Heavy Pressure Led to Decision by Obama on Syrian Arms

WASHINGTON — For two years, President Obama has resisted being drawn deeper into the civil war in Syria. It was a miserable problem, he told aides, and not one he thought he could solve. At most, it could be managed. And besides, he wanted to be remembered for getting out of Middle East wars, not embarking on new ones.

So when Mr. Obama agreed this week for the first time to send small arms and ammunition to Syrian rebel forces, he had to be almost dragged into the decision at a time when critics, some advisers and even Bill Clinton were pressing for more action. Coming so late into the conflict, Mr. Obama expressed no confidence it would change the outcome, but privately expressed hope it might buy time to bring about a negotiated settlement.

His ambivalence about the decision seemed evident even in the way it was announced. Mr. Obama left it to a deputy national security adviser, Benjamin J. Rhodes, to declare Thursday evening that the president’s “red line” on chemical weapons had been crossed and that support to the opposition would be increased. At the time, Mr. Obama was addressing a gay pride event in the East Room. On Friday, as Mr. Rhodes was again dispatched to defend the move at a briefing, the president was hosting a Father’s Day luncheon in the State Dining Room.

Few international problems have bedeviled Mr. Obama as much as Syria and few have so challenged his desire to reduce the American footprint in the world in order to focus energies instead on what he calls “nation building here at home.” As much as he wants to avoid getting entangled in what he regards as another quagmire, he finds himself confronted by a conflict that is spilling over into the region and testing American resolve.

“It was a matter of time — the White House may not have wanted intervention but intervention itself was chasing the administration,” said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East-based analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “The White House underestimated the potency of this struggle and its profound implications for the region and its own interests, and then found itself lacking space, strategic clarity and momentum to do anything meaningful.”

While an aide said Mr. Obama’s decision was made even before Mr. Clinton’s comments this week endorsing more robust intervention, the president ended up satisfying neither side in the Syrian debate. For those who have pressed the White House to do more, the belated agreement to send small arms after nearly 93,000 deaths seems too little, too late. For those who warn that Syria could become another Iraq or Libya, the latest move comes across as another step down a slippery slope toward a messy outcome.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning in Mr. Obama’s State Department, said her onetime boss so clearly wanted to be a domestic president and yet could not remain at a distance from the Syria conflict because it could set the Middle East in flames. Already, she noted, it has helped destabilize Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey and flooded refugees into Jordan.

“I really worry this is going to be remembered as the United States standing by and watching a Middle East war ignite,” said Ms. Slaughter, who will become president of the New America Foundation in Washington in September. “I fear the president thinks he can stand apart. He’s the one who always says with power comes responsibility. That’s his line.”

But White House aides on Friday again ruled out sending United States troops and dismissed calls for a no-fly zone over Syria, calling it “dramatically more difficult and dangerous and costly” than it had been in Libya in 2011, as Mr. Rhodes put it. And there is little domestic constituency for another American adventure abroad.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, said he was “baffled” by Mr. Obama’s decision to become more deeply involved. “What exactly is our objective?” he asked. “It’s not clear to me that every nondemocratic government in the world has to be removed by force.”

The Syria war is a struggle for power, not democracy, he said. “Is that something we should be engaged in?”

The president’s decision came just before he was to leave Sunday for a summit meeting in Europe, where Syria may be a dominant issue. The British government, which will host the annual Group of 8 gathering in Northern Ireland, offered support Friday for Mr. Obama’s decision, while the Russian government said it did not find the American intelligence on chemical weapons use persuasive.

On the sidelines of the summit meeting, Mr. Obama is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has rebuffed American pressure to abandon President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The Obama administration sees Russia as the key to forcing peace negotiations even as prospects for a Geneva conference fade.

Mr. Obama came around to the idea of arming the rebels, at least modestly, only months after rejecting it. In part, that was because of confirmation by intelligence agencies that Mr. Assad’s forces had used sarin gas against his people. If Mr. Obama did not respond in some fashion, it would have been taken as a question of credibility since he had previously said such a development would change his calculus.

