Military Option Against Iran Still Viable, Pentagon Tells Israel
July 30, 2008
Israel Today: Senior US defense officials assured visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week that the Bush Administration still views a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a viable last-resort option.
Pentagon sources who spoke to the Los Angeles Times said Barak was told that the US had not written off military action against Iran, but that it wanted to emphasize diplomatic efforts to compel the Islamic Republic to halt its nuclear program.
And that is where the difference between the two nations’ approaches lies, noted the newspaper. During the talks, Barak stressed the importance of emphasizing the military option in order to give teeth to diplomatic efforts that have born little fruit over the past five years.
Despite the differing points of view, Barak was upbeat during a press conference with Israeli reporters following his meetings with US leaders.
“It was important for the Americans to understand our stance and its derivatives, and I think they understand this better now, after this visit,” said Barak.
The defense minister also said that the Bush Administration had agreed to connect Israel to America’s global missile defense system, which can detect an impending Iranian attack while the missiles’ engines are still warming up.
The Big Powers Are Going Down, Thunders Ahmadinejad
July 30, 2008
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave another ‘press conference’ in Tehran where he ranted against the West for for nuclear proliferation, AIDS and other global ills and accused them of exploiting the UN and other organizations for their own gain - and the developing world’s loss.
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The big powers are going down,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Teheran. “They have come to the end of their power, and the world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era.”
Ahmadinejad made his comments during a meeting of the Non-Aligned Nations Movement [NAM] which consists of nations as diverse as communist Cuba, Jamaica and India, and as belligerent as Pakistan, Venezuela and Iran.
The majority of NAM’s members share a critical view of the US and the developed world in general. And with Iran assuming the chairmanship of the conference Tuesday, Ahmadinejad’s keynote speech was tailored to reflect the struggle that some NAM members see themselves in against the world’s rich and powerful countries.
A draft of the final document that ministers will be asked to approve, made available to The Associated Press as the conference opened Tuesday, reflected that struggle.
“The rich and powerful countries continue to exercise an inordinate influence in determining the nature and direction of international relations, including economic and trade relations, as well as rules governing these relations, many of which are at the expense of developing countries,” it said.
NAM countries oppose “unilaterally imposed measures by certain states … the use and threat of use of force, and pressure and coercive measures as a means to achieving their national policy objectives,” said the draft.�
UN Salutes Fallen Hezbollah Terrorists
July 20, 2008
Two United Nations peacekeepers were photographed saluting the flag-draped coffins of two Hezbollah terrorists during an exchange of enemy corpses between Israel and Hezbollah. 
The media has erroneously and continuously called the deal a ‘prisoner exchange’ but Israel didn’t receive any prisoners, just the remains of two dead Israelis - who were most probably murdered while in Hezbollah ‘custody.’
But to get them back, Israel was forced to surrender Samir Kuntar, perpetrator of one of the most grisly terrorist murders in Israel’s long history of grisly terrorist murders.
Associated Press photographer Mohammed Zaatari captured an image of the troops paying homage to fallen Hezbollah fighters as trucks bearing their coffins drove through the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.
The blue-helmet U.N. troops, who operate under the auspices of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), are meant disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and be an impartial buffer along the country’s border with Israel.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, said he was “shocked and horrified” by the photograph and that it was time for the saluting soldiers to go.
“I think they should be recalled and be sent back to whichever country they came from,” said Gillerman. “I think they’ve definitely compromised their impartiality and have in a very big way, in a very serious way, compromised the integrity of the United Nations.”
But a UNIFIL spokeswoman said the salute was nothing out of the ordinary.
“It is customary in most armies for military personnel in uniform to salute whenever a coffin passes in a procession,” UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said. “They were merely following this customary military tradition and saluted coffins draped in Lebanese national flags at their own initiative.”
The identity of the troops wasn’t certain, but Getty Images reports they were from Italy.
Hamas, Hezbollah Planning Imminent Attacks?
