announced several months ago that between diplomats and employees, its embassy would include 16,000 people after the pullout of US forces.

On January 1st, Will Sillitoe headlined at the Helsinki Times, "What does the US embassy in Baghdad export to Finland and dozens of other countries?” and he reported that:

More than a million kilograms of cargo were shipped from Baghdad to different parts of the world, reveals US embassies procurement documents.

Mysterious cargo shipments from the US Embassy in Baghdad to other American embassies and consulates around the world have been revealed on a Wikileaks' database. Procurement orders of US embassies are public documents, but Wikileaks put them in a searchable database making it easier to analyse.

The database displaying worldwide US embassy orders of goods and services reveals Baghdad as a postal and shipping centre for tonnes of freight.

Though military freight might be expected between the US and Iraq, records show that embassies across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa are all receiving deliveries from Baghdad too.

According to Wikileaks' database, orders to ship more than 540 tonnes of cargo to the US were made in May 2018. The same document shows other main delivery destinations included 120 tonnes of freight to Europe, and 24 tonnes to South Africa, South America and Central Africa respectively. …

On December 29th, Sillitoe had headlined "Guarded warehouse near airport and mysterious cargos from Baghdad; what is the US embassy in Helsinki up to?” and he opened:

Why does the US Embassy in Helsinki need a big warehouse near Malmi Airport and what are the contents of thousands of kilograms of cargo sent to Helsinki from Baghdad?

A dilapidated warehouse in Malmi is being used by the US Embassy for unknown operations after a Wikileaks release revealed its location.

The anonymous looking building on Takoraudantie is notable only for the new 427 meter perimeter fence that according to the Wikileaks' database was ordered by the US Embassy in April 2018.

Situated across the street from the main entrance of Malmi Airport, the warehouse with its 3 meter high security fence appears an unlikely location for official embassy business. Neighbouring companies include a car yard and a tyre warehouse.

Helsinki Times visited the perimeters this weekend. Security personnel, young Finns in uniforms with American flags on their arms, appeared nervous and suspicious when asked to comment on the warehouse. ...

Sillitoe closed that article by saying: “The searchable Wikileaks database and info about Finland related activities can be found HERE.”

That link leads to a “US Embassy Shopping List” of 24 separate documents, one of which is "RFP 191Z1018R0002 Mission Iraq Shipping Transportation Services”, dated “5/17/18."

Item 2 there is “Packing of unaccompanied air baggage (UAB) – Throughout Iraq – US Embassy Baghdad, Baghdad International Zone, US Consulate General in Basrah, US Consulate General in Erbil, US Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, US Erbil Diplomatic Support Center (Note: under the specified unit of measure the US Government contemplates ‘per kilogram’ of gross weight in kilograms)”

The “Quantity Estimated” is “100,000” and the “Unit of Measure” is “kilogram.”

Item 7 is “Storage Services – Monthly Storage of containers – Throughout Iraq – US Embassy Baghdad, Baghdad International Zone, US Consulate General in Basrah, US Consulate General in Erbil, US Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, US Erbil Diplomatic Support Center.”

The “Quantity Estimated” is “100” and the “Unit of Measure” is “40’ Container.”

Item “Section B.5 Sub-CLIN:84E” is “From Republic of Iraq to Western European Countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City, Nicosia)”

The “Quantity Estimated” is “5,000” and the “Unit of Measure” is “kilogram.”

Item “Section B.5 Sub -CLIN:84 F” is “From Republic of Iraq to Eastern European Countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Kosovo)”

The “Quantity Estimated” is “5,000” and the “Unit of Measure” is “kilogram.”

By far the biggest categories for shipments are to the eastern US states: “From Republic of Iraq to the Unites [sp.] States Eastern Time-Zone – the following States: VT, ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NJ, DE, MD, DC, NY, PA, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, WV, MI, OH, IN, KY, GA”

（長文にて、以下省略）

韓国レーダー照射問題　20年前の外交の失敗が遠因　〜日本海の波高し〜その1
Japan In-depth
1/9(水) 17:55配信
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20190109-00010000-jindepth-int

【まとめ】

・レーダー照射を日本への中朝韓連携の揺さぶりとして考えると辻褄が合う。
・日本のEEZ内だが、治外法権状態が許された暫定水域で発生。
・これが20年前の金大中氏の「未来志向的な関係の発展」の帰結。

【注：この記事には複数の写真が含まれています。サイトによっては全て表示されないことがあります。その場合はJapan In-depthのサイトhttps://japan-indepth.jp/?p=43622でお読みください。】
韓国レーダー照射問題　20年前の外交の失敗が遠因　〜日本海の波高し〜その1

大和堆と暫定水域の位置関係
韓国海軍の最新鋭駆逐艦「広開土大王」が2018年12月20日

海上自衛隊のP1哨戒機に対して敵対的な火器管制レーダーを照射したとされる問題は、互いに「自国が被害者」とする日韓の言い分が噛み合わず、紛糾している。

実務レベルでうやむやな形に落とし込んで解決する兆しも見られるが、日本側からこの事件を見た場合、この問題の全体像をつかむには大きく分けて次の3つの背景を理解する必要がある。

1．事件が起こった大和堆（やまとたい）の排他的経済水域（EEZ）の地位が最終確定できない原因である竹島領有権問題と、韓国を信頼して日本EEZ内に日韓共同管理海域を設けた20年前の失敗。

2．日本のEEZ内であるはずの大和堆海域における韓国海洋警察や韓国海軍の「主権実力行使」の増加による、将来的かつ継続的な日韓衝突の可能性。

3．この事件や慰安婦問題、徴用工賠償命令、竹島問題など一連の韓国側の挑発で日本の世論が冷静を失って嫌韓論や断交論が高まることで、韓国が日米韓同盟を放棄する大義が立ち、中国を宗主国と仰ぐ北朝鮮主導の半島統一が達成しやすくなり、日本の目前である玄界灘に統一朝鮮との軍事境界線が迫る危険性。

これらは相互に密接に関連した事象である。以上を踏まえると、レーダー照射問題を「日本に対する中朝韓連携の揺さぶりの一環」として考えると、多くの点で辻褄が合うのだ。連載3回にわたり、背景と解決策に迫る。


■　日本EEZに韓国海警と海軍がいたわけ

ここで、一般メディアであまり考察されない基本的事実から考えてみよう。防衛省の発表によれば、神奈川県の海上自衛隊厚木基地所属のP1哨戒機が12月20日午後3時ごろ、「石川県の能登半島沖にある我が国のEEZ内の大和堆上空」で韓国海軍の「広開土大王」から危険な火器管制レーダーの照射を受けた。

一方、韓国の国防部はレーダー照射を否定し、逆に海自機が威嚇的な飛行を行ったと主張、事件が「竹島から100キロメートルの韓日EEZ中間水域」で起こったとしている。日韓両国とも、事件現場の正確な緯度経度は発表していない。そこには、日韓のEEZが、数百キロメートル南西に位置する竹島の領有権争いのために広大な部分で重複し、現在に至るまで最終的に定まっていないという事情がある。

まず、日本政府はなぜ「能登半島沖のEEZ内の大和堆」などという、あいまいな表現を使うのか。水深が浅く、イカやズワイガニの絶好の漁場である大和堆の大部分は、韓国が竹島領有を認められたとしても基点から200海里（約370km）以遠の、純粋に争いのない日本のEEZ内にある。（ごく一部は竹島領有を根拠に韓国がEEZを一方的に設定し、日本のEEZと重複する区域内にある）。

今回の事件では

韓国政府が「事件は韓国のEEZ内で発生した」とは一言も主張しておらず、「竹島から100キロメートル」地点（その海域は大和堆には含まれず、かつ韓国の主張する韓国EEZ内であるため、故意の誤りだろう）だとしている。

このことから、事件海域が法的地位に争いのない、日本のEEZ内であったことが示唆されている。ではなぜ、日本のEEZ内でありながら現場に「救助を待つ」北朝鮮漁船と、「救助中」の韓国海警、さらには韓国の軍艦までが航海していたのか。

それは、当該海域が、（1）韓国漁船に操業が許可され、（2）韓国海警が自国漁船への主権行使行為である取り締まりを行えるという、一種の治外法権状態が許された、いわゆる「暫定（ざんてい）水域」であるからだ。

日韓両政府が、暫定海域で日本側が被る不条理や不平等性について、それぞれの事情で日韓国民に知らせたくないため、両国のメディアの報道だけでは全体像がつかめないのである。


■　現実化した20年前の懸念

なぜ純粋に日本のEEZである海域で、そのような変則的な国際漁業秩序が生まれたのか。そこには安易な政治的妥協で、韓国の漁船操業と海警による主権行使を認めてしまった、日本版の「太陽政策」の失敗が隠れている。

さらに、その妥協の背景にある日韓漁業問題は、1952年1月18日に「大韓民国隣接海洋の主権に対する大統領の宣言」により一方的に設定した韓国と周辺国との間の水域区分と資源と主権の保護のために引いた海洋境界線「李承晩ライン」をめぐる争いに端を発し、今日に至るまで常に係争がある歴史的な因縁に根差している。

こうした不正常な事態を、金大中元大統領が1998年10月に国賓として来日して、「21世紀に向けた新たな日韓パートナーシップ」の構築を打ち出す前に急いで解決しようと、当時の小渕恵三政権が日本の漁業関係者に意見も求めず、勝手に暫定水域の設定で「解決」したことが、今回の事件の遠因である。

歴史的な日韓漁業問題で日本に人的・物的損害を与え続けていた韓国を信頼し、資源豊かな大和堆の45%の区域の排他的権利を事実上、半分分け与えたために、韓国が日本の排他的EEZを自国の排他的EEZのように看做すようになった。事実、韓国漁船は日本EEZ内でほぼ自由に操業して乱獲を行い、韓国海洋警察だけでなく韓国海軍までがわがもの顔で主権を行使するようになった。


係争中の竹島を暫定水域に組み込んだこの合意は、不平等な取引であった。

韓国側が竹島について「妥協」をして（そもそも竹島は日本領なので、実は言いがかり）、日本漁船の操業を「許可」した暫定水域では、日本側が事実上締め出されている。

日本は「名」を取って実を失い、絶好の漁場である大和堆や新隠岐堆での漁業と日本EEZにおける自国船への主権行使を獲得した韓国は「実」を取った形だ。そうした日本外交の大失敗によるさらなる問題の悪化に蓋をするため、現在の安倍晋三政権は事件現場の位置を正確に国民に知らせず、「能登半島沖のEEZ内の大和堆」などと呼んで、ごまかしているのだ。


■　問題先送りの「知恵」がもたらす危機

暫定水域設定の事後承認のような形で行われた1998年11月の国会審議では、日本海を漁場とする船団を抱える地元県の与野党の議員らから政府批判が相次いだ。

福井県の故・辻一彦元衆議院議員（民主党）は、「金大中韓国大統領が訪日されるということで、非常に慌ただしく合意をした。（中略）国内漁業者の意見を十分聞くことなしに妥結をした、交渉をやった。（中略）譲り過ぎである。（中略）もっと時間をかけてやれば暫定水域をあれだけ拡大しなくても済むのではないか、こういう感じが非常に強くする」と指摘した。


そして辻氏は、核心に斬り込んでゆく。

「竹島という、領土問題を避けるための両国の絞った知恵であったと思いますが、暫定水域を大和堆まで拡大して取り込む必要がなぜあったのか」。

これに対して交渉責任者の高村正彦外務大臣は、真実の答弁を行った。

「日本側として、これの必要性があったわけではもちろんないわけであります」。

南北朝鮮の和合という「太陽政策」を掲げ、北朝鮮の金正日朝鮮労働党中央委員会総書記に5億ドルという大金を貢ぎ、現在の北朝鮮核武装の礎を築いた金大中大統領への妥協や暫定水域という「おみやげ」はまったく必要なかった。

それは「知恵」ではなく、金大中氏とその直系の弟子である故・盧武鉉元韓国大統領や文在寅現韓国大統領に脈々と受け継がれる、北朝鮮との統一および覇権国家中国との冊封関係の復活を側面から支援し、日本に軍事的・政治的な厄災をもたし続ける「危機の種」を蒔いた決断であったのだ。