But the move also reflects nervousness in the White House about the increased involvement of Iran and its proxy group, Hezbollah, in the fight on Mr. Assad’s behalf. With the Syrian opposition on the defensive, a victory by Mr. Assad would be a victory for Iran as well. By providing limited arms, Mr. Obama hopes to bolster the rebels enough to even the odds and give the Syrian leadership incentive to broker a resolution.

“We believe that we can make a difference,” Mr. Rhodes said Friday. The aid will ensure that the rebels are “able to firm up their position” and become more cohesive. “We still believe that there is not a scenario we can foresee where Bashar al-Assad can remain in power in a country that so clearly rejects his rule.”

Even as he outlined those goals, though, Mr. Rhodes made clear the limits of Mr. Obama’s willingness to achieve them. The president wants to avoid sending “heavier weapons systems,” Mr. Rhodes said, recognizing that they might fall into the hands of Al Nusra Front, an opposition group affiliated with Al Qaeda. Sending American troops is “off the table,” Mr. Rhodes added, citing the difficulties they faced stopping violence during the Iraq war. And as for a no-fly zone, he said “we don’t at this point believe that the U.S. has a national interest in pursuing a very intense, open-ended military engagement through a no-fly zone in Syria.”

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, has urged the administration for months to arm the opposition yet also opposes a no-fly zone. While he supported Mr. Obama’s latest decision, he said the president had not articulated a long-term strategy, but instead seemed to be responding in a “transactional, ad hoc” basis, buffeted by competing views around him.

“As I watch from the outside, I do think that it’s just very difficult for them to come to a place and settle upon it,” Mr. Corker said. “There are a lot of different voices, there’s a lot of agonizing.”

So, Obama sents weapons to the Islamic revolution Army that are connected with al qaeda, just remember that we are saying form more than 10 years that Al qaeda is a company establish in CIA...

Hezbollah shift the war to Syria

Hezbollah, with the full support of Tehran, is fully engaged in the conflict in Syria, resulting in a complete reversal of the data on the battlefield within a few days: First the key town of Kousair, near the Lebanese border, then Golan-next in line Kousair cease-fell into the hands of government forces, now promoted in the region of Aleppo and the border with Turkey.

So instead of the intervention of the West and Turkey to overthrow Assad have surgery Iran-Hezbollah with political support of Moscow not only to rescue the beleaguered Assad, but to succeed crushing blow to the insurgency. It is obvious that the above are in shade tolerance of both the U.S. and Israel, which realistically cynical prefer Assad, Hezbollah and Iran from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the various fundamentalist Al Qaeda type groups.

In other cases, even very recently, Israel struck Hezbollah in a show-preventive intervention fist. The above is obviously represents a new conflict in Syria, yet also represent a inglorious end of interventionism of Erdogan / Davutoglu to control developments in Damascus in the post-Assad era. Fortunately, the management of the internal turmoil in Turkey gives him a decent pretense folding.

The difference of Syria from other theaters upheavals of the Arab Spring (Tunisia, Egypt and Libya) is more than obvious: In Tunis, Cairo and Tripoli was regime change, while Damascus was compromised first survival of Syria as unitary state and secondly a religious-communal conflict of Sunni Islam with all other minorities and communities not only in the country and the wider region.

The U.S., declining great power for interventional capabilities in times of economic crisis, could not afford to add Syria as a third failed country, next to Afghanistan and Iraq.

A country that is a friend only the good times ...

Let us remember what our friends gave us Americans, British, French, Germans and Russians ...
The lightness and emotion that distinguishes the Greeks is evident writted the historical events that shaped the course so far of our nation.
Certainly the lightness always paid (natural law) and the events that our wager as a nation and as a state are quite a few ...
From our modern history which is culled lightness, we could choose various events such as the creation of parties (in the midst of the revolution of 1821) Russian, English, French and do not tuck in order to prove our words ...
But we would prefer to limit ourselves to the valuation of profits gained as a nation, as a state, the occasional friendly various great powers ...
Certainly there riposte that says "Great Powers" helped to liberate us (the unfortunate gratis) and others, is not the time (in each case humbly thank our benefactors) recently, historians discovered by modernists, usually graduates abroad with subsidized graduate entrepreneurs from various institutions.

We say and then the valuation:
Our friendship with the British, cost us an international audit, Asia Minor catastrophe and a fine one-on disasters and civil victims needless to enumerate.

