Saturday, July 18, 2009
Israel's Second National Anthem
EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers interested in supporting and defending a united Jerusalem should click here.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Country | State/Region | City | ISP
| Num | Perc. | Country Name | |||
 | 225 | 45.00% | United Kingdom |  | |
| 168 | 33.60% | United States |  | |
| 31 | 6.20% | Canada |  | |
| 14 | 2.80% | Israel |  | |
| 9 | 1.80% | Australia |  | |
| 5 | 1.00% | Germany |  | |
| 5 | 1.00% | Spain |  | |
| 5 | 1.00% | India |  | |
| 4 | 0.80% | Belgium |  | |
| 4 | 0.80% | Egypt |  | |
| 3 | 0.60% | Thailand |  | |
| 3 | 0.60% | South Africa |  | |
| 3 | 0.60% | Denmark |  | |
| 2 | 0.40% | Norway |  | |
| 2 | 0.40% | New Zealand |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Italy |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Pakistan |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Slovakia |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | France |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Singapore |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Portugal |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Netherlands |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Hungary |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Vietnam |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Czech Republic |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Ireland |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Romania |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Japan |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Iceland |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Hong Kong |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Switzerland |  | |
| 1 | 0.20% | Sweden |  |
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| MP3 Radio | News Briefs: | |||||||||||
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7-19-9
Sunday, July 19, 2009
http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/
Dateline Jerusalem: Qatari Islamist Funding Hamas Activities in Israel's Capital; Israel Resisting Obama Pressure to Surrender to Hitlerian Monsters
Haaretz reports:Qatar-based Sheikh Yousuf Qaradawi has allocated $21 million to a charity funded by Hamas to allow the Palestinian group to buy land and set up infrastructure in Jerusalem, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said on Sunday.
Qaradawi, an 82-year-old Egyptian-born Muslim scholar with strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood, is a keen supporter of suicide bombings in Israel, which he describes as "martyrdom operations.
Abbas aide Rafiq Husseini dismissed the report. "We wish there was Arab money to buy threatened houses," he told The Associated Press, "but that's not the case." Qaradawi could not be reached for comment.
Diskin made the comments during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. He also told the ministers that the Palestinian Authority and its security forces have been working actively to thwart the sale of Palestinian land to Jews, particularly in East Jerusalem.
He added that Hamas was placing political and diplomatic moves higher on its agenda. Diskin said public statements by senior Hamas officials show the militant group's efforts to portray itself as interested in an end to the conflict with Israel.
The officials say they seek a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders in exchange for a long-term hudna, or ceasefire, Diskin said.
"This is not because of an abandonment of fundamental ideological values," he noted. "Hamas' move toward to the political theater is designed to challenge the sole leadership of Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas]."
The security service chief also told ministers that there had been a steady trickle into Gaza of foreigners linked to global jihad.
Continue here.
The Jerusalem Post reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not go along with the Obama administration's demands to stop Jews from living in their ancient capital."What does [US President Barack Obama] think to himself? That after I built 20,000 homes in Jerusalem during my last term I'm going to stop the building of 20 more?" Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly said Sunday in closed conversations, according to Channels 10 and 2.
Netanyahu's remarks came after Israel's Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren was summoned to the US State Department over the weekend and was told that the Obama administration wanted Israel to put an end to construction work at the site of the historic Shepherd's Hotel in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Sources close to the prime minister said that Obama "had crossed a red line" when his administration began demanding Israel cease building projects in its sovereign capital.
Earlier, during Sunday's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu remarks took a much softer tone, but the gist of his statement was similar. "Jerusalem is the "unified capital of Israel and the capital of the Jewish people, and sovereignty over it is indisputable," he said.
Click here for the Times' piece.The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming
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China and India are right to resist Western demands for carbon emissions cuts. Though they won't admit it publicly, Chinese and Indian political leaders suspect or are convinced that manmade global warming is a manmade hoax, that the branding of carbon dioxide as pollution is junk science aimed at creating yet another speculative financial bubble--the buying, selling, and leveraging of hot air in the form of carbon credits. 
The charlatan Al Gore and Goldman Sachs stand to make mountains of money from this scam, made possible by government mandates, rules, restrictions, and other measures that will choke off energy supplies, starve communities, pauperize the middle classes, crush the poor, cripple industry, condemn the United States to a state of permanent industrial and economic decline ... and line the pockets of the fakers and fraudsters.Islamists Rape Iranian Girls Before their Executions
Members of Islamist Iran's dreaded Basij militia systematically rape young Iranian female prisoners prior to their executions--on orders of the top turbaned tyrant, a man who should be dead or on trial for crimes against humanity instead of in power and on the receiving end of Barack Obama's pathetic appeals for "engagement."
Click here for the story, and here for commentary.
Finally, click here for background on the above monster--a Basij killer.Taliban Release Video of Captured US Soldier
The Taliban have released a disturbing video of a captured American soldier pleading for his life. Click here for the story.