事実、暫定水域では日本が韓国漁船の漁獲量の規制を行えず乱獲が横行し、韓国ばかりでなく北朝鮮漁船までそれに加わり、それを「保護」「救助」する韓国海警や韓国海軍など南北の「半島勢力」の海賊的な活動が活発化する一方だ。

そうした文脈において、韓国軍による自衛隊への軍事的敵対行為は起こるべくして起こった。これが、20年前に金大中氏が唱えた「未来志向的な関係の発展」の帰結である。

連載2回目の次回は、暫定水域における南北「半島勢力」の活動の軍事化・政治化の実態に迫る。

（その2に続く。全3回）

岩田太郎（在米ジャーナリスト）

トランプのシリア撤退発言で同盟各国に発生した衝撃を和らげるため、撤退時期を遅らせるだの、クルドに役割を持たせるだの、トランプの取り巻きやイスラエルのネタンヤフ等が自分勝手かつ思いつきのアイデアを何とかトランプに採用させようと四苦八苦している。そのような中、クルドに対する軍政支援を表明したボルトンに、トルコのエルドアン大統領が激怒した。

トルコに対してクルド支援、特に軍事支援を提案してはいけないことなど、1〜2年勉強しただけの学部学生でも思いつきそうな話である。はっきり言ってしまうと、そんな低レベルの話を外交レベルで提案する米国は「真性の馬鹿」なんじゃないかと。

ソ連、ロシアがアサド父子を大統領に選んだときの思考回路は、なるほど物事はそのように考えるのかと感服したものだ。

全体としての整合性のなさと、国別、民族別の事情、登場人物の個性を理解しない思いつきの構想を自信を持って打ち上げる米国人の脳みその程度を見ると、米国の中東研究よりロシアの中東研究のほうが優れているのではないかと思えてくる。過去数十年を振り返るだけでも、そのような局面がいくつかあった。

米国メキシコ国境に壁を作るには、シリアから撤退しなければ予算が浮かない。トランプ発言のように、シリアから即時撤退するから予算が浮くのだ。「即時撤退」がキーワードになっている。「いつか撤退」では駄目なのだ。イスラエルその他の要望を受け入れてシリアから撤退しないのであれば、何か他の予算をまとめて削るしかない。するとそちらの分野で激しい反発が発生する。米国の軍事技術は世界一だから最強とまとめて安心している人が多いが、世界一の技術も予算が付かなければ動かすことができず、従って持っていないのと同じという物事の側面に、そろそろ着目したほうがいいのかもしれない。

随分混乱してますが、米国陣営は大丈夫なんでしょうか？日本の朝鮮半島政策を米国に委ねて、本当に大丈夫なんでしょうか？既にシンガポールで1回騙されている。関連記事

そうそう、ボルトン発言は彼がイスラエル訪問中に口を滑らし、報道を通じてエルドアンの耳に入った。ボルトンがトルコ訪問前には何も語らず、エルドアンとの直接会談で初めて提案し、エルドアンから激しく怒られたら、記者会見や、ボルトン出国時の空港での扱いがどうなっていただろうかと、つい想像してしまった。エルドアンの個性からしたら、テレビカメラの前で随分とえげつない仕打ちを見せつけていただろうと思う。

（追記）
ほらね、トランプが早速、カリフォルニア森林火災復興への連邦予算執行停止を命じた。シリア撤退を遅らせる、あるいは中止することのしわ寄せが、カリフォルニアに向かった。国内の大災害を放置してまで、海外で戦争を続けるかという話だ。米国のウォール街やIT産業等は大儲けしているが、それは民間部門の話。米国政府は大赤字を抱えていて「カネがない」状態。カネがない米国政府は、「貧すれば鈍する」の無様な醜態をさらすだけ。

Trump threatens to end FEMA aid for California fires, says state needs to ‘get its act together’
https://www.rt.com/usa/448413-trump-fema-california-fires/
（追記終了）

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Bolton made a ‘serious mistake,’ Ankara won't ‘swallow’ his comments on Syria's Kurds – Erdogan
Published time: 8 Jan, 2019 11:19
https://www.rt.com/news/448293-erdogan-bolton-kurds-mistake/

US National Security adviser John Bolton has made a “huge mistake” naming Ankara's security guarantees for Kurds a precondition for US pullout from Syria, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

The Turkish leader unleashed a bitter verbal attack on Bolton while speaking before the country's ruling party parliamentary group on Tuesday.

“It is not possible for us to accept and swallow Bolton's statements made in Israel,” Erdogan said. “Bolton is making a huge mistake, his statement is unacceptable.”

Erdogan's remarks referred to the US National Security Adviser's statement made on Monday. Bolton revealed that the US President Donald Trump told him he would not “not allow Turkey to kill the Kurds.”

“We don't think the Turks ought to undertake military action that's not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States, at a minimum, so they don't endanger our troops but also so that they meet the president's requirement that the Syrian opposition forces that have fought with us are not endangered,” he said.

The Turkish leader, on his part, stated that Ankara seeks only to kill “terrorists,” while actually protecting its “Kurdish brothers” in the neighboring country.

“Those, who spread the lie that Turkey is killing Kurds in Syria, are trying to manipulate the international community's opinion,” Erdogan stressed.

Ankara regards Syria's Kurdish-led militia – People's Protection Units (YPG) – as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The party's militants have been waging an insurgency in Turkey's southeast since the 1980s. Their prolonged fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) – supported by the US-led coalition – was actually a “huge lie,” Erdogan claimed, vowing to launch a genuine operation against “terrorists” in Syria in the near future.

昨日も、フランスのパリでYellow Vests黄色いベストのデモがあり、ニュース映像を見ていたら、Macron, dictateur!とおばちゃんが叫んでいた。評価は第三者がするもの。警官隊は、デモ隊に容赦なく催涙弾を撃ち込んでいた。

2011年当時のシリア情勢を思い起こすと、フランスも国際監視の下で憲法を改正して大統領権限を大幅制限し、言語、宗教、民族ごとに地方分権を進め、民主的な大統領選挙、国政選挙を実施する必要があるのではありませんか？（爆）

フランスの政治家は、ドイツを除く他のEU加盟国を見下した発言を平気でする連中だが、マクロンは、今後EUの各種会合にどの面下げて出席し、どんな発言をするつもりなのか。彼に恥の概念があるのかどうかが明らかになる。

新しいところでは、Yellow Vests運動がイギリスに飛び火し、ロンドン中心部のトラファルガー広場にも出現したとか。もっともこちらは数が少なく、すぐ取り押さえられたとのこと。でも来週以降はどうなるかわからない。世の中に腹が立つことは沢山ある。どちら様もがんばって。関連記事

介護保険は箸の上げ下ろしまで政府が指図する構図なので、高い施設も安い施設も提供できるサービスは同じで、そんなに違いはない。玄関ホールに大理石を張っている高級施設もあるが、ジジババに大理石は必要ない。大理石の床で転倒するとすぐ骨折するので、危ないと思う。賃貸マンション経営と同じで、満室ならばという前提で、介護報酬の範囲で経営可能なはずである。入居一時金が経営者の懐に入っていることは、最初からわかっている。

よく「介護は介護のプロに任せて」（あなたは仕事に専念しなさい）という言われたりするが、実際に入れてみると、資格なし、（福祉の）学歴なし、研修なしで現場に配置されている介護士を散見する。専門学校の研修生なのか何なのか、指先にコテコテのネールアートをしていて、これでは指先が気になって、おむつ交換や配膳、入浴の作業ができないよね、アンタ！という人が平気で通路の真ん中を歩いていたりする。宣伝文句は立派だが、介護を任せる人が介護のプロではなかったりするのがこの業界。

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入居一時金を運転資金に流用　老人ホーム運営会社
産経2018/12/23(日) 19:47配信
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20181223-00000547-san-soci

　首都圏で有料老人ホームを運営する「未来設計」（東京）が入居者から預かった「入居一時金」を運転資金などに流用していたことが２３日、複数の関係者への取材で分かった。入居一時金は会計上、独立した管理が求められるが、流用は常態化、入居者遺族らへの一時金返還が滞っている。同社側を今年買収した企業側は流用などで粉飾決算が行われ、未来設計の創業者に不当に高額な報酬が払われたとし、創業者らに損害賠償を求める民事訴訟を起こした。

　入居一時金は居住期間を想定して預かり、年度ごとに分割して収益に計上。想定より早い退去時に残りを返還する。未来設計の持ち株会社を同業の「創生事業団」（福岡市）が７月に買収した後、過去の入居一時金流用が発覚した。

　創生事業団側の調査によると、未来設計創業者の女性（７０）の指示で平成２７年９月ごろから、１人当たり２４０万〜１千万円の入居一時金を分割せず全額を売上高に計上し、運転資金などに流用。赤字経営が黒字に見せかけられ、３年間で創業者に未来設計や持ち株会社から約８億８５００万円の報酬が払われた。

　正しく会計処理していれば入居一時金は今年４月末時点で約３８億５千万円あるはずだったが、帳簿上は約１２億１千万円だった。流用は続き、未来設計は８月末時点で約２９億円の債務超過に陥り、入居者遺族らへの返還が滞っている。

　創業者は取材に「一部施設の一時金を新施設設立などの費用に使った。税理士に相談し、退去時に返還すれば法的な問題はないという認識だった」などと説明。報酬に関しては「正当な報酬」と主張した。

　創生事業団側は今月、創業者に役員報酬が不当に支払われたなどとして、創業者ら前経営陣に約２１億円の支払いを求める民事訴訟を東京地裁に提訴。粉飾決算に基づき買収契約を結ばされたとして警視庁に告訴状を提出している。

　■入居一時金の返還遅延相次ぐ

　首都圏で有料老人ホーム３７施設を展開し、約２千人の入居者を抱える「未来設計」で女性創業者ら前経営陣のもと入居一時金の流用が繰り返された。未来設計によると、この影響で入居一時金返還の遅れは９月ごろから「月に４０〜５０件規模で発生している」という。

　「粉飾決算がある」。未来設計関係者などによると、「創生事業団」による持ち株会社買収で創業者が経営から退いた後、未来設計の財務部長が申告し問題が発覚した。

　入居一時金だけでなく、介護報酬なども売上に前倒し計上。赤字経営にもかかわらず、黒字に見せかける粉飾決算が行われた。未来設計関係者は「黒字経営を装い金融機関から融資を引き出し、創業者への高額報酬を確保することが目的だった」と証言する。

　創業者は取材に、入居一時金流用について「会社運営上必要な処理だった」と主張。返還遅れに関しては「現経営陣の運営の仕方に問題がある」と反論した。

　資金繰り悪化の影響で介護報酬が入る口座の一部が取引先銀行によって凍結されるなどしており、未来設計側は入居者の遺族に入居一時金返還の猶予を要請。前経営陣を相手に損害賠償を求める訴訟を起こしているが、資金繰り改善のメドは立っていないという。

既視感のある文章だな〜と感じていたら、論の進め方が、1982年のイスラエルによるレバノン侵攻が失敗に終わったときにイスラエル軍がまとめた報告書にそっくりだということを思い出した。

最初はもっともらしく聞こえる理由を並べて開戦したが、やっているうちに予想外の事態が次々に発生し、そのうち収拾が付かなくなり、最後は、政治の下に位置づけられる軍は、政治から出た命令を忠実に実行し、目的を確実に達成し、全員無事帰還しましたと、まるで手柄を立てたみたいな自画自賛の内容だった。

1つの報告書の冒頭では、IDFに課せられた達成目標がレバノン国まるごと支配と壮大だったが、末尾になると、政治が定めた攻撃目標1つを確実に爆破するというだけに矮小化された点に何の説明もないのは納得がいかないし、全体として作戦は失敗だったのに、反省の弁は一言も述べられていなかった。

「中東において米国の信頼が失墜」の部分には、私も同意できる（苦笑）。

文末のThe Arab masssesは、The Israeli plotと置き換えた方がよろしいのでは？と思った（爆）。残念だったね、シリアが宗派別の小国に分裂しなくて。ユダヤだけで固まって安心するのは、世界でお前たちだけだよ。ずっとゲットーに閉じこもっていたらどう？

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The rehabilitation of mass murderer Bashar Assad

As the Arab upheaval’s worst war winds down, the rehabilitation process of the century’s most prolific mass murderer is under way.