July 20, 2008
According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, Hamas and Hezbollah may be in the process of planning new attacks along the Israeli borders with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Head of Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin warned on Sunday of a possible terror attack by Hamas or Hizbullah in the near future along the Gaza Strip and Lebanon borders, respectively.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Yadlin said Hizbullah still had many outstanding issues with Israel which could be used to justify such an attack, such as the Shaba Farms, the village of Ghajar, IAF flights over Lebanon and Imad Mughniyeh’s assassination in February - for which the group has blamed Israel.
Of Gaza, Yadlin said some organizations which have not signed on to the cease-fire are planning a major attack.
However, Yadlin said Hamas was succeeding in enforcing the cease-fire on the Palestinian side but assessed that the fact that border crossings were not open “according to Hamas’s expectations, constitutes a potential for eroding the cease-fire.” While weapons smuggling continued, Egyptian activity in Sinai “diminishes the amount of arms smuggling, but quality weaponry still finds its way into the Gaza Strip.”
Yadlin also said that Israel’s enemies were continuing to arm themselves. But he added those enemies were worried of the possibility of a “hot summer” and did not intend to initiate a war with Israel during US President George W. Bush’s remaining time in office, or before they had armed themselves sufficiently.
PA Official: Israel Guilty of Acts of War
July 7, 2008
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are expected to meet during an international conference in Paris next week, PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday.
PA officials in Ramallah expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in the peace talks. They said Israel’s actions on the ground sent the wrong message to Palestinians.
Rafik Husseini, director of Abbas’s bureau, said the PA president would continue to negotiate with Israel despite the lack of progress.
“Israel is talking a lot about peace, but its actions on the ground are tantamount to acts of war,” Husseini said. He added that Abbas did not want to suspend the talks so as not to give Israel an excuse to accuse him of foiling the process.
The Trade
June 30, 2008
by Jack Kinsella
I saw the movie, ‘Old Yeller’ as a kid — and it made me cry when Tommy Kirk’s character shot Old Yeller at the end.
I think I’ll buy it and watch it again. Maybe THIS time, it will have a happy ending. If not, I’ll go buy another copy from a different story and try watching that one. Maybe he won’t shoot the dog.
If not, there are other stores . . . I know it sounds silly, but if I do it often enough, and talk about how often I do it, I may be offered a job as a UN diplomat.
It sounds like a fun job. Lots of travel, a big expense account, and I understand that the more meaningless your efforts are, the further you can advance up the ladder.
Who knows? If my work is irrelevant enough, I might even get elected Secretary-General where I can help the down-trodden and victimized of this world by rewarding the victimizers and blaming the victims and be the recipient of global accolades for my far-reaching irrelevance.
If not, there’s always Disneyland. I hear they have a whole section called Fantasy Land that is evidently dedicated to training UN Secretary-General wannabes.
Or maybe I can enroll in the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad School of Genocidal Cultural Sensitivity. Or the Yasser Arafat Memorial School For Jewish Advancement.
I just want to make the world a better place, and the most expedient method is evidently by helping the Jews make the transition from this Jerusalem to the Big Jerusalem In the Sky.
At the very least, I might get a job offer from Hezbollah or Hamas. Or a nice ‘thank you’ card from the Big Kahuna himself, Osama bin Laden.
I just want to help. I’m here to serve. Call me. Read more
Creating Our Next Enemy State
June 23, 2008
The House Foreign Affairs Committee received a report from the Palestinian Media Watch entitled: “Strengthening America’s Enemies: The Ideological Allies of a Future Palestinian State.”
The report makes for some interesting reading. Authored by Itamar Marcus, it notes that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are seeking alliances with some of America’s most vitriolic enemies, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.
Moreover, notes Marcus, “There is ample evidence that the contacts between the Palestinian Authority and the enemies of the United States have the characteristics of relations between allies who share a common ideological bond.” Read more
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