William Kern, from our “competing” site “Worldmeets.US” reports on an August 29 article in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, how “the Dutch intelligence service has halted a very successful operation to ’sabotage’ Iran’s weapons program due to an imminent American attack that would have put its activities and personnel at risk.”
(I say “competing” in a friendly way, because I translate Dutch and Spanish articles for Worldmeets.US’ competition, WatchingAmerica.com)
Anyway, I found the story very interesting and somewhat alarming. While I found no updates in the Dutch press over the weekend, I did find that there is an awful lot of “chatter” on the subject in Dutch blogs.
The following are some translated passages from one of those blogs.
The site “Argusoog” reports in detail on “Operation Brimstone” from a few weeks ago, a joint U.S., U.K. and French naval exercise in the North Atlantic, “as preparation for a naval blockade against Iran, which will probably lead to war in the Persian Gulf.”
It also reports:
At the end of May, the U.S. Senate accepted legislation where it was proposed to block the Persian Gulf. This would under international law be seen as a declaration of war. We can see this as intimidation to elicit an attack from Iran. As today’s news in De Telegraaf tells us, it looks like NATO itself will initiate the attack…Would the present administration in Washington attack Iran? Before November 4, when a new president will be elected?
The post then discusses recent U.S.-Russia tensions:
The recent entry into the Black Sea of 15 NATO navy ships, with an additional 15 ships on the way. Russia’s recent initiative to send its naval ships to the Mediterranean, where the Russians now have a naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus.
Venezuela’s plans to shortly receive the visit of a Russian fleet, coinciding with the visit of Russian president Medvedev.
Russia’s declaration that it will arm its ship-launched ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads as a response to the U.S. building of the “missile shield” in Europe and NATO’s involvement in its conflict with Georgia.
The Belgian publication HLN.Be in its Flemish edition reports tomorrow on Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez giving Russia the “green light” for the future transit of Russian military ships and aircraft via Venezuelan territorial waters and airspace. Chavez reportedly pointed to the “strategic alliance” between his country and Russia.
According to the publication, Chavez says:
Russia is a strategic partner of Venezuela, and everyone needs to know this…If Russian aircraft need a Venezuelan airport to refuel, they are welcome.
Either the Dutch press is being overly alarmist and sensationalist, or we have been too engrossed in our presidential races and, just very recently, too focused on the immediate and rising threat of hurricane Gustav, to notice other rising threats and dangers.
For future translations of such Dutch and other European press reports, keep an eye on WatchingAmerica.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.