A rare glimpse into the inner workings of the American empire in the Middle East

As four former diplomats testify, the U.S. foreign policy elite still aims to dominate and control the Middle East for its oil and its strategic location. Iraq, Turkey, Kurdistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia – these are all just chips in the struggle for power by the country with the largest army in the whole globe | EDWARD HUNT* with additional graphics and captions by TS.

U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on December 14, 2017. Its agenda was “To receive testimony on U.S. policy and strategy in the Middle East.” | C-SPAN

(January 19) – In recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, four former U.S. diplomats provided remarkably candid commentary on recent U.S. involvement in the Middle East, revealing a number of the most closely guarded secrets of U.S. diplomacy.

Destabilization – US weapon in energy war in Ukraine and the Middle East

Is the USA fueling crises as negotiation tactics? The US is doing its best to estrange the EU from Russia to get the upper hand in a free trade deal, and also, to manipulate European countries into buying America’s relatively more expensive natural gas.

By MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA*

The TTIP and Ukraine

(Oct. 8) – The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a Euro-Atlantic free trade agreement that is the subject of ongoing negotiations between the US and the EU. The deadline for finalizing the TTIP free trade agreement is in 2015. Its goal is to create what is referred to as the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) and to cement the European Union with the United States as one supranational trading bloc.

Truth about Israel’s latest war on Gaza: the energy rush

Israel’s war on Gaza has little to do with missiles or rockets fired by Hamas; the fact is Israel is after the vast natural gas reserves in the tiny strip. The zionist thieves want to lay their grubby hands on it. Hamas is seen as an impediment to this grand larceny, hence the brutal war to eliminate the resistance movement.

By CATHERINE SHAKDAM

The US official Geological Survey estimates that from Gaza’s coast to southern Turkey the eastern Mediterranean holds 122 trillion cubic feet of gas, comparable to the reserves of Iraq.

London, crescent-online.net (July 21) – Israel has deployed its media machine, telling the world that it has “the right to defend itself“ against foreign aggression, arguing that no country should ever be made to tolerate systematic terror. Under international law such narrative holds no legal ground as Israel has been de facto occupying Gaza, rendering null and void the notion of Gaza as a foreign entity; little has been said of Israel’s real motives however.

To quickly settle Israel’s argument that it legally and morally can and should defend itself against any aggression coming from Gaza, it is important to understand that the Gaza strip is not under international law a sovereign state; it is occupied land, therefore Israel cannot declare war on the people of Gaza, rather it owes its people protection.

War and natural gas: The Israeli invasion and Gaza’s offshore gas fields

Five years ago, Israel invaded Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead”.

The following article was first published by Global Research in January 2009 at the height of the Israeli bombing and invasion under Operation Cast Lead.

In the wake of the invasion, Palestinian gas fields were de facto confiscated by Israel in derogation of international law

A year following “Operation Cast Lead”,  Tel Aviv announced the discovery of  the Leviathan natural gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean “off the coast of Israel.”

IDF’s Gaza assault is to control Palestinian gas, avert Israeli energy crisis

Israel’s defence minister has confirmed that military plans to “uproot Hamas“ are about dominating Gaza’s gas reserves, NAFEEZ AHMED writes in the London, UK Guardian.

The US official Geological Survey estimates that from Gaza’s coast to southern Turkey the eastern Mediterranean holds 122 trillion cubic feet of gas, comparable to the reserves of Iraq.

(9 July 2014 19.14 BST) – Yesterday, Israeli defence minister and former Israeli Defence Force (IDF) chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon announced that Operation Protective Edge marks the beginning of a protracted assault on Hamas. The operation “won’t end in just a few days,” he said, adding that “we are preparing to expand the operation by all means standing at our disposal so as to continue striking Hamas.”