This is what comes from fighting World War III with CNN rules of engagement. The Taliban should have been wiped out ... annihilated ... by any and all means ... including nuclear weapons ... within weeks of 9/11. They should no longer exist. Instead, the Bush administration took too long to do too little, relying on special operations forces and notoriously unreliable Afghan warlords for most of the fighting. The United States succeeded in pushing the Taliban and Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan, alright, but failed to destroy them. As a result, the Islamist scum now not only threaten to retake Afghanistan (the government there barely controls the capital, Kabul), but Pakistan, too, with its nuclear arsenal.
And the Obama administration, bent on appeasing and aligning with Islamist Iran and Islamism in general, is even willing to "engage" so-called reconcilable elements of the Taliban--supposed moderates swept along by the Islamist tide. In fact, there are no moderate Islamists, just as there were no moderate Nazis. Failure to face and deal with this reality will prolong the long war with radical Islam and lead to a series of catastrophes, including Islamist nuclear attacks on Western cities.Campaign to Demonize Israel Intensifies
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Israel's Second National Anthem
EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers interested in supporting and defending a united Jerusalem should click here.
Will Pike and Patrick Little, two relatively junior former Army officers (Majors both), write in The Independent on the Afghani war. Amongst other things, they write: Raedwald has said it for me. Read, inwardly digest and then pop along to theTelegraph website to make your comment. I wonder where this came from?Sunday, July 19, 2009
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
Keeping a secret
There is a report today of another Russian helicopter going in, an Mi-8 – this one at Kandahar, sadly with at least 16 deaths. Enemy action is not suspected.
The operator was the Russian air company Vertical-T, another of those dodgy Skylink "partners”, although there is no information yet as to whether this was running a Nato or British contract. It could have been, but it could also have been ferrying for an NGO or other outfit in the region.
Meanwhile, in a lazy, ill-informed article by Christopher Leake in the Mail on Sunday, we see the paper wake up to part of the story about civilian contractors supplying helicopter lift to the MoD in Afghanistan.
Under a plainly wrong headline, which declares: "Now we are borrowing Russian helicopters to fight the Taliban", we this get Leake proclaim that "British frontline troops in Afghanistan are so short of helicopters and transport planes that they are being bailed out by the Russians."
Actually, we may be using "Russian" helicopters (although the new models are not built in Russia) but there is no direct Russian involvement in the helicopter supply. As we know, the contract is held by the Canadian firm, Skylink, which then subs out to all manner of operations.
In typical Mail style, pompous and self-important, however, we get this piece of information dressed up as "The Mail on Sunday has established that the Ministry of Defence is using civilian Russian-built Mi-8 and Mi-26 transport helicopters ... ".
All the key information here, and much more of which the Mail is evidently unaware, has actually been announced in Parliament or tabled as responses to Parliamentary written questions, starting with an oral statement by Des Bowne on 20 May 2008, with a question from Dr Fox on 2 June 2008, followed by two questions from Ann Winterton, on 25 March 2009 and 20 April 2009respectively.
And, for all Leake's hyperventilation, he completely misses the main storyabout the Mi-26 going in, fact that it was shot down and the very shady history of the operators. All Leake can manage is, "The pilots are freelance Russians and Ukrainians." No doubt, he calls this journalism.
And the thing is, in missing the real story, Leake is making drama out of a non-story. It makes absolute sense to augment lift with suitably qualified and reputable civilian operators. It is cheap and highly flexible. The MoD should be commended for saving taxpayers' money - it took them long enough.
But then, Leake even makes a big deal out of the fact that we are hiring "massive commercial Russian Antonov aircraft to fly vehicles and heavy equipment from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to Afghanistan." And the point is? Everybody uses these aircraft, even the Americans. They are simply the biggest in town ... chartered from perfectly reputable operators, including several based in the UK. And if he looks at some of the MoD press hanndouts, he will see pics of Antonovs, going way back, with military kit being loaded on them.
For his "scoop of the week", however, Leake has picked up bits of information about the use of Mi-8 MTVs by Special Forces. But, he tells us, they are being used "because of a desperate lack of UK aircraft." Er ... nah! They are being used because they are the best aircraft for the job – and very successful they have been.
Then Leake tells us they are "on loan" from an unspecified "Third World nation". Er ... nah! The RAF bought six of them in 2007 (or could be a bit earlier) – there are five left. We may occasionally "borrow" others, but then that is normal in the theatre. The Yanks operate them as well – anonymous machines, camouflage-painted and no markings, just like ours.
To add to the mystery, Leake embellishes what little detail he has with the legend that they are flown by an elite team of UK Army Air Corps pilots, trained at a secret special forces base in Afghanistan. Er ... nah! In the main, they are flown by serving RAF officers. And they train in Boscombe Down, where two machines are kept for "evaluation" purposes. For sure, the pilots do theatre-specific training when they get there ... as do all operational pilots.
To Leake, though, this is a "humiliation" and he gets some talking heads – anonymous, of course – to say they are "dismayed" about being forced to borrow helicopters.
