Excerpts: Russia 'will not' share ISIS intel with U.S. Jumpstarting nuclear
talks? Lebanon re IS.Putin accuses Obama of hostility October 16, 2014

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 16 Oct.’14:”Russsia ‘will not’ share intel with
US on ISIS”,Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Russia “will not” share ISIS intel with US

Moscow on Thursday[16 Oct.] denied U.S. claims that it had agreed to share
intelligence with Washington over the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), saying it would only if there is a U.N. Security Council approval
for any operation against ISIS.

The statement came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said this week
that he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed to step up
intelligence sharing ISIS.

But Russia’s foreign ministry denied that saying Moscow “will not join any
‘coalition’ set up without the backing of the U.N. Security Council and that
violates international law.”

It pointed out that a bilateral commission involving Washington and Moscow
that aimed to help tackle terrorism had been scrapped by the United States,
according to AFP.

Moscow also added


+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 16 Oct.’14:”US,Iran seek to jumpstart nuclear talks’,Agence
France Presse

SUBJECT:Jumpstarting nuclear talks ?

QUOTE:”Kerry: ‘I don’t believe its out of reach but we have some tough
issues to resolve’ “


FULL TEXT: VIENNA — US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian
counterpart sought Wednesday[15 Oct.] to jumpstart stalled talks over
Tehran's nuclear program, less than six weeks before a deadline to forge a
deal.

Iran and six world powers have until Nov. 24 to strike a comprehensive
accord meant to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons under the
cover of its civilian atomic program.

Ahead of the meeting in Vienna with Mohammad Javad Zarif as well as EU
foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Kerry said there was still hard work
to be done but that a deal remained achievable.

"I don't believe it's out of reach, but we have some tough issues to
resolve," Kerry told reporters in Paris on Tuesday after talks with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Kerry refused to be drawn on whether — as floated by Lavrov, Iran's
president and many experts — Iran and the six powers might push back the
target date, as they did earlier this year.

"We need to continue to have some serious discussions, which we will, and
we'll see where we are," he said.

"I don't think anything is served by a lot of speculation at this point in
time."

"We're not talking about an extension," a senior US State Department
official added Wednesday. "There is still time to get this done... if
everyone can make the decisions they need."

But Lavrov, whose country together with the US, China, Britain, France and
Germany forms the P5+1 group, said Tuesday in Paris that the November
deadline was not "sacred".

"We aspire to get a result by that date but I am convinced by the principle
that it is not artificially-set deadlines but the essence of the deal, the
quality of the deal (that counts)," Lavrov said, according to Interfax.

Zarif too appeared to indicate that another extension might be needed in
order to discuss what he called "serious and innovative" — but unspecified —
"new methods".

"These talks will take time... and it is possible that more time might be
needed to discuss these solutions," he told state television late Tuesday
after talks with US and EU negotiators including Ashton.

Iran, reeling from sanctions pressure, denies seeking to build the atomic
bomb and says it wants to expand its nuclear program in order to generate
electricity and help cancer patients. But the six powers are pressing Tehran
to reduce in scope its activities in order to make any dash to make a weapon
all but impossible, offering sanctions relief in return.

Last November, the two sides agreed an interim deal and set a July 20 target
to agree a lasting accord, but the deadline was extended to Nov. 24.

Progress appears to have been made on changing the design of a new reactor
at Arak so that it produces less weapons-grade plutonium, as well as on
enhanced UN inspections and on the fortified Fordo facility.

The main bone of contention however remains Iran's enrichment capacity, a
process rendering uranium suitable for power generation but also, at high
purities, for a nuclear weapon.

Other problem areas include the pace at which sanctions would be lifted, the
timeframe that an accord would cover and a troubled UN probe into past
suspect "military dimensions" of Iran's activities.

The US official said Washington had identified sanctions that could be eased
in a first step in any deal but indicated that there remained disagreement
on this with the Iranians.

Many analysts have begun to believe that the deadline might be extended
again, possibly locking in something on Arak and Fordo, into a so-called
"Interim Plus" deal.

