The thought below is my {Diane Sori) thought alone, and does not necessarily
represent the views of blogspot.or google.com
[[[Very unsettling times, for while we have inflicted much damage on Iran we have NOT by any means won this what was to be a "few weeks war," with proof positive being that Iran is still able to keep fighting back
Wars are not won by threats, repeated albeit limited military actions,
ceasefire proposals that fail time and again, nor by negotiating with the enemy...in this case an enemy who is an avowed terrorist regime. And economic sanctions do not win wars for history itself has shown that many times sanctions actually become the conduit by which a war-hurting populace starts reuniting with its leaders against those they once begged for help.
It's time for us to win this war even if it means some "boots on the ground" for if "boots" was never an option what do we train our military for...to be "occupiers" ...I think not.
We need to throw these time wasting deals and negotiations into what is history's garbage heap, for if things keep going on like this...especially with the newest round of supposed "toughest sanctions ever"... Iran will find a way now, as it has done in the past, to circumnavigate said sanctions courtesy of third party players.
Lastly, and with all due respect, I believe that President Trump needs to at least start thinking of a possible "exit strategy" if we ever do need to exit fast to "save face." Remember, the great Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet Union and ended the "Cold War"...right now all we seem to be doing is boxing Iran in while forgetting that a caged animal has usually planned for such a contingency and probably does have a well planned, waiting in the wings to be used, "tangible" and not pretty possible means out...and it sure 'aint courtesy of a deal. ]]]
Copyright
@ 2026 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
Monday, July 13, 2020
Op-ed:
The Leopard That Is Iran
By: Diane Sori /The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on Right Side Patriots Radio
As
we've all been (rightfully) focused on the nasty little virus from
China as well as the homegrown miscreants and thugs trying to destroy
our beloved America, there have been other important events going on in
the world that have been getting little to no media attention or
airtime. And one such important event is that Iran has not so silently
been pushing forward with its efforts to build and then possibly
use a nuclear weapon. However, it now looks like their nuclear ambitions
just got setback months if not hopefully years as once again Iran is
blaming Israel for yet another cyber-attack on its nuclear facilities.
And if that's proven to be true all I can say is, “Bravo Israel.”
And
it all seems to have come to a head when just this past June 26th, a
fire broke out at the main power plant in Shiraz followed by an
explosive blast at the Parchin
military complex...a blast supposedly felt in Tehran. But while Iranian
officials first claimed that the blast was caused by an “accidental” gas leak in the “public area” of the Parchin
complex, Israeli satellite images showed that the blast actually took
place at a nearby not so secret liquid fuel production plant near but
not on the Parchin
complex itself...a plant used specifically to manufacture and then test
solid propellant rockets and explosives for nuclear warheads.
Then on June 30th an explosion shook the Sina
Athar Clinic in the northern Tehran town of Tajrish, resulting in 19
deaths and injuring 14 others, and was followed two days later by a
blast and fire at the largely underground Natanz nuclear facility...the very facility which houses a major centrifuge needed for the making of
nuclear weapons. And surprise, surprise, on July 3rd, the Shiraz power
plant again was on fire, while on July 4th another power plant, this
time in Ahwaz, saw yet another “accidental”
explosion this time supposedly caused by a faulty transformer, as per
Iranian officials. And not only did an explosion occur but said
explosion set the entirety of the plant on fire. And to add insult to
Iran's nuclear injury, on the same day as the Ahwaz explosion, a
chlorine gas leak at the Karoun petrochemical plant sent 70 workers to the hospital.
And of course as soon as they could Iran revoked their “accidental” excuses and blamed the “little Satan” Israel and Israel-backed hackers for their newest nuclear woes...blamed Israel for perpetrating a “kinetic cyberweapons attack”
on Iran. But the question that remains is, is Israel truly responsible
for all or any of these attacks? Right now as I write this article
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied culpability for any of the said “attacks,” however,Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz did issue this statement and said on 'Israel Radio' that, “Not every incident that transpires in Iran necessarily has something to do with us.”
Maybe not “necessarily,” but nevertheless I will not lose any sleep over it if it is indeed true.
