BRUSSELS (AP) – America’s military alliance with Europe – the cornerstone of U.S. security policy for six decades – faces a “dim, if not dismal” future, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday in a blunt valedictory address. In his final policy speech as Pentagon chief, Gates questioned the viability of NATO, saying its members’ penny-pinching and lack of political will could hasten the end of U.S. support. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949 as a U.S.-led bulwark against Soviet aggression, but in the post-Cold War era it has struggled to find a purpose. Gates has made no secret of his frustration... The Obama administration is risking a fourth war in the Muslim world, escalating covert air attacks in Yemen. The danger of being trapped in an endless, costly, bloody quagmire should worry every American. The political dynamics of Yemen are poorly understood, and the administration risks being manipulated and exploited by forces it at best dimly comprehends. On June 4, the Yemeni resident Ali Abdullah Saleh, after being wounded in a rocket attack, fled to Saudi Arabia for treatment. Though he has vowed to return to Yemen, his injuries are more serious than previously thought, with burns across 40% of his body and bleeding inside his skull. With the prospect of his return highly unlikely, it is safe to say that he has in effect been ousted from power. Does this alter the situation in Yemen to any significant degree? June 9, 2011, Russia is opposed to any UN Security Council resolution on Syria,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told journalists at a briefing in Moscow Thursday, June 29, after the UK, France, Germany and Portugal moved to condemn Syria’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters The new resolution demands that President Bashar Assad end the violence and lifts the siege of protest cities. It also calls for an arms embargo on Syria.US Ambassador Susan Rice, who did not co-sponsor the draft, dismissed the comparison between Syria and Libya. The cost of the war in Libya is constantly rising and beginning to weigh heavily on the... Compliments of Anglo Saxon Ra’anana Real Estate “Lead us to Zion your City and to Jerusalem home of your Temple with Everlasting Joy” (From the Shavuot liturgy. A Festival that we celebrated this week ) We’re a little late with this one but it is such an extraordinarily beautiful festival that we’re reporting on it anyway. Depending on who you are the focus at this time is on the giving of the Torah or the Ingathering of the First Fruits or both and while it is already the middle of June whoever is calling the climatic shots has seen to it that the weather has been as perfect as it’s likely to get with glorious blue skies and cool breezes keeping the temperature well under control, so: Notice that Naama Shafir is wearing a T-Shirt under her uniform. She does so for modesty reasons. This same T-Shirt has resulted in her being banned from playing for Israel in the European Championship. Shafir sidelined over modesty spat The Israeli women’s national basketball team says one of its stars might be kept out of the European championship because of a disagreement over her religious observance and the team uniform. University of Toledo and Israeli national team point guard Naama Shafir is an Orthodox Jew who wears a T-shirt under her jersey because Jewish modesty rules require her to cover her shoulders. Turning and turning in the widening gyre Surely some revelation is at hand….” –Yeats, “The Second Coming” What’s most scary in America today may be the financial deficit and it may be government policies, but for me the scariest thing is the way that traditional American pragmatism, an open-minded search for truth, the reliability of the media and of academia, has virtually disappeared in many cases. While this certainly doesn’t apply to all schools, the indoctrination that I’ve seen in one elementary school shocked me. If you really...
Gates blasts NATO, questions future of alliance
“Future U.S. political leaders – those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me – may not consider the return on America’s investment in NATO worth the cost,” he told a European think tank on the final day of an 11-day overseas journey.America’s Looming Quagmire in Yemen
What appears to have marked the turning point in Saleh’s fortunes was the conflict that recently arose between him...Moscow opposes Western anti-Syrian motions because of Tripoli bombing
and demand humanitarian access to the situation there.
Wednesday, June 8, the NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels failed to agree on the expansion of operations against Muammar Qaddafi or persuade more alliance members to join.
debkafile’s military sources add:Good News Israel
SHAVUOT EDITION
Quote for the Week
Half a million Israelis took to the outdoors to enjoy all the special events laid on by the Jewish National Fund and the Parks Authority. From Mt.Hermon in the north to Eilat in the south the country is awash with...Naama Shafir, orthodox Israeli Jew and world class athlete
Barry Rubin’s Thoughts on America
By Barry Rubin, The Rubin Report
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.More Recent Articles
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
Saturday, 11 June 2011
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