By Amotz Asa-El
December 20, 2018
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-rehabilitation-of-Bashar-Asad-centurys-most-prolific-mass-murderer-574973

Eight years after he torched himself to death, the social wounds Muhammad Bouazizi exposed in his last words remain raw, festering and bare, but the political inferno he sparked has been reduced to whispering ambers.

“How do you want me to make a living?” – the Tunisian street vendor’s question after a cop confiscated the scale atop his pushcart – is what multitudes of other desperate Arabs later asked, as they climbed gilded Europe’s unwelcoming shores.

It was an exodus from an Arab world beset by the economic stagnation, social alienation and political bankruptcy that caused multiple regime collapses and wholesale fratricide, displacement and, in Yemen, also famine.

Now, as the Arab upheaval’s worst war winds down, the rehabilitation process of the century’s most prolific mass murderer is under way.

As Arab governments’ political retreat and America’s military departure help legitimize Bashar Assad’s rule, it is clear that the Arab underclass, whose plight was so tragically voiced by Bouazizi and scores of others who followed his morbid example, has lost the war.

ASSAD’s REHABILITATION has a long way to go.

The Arab League’s suspension of Syria in November 2011 has yet to be overturned, Syrian diplomats expelled from most Arab capitals have yet to be readmitted, and Arab ambassadors recalled from Damascus have yet to return.

Syria’s suspension from the Arab League was backed in its time by 18 Arab countries and opposed only by the four in which Iran is influential – namely, Lebanon, Yemen, and of course Syria, all of which voted against, and also Iraq, which abstained.

The Arab pressure on Assad was redoubled by non-Arab Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who demanded in May 2013 that Assad resign, calling him “butcher” and “murderer” and vowing in front of a crowd outside Ankara that Assad would pay “a very heavy price for showing courage against babies in cradles.”

Erdogan’s stance was shared in Europe. British prime minister David Cameron, speaking to The Sun in October 2015, condemned Russia for “backing the butcher Assad,” and French president François Hollande told the UN in September 2015 that refugees flocking to Europe were “fleeing the regime of Bashar Assad,” and that “Assad is the origin of this problem, and cannot be part of the solution.”

All this was before Assad’s many detractors had reason to assume he anyhow won’t last.

Now, having not only lasted but indeed outlasted both Cameron and Hollande and, in fact, appearing poised to outlast their successors as well, everyone’s position on Assad has changed.

TURKEY HAS backtracked from its original demand, in tandem with its retreat from its broader hope to reprogram Syria by installing in Damascus a Sunni fundamentalist regime. Having given up on such a heart transplant, Turkey is now focusing on amputating Syria’s Kurdish limb.

The Arab world is also backtracking.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s arrival this week in Damascus signaled the end of the Syrian government’s diplomatic siege, breached already in November 2016 when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Portuguese TV he backed “national armies,” including Syria’s. Asked whether this applied also to the regime behind that army, Sisi replied unambiguously “yes.”

It follows, that what happened at the UN two month ago, when Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and his Bahraini peer, Khalid bin Ahmad al-Khalifa, embraced and kissed in diplomatic limelight, was no coincidence.

Assad, the man who condemned to death more Arabs than anyone else in recorded history, is being rehabilitated by the governments of the Arab world.

Fittingly carried by another marshal of genocide, Sudan’s, the message to Assad this week was reportedly that Arab League members want relations with Syria renewed, which makes sense, considering that the Arab Parliament – a pan-Arab forum established in 2001 – called last week on the Arab League to reinstate the Arab country whose government has repeatedly gassed its Arab citizens.

This is, of course, besides the fact that the European demand that Assad go has given way to a typically aloof “demand” that he stand for a free election.

In short, as this week began, it was already clear that little was left of what for several years seemed like an Arab-led, international siege on Bashar Assad and his regime.

Now, as the week closes with an American decision to quit Syria, the Syrian people is fully abandoned to the devices of Assad, Vladimir Putin and Ali Khamenei. Assad will be wise to avoid doing this, but he might as well embark on his victory lap tonight.

ASSAD’S EVOLVING rehabilitation calls for three conclusions.

The first is that for Egypt, which quietly triggered this creeping reacceptance, confronting Sunni fundamentalism is more important than anything else.

As Sisi sees things, Assad’s downfall would mean victory not for freedom, but for the Islamists who dominated the charge on Assad’s regime. Sisi was right in suspecting this, and he was right in assessing that such a victory would have fueled Egypt’s own restive Islamists.

The second conclusion is that, from the viewpoint of every regime in the Middle East, the US this week emerged as an unreliable patron. Washington’s looming abandonment of Syria’s Kurds to the fury that Turkey and Syria have in store for them will be compared in capitals throughout the region with Russia’s loyalty to Assad, and its willingness to take risks for him, even when he seemed on the brink of collapse.

Thirdly, and most tragically, Assad’s return to legitimacy and Washington’s departure from Syria underscore the futility of what began as a pan-Arab social revolt, and is now ending with the ancien régime’s successful counterrevolution.

The Arab masses have lost. The cause that in its first moments was civic was quickly hijacked by fundamentalism and then altogether devoured by tribalism.

Lacking focus, leadership and resources, the Arab underclasses now emerge from eight years of violence as destitute, undereducated and powerless as they were when Bouazizi kindled the fire that toppled four presidents and sparked multiple civil wars, before all returned back to square one.

www.MiddleIsrael.net

米軍が急に撤退を決め、早くも実際に撤収し始め、呆然としているクルドに対し、米国が痛撃の一言を放った（笑）。いいように使われた挙げ句、都合が悪くなったら、ごみのようにポイと捨てられた。当人たちからしたら、何たる屈辱だろうか。

怒り狂うトルコを前に、さすがの米国も後ずさりせざるを得なくなった。
関連記事

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US support for SDF not long-term: US Syria envoy
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-support-for-sdf-not-long-term-us-syria-envoy-139798

Turkey seeks to cut PKK’s Syria-Iraq link before hitting east of Syria
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/serkan-demirtas/turkey-seeks-to-cut-pkks-syria-iraq-link-before-hitting-east-of-syria-139736

米国がイスラエルを切り捨てようとしているのか、イスラエルが米国を切り捨てようとしているのか、解釈に悩む（笑）。それほどまでに米国の力が衰えているということ。

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Israel works to defuse US concerns over Chinese control of Haifa Port

Israeli officials confirmed that the government was reviewing how to ensure that Chinese construction and management of the port does not adversely impact ties with the US.

By Michael Wilner
December 20, 2018

https://www.jpost.com//Israel-News/Israel-works-to-defuse-US-concerns-over-Chinese-control-of-Haifa-Port-574936

WASHINGTON – The Israeli government is working to defuse any problems that may arise from a planned Chinese takeover of Haifa Port in 2021, an arrangement that has led the US Navy to reconsider its future port calls and exercises in Israel, senior officials told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

The officials were responding to an exclusive report in the Post on Sunday, according to which the US Navy may change its long-standing operations in Haifa once Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) – a company in which the Chinese government has a majority stake – takes over the civilian port there in 2021.

“The State of Israel is dealing with all aspects connected to the establishment and management of infrastructure by foreign companies in Israel,” Intelligence and Transportation Minister Israel Katz, who pioneered the project and is also a member of the security cabinet, told the Post.

Israeli officials confirmed that the government was reviewing how to ensure that Chinese construction and management of the port does not adversely impact ties with the US. The Americans are said to be concerned that China will use the port to improve its standing in the Middle East and potentially gather intelligence on US interests.

Commander Kyle Raines from the US Sixth Fleet told the Post last week that there were currently no changes to operations in Israel. But “I can’t speculate on what might or might not occur in 2021,” he added, when asked whether China’s coming presence might affect fleet operations in the Mediterranean city.

News of an interagency review in Israel comes amid a spike in tensions between Washington and Beijing, and growing discomfort within Israel over China’s creeping control over its critical infrastructure.

The Israeli security cabinet recently convened to discuss friction with the Trump administration over the port and agreed to set up a mechanism to prevent possible problems with the Americans. It remains unclear if that mechanism will be accepted by Washington.

The White House declined requests for comment on this report. But senior administration officials tell the Post that National Security Council personnel have registered their displeasure with their Israeli counterparts over the SIPG agreement, sealed in 2015.

Meanwhile, Israel’s cabinet is divided on how to proceed, and does not seem prepared to rattle relations with Beijing by scuttling the SIPG deal. One official said that Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry officials remain upset that the agreement was completed without first undergoing a thorough, whole-of-government review.

Israel understands American sensitivities regarding China’s presence, another official explained on condition of anonymity, but at the same time faces a challenge finding international companies with expertise in building and managing ports.

SIPG operates the largest port in the world in Shanghai and was the sole bidder for the Haifa project. It plans on growing the bay terminal into Israel’s largest harbor over the life of its 25-year contract with the government.

ホワイト・ヘルメットが、病院に担ぎ込まれた人、または死者から臓器を抜き取（り、海外に送）っている証拠とされるものが、国連の会議に提出された。

なんだか似たような情報が、過去にもありましたね。だいたいユダヤ人が絡んでいる。ニューヨークの病院で需要が大きいからでしょうね。よく知らないが。
関連記事、2、3、4、5、6、7

この違法臓器売買ネットワークの胴元が、ニューヨークのシリア系ユダヤ人が集まっている地区に住むアレッポ出身のラビであることが、上記ソースと同じ時期のNY現地紙で報道された。全部つながっているんですよ。

ちなみに、これがホワイト・ヘルメットの正体。

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White Helmets Engaged in Looting, Human Organ Trafficking in Syria - Watchdog
21.12.2018
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201812211070877298-un-syria-white-helmets-human-trafficking-plundering/

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Members of the organization White Helmets were engaged in the forced removal of human organs as well as theft and corruption in Syria, according to evidence presented at the United Nations by Foundation for the Study of Democracy Director Maxim Grigoriev on Thursday.

"People evacuated by the White Helmets often did not come back alive," Grigoriev said quoting a witness who lives in an area where the White Helmets operated. "For example, a person receives a minor injury, is rescued, evacuated and then brought back with their stomach cut open and with their internal organs missing."

Grigoriev noted that according to multiple witnesses, including members of the White Helmets, the organization was also involved in looting wounded individuals in Syria, especially women, as well as plundering stores and damaged buildings.

"Sometimes we came to help, entered a flat, and, if we found gold or jewelry, seized it," Grigoriev quoted a White Helmets member in Douma. "In one flat, there was a woman who felt ill, we came to help her, found some gold and stole it."

Members of the White Helmets in Saqba also reported about the extensive system of corruption and theft among sponsors in the organization. Referring to the information provided by a White Helmets member, Grigoriev said the leaders of the organization took for private gain parts of donations they received.

Moreover, the White Helmets constructed the fortifications for terrorists and illegal armed groups in Syria, the Foundation for the Study of Democracy revealed.

"There is overwhelming evidence which proves that the White Helmets centers were permanently engaged in building fortifications for battle positions for terrorist and illegal armed groups who had been supplying them with water and food and evacuating wounded terrorists from the front line," Grigoriev reported on Thursday on the research completed by the Foundation in Syria.

Grigoriev said that a White Helmets member in Douma told him the group constructed earthen mounds, dug trenches, transport fighters, weapons and ammunition for the fighters."

"For instance, we dug trenches in the towns of Mesraba and al-Shaifuniya and constructed an earthen mound," Grigoriev quoted the White Helmets member as saying.

The report on the activities of the White Helmets was prepared using information provided by more than 100 Syrian eyewitnesses, including members of the organization, Syrian Civil Defence, former fighters from illegal groups and terrorist groups, and people living in the areas controlled by terrorists where White Helmets conducted their activities.

The White Helmets, a non-governmental organization that operates in parts of rebel-controlled Syria and Turkey, claims to be a group of volunteer rescue workers.

Both Damascus and Moscow have accused the White Helmets of staging several provocations involving chemical weapons to influence public opinion and justify foreign intervention in Syria.

