Netanyahu demands more billions from US after Iran Deal, insults US Envoy, Steals more Land
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –
At the Davos World Economic Forum, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted that the deal between the UN Security Council and Iran limiting its enrichment program to purely civilian uses had made Israel less secure, and that it must therefore be granted tens of billions of extra military aid from the United States.
Netanyahu made the claim on the US taxpayer in the wake of his harsh words for the US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro.
Shapiro had addressed a conference earlier this week in which he said that the Obama administration now questions the commitment of Netanyahu’s government to peace with the Palestinians. Shapiro said that Israel wasn’t acting credibly to curb the violence of Israeli squatters on the Palestinian West Bank against Palestinians, and that it should open more land to the Palestinians: “Too much vigilantism goes unchecked, and at times there seems to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law, one for Israelis, and another for Palestinians. . . Hovering over all these questions is the larger one about Israel’s political strategy vis-a-vis its conflict with the Palestinians.” He also criticized Palestinian violence.
Netanyahu slapped down Shapiro, calling his observations “unacceptable and incorrect”, he added, “Israel enforces the law for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked demanded that Shapiro take back his words.
A former aid to Netanyahu went on Israeli television on Tuesday and put Shapiro down as a yahudon or “little Jew boy,” a deeply offensive epithet used by some far rightwing Israelis to characterize diaspora Jews they view as insufficiently Jewish or insufficiently supportive of Israel.
Then yesterday the Netanyahu government made Shapiro’s point for him by announcing that it will steal 350 acres of Palestinian land near Jericho in the Jordan Valley.
So, to summarize: Netanyahu tried to humiliate the president of the United States by addressing Congress and urging it to overturn Obama’s Iran negotiations. Then when he was defeated he turned around and demanded extra billions in military aid. He and his friends insulted Ambassador Shapiro for daring criticize their vast land thefts and Jewish-only colonial policies in Palestinian territory. Then they barefacedly announced that they are in fact going to steal another 350 acres from Palestinian owners.
Not sure if their shoplifting that land requires that we give them yet more billions.
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ReplyDelete”Our hearts, minds and spirits are no longer with Israel”
ReplyDeleteOne American described how injustice by police in Israel ended his dream of a Jewish homeland.
Jay Engelmeyer detailed his experience with the Israel Police in a Times of Israel op-ed. He describes how police raided Engelmeyer’s home, roughing up Engelmeyer, his wife and four children in a search for drugs—which the American says they found none of.
For Engelmeyer, the alleged mistreatment, which included a detainment and time on house arrest, by Israel Police caused him to reevaluate his time there. “After ten years of building a life for ourselves, ingraining our family into a community and integrating into Israeli life, one miserable eye-opening day made us question our decision to live out our lives in Zion and take stock as to why we are really here,” he wrote in the blog post.
The Israel Police are counter to police in America, according to Engelmeyer, because the country is involved in a constant conflict—police place security first. There was no comment from the Israel Police on this story.
Engelmeyer says that without justice, he doesn’t see a future for his family in Israel. “My family might still be here physically, but our aliyah has ended – our hearts, minds and spirits are no longer with Israel,” he said. “Perhaps one day soon our bodies will join them.”
This past Monday, the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council reaffirmed a November requirement that Israel label products made in the settlements differently from those made in Israel. On Tuesday, the State Department spokesman John Kirby unexpectedly reinforced the E.U. position, saying that “construction, planning, and retroactive legalization of settlements” is illegitimate, and that the U.S. does “not view labelling the origin of products as being from the settlements as a boycott of Israel.”
ReplyDeleteThe E.U.’s action, and the Obama Administration’s concurrence, might seem unremarkable. Their opposition to settlements is long-standing. The E.U. labelling requirement, which would apply to little more than one percent of the fourteen billion dollars in goods and services Israel exports to the E.U., is a practical matter, since settlement products were never subject to a free-trade agreement between the two. E.U. ministers, too, were careful to insist that they don’t consider their action “a boycott of Israel, which the E.U. opposes”; there is an obvious difference between opposing the Israeli government’s policies and opposing the state’s existence.
