Israeli attack on Iran is likely, concludes Panetta
For the first time in nearly two decades of escalating tensions over Iran s nuclear program, world leaders are genuinely concerned that an Israeli military attack on the Islamic Republic could be imminent an action that many fear might trigger a wider war, terrorism and global economic havoc.
High-level foreign dignitaries, including the UN chief and the head of the American military, have stopped in Israel in recent weeks, urging leaders to give the diplomatic process more time to work. But US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has reportedly concluded that an Israeli attack on Iran is likely in the coming months.
Despite harsh economic sanctions and international pressure, Iran is refusing to abandon its nuclear program, which it insists is purely civilian, and threatening Israel and the West. It s beginning to cause jitters in world capitals and financial markets.
“Of course I worry that there will be a military conflict,” Britain s deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said in a magazine interview last week. He said Britain was “straining every single sinew to resolve this through a combination of pressure and engagement,” rather than military action.
Is Israel bluffing? Israeli leaders have been claiming Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons since the early 1990s, and defense officials have issued a series of ever-changing estimates on how close Iran is to the bomb. But the saber-rattling has become much more direct and vocal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently draws parallels between modern-day Iran and Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust.
On Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed during a high-profile security conference that there is a “wide global understanding” that military action may be needed.
“There is no argument about the intolerable danger a nuclear Iran (would pose) to the future of the Middle East, the security of Israel and to the economic and security stability of the entire world,” Barak said.
A day earlier, visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implored Israel to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff.
Israel views Iran as a mortal threat, citing Iranian calls for Israel s destruction, Iran s support for anti-Israel militant groups and Iranian missile technology capable of hitting Israel.
On Friday, Iran s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called Israel a “cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut,” and boasted of supporting any group that will challenge the Jewish state.
When faced with such threats, Israeli has a history of lashing out in the face of world opposition. That legacy that includes the game-changing 1967 Middle East war, which left Israel in control of vast Arab lands, a brazen 1981 airstrike that destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor, and a stealthy 2007 airstrike in Syria that is believed to have destroyed a nuclear reactor in the early stages of construction.
Armed with a fleet of ultramodern U.S.-made fighter planes and unmanned drones, and reportedly possessing intermediate-range Jericho missiles, Israel has the capability to take action against Iran too, though it would carry grave risks.
It would require flying over Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria or Turkey. It is uncertain whether any of these Muslim countries would knowingly allow Israel to use their airspace.
With targets some 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away, Israeli planes would likely have the complicated task of refueling in flight. Iran s antiquated air force, however, is unlikely to provide much of a challenge.
Many in the region cannot believe Israel would take such a step without a green light from the United States, its most important ally. That sense is deepened by the heightened stakes of a U.S. election year and the feeling that if Israel acts alone, the West would not escape unscathed.
The U.S. has been trying to push both sides, leading the charge for international sanctions while also pressing Israel to give the sanctions more time. In recent weeks, both the U.S. and European Union have imposed harsher sanctions on Iran s oil sector, the lifeblood of its economy, and its central bank. Israeli officials say they want the sanctions to be imposed faster and for more countries to join them.
Last week, The Associated Press reported that officials in Israel all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Iran were concerned that the measures, while welcome, were constraining Israel in its ability to act because the world expected the effort to be given a chance.
Even a limited Israeli operation could well unleash regionwide fighting. Iran could launch its Shihab 3 missiles at Israel, and have its local proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, unleash rockets. Israel s military intelligence chief, Aviv Kochavi, warned last week that Israel s enemies possess some 200,000 rockets.
While sustained rocket and missile fire would certainly make life uncomfortable in Israel, Barak himself has said he believes casualties would be low suggesting it would be in the hundreds.
Iran might also try to attack Western targets in the region, including the thousands of U.S. forces based in the Gulf with the 5th Fleet.
An Israeli attack might have other unintended consequences. A European diplomat based in Pakistan, permitted to speak only under condition of anonymity, said that if Israel attacks, Islamabad will have no choice but to support any Iranian retaliation. That raises the specter of putting a nuclear-armed Pakistan at odds with Israel, widely believed to have its own significant nuclear arsenal. To some, the greatest risk is to the moribund world economy.
Analysts believe an Israeli attack would cause oil prices to spike, since global markets so far have largely dismissed the Israeli threats and not “price in” the threat. According to one poll conducted by the Rapidan Group, an energy consulting firm in Bethesda, Maryland, prices would surge by $23 a barrel. The price of oil settled Friday at $97.84 a barrel.
“Traders don t believe there s anything but bluster going on,” said Robert McNally, president of Rapidan and an energy adviser to former President George W. Bush. “A potential Israeli attack on Iran is different than almost every scenario that we ve seen before.”
McNally said Iran could rattle oil markets by targeting oil fields in southern Iraq or export facilities in Saudi Arabia or Qatar and withhold sales of its own oil and natural gas from countries not boycotting.