In August, US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Washington would continue to provide life-saving and needs-based humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Syrians and support for the White Helmets operating in Syria.

---

Organ theft, staged attacks: UN panel details White Helmets’ criminal activities, media yawns
Eva Bartlett
Published time: 25 Dec, 2018 16:42
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/447385-white-helmets-un-panel/

Iran Green-Lights Unlimited Influx of Money into Country
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201812201070870882-iran-money-banks/

経済制裁が効いている。かなり苦しいみたいです。税関で荷物検査しないそうです（苦笑）。

記事1本目：今後イスラエルがシリア領内を攻撃したら、シリア軍がイスラエル領内にある同等の対象を軍事攻撃する。ロシアがそのように指示しているという。例えばダマスカスの国際空港が攻撃されたら、シリア軍がイスラエルの国際空港に対し報復攻撃する。

その口実として、ロシア軍人をシリアの随所に配置しているので、イスラエル軍の（国際法違反の）攻撃によりロシア人が死傷するからという理由付けをしている。ロシア軍人を配置している場所には、イスラエルが「シリア国内のイラン軍基地」と称している箇所も含まれる。

米軍が戦闘員としての軍人ではなく軍事顧問を（国際法違反を承知で）シリア各地に駐在させただけで、その場所をシリア軍もロシア軍も攻撃しづらくなって今日に至る（その米国軍人をシリアから撤退させるというのが昨日のニュースである）わけだが、同じ理屈をロシアがイスラエルに押しつける形になっている。
（以上は12月15日付け記事）

（注：仮に以上が事実ならば、イスラエルを取り巻く軍事情勢の大前提が2018年末に崩壊したことになる。イスラエルは何をしても報復されないという前提が消失したのだから。また、シリアからの米軍撤収をトランプが決断する際に、大きな要因になった可能性がある。）

記事2本目：トランプ大統領の突然のシリア撤退決定を、イスラエルは17日に米国から通告を受けたとのこと。クルドは事前通告されなかったが、ユダヤは通告を受けた（笑）。

ネタニヤフ首相は、イスラエルはこれまでと変わらず自国を守ることができると強気の発言をしている。
（とはいえ、予想外の米軍撤退という事態を受け、政府部内が混乱している様子が文章から垣間見ることができる。）
（以上は12月19日付けロイター電）

記事3本目：ネタンヤフ首相は12月17日、IAIを視察し、「イスラエルから中東全域のいかなる目標物も攻撃することができる兵器を開発している」と発言。
（以上は12月17日付け記事）

（強気の発言を繰り返すことで、自分を鼓舞しているよう・・・。米軍に支援されない地域環境には、大きな不安を抱いているはず。シリア国内にいるイラン勢力を、米軍なしでどうやって叩くのか。イスラエルは中東のことなら何でも知っていて、何でもできると言う人がいるが、実のところ、イスラエル政府もイスラエル人もそんなに優秀ではなく、そこまでの能力は持っていない。ほんと、どうするんでしょうか？お手並み拝見です。）

（注：記事の日付と情報の日付が前後している。）

---

Russia Greenlights Retaliatory Syrian Attacks on Israeli Targets -- Report
Sat, Dec 15, 2018
https://russia-insider.com/en/russia-greenlights-retaliatory-syrian-attacks-israeli-targets-report/ri25684

Elijah J Magnier has learned that should Israeli forces launch more missiles into Syria the latter will now, with Russian backing, lob back missiles of its own against comparable Israeli sites

Syria will adopt a new rule of engagement with Israel now that Russia has taken a tougher and clearer stance on the conflict between Israel and the “Axis of the Resistance”. Henceforth, Damascus will be responding to any Israeli strike. If it damages a specific military target it will reply with a strike against a similar objective in Israel. Decision makers in Damascus said “Syria will not hesitate to hit an Israeli airport if Damascus airport is targeted and hit by Israel. This will be with the consent of the Russian military based in the Levant”.

This Syrian political decision is based on a clear position taken by Russia in Syria following the downing of its aircrafton September 18 this year. In 2015 when the Russian military landed in Syria, it informed the parties concerned (i.e. Syria, Iran and Israel) that it had no intention to interfere in the conflict between them and Hezbollah and that it would not stand in the way of Tel Aviv’s planes bombing Hezbollah military convoys on their way to Lebanon or Iranian military warehouses not allocated to the war in Syria. This was a commitment to remain an onlooker if Israel hit Iranian military objectives or Hezbollah convoys transporting arms to Hezbollah from Syria to Lebanon, within Syrian territory. It also informed Israel that it would not accept any attacks on its allies (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and their allies) engaged in fighting ISIS, al-Qaeda and its allies.

Israel respected the will of Moscow until the beginning of 2018, when it started to attack Iranian bases and Syrian military warehouses, though it never attacked a Hezbollah military position. Israel justified its attack against the Iranian base, a military facility called T4, by claiming it had sent drones over Israel. Tel Aviv considered violation of its neighbours’ sovereignty as its exclusive prerogative. Damascus and Iran have responded with at least one confirmed shooting down of an Israeli F-16. Israel started to attack Syrian warehouses, mainly where Iranian missiles were stored. Iran has replaced every single destroyed warehouse with other more sophisticated precision missiles, capable of hitting any objective in Israel.

However, Russia’s neutrality towards Israel in the Levant turned out to be quite expensive. It has lost more than Iran, especially after the downing of its IL-20, and with it, 15 officers highly trained to use the most advanced communication and espionage systems.

Russia then brought to Syria its long-awaited advanced S-300 missiles and delivered them to the Syrian army while maintaining electronic coordination and radar command. The S-300 poses a danger to Israeli jets only if these violate Syrian airspace. Tel Aviv has kept its planes out of Syria since last September but launched long range missiles against a couple of targets.

For many months, the Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to receive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Only through real harassment by the latter did Putin finally accept to briefly meet with Netanyahu over lunch or around the dinner table during a large Summit or meeting of Heads of State, without however accepting any compromise or reconciliation. Russia has now taken a clear position and has no intention of extending its embrace or pardon to Israel. Russia felt that its generosity (by closing its eyes to Israel’s activities in Syria) was neither recognised nor sufficiently appreciated by Tel Aviv.

This week, Moscow agreed to receive an Israeli military delegation led by Major-General Aharon Haliva, following Israel’s insistence on breaking the ice between the two countries. However, Russia’s position is not expected to change in Syria and no Israeli bombing of Syrian or Iranian targets will be tolerated.

According to these sources, “Russia has informed Israel that there are Russian officers present at every Syrian or Iranian military base and that any strike against Syrian or Iranian objectives would hit Russian forces as well. Putin will not allow his soldiers and officers to be struck down by Israel’s direct or indirect bombing”.

Moreover, Russia has given Syria the green light – said the source- to strike Israel at any time if and when Tel Aviv’s planes launch raids against Syrian military targets or launch long-range missiles without flying over Syria (for fear of the S-300 and to avoid seeing its jets downed over Syria or Lebanon).

The source confirmed that Syria – contrary to what Israel claims – now has the most accurate missiles, which can hit any target inside Israel. The Syrian armed forces have received unrevealed long and medium-range missiles from Iran. These operate on the GLONASS system – the abbreviation for Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, the Russian version of the GPS. Thus, the delivery of Iran and the manufacture of missiles inside Syria (and Lebanon) is now complete. Israel, however, claims it has destroyed Syria’s missile capability, including that of the missiles delivered by Iran. According to the source, Damascus controls a very large number of precision missiles, notwithstanding those destroyed by Israel. “In Iran, the cheapest and most accessible items are the SABZI and the missiles”, said the source.

The new Syrian rule of engagement – according to the source – is now as follows: an airport will be hit if Israel hits an airport, and any attack on a barracks or command and control centre will result in an attack on similar target in Israel. It appears that the decision has been taken at the highest level and a clear “bank of objectives” has now been set in place.

The rules of engagement are changing and situation in the Levant theatre is becoming more dangerous; regional and international confrontations are still possible. The Middle East will not be quiet unless the Syrian war ends—a war in which the two superpowers, Europe, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have played essential roles. The final chapters have not yet been written.

---

Netanyahu: Israel able to defend itself despite U.S. withdrawal from Syria

“The American administration told me that the intention of the president is to take their troops out of Syria,” he said.
By Herb Keinon, Tovah Lazaroff, REUTERS

December 19, 2018
https://www.jpost.com//Israel-News/Netanyahu-We-will-protect-ourselves-after-US-leaves-Syria-574846

The withdrawal of US troops from Syria won’t impede Israel’s ability to defend itself against regional threats, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday night.

He spoke after the United States announced it has begun pulling out its military personnel from Syria. US officials added that Washington was considering removing all of its troops, as it winds up its campaign to retake territory once held by Islamic State.

Netanyahu said the US decision did not come as a surprise, and that he spoke about the matter with US President Donald Trump on Monday, and with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday.

“The American administration told me that the intention of the president is to take their troops out of Syria,” he said. “They made clear that they have other ways to make their influence felt in the area.”

This was obviously “an American decision,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel would study the timetable, see how the withdrawal will be carried out, and gauge “its ramifications on us.”

In any event, he added, “we will protect Israel’s security and defend ourselves from that front.”

One US official said Washington aims to withdraw troops within 60 to 100 days, and said the US State Department was evacuating all its personnel in Syria within 24 hours.

A second US official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US military was planning for a full withdrawal, but said the timing could be quicker than 60-100 days.

A decision to pull out completely would upend assumptions about a longer-term US military presence in Syria, which senior US officials have advocated to help ensure Islamic State cannot reemerge.

“We have started returning United States troops home, as we transition to the next phase of this campaign,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement issued after Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there.”

It was not immediately clear from Sanders’s statement whether all of the roughly 2,000 US troops in the country would leave, and if so, by when.
Sanders suggested that the United States would remain engaged to some degree.

“The United States and our allies stand ready to reengage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support,” she said.

A decision to pull out completely, if confirmed, would raise doubts about how to prevent a resurgence of the terrorist group, undercut US leverage in the region and undermine diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian civil war, now in its eighth year.

Some of Trump’s fellow Republicans opposed the move, stating that it would strengthen the hand of Russia and Iran, which both support Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In Israel, critics of the move similarly said that the move weakened the Trump administration’s ability to stand strong against Iran and removed one of the deterrents to an Iranian buildup in Syria.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former director-general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and head of the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence, said the move strengthens Iran in Syria.

If the US forces leave areas in southern Syria, “it would mean that the Assad forces and the Iranians will have full control over Syria, and this would mean that they may try to deliver weapons from Iran through Iraq to Syria and then to Lebanon, and there’s not going to be anything in between to stop them,” Kupperwasser said.


The Iranians will “be empowered and feel much stronger” by this move, and “it’s not totally clear that Islamic State cannot reemerge, taking advantage of the weakening of their adversaries in this area, and rise again.”

Former ambassador to the US Michael Oren (Kulanu) said Israel’s interest was always best served by “strong American leverage in the Middle East.”
He added that this was “an internal issue,” and he didn’t want to comment any further.

Former US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said that minimizing the US military footprint in the region “weakens the pressure campaign against Iran in a critical arena” and “leaves allies like Israel and the Kurds feeling left alone to manage the fallout.”

“It removes an important obstacle to Iran having an uninterrupted flow of weapons and personnel into Syria,” Shapiro said.

It also could weaken Arab support for the Trump peace plan, he said.
“If you are seeking the buy-in of Arab states like Saudi Arabia to a plan that would be controversial for them in terms of their domestic politics,” then they have to believe that the US would play a strong role in countering Iran.

Shapiro speculated that Trump may have taken the move to strengthen his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, turning to Syria after he was stymied in Europe.

Syria may be a venue where he sees an “opportunity to achieve a kind of meeting of the minds with Putin at what for him is relatively low cost, but it is a real win for Putin and a real negative development for other US allies in the region, Shapiro said.

Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, was slow to get involved in Syria’s civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced around half the country’s prewar 22 million population, fearing being dragged into another foreign war even as he sought to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan. But in a campaign to defeat Islamic State in Syria, Obama ordered air strikes from September 2014 and then troops into the country the following year.

Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham, often a Trump ally but generally a foreign policy hawk, said a withdrawal would have “devastating consequences” for the United States in the region and throughout the world.
“An American withdrawal at this time would be a big win for ISIS, Iran, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, and Russia,” Graham said in a statement.
A British defense minister said he strongly disagreed with Trump that Islamic State had been defeated in Syria.

In Russia, TASS news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying withdrawing US troops from Syria created prospects for a political settlement of the crisis there.

Many of the remaining US troops in Syria are special operations forces working closely with an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.

The partnership with the SDF over the past several years has led to the defeat of Islamic State in Syria, but has also outraged NATO ally Turkey, which views Kurdish YPG forces in the alliance as an extension of a separatist terrorist group fighting inside Turkey.

The deliberations on US troops come as Ankara threatens a new offensive in Syria. To date, US forces in Syria have been seen as a stabilizing factor in the country and have somewhat restrained Turkey’s actions against the SDF.

A complete withdrawal of US troops from Syria would leave a sizable US military presence in the region, including about 5,200 troops across the border in Iraq. Much of the US campaign in Syria has been waged by warplanes flying out of Qatar and other locations in the Middle East.
Still, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and State Department officials have long fretted about leaving Syria before a peace agreement can be reached to end the brutal civil war.

Islamic State is also widely expected to revert to guerrilla tactics, once it no longer holds territory. A US withdrawal could open Trump up to criticism, if Islamic State reemerges.

Trump has previously lambasted Obama for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq that preceded an unraveling of the Iraqi Armed Forces. Iraqi forces collapsed in the face of Islamic State’s advance into the country in 2014.

---

Netanyahu: Israeli Missiles Can Reach Entire Middle East
17.12.2018
https://sputniknews.com/amp/military/201812171070769674-netanyahu-israeli-missiles-middle-east/

“They develop offensive missiles here that can reach any place in the region and any target,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.

Speaking at the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries near Tel Aviv and standing in front of a display of weapons that he had just toured, Netanyahu explained, "This is an offensive force that belongs to the State of Israel and is relevant for all of our different fronts," according to a report by Jerusalem Post.

The prime minister, who is also Israel's defense minister following the November 14 resignation of Avigdor Lieberman, said, "There is a group of minds and people here who develop the best of the defenses needed for the State of Israel. This includes micro satellites that are fired into space and some missiles that you see here behind me. Space is a huge field that the State of Israel is entering."

The politician further discussed other defense matters, such as Israel's imminent sale of a dozen F-16C/D Barak fighter aircraft to Croatia, a deal that the US and Lockheed Martin have blocked as the three countries figures out what to do with intellectual property on the aircraft. Specifically, someone has to pony up some money to take certain systems off the F-18s before they can be delivered to Zagreb.

Some reports suggested the Trump administration was furious with the $500 million F-18 sale and blocked it on the grounds that Israel was profiting from US-made equipment that was paid for with US taxpayer funds.

Croatian Defense Minister Damir Krstičević denied reports that Washington had blocked the deal, Sputnik reported.

Netanyahu assured reporters that he had intervened in the F-18 sale to Croatia personally, saying, "This is ongoing between the countries, and I have dealt with this personally," adding that it remains "too early to say anything clear about this."

Sudanese President Arrives in Syria Aboard Russian Plane as Mailman of the Saudis（追加）
https://russia-insider.com/en/sudanese-president-arrives-syria-aboard-russian-plane-mailman-saudis/ri25723
数日前にスーダン大統領がシリアを訪問したが、ロシアの旅客機を使ったのだという。つまり、ロシアの外交成果。別に、UAEの大使館が2019年3月に再開するというニュースも流れていた。
関連記事（クウェート）

実はアサド大統領は、2011年11月25日、「最後にシリアに謝罪するのは彼ら（湾岸アラブ諸国）だ」と発言していた。最近伝えられているように、GCC諸国の在ダマスカス大使館が再開されれば、7年前のアサドの言葉が実現することになる。
関連記事、関連記事2

ロシアがシリアに改良型S-300を1基配備しただけで、米国・連合国側による空爆回数が激減。IS征伐は終わったという表現は、下手な言い訳に過ぎない。

トルコの南にクルド国ないしは自治国ができることを、トルコは絶対に許さないというエルドアンからの通告に、トランプが狼狽し、打つ手なしと決断したのではなかろうか。そういえば、懸案になっていたGulenギュレンを米国がトルコに引き渡すという記事が、昨日だったか流れていた。（ホワイトハウスは今日否定。）

今回の米軍撤退の決定について、クルドは事前通告・相談をされておらず、「背後から刺されたよう」と衝撃を表明。

実力はないのに気位だけは高いこの民族集団、またもや失敗してしまいましたね。大笑いです。もともとがシリアを構成する地元民でなく、あとから難民として流れ込んだ異分子で、人口比という観点でも確実に劣勢で、優位に立てる土地がない（＝選挙したら勝てない）のに、この先のシリア社会で、一体どの面（つら）下げて暮らしていくつもりでしょうか。日本の在日も、政治の流れが変わったときのことを覚悟したうえで、政治活動に従事すべきでしょう。

Trump says ‘we have defeated ISIS’ as US starts withdrawal from Syria
https://www.rt.com/usa/446863-complete-military-withdrawal-syria/

Mattis Disagrees With Trump on US Withdrawal From Syria - US Senator（追加）
https://sputniknews.com/us/201812201070874860-usa-syria-mattis-trump-troops-withdrawal/
米国防長官が、トランプ大統領の決定を承服できず、抗議の辞任。

・・・側近を騙すトランプの才能には、本当に恐れ入ります（笑）。

‘Russia wins’: Fury in Washington as Trump announces withdrawal from Syria
https://www.rt.com/usa/446895-usa-reactions-syria-withdrawal/

US Pulling Out its Troops From Syria is 'Stab in the Back' - Kurdish Coalition
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201812191070834735-kurds-us-troops-syria/

（参考）
ロシア・シリア陣営がクルド問題を利用してトルコを外側から操るという方向性の情報は、2011年から流れていた。ここで改めて引用する。

シリアには切り札がある　トルコ分割
https://hibikan.at.webry.info/201112/article_1.html
https://hibikan.at.webry.info/201112/article_2.html
ロシアが持つクルド・カード　対トルコ
https://hibikan.at.webry.info/201202/article_236.html?pc=on
（参考終了）

Berlin Slams Withdrawal of US Troops From Syria, Paris Stays to Fight Daesh（追加）
https://sputniknews.com/amp/europe/201812201070850832-daesh-not-wiped-out-syria/
ドイツは（いつものことながら）どうしていいかわからず狼狽。フランスは、シリア国内に設けた軍事基地を撤収しないと発言。

・・・そうだよね。72年前に追い出された土地にやっとこさ戻ってきたから、築いた足場を失いたくない。しかし先ほど、アレッポ東部Manbij郊外の基地から撤収したという情報が流れていた。フランス軍は他国で単独で軍事作戦を展開する能力を持っていないので、米軍が撤収したら、それに合わせざるを得ない。

（追加）
Macron Voices Deep Regret Over US Decision to Withdraw Troops From Syria
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201812231070948884-macron-france-syria-us-troops/
フランスはシリアに居座るという上記記事を、こちらの記事でフランス国防大臣が当該発言を確認することを拒否と報じた。常識的に考えて、フランス政府部内も大混乱でしょう。
（追加終了）

日本も末端の役割ながらシリア戦に荷担していたので、日本外務省の担当部局は上へ下への大混乱だと思う。その光景が目に浮かぶよう（笑）。北朝鮮問題でも先のシンガポール会談で日本は失敗している。予定していた2つのシナリオが崩壊したのだから、マジな話、外務省の予定はかなり崩れたはずです。トランプはこの次、日本を攻撃してくるかもしれません。

今後、対シリア外交はどうするんですか？プーチンから要請されるがままに、シリアに経済支援するんですか？なんだか、本当にそうしそうに思えるんですが。
関連記事、関連記事2、関連記事3

Turkey and Russia Push Towards a Resolution in Syria
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/12/19/turkey-and-russia-push-towards-resolution-in-syria.html
余裕のロシア。

America’s Technology and Sanctions War Will End, by Bifurcating the Global Economy
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/12/18/america-technology-sanctions-war-will-end-by-bifurcating-global-economy.html

シリアというちっぽけな国を相手にした米国のこの無様な外交を、日本の「有識者」はどのように解釈するのでしょうか。

シリアだけではない。米国は、中国のHuawei社製通信機器の排除を決め、日本は同調したが、ドイツは米国に従わないと公言。分裂しているのは米国陣営のほう。

フランスについては、マクロン大統領が多くの国民から嫌われ、「消え失せろ」と罵声を浴びせられている。大暴動に発展した。マクロンも、アサドより先に政界引退することになるのでしょうか？関連記事

「北朝鮮、金正男氏暗殺事件関連でベトナムに非公式謝罪」
中央日報日本語版
12/12(水) 7:51配信
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20181212-00000005-cnippou-kr

金正男（キム・ジョンナム）氏殺害容疑で起訴されたインドネシア人のシティ・アイシャ被告（左）とベトナム人のドアン・ティ・フオン被告（中央フォト）

北朝鮮が金正恩（キム・ジョンウン）国務委員長の異母兄・金正男（キム・ジョンナム）氏暗殺事件にベトナム国民を関与させたことについて謝罪したと１１日、ベトナム外交筋が明らかにした。

この外交筋はこの日、記者に対し「自国民を金正男氏暗殺に利用したことについてベトナムが北朝鮮に公式謝罪を要求し、両国関係が急激に悪化した。これに対し公式的ではなく非公式的に北朝鮮がベトナムに謝罪の意を伝えた」と説明した。

金正男氏は昨年２月、マレーシアのクアラルンプール国際空港で猛毒のＶＸガスを顔に塗られて殺害された。現在、マレーシアでベトナム人のドアン・ティ・フオン被告（３０）とインドネシア人のシティ・アイシャ被告（２６）が殺人罪で裁判を受けている。

マレーシア警察によると、２人にＶＸガスを渡して金正男氏の顔に塗るよう指示した主犯は北朝鮮国籍者のイ・ジェナム（５８）、イ・ジヒョン（３４）、ホン・ソンハク（３５）、オ・ジョンギル（５６）の４人。４人は事件当日にマレーシアを出国した。

このうちイ・ジヒョンはイ・ホン元駐ベトナム北朝鮮大使の息子だ。現地語を話すイ・ジヒョンが芸能人志望のフオン被告に接近して暗殺計画に引き込んだという。

自国に駐在した大使の息子がベトナム女性を暗殺事件に関与させたことが明らかになると、ベトナム政府は北朝鮮との外交関係断絶まで考慮するほど強硬な態度を見せた。外交官を除いた北朝鮮国籍者のビザ延長を拒否し、北朝鮮飲食店の賃貸契約も延長しなかった。

こうした外交的圧力に北朝鮮は謝罪をしたという。外交筋は「公式に謝罪すれば金正男氏暗殺を認めることになるため非公式にしたと理解している」と話した。最近、北朝鮮の李容浩（イ・ヨンホ）外相がベトナムを訪問したのは、北朝鮮の非公式謝罪後に両国関係を再び正常軌道に乗せるという狙いがあるということだ。

しかし非公式とはいえ謝罪は金正男氏暗殺事件に対する北朝鮮当局の責任を認めたと見なすことができる。大衆利用施設の空港で化学武器の一種のＶＸガスを使用したのはテロ行為といえる。今は米朝間の和解局面が形成されて金正男氏暗殺事件が水面下に沈んでいるが、情勢が変わればいつでも北朝鮮に責任を問う根拠となる。
これに関連し韓国外交部当局者は「ベトナムと北の関係に関する事案は確認することができない」と述べた。

ベネズエラがイギリスのイングランド銀行に預けている金の返還手続きを申し込んだら、逆に「手に入れた金で何をするのか」という質問状が来て、所有権がベネズエラにある金塊を取り戻せない事態が発生している。イングランド銀行は、ベネズエラ政府に所有権がある金を、マドゥロ大統領が私的目的で流用する危険性を疑っている、という無理な説明をしている。カネを何に使用するかは、イングランド銀行が関知する事ではない。