At times, you can understand the MoD's reluctance to tell the hacks anything. They will only get it wrong, or "spin" it. Clearly though, the best way for the MoD to keep things secret is to get the defence secretary to announce them in Parliament. Hansard, websites and Google are clearly beyond the reach of Mr Leake.
COMMENT THREADTake your pick ...
Many senior officers and civil servants in the MoD have failed to support and deliver a winning strategy. They are distracted by wrangling over the defence budget, with its expensive equipment programmes; none of which will benefit the front line anytime soon.
Do I hear FRES, Future Lynx, Watchkeeper ...? And then they go on:Projects conceived decades before 9/11 must not be allowed to wreck the prospects of success in what the Government claims is a war of critical national importance. They need to focus on the current battle and deliver blunt and objective advice to their political masters. If that advice is not being taken, they should resign and tell the public why. Equally, the political masters must assess carefully the advice they receive and test it against their political objectives. Politicians should be fully engaged in what is going on in Afghanistan, and not be afraid to meddle where appropriate. What is being done – militarily, diplomatically or developmentally – is being done for a political end.
Then we get the journos' "take" on it: "The defence cuts bleeding our forces dry" write Jonathan Owen and Brian Brady. They cite a report from "experts" from the UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) – prop. Charles Guthrie, ex CDS and now non-executive director of Colt Defense LLC, one of the largest arms manufacturers in the world.
Some reform in the Army is under way. In inception parts of it is fairly radical, but none of it is funded and therefore fragile. It needs to go much further to address the longer term issues responsible for its ponderousness in learning and adapting. The Army needs a campaign of institutional renewal, facing up to its failings, and embracing critical debate. It needs to be prepared to overhaul any aspect of its organisation. Moreover it needs to prove that it now listens to its highly experienced middle-ranking officers. All the evidence suggests that they have not, in contrast to the bottom-up impetus that so transformed the US Army's performance in Iraq in 2007.
The military task force in 2006 was deployed beyond its remit, and thus over extended itself. This resulted in a bloody summer and widely dispersed dispositions that subsequent units had to inherit but were not resourced for. Thus the military arm extended beyond their political direction. Where was the national chain of command? Three years later nothing has changed – it is just a bigger force, with equally confused ends, ways, and means. The effort remains woefully resourced and poorly directed.
And the UKNDA conclusion? "Defence provision must be increased steadily over the next three years to 3 to 3.5 percent."
Is it any wonder the defence "debate" never gets out the front door. The idle hacks are stuck in a groove, unable even to read their own newspapers, too busy pushing their pre-ordained narratives actually to be able to engage their brain cells. And they get paid for it!
COMMENT THREADThe truth begins to emerge
Now it is the Observer's turn to pick up on the details that we've been running on this blog and DOTR for months, most recently here, here andhere. I suppose I shouldn't keep saying, "you read it here first," but you bloody well did.
More on Defence of the Realm.On Booker ...
And why are we fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan? They are already here.Military sources
Military sources claimed Sir Richard initially opposed the £30million purchase of 100 US-built Mastiff armoured patrol vehicles which have increased troops' protection against roadside bombs since replacing the heavily criticised Snatch Land Rovers.
You do love the pomposity of "The Mail on Sunday has been told" ... We read it here and then got the detail from Ministry of Defeat would have been more honest. But then, this is the MSM we're talking about. Can't reveal our sources, old boy!
The Mail on Sunday has been told Sir Richard preferred the ambitious FRES programme - Future Rapid Effects System - involving 3,500 medium-weight armoured vehicles. That project was quietly dropped last month amid fears over its cost and effectiveness.
A book lives or dies from the media exposure it gets. They are stealing bread from my mouth.
COMMENT THREADClear military advice
Such is the overwhelming fog of impenetrable distortion that, at times one is tempted to walk away from the Afghan War issue, perhaps to write an earnest piece about wind farms and energy policy – or a careful analysis of Booker's column, which indeed I must do later today, if only to express my horror at the eventshe reports today.
What impels one to continue – I suppose, because I don't really know why I invest so much time, energy and emotional capital into this, when I have more pressing things to do - is perhaps because of an overpowering sense of injustice, and an equally powerful sense of a story that must be told, for good or bad.
This is particularly provoked by a piece in The Sunday Telegraph today, headed: "Labour at war over Afghanistan." It makes the highly tendentious claim that, "Labour is bitterly divided over defence spending as the Government's Afghanistan policy suffers a series of fresh setbacks."
One point must be addressed immediately – the rest later in this post. Labour is not at "war" over Afghanistan, not in any sense that this mischievous headline implies. It is basing its assertion on a single strand, comments by former defence secretary John Hutton who, for reasons of his own, has chosen to write "exclusively" about Afghanistan for The Sunday Telegraph, calling for more troops and helicopters.
One should also note, that Hutton – whatever arrangement he might have had with The Sunday Telegraph - Hutton has also allowed himself to be interviewed by The Sunday Times where he "breaks silence to fight for the generals".
