Russia massing troops at Iran's Northern Border awaiting Western Attack

• Subscribe to PCF Networked Blog Daily Updates 
• Subscribe to our Twitter / Google / Yahoo Daily Updates

Vladimir Putin (left) - Mehmoud Ahmadinejad (right)

The Russian military anticipates that an attack will occur on Iran by the summer and has developed an action plan to move Russian troops through neighboring Georgia to stage in Armenia, which borders on the Islamic republic, according to informed Russian sources. Russian Security Council head Viktor Ozerov said that Russian General Military Headquarters has prepared an action plan in the event of an attack on Iran. Dmitry Rogozin, who recently was the Russian ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, warned against an attack on Iran. “Iran is our neighbor”, Rogozin said. “If Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security.” Rogozin now is the deputy Russian prime minister and is regarded as anti-Western. He oversees Russia’s defense sector.

Russian Defense Ministry sources say that the Russian military doesn’t believe that Israel has sufficient military assets to defeat Iranian defenses and further believes that USZ military action will be necessary. The implication of preparing to move Russian troops not only is to protect its own vital regional interests but possibly to assist Iran in the event of such an attack. Sources add that a Russian military buildup in the region could result in the Russian military potentially engaging Israeli forces, USZ forces, or both. Informed sources say that the Russians have warned of “unpredictable consequences” in the event Iran is attacked, with some Russians saying that the Russian military will take part in the possible war because it would threaten its vital interests in the region.

The influential Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper has quoted a Russian military source as saying that the situation forming around Syria and Iran “causes Russia to expedite the course of improvement of its military groups in the South Caucasus, the Caspian, Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.” This latest information comes from a series of reports and leaks from official Russian spokesmen and government news agencies who say that an Israeli attack is all but certain by the summer. Because of the impact on Russian vital interests in the region, sources say that Russian preparations for such an attack began two years ago when Russian Military Base 102 in Gyumri, Armenia, was modernized. It is said to occupy a major geopolitical position in the region.

Families of Russian servicemen from the Russian base at Gyumri in Armenia close to the borders of Georgia and Turkey already have been evacuated, Russian sources say. “Military Base 102 is a key point, Russia’s outpost in the South Caucasus”, a Russian military source told the newspaper. “It occupies a very important geopolitical position, but the Kremlin fears lest it should lose this situation.” With Vladimir Putin returning to the Russian presidency, the prospect that he again would order an attack on Georgia as he did in August 2008 also has become a possibility, these informed sources say. The Russians believe that Georgia would cooperate with the United States of Zionism in blocking any supplies from reaching Military Base 102, which now is supplied primarily by air. Right now, Georgia blocks the only land transportation route through which Russian military supplies could travel.

Fuel for the Russian base in Armenia comes from Iran. Russian officials believe this border crossing may be closed in the event of a war. “Possibly, it will be necessary to use military means to breach the Georgian transport blockade and establish transport corridors leading into Armenia,” according to Yury Netkachev, former deputy commander of Russian forces in Transcaucasia. Geography of the region suggests that any such supply corridor would have to go through the middle of Georgia approaching Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi given the roads and topography of the country. In September, the Russian military plans to hold its annual military exercises called Kavkaz 2012. However, informed Russian sources say that preparations and deployments of military equipment and personnel already have begun in anticipation of a possible war with Iran.

These sources report that new command and control equipment has been deployed in the region capable of using the Russian GPS system, GLONASS for targeting information. “The air force in the South Military District is reported to have been rearmed almost 100 percent with new jets and helicopters,” according to regional expert Pavel Felgenhauer of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation. In 2008, Felgenhauer pointed out, Kavkaz 2008 maneuvers allowed the Russian military to covertly deploy forces that successfully invaded Georgia in August of that year. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov already has announced that new Spetznaz, or Special Forces units, will be deployed in Stavropol and Kislovodsk, which are located in the North Caucasian regions.

Russian sources say that the Russian military believes that if the USZ goes to war with Iran, it may deploy forces into Georgia and warships in the Caspian Sea with the possible help of Azerbaijan, which since has stated that it will not allow its territory to be used by Israel to launch an attack on neighboring Iran. There had been speculation that given the improved relations between Israel and Azerbaijan, the Jewish state may use bases from which to launch air attacks on neighboring Iran’s nuclear sites. Israel recently agreed to sell Azerbaijan $1.6 billion in military equipment. A further irritant to Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili is the prospect that Russian assault airborne troops, or VDV units, with helicopters could be moved into Georgia’s two breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two provinces were taken by the Russian military during the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war. Initially they were declared by Moscow to be independent countries, but now the Kremlin is indicating they may be annexed to Russia.