先にドイツが米国に預けていた金の回収作業をしたところ、何年も待たされた上でやっと回収できたのだが、渡された金の延べ棒は、ドイツが預けた物ではなかった。米国は、実際のところ帳簿に記載された金をきちんと保管しておらず、別の目的で流用しているのが実態で、ドイツから請求を受けてから、慌ててかき集めたのではないかと憶測されている。

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UK Blatantly Violates Norms of Decent Behavior
Peter KORZUN | 10.11.2018
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/11/10/uk-blatantly-violates-norms-of-decent-behavior.html

電事連や電研など幾多ある業界団体、関連団体の中で、各社から派遣されている職員の関係が、友好協調から緊張対立に変化するのですね。日本も変わりますね。東電または関電出身者が議長を務める各種会議で、「お前、このやろう」と罵声を浴びせたり、殴り合いとかするのかな？横に座っている人の顔を見ただけでイラっとするでしょうが、がんばってください（笑）。

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中部電力、関西地区の基本料無料
共同
11/9(金) 16:48配信

　中部電力が今月から関西地区で始めた家庭向けの電力販売で基本料金を無料にしたことが9日、分かった。電力大手10社で基本料金や最低料金を無料にするのは初めて。顧客基盤がない関西で販売を拡大するため、思い切った料金とした。

　家庭向けの電気料金の内訳として、契約アンペアごとに定める「基本料金」と、契約アンペアにかかわらず一定額を徴収する「最低料金」がある。中部電は基本料金、関西で競合する関西電力は最低料金を採用している。

　関電は一般家庭向けの最低料金を月額334円（従量電灯A）としているが、中部電は契約60アンペア未満の基本料金を無料に設定した。

1本目：イスラエル空軍がシリア領内にいるイラン軍を自由に爆撃する権利を認めて欲しいという、米国からロシアに対するお願い。

2本目：それに対するロシア側の回答。イスラエルは、ロシア機撃墜事件後であっても、ロシアに数分前の事前通告する約束しかしないので、認められない。シリアに供与したS-300はフルスペックでない上に、国土全体への配備数も少ない。250km先の認識能力は地上12〜15km以上を飛行する物体となるが、実際の爆撃でそんなに高い高度を飛ぶ戦闘機はない。現実の地形には山などの障害物があるから、実際の探知能力はカタログ値よりずっと落ちる。低空を守ることができるのはレーダーから半径10キロ以内である。イスラエルが決意を持ってやれば、現状でも爆撃できる。今はロシア兵が運用しているが、運用をシリア兵に移行したときの運用能力にも左右される。

関連記事

米国がロシアにお願い事をしているということは、米国はロシアに価値のある何かを差し出さなければならない。トランプが何か発表するたびに、やれやれ、やっちまえと一緒になって騒いでいる保守派の専門家（棒）集団がいるが、世の中は彼らが指摘する方向に動くわけではない。

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US hopes Russia will keep letting Israel hit Iran in Syria
By Tovah Lazaroff, REUTERS
November 7, 2018 21:24
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/US-hopes-Russia-will-keep-letting-Israel-hit-Iran-in-Syria-571334

The United States said on Wednesday it hoped Russia would continue to allow Israel to strike Iranian targets in Syria, despite Moscow’s supply of the S-300 air defense system to the Syrian government.

“Russia has been permissive, in consultation with the Israelis, about Israeli strikes against Iranian targets inside Syria. We certainly hope that that permissive approach will continue,” Ambassador James Jeffrey, Washington’s Syria envoy, said in a conference call with reporters.

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He explained that aside from the Russian military actions in Syria, “You’ve got four other outside military forces – the Israeli, the Turkish, the Iranian and the American – all operating inside Syria right now. It’s a dangerous situation,” Jeffrey said.

Moscow said in October that it had delivered the S-300 surface-to-air missiles after it accused Israel of indirectly causing the downing of a Russian military jet by Syrian air defenses following an Israeli air strike nearby.

Like Russia, Iran is a key military supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Israel regards Iran as its most dangerous enemy and has staged repeated air raids against its military and allied militias deployed in Syria.

“Israel has an existential interest in blocking Iran from deploying long-range power projection systems... inside Syria to be used against Israel. We understand the existential interest and we support Israel,” Jeffrey said.

The downing of the Russian jet in September underscored the risks attached to the presence of numerous foreign militaries operating in proximity in Syria, he added.

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“Our immediate effort is to try to calm that situation down and then move on to a long-term solution.”

US policy is to ensure the enduring defeat of Islamic State, work on a solution to the conflict under the terms of United Nations Security Council resolution 2254, and ensure that all Iranian-commanded forces leave Syria entirely, Jeffrey said.

He spoke just days after meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel has insisted that its aerial strikes in Syria have not been curtailed, but Moscow-Jerusalem ties have been tense since the September 17 downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane.

Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin have not met since that incident. They initially intended to meet on the side lines of the Paris Peace Forum on November 11, but their meeting was canceled due to French objections to side-bar meetings at its 100th anniversary event to mark the end of World War I.

A bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin was similarly canceled. A new date was set for the G20 in Buenos Aries at the end of this month, whereas no new date has been set for the Netanyahu-Putin meeting.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly told Israel this week that its air strikes in Syria were inflaming the region, adding that Russia had previously warned Israel privately against such strikes.

The US seeks to regularize cease-fires now in place in Syria, move toward a political solution, and then have all foreign forces that have entered the conflict since 2011 – except Russia – leave.

Iran has said it will stay in Syria as long as Assad wants it to. Turkey has staged two incursions into northern Syria since 2016 that were aimed at curbing the role of Kurdish forces, which the United States is supporting, against Islamic State.

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S-300 fear factor: Will Israel risk bombing Syria now?
Published time: 9 Nov, 2018 15:32
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/443559-s300-israel-attack-syria/

The Israeli Air Force reportedly hasn't conducted a single air mission in Syria after Russian S-300 systems were delivered to the Arab Republic. How may the situation develop further?

Israel has not carried out a single military operation in Syria on its own after September 17, when a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane was brought down by a Syrian missile by mistake, writes German Contra Magazine. The outlet linked this fact with the recent delivery of the formidable Russian S-300 systems to Syria.

Let's clarify Tel-Aviv's position first, though. There have been reports that the Israeli Air Force command pledged to conduct future air missions on the condition of obtaining a prior clearance with the Russian military.

But these reports are at odds with the statements made by Israeli politicians, who denied Russia's request for timely notifications of Israeli Air Force operations in Syria. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said: "We will not accept any restrictions on our freedom of operation."

At present, all Russia gets is a few minutes' notice before Israel delivers an air strike on targets in Syria.

High-ranking Israeli military officials justify this by saying that if they were to inform Russia in advance, it could result in information leaks, which, in turn, would give the Syrian air defense and pro-Iran armed groups the time to prepare for an incoming attack. In October, Lieberman said that "in all the matters that concern our security interests, Israel cannot afford to make any compromises."

Now, let us look at the reasoning behind Israel's attacks in Syria. According to Tel Aviv, Israel only launches airstrikes against Iranian militant groups that allegedly supply missiles to terrorist organizations who use the weapons to kill Israeli civilians. In addition, Israeli air forces carry out missions to prevent Iran from delivering weapons to Hezbollah. Tel Aviv considers the actions undertaken by Tehran in Syria as one of the biggest threats to Israel's national security.

This leads to the only possible conclusion: the airstrikes will likely continue, regardless of whether there are any S-300 air defense weapons systems on the ground in Syria or not.

Now, let us look at the combat capabilities of the S-300 missile system (also known as 'Favorite') deployed in the Syrian Arab Republic. There are reasons to believe that there is a set of S-300PM-2 air defense missile battalions currently operational in Syria, consisting of a command-and-control vehicle, a radar detection vehicle and two air defense missile battalions.

The exact number of launcher vehicles in each of the battalions is unknown, but we can safely assume that their number is limited. In any case, the battalions deployed in Syria are not equipped to full strength, which would be 12 launcher vehicles per battalion.

The essential point is that all units of the S-300PM-2 air defense missile battalion are manned by Russian personnel. It will take at least three months to train Syrian crews to operate the system, and so far these pieces of military hardware have not been handed over to be under the command of the Syrian Air Defense Forces.

It seems imperative to give a brief description of the combat capabilities of the system. In mass media, they often say that the S-300 currently has a max range of 250km (155 miles). That means that two battalions of this system can effectively cover nearly half of Syria.

In principle, it is possible. However a bit of clarification is certainly necessary. Effective engagement range of any air defense missile system depends on the altitude of a target, which is explained by the basic laws of the radio-wave propagation and the fact that the Earth is not flat.

For example, the max range for the S-300PM-2 is indeed 250km, but it will only be able to intercept a target that far if it flies at an altitude of around 12 to 15km (7 to 10 miles). In modern military context, combat aviation rarely operates at such a high altitude. So, if the target travels at about 100m (328 feet) then the engagement range of the S-300 system drops to 25km, and it may get even worse – complex landscape configuration can cut it down to 14-16km.

The key idea here is that one single set of S-300 air defense missile battalions at no point should be seen as a silver-bullet that will enable Syria to shoot down practically any incoming threat.

It should be noted though that even most advanced weapons turn into a pile of metal scrap when handled by ill-trained and unqualified crews.

The S-300 missile systems can only be effective if they are used as elements of a modern missile defense system, which includes a layered anti-aircraft system, fighter jets to provide air cover, a surveillance radar system and electronic warfare components. What is even more important, all those systems need to be operated by highly qualified and motivated personnel.

So, for the Syrian army to be able to fight the Israeli Defense Forces on equal terms, it has to be trained to reach the combat readiness and fighting efficiency of the Israeli military.

It is debatable whether that is at all possible. Even if it is theoretically possible as far as weaponry and military equipment are concerned, trained and motivated crews are a must, and Bashar al-Assad has no military personnel that can meet this criteria right away.

At the moment, one possible scenario is that the Israeli Air Force will continue its airstrikes on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria and the presence of the S-300 systems is unlikely to stop that.

Let's also not forget that Israel will see operational S-300 air defense systems as a national security threat. However it's unlikely that Israel will try and destroy these missile systems – at least as long as the S-300 'Favorite' is operated by the Russian military.

By Mikhail Khodarenok, military commentator for Gazeta.ru

Bio:

Mikhail Khodarenok is a retired colonel. He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering School of Anti-Aircraft Missile Defense (1976) and the Command Academy of the Air Defense Forces (1986).
Commanding officer of the S-75 AA missile battalion (1980-1983).
Deputy commanding officer of a SAM regiment (1986-1988).
Senior officer at the High Command of the Air Defense Forces (1988–1992).
Officer at the main operational directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces(1992–2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (1998).
Worked as an analyst at Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003) and editor-in-chief of Voyenno-Promyshlennyi Kuriyer (2010-2015).

