PERMINTAAN White House $ 500 Juta bagi BANTUAN pemberontak SYRIA . . .

bOLLy ENn - White House pada hari Khamis meminta Kongres untuk setengah bilion dolar dalam bantuan untuk pergi ke arah pejuang pembangkang di Syria berperang dengan rejim baru-baru ini dipilih semula Presiden Bashar Al-Assad.

Sementara itu, Setiausaha Pertahanan Amerika Syarikat Chuck Hagel tlh menga-rahkan Pentagon utk membangunkan pelan yang lebih terperinci utk melatih & melengkapkan pemberontak Syria sederhana, harus Kongres meluluskan pembiayaan yang diminta.

Dalam satu laporan dihantar ke ahli parlimen di Capitol pada hari Khamis, White House meminta $ 500 juta pada bantuan kepada "membantu mempertahankan rakyat Syria, menstabilkan kawasan di bawah kawalan pembangkang & memudahkan penye-diaan perkhidmatan penting, menangani ancaman pengganas & menggalakkan syarat bagi dirundingkan penyelesaian."

Associated Press melaporkan bahawa permintaan dolar berjuta membentuk hanya sebahagian kecil daripada yang lebih besar, operasi $65.8 billion luar negara SMS yang dihantar kepada Kongres bahawa, jika diluluskan, akan membiayai beberapa Pentagon & program Jabatan Negara, dan $ 1 bilion dalam bantuan kpd negara2 bersebelahan dengan Syria.

Wakil Tetap Rusia ke Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Vitaly Churkin dipanggil permintaan itu satu langkah ke arah yang salah, sambil menambah bahawa White House hanya cuba utk menambah bahan api yg lebih kepada api & bukannya mencari penyelesaian politik apabila ia datang kepada konflik Syria.

Churkin menambah bahawa wang yang boleh dibelanjakan untuk sesuatu yang lebih berguna. Komen-komen yang dibuat dalam sidang akhbar PBB.

Ini permintaan terkini oleh pentadbiran untuk bantuan datang semata-mata minggu selepas presiden menggariskan objektif dasar luar semasa ucapan bulan lepas di majlis tamat pengajian Akademi Tentera West Point.

"Sebagai presiden, saya membuat keputusan bahawa kita tdk harus meletakkan tentera Amerika ke tengah2 perang saudara semakin mazhab ini, dan saya percaya bahawa adalah keputusan yang tepat.

Tetapi itu tidak bermakna kita tidak harus membantu rakyat Syria berdiri menentang diktator yang bom dan kebuluran rakyat sendiri, "kata Obama. "Dan dalam membantu orang-orang yang berjuang untuk hak semua orang Syria untuk memilih masa depan mereka sendiri, kami juga menolak balik terhadap peningkatan bilangan pelampau yang mencari tempat yang selamat dalam kekacauan."

"Jadi dgn sumber2 tambahan saya mengumumkan hari ini, kami akan meningkatkan usaha kami untuk menyokong jiran Syria - Jordan dan Lubnan, Turki dan Iraq - kerana mereka berdepan dgn pelarian & menghadapi pengganas bekerja merentasi sempadan Syria."

White House REQUESTs $500 Million to Aid 

Syrian REBELs . . .

The White House on Thursday asked Congress for half-a-billion dollars in aid to go towards opposition fighters in Syria at war with the regime of recently re-elected President Bashar Al-Assad.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the Pentagon to develop more detailed plans to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, should Congress approve the requested funding.

In a report sent to lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday, the White House requested $500 million in aid to "help defend the Syrian people, stabilize areas under opposition control and facilitate the provision of essential services, counter terrorist threats and promote conditions for a negotiated settlement.”

The Associated Press reported that the multimillion dollar request makes up just a fraction of a larger, $65.8 billion overseas operations request sent to Congress that, if approved, would fund a number of Pentagon and State Department programs, as well as $1 billion in assistance to nations adjacent to Syria.

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin called the request a step in the wrong direction, adding that the White House is only trying to add more fuel to the fire instead of seeking a political solution when it comes to the Syrian conflict.

Churkin added that the money could be spent on something more useful. The comments were made during a UN press conference.

This latest request by the administration for aid comes merely weeks after the president outlined his foreign policy objectives during a speech last month at the West Point Military Academy graduation ceremony.

“As president, I made a decision that we should not put American troops into the middle of this increasingly sectarian civil war, and I believe that is the right decision.

But that does not mean we shouldn’t help the Syrian people stand up against a dictator who bombs and starves his own people,” Obama said. “And in helping those who fight for the right of all Syrians to choose their own future, we are also pushing back against the growing number of extremists who find safe haven in the chaos.”