And while Benny Gantz's statement itself rings true, it's also true
that the defense minister's words are both cleverly veiled and calculatingly ambiguous,
while Haim Tomer...the former director of Tevel, the Mossad’s foreign
intelligence cooperation unit...did state that while he was not aware of Israel
being responsible for the explosion at Natanz, "substantial damage" caused in the incident showed that "there's an operational capability here." Obviously a very dangerous “operational capability,”
and the civilized world should actually be glad the Natanz nuclear
enrichment site went boom, especially since President Trump removed our
country from Obama's very bad and oh so treasonous Iranian nuclear deal,
leaving Iran's nuclear ambitions to basically run unchecked...or so
Iran believes.
So what exactly was Iran's final, to date, official response to the “attacks” now being blamed on Israel?As per Iran's Civil Defense Chief Gholamreza Jalali, who said on Iranian state television that, "Responding
to cyber-attacks is part of the country's defense might. If it is
proven that our country has been targeted by a cyber-attack, we will
respond," proves to be just more inflammatory rhetoric and as expected retaliatory words...“face saving”
words and nothing more...for Iran is no match for Israel cyber nor
technology wise, and if they don't know it by now, they very well should.
And so Iranian officials continue to talk out of both sides of their islamic
mouths, with one side spewing that they already know the cause of the
explosion at Natanz but cannot divulge that information at this time due
to “security reasons”...while the other side of their islamist mouths seek to downplay the very happenings at Natanz as but just an “incident,” thus wanting the world to believe that no real “significant damage” was done to the facility or that any radiation had escaped.
And all this is really quite astounding what with Behrouz Kamalvandi,
a spokesman for 'The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran' along with
Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi having rushed to the Natanz site
after the explosion and fire, and with Kamalvandi
having issued a statement that the explosion had indeed caused major
damage to the facility...damage which could now slow down the production of
advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium...while also releasing a
photo showing part of the charred remains of a centrifuge assembly workshop at
the Natanz facility.
Now
here it's important to note that not only are Iranian officials putting
focus on Natanz, but so too are aforementioned Israeli Defense Minister
Benny Gantz and former Tevel director Haim Tomeri.
And this leads me to believe that the Natanz facility was the major
target that needed to be taken out for Natanz was not only a fuel
enrichment site, but a site replete with at least 60 advanced
centrifuges of its own used for enriching uranium, and uranium is the
very “must have” item
in one's possession when building a nuclear weapon. But why has Iran now
accelerated its nuclear program...simply because its leaders are worried
that a continuation of the still-in-place arms embargo coupled with
crippling U.S. economic sanctions would make it even more difficult to
obtain let alone pay for both the systems and materials needed to not
only declare itself a nuclear power, but to be able to eventually wipe
Israel off the map.
So
even though Israel is still denying any "physical" connection to the recent
explosion at Natanz, which technically might not be a lie, for history
itself shows that Israeli operatives need not be on the ground to do
what needs to be done...as in go in, get the job done, and get out
before it's too late. And for proof of that one just
needs to remember back to 2010 when Iran's nuclear program was “disrupted”
via the Stuxnet cyber-attack...as in the malicious computer worm which
specifically and successfully targeted Iran's supervisory control and
data acquisition systems in regards to their nuclear centrifuges,
setting Iran's nuclear program back years. And while Israel never
actually admitted to being the culprit behind said attack, both Israel
and the U.S. were and still are being blamed for it.
Simply,
with the Stuxnet cyber-attack having succeeded as it did...in fact it
caused damage to around 1,000 of Iran's centrifuges...and with Iran
still not changing its ways nor its nuclear ambitions, surely they had
to know that another cyber-attack...or two or three or more...was a
strong possibility. And Iran also had to know that their tried for
cyber-attack last April on Israeli civilians and on its water
infrastructure would not go unpunished.
As per London's Financial Times, Iran tried but due to Israeli top-notch cyber-defences
failed in their attempt to not only inject dangerously high levels
of chlorine and other nasty chemicals into the drinking water being pumped
into residential areas of Israel, but could have also seriously
interrupting the flow of water throughout the Jewish state. Again,
thankfully Iran's attempt did fail as there was also a chance, albeit a
small one, that said cyber-attack could have not only triggered a “fail-safe” that
would have completely shut down Israel's water pumps but also sections
of Israel's main water infrastructure itself, leaving most Israelis without any water during what was then a
deadly heatwave.