With this, there is clearly an element of calculation, which fits ill with Mr Hutton. If he cared so deeply, then he might perhaps have stayed in his post instead of quitting after a mere nine months, and fought from the inside. Instead, he walked out at a critical juncture, a decision he had made well before the current controversy reared its head.
Mr Hutton's current pitch, though, is that, "When it comes to the numbers and the equipment it is absolutely essential politicians listen to advice from the military. Politicians must not become armchair generals. They must make decisions based on clear military advice."
Matthew Parris put this in context yesterday, warning us that the politicians should not defer automatically to the generals. Furthermore, Charles Moore reinforced this theme, writing in his column:And do remember that our top brass, patriotic though they undoubtedly are, are also engaged in inter-service rivalry. It does not hurt the Army, losing money to the Navy's carriers, to protest that it does not have enough for Afghanistan. Just because you don't believe a minister, don't automatically believe a general. Ministers have to adjudicate between competing claims: it is not easy.
So doth Hutton say that politicians should listen to advice from the military. Indeed they should. But that does not mean to say they should take it, or that they should not listen to other opinions, and modify their decisions accordingly.
It also does not mean that they should not take into account the broader political issues that are outside the remit of the generals – and to which they are not always privy – or that they should not take account of the views of allies and, in this case, that of the host nation.
Hutton also says that politicians must "make decisions based on clear military advice." And indeed, subject to the above caveats they must. It would be very nice to be able to do so. But, as this campaign has progressed, it has been clear that the military itself is divided as to the best or correct course of action, that there are different agendas and schools of opinion within the military, and that "clear" advice is not always the right advice.
Politicians, also, must not become armchair generals, says Hutton – not least, one assumes, because the current generation of ministers have no military experience.
However, from their successive statements in Parliament and elsewhere, it is highly evident that ministers – and politicians generally – are extremely deferential to the military, perhaps too much so.
If, for instance, military advice had been slavishly followed in June 2006, Mastiff protected vehicles would not have been ordered in August and rushed into service. Instead, yet another batch of Pinzgauer Vectors would have been purchased. That was the "clear military advice" at the time, which also counselled to keep the Snatch Land Rover in service as it was "mission critical".
In fact, of the many problems affecting the Afghani campaign, one is most definitely that too much "clear military advice" has been taken. It was such advice from the RAF that deterred ministers from ordering large numbers of Mi-17s in early 2007 – even though the RAF had purchased this machine for duties with the Special Forces.
Even though this would have resolved the helicopter lift problem, ministers instead took the RAF advice to buy the six Danish Merlins – at a cumulative cost of over £186 million – advice which – as we record in the previous post, has yet to deliver a single extra airframe to theatre.
Other attempts were made by ministers to bring extra lift into theatre, but ministers were also required to balance their budgets. How they do that is a political decision – it is not for the military to make. The deal was to delay or even scrap the Future Lynx project in order to divert the funding to meet the more pressing need. This aircraft was not due to deliver to operations until 2014-15 – at the earliest – so it had no impact on immediate requirements.
But each time, the "word" came back that the Army did not support any such arrangement. And, although you will not find his fingerprints on any document, that attitude went right up to Dannatt. His concern – as Colonel Commandant of the Army Air Corps – was to protect the Corps. The Future Lynx would ensure its survival. Support helicopters would go to the RAF.
Ministers could have pressed the point but, such has been the ferocity of the pork-barrel campaign to keep the order – with the full and very active support of the Tory front bench – that discretion ruled. The last thing wanted was an open spat with the Army and its serried ranks of supporters.
Yet other options were considered, as The Sunday Telegraph excitably reports, telling us that "the Government" turned down the chance to buy 12 "cut-price" SA 330 Puma transport helicopters from the United Arab Emirates (example pictured), at a cost – we are told - of about £6 million each.
This, as it turns out, was only one of many possibilities considered, and a very tentative one at that. Prices were never discussed and, since they had just been refurbished at £10 million each, the £6 million is a tad on the low side.
Anyhow, the idea was turned down on "clear military advice" from the RAF and MoD. Ministers are the first to acknowledge that they are not technically competent to make detailed appraisals as to the suitability of second-hand helicopters for service in the RAF – and they are not in a position to over-ride the advice they have been given. Thus, they took the "clear military advice" that it was more cost-effective to upgrade the existing RAF fleet of Pumas.
And then we come to the "boots on the ground" issue. Actually, there never has been any "clear military advice" that an extra 2,000 troops should be committed to theatre – as Dannatt has now acknowledged. And the "clear military advice " from the likes of US General John Craddock is that the priority is the provision of transport (particularly helicopters and mine-protected vehicles), intelligence and medical capabilities.
"Too often," he said, "the forces there now are relatively fixed, because we don't have adequate tactical mobility to move them around to be able to do the jobs we need them to do." Without that "tactical mobility", additional troops are either ineffective or, worse still, become additional targets.