“So with the additional resources I’m announcing today, we will step up our efforts to support Syria’s neighbors - Jordan and Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq - as they contend with refugees and confront terrorists working across Syria’s borders.”

Pemberontak pejuang berdiri di atas imej Presiden terdahulu Syria Hafez al-Assad (dariKanan) dan anaknya hadir Presiden Syria Bashar al-Assad di persimpangan sempadan Kasab dengan Turki, di wilayah barat laut Latakia (Rebels fighter stand on the images of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad (R) and his son present Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Kasab border crossing with Turkey, in the northwestern province of Latakia (AFP Photo/Amr Radwan Al-Homsi)

Pada masa itu, Obama berkata beliau akan "bekerja dgn Kongres utk itu meningkatkan sokongan kepada mereka dlm pembangkang Syria yg menawarkan alternatif terbaik kepada pengganas dan diktator kejam." Kini hanya minggu kemudian, dia muncul untuk telah mengambil langkah pertama untuk mendapatkan pembiayaan tersebut.

Sejak hampir permulaan perang Syria awam yang lebih daripada 3 tahun yang lalu, Parti Republik agresif di Kongres telah mendesak White House untuk mengambil tindakan terhadap Assad, dengan Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) akan sejauh untuk perjalanan ke luar negara untuk bertemu dengan pejuang pemberontak di luar negara.

Yang lain telah mengutuk sebarang maklum balas daripada Washington sama sekali, walaupun, termasuk Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), yang minggu ini mengaitkan membekalkan senjata pejuang di Iraq sebagai dorongan untuk "Jihad Ajaib" ada dicipta pada jam tangan Uncle Sam dan murah.

Tetapi Brian Becker, penyelaras kebangsaan bagi JAWAPAN Gabungan anti-perang, kata kerajaan Amerika Syarikat sedang bermain kedua-dua pihak dengan tindakannya di Syria dan Iraq counteracting satu sama lain.

"Amerika Syarikat nampaknya mempunyai dasar luar yang menderita Skizofrenia," kata Becker dalam temu bual dengan RT. "Mereka berkata mereka menuntut perpaduan di Iraq di belakang kerajaan pusat, yang sedang berjuang apa yang mereka panggil pelampau Islam dari ISIL atau ISIS, dan lagi, pada masa yang sama, mereka membiayai kumpulan-kumpulan ini sama bersenjata di Syria untuk mengambil satu bebas, nasionalis dan kerajaan kerajaan di Syria."

Menurut AP Julie Pace, pegawai White House berkata pentadbiran Obama akan bekerjasama dengan ahli-ahli Kongres dan pemain serantau untuk mencapai kata sepakat dengan apa jenis latihan dan bantuan khususnya akan diberikan kepada pejuang pembangkang oleh Amerika Syarikat.

"Salah satu pilihan yang berpotensi," Pace menulis, "adalah untuk asas wakil Amerika Syarikat di Jordan dan menjalankan latihan di sana."

Becker percaya bahawa wakil Amerika Syarikat di Jordan sedang diselaraskan oleh CIA, iaitu "pembiayaan dan menjadi bahan api perang saudara menggunakan kuasa proksi."

"Apa yang Amerika Syarikat lakukan dan telah lakukan adalah menyalurkan wang, senjata dan banyak lagi alat pekerjaan di rantau yang dianggapnya penting kerana ia kaya dengan sumber," tambah Becker. "Itulah mengenainya."

Bulan lepas, Pentagon dikerahkan lebih daripada 6,000 Marin ke Jordan untuk menjalankan latihan bersama pegawai-pegawai tentera di sana.

At the time, Obama added that he would “work with Congress to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and brutal dictators.” Now only weeks later, he appears to have taken the first steps to securing such funding.

Since nearly the start of the Syrian civil war more than three years ago, hawkish Republicans in Congress have urged the White House to take action against Assad, with Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) going as far as to travel abroad to meet with rebel fighters overseas. Others have condemned any response from Washington altogether, though, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who this week attributed the arming of fighters in Iraq as the impetus for a “jihadist wonderland” there created on Uncle Sam’s watch and dime.

But Brian Becker, national coordinator for the anti-war ANSWER Coalition, says the US government is playing both sides with its actions in Syria and Iraq counteracting each other.

“The United States appears to have a schizophrenic foreign policy,” Becker said in an interview with RT. “They’re saying they demand unity in Iraq behind the central government, which is fighting what they call Islamic extremists from ISIL or ISIS, and yet, at the same time, they’re funding these same armed groups in Syria to take down an independent, nationalist and sovereign government in Syria.”