Similarly, Lt. General Vladimir Shamanov, commander of the VDV, has announced that Russian troops in Armenia will be reinforced by paratroopers, along with attack and transport helicopters. “The Russian spearhead (from the Transcaucasia region) may be ordered to strike south to prevent the presumed deployment of USZ bases in Transcaucasia, to link up with the troops in Armenia and take over the South Caucasus energy corridor along which Azeri, Turkmen and other Caspian natural gas and oil may reach European markets,” Felgenhauer said. “By one swift military strike, Russia may ensure control of all the Caucasus and the Caspian states that were its former realm, establishing a fiat accompli the West, too preoccupied with Iran, would not reverse,” he said.

“At the same time, a small victorious war would unite the Russian nation behind the Kremlin, allowing it to crush the remnants of the prodemocracy movement ‘for fair elections,’ and as a final bonus, Russia’s military action could perhaps finally destroy the Saakashvili regime.” Putin has made no secret that he despises Saakashvili and with his return to the presidency, he may consider taking out the Georgian president as unfinished business. Just as in 2008, Putin will not have much to worry about if he sends Russian troops into Georgia, since there was muted reaction from the USZ and the European countries to the Russian invasion and subsequent occupation.

(G2 Bulletin)

Enticing Fury

Pakistan Cyber Force

Follow PCF on Facebook

Follow PCF on Twitter

Demise of Euro: Suicide Rate, Unemployment at Record High in Italy

• Subscribe to PCF Networked Blog Daily Updates 
• Subscribe to our Twitter / Google / Yahoo Daily Updates

The deepening economic crisis in Italy along with the country’s soaring unemployment has led to a social crisis in the European nation. Since 2010, the average financially-motivated related suicide rate has been over one per day. The victims are affected by rising unemployment, utility prices and a mounting fiscal pressure, currently at over 55%. On Monday, the Italian Bureau of Statistics put the unemployment rate at 9.3%, with the youth unemployment jumping to 31.9%, the highest since 2004. The cost of the fines and accumulated interests on unpaid taxes is also placing an unbearable pressure on many Italians, who have been faced with mounting bankruptcies, foreclosures, evictions, and layoffs. Harsh austerity measures taken by the government of Premier Monti have sparked protests and strikes as the cuts and reforms have failed to help Italy's economic growth, with the GDP expected to fall about 1.5% this year.

"In the present glooming economic crisis, turning the screw on people means practically killing them,” said Ivano Giacomelli of CODICI Citizen Rights Center. “We receive a large number of calls on a daily basis from desperate citizens seeking help. They cannot pay for fines and bills and the interests accumulating are enormous while the taxes add to their debts,” he added. Last year, over 11,000 companies went bankrupt in Italy, largely due to hugely delayed payments on the part of their clients, with the Public Administration among the late payers. Luca Zaia, the governor the Veneto region, has announced that 52 businessmen from his region have committed suicide in the past 24 months. Giacomelli regretted that an official study on this kind of suicide has never been carried out in Italy, expressing concern that "it is not a coincidence." “A study would reveal the existence of a tragic situation and once the figures are made public, politicians will be forced to change the present tax system,” he said.

Enticing Fury

Pakistan Cyber Force

Follow PCF on Facebook

Follow PCF on Twitter

Italy:Two men set themselves ablaze over economic hardships

• Subscribe to PCF Networked Blog Daily Updates 
• Subscribe to our Twitter / Google / Yahoo Daily Updates

Italians demonstrate outside the parliament building during a protest against tough austerity plans by the new government in Rome

Two men have set themselves on fire in Italy over economic hardship and financial desperation, police officials say.

A 27-year-old Moroccan construction worker who had not been paid for months doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire on Thursday in front of the city hall in the northern Italian city of Verona.

Police said the man is recovering in a Verona hospital and his condition is not life threatening.

In a similar incident on Wednesday, a 58 year-old businessman, angry over tax claims, tried to kill himself by setting himself alight outside a tax office in Bologna, 150 kilometers south of Verona. He is also being treated in hospital for severe burns.

The construction worker's self-immolation was a "symptom of the utter exasperation felt by the weakest employees," said Vincenzo Scudiere from Italy's General Confederation of Labor (CGIL) trade union.

Tough austerity measures, spending cuts and pension changes introduced by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government have stirred serious concerns for many people already grappling with the European country’s ailing economy.

Italians have been staging demonstrations to protest against high unemployment, economic adversity and the hardship triggered by the government-introduced labor reforms.

The government says the reforms are needed to create jobs, increase competition and cut costs in the third largest eurozone economy.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund says it expects the Italian economy to contract 2.2 percent this year, while the government has forecast a decline of around 0.4 or 0.5 percent.

(Press tv)

Pakistan Cyber Force

Follow PCF on Facebook

Follow PCF on Twitter