Given that this is also a coalition operation, and that General McCrystal, on behalf of the coalition command has yet to complete his review of force requirements, and that the whole issue was marked down for an ongoing review after the August election, it is a tad premature to be discussing enhancements of British force levels.
But, says The Sunday Telegraph leader, "Troops are more important than political points." The paper is wrong. Troops levels are an intensely political issue and, in a parliamentary democracy, the civilian politicians make the political decisions.
It is surely right for the generals to warn of the consequences of any such decisions, but it is then for the generals to dispose the forces allocated accordingly. We are not a military dictatorship and, however much this current government might be detested and mistrusted, ministers – not the generals – are constitutionally accountable.
Advice is one thing – and not all of it is either clear or good. Demands are another.
COMMENT THREAD
A chilling report circulating in the Kremlin today states that President Medvedev and Chinese President Hu have issued an “urgent warning” to the United States that says if the Americans allow an Israeli nuclear attack upon Iran, “World War will be our response”. Fueling Russian and Chinese fears are intelligence reports stating that Russian Military Analysts state in these reports that Israel first plans to use its US-built fighter jets to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, and upon a combined Iranian and Lebanonese Hezbollah “response”, that is said will “rain missiles down upon Israel”, Israeli submarines and surface vessels with unleash nuclear armed cruise missiles against Iran’s military, religious and political infrastructure. Israeli news sources are also confirming Russian and Chinese fears over an attack by their country upon President Bush had become so alarmed over Israel’s plan to attack Iran that in an unprecedented move, just prior to leaving office, he refused the Israelis “secret request” for 1,000 of the American bunker busting bombs they wanted, but, Israel had obtained 100 of these dreaded weapons in a 2005 deal with the Pentagon. Upon Obama assuming the US Presidency, Israel’s Prime Minister gave the American leader a stark warning that “Either you take care of Iran-quickly-or I will”, a challenge that Obama, while in Russia last week, slapped down by warning that the United States is “absolutely not” giving Israel a green light to attack Iran, a curious statement, however, when viewed in the light of the American Vice President Biden stating just days before that “Israel is free to do whatever it deems necessary to remove the Iranian nuclear threat”. Fueling Russian and Chinese fears over Israel’s planned attack on Iran, these reports continue, is the Jewish statesplanned use of Iraqi territory from their Kurdistan region which borders Iran, and which this past week furthered its goal to become an independent Nation with the adopting of a new constitution, and with its Israeli trained army can expect an “immediate” invasion from both its sworn enemies Turkey and Iran. Even worse, Further complicating this mess is Turkey’s membership in NATO, and which under that alliances agreement calls for the United States and Europe to join with the Turkish military in fighting against what in essence would be their own allies of Israel and Kurdistan. Not being known to the American people is that while their Military Forces have been fighting in Most ominously in these reports though, both Russia and China state that they will have “no choice” but to place an “immediate embargo” against any oil and gas coming from the Middle East and weapons to the region the United States may try to supply. China further states in this warning that upon an Israeli attack upon Iran they will “immediately cease” to purchase any more US debt, and with the American deficit hitting $1 Trillion for the first time in their history, and with it expecting to exceed $2 Trillion by the end of the fiscal year on September 30th, a particually grave threat being that China’s $2 Trillion in reserves are the only thing keeping the US economy afloat. Russian Intelligence Analysts further report that the long-serving head of What is not known at this time, these reports summarize, is if But, to Israeli war leaders believing that upon the conventional destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Persian Nation will “sue for peace” rather than be hit by nuclear weapons, these reports state, unequivocally, that Iranian leaders are “fully prepared” to engulf the entire World in “brutal fire” rather than to ever “kneel down” before the “Zionists” they have long stated have no right being in the Middle East in the first place. 
Written by Administrator Saturday, 18 July 2009 09:26
Russia-China Warn US That Israeli Attack On Iran Means 'World War' 'A chilling report circulating in the Kremlin today states that President Medvedev and Chinese President Hu have issued an “urgent warning” to the United States that says if the Americans allow an Israeli nuclear attack upon Iran, “World War will be our response”. Fueling Russian and Chinese fears are intelligence reports stating that Israel has moved over three-quarters of its Naval Forces through the Suez Canal and has assembled over 30 of its US-built fighter jets in Kurdistan for a planned attack using American made “bunker busting” bombs and nuclear armed cruise missiles.'
Legal Immunity Set For Swine Flu Vaccine Makers
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'The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off.
Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.'
Netanyahu rejects US demand to cancel East Jerusalem housing project
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 19, 2009, 3:02 PM (GMT+02:00)
Netanyahu: Take Jerusalem off the table
Sunday, July 19, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu sharply rejected the US State Department demand handed to Israeli ambassador Michael Oran to put a stop to construction work at the Shepherd's Hotel site in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu stressed that hundreds of Arab residents have purchased apartments in the west of the city without difficulty and there is no bar on Jews buying or building on the eastern side of Israel's open, undivided capital.
More...
