Vladimir Putin has seized on the Eurozone crisis to buy controlling shares in Greek and Cypriot oil and gas fields and infrastructure in return for bailing out their sinking economies. President Vladimir Putin had more than one fish to fry in dispatching a large flotilla of Russian warships to the eastern Mediterranean. They are on hand not just for the Syrian crisis but also to secure the hot new energy acquisitions about to fall in Moscow’s lap.
 

Tehran, Moscow and Ankara are deeply concerned by the joint US-Israeli-Greek naval exercise this week. They are also troubled by the just signed secret Israeli-Cypriot-Greek Mediterranean energy cooperation pact, for control of which the US has beaten Russia to the draw. Russia and Turkey have staged their own naval ...

The energy accords secretly signed by Israel, Cyprus and Greece for cooperation in Mediterranean energy exploration and production target a new offshore field opposite Crete. This bloc envisions becoming the continent's main energy supplier with a big difference: They are examining plans to export electric power to Europe instead of ...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a strong warning against a military attack on Iran Monday, April 2, saying that a pre-emptive strike would violate international law. His comments, made during a visit to Armenia, stopped short of threatening (the US and/or Israel) of consequences. debkafile: Moscow and Tehran suspect that the US- Israeli-Greek air-naval exercise codenamed Noble Dina which is in progress across an unusually broad stretch of E. Mediterranean is meant to rehearse war action in the Persian Gulf.

A triangular bond is formed by Israel, Nicosia and Athens for joint gas field exploration and production secured by the shared umbrella of the Israeli Navy. On January 9, Cyprus Defense Minister Demetris Eliades arrived in Tel Aviv for the signing of two defense pacts with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

  Moscow and Rome are angling for contracts to build and operate the future pipeline to Europe. The Unites States holds the edge in the bidding.

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has warned Turkey to stop its warships shelling the strip of water dividing the Cypriot and Israeli gas exploration zones in the eastern Mediterranean.
debkafile's military forces report that Wednesday, Dec. 21, Turkish warships began turning their guns on the narrow strip dividing Israel's Leviathan gas field from Block 12 of Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone-EEZ. Estimates of the sizes of the two fields have been substantially upped of late. Both see prospects of becoming major gas suppliers to Europe.

Turkey's assertiveness has raised the concern of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and its fellow allies. Since Thursday, Sept. 29, Turkish warships have been harassing Israeli merchant vessels in waters off Cyprus, debkafile's military sources report, ordering them to change course in a bid to assert Turkish mastery in the eastern Mediterranean. Israel has sent warplanes to fly over the areas of the incidents.
Western naval sources say the situation is getting explosive enough to spark a major confrontation.

Military tension is building up among Greece, Turkey and Israel as Cyprus prepares to start exploratory drilling for gas Monday, Sept. 19 in the face of Turkish threats. All three have placed their air and sea forces in a state of preparedness. Turkish warplanes and fighters kept watch on the rig belonging to Houston-based Noble Energy as it moved from Israel's offshore field Noa opposite Ashdod to Cyprus's Aphrodite field.  US Noble Energy and Israel's Delek are staked in both fields.

Turkey's Operation Barbarossa aims to establish a naval and air force presence on six world seas while making a grab to wrest oil and gas from Israel and Greek Cyprus (Jews and Christians). DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military experts note that the Turkish Navy has 19 frigates, 14 submarines, 7 corvettes, 75 navy aircraft and 108 fast attack craft, manned by a total of 48,600 personnel. They are not up to challenging the US and European Mediterranean fleets and would be outmatched qualitatively even by Israel's much smaller navy ...

Israel and Greece have invoked their new, secret mutual defense pact to counter heavy Turkish sea and air movements in the eastern Mediterranean. debkafile discloses that Israel may gain the new advantage of a military presence at Greek bases following a long phone conversation Wednesday night Sept. 14 between the Israeli and Greek prime ministers. They also agreed to share intelligence. Israel's expanded cabinet of eight was called into session over the Turkish threat to its off-shore oil and gas rigs.

By ordering Turkish warships to escort aid ships to Gaza and stop Israel's offshore gas exploitation, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is muscling his way into the eastern Mediterranean and taking his dispute with Israel to the brink. He is also challenging Greece and Cyprus. Cairo and Riyadh are ...

The organizers of Freedom Flotilla II against Israel's naval blockade on Gaza – among them Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's son-in-law Hamoud Tareq - never dreamed the stalling of their expedition would be served up as the founding step of the nascent pro-US Israel-Greek-Turkish alliance. If Mahmoud wants to jump aboard this grouping, he must drop his UN move for Palestinian recognition, so pre-empting the storm Binyamin Netanyahu's ill-wishers are counting on for ending his rule.

While no one admits this, the military campaign to topple Muammar Qaddafi has stalled with no solution other than diplomacy. The first peace proposal has come from the coalition's target, Qaddafi himself.