Predictably, though, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the November resolution with indignation. “The E.U. decided to mark only [goods made by] Israel, and we are unwilling to accept the fact that E.U. labels the side being attacked by terror.” His justice minister, the Jewish Home Party member Ayelet Shaked, called Brussels “anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.” Most senior opposition leaders have toed the government line. The Labor Party leader, Isaac Herzog, conjured a parallel between the E.U.’s decision and the U.N.’s 1974 “Zionism is Racism” resolution, which his father, Chaim Herzog, Israel’s U.N. ambassador at the time, famously denounced. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, accused the E.U. of “capitulating to the worst elements of jihad”; labelling “is a direct continuation of the boycott movement against Israel, which is anti-Semitic and misguided,” he said.
The near unison reflects growing dread of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (B.D.S.) movement targeting Israel, which is separate from any E.U. measures, but is often considered part of a mounting threat of isolation. Formally, the B.D.S. movement began with a 2005 Palestinian campaign—endorsed by more than a hundred and seventy Palestinian civil-society organizations—to encourage public condemnation in the West of the occupation, the settlements, and, arguably, their ideological roots. Leaders of the B.D.S. movement have also called for “full equality” for Palestinian citizens in Israel proper and endorsed the demand for a Palestinian right of return. Omar Barghouti, a founder of the movement, insists that B.D.S. does not threaten Israel’s survival but rather its “unjust order.” Given the ambiguity of the movement’s demands, this is a reassurance that few Israelis can take comfort
in.
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DeleteB.D.S. has gained the support of a scattering of the world’s boards, unions, universities, and pension funds, many of them in the United States. These include the student councils of seven of the ten University of California campuses, which have voted at various times to demand that the Board of Regents divest from American companies allegedly profiting from the occupation, including Caterpillar and Hewlett-Packard. The pension board of the United Methodist Church announced last week that it has blacklisted Israel’s five major banks, which have branches in settlements. The American Anthropological Association, the American Studies Association, and the National Women’s Studies Association have voted to boycott Israeli universities. Major companies that have withdrawn from the Israeli market include the French utility provider Veolia, the French telecom giant Orange, and the Irish construction-products company CRH, though none of these companies have said that B.D.S. was decisive.
These actions do not amount to much of a threat, but the anxiety about the movement in Israel is shadowed by economic uncertainty. In spite of the country’s growing relationships with China and India, exports fell in 2015, including a drop of about two billion dollars to the E.U., its biggest trading partner. The I.M.F. puts the Israeli economy’s growth at between two and three per cent, which means no growth if the population increase is factored in; tourism is sharply down. With a third of its children below the poverty line, the startup nation cannot afford to wind down; to preëmpt unemployment, the government is adding to the national debt for the first time since 2009. Some of the dip in exports could be attributed to a strong shekel, the dip in tourism to a devaluation of the Russian ruble and outbreaks of violence since the Gaza operation in 2014. Still, Ireland—another quarter-trillion-dollar, export-driven economy, to which Israel is often compared—grew at between five and six per cent last year and is lowering its public debt. With these ambient pressures, it was hard to watch the largest pension fund in the Netherlands, PGGM, withdraw investments from Israel’s banks last year, apparently paving the way for the Methodist Church in the U.S. to do the same.
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DeleteB.D.S. victories may also contribute to an atmosphere in which economic and cultural ties with Israel have become vaguely disturbing to much of Western European intelligentsia—which, after all, is as central to Phillips as to the Maastricht University. Israeli exports are mostly software, components, and devices that depend on building relationships with European product-development teams. If one person on a Dutch team resists working with or travelling to Israel, that may be that. As one venture capitalist I know put it, Israel can be “too much trouble” for foreign companies.
Edouard Cukierman, the chairman of a Tel Aviv investment house that once specialized in Europe, told Yediot Aharonot that he’s refocussing on Chinese investors. “During general meetings of the leading [European] companies, even if they did examine investing in Israeli companies, it will be off the agenda immediately because of the impact of B.D.S.”