Iran puts finishing touches on a desert A-test site east of Tehran
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 18, 2009, 11:18 AM (GMT+02:00)
Kavir Lut: Iranian desert site for coming A-test
DEBKAfile's military sources reveal that Iran is in the last stages of construction of a nuclear test site in the Kavir Lut desert between Tehran and its eastern border with Afghanistan. The work is managed by the Iranian experts invited to attend North Korea's nuclear test this year.
Two diplomats attached to the UN nuclear watchdog agency in Vienna confirmed to AP Saturday July 18 that Iran now has the means to test a weapon within six months.
More...
Israel-Lebanese border still insecure three years after Lebanon War
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 16, 2009, 8:21 PM (GMT+02:00)
Mock rockets mark Hizballah's armed positions at South Lebanese villages
The mysterious explosion at the Hirbet Salim village in South Lebanon occurred, DEBKAfile's military sources report, at one of the 35 large weapons dumps the Hizballah has built illegally 20 kilometers from the Israel border.
In the event of war with Israel, these arsenals can arm some 7,500 Hizballah militiamen living in hiding among the Lebanese border villagers.
More...
DEBKA-Net-Weekly: Obama fails to allay American Jewish, Israeli fears
DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Report
July 17, 2009, 8:21 PM (GMT+02:00)
US president Barack Obama invited a wide range of American Jewish leaders to the White House Tuesday in view of the importance he attaches to winning their community's support for his Middle East and Israel policies.
But, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly's Washington sources, he failed to put their or Israel's concerns to rest.
Our latest issue out Friday explains why, along with many other exclusive disclosures.
To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .
Hizballah militiamen rush border, briefly seize unmanned Israeli lookout post
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 18, 2009, 2:53 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile's military sources report that the IDF and northern command are urgently investigating how a large group of Hizballah terrorists and Lebanese villagers managed to rush the new border fence and hoist Lebanese and Hizballah flags at an unmanned Israeli lookout post at the foot of the Kfar Shaba Farms Hills. The incident occurred Friday, July 17. Later Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his movement would join the Lebanese government only if it accepted its anti-Israel platform.
More...
Police disperse massed protesters after ex-president Rafsanjani's Tehran sermon
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 17, 2009, 11:19 AM (GMT+02:00)
Ex-president Hashemi Rafsjani holds key to Iranian crisis
The former Iranian president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, broke his month-long silence on the violent street protests which erupted over allegations of fraud after Mahmoud Ahmadienjad's re-election on June 12.
In a tensely-awaited sermon at Tehran University, Friday, July 17, he called for the release of the hundreds of arrested protesters.
The prominent cleric said large numbers of Iranians still doubted the election result and something had to be done to allay those doubts.
More...
Pacific test will determine Arrow's ability to intercept Iranian missiles close to launch
DEBKAfile Special Report
July 15, 2009, 8:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
Arrow test launch
In a few days, the Israeli anti-missile Arrow system will face the first real test, weather permitting, of its ability to knock out an Iranian Shehab-3 or Sejil II ballistic missile at the outset of its flight toward Israel, DEBKAfile's military sources report. The test will take place off central California's Pacific coast where the Arrow can show its full potential - unlike the restricted conditions of the Mediterranean.
More...
Obama resolves to directly sponsor resumed Israel-Syrian peace talks
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
July 14, 2009, 9:11 PM (GMT+02:00)
US envoy Fred Hoff asks Israel to resume talks with Syria from point of last interruption.
DEBKAfile's diplomatic and Washington sources disclose that Fred Hoff, head of the Syrian desk in George Mitchell's US Middle East mission, asked Israeli's leaders, when he met them Monday, July 13: Is the incumbent government prepared to restart talks with Syria from the point they were broken off by ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert?
More...
The First Post Sunday Papers |  |
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17 July 2009
Suspicious death of UK top weapons expert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM-jZqmF_M
http://obamahill.tk/
David Ha’ivri
The Shomron Liaison Office
Beni Gal
Homesh First
Yosef Rabin
Land of Israel Committee of North America
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mr. President, your policy that aims to destroy the Jewish communities of Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem will no longer go unchallenged. Your objection to Jewish construction in these areas is an affront to history, international law and the Jewish religion. Furthermore, your objection to Jewish childbearing (natural growth) in these areas is reminiscent of Pharaoh's order to drown all the male children of Israel during the slavery in Egypt.
Mr. President, we hereby launch the "Homesh - Obama Hilltop Project." The town of Homesh was one of the four Jewish Samarian towns destroyed during the 2005 "Disengagement Plan." The town of Homesh is now going through a process of renewal and will soon, God willing, be a fully functioning Jewish community. We aim to rally the worldwide Pro-Israel community to support the rebirth of this community and counter your unjust, illegal policies.
In the Media:
How West Bank Jews are defying Obama!
