The Gathering Storm
May 1, 2008
A possible Israel-Syria peace agreement brokered by the Turkish suffered an apparent set-back when the Syrians said it would not sever ties with Iran and Hezbollah as part of any deal.
Syrian analyst Dr. Samir Taqi said in a television interview that, "it would be naive to think Syria will neglect or abandon its strategic alliances that do not stem from the Arab-Israeli conflict." Taqi is said to be well- connected to Syrian authorities. The comment comes after Israel signaled its willingness to give up the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. In return, Israel wanted Syria to stop arming Hezbollah and helping Iran. Both, of course, advocate the destruction of the Jewish state.
As reported earlier in the week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in the midst of a swing through South Asia to finalize plans for a massive oil pipeline and, perhaps more importantly, nurture a few useful relationships in the region. The trip has apparently borne fruit as evidenced by a statement from India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menonin in support of Iran's nuclear program.
Following discussions about the $7.5b pipeline, among other things, the Secretary said "Iran has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy while fulfilling her various obligations, and that the right way to do that is through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to assure the world that she is fulfilling her obligations." The comment comes after the U.S. urged India to take a hard line with Iran and pressure it to abandon its nuclear program and cut off funding for the terrorist activities.
Finally, regular readers of this e-mail have known all too well what the State Department got around to issuing in a report yesterday : Venezuela and Iran are increasingly cooperative and pose a growing threat to U.S. interests. Venezuela's deepening relationships with Iran, Cuba, and Columbian terrorist organizations were cited among many growing threats.
Venezuela's ambassador to the U.S., Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, said, "The accusations are mostly motivated by political disagreements...the U.S. decided for political reasons they are going to name a country, and then try and collect information to support their thesis. It is almost ridiculous."