"A fully-fledged agreement by Nov. 24 no longer appears likely. What is
still possible is a breakthrough that could justify adding more time to the
diplomatic clock," Ali Vaez from the International Crisis Group said. — AFP

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 16 Oct.’14:”Lebanon’s Role in Coaltion
against Jihadists Still Unclear”
SUBJECT: Lebanon re IS
QUOTE:” Lebanon’s role at theWashington talks was limited to asking for
military support to help the country confront terrorists”
FULL TEXT:Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, who has attended a meeting of senior
commanders from more than 20 Western and Arab allies involved in the
campaign to defeat jihadists, has sparked controversy over Lebanon's role in
the coalition against the Islamic State terrorist group.

An Nahar daily quoted Qahwaji as saying at the meeting, which was held in
Washington on Tuesday[14 Oct.] that Lebanon is one of the countries most
involved in combating terrorists.

But sources close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam told As Safir newspaper
that Lebanon's role at the Washington talks was limited to asking for
military support to help the country confront terrorists.

Qahwaji also inquired the military commanders of the Western and Arab
countries on their plans to combat terrorism, the sources said.

“Lebanon will not reach a point where it will ask for the direct military
intervention of the coalition through air strikes or any other move,” they
told As Safir.

“The government's policy (in fighting terrorists) is based on defense and
not launching an attack on them,” the sources said.

When Qahwaji received an invitation from the U.S. military's top officer,
General Martin Dempsey, to attend the Washington talks, he took the green
light of Salam and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel to travel to the U.S., they
said.

Qahwaji's presence at the meeting does not need a cabinet decision, the
sources added.

Lebanon first joined the coalition when Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil
attended talks in Jeddah last month during which ten Arab countries agreed
to help the U.S. in its fight against IS.

A joint communique declared a "shared commitment to stand united against the
threat posed by all terrorism.”

It added that participants had "discussed a strategy to destroy IS wherever
it is, including in both Iraq and Syria.”

After Bassil's return from Jeddah, some officials began claiming that
Lebanon is not part of the coalition over fears that warplanes would carry
out strikes in the country in violation of its sovereignty.

Since August, the Lebanese army has been fighting militants from the IS and
al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front near the border with Syria. Earlier that
month, the extremists crossed into the northeastern town of Arsal from
Syria, capturing soldiers and policemen. Two of the soldiers have since been
beheaded and one has been killed in captivity.


+++SOURCE: Naharneet (Lebanon) 16 Oct.’14:”Putin Warns West Not to Blackmail
Russia”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Putin accuses Obama of hostility

QUOTE:”Putin. . .warning… Moscow would not be blackmailed by the West over
Ukraine”

EXCERPTS:President Vladimir Putin accused his US counterpart Barack Obama of
a hostile approach towards Russia, warning in a Cold War-style tirade that
Moscow would not be blackmailed by the West over Ukraine.

Putin fired off his combative comments shortly before he arrived amid tight
security to a red carpet welcome in Belgrade, seeking to cement Russia's
influence in its loyal European ally.

Belgrade is staging its first military parade in 30 years to mark the 70th
anniversary of its liberation from Nazi occupation -- an event brought
forward by four days to coincide with the visit by the Kremlin strongman.

In some of his most pugnacious comments yet on Russia-US ties, Putin took
issue with Obama's speech at the U.N. General Assembly last month, when he
listed "Russia's aggression" in eastern Ukraine among top global threats,
along with Islamic State jihadists and Ebola.

He told the Serbian daily Politika it was "hard to call such an approach
anything but hostile".

"We are hoping our partners will understand the recklessness of attempts to
blackmail Russia, (and) remember what discord between large nuclear powers
can do to strategic stability," Putin said.

He branded attempts by the West to isolate Russia over the six-month
conflict in Ukraine an "absurd, illusory goal" and accused Washington of
meddling in Russian affairs.

Putin, who is to meet Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko in Milan on
Friday[17 Oct.], called on Kiev to start nationwide dialogue, saying there
was a "real opportunity" to halt the war.

Putin reiterated that Moscow was ready to mend fences with Washington but
only if its interests are genuinely taken into account.

Putin's predecessor Dmitry Medvedev spearheaded a "re-set" in ties with
Washington but relations have quickly unraveled since Putin returned to the
Kremlin for a third term in 2012.

Russia is now facing its deepest period of Western isolation since the Cold
War, with US and EU sanctions dealing a blow to its already stuttering
economy.

Despite the distinct Western diplomatic chill, Putin was greeted warmly in
Belgrade, which has refused to align with the EU sanctions against Moscow.
==
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA