That didn’t take long. By Rick Moran, AMERICAN THINKER The one uniting factor for Syrian opposition groups since the beginning was that there would be no negotiations with the Syrian government as long as President Assad was in power. Why, then, did the UN Security Council endorse Kofi Annan’s peace plan that calls for the opposition to talk with the Syrian government while it is headed up by Bashar Assad? No accounting for blind stupidity. USA Today: Maleh described the agreement reached in Geneva as a waste of time and of “no value on the ground.” “The Syrian people are the ones who will decide... One thing survey takers could rally behind was their support of programs to bring Diaspora Jews to Israel, like Taglit-Birthright. The B’nai B’rith World Center Seventh Annual Survey on Contemporary Israeli Attitudes toward Diaspora Jewry found that a majority of Israeli Jews — 52 percent — thought that Israel should strive to be a Jewish democratic state. Sixteen percent felt that Israel should strive to be a liberal democratic state, another 16% strove for a Jewish state, while only 13% thought Israel should be a democratic state. In 1992, the Republican Whip, Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming, who was critical of Prime Minister Shamir’s policies, told me: “How can I like Prime Minister Shamir when he resembles a non-peaceful roaring tiger? However, how can I but respect a roaring tiger?!” Former Secretary of State Jim Baker, who was one of the crudest detractors of Shamir’s policies, respected Shamir’s ironclad commitment to deeply-rooted ideology. Therefore, he considered Shamir a trustworthy – although non-subservient – ally of the USA. Shamir was consistently guided by principles, values and history-steered vision/ideology; he was not herded – zigzagging – by pollsters and public opinion consultants. From the underground to the political spotlight Former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir died at the age of 96 on Saturday, at the nursing home in which he lived in Tel Aviv, after a long illness. He will be buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl Cemetery in a state funeral on Monday after his son Yair returns from abroad. The procession will begin at the Knesset, where the public will be invited to pay its respects. He left behind two children and five grandchildren. Shamir’s wife, Shulamit, died last year at the age of 88. Shamir was the state’s seventh prime minister from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992, the longest-serving premier after David Ben-Gurion. He was known for resisting... By Andrew Beatty and Hui Min Neo | AFP – 8 hours ago World powers on Saturday agreed a plan for a transition in Syria that could include current regime members, but the West did not see any role for President Bashar al-Assad in a new unity government. Russia and China insisted that Syrians must decide how the transition should be carried out rather than allow others to dictate their fate, as the two powers signed up to the final agreement that did not make any explicit call for Assad to cede power.
Syrian opposition rejects Geneva UN plan
Syrian opposition figures rejected any notion of sharing in a transition with Assad.
“Every day I ask myself, do they not see how the Syrian people are being slaughtered?” veteran Syrian opposition figure Haitham Maleh asked. “It is a catastrophe, the country has been destroyed, and they want us then to sit with the killer?”Palin dominates
Israel should be a Jewish democratic state, most Israeli Jews believe
B’nai B’rith World Center annual survey on contemporary attitudes toward Diaspora Jews reveals that Israelis’ willingness to spend tax money to help Diaspora Jews is in decline and that Israeli Jews are divided on whether the U.S. is helping or hindering the peace process with the Palestinians.
The poll, which encompassed 507 Jewish respondents, 18 years of age or older, found Israelis split on the question...Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s Legacy
By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger,”Israel Hayom”,
The late Prime Minister Shamir was a role model of Jewish patriotism, optimism, principle-driven and security-based statesmanship, history-motivated tenacity, reliability, modesty, independence and...Yitzhak Shamir, tough as nails, dead at 96
See also:
Also recommended is the NY SUN obituary
Israel’s seventh prime minister passes away in Tel Aviv nursing home, scheduled to be laid to rest in state funeral on Monday; receives praise from across political spectrum for uncompromising loyalty to Israel.World powers agree on Syria deal
Thus the MB dominated SNC backed by Turkey and the US failed in their bid to run the show. How the Syrian people will decide for themselves remains to be seen. I do not see how they can do it on their own and can’t imagine the US not attempting through the back door to get the MB in charge. Will Saudi Arabia and Qatar stop sending arms to the “rebels”. This report doesn’t mention a cease fire which is so crucial for choosing a new government. Ted Belman
More Recent Articles
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
Monday, 2 July 2012
Posts