According to the AP’s Julie Pace, White House officials said the Obama administration would work with members of Congress and regional player to come to terms with what sort of training and assistance in particular would be provided to opposition fighters by the US.

“One potential option,” Pace wrote, “would be to base US personnel in Jordan and conduct the training exercise there.”

Becker believes that US personnel in Jordan being coordinated by the CIA, which is “funding and fueling a civil war using proxy forces.”

“What the US is doing and has been doing is funneling money, guns and more occupation tools in a region that it considers to be vital because it’s resource-rich,” Becker added. “That’s about it.”

Last month, the Pentagon deployed more than 6,000 Marines to Jordan to conduct drills alongside military officials there.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/nx9wd4

ISRAEL berkata PERPECAHAN di IRAQ boleh MEMBAWA kepada KEADAAN Kurdish BEBAS . . .

Ahli-ahli Peshmerga Kurdish meraikan di bandar Kirkuk 24 Jun 2014 (Members of the Kurdish Peshmerga celebrate in the city of Kirkuk June 24, 2014 (Reuters/Ako Rasheed)

bOLLy ENn - Walaupun tentera Iraq perjuangan untuk mengandungi lebih awal ISIS di barat laut negara ini, orang Kurdis telah berjaya menolak pemberontak Sunni. Israel kini secara terbuka menyatakan bahawa sebuah negara Kurdish bebas adalah "kesimpulan diketepikan."

"Iraq adalah berpecah di depan mata kita dan ia akan muncul bahawa penciptaan sebuah negara Kurdish bebas adalah kesimpulan diketepikan," kata Menteri Luar Israel Avigdor Lieberman kepada Setiausaha Negara Amerika Syarikat John Kerry kerana kedua-dua dibincangkan krisis Iraq di Paris pada Khamis.

Presiden Israel Shimon Peres mempunyai mesej yang sama untuk Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama. "Orang Kurdis telah, de facto, yang mencipta negeri mereka sendiri, yang demokratik. Salah satu tanda-tanda sebuah demokrasi adalah pemberian kesaksamaan kepada wanita," kata Peres pada hari Rabu.

Walaupun tentera dari Islam Negeri Iraq dan Levant (ISIS atau ISIL) telah mara ke arah Baghdad ibu negara, tentera Iraq ditinggalkan di bandar Kirkuk. Orang Kurd telah merampas huru-hara untuk mengembangkan wilayah utara autonomi mereka untuk memasukkan bandar strategik.

Selain sedang dipertimbangkan oleh Kurdis sebagai modal sejarah, Kirkuk duduk atas deposit minyak yang besar - satu asas kewangan yang stabil bagi apa-apa kenegaraan mungkin.

"Kirkuk akhirnya akan menghasilkan minyak untuk orang Kurdis," Muhama Khalil, kepala Kurdish jawatankuasa ekonomi di parlimen Iraq, memberitahu Guardian.

"Bagi 70 tahun minyak telah digunakan untuk membeli senjata utk membunuh kami. Akhirnya kita mempunyai minyak sendiri & ia hanya akan menjadi utk orang Kurdis," katanya.

Orang Kurdis kini mengawal hab minyak, dan terdapat banyak laporan bahawa mereka menjual kapal tangki yang penuh dengan minyak ke Israel - sebuah negara yang jiran-jiran Arab mereka mengekalkan memboikot jualan mentah.

Israel menyimpan tenang mengenai hubungannya dengan orang Kurdis, yang dipanggil atas permintaan yang ke-2. Kementerian Luar Israel berkata pada masa ini tidak ada hubungan diplomatik rasmi dengan orang Kurdis tetapi Eliezer Tsafrir - bekas ketua stesen Mossad dalam Kurdis Iraq utara - memberitahu Reuters bahawa "kita akan suka ia menjadi di tempat terbuka, mempunyai kedutaan di sana, mempunyai hubungan yang normal. Tetapi kita menjaga rahsia kerana itulah yang mereka mahu."

Israel mungkin melihat orang Kurd sebagai sekutu semula jadi di rantau Arab yang didominasi di mana kedua-dua mereka berasa terancam minoriti.

Dalam satu temu bual dgn CNN, pemimpin Kurdish Massoud Barzani turut mengulas mengenai kemungkinan sebuah negara yang merdeka, dengan mengatakan bahawa "Masanya sudah tiba untuk rakyat Kurdistan untuk menentukan masa depan mereka dan keputusan rakyat adalah apa yang kita akan menegakkan."

ISRAEL Says DISINTEGRATION in IRAQ may lead to INDEPENDENT Kurdish STATE . . .

