Yep, you read that headline right. No snark here. Wikileaks released a report claiming that Israeli and Kurdish Fighters destroyed the Iranian Nuclear Facility where weapons were being developed
According to Haaretz:
The mega-leaks website, WikiLeaks, has partnered with the hackers cooperative Anonymous, to publish internal emails of the American strategic intelligence company Stratfor. In one of the hacked emails, Stratfor officials discuss information obtained from one of their sources who reports that Israeli commandos, in cooperation with Kurdish fighters, have destroyed Iranian nuclear installations.....
....In one of the emails from November 2011, Startfor officials discuss the explosion at an Iranian missile base near Tehran and quote a source who "was asked what he thought of reports that the Israelis were preparing a military offensive against Iran. Response: I think this is a diversion. The Israelis already destroyed all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks ago."
One company analyst responded dismissively to the possibility of an Israeli attack having already taken place, asking: "How and when did the Israelis destroy the infra on the ground?"
According to Wikileaks there is much more too this story, involving Oil prices, military alliances and so forth with regards to Russia, the E.U. and India.
Again, this is an unverified report. HOWEVER, in any case it boxes Iran in a serious way. If they act on or accept this report, it means they acknowledge that they were indeed developing a nuclear weapon in a direct contradiction to their claims of the opposite. IF however, they deny this happened and that there was simply an attack on a Revolutionary Guard base then they are admitting to the world that Israeli and Kurdish forces were able to penetrate their most secure compound and wreck havoc. So much for their bellicose threats of retaliation, not too mention what message this sends to the Iranian People.
It will be interesting what Julian Assange says this afternoon when the documents are fully released.
In the email, an Israeli intelligence source was asked about Defense Minister Ehud Barak's comment "the more the merrier" following the mysterious explosion that killed at least 17 people at an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps base near Tehran in November 2011. At the time, Iran claimed the blast was an accident, but US blogger Richard Silverstein said that Israel was the mastermind.
"I think this is a diversion. The Israelis already destroyed all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks ago," said the Israeli source. "The current 'let's bomb Iran' campaign was ordered by the EU leaders to divert the public attention from their at home financial problems."....Stratfor - the company who's email has been hacked said the following:
Some of the emails being published "may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic," the company statement said.According to the leaked emails, Europe and China would suffer from an Israeli attack on Iran (according to wikileaks) but that the Saudis and the Russians would benefit greatly. One can see the Saudi's but the Russians?
Again, this is an unverified report. HOWEVER, in any case it boxes Iran in a serious way. If they act on or accept this report, it means they acknowledge that they were indeed developing a nuclear weapon in a direct contradiction to their claims of the opposite. IF however, they deny this happened and that there was simply an attack on a Revolutionary Guard base then they are admitting to the world that Israeli and Kurdish forces were able to penetrate their most secure compound and wreck havoc. So much for their bellicose threats of retaliation, not too mention what message this sends to the Iranian People.
It will be interesting what Julian Assange says this afternoon when the documents are fully released.
The Russians would benefit because they are a major oil exporter. Just as the Saudis would benefit from the decreased supply in the world market, so too would the Russians. It would also presumably benefit Putin politically because he would be able to point to "western interference" and use that as a rallying cry as he becomes more and more unpopular at home.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to engage in some morning armchair analysis. If I'm crazy, feel free to try to tell me that:
ReplyDeleteTrue, false, or somewhere in the middle, the most evident benificiary of releasing this claim is Wikileaks and Friends.
If I read this right, effectively, someone told someone at Stratfor something. No pictures, no top-secret documents, they heard a rumor. Stratfor discussed it, not entirely sold.
Wikileaks is, however, quite capable of making this the crazier left's accepted narrative. Once the narrative has been accepted, all aggressive moves and statements on Iran's part become, in their eyes, desperate attempts of a defeated and harmless nation to look tough.
All concern about the Iran nuclear program on the part of the United States and Israel becomes cynical war-mongering by people who know the program was destroyed, but wish to invade Iran.
This all neatly ties into the version of reality that the Wikileaks aficionados of the world already prefer.
Depending on what they've actually got, I might be swayed to think they're on to something, but at the moment I'm just raising my eyebrows (can't do a single one, alas), and drawling, "Reeeeaaaallly?"
Makabit, that is a great comment. I agree 1000%.
DeleteYep... it is all speculation but it is interesting... At least worth the discussion.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
Nobody should be surprised that officials at Stratfor were talking about this. Everybody is talking about this. And I don't think that many people know what the hell is going on. What I find distressing is that everyone is talking about who will strike, when it will happen, which countries will benefit, and the political implications for the Obama and the GOP. What nobody is talking about is what the Iranian and the American people want. And nobody is talking about how to stop this from happening.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen this before.