War

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has vowed that the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Raqqa, Homs and Damascus will “one day be liberated” from the control of the Syrian government. Hurriyet Daily News reports: “One day, God willing, Aleppo, Raqqa, Homs and Damascus will be free,” Davutoglu said on April 11 in a speech in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. Aleppo, Homs and Damascus are all under the control of the Bashar al-Assad regime, while Raqqa is held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Micah Zenko poses eight questions for the presidential candidates on foreign policy to test how realistic and substantive their positions are. Here is the first one:

Bernie Sanders has called for a more “balanced” US Middle East policy, describing Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip in 2014 as “disproportionate.” In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the US Democratic presidential candidate said :“Was Israel’s response disproportionate? I think it was” adding “I think that we will not succeed to ever bring peace into that region unless we also treat the Palestinians with dignity and respect, and that is my view” Press TV reports: In early July 2014, Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip.

Professor Noam Chomsky has claimed that Israel have acquired nuclear submarines and are preparing to use them in order to attack Iran. In an interview with AcTVism Munich’s Zain Raza, Chomsky explained what happens to submarines Germany sends to Israel: “These dolphin class submarines that Germany is providing to Israel are instantly refitted in Israel to have nuclear weapons capacity, and that’s not aimed at defense of Israel. They are meant for attack, that’s what they are. And we know what attack they’re aimed for in the short run: an attack on Iran in the Gulf.

The FBI have warned that the U.S. is in danger of suffering from a cyber attack on its electrical grid – similar to the recent hacking attacks seen against Ukraine’s national power grid. Last month the DHS and FBI began a nationwide campaign to war electrical power companies on the dangers of a possible attack, which could take out the nation’s power grid. Freebeacon.com reports: The unclassified briefings are titled “Ukraine Cyber Attack: Implications for U.S. Stakeholders,” and are based on work with the Ukrainian government in the aftermath of the Dec.