Sodastream International Ltd
DeleteJan 22 4:00 PM EST
NASDAQ: SODA - $13.12
;-)
BOTTOM LINE - EUROPE HAS ISRAEL PEGGED FOR WHAT IT IS
ReplyDeleteIn Western Europe, where negative views of Israel poll between sixty and seventy per cent, the labelling may be seen as of a piece with broad boycotts and encouraging of anti-Jewish sentiment. In fact, the E.U. actions are far more consequential than B.D.S., and are calibrated in ways that Israeli liberals might otherwise appreciate. Netanyahu’s settlement project and other ways of holding fast to the status quo are not simply an internal Israeli matter—nor are they likely to be successfully challenged by domestic forces alone. Like the E.U., Israeli liberals have reason to oppose divestment, but not all forms of boycott, and could affirm Europe’s carefully targeted sanctions. More than ever, these distinctions matter.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-e-u-vs-b-d-s-the-politics-of-israel-sanctions
The Zionist are Worried that BDS is being seriously considered by knowledgeable your intelligent American Students
ReplyDeleteThe students exposed to boycotts against Israeli academia today will be the senators of the next generation, and here lies the long-term danger, Prof. Peretz Lavie, president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and chairman of the Association of University Heads in Israel, said on Wednesday.
He spoke at a Knesset Science and Technology Committee discussion on boycotts of Israeli academic institutions and researchers.
“We have no complaints about the academic leadership in the world. Our problem is on campuses. Initially this was only on marginal campuses, very quickly it spread to leading campuses in the US,” he told the committee.
Lavie addressed an upcoming vote by the American Anthropological Association in which its 12,000 members will vote on whether to adopt a boycott and refrain from formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions.
“The American Anthropological Association wrote a report that we are apartheid universities,” he said. “We must reach all 12,000 members of the association. This is a symptom and if we do not act the fire will spread.”
The Knesset panel also heard from Dr. Zeev Feldman, chairman of the Israeli Medical Association World Fellowship and president of the Israeli Neurosurgical Society, who revealed that the latest boycott call comes from a group of 71 British doctors.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking to The Jerusalem Post following the Knesset discussion, Feldman said the doctors penned a letter last week to the World Medical Association seeking to expel the Israeli Medical Association, claiming that Israeli doctors carried out “medical torture” on Palestinian patients.
According to Feldman, this letter was just one effort in a consistent and organized campaign against Israeli institutions and scientists.
“We are in a struggle, everyone must understand that there is an organized struggle – a fight against academia, doctors, and other Israeli bodies,” he said.
“Our stance is that these accusations are lies, and we are engaged in a dialogue with the World Medical Association and we will bring forth the facts, and I hope that it will be enough to [persuade the association to] reject this request,” he said.
Asked what the result of such a boycott might be, Feldman said it would have a “domino effect and radiate to all other scientific associations.
“A boycott of the Israeli Medical Association would prevent Israelis from participating in medical conferences [and] publishing papers in journals, would halt funding of research and joint research endeavors, and prevent membership in other medical associations,” he explained.
While Feldman said the Israeli Medical Association has been successful in countering past calls for boycotts, he fears a time may come when those opposing Israel will succeed.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/British-doctors-seek-to-expel-Israel-from-World-Medical-Association-442215
Only International Pressure Will End Israeli Apartheid
ReplyDeleteThe growing delegitimization of Israel is this country's own handiwork. Should Israel decide to end apartheid, it will return to being legitimate in every respect.
There are many differences between conditions in South Africa during the apartheid era and those current in the land from the Jordan River to the sea, especially in the territories that Israel controls beyond its internationally recognized borders. However, there is one important feature they share: two peoples living on one piece of land.
One people has all the rights and protections, while the other is deprived of numerous rights and lives under the former's control. Israel determines the fate and day-to-day life of millions of people who have no influence over its decisions. The government of Israel is the party that will debate whether or not to accept the Israel Defense Forces’ recommendation to ease policies toward the Palestinian Authority and its people. In South Africa, there were similar discussions about easing apartheid for blacks.
Israel as an apartheid state is not a viable situation, not only because of the corruption of values but also because this predicament is liable to lead Israel, like South Africa in its time, to banishment from the family of nations. It is not for nothing that Israel insists on defining itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, although in fact it is only a democracy for part of its residents, and therefore is not a democracy. (South Africa was a democracy for white people only, and therefore not a democracy). It is not for nothing that Israel insists on stressing the “common values” it shares with democratic countries, firstly the United States. Indeed, there are such common values, and they certainly speak well of Israel relative to other countries in the Middle East. However, the most basic democratic values of equality before the law for all people under Israel control, and equal rights to vote and be elected, do not exist.
