Netanyahu’s Faulty Case to the U.S. Congress

Israeli Prime Minister  one true idol is Winston Churchill, Great Britain’s standard-bearer during the Second World War and a man that history has commonly credited with being one of the most impressive and rhetorically gifted statesmen of the 20th century. In fact, Netanyahu’s affinity for Churchill is so well-renowned that House Speaker John Boehner – the man who extended Bibi an invitation to speak at a joint meeting of Congress on the Iranian nuclear negotiations – reportedly gave the Israeli Prime Minister a bust of the former British Conservative Party leader as a gift before his address.

Image Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By the time that Netanyahu finished delivering his speech to Congress on Tuesday, March 3, he shared a special bond with his icon: Like Winston Churchill before him, Netanyahu has addressed the United States Congress on three separate occasions. And, for all the controversy and politics that surrounded the roughly hour-long address to hundreds of U.S. lawmakers and hundreds of additional guests, Netanyahu’s third speech was a highly “Churchillian” effort. The prime minister was passionate throughout his address, seemingly humbled by being greeted so warmly as he walked to the lectern, and absolutely satisfied that his central message was heard across the United States: Iran is such a dangerous and unpredictable regime that even the most rudimentary of nuclear weapons programs on Iranian soil is a bridge to far for the State of Israel.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Islamic State

Nigeria’s home-grown Boko Haram group, newly weakened by a multinational force that has dislodged it from a score of northeastern towns, reportedly pledged formal allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Bombs kill dozens in Nigerian city of Maiduguri(0:44)

Blasts in Nigeria's Maiduguri target busy markets and a bus station. (Reuters)

The pledge to IS came in an Arabic audio message with English subtitles alleged to have come from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and posted Saturday on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence monitoring service.

A Middle Eastern Balance of Power Emerges

The battle lines of the Middle East are changing. The chaotic force of the Islamic State has pushed the region's major powers — Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran — to rethink decades-old relationships and regional strategies. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Syrian-Iraqi battleground, where a sectarian proxy battle has been the incubator for an emerging balance of power. Though it may look messy on the surface, this dynamic falls in line with the United States' long-term strategy for the region.

Many have criticized Washington's decision not to take a more direct role in containing the violence in Syria or to rely on local forces to combat the Islamic State in Iraq. But the United States' global geopolitical imperatives necessitate a balance of power in the Middle East in which regional actors shoulder more of the burden of managing their problems. Washington's refusal to be dragged back into another ground war in the Middle East is slowly bearing fruit, as Turkey is cautiously re-entering its former sphere of influence along its southern flank, counterbalancing the Saudi-Iranian competition that has fueled much of the violence destabilizing the Middle East.

ISIS Burn Iraqi Oil Fields To Hold Off Iraqi Offensive

Thick black smoke billowing from oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit is obstructing Shi'ite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers attempts to drive ISIS from the Sunni Muslim city after militants set them on fire. Reuters reports a witness and a military source said Islamic State fighters ignited the fire at the Ajil oil field to shield themselves from attack by Iraqi military helicopters. As we noted previously, the battle for Tikrit is key as it will determine whether and how fast the Iraqi forces can advance further north and attempt to win back Mosul, the biggest city under Islamic State rule.

As Reuters reports,

Islamic State militants have set fire to oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit to obstruct an assault by Shi'ite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers trying to drive them from the Sunni Muslim city and surrounding towns, a witness said.

Το ατόπημα, το διάβημα και ο ρόλος των ΗΠΑ

Σαφές πρόβλημα επιθετικής συμπεριφοράς, αλλά και αμηχανία έναντι της νέας ελληνικής κυβέρνησης, διαβλέπουν ελληνικές διπλωματικές πηγές αποτιμώντας την ένταση των τελευταίων ημερών μεταξύ Αθήνας και Αγκυρας. Ωστόσο το στοιχείο που προσδίδει ιδιαιτερότητα είναι η εκτίμηση για την αναζωπύρωση της διαμάχης μεταξύ πολιτικών και στρατιωτικών, ίσως για πρώτη φορά, μετά την κυριαρχία του Ταγίπ Ερντογάν στη γειτονική χώρα.



Το ελληνικό διάβημα που επιδόθηκε στο τουρκικό υπουργείο Εξωτερικών την περασμένη Δευτέρα από τον Ελληνα πρέσβη Κυριάκο Λουκάκη, το οποίο αφορούσε τη γνωστή ΝΟΤΑΜ που «διχοτομούσε» το Αιγαίο και παραβίαζε κυριαρχικά δικαιώματα της Ελλάδας, ίσως για πρώτη φορά μετά δεκαετίες δεν πετάχθηκε στον κάλαθο των αχρήστων, αλλά συνάντησε την κατανόηση της Αγκυρας. Σύμφωνα με έγκυρες πηγές, το τουρκικό ΥΠΕΞ δέχθηκε το ελληνικό διάβημα και περίπου θεωρήθηκε ως βάση συζήτησης για την οικοδόμηση ενός νέου μοντέλου Μέτρων Οικοδόμησης Εμπιστοσύνης (ΜΟΕ) μεταξύ των δύο χωρών.