Our friendship with the Russians a civil cost us a peg in the American chariot-western influence, a Macedonian who does not solve anything, a claim of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Byzantine so-called succession, an unprecedented rivalry over the ownership of Mount Athos geopolitical game and we have followed the cheetah because of our common religion (creed) and other gibberish.

For our friendship with the French what to say ... it says it all "HELLAS-France alliance ', a huge jocularity which never found application only when purchased planes and frigates problematic IX, to serve the needs of our police and other public services.

Our friendship with the Americans naturally were the nbelievable of what we call friendly relations. Cost us dictatorships, the Macedonian (the rival of the USSR, which forbid us to be rude to Tito which formed the "cushion" between west and EAST), an almost imposing forced labor on development of devastated postwar GERMANY (as if there GREECE should be developed and back on track) as the holy bread of the Marshall Plan (which to be fair was only offered generously and if you do not end up in the hands of traders, will give life to our country) and a coercive and extortionate debt of NAZI to our country ...
Then came 1974 and the invasion of Cyprus as icing on the cake, while recently the travel tips, give and take.

With the Germans ... Well, eventually the Germans had the most honest relationships ... have always been enemies of our country and ALWAYS opposed in all things Greek (unlike showing lust for everything Turkish ... something you know of course) ...
Created two world wars, there were mentors and financiers butcher Kemal instigated the dismemberment of YUGOSLAVIA every means constantly incite and encourage (and economically) the SKOPIANOUS and recently served as the mastermind of the plan of dissolution ECONOMIC our country through borrowing heavily and indebtedness enduring value ... then!

So why am I writing this?

Uh ... Because as a man I say ... that Souma close hand and think how naive we are to believe that someone can support our country, and his sister CYPRUS, so for nothing.
We all thought that after Cyprus NOT the blackmail of the N****, will run into the arms of her friend and like-minded Russia ... and it would open its arms to us admit to loving mother! What nonsense oh my! what stupidity!
And instead of thinking about how to cope, how to jump clear of the trap demons in our setup, we delude ourselves by inane sayings about "blond race" and omodoxou Russia ... and what turned?
It turned out that everyone on the planet knows, but we refuse to realize.
THERE ARE FILIES, only interests and Russia as well as other friends proved only for the good times .... on hard times and lakisan they did what every sane would do .... the duck. Why good "omodoxon" but the scales tilted hundreds of billions of profits from trade and natural gas to Germany and the EU and not the disekatomyriakia Cyprus.
I hope that this time will not erase the hard disk memory and will record our friendships and behavior, and we and the Cypriots. Can not the wheel is round and turns. What the heck!


Then if i call them BARBARIANS then everyone will try to shot me... i think that we need to take our land and escape to other planet... there is no life with these guys at the same planet.... ;)

PS, I want to see the face of Ivan Savvidis now, the Putin friend.... i want to hear whats he say about the Russian Greek frienship.... 

Henry Kissinger: «If You Can’t Hear the Drums of War You Must Be Deaf»

NEW YORK – USA – In a remarkable admission by former Nixon era Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, reveals what is happening at the moment in the world and particularly the Middle East.

Speaking from his luxurious Manhattan apartment, the elder statesman, who will be 89 in May, is all too forward with his analysis of the current situation in the world forum of Geo-politics and economics.

«The United States is bating China and Russia, and the final nail in the coffin will be Iran, which is, of course, the main target of Israel. We have allowed China to increase their military strength and Russia to recover from Sovietization, to give them a false sense of bravado, this will create an all together faster demise for them. We’re like the sharp shooter daring the noob to pick up the gun, and when they try, it’s bang bang. The coming war will will be so severe that only one superpower can win, and that’s us folks. This is why the EU is in such a hurry to form a complete superstate because they know what is coming, and to survive, Europe will have to be one whole cohesive state. Their urgency tells me that they know full well that the big showdown is upon us. O how I have dreamed of this delightful moment.»

«Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.»

Mr Kissinger then added: «If you are an ordinary person, then you can prepare yourself for war by moving to the countryside and building a farm, but you must take guns with you, as the hordes of starving will be roaming. Also, even though the elite will have their safe havens and specialist shelters, they must be just as careful during the war as the ordinary civilians, because their shelters can still be compromised.»

