China Confidential
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Hamas Taken By Surprise
Foreign Confidential....
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air assault on the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas.
Israeli warplanes and helicopters launched a massive assault on Hamas installations across Gaza. Military sources say 40 targets were destroyed in a span of just five minutes.
Hamas was taken by surprise. There were heavy casualties when a graduation ceremony for new military officers was hit by missiles.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it was retaliation for Hamas rocket and mortar attacks, which escalated after a six-month ceasefire expired a week ago.
"There is no other alternative and we are doing what we need to do in order to defend our citizens. Israel was attacked from Gaza Strip. Enough is enough," she said.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the aim of the operation is to deal a severe blow to Hamas. Barak said the offensive will be expanded as necessary. He said the war on terror is a long one, but Israel is determined to change the situation in the South.
Israel has not ruled out a ground offensive, and officials say the Hamas leadership could be targeted.
[See the story below for an analysis of what Israel would be facing on the ground.]Hamas Leaders Command 20,000-Man Army
Foreign Confidential....Hamas, once known for its suicide attacks inside Israeli cities, is no longer a small-time terrorist group, but a large guerrilla army that has well-trained forces deployed throughout the entire Gaza Strip.
Were the IDF to embark on a ground operation in Gaza, it would face an army of close to 20,000 armed men, among them at least 15,000 Hamas operatives. The rest are from Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees.
Since the cease-fire went into effect in Gaza in June, Hamas has used the lull in action to fortify its military posts in the Strip and dig tunnel systems as well as underground bunkers for its forces. IDF estimates put the length of the tunnels at over 50 kilometers.
Hamas has also dug foxholes throughout the Strip to accommodate anti-tank missile units, and prepared massive bombs, which have been placed on the main access roads into Gaza.
In addition to its homemade Kassam rockets, Hamas has smuggled into Gaza a number of anti-aircraft cannons and several shoulder-to-air missiles. It also a large number of anti-tank missiles that, if used correctly, could wreak havoc on Israeli armor in the event of a ground operation involving tanks and armored personnel carriers.
It also has Special Forces - commando forces and units with expertise in rocket fire, mortar attacks and roadside bombs.
Continue here.Saturday, December 27, 2008
Rebranding Fascism: National-Anarchists
Foreign Confidential....
By Spencer Sunshine
On September 8, 2007 in Sydney, Australia, the antiglobalization movement mobilized once again against neoliberal economic policies, this time to oppose the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit. Just as during the protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle,Washington, in 1999, the streets were filled with an array of groups, such as environmentalists, socialists, and human rights advocates. And also just like in Seattle, there was a “Black Bloc”—a group of militant activists, usually left-wing anarchists, who wore masks and dressed all in black.
In Sydney, the Black Bloc assembled and hoisted banners proclaiming “Globalization is Genocide.” But when fellow demonstrators looked closely, they realized these Black Bloc marchers were “National- Anarchists”—local fascists dressed as anarchists who were infiltrating the demonstration. The police had to protect the interlopers from being expelled by irate activists.
Since then, the National-Anarchists have joined other marches in Australia and in the United States; in April 2008, they protested on behalf of Tibet against the Chinese government during the Olympic torch relay in both Canberra, Australia, and San Francisco. In September, U.S. National-Anarchists protested the Folsom Street Fair, an annual gay “leather” event held in San Francisco.
While these may seem like isolated incidents of quirky subterfuge, these quasi anarchists are an international export of a new version of fascism that represent a significant shift in the trends and ideology of the movement. National-Anarchists have adherents in Australia, Great Britain, the United States, and throughout continental Europe, and in turn are part of a larger trend of fascists who appropriate elements of the radical Left. Like “Autonomous Nationalists” in Germany and the genteel intellectual fascism of the European New Right, the National-Anarchists appropriate leftist ideas and symbols, and use them to obscure their core fascist values. The National-Anarchists, for example, denounce the centralized state, capitalism, and globalization — but in its place they seek to establish a system of ethnically pure villages.
Continue here.Israel Central Bank Lowering Lending Rate
David Rosenberg reports from Jerusalem:The Bank of Israel will probably lower its benchmark lending rate tomorrow to a record as Governor Stanley Fischer seeks to shore up flagging economic growth, a survey showed.
Click here to continue reading.
The rate will be cut by half a point to 2 percent, according to seven out of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Four expect a reduction of three-quarters of a point while one anticipates a full-point cut. The Jerusalem-based central bank will announce its decision at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.Taliban Tightens Noose Around Kabul
Foreign Confidential....
The war in Afghanistan is all but lost.
More than seven years after 9/11, the dreaded Taliban--allies and protectors of Al Qaeda--are closing in on the Afghan capital.