So Iran had to know that some sort of (rightful) Israeli retaliatory “kinetic cyber-attack”
would be forthcoming, but they would simply have no way of knowing exactly
when or how such an attack would be carried out. First, one does need to
know that a “kinetic cyber-attack”...such
as Stuxnet...can cause direct or indirect physical damage, injury or
even death though the exploitation of...as in tampering
with...vulnerable information systems and processes, as is just what happened
back in 2010. For example, a computer program can remotely monitor,
control, and shut down security cameras at a targeted site so that
security personnel would not be aware of someone sneaking into the site
and doing or planting something...as in explosives.
But
in the case of Iran more power to whomever...whether it be Israel as
most suspect, the U.S., Iranian dissident groups or a combination of all
three...is behind these attacks for we all know that Iran wants nuclear
capabilities not for peaceful purposes but to first wipe Israel off the
map and then come for us and the rest of the civilized world next.
After all, we all know that a leopard can never change its spots and
neither apparently can this rogue islamic nation.
Copyright @ 2020 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All rights reserved.
************************************************************ For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article,Cancel Culture – Biting the Hand That Fed It.
RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!
Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14th from 7 to 9pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS
Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'The Leopard That Is Iran'; 'Cancel Culture – Biting the Hand That Fed It'; and important news
of the day.
Op-ed: The U.S. in Syria...Who's to Blame and Why By: Diane Sori
/ The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political
Radio
Let's get something straight upfront...the media, the Democrats,
and even some supposed Trump supporting Republicans want you to believe that
President Trump has switched sides...that he's not only turned
against but deserted our Kurdish allies as well as turning his back
on the Syrian people...the very people who have suffered the most during the eight long years that the Syrian
conflict has been unfolding...a conflict that's actually
a civil war...a civil war that now sees itself morphing into a separate Turk/Kurd civil war as well. And these same folks want you
to believe that because Trump is withdrawing our troops, that what
was a U.S. “umbrella of protection” no longer exists and
thus threatens to destabilize the entirety of the Middle East.
Well folks, while destabilization could eventually occur that too is not of Trump's doing for our
misguided incursion into Syria was an incursion born of Barack
HUSSEIN Obama's very hesitancy to go in strong with our troop's hands
untied, get the job done, and get out...that coupled with his
emphasis instead being on “measured diplomacy” and
“progressive multilateralism”...and more importantly his
aligning us with the wrong side. And the sum of these parts is
what has now made President Trump the fall guy instead of the blame being placing on the very man who could have done the right thing but didn't.
And the right thing...the very thing that could have saved not
only a lot of lives but Syria's landscape itself...would have been for us to either stay out of Syria's civil war or align us with Bashar al-Assad and his government forces if only for the
reason that under al-Assad, Syria saw a secular government...a
secular government as opposed to an islamic mullah controlled government...where both Christians and other minorities were
protected and could freely worship without fear of reprisal, and
where Damascus and it's surrounding areas were living if not in the
21st century at least in the 20th.
Sad isn't it that many still refuse to acknowledge the fact that
Obama has never really been on the side of anything but his
brethren...a fact proven by his not going after ISIS until he was
forced by his own party to see them as a threat to our homeland. But even with that
his successes against ISIS were limited at best with President Trump
being the one, along with the Kurds, to finally clear ISIS out of
Syria...for now anyway for they will be back.
Again, aligning us with al-Assad...the lesser of two great evils...would
have been the right thing to do as al-Assad was the man whom the
Syrian people overwhelmingly voted for in a U.N. monitored and deemed
"fair election." And even while he saw both himself and his government
having to face its own internal problems...problems that included
an accusation that dated back to August 2013 when he supposedly gassed
certain factions of his own people, something al-Assad continues to
deny claiming that it was the “supposed rebels” themselves who did
the gassing as a means by which to discredit him in the eyes of the world...as
well as seeing Syria's altercations with Israel increasing especially
in the what became ISIS held areas along Syria's border with
Israel...yet the majority of Syrians saw in Bashar al-Assad someone who at
least understand the dangers posed by both the “supposed rebels”
and islamic extremist groups like ISIS...a common enemy we now all
face to one degree or another.
And with a fair amount of ISIS fighters actually masquerading as
rebels...rebels whose goal was and remains to not only overthrow
al-Assad and his government, but to turn Syria into yet another
islamic state...the stage was set and the players
were in place...all the “supposed rebels” needed was
external support of the monetary and military kind...support they knew they could
garner from one of their own.