After pausing for a few minutes to collect his thoughts, Mr Kissinger, carried on: «We told the military that we would have to take over seven Middle Eastern countries for their resources and they have nearly completed their job. We all know what I think of the military, but I have to say they have obeyed orders superfluously this time. It is just that last stepping stone, i.e. Iran which will really tip the balance. How long can China and Russia stand by and watch America clean up? The great Russian bear and Chinese sickle will be roused from their slumber and this is when Israel will have to fight with all its might and weapons to kill as many Arabs as it can. Hopefully if all goes well, half the Middle East will be Israeli. Our young have been trained well for the last decade or so on combat console games, it was interesting to see the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 game, which mirrors exactly what is to come in the near future with its predictive programming. Our young, in the US and West, are prepared because they have been programmed to be good soldiers, cannon fodder, and when they will be ordered to go out into the streets and fight those crazy Chins and Russkies, they will obey their orders. Out of the ashes we shall build a new society, there will only be one superpower left, and that one will be the global government that wins. Don’t forget, the United States, has the best weapons, we have stuff that no other nation has, and we will introduce those weapons to the world when the time is right.»

Full speed ahead for Russian-American Sykes-Picot agreement in the Middle East

President Obama prepares to completely change the international strategy, despite the opposition's own administration.

In 1916, the United Kingdom, Emperor of Russia and France were distributing the Middle East agreements (Sykes-Picot) . Almost a century later, the United States and Russia are discussing a new project division into spheres of influence that would allow them to drive to benefit the profits of the Franco-British influence.

In an article published on January 26 in Russia, Thierry Mason unveils new sharing plan in the Middle East working in the White House and the Kremlin.

The author reveals the main facts of the ongoing negotiations without pre-empt the final agreement or its implementation. The interesting article that allows you to understand the ambiguous positions of Washington, which is pushing its allies to deadlock, so that it can impose shortly a new order of which will be disqualified.

The facts are simple. The United States is going to become energy independent thanks to the rapid exploitation of gas and oil in shale sands.

Thus the doctrine of Carter (1980) that securing access to oil in the Gulf is a national imperative for security is dead. Like the agreement Quincy (1945) according to which Washington is committed to protecting the Saud dynasty, though the latter vouched for access to oil the Arabian Peninsula.

It's time for a massive U.S. withdrawal will allow the transfer of GI's in the Far East for the containment of Chinese influence.

On the other hand, everything must be done to prevent a Sino-Russian military alliance. It should therefore be offered opportunities to Russia to be diverted from the Far East.

Finally, Washington is stifling the overly close relationship with Israel.

This relationship is extremely costly, unjustified and internationally turns against the U.S. total Muslim population.

Further, we must punish Tel Aviv which intervened so incredible how the American presidential election campaign, more so after bet against the candidate who won the election.

These three factors led Barack Obama and his advisers to suggest a pact to Vladimir Putin: Washington, which implicitly recognizes that failed in Syria is ready to leave Russia to settle the Middle East, without exchange, and share with the control of the region.

In this spirit, Kofi Annan drafted the communiqué of Geneva June 30, 2012.

At that time, it was only to find a solution to the issue of Syria.

But this agreement immediately undermined by internal factors of the Obama administration. Leaked to the European press several elements of the secret war in Syria, including the existence of a Presidential Executive Order (Presidential Executive Order) which instructed the CIA to develop men and mercenaries in the territory of Syria.

Trapped, Kofi Annan resigned from his position as mediator. On his part, the White House conducted a low profile so as not to expose the internal divisions in the midst of the campaign for the reelection of Barack Obama.

In the shade, three groups opposed the Geneva Press:

• The factors involved in the secret war
• The military units to deal with Russia
• The relays (relays) of Israel.

The day after the election, Barack Obama began his long liquidation.

The first victim was Gen. David Petraeus, designer of the secret war in Syria. Trapped in a sex scandal that was set up by an officer of the Military Intelligence, CIA director was forced to resign.

Then a dozen senior officers were under investigation for corruption.

Among them, the Supreme Commander of NATO (Admiral James G. Stravidis) and already appointed successor (Gen. John R. Allen), and the commander of the Missile Defense Agency-namely the "Missile Shield" - (Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly).