Iran also could attempt to carry out its biggest threat: to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world s oil passes. That could send oil prices soaring beyond $200 a barrel. But analysts note Iran s navy is overmatched.
If a surge in oil prices proved lasting, financial markets would probably plummet on concerns that global economic growth would slow and on the fear that any conflict could worsen and spread.
For the U.S. economy, higher gasoline prices would likely result in lower consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. That could have devastating consequences for an incumbent president seeking re-election.
Nick Witney, former head of the EU s European Defense Agency, said “the political and economic consequences of an Israeli attack would be catastrophic for Europe” since the likely spike in the price of oil alone “could push the entire EU, including Germany, into recession.”
He said this could lead to “messy defaults” by countries like Greece and Italy, and possibly cause a collapse of the already-wobbly euro. Witney, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, added that “the Iranians would probably retaliate against European interests in the region, and conceivably more directly with terrorism aimed at Western countries and societies.”
Oil disruptions or higher oil prices will also dent growth in Asia. China, India, South Korea and Japan all buy substantial amounts of Iranian crude and could face temporary shortages.
China s fast-growing economy, which gets 11 percent of its oil from Iran, has urged all sides to avoid disrupting supplies. Any impact on China s economy, the world s second-largest, could send out global shockwaves if it dented Chinese demand for industrial components and raw materials.
Why is the issue coming to a head with such unfortunate timing, with the U.S. election looming and the global economy hanging by a razor s edge?
The urgency is fueled by a belief in Israel that Iran is moving centrifuges and key installations deep underground by the summer combined with doubts about whether either Israel or the United States have the bunker-busting capacity to act effectively thereafter.
At last week s security conference, Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief, said all of Iran s nuclear installations are still vulnerable to military strikes. In a startling threat, he appeared to contradict assessments of foreign experts and Israeli defense officials that it would be difficult to strike sensitive Iranian nuclear targets hidden deep underground.
American officials acknowledge the current version of its bunker-buster bombs considered the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal may not be able to penetrate Iran s heavily fortified underground facilities. The Pentagon is asking Congress to reprogram about $82 million in order to make the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb more capable.
But U.S. officials also say there are a number of ways to cripple or disable the sites, such as targeting entrance and exit routes to an underground facility, rendering it inaccessible.
Israeli officials at the conference asserted that Iran has already produced enough enriched uranium to eventually build four rudimentary nuclear bombs and in what would be a new twist was even developing missiles capable of reaching the U.S.
Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israel s military intelligence, said the world needed less discussion on the issue. “There is the danger that an escalation could get out of control,” he said. “Israel should go back to what it does best: Shut up.”
PIC spurious drugs: SC directs Punjab govt to submit report
The Supreme Court has directed the Punjab government to submit its report regarding investigation into the deaths caused by spurious drugs.
During the hearing of the spurious drugs case‚ the court also directed the provincial government to submit as to what steps have been taken to avert such incidents in future.
Hearing of the case has been adjourned the till the 13th of this month.
Dera Murad Jamali: Railway track blown up
As per details, unknown miscreants planted explosives material under a bridge to damage the track.
After the incident, law enforcement agencies reached the spot and cordoned off the area.
5 die after eating poisonous food
At least five people died and several others fell unconscious after eating poisonous food in Sohrab Goth area of Karachi.
The affected were shifted to hospital while dead bodies were shifted to the hospital morgue for post-mortem
15 hurt as Milad rallies attacked in two cities
Ten people were injured in the attack on procession in Gujranwala, while five were injured in Khari Shareef, AJK.
The Gujranwala procession, escorted by police, was passing through Thana Baghbanpura area when suddenly a group of people started pelting bricks on the participants from the rooftops and started aerial firing.
Ten people were injured as a result of firing and brick-pelting. The injured were shifted to DHQ Hospital by Rescue 1122, while those with minor injuries were given first aid on the spot. Police reinforcement was called to control the situation. The situation remained tense for hours, with police patrolling all the streets in the area. Several arrests have also been made.
In Khari Shareef, two groups clashed on the issue of making footage of the rally. Police said two people were injured by firing while three were beaten up by clubs. The injured were shifted to District Hospital Mirpur. Police have started search for the accused. The injured accused that aides of PPP’s Minister Ch Arshad targeted PML-N workers.
Dubai Test: England finish at 36-0 in third test
England, chasing a big 324-run target, closed the third day at 36-0 in the third and final Test against Pakistan at Dubai Stadium here on Sunday.
Andrew Strauss (19) and Alastair Cook (15) were at the crease when the stumps were drawn. They need another 288 runs for a win with all ten wickets intact.
Pakistan, leading the series 2-0, made 365 in their second innings.
Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed today
The day began with special prayers and rich tributes paid to martyrs. All activities and transport will come to a standstill when one minute’s silence will be observed throughout the country at 10am.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan have issued special messages in connection with the day.
President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani will address the joint session of the AJK Legislative Assembly and the Council.
PM Gilani will also host a dinner in honour of prominent Kashmiri leaders.
Eight held as police move in on Occupy Wall Street
Police swept through the Washington offshoot of Occupy Wall Street on Saturday, arresting eight people in a day-long raid that virtually shut down the tent colony a stone s throw from the White House.
Some scuffles broke out, but stunned members of Occupy DC otherwise put up little resistance as National Park Service police descended on their sprawling, scruffy encampment in McPherson Square at dawn.
By nightfall, police in riot gear and sanitation workers in white overalls, backed with forklifts and garbage trucks, had taken away dozens of tents, as well as soiled bedding, personal belongings and a few dead rats.
Police arrested seven people for disobeying orders to move or for crossing police lines, and an eighth was taken into custody for hitting and injuring a police officer with a brick, a Park Police spokesman told local media.
“It is a sad day in American history when the small act of occupying public space warrants the heavy-handed response of the federal government,” said Occupy DC in a statement to news media.
“Moving forward, the Occupy movement will not die,” said American University student Mana Aliabadi, 18, to fellow protesters who mustered as much morale as they could in the drizzle outside a police barricade. But it was unclear where the leaderless campaign against economic inequality and corporate power that first erupted in New York s financial district in September would go next.
Occupy DC took root in McPherson Square — in the heart of the K Street lobbying district — on October 1, growing in time to around 100 tents that included a library, a cafeteria, a medical clinic and a teepee.
But while the original Occupy Wall Street and other encampments fell in the face of evictions, protesters in Washington hung on, partly due to the National Park Service bending its no-camping rules and classifying the protest as “a 24-hour vigil.”
Under growing pressure from Republican politicians and local businesses, the federal agency changed tack last week, declaring it would begin strict enforcement at both Occupy DC and a second, less controversial camp nearby.
Dozens of police officers, some on horseback, and with a helicopter overhead, descended on McPherson Square at dawn Saturday. Surrounding streets were sealed off and barricades went up around the park.
“We are not here to evict,” but to verify compliance with the no-camping rules, one police officer told protesters. Those rules define camping as the use of park land for “sleeping activities.”
Protesters complied with a request to take down their “tent of dreams,” a huge blue tarpaulin they provocatively erected Monday over an equestrian statue of Civil War general James McPherson in the heart of the park.
But by mid-morning Saturday, as police slowly swept through the park, quadrant by quadrant, it was clear that any tent with anything inside would be confiscated — sending some occupiers scrambling to pack up their belongings.
Virmeko Scott, 30, was confident the clampdown would not be the end of Occupy DC. “There s going to be more tents down here,” he told AFP by his freshly emptied tent. “They re going to multiply.”
Fellow occupier Melissa Byrne agreed: “We have been evicted, but word is going to get out and we re going to be back stronger than ever.” But passerby Jacqueline Meyers Edlow, a retiree, said the protesters had overstayed their welcome, and that citizens who sympathized with them at first now “want them to get the heck out.”
“I feel they should have been cleared out earlier, because of (the risk of) disease,” she said. “I know of no other country that would have let them stay this long.”
Khar to visit Russia next week
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that Pakistan is actively engaged with other countries diplomatically with respect to emerging situation in Afghanistan.
He said Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will visit Russia next week for talks on bilateral relations and regional situation.
Basit said Pakistan is actively engaged with other countries diplomatically with respect to emerging situation in Afghanistan.
The spokesman said Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani would also visit Qatar from Monday to have discussions with its leadership.
He said on-going process of reconciliation in Afghanistan will come under discussion during Prime Minister Gilani’s visit to Qatar.
Heavy snowfall paralyses Murree
During last 24 hours widespread rain/snow occurred over KPK, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir and isolated rain occurred in Balochistan.
Met officials said that during last 24 hours lowest temperature was recorded in Parachinar -10C, Gupis -07C, Hunza & Kalam -06C, Skardu & Murree -03C.
Snowfall recorded during last 24 hours was, Murree 07inch, Kalam 03 inch and Skaradu 01 inch.
Rainfall during last twenty fours was Malamjabba 30mm Darudyta 25mm Dir24mm Lowe dir 19mm Kakul 15mm Rawallkot Kalam and Balakot 13mm each chitral 11mm nmirkhani 10mm Rawalpindi 09 Islamabad and Mianwali 06mm each
Entry of heavy traffic has been stopped in Murree while all flights have been suspended in Sakardu.
Snowfall season has been continuing since last 2 days due to which many main roads have blocked in upper parts of the country.
After heavy snowfall Chaman’s road contact with whole country has been disconnected. Snowfall is also continuing in upper areas of Azad Kashmir.
