New trends in the Middle East

A couple of spy stories today at the news. One is placed at Balochistan (and affects Iran and Pakistan) and the other at Lebanon (but has Israel as main affected).


Balochistan.

Let's first see what happens in Balochistan. This country is divided between Iran and Pakistan. The Balochis are a distinct people speaking a distinct language but was not lucky in historical destiny and ended up split between the British and Persian empires. It is recognized as stateless by the UNPO (an popular parallel of the UN founded on ethnicities, not states).

Map (from Wikipedia) showing the main nations of Pakistan. Balochis are in pink.

The news is, as you may know, that two successive attacks have taken place in Western Balochistan (Balochistan-Sistan province of Iran): a mass-murdering bomb against a Shia temple, attributed to US agents by the Iranians, followed by a suicidal attack with automatic guns against an electoral office of Iran's President, M. Ahmadinejad. Both took place at Zahedan, a Balochi city which is capital of the province, placed just near the Pakistani and Afghan border.

It is interesting maybe the claim by Iran that US spies have been behind these attacks, even if they sound to the usual propaganda on first sight. This is because of the analysis that Pepe Escobar have been making at Asia Times Online on the US interests in this country. According to him, the USA may well be demolishing Pakistan and wants an independent Balochistan to become its main regional hub, notably for the gasoduct leading, via Afghanistan into Central Asian riches.

If so, the USA might well be targeting not only Eastern "Pakistani" Balochistan but also Western "Iranian" one, adding this nation to the several that are being used (add Kurds and Iranian Arabs) to weaken, and maybe break to pieces, literally, the troublesome fundamentalist Iran.


Lebanon smashes Zionist spy network.

In an apparently distinct development, the Lebanese armed forces have been these days arresting more than 40 alleged spies of Israel, which would belong to at least a dozen different networks. These do not belong to any specific faction or faith, and Israel has not denied its implication, so it does seem it is for real and not just a political campaign. The operation is still ongoing and it seems that it could include top political figures as well.

This may well have destroyed all or most of the Zionist ability to spy and interfere in Lebanon: it is a huge blow to Israel. This kind of large network needs many years, maybe decades, to be built and its annihilation certainly makes Israel significatively less powerful.

Lebanese authorities claim that the operation was possible because of a "technological breakthrough". Or in other words: they or someone else has probably broken into the Zionist headquarters' computers and accessed top secret data - not just a piece but all or nearly so (and probably not just limited to Lebanon operations - we will surely read more on Mossad networks elsewhere soon, I guess).

The question is: who has managed to do such a feat? Probably not Lebanon itself, not Hizbollah either. Nor it's likely an achievement of Syria or Iran, much less besieged Hamas. Who then? Two main candidates seem more obvious: Russia and China. Both have advanced technology and both could have interest in undermining US influence in the area (and hence Israel's). Russia is probably still angered at Israel messing in Georgia, while China has wide and growing interests in the Middle East, that clash with those of the USA and Israel.

But Russia is as dominated by a pro-Zionist oligarchy as it is the USA and China has in the past benefited from the manipulative games of Israel, which sold Patriot anti-missile technology to Beijing not so long ago. This does not exclude them totally but certainly opens the array of options.

I have at least two other candidates and they are surprising ones: the USA and France. Sounds unlikely but the USA might have taken seriously the "two states solution" and may be upset at Netanyahu's and other Zionists' maneouvers, including the current rejection to stop expansion of settlements in the West Bank or the "treacherous" genocidal campaign against Gaza in the presidential interlude some months ago, which may have irked even people within the Zionist mafia itself (as have only caused increased opposition and awareness against Israel).

France is even more unlikely, notably with Sarkozy (of Jewish ancestors himself) taking such an outstanding pro-Zionist stand as of late. But things are not always what they appear and France has recently shown increased interest in West Asia (where Lebanon and Syria are their "natural" allies).

There are even more potential candidates: Latin American nations like Venezuela or Bolivia (who are tired of fascist-zionist attacks on their soil), Turkey (whose regional policy has been once and again undermined by the Wahsington-Tel Aviv tandem), Pakistan (why not? reasons they do have), North Korea, Saudi Arabia (most unlikely, IMO) and even Qatar (main "pro-democracy" player in the Arab League).

It is a most intriguing story and I guess we will soon know, at least by rumor, who is most likely behind this attack against Israel as regional power - and maybe even why.
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