Israel to fly alongside Pakistan, UAE in US Air Force drill

Israeli aircraft will fly alongside Pakistani and United Arab Emirates planes in the United States Air Force’s Red Flag exercise in the Nevada desert later this month.

Red Flag is considered the US military’s “premier air-to-air combat training exercise,” in which participating countries are divided into two teams and simulate dog fights to improve both their aviation skills and their military’s international connections, according to the US Air Force.

Last year, Israeli pilots took part in the Red Flag exercise for the first time in six years. During the aerial simulation, Israeli Air Force planes flew with — and reportedly refueled — Jordanian fighter jets.

In 2016, there will be four Red Flag exercises at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The first ran from January to February, the second from February to March and the third in July, while the final exercise will be conducted August 15-26, according to the US Air Force.

Israel will take part in the August exercise, sending both fighter jets and cargo planes to Nellis Air Force Base, an IDF spokesperson said.

Those planes will apparently be joined by two Muslim countries, according to the US Air Force.

“For the second and fourth Red Flag, we will be including foreign players which include the United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, and Spain,” Col. Jeffrey Weed, a Combat Training Squadron commander in the US Air Force, announced after the 2015 Red Flag exercise.

The Aviationist, a website dedicated to aviation news and analysis, reported that Pakistani F16 fighter jets were seen en route to the Nevada desert, refueling at the US Air Force Lajes Field base in the Azores, Portugal.

The Israeli military would not officially comment on the presence of Pakistani and United Arab Emirates pilots at the Red Flag exercise, other than to say that the drill was being run by the Americans and Israel sees itself as a “guest” of the country.

However, earlier this year a senior IAF official stressed that, in addition to their benefits for training, international military exercises can be seen as a form of “roundabout” diplomatic strategy.

“Flying outside of Israel is very different from flying out of Ramat David,” the official told The Times of Israel, referring to an air base in northern Israel.

“You don’t know the area, you’re speaking in a different language. It lets you put a mirror up to yourself, and you learn a lot from that,” he said.

“[International exercises] are not just military, but strategic in nature,” the officer said. “And the strategic benefits are not always direct; they can also be roundabout.”

While they are not considered “enemy nations,” Israel does not have formal ties with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Though Pakistan has indicated it would be prepared to formalize its relationship with the Jewish state once there is a peace agreement with the Palestinians, ties between the two countries are often complicated.

There have been reports of covert contacts between Israeli and Pakistani officials, including a WikiLeaks document that indicated that a high-ranking official in the Pakistani army met directly with the Israeli Mossad.

Publicly, however, the two nations have little to do with one another. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly canceled a dinner reservation at a New York restaurant to avoid eating at the same time as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Though there are still no formal ties with the United Arab Emirates, there has recently been a thaw in Israel’s relationship with the Gulf state. In November, Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold visited Bahrain in order to open its first diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Any person with half a brain has known since about 1988 that the Iranians are expending tremendous resources to have a nuclear arsenal. Nothing can stop their drive and they have stated openly that this is their goal and that they will wipe out Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Along comes Bill Clinton. He negotiates (with the State Department's Wendy Sherman, Warren Christopher and Mad Albright) a lousy, rotten stinking deal with North Korea in 1994. The NORKS manage to drag out the negotiations for years while they build a bomb. Clinton says, the NORKS will never have a bomb and what do you know, after a few years voila! The NORKS have a bomb or two. Now they threaten all their neighbors and the US.
SANCTIONS DO NOT WORK and the US does not know how to negotiate, something Trump has been saying for years. Fast forward a few years. The Iranians who observed the NORK process with the US and West knew for certain that they could do the same thing, and they did.
Once again a Democratic President, Obama sent Wendy Sherman, Hilliary Clinton and Jon Kerry to negotiate a deal with Iran. It was concluded much to the detriment of the US and her allies but the Iranians too, dragged their feet for years while developing a bomb.
The ONLY country crying “wolf” was Israel and Israel was attacked for speaking the truth, especially B. Netanyahu.
Everybody knows Iran is lying and building a bomb but nobody has the guts to spell it out.

Fast forward to 2016:

After 8 years of President Obama alienating, chastising, publicly humiliating and damaging our ONLY, RELIABLE ally in the Middle East, Israel, Israel knew that Obama’s promises were empty. For years Obama said to Israel, “I've got your back”, “All options are on the table”, “We will not allow Iran to go nuclear”. Well, what happened? The US signed a deal that will bring the entire planet to WWIII.

and endanger Israel, the West and the USA. Obama alienated Israel, after the coup in Egypt, he alienated Egypt by supporting the Muslim Brotherhoood there. He so completely screwed over US Foreign policy gains from 1973 that then Egyptians went back to the Russians for reliable, military aid. Obama alienated Saudi Arabia, in the war with the Houti rebels in Yemen. He alienated the Kurds, he alienated the Syrian Westerners (if there really are any), he alienated the Iraqis, he alienated the Afghanis, he alienated the Libyans, he alienated all of North Africa, he alienated all Sunni nations and somewhat pro-western governments in the Arab world. He alienated the Jordanians as well. He alienated the anti-Ayatollah forces in Iran, (by not saying a word during their uprising in 2009, in Lebanon, in North Africa, in Africa itself. All these countries know that Putin will be there for his allies but Obama will not be there for his.
THIS IS A FACT. What do most of these nations have in common? They are all Sunni Muslims. Who is the Sunni's worst enemy> Shiites. Who is the world's leader of Shiites? Iran. Iran is certain to get the bomb, thanks to Obama (who we just discovered paid tens of millions of dollars to release American hostages there), ransom money.
In short, the nations abandoned by Obama are all on their own now in a volatile region and must quickly patch things up based on a common interests to stop Iran, a HUGELY MENACING and GROWING THREAT to the entire region. This is what Israel's Netanyahu has been harping on about for years while being mocked even by his closest ally, Obama. Iran is the number one sponsor of terror in the world today along with ISIS.

Do not be surprised one day soon if you hear that Israel and most of these Sunni nations linked up and may bomb Iran just before she gets the bomb or deploys it. Wow, that means that the Arabs and Israel will be part of a future alliance. Amazing times. This new alliance knows that the US is just not there and is unreliable, so they will be forced to take care of business by themselves...

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