Saturday, March 14, 2015

3/14/15

* Iran Deal Secrets Revealed - by Iran Much is being made of the letter signed by 47 U.S. Senators, all of them Republican, aimed at schooling Iranian leaders in the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

* Iran's sprawling influence drums up sectarian fears in oil-rich Arab neighbors In the wake of Israel's raid on Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981, president Saddam Hussein gathered together his top scientists and generals.

* America is Losing the War Against Sunni Jihadists and Empowering The Shia Caliphate The American strategy against Global Jihad is having the opposite effect of that intended.

* Likud bigwig rules out Netanyahu-Herzog power-sharing arrangement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not agree to share the premiership with Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog in a "rotation government" following the election.

* Hamas' revamped naval commandos could pose a problem for Israel Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas has completed the reconstruction of its naval commando force, consisting of dozens of trained divers, in order to hit strategic sites, Israeli and others', in the Mediterranean Sea.

* Flagging before election, Netanyahu ramps up rhetoric Flagging in opinion polls before Tuesday's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to rally Israeli rightists by casting his centre-left challengers as tools of a global campaign to usurp power.

* Envoy: European Jews 'Bankrupted' by Security Costs Many Jewish bodies in Europe are being bankrupted by the growing need for security measures, the State Department's special envoy on anti-Semitism said on Friday, according to AFP.

* US does not want to see Assad regime 'collapse', taken over by 'extremist elements' The United States does not want to see the chaotic collapse of the Syrian regime, CIA Director John Brennan said on Friday, according to AFP.

* 'No, Putin is not dead,' Kremlin says as rumors go viral on social media A wave of savage mockery broke over President Vladimir Putin across the Internet on Friday, sparked by days of absence from public view, despite official insistence it was business as usual in the Kremlin.

* 'Important gaps' remain in nuclear talks, Kerry says US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program have made progress, but there were still "important gaps" that remain to be sorted.