Name new housing project in biblical territory after president
Posted: July 15, 2009
11:30 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104088
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| Settlers launch 'Obama hilltop project' | |||||
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| By DPA http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1100955.html | |||||
Contacts:
The Shomron Liaison Office
USA Phone
512-961-7059
Israel Phone 011-972-(0)52-607-1690
Website
www.yeshuv.org
Homesh First Movement
Israel Phone 011-972-(0)52-720-3607
Website http://lavi-ssl.org/homesh/
Land of Israel Committee of North America
Netanyahu: Israel rule over Jerusalem not up for discussion
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem was not a matter up for discussion. The prime minister’s comments came after the U.S. State Department told Israeli envoy Michael Oren that Israel must halt a construction project in East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting that Jerusalem is the united capital of Israel and that all citizens are allowed to purchase property in any part of the city they choose.
“Imagine what would happen if someone were to suggest Jews could not living or purchase in certain neighborhoods in London, New York, Paris or Rome,” he said.
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“The international community would certainly raise protest. Likewise, we cannot accept such a ruling on East Jerusalem,” Netanyahu told ministers.
This is the policy of an open city, he said, and Israel would not accept a stance that counters that civil right.
“Israeli Arabs are not forbidden from buying houses in west Jerusalem and Jews must be granted the same right in the eastern part of the city,” he added.
The State Department summoned Oren over the weekend to advise him that the project developed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz should not go ahead, according to both Israel Radio and Army Radio.
Moskowitz, an influential supporter of Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build housing units in its place. The hotel is located near a government compound that includes several government ministries and the national police headquarters.
In response to the request, Oren told the State Department that Israeli construction in East Jerusalem was no different than in any other part of the country.
Jerusalem could not be considered along the same lines as settlements, he said, adding that Israel would not accede to this demand
PM flatly rejects US demand to halt J’lem housing project
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Jerusalem is the “unified capital of Israel and the capital of the Jewish people, and sovereignty over it is indisputable,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday, responding to an American demand to put an end to a housing project to be built in east Jerusalem.
Vacant Shepherd Hotel in East…
Ted Belman
Jerusalem
swine flu alerts and updates
Major Expose on Swine Flu by 60 Minutes
Auburn Journal - Auburn,CA,USA
As I predicted in my first swine flu alert (which was the most popular one I ever published), a fast-tracked swine flu vaccine was promptly ordered, ...
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| Government Announces Flu Pandemic PSA Propaganda Contest Prison Planet.com - USA One scenario envisioned a plague in Mexico crossing over the border into the United States (earlier this year, the so-called Swine flu did just that, ... See all stories on this topic British Airways checking passengers for H1N1 virus Reuters - USA "Obviously with swine flu spreading, we have to be responsible and make sure we do what we can to prevent the disease spreading," she said. ... See all stories on this topic |
eu reform treaty
GREECE: Soft measures and harsh fines University World News
University World News - Durban,KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa
Meanwhile, Greece has attracted yet another conviction and a fine from the European Court of Justice for failing to comply with EU directives regarding the ...
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AFP DUBLIN — The prospect of the EU reform treaty passing its main hurdle to ratification, an October referendum in Ireland, received a boost Saturday when ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| John Rentoul: We'll let you know, Mr Blair Independent - London,England,UK Then, as now, the Lisbon Treaty seemed likely to create the post of President of the European Council. Since then, the Irish electorate rejected the treaty, ... See all stories on this topic | ||
Gulf Times - Doha,Qatar The CSU, traditionally more euro-sceptic than the CDU, wants changes to German law which could delay ratification of the EU's Lisbon reform treaty until ... See all stories on this topic |
Google Blogs Alert for: eu reform treaty
| Ireland's Greens boost EU reform treaty — ButAsForMe By admin The prospect of the EU reform treaty passing its main hurdle to ratification, an October referendum in Ireland, received a boost Saturday when Ireland's Green Party decided to push for a... ButAsForMe - http://butasforme.com/ |
| Britannia Radio By Britannia Radio Portugal News - Lagoa,Algarve,Portugal He forecast that Ireland would likely approve the EU's reform Treaty of Lisbon in a second referendum in October, adding that Poland's head of state would ... See all stories on this topic ... Britannia Radio - http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/ |
| Ireland's Green Party To Campaign In Favor Of EU Reform Treaty ... By Atlanta House Painter DUBLIN (AFP)--The prospect of the E.U. reform treaty passing its main hurdle to ratification, an October referendum in Ireland, received a boost Saturday when Ireland's Green Party decided to push for a 'yes' vote. Posted in Party News ... ThemedPartySupplies.com - http://www.themedpartysupplies.com/ |
| Toleranceca® Ireland's Greens boost EU reform treaty Independent and neutral with regard to all political and religious orientations, Tolerance.ca® aims to promote awareness of the major democratic principles ... |
| Ireland's Greens boost EU reform treaty Yahoo Canada News Canada's leader in breaking news coverage. Get the latest headlines, news stories and current events from Yahoo! Canada News. |
| Ireland's Greens boost EU reform treaty The prospect of the EU reform treaty passing its main hurdle to ratification an October referendum in Ireland received a boost Saturday when Ireland's Green ... |
Special Dispatch | No. 2452 | July 19, 2009
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia – The World's Largest Women's Prison
In an article on the liberal website Minbar Al-Hiwar Wal-'Ibra (http://www.menber-alhewar1.info), reformist Saudi journalist and human rights activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar described Saudi Arabia as "the world's largest women's prison." She added that unlike real prisoners, Saudi women have no prospect of ever being released, since throughout their life, they are under the control of a male guardian – their husband, father, grandfather, brother or son.