オーストラリアの元外相が、情報筋から仕入れた話として明かした。ムスリム同胞団のメンバーであるカショギ氏は、CIAの指示、カタールのカネで、サウジ国内に同胞団の思想を広める団体を、トルコに設立しようとしていた。同胞団を毛嫌いしているサウジのMBS皇太子は、カショギ氏に対し9月に900万ドルの提供を申し出たが、氏は拒否し、そして10月に殺害された。

簡単に言うと、サウジに内乱を起こそうとする米国の企画に対し、サウジMBS皇太子がカショギ氏殺害という形で回答した。MBS皇太子は、米国の作戦を阻止した。

トランプは、ディープ・ステートから相変わらず排除されているのか、脳天気なだけなのか、米国・サウジ関係に荒波を立ててはいけないというスタンスを取り続けている。

MBS皇太子が政策上の要となっているイスラエルも、サウジの内政混乱を望んでおらず、静かに事態が収束することをトランプ大統領に強く要望した。
（ネタンヤフの声は「天の声」いくつか：その1、その2、その3）

今回オーストラリアからリークされた情報を、米英の情報機関が知らないはずがない。情報を事前に察知していた米英が、MBS皇太子の行為を指をくわえてみていたはずがないのである。

ということであれば、サウジ内乱を計画しているCIAが、カショギ氏が殺害されたくらいで作戦を諦めるとは考えにくい。サウジの内政混乱は続くであろう。

以下英文記事の1本目はインドのベテラン外交官による解説。2本目はラリア元外相執筆の投稿。

・・・ということですから、新中東地図に描かれた「サウジ分裂作戦」を、私たちはこれから目撃することになるようです。ワクワクしてきました。
関連記事

こういうのを見ると、2018年に安倍政権が安泰なのは、安倍さんが政治家として優秀だからとか、日本の官僚機構がしっかりしているからという理由ではなく、「単に米国が安部首相を暗殺しないから」というだけの理由であることが、よくわかります。

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Saudi Regime Survives but Enters the Time of Troubles
Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR | 06.11.2018
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/11/06/saudi-regime-survives-but-enters-time-troubles.html

In a sensational disclosure quoting “intelligence sources”, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer wrote in the Financial Review newspaper on Sunday that the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered on October 2 in Turkey was far from a “bleeding heart liberal” but was a seasoned intelligence agent and a sympathizer of the Muslim Brotherhood working on regime change in his country.

Downer wrote: “To add to the complexity of the story, the Brotherhood is supported by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Qataris… So Jamal Khashoggi – a former Saudi intelligence agent, a man who was close to the Muslim Brotherhood and a sworn opponent of (Saudi Crown Prince) MBS' reform program – was in the process of setting up a centre to promote the ideology of the MB. He was setting it up in Turkey with Qatari money. The Saudis wanted to stop him. In September they offered him $9 million to return to Saudi Arabia and to live there unhindered. They wanted him out of play. Khashoggi refused and the rest you know. The Saudis killed him.”

What has been so far in the realm of intuitive deduction now becomes actual fact. Downer’s disclosure completely transforms the narrative about Khashoggi’s death and it is bound to be hugely consequential.

Assuming that Downer’s “intelligence sources” were Australian, it must be factored in that Australia is a member of the highly privileged 5-nation intelligence alliance, Five Eyes, alongside the US, Canada, UK and New Zealand. The Five Eyes agencies are obliged to share by default all intelligence, including raw intelligence (and even techniques related to the acquisition of such intelligence.)

Suffice to say, it’s out of the question that the intelligence on the Muslim Brotherhood project for regime change in Saudi Arabia involving Khashoggi, Turkey and Qatar was not available with the CIA and MI6 as well. Saudi Arabia is a key ally of the US and yet, are we to believe that the CIA and the MI6 simply sat on such sensitive intelligence?

That is to say, a tantalizing proposition pops up: The CIA and MI6 were covertly backing Khashoggi’s project to change the regime in Saudi Arabia.

Indeed, it is obvious that the American media commentators who are known to have close links with the US intelligence establishment went ballistic no sooner that it transpired by the evening of October 2 that Khashoggi who walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul earlier in the day had failed to come out of the compound.

The hysteria whipped up over the incident right from Day 1 in such a sustained fashion is unprecedented. The Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal – son of a former king and cousin of the crown prince, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to both the US and Britain, as well as a once-close associate of Khashoggi’s – asked recently with indignation why there should have been such brouhaha at all.

Turki said with biting sarcasm that “people in glass houses should not cast stones. Countries that have tortured and incarcerated innocent people” and “launched a war that killed many thousands . . . based on fabricated information, should be humble in their regard to others,” he said, in a clear reference to US counterterrorism policy and the invasion of Iraq.

The bottom line is that the explosive anger and fury of the “Deep State” in America over the death of Khashoggi can only be understood with Downer’s intelligence input – namely, that Khashoggi was a priceless “asset” of the US intelligence establishment and the Saudis simply eliminated him.

Now, if the “Deep State” was promoting Khashoggi, President Donald Trump was either unaware of it or was deliberately kept in the dark. The point is, Trump seems to be in splendid isolation even today in his aversion to punishing the Saudi regime for Khashoggi’s murder.

Trump is openly evasive although Turkish President Erdogan even penned an op-Ed in the Washington Post newspaper in the weekend alleging that Saudi leadership “at the highest levels” was involved in Khashoggi’s murder.

Of course, this is not the first time in US political history that the “Deep State” would have acted behind the back of an incumbent president. But then, Trump is different from Dwight Eisenhower or John Kennedy. And he staunchly believes that nothing should be done to destabilize Saudi Arabia.

Under the circumstances, Downer’s intelligence input will work just fine for Trump if he wants to shake off the pressure from the “Deep State” which has been attempting to force his hands against the Saudi regime.

Coupled with the fact that Israeli lobby has also waded into the Khashoggi affair arguing against any US moves against the Israel-friendly Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the odds are heavily favoring Trump’s policy of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” against the Saudi regime.

However, the US intelligence establishment is smarting from the humiliation meted out by the Saudi regime and is unlikely to retreat in embarrassment. The high probability is that it will wage war by other means – until Islamic democracy prevails in Saudi Arbia.

Bruce Riedel, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, who served for three decades in the CIA, told the New Yorker magazine last week: “There is no political way out (over Khashoggi affair), except through violence.” It is an ominous remark by an ace intelligence operative of yesteryears who knows Saudi Arabia like the back of his hand.

The New Yorker report by Dexter Filkins, a Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed author with long experience in reporting from the frontlines of Middle Eastern hotspots, concludes: “Even if—especially if—M.B.S. hangs on to his position, it seems likely that the Saudi royal family, and Saudi Arabia more generally, are entering a dangerous period.”

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Jamal Khashoggi was a player, not a bleeding heart liberal: Alexander Downer
Opinion
Nov 4 2018 at 11:45 PM
Updated Nov 4 2018 at 11:45 PM
https://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/jamal-khashoggi-was-a-player-not-a-bleeding-heart-liberal-alexander-downer-20181104-h17h9k

I was at a dinner last week with the new British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Hunt was telling us of his recent meeting with Henry Kissinger. He had asked that doyen of diplomacy what separated the good foreign ministers from the ordinary. "Good foreign ministers have an understanding of strategy," the great man growled. Indeed.

The temptation foreign ministers must avoid is to lose sight of strategy as they react to day to day events, often driven by the ephemeral excitement of the media. Well, the West's media is in overdrive over the murder by the Saudis of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. There's a demand the West should turn its collective back on Saudi Arabia in response to this criminal act.

I'm not defending what the Saudis did. It was clearly unacceptable. Murder always is. But what is it about Saudi Arabia we have learned in the last month that we didn't already know? It's a tough autocracy, the home of Wahhabism, the hardline sect of Islam which harks back to the values and practices of the middle ages. Its political and economic system is run by an eye-wateringly rich royal family who spray their wealth around Mayfair and Fifth Avenue, if not entirely at home.

And Saudi Arabia is hardly a model of economic efficiency. It has the same population of Australia, produces about 12 per cent of the world's oil and has a GDP not much more than a third of Australia's.

My own experiences of Saudi Arabia have not been entirely happy. As foreign minister I expelled a senior Saudi diplomat because he had been allegedly imprisoning and raping his Filipina maid. The next time I visited Riyadh as foreign minister my reception was distinctly chilly. I sat in the hotel room for hours waiting for meetings which never happened. But I didn't ever publicise the expulsion of the Saudi diplomat because I knew two things. First, raping anyone was a serious criminal offence and since a diplomat couldn't be prosecuted I did the next best thing: expel him.
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But I also knew Saudi Arabia was strategically important. It was and still is a partner of convenience for the West. It's not about oil. The Saudis have to export oil to survive. And it's not about arms sales. It's about maintaining a power balance in the Middle East and in particular in the Persian Gulf.

There's no doubting the aggression and ambitions of the Iranian theocracy. They've been pushing their influence from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean. They fund and arm Hezbollah and Hamas, deeply divisive and confrontational organisations. They have actively supported the attempted Houthi takeover of Yemen and Iran is deeply engaged in cyberwarfare.

In this febrile environment, Saudi Arabia is the ally of the West. Abandoning the relationship with Saudi Arabia would further weaken the interests and influence of the Western powers in the Middle East. And if you think that doesn't matter you're quite wrong. The Middle East is volatile enough without adding to that volatility by creating new power vacuums.

So back to the tragic murder of Jamal Khashoggi. My intelligence sources tell me he had worked as an intelligence agent for the Saudi intelligence service, GID, for around 20 years. At one point he was sent by GID to Sudan to meet Osama bin Laden and to try to lure him away from terrorism. He failed.

Khashoggi had always been close to the Muslim Brotherhood, the people who took over Egypt under Morsi following the so-called Arab Spring. The Muslim Brotherhood is a hard-line Islamist organisation dedicated to the introduction of Sharia and the creation of an Islamic caliphate. These people are no bleeding heart liberals. Indeed, the Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed as a terrorist organisation in a number of Middle Eastern countries and is part of the Hamas support group. They have been implacably opposed to many of the more liberal reforms of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

To add to the complexity of the story, the Brotherhood is supported by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Qataris. This is a source of real tension between Saudi Arabia, Egypt and their regional allies on the one side and the Turks and Qataris on the other.

So Jamal Khashoggi – a former Saudi intelligence agent, a man who was close to the Muslim Brotherhood and a sworn opponent of MBS' reform program– was in the process of setting up a centre to promote the ideology of the MB. He was setting it up in Turkey with Qatari money. The Saudis wanted to stop him. In September they offered him $9 million to return to Saudi Arabia and to live there unhindered. They wanted him out of play. Khashoggi refused and the rest you know. The Saudis killed him.

Let me make two points. First, there is no justification for murdering Khashoggi. Secondly, this man wasn't some Western-oriented liberal brutally murdered because of his passion for freedom. This man was a player.

So it makes you wonder why the American press is so particularly outraged by Khashoggi's murder. Well, he was a columnist for the Washington Post and it's a standard bearer of American liberalism. But it's also been a great propaganda coup against Saudi Arabia in general. Many Westerners blame the Saudis for the tragedy of Yemen. More than that. President Trump has made a great play of embracing Saudi Arabia as America's ally – much more so than Obama who instead, against Saudi objections, did the nuclear deal with Iran. As for Erdogan, it's absolutely in his interests to milk the Khashoggi murder in Turkey for all it's worth. Erdogen wants Turkey to replace Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Islamic world.

You see my point. You can in government be swept up in the prevailing media narrative and if you design your foreign policy on that basis you will achieve nothing. The wise government is the government which has a clear strategic direction and manages ephemeral events often driven by others with ulterior motives.

Alexander Downer was foreign minister from 1996 to 2007 and is a former high commissioner to the UK.

In Huge Shift, UAE To Reopen Embassy In Damascus As Gulf Rapprochement With Assad Likely
Thu, 11/08/2018 - 01:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-07/huge-shift-uae-reopen-embassy-damascus-gulf-rapprochement-assad-likely

関連記事

記事の書きぶりは、日本側は、日韓の政府関係の法的外形、日本企業と原告の法的外形についてだけ着目し、法的外形が損害賠償の対象になり得ないので請求却下ですという、論理的ではあるが、冷たく感じさせる説明に仕上がっている。

それに対し、韓国側の主張については、1990年代初期の慰安婦問題のときにそうであったように、用語を巧妙に操作する手法で、読者の感情に訴えるように加工してある。

原告は、本人の自由意志で企業の求人広告に応募してきた人なのに、「強制労働させられ、事実上の囚人であった」と書いてある。徴用でも強制労働でもないのだから、徴用工ではないときちんと指摘する必要あり。

きちんと給料を受け取っていたはずなのに、受け取っていないという発言をそのまま掲載している。

証明されていないお涙ちょうだいの話が満載。

韓国は併合された領土だったのに、安直に植民地と書いてある。

エンジニアになる夢を果たせなかったのは、日本でひどい目にあった体験がトラウマになったからとまで主張。言いたい放題。

米英仏露中の新聞が、戦前の日本について、日本側の反論を書くはずがないので、もし日本政府が本気で韓国とやり合うのであれば、韓国側の主張に含まれる嘘について、詳細に英語で説明する文章を、外務省HPや、英語版が世界で広く読まれている読売新聞に掲載するくらいのことをしなければ対抗できないんじゃないですか？

今のままだったら、慰安婦問題と同様に、「日本が悪い」という国際世論が形成されますよ。

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South Korea Warns Japan in Row Over Wartime Forced Labour
By Reuters
Nov. 7, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/11/07/world/asia/07reuters-southkorea-japan-laborers.html

'I still feel sad and cry': Korean victim of Japanese forced labour awaits justice
Benjamin Haas in Gwangju, South Korea and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wed 7 Nov 2018 03.32 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/07/i-still-feel-sad-and-cry-korean-victim-of-japanese-forced-labour-awaits-closure

シリア領空におけるパワー・バランスが変わった。

関連記事

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Israeli Air Force Shuns Attacks in Syria Since S-300 Delivery – Lawmaker
15:02 05.11.2018(updated 20:09 05.11.2018)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201811051069517161-syria-no-israeli-attacks-s300-delivery/

Russia has delivered 49 units of its sophisticated S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems to Syria in wake of the accidental destruction of a Russian Il-20 plane by Syrian air defenses responding to an Israeli attack.