And so these “supposed rebels” got that much needed
support courtesy of then President Obama who, in 2011, started laying
out what eventually became a truly inane and dysfunctional strategy
for his hopefully defeating al-Assad's government forces while at the
same time he started dabbling with ISIS a bit, who by this time was quietly starting to make
inroads into Syria. And Obama's so called strategy, I believe, was
deliberately designed to not only cause more regional
problems...which it did...but was a strategy that saw the Syrian
people being the ones who paid the price not just in blood but in
their country being almost totally destroyed.
And all this was set in motion
with Obama's 2012 “red line” in
the sand fiasco...a “red line” al-Assad supposedly
crossed and which Obama did nothing of substance about...a fiasco
that once again saw Obama “leading from behind” as he
turned what was a game of words into a game of inaction...a game
that now years later has
serious ramifications where Democrat miscreants and misguided and/or
misinformed Republicans have been publicly calling our president to
task for his supposedly deserting an ally.
Deserting an ally I think not for the Trump naysayers refuse to
understand that it was not Donald Trump who got us involved in
Syria's mess, and that while the YPG Kurds were indeed an ally in the
fight against ISIS, there is more to these Kurds motives than appears on
the surface. How so...because the Kurds end game was, still is, and
will always be to have their own autonomous state even if it's at the
expense of using others...including the Peshmerga Kurds as well as
the U.S.
Do I frown on the Kurds wanting a homeland...no. Do I
approve of their every action used regarding said want... no. But
people need to understand that the Kurds... technically ethnic
Iranians...are a divided people with most being sunni muslim with the minority being sh'ia muslim, along with a small scattering of Assyrian
Christians, Yzidi, and other minorities encompassing the whole. And
that split itself is quite telling as the Syrian and
Turkish Kurds are for the most part sunni muslim...the more
ideological extreme of the muslim sects. But more importantly is that
the YPG Kurds in Syria and Turkey are not the Peshmerga Kurds of Iraq, as
in the Kurds who helped us topple Saddham Hussein and who were the
northern front in our invasion of Iraq. Nor are the YPG Kurds in Syria and
Turkey the Kurds who helped us in our, albeit failed, attempt to try
and dissuade Saddham Hussein from aligning himself and Iraq with
Russia back in the 1990s.
Simply, the Kurds in Turkey and Syria have been for many decades
at odds with the Iraqi Peshmerga Kurds for they see them as not only
an ideological enemy but an enemy who just might in the end be the ones
who secure a Kurdish state instead of them.
But why the rift between these two ethnically same
groups...because the Kurds in Syria...as in the YPG Kurds...are the Syrian
wing of the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers' Party) which is the
separatist group based in both Turkey and Iraq who continue to not
only support but instigate acts of terrorism inside Turkey. And it's
the PKK, a U.S. State Department designated terrorist group, who,
since 1984, has been involved in an actual armed conflict with the
Turks that to date has resulted in the death of some 40,000 people,
all in the name of achieving an independent Kurdish state by their
trying to force Turkey into giving up some of its own land. Also,
it's these YPG Kurds who comprise the now Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic
Forces, the very group who was lackadaisical in finishing off the
last ISIS enclave in Syria as they had promised to do, believing that
to do so would then halt the arms and monies we were supplying them
with. Thankfully, President Trump made sure they finished the
promised job or be forced to face the consequences of their
game playing inactions...which it now seems they're indeed facing.
In other words, these YPG Kurds proved themselves to not really
be our friend let alone a true ally but an ally using us and our
resources in their quest for an autonomous state, and this is why
President Trump did what he did, and rightly so. That and the fact
that suddenly the YPG Kurds in Syria started claiming that they no longer
were asking for statehood but simply that they needed a U.S. military
presence in Syria to deter a Turkish invasion. But if that need was true...as
in wanting our help in protecting their own people...they would have broken their ties
with the militant PKK, something they still have not done and probably never will do. And
besides, it's our very presence in Syria that has drawn islamists
like ISIS and other assorted extremists into the region with their
hope of forcing the U.S. into a Holy War...a Holy War they envision us
losing...a Holy War they believe would see the Levant coming to
fruition.
