The United States has refused to sell Israel planes out of concern that it might be seen as encouraging an Israeli attack on Iran, Channel 10 reported on Wednesday evening.

During his most recent visit to the US earlier this month, Defense Minister Ehud Barak requested that America sell the IAF several Boeing 767 refueling planes. However, the White House refused, as it was not prepared to seem as though it was aiding a potential attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, the report, which could not be confirmed by The Jerusalem Post, stated.

The IAF has a great need of the planes, as the ones currently used by the air force are extremely old.

US refuses to sell planes to Israel, fearing strike on Iran

However Russia's ambassador to NATO played down any future steps, saying the decisions were "of temporary character, of regional character, not global character". A NATO spokeswoman said it had no notification of a Russian move.

"Norway has noted that Russia has decided for the time being to 'freeze' all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries," Norway's Defence Ministry said on its website.

Russia halts military work with NATO

Russia says its response to the further development of a U.S. missile shield in Poland will go beyond diplomacy.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the U.S. missile shield plans are clearly aimed at weakening Russia.

The U.S. says the missile defense system is aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from future attacks from states like Iran.

The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost fringe.

Russia warns of response to US missile shield

Syria sought to revive its security alliance with Russia today, when President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow to clinch a series of military agreements, raising fears that the new Cold War that has erupted in the Caucasus will spill over into the Middle East.

“Our position is that we are ready to co-operate with Russia in any project that can strengthen its security,” the Syrian leader told Russian newspapers at the start of his two-day trip. “I think Russia really has to think of the response it will make when it finds itself closed in a circle.”

Mr al-Assad said that he would be discussing the deployment of Russian missiles on Syrian territory, possibly the Iskander system. Syrians is also interested in buying Russian anti-aircraft and tanks missiles.

In return, Moscow is expected to propose a revival of its Cold War era naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean. Some Russian reports even suggest that Moscow is deepening the port it to accommodate a fleet of warships. Russia may have similar ambitions for Latakia. Either port would give the Russian Navy its foothold in the Mediterranean for two decades.

Fear of new Mid East 'Cold War' as Syria strengthens military alliance with Russia

Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw's hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.

Such comments "border on the bizarre frankly," Rice said, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Warsaw.

Rice signs missile defense deal with Poland

Russia is considering arming its Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads for the first time since the cold war, senior military sources warned last night.

The move, in response to American plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, would heighten tensions raised by the advance of Russian forces to within 20 miles of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, yesterday.

Under the Russian plans, nuclear warheads could be supplied to submarines, cruisers and fighter bombers of the Baltic fleet based in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between the European Union countries of Poland and Lithuania. A senior military source in Moscow said the fleet had suffered from underfunding since the collapse of communism. “That will change now,” said the source.

Russia’s new nuclear challenge to Europe

President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that Russian President Dimitri Medvedev wants to send a Russian naval fleet to visit Venezuela.

"Russia has informed us they intend to visit Venezuela, that is, the intention that a Russian fleet should come to the Caribbean," Chavez said on his weekly radio program.

"I told the president (Medvedev), 'If you're coming to the Caribbean, we'll welcome you,'" Chavez said, adding that the Russian naval fleet would pay "a friendly and working" visit to Venezuela.

Russia wants to send naval fleet to Venezuela

The Kremlin's next step in its confrontation with the United States could be the establishment of some sort of military alliance with Cuba and Venezuela. One possibility is the reopening of an electronic surveillance base designed to spy on U.S. communications, similar to "Lourdes," the huge espionage center that operated near Havana until a few years ago, when Putin himself decided to close it. That facility now houses a university center for computer sciences, from which at least 100 advanced students, all members of the Communist Youth, participate in an intense propaganda war waged on the Internet in favor of the Cuban dictatorship and Marxist ideology.

Carlos Alberto Montaner at PostGlobal: A Russian Military Alliance With Cuba or Venezuela?

Chavez, a persistent critic of the United States, said Washington was using its ally Georgia to weaken a resurgent Russia.

"The intention of the United States is to reduce Russia to its minimum expression," said Chavez, who has used higher revenue from Venezuelan oil production to buy weapons worth billions of dollars from Russia in recent years. 

"The Russians did what they had to do, we recognize the courage of President Dmitry Medvedev, we are with Russia," Chavez said on his weekly television show.

Chavez said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had told him by telephone that Georgian troops started the war by attacking Russian peacekeepers in breakaway South Ossetia. Russia responded by moving troops deep into Georgia proper.

Venezuela's Chavez backs Russia in Georgia conflict

The U.S. sent two C-17 military planes to Georgia late Wednesday and early Thursday as part of a Pentagon humanitarian mission.

In a statement Wednesday, President George W. Bush said Washington would "use U.S. aircraft, as well as naval forces" to distribute supplies, and demanded Russia withdraw troops from Georgia.

At a news conference Thursday, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the General Staff, urged the media to press U.S. officials for trustworthy information on the U.S. role in Georgia.

"What is going on there?" he asked. "We, the Russians, are extremely concerned about it."

 Russian military concerned by U.S. cargo flights to Georgia

The military alliance is expected to consider a range of upcoming activities planned with Russia _ from military exercises to ministerial meetings _ and decide case-by-case at the meeting Tuesday whether to go ahead with each activity.

Allied ministers will also discuss support for a planned international monitoring mission in the region and a package of support to help Georgia rebuild infrastructure damaged in its devastating defeat at the hands of the Russian armed forces

US calls emergency meeting for NATO on Russia

On her way to an emergency NATO foreign ministers meeting on the crisis, Rice said the alliance would punish Russia for its invasion of the Georgia and deny its ambitions by rebuilding and fully backing Georgia and other Eastern European democracies.

"We have to deny Russian strategic objectives, which are clearly to undermine Georgia's democracy, to use its military capability to damage and in some cases destroy Georgian infrastructure and to try and weaken the Georgian state," she said.

NATO won't let Russia succeed in Georgia: Rice

Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".

The lead American ship in these war games, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan.

Europe: Massive US Naval Armada Heads For Iran

In what is believed to be the first interview granted by an Iranian official with an Israeli publication, the press attaché for the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Majid Bashtestani, warned Israel against striking his country's nuclear facilities.

"If Israel were to do something stupid – it will face a shocking response the likes of which it has never encountered before,' Bashtestani told the Nazareth-based 'al-Sinara' newspaper.

When asked to comment on recent speculation of a possible Israeli or American attack in Iran, the attaché said: "This threat is not new; it has recurred over the years, ever since the Islamic revolution took place in Iran and to this day."