While the Iraqi army struggles to contain the ISIS advance in the country's northwest, the Kurds have been successful at heading off the Sunni insurgents. Israel has now openly stated that an independent Kurdish state is a “foregone conclusion.”

"Iraq is breaking up before our eyes and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish state is a foregone conclusion," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told US Secretary of State John Kerry as the two discussed the Iraqi crisis in Paris on Thursday.

Israeli President Shimon Peres had a similar message for US President Barack Obama. "The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state, which is democratic. One of the signs of a democracy is the granting of equality to women," Peres said on Wednesday.

While forces from the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL) were advancing towards the capital Baghdad, the Iraqi army abandoned the city of Kirkuk. The Kurds have seized on the chaos to expand their autonomous northern territory to include the strategic city.

Besides being considered by Kurds as their historical capital, Kirkuk sits on vast oil deposits – a stable financial base for any possible statehood.

"Kirkuk will finally produce oil for the Kurds," Muhama Khalil, the Kurdish head of the economic committee in Iraq's national parliament, told the Guardian.

"For 70 years oil has been used to buy weapons to kill us. Finally we have our own oil and it will only be for the Kurds," he said.

The Kurds now control the oil hub, and there were numerous reports that they sold a tanker full of oil to Israel – a country that their Arab neighbors maintain a boycott of crude sales to.

Israel keeps quiet about its ties with the Kurds, allegedly at the request of the latter. Israel's Foreign Ministry said there were currently no formal diplomatic relations with the Kurds, but Eliezer Tsafrir – a former Mossad station chief in Kurdish northern Iraq – told Reuters that "we'd love it to be out in the open, to have an embassy there, to have normal relations. But we keep it clandestine because that’s what they want.”

The Israelis may see the Kurds as a natural ally in the Arab-dominated region where both feel they are threatened minorities.

In an interview to CNN, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani also commented on the possibility of an independent state, saying that "The time is here for the Kurdistan people to determine their future and the decision of the people is what we are going to uphold."

Presiden Kerajaan Kurdish Serantau Massoud Barzani (dariKanan) telah bertemu dengan Setiausaha Negara Amerika Syarikat John Kerry (dariKiri) di Arbil, di Kurdistan rantau Iraq 24 Jun 2014 (Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani (R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) in Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region June 24, 2014 (Reuters)

Dalam terbalik untuk dekad kecurigaan, orang Kurdis mungkin mencari negara lain yang menyokong kebebasan mereka - Turki. Ia kini mempunyai tawaran 50 tahun untuk menghantar minyak Kurdish oleh saluran paip ke Ceyhan dan telah melabur di rantau semakin autonomi Kurdis Iraq pada tahun-tahun kebelakangan ini.

Perdana Menteri Turki Recep Tayyip Erdogan menyuarakan sokongan untuk hak orang Kurdis 'untuk penentuan sendiri. "Orang Kurdis Iraq boleh membuat keputusan untuk diri mereka sendiri nama dan jenis entiti mereka hidup dalam," kata Erdogan minggu lepas.

Sementara itu, Amerika Syarikat menggesa pemimpin Kurdish untuk menyokong Baghdad dlm menentang ISIS. Washington juga memberi jaminan kpd Kurdis, mereka akan mengambil bahagian dalam kerajaan Iraq seterusnya.

Beribu-ribu tahun, majoriti Kurdis - yang adalah orang Iran - telah tinggal di rantau Kurdistan, kawasan di sepanjang sempadan empat negara Timur Tengah. Sekarang penduduk Kurdis bertaburan antara Iraq utara, timur Syria, tenggara Turki dan barat Iran. Mereka berjumlah kira 40 juta orang - membuat orang-orang Kurdis salah satu kumpulan etnik terbesar di DUNIA tanpa kerajaannya sendiri.

In a reverse to decades of mistrust, the Kurds might find another country supporting their independence – Turkey. It now has a 50-year deal to send Kurdish oil by pipeline to Ceyhan and has been investing in Iraq’s increasingly autonomous Kurdish region in recent years.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced support for the Kurds’ right to self-determination. “The Kurds of Iraq can decide for themselves the name and type of entity they are living in,” Erdogan said last week.

Meanwhile, the US urges Kurdish leaders to support Baghdad in its fight against ISIS. Washington also assured the Kurds they would participate in the next Iraqi government.

For thousands of years, the majority of Kurds – who are an Iranian people – have lived in the Kurdistan region, an area along the border of four Middle Eastern countries. Now the Kurdish population is scattered between northern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and western Iran. They total up to 40 million people – making the Kurds one of the world's largest ethnic groups without its own state.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/f6wcn0