Finally, Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton were the subject of intense attacks because Congress hid the hidden clues to the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, who was murdered by Islamist group, possibly under the auspices of the Mossad.

Having neutralize the paralyzing these internal resistances, Barack Obama announced the renewal of deep team.

First, John Kerry at the State Department.

The man is a declared supporter of cooperation with Moscow on issues of common interest. It is also a personal friend of Bashar al-Assad.

Then Chuck Hagel at the Ministry of Defence.

This is one of the pillars of NATO, but a realist. Always complained of megalomania and neoconservative dream of world imperialism. It's nostalgic of the Cold War, this blessed time when Washington and Moscow have shared the world with minimal fees. Together with his friend Kerry, the Chagkel had organized in 2008 an attempt to negotiate the return by Israel of the Golan Heights to Syria.

Finally, in John Brennan at CIA.

This cold-blooded killer is convinced that the first failure of the United States that is created and developed the international jihad. His obsession is to eliminate salafismo and Saudi Arabia, events that will help Russia in the North Caucasus.

Meanwhile, the White House continued its negotiations with the Kremlin.

What should have been a simple solution for Syria became a much bigger plan of reorganization and distribution of the Middle East.

Recall that in 1916, after eight months of negotiations, the United Kingdom and France shared secrets Middle East (Agreements Sykes-Picot).

The content of these agreements was revealed to the world by the Bolsheviks took power soon. Continued for almost a century.

The Obama administration is considering remodeling the Middle East for the twenty-first century, under the auspices of the U.S. and Russia.

In the United States, although Obama succeeded himself, he is not allowed in the current period (smt. January 2013) than to run their everyday business. Will assume the full duties following his oath on Jan. 21. In the coming days, the Senate will hear Hillary Clinton on the mystery of the murder of the ambassador in Libya (23 January), then I heard John Kerry to confirm the appointment (24 January). Shortly after, the 5 permanent members of the Security Council will meet in New York to discuss the proposals Lavrov-Burns Syria.

The latter include the condemnation of any external intervention, and development of a peacekeeping force of the United Nations, an appeal to the various protagonists to form a government of national unity and to plan elections. France will oppose but to use its veto against the dominance of the U.S..

The original plan is the proposal to the power of IAHS will use soldiers mainly from the Organization of the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO).

President Bashar al-Assad will remain in power. But should quickly negotiate a national map with the leaders of the non-armed opposition selected with the approval of Moscow and Washington, he will have to organize a referendum on the ratification of this Charter under the control observers.

This political coup has long prepared by the generals Hasan Tourekmani (murdered on 18 July 2012) and Nikolai Bordyuzha.

Consensus by the Foreign Ministers of CSTO signed on 28 September 2012 and signed a protocol between the Department of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace and CSTO. The latter now enjoys the same powers as NATO. Joint exercises simulating the United Nations / CSTO held in Kazakhstan on "inviolability Brotherhood" (8 to 17 October 2012). Finally, it discussed a draft development of "blue cap" on the UN Military Commission (8 December 2012).

Once stabilized Syria, an international conference to be held in Moscow for a comprehensive peace between Israel and its neighbors.

The United States considers that it is not possible to negotiate a separate peace between Israel and Syria, and the Syrians first require a solution for Palestine in the name of panaravismou.

But it is neither possible to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, because they themselves are extremely divided, unless authorized by Syria to force them to comply with a majority agreement.

Therefore, any negotiation should be integrated into the model of the Madrid Conference (1991).

In this case, Israel will withdraw as much as possible within the 1967 borders.

The Palestinian territories and Jordan will unite to form the final Palestinian state. The government will be entrusted to the Muslim Brotherhood, which made the agreement more acceptable than the current Arab governments.

Then, the Golan Heights returned to Syria in exchange for abandonment of the Sea of ​​Galilee, in accordance with what is provided once a time of negotiations Shepherdstown (1999).

Syria would be the guarantor of respect for the conditions of the Jordanian-Palestinian part.

As in the game of dominoes, then we get to the Kurdish issue.

Iraq will dissolve born to an independent Kurdistan and Turkey destined to become a federal state by granting autonomy to the Kurdish region.