Huweidar and other women activists recently launched a campaign against the Saudi Mahram(1) Law, which forbids women to leave their home without a male guardian. She told the Kuwaiti daily Awan that the campaign, whose slogan is "treat us like adult citizens or we leave the country," was officially launched at the King Fahd Bridge, connecting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where the women demanded to cross the border without a guardian.(2)
The following are excerpts from Al-Huweidar's article:(3)
Prisoners Can Be Released From Prison – But Saudi Women Can't
"The laws of imprisonment are known all over the world. People who commit a crime or an offense are placed in a prison cell... where they serve their sentence. [When they complete it], or get time off for good behavior, they are released... except in cases [where a person is sentenced] to life imprisonment or death. In Saudi Arabia, there are two additional ways to get out of prison early: by learning the Koran or parts of it by heart... or by getting a pardon from the king on the occasion of a holiday or a coronation – after which the prisoner finds himself free and can enjoy life among his family and loved ones.
"However, none of these options exist for Saudi women – neither for those who live behind bars [i.e. who are actually in prison] nor for those who live outside the prison walls. None are ever released, except with the permission of their male guardian. A Saudi woman who committed a crime may not leave her cell when she has finished serving her sentence unless her guardian arrives to collect her. As a consequence, many Saudi women remain in prison just because their guardians refuse to come and get them. The state pardons them, but their guardians insist on prolonging their punishment.
"At the same time, even 'free' women need the permission of their guardian to leave their home, their city or their country. So in either case, the woman's freedom is [in the hands of] her guardian."
Prison Inmates Are Stripped Of All Authority Over Their Lives – And So Are Saudi Women
"As is customary in prisons throughout the world, inmates are stripped of all authority and sponsorship over their own [lives]. All their movements are monitored and controlled by the jailor. The prison authorities decide their fate and see to their needs, until the day of their release. This is also the usual situation of the Saudi woman. She has no right to make decisions, and may not take a single step without the permission of her jailor, namely her guardian. But in her case the term [of imprisonment] is unlimited.
"The Saudi Mahram Law turns the women into prisoners from the day they are born until the day they die. They cannot leave their cells, namely their homes, or the larger prison, namely the state, without signed permission... Although Saudi women are deprived of freedom and dignity more than any other women [in the world], they suffer all these forms of oppression and injustice in bitter silence, [and with an air of] suppressed anger and death-like dejection. Saudi women are peaceful in the full sense of the word, but so far the Saudi state has not appreciated their [noble] souls, their patience, and their quiet resistance..."
"The Clerics, Whom the State Has Authorized to Oppress the Women, Regard Their Silence And Patience As [a Sign of] Mental Backwardness"
"The clerics, whom the state has authorized to oppress the women, regard their silence and patience as [a sign of] mental backwardness and emotional weakness... Thus they have [allowed themselves] to increase the 'slumber' of oppression over the decades... They suffocate [the women] in all areas of life by means of oppressive laws [enforced by] the religious police, who follow them everywhere as if they were fugitives from justice. The laws pertaining to women have turned them into objects on which sick men can release their violent and sexual [urges].
"These Saudi clerics deny the Saudi women every opportunity to find a job, get an education, travel, receive medical treatment, or [realize] any [other] right, no matter how trivial, without the permission of their jailor, that is, their guardian – [all] based on oppressive fatwas sanctioned by the male [leaders] of the state."
Our "Mothers and Grandmothers ...Enjoyed Much Greater Freedom... Saudi Arabia Has Turned Itself Into the World's Largest Saudi Prison"
"[It is interesting to note that] the mothers and grandmothers [of today's Saudi women] had all these rights, and enjoyed much greater freedom [than today's women] – as did all Muslim women in past eras, such as the wives of the Prophet. [None of these women] were subjected to this oppressive Mahram Law, which is not based on the tenets of Islam and in fact has nothing to do with Islam.
"How blessed is Saudi Arabia, the humane kingdom, which has turned itself into the world's largest women's prison. [This is a land] which permits any man, without preconditions, to take the role of jailor, and which has turned its women into prisoners for life, when they have done nothing to deserve it."
Endnotes:
(1) Mahram, meaning "forbidden," refers to a male relative whom the woman may not legally marry and who can thus serve as her guardian.
(2) Awan (Kuwait), July 6, 2009. It should be noted that Sheikh 'Abd Al-Muhsin Al-'Obikan, advisor to the king and Shura Council member, recently issued a fatwa permitting women to travel abroad unaccompanied. www.islamonline.net, December 25, 2008.
(3) http://www.menber-alhewar1.info/news.php?action=view&id=4364, June 24, 2009.
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