This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

Russia plans to flatten Georgia if Israel attacks Iran

Russia is building up forces in the Caucasus region, preparing to protect its interests in case Israel attacks Iran with the help of the United States. The Russian military believes that when the US goes to war with Iran, it may deploy forces in friendly Georgia and warships in the Caspian Sea with the possible help of Azerbaijan. Russia is deploying guided anti-ship missiles on the Caspian shore in preparation, and is forming an offensive spearhead force, heavily armed with modern long-range weapons. In the case of an Iranian war, it’s expected that the Russian spearhead will be ordered to strike south to prevent the presumed deployment of US bases in the region, to link up with the troops in Armenia, and take over the South Caucasus energy corridor along which Azeri, Turkmen and, other Caspian natural gas and oil may reach European markets. By one swift military strike Russia may ensure control of all the Caucasus and the Caspian states, for the first time since the Soviet Union dissolved. Jamestown

Syria crisis worsens as April 10 ‘peace deadline’ approaches

It’s like a never-ending situation comedy, in which everyone is reading a script that doesn’t even make sense. As I’ve been reporting, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been flying around the world selling a “six-point peace plan” that calls for a cease-fire in Syria every day for two hours. It’s the silliest damn thing, but Russia and China and Syria have all agreed to it, along with an April 10 deadline to end the violence completely. I don’t know if anyone seriously believes that the regime of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad has any intention of ending the violence, but no sane person does. On Thursday, current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the crisis is getting worse every day.

Cities, towns and villages have been turned into war zones. The sources of violence are proliferating. The human rights of the Syrian people continue to be violated. … Humanitarian needs are growing dramatically.

Kofi Annan recited the lines in his script:

We must silence the tanks, helicopters, mortars and guns, and stop all other forms of violence too: sexual abuse, torture, executions, abductions, destruction of homes, forced displacement, and other such abuses, including on children.

Well, April 10 is only four days away, and unless al-Assad really does stop the violence, Kofi Annan and the United Nations are going to be made fools of again. AP

Euro crisis worsens again as Spain’s bond yields rise

As the Easter holiday beckons, the yields (interest rates) on Spain’s bonds continued to rise on Thursday, raising concerns that “Spain is the new Greece.” High bond yields indicate that investors are increasingly betting that the country is going into default. Spain’s bond yields are now at their worst level since the European Central Bank (ECB) began its LTRO program on December 12, pouring over €1 trillion in liquidity into the banking system, hoping that banks would buy Spanish bonds and keep yields down. Like every one of these massive liquidity programs, this one is now failing. Bloomberg