Ksenia Svetlova, who sits on the Israeli parliament’s defense committee has confirmed that Israeli warplanes had not approached Syria’s airspace since Russia supplied it with S-300 missile systems.

"There hasn’t been a single mission since Syria received S-300s. The S-300 has changed the balance of power in the region," she told reporters.

The statement confirmed the Al-Masdar News report, citing an unnamed military source in Damascus, saying that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) hasn’t attacked Syria since Russia delivered the S-300 air defense system to the Syrian government forces.

The source claimed that the IAF hadn’t violated Syria’s airspace from either the disputed Golan Heights or Lebanon, although it has flown close to the border.

German Media Questions Israeli Claim on New Strikes in Syria Post S-300 Delivery

The military insider also denied an anonymous Israeli official’s claim, reported by Reuters, that Tel Aviv had carried out attacks after the downing of the Russian warplane on September 17.

The source further told Al-Masdar news that the Russian military was still training the Syrian air defense units to use the S-300s in the provinces of Latakia and Hama.

On October 29, Reuters cited a senior Israeli official as saying that the IDF had attacked Syria, “including after the downing of the Russian plane,” while Israel’s Channel 1 reported that one of the strikes had targeted an alleged Iranian shipment of equipment destined for Hezbollah.

The delivery of 49 units of S-300s was completed in early October after the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it would supply Syria with air defense systems to improve the security of Russian troops stationed there.

The decision was made in the aftermath of the inadvertent destruction of a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft by Syrian air defenses repelling an Israeli air strike.

The Russian military has blamed the wreckage on Tel Aviv, emphasizing that an Israeli fighter jet had used the Russian plane as a shield against Syrian air defense systems. Israel has dismissed the accusations, claiming that it had warned Moscow about the upcoming air raid in the area in advance.

Image of Bolsanaro’s sons wearing pro-IDF & Mossad shirts goes viral
Published time: 6 Nov, 2018 14:18
https://www.rt.com/news/443215-bolsonaro-sons-idf-mossad-tshirt/

A photograph of Brazilian president-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s sons sporting IDF and Mossad t-shirts has gone viral. RT set out to verify the image and find out the story behind it.

The photograph, showing Eduardo and Carlos Bolsonaro walking in Israel, is getting attention on social media in the wake of right-wing Bolsonaro’s election win. The siblings are pictured donning t-shirts advertising Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israel Defense Forces.

This is a photo of Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro’s two sons wearing IDF and Mossad shirts. Israel has become a symbol for authoritarianism around the world https://t.co/QgRTyRafBr
— Mairav Zonszein (@MairavZ) November 4, 2018

The image has circulated on social media and message boards. A search on forums like 4Chan and reverse image searches revealed the earliest available version of the image online, which came from Eduardo himself.

Eduardo, who is a member of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies and a member of his father’s far-right Social Liberal Party, posted the image to Twitter back in May 2016, when he was in Israel with his family. “A first world country that values its armed forces and police,” he wrote at the time.

País de 1º mundo valoriza suas FFAA e polícias. Mtos chegam a estampar camisas para turistas - com @CarlosBolsonaropic.twitter.com/wHJOJNOddv
— Eduardo Bolsonaro 17 (@BolsonaroSP) May 13, 2016

Eduardo also tagged his brother Carlos, a member of Rio de Janeiro’s Municipal Chamber and part of the right-wing Social Christian Party, in the tweet. The pair have a third brother, Flavio, who also attended the trip. The three are Bolsonaro’s sons from his first of three marriages.

Shalom! 🇮🇱🇧🇷 - com @FlavioBolsonaro e @CarlosBolsonaro . pic.twitter.com/EUIfDloQNX
— Eduardo Bolsonaro 17 (@BolsonaroSP) May 6, 2016

The Israel trip saw members of the Bolsonaro family tour the country and visit members of the Knesset. Catholic Jair and his sons were even baptized by an evangelical pastor in the River Jordan. Brazil’s evangelical voters make up one quarter of the electorate.

This isn’t Eduardo's first foray into displaying military support on his chest. He caused a stir earlier this year when he wore a t-shirt with the face of Brazilian military intelligence officer Colonel Brilhante Ustra, accused of torture under the country’s military dictatorship of the 1960s-1980s.

In May, Eduardo posted a controversial cartoon which claimed to show the difference between Israelis and Palestinians. It depicted an Israeli soldier protecting a woman and child, while a Palestinian fighter hides behind a woman.

É isso que imagino quando criticam Israel. Só pessoas mal informadas, que não sabem o que se passa por lá acham que Israel é um povo assassino. Se Israel quisesse já teria conquistado toda a região, veja o que foi a guerra dos Seis Dias. Falando de Brasil agora: Lula se negou a colocar flores no memorial do holocausto, mas colocou no túmulo do líder palestino Yasser Arafat; Lula doou R$ 25mi para "reconstruir" Gaza mas que sabemos vão para armas do Hamas; Dilma se negou a aceitar as credenciais do embaixador israelense que Israel indicou para o Brasil, por isso fomos justamente chamados de anões diplomáticos. Vamos mudar nossas relações internacionais e resgatar nosso respeito.

A post shared by Eduardo Bolsonaro 1720 (@bolsonarosp) on May 24, 2018 at 3:52am PDT

Eduardo also re-shared a post by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the day of the US embassy opening in Jerusalem, writing, “Next year will be Brazil’s turn."

His father said he would be open to moving Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem, following the US’s relocation decision last year. The president-elect has made his support for Israel clear, claiming in 2017 his heart is “green, yellow, blue and white,” in reference to Brazil and Israel’s flags.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s eldest son Flavio is currently planning a trip to Israel to buy some of its military drones and to check out its facial recognition equipment that can be installed on public transport, Renova Media reports.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjKFMAdniav/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading

Família Bolsonaro em Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j36ooYrskaU&feature=youtu.be

アサド大統領がクウェート紙とのインタビューで明かした。

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Assad: 'Understanding' reached with Arab states

In his first interview with Gulf paper since 2011, Syrian president says as soon as civil war is over, Damascus will resume its pivotal role in the region and restore its ties with Arab states; Assad: Arab and Western delegations already begun visiting Syria to prepare for reopening of diplomatic missions.

Associated Press |Published: 10.03.18 , 21:01
https://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-9733,00.html

Syrian President Bashar Assad told Kuwaiti newspaper Wednesday that Syria has reached a "major understanding" with Arab states after years of hostility over the country's civil war.

The interview in the little-known Al-Shahed newspaper was Assad's first with a Gulf newspaper since the war began in 2011.

Assad doesn't name the Arab countries but says Arab and Western delegations have begun visiting Syria to prepare for the reopening of diplomatic and other missions. Soon the civil war will be over, Assad told the paper's publisher, allowing Syria to resume its pivotal role in the region.

Syria's membership in the 22-member Arab League was suspended in the early days of the war and Arab countries later imposed economic sanctions after they failed to mediate an end to the war.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have openly supported opposition groups fighting to overthrow Assad since. Kuwait hosted a number of donors' conferences for aid to Syrians, but it also condemned violence blamed on the Syrian government.

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the Syrian foreign minister and his Bahraini counterpart held a warm meeting which turned heads because it featured hugs between the two ministers.

The encounter raised questions about whether the Gulf countries, most of them sworn enemies of Assad's ally Iran, are reconsidering their relations with Damascus as the war winds down.

Assad, embattled for years, is emerging largely victorious after strong support from Russia and Iran. He now controls over 60 percent of Syria with strong Russian and pro-Iranian military support.

Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Bahraini foreign minister, later told Saudi-run Al-Arabiya TV that it was not the first meeting with "my brother" the Syrian minister. But he said it was an unplanned meeting, while other planned ones weren't caught on camera.

Al Khalifa said the meeting came at a time of serious Arab efforts to "reclaim" a role in resolving the Syrian crisis.

"This meeting comes at this period that is witnessing positive transformations toward having an effective Arab role in the Syrian issue," Al Khalifa said in the Sunday interview with Al-Arabiya.

"Syria is an Arab country. Its people are Arabs and what happens there concerns us before any other nation. It is not correct that regional and international countries are looking into the Syrian issue and not us."

Al Khalifa seemed to recognize that the Syrian government is here to stay. "The Syrian government is the Syrian government. We work with states— even if we disagree with them—and not with those who bring down those states," he said.

Assad praises Kuwait's position regarding Syria in the interview with Al-Shahed, calling its leader "a problem solver."

Al-Shahed's editor in chief is one of the many members of the extended Kuwaiti royal family. The paper had been temporarily shut down twice in 2010, and 2014 for insulting the judiciary and the public prosecutor and for publishing false news. Its editor in chief was sentenced to three months in 2010.

まあ、サウジも歓迎ではあるのだが、メディアを概観する限り、大はしゃぎしている様子は見受けられない。大体どこの国も基本線として米国の政策を迷惑だと思っている中、明確に歓迎を表明したのはイスラエルだけ。

「米国が対イラン制裁を実施した」のは外形を表現しているに過ぎず、実態としては、イスラエルがイランを嫌っていることが示されているのでありました。

（追記）
米国の制裁6ヶ月免除が適用されたのは、日本、韓国、インド、中国、台湾、イタリア、ギリシア、トルコの8カ国で、他のEU加盟諸国は免除されなかった。米国によるイランいじめではあるのだが、「EUいじめ」がさりげなく盛り込まれた政策発表となった。もちろん、具体的にはドイツが標的である。

1990年代は日本叩きが繰り返され、日本政府と企業は対応に苦慮したが、なすすべがなく、ひたすら耐えるほかなかった。今しばらくEU受難が続きそうで、お気の毒。

米国は、低品質・高価格の米国産シェールガスを何としてもEUに買わせたいので、あの手この手で必死になっている。

（追記）
ちなみにYahoo!ニュースでの読者アンケートでは、72.9％が反対。
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/polls/domestic/36703/result

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Netanyahu congratulates Trump for reimposing sanctions against Iran
AFP|Published: 11.04.18 , 00:28
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5388052,00.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that restoring the economic sanctions against Iran, is a "historic" move made by US President Donald Trump.

"Thank you President Trump for this historic initiative, the sanctions are really coming," said Netanyahu in a statement.

"For years now, I have called for sanctions to be fully imposed against the deadly and murderous Iranian regime that threatens the entire world," he added.

"The effects of the initial sanctions (imposed by Washington) are already being felt, the rial is weakening, the Iranian economy is slumping and the results are obvious," he concluded.

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Netanyahu says Trump made courageous decision on US sanctions on Iran
Reuters|Published: 11.05.18 , 15:17
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5389651,00.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed on Monday what he called US President Donald Trump's courageous decision in reimposing US sanctions on Iran.


"This day is an historic day," Netanyahu said in public remarks to legislators from his Likud party. "I would like to again thank US President Donald Trump for the courageous, determined and important decision. I think this contributes to stability and security and peace."

Russia, India & Iran want to create alternative trade route to Suez Canal – report
1 Nov, 2018 11:03
https://www.rt.com/business/442832-india-iran-russia-suez-alternative/