Jason Strazuiso and Amir Shah report from Kabul.Two months ago, Mohammad Anwar recalls, the Taliban paraded accused thieves through his village, tarred their faces with oil and threw them in jail.
Click here to continue reading.
The public punishment was a clear sign to villagers that the Taliban are now in charge. And the province they took over lies just 30 miles from the Afghan capital of Kabul, right on the main highway.
The Taliban has long operated its own shadow government in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, but its power is now spreading north to the doorstep of Kabul, according to Associated Press interviews with a dozen government officials, analysts, Taliban commanders and Afghan villagers. More than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, the Islamic militia is attempting — at least in name — to reconstitute the government by which it ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s.Rice: US Holds Hamas Responsible for Fighting
Dateline USA....
The United States holds Hamas "responsible" for the renewal of deadly violence in Gaza after the Islamist group broke its ceasefire with Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.
An earlier version of Rice's statement was recalled by the State Department and replaced with a slightly adjusted version that expressed Washington's concern about the violence and added an appeal to safeguard innocent lives.
"The United States is deeply concerned about the escalating violence in Gaza," Rice said in the new statement.
"We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there."
The six-month ceasefire that expired December 19 and which Hamas, the movement that controls the impoverished Palestinian territory, said last week it would not renew, "must be restored immediately and fully respected," she said.
"The United States calls on all concerned to protect innocent lives and to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza," Rice added.
Punishing Israeli air raids into the Gaza Strip Saturday left at least 225 people dead and 700 wounded, in retaliation for rocket fire in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
- AFPHamas Leader Urges Arab Uprising Against Israel
Foreign Confidential....
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on Saturday for a new uprising against Israel after air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 208 Palestinians.
"I call upon you (Palestinians) to carry out a third intifada," Meshaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, told Al-Jazeera television in an interview.
He called for a "military intifada against the Zionist enemy", as well as "a peaceful intifada internally", an apparent reference to Hamas's power struggle with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government is based in the Israeli occupied West Bank.
- Reuters
EDITOR'S NOTE: China Confidential analysts say Hamas is inciting Israeli Arab citizens as well as West Bank Palestinians to riot and commit acts of terrorism against Israel.Iran Pushing for All-Out War
Foreign Confidential....
Countdown to conflict with Iran.
The Islamist regime ... which is facing mounting domestic discontent over falling oil prices and soaring inflation as it approaches a major nuclear breakthrough timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary in February of its takeover of the country ... is pushing for war with Israel.
All-out war.
The conflict could engulf the entire region and quickly involve the United States.
Both the outgoing and incoming U.S. Presidents have their hands full. The dynamic that has been unleashed by Iran is moving faster than most observers realize.
China Confidential can report that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad egged Hamas on to break its truce with Israel and resume rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, knowing the Israeli government would have to respond with crushing counterattacks.
Analysts say Iran is now readying its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, to join the conflict. Iranian Revolutionary Guard units are in complete control of Hezbollah's formidable missile arsenal.
Tel Aviv and Haifa are within reach of the Islamist rockets.
Israel will use any and all weapons necessary for protecting its people.
Masada shall not fall again.
UPDATE: Hamas is preparing a new wave of suicide attacks inside Israel. The Islamist terrorist group is also preparing to kidnap another Israeli soldier--this time, a female.
China Confidential analysts also expect Iran to issue a new threat of destruction against Israel--specifically, a threat to use missiles to "burn" Tel Aviv if Israel does not cease military action against Hamas.
Syria, which is still secular but aligned with Iran, is a big question mark. Damascus could be drawn into the conflict, although it seems to want to stay out of it. There is more behind-the-scenes diplomacy than that which has been reported.Israel Strikes Back at Gaza
Nidal al-Mughrabi reports from Gaza:Israeli warplanes and combat helicopters pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 155 people in the bloodiest day for Palestinians in more than 20 years of conflict.
Continue here.
Militants in the Gaza Strip responded with rocket salvoes that killed one Israeli man and wounded several others. Both sides said they were prepared to launch wider attacks.
Black smoke billowed over Gaza City, where the dead and wounded lay scattered on the ground after more than 30 air strikes destroyed Palestinian security compounds, including two where Hamas was hosting graduation ceremonies for new recruits.
The Israeli army said it had targeted "terrorist infrastructure" following days of rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel that caused some damage but few injuries.
The rocket attacks increased pressure on Israeli political leaders to act as a February 10 election approaches.
U.S. President George Bush's administration, in its last weeks in office, called on Hamas to halt cross-border rocket attacks and urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties but stopped short of calling for an end to the air strikes.
The Israeli army pledged more strikes if necessary, possibly targeting Hamas leaders.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "the time has come to fight." Click here.
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Foreign Confidential....
Foreign Confidential....
Posts