So to say that President Trump has abandoned the Kurds is simply not true for the YPG Kurds are not the more loyal Peshmerga Kurds of Iraq,
nor did Trump turn what was an internal civil war into an ongoing and
ever so sad humanitarian crisis. That lays now as it always has at the
feet of Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his empty “red line”
threat coupled with his previous disaster, as in the “Arab
Spring.” And also not to be forgetten is
that in September 2015, again on Obama's watch, Russia entered the
Syrian conflict thereby shifting the balance of power away from Obama's
backed “supposed rebels” in
favor of al-Assad and his government forces, while at the same time
Obama, at least as a diversion, shifted his focus to ISIS which by
now had made significant inroads into Syria. And it was ISIS' taking control of
large areas of Syria, especially in its northern regions, that led to us
building airfields and military bases in Syria's
northeastern quadrant, thus solidifying our alliance with the YPG Kurds.
And all the above stated actions
together drew us into not only a place we should never
have been in, but had Obama now turning us into a formally recognized
combatant of Bashar al-Assad when on April 7, 2017 he ordered direct U.S.
missile strikes on Syria's Shayrat Airbase. And it's gone downhill
ever since.
So where do we stand as I now write this? For starters we know
that President Trump has said that U.S. troops along the
Turkish-Syrian border were positioned there only to conduct joint patrols
with Turkey as part of a way to reassure Ankara that separatist
Kurdish fighters would not use said area to launch attacks on Turkey.
Mission accomplished there, however, Turkey has now chosen to
attack the Kurds via the very same area. We also know that
immediately after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw
U.S. troops from said area that Russian forces again moved in to
greatly expand their Syrian military presence...they desperately want the
Port at Tartus after all...and that the YPG Kurds then looked to
Bashir al-Assad for help, which they got, thus basically returning
Syria to al-Assad's control which in turn now changes the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East... but that's for my next article.
And while the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces themselves
requested and agreed to what became a cease-fire brokered by the U.S.
and Turkey...a ceasefire that now extends from Tal Abyad to Ras
al-Ain...how exactly was this ceasefire brokered? Last Thursday,
Vice-President Mike Pence along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
met with Turkey's President Recip Erdogan to arrange for a five-day
ceasefire that would allow the Kurds time to withdraw from the now
anything but “safe zone” along the Turkey/Syria border as
well as seeing the U.S. work with the Kurdish forces toobtain an “orderly
withdraw” from the disputed area in exchange for Trump's
pulling back on economic sanctions against Turkey. And if all goes as
agreed to then the ceasefire would hopefully become permanent.
However, even the best of intentions come with caveats what with Turkey making it clear that they
would not be withdrawing from areas they believe to be
rightfully theirs or Syria's. Also, the Turks raised the question of
who will be the future holders of the Syrian city of Kobani, a city
currently under Kurdish control. And know that as I write
this, the now day old ceasefire sees limited fighting, drone strikes,
and artillery shelling flaring up along the border with smaller
clashes elsewhere. And of course each side blames the other as we sit
and wait hoping that all calms down so that a true and
lasting ceasefire can take hold.
But the bottom line as far as U.S. involvement in Syria boils down
to this...our military involvement in Syria's civil war began in
earnest in 2014 with the siege of Kobani, a Kurdish town surrounded by ISIS fighters. So instead of doing the right thing
Obama deliberately aligned us with the “supposed rebels” many of whom
were ISIS fighters in disguise, and formed an alliance with the YPG
Kurds... Kurd allies with their own agenda via their ongoing direct
connections to the PKK...remember the PKK is a U.S. designated
terrorist group...as well as the YPG Kurds having “cordial relations”
with both the Russians and the Iranians. And not to be forgotten is
that at the same time Obama got us into the Syria mess negotiations were
well underway regarding his infamous Iranian nuclear deal, meaning in
no way did he want to upset the sensibilities of the Iranians
themselves who were now also making silent inroads into Syria.
Simply, our involvement in Syria lays directly at the feet of
Barack HUSSEIN Obama not with President Trump as the Democrats claim.
The reality is that President Trump is only trying to get us out of a
battle that is not now nor ever was something we needed to be
involved in. We are caught in the middle of what was always a civil
war of sorts between two of our allies, both of whom are tenuous allies at
best. And yet they both have one thing in common...they both
pulled us in the wrong direction. Hence, President Trump to the
rescue...if only his naysayers would put politics aside and see just
that.
Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, Democrats...In the Middle of Their Own Minefield.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22nd, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political
Radio,RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig
Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'The U.S. in Syria...Who's to Blame and Why'; Democrats...In the Middle of Their Own Minefield'; and important news of the day.