From the U.S. side, would like to extend redevelopment as to sacrifice Saudi Arabia will be useless.

The country reportedly divided into three parts, with some provinces will join either the federation or iordanopalaistiniaki with Shiite Iraq, according to an old plan of the Pentagon («Taking Saudi out of Arabia, wiping them from Saud Arabia," July 10 2002).

This option would allow Washington to leave a wide scope of influence in Moscow without having to sacrifice some of their own influence.

The same behavior was observed in the IMF when Washington agreed to increase the voting rights of BRICS. The United States has not donated anything from power and forced the Europeans to leave a percentage of their votes to grant to the BRICS.

This politico-military agreement was accompanied by an economy-energy deal, with real stakes of the war against Syria was for most players to conquer the reserves of natural gas. Large stocks were actually in the southern Mediterranean and Syria.

By placing its troops in the country, Moscow would ensure a wider control of the natural gas market in the coming years.

The gift of the new Obama administration to Vladimir Putin, accompanied by some calculations.

Not only to divert Russia from the Far East, but also to use it to eliminate Israel.

If one million Israelis have dual US-Israeli citizenship, another one million Russian-speaking.

Installed in Syria, Russian troops could prevent attacks against Israeli Arabs and Arabs in Israel.

Therefore, the United States would no longer have to spend huge sums on the security of Jewish colonization.

The new agreement will require the U.S. to recognize finally the regional role of Iran.

But Washington wants to get assurances that Tehran will retire from Latin America, where he established many links, including Venezuela.

Ignore the Iranian reaction to this aspect of the process, but Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quick to learn that Barack Obama will do whatever he can to help him to distance himself from Tel-Aviv.

This project has however lost.

First, France and the United Kingdom whose influence faded.

Then Israel, losing influence in the United States and return to his proportionate share, namely that of a small state.

Finally, Iraq would be dismantled.

And perhaps Saudi Arabia, which is struggling in recent weeks to come up with the former and not with to escape the fate of reserves.

There are also winners.

First Bashar al-Assad yesterday criminal against humanity according to the West, and as glorified tomorrow winner of the Islamists.

And of course, especially Vladimir Putin, who, with his insistence throughout the conflict, he manages to pull Russia out of the "containment of, containment», and to reopen the Mediterranean and the Middle East and recognized the primacy of the market for natural gas.

Editors:

 Michael Léontieff
Department of General Economics of the Moscow Institute of National Economy

Horten 229, the fly wing

In the final months of World War II, American troops discovered a top-secret facility in Germany with an advanced batwing-shaped jet fighter. If Nazi engineers had had more time, would this jet have ultimately changed the outcome of the war? In this National Geographic documentary they rebuild a jet discovered in a top-secret German facility during the final months of World War II - the Horten 229. This is not only an insight into Nazi technology that was years ahead of its time but also an insight into the work of the people reconstructing it who usually work on secret X Projects

 

During the First World War, an attempt to reduce the visibility of military aircraft through the experimental use of "Cellon" plastic transparent covering material resulted in single examples of the Fokker E.III Eindecker fighter monoplane, the Albatros C.I two-seat observation biplane, and one German heavy bomber design, the Linke-Hofmann R.I all being covered with the "Cellon" material; the latter two aircraft had all-wooden structures covered with the "Cellon" material, which degraded rapidly in direct sunlight and were not proceeded with any further.

Nearly three decades later, a more serious attempt at "invisibility" was tried with the Horten Ho 229 flying wing fighter-bomber, developed in Germany during the last years of World War II In addition to the aircraft's shape, which may not have been a deliberate attempt to affect radar deflection, the majority of the Ho 229's wooden skin was bonded together using carbon-impregnated plywood resins designed with the purported intention of absorbing radar waves. Testing performed in early 2009 by the Northrop-Grumman Corporation established that this compound, along with the aircraft's shape, would have rendered the Ho 229 virtually invisible to the top-end HF-band, 20-30 MHz primary signals of Britain's Chain Home early warning radar, provided the aircraft was traveling at high speed (approximately 550 mph (890 km/h)) at extremely low altitude (50–100 feet).

We had to admint the level of engineering that these guys had..... unbelievabel the level to RCS

Case Max Merten: When tried the infamous "Hangman of Thessaloniki"

Max Merten (1911-1976) was a high-ranking Nazi, who served in Thessaloniki during the years 1942-1944, as director of the military administration of the city. He was the man who signed the transfer of 50,000 Jews from Thessaloniki in hell of Auschwitz and was responsible for numerous kidnappings and looting of their property, the total value exceeded 125,000,000 gold francs, an enormous sum for that time. A part of this treasure was sent to Germany and the rest buried somewhere in Northern Greece, according to estimates.

In May 1957, being a senior member of the Ministry of Justice of West Germany, he returned to Thessaloniki as a tourist, to seek, in one version, the hidden treasure. Recognized by some victims and arrested by order of the Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Andrea Tucson as pending against the arrest warrant from 1947 for war crimes.

Almost immediately the trial detention began pressures from Germany for his release. The government of Constantine Karamanlis seemed to subside. The two countries were now in the same camp as NATO members Greece and the poor were economically dependent from West Germany (immigrants, loans etc). The pressure intensified in November 1958, when Karamanlis official visit to Bonn, to negotiate a loan amounting to 200,000,000 marks.

In January 1959, the Karamanlis government introduced in parliament and pass laws "to suspend prosecution of war criminals", with the excuse that "we must set aside the barriers for the growth of our relations with West Germany," said Justice Minister Constantinos Kallias . The opposition, led by Konstantinos Mitsotakis (Liberal Party), Elijah Tsirimokos (ECN) and Stavros Iliopoulos (ECN), denounces the "pardoning of criminals Greek people" and accuses the government has succumbed to pressure.

Under pressure from the Greek and international public opinion ("Greece amnistefei the massacre" wrote the Times of London) government reneging Merten and excludes from the application of the law (Decree 3933/1959).


On February 11, 1959 begins the trial of Max Merten on the Special Military Tribunal of War Criminals Athens. Causing international concern and monitor readers lawyers and delegates of the largest newspapers in the world. The Merten with Olympian calm hear the indictment and pleads not guilty. Witnesses marching enumerate the crimes committed in Thessaloniki, while only three witnesses testify in his favor. On March 5, 1959, the President of the Military Court, Colonel intestines, reads the verdict of guilt of the accused. In Merten penalty of 25 years in prison merger.

The pressure of the Germans for the release of Merten reach their climax. The Greek government promises in Bonn that just calmed the noise will release him. Karamanlis hesitate to go to the release of Merten, because he is imprisoned (victim of political persecution), one of the pioneers of the Resistance, Manolis Glezos. The right moment came in August 1959. By law 4016, the government amended the relevant legislation (Legislative Decree 3933/1959), leading to "automatically suspended dioxis any German nationals alleged war criminals, and the carrying out of any sentence or the remainder were. Copies of the files are sent to all German Tash. "

Based on this provision, Max Merten was released on 5 November 1959 and deported to Germany, provided to serve his sentence. However, the German courts to fully relieve the absence of evidence. The "Hangman of Thessaloniki" was attributed to white society.

On 28 September 1960, German literature "Echoes of Hamburg" and "Der Spiegel" published excerpts of the testimony of the German authorities and causing many earthquake Richter in Athens. The Merten claimed that Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, the interior minister and a secret of Dimitrios (Takos) away, his wife Doxoula nee Leonids and Secretary of Defense George Themelis were collaborators with the Germans. The Greek government denies in the strongest manner Merten, the same German. In the House the spirits light. Members of ERE attacking fellow EDA, who was then opposition party. Clashes occur and the sitting was suspended (16 October 1960).

Three of those affected, the pair away and Themelis, proceeded to sue, not the German courts, but in Greek and succeeded in absentia conviction for libel Merten. However, the journalistic investigation revealed that the long occupation as a lawyer in Thessalonica had very good relations with the Germans, his wife was secretary of Doxoula Merten and Themelis appointed Prefect. For Karamanlis not found any evidence to confirm his claim Merten.

The Merten and posthumously occupied Greece, the great mobilization of the 2000 discovery of the Jewish treasure of Thessaloniki, according to some information, was on the bottom in the open Finikounda Messinia. Information allegedly given to a Greek restrained himself Merten. The treasure was never found.