The nearly 50 years of Israeli apartheid are not based on security considerations. Zionism, which was always prepared to divide the land of Israel with its Arab inhabitants, was replaced by the godly promise of the Land of Israel for the Jewish people. This promise is being fulfilled by constant, methodical settlement in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) along with the pushing of Palestinians into defined enclaves and small, crowded population areas.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.698874
Likudnik Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the support of The GOP Likuds Force has radicalized the Israeli State which has become quite pervasive and it has undermined the overall integrity of the rule of law within countries and between countries. Israel under Likudnik Netanyahu has fallen so low as to align its interests with the Wahhabism of the Sunnis powers and ISIS.
ReplyDeletePalestinians are inbred idiots -
ReplyDeleteEffects of inbreeding on cognitive performance
JOSEPH BASHI
School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v266/n5601/abs/266440a0.html
If they'd quit with the inbreeding, the gentle finger of the Lord would over some many generations bring up these laggards.
Grandmother was right when she told us all not to marry our cousins.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rufus seems to have been right when he speculated the Arab penchant for violence was 'in their genes'.
By the way, what have the Palestinians done for you lately ?
Or the Iranians ?
Or the Syrians ?
********
That looks to be one hell of a storm back east.
Crime rate might well drop for two or three days.
On average, all Ashkenazi Jews are genetically as closely related to each other as fourth or fifth cousins, said Dr. Harry Ostrer, a pathology, pediatrics and genetics professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and the author of
Delete"Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People" (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Maternal DNA
Richards and his colleagues analyzed mitochondrial DNA, which is contained in the cytoplasm of the egg and passed down only from the mother, from more than 3,500 people throughout the Near East, the Caucusus and Europe, including Ashkenazi Jews.
The team found that four founders were responsible for 40 percent of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA, and that all of these founders originated in Europe. The majority of the remaining people could be traced to other European lineages.
All told, more than 80 percent of the maternal lineages of Ashkenazi Jews could be traced to Europe, with only a few lineages originating in the Near East.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/most-ashkenazi-jews-are-genetically-europeans-surprising-study-finds-8C11358210
This may come as a shock to those as yourself being Idahous Ignormaninus but you have the wrong tribe when it comes to inbreeding:
ReplyDeleteIf you’re Jewish, turns out that the next time your grandmother tries to tell you all about this Nice Jewish Boy she can set you up with, you have the perfect excuse to turn her down: Ashkenazi Jews are all related, so he’s probably your distant cousin. According to new research, it turns out that almost all Jews of European descent are all descended from the same group of people. In other words, they're all family! Distantly, anyway.
According to Live Science, Ashkenazi Jews, who make up about 80 percent of the Jews currently alive today and who trace their ancestry to Eastern Europe, are most likely all descended from the same group of about 350 people who lived about 600-800 years ago. This means that the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews today are no more than 30th cousins from one another. Which, OK, isn’t really enough to make it weird to date that boy your grandma is talking about, but is still pretty closely linked by geneticists standards.
Researchers at the Technion and the Rambam Medical Center discovered that 40% of Ashkenazi Jews, or about 3.5 million people, are descended from only four women.
...Because of its relative isolation over many centuries the Ashkenazi population, which accounts for most of the world’s Jews today, is also known to have accumulated some 20 recessive hereditary disorders (such as Tay–Sachs disease) that are rarely found in other populations.
DeleteThe team, which studied mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) passed on solely by mothers to their children, found evidence of shared maternal ancestry of Ashkenazi and non–Ashkenazi Jews, a finding showing a shared ancestral pool that is consistent with previous studies that were based on the Y chromosome. >>.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336798/
Breeding with one's 30th cousin ain't the same as breeding with one's first cousin.
ReplyDeleteOr the Ashkenazi wouldn't be so damnably world class bright.
;)
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This blizzard has delayed the last Hillary e-mail dump from the Justice Department.
There must be some deep reason for this.....the Lord looking down in pity on Hillary - ?
It puts the last e-mail dump out past the first primary contests....
If Hillary doesn't get indicted for this then we can all say "We live in a corrupt country".
Many say so already.
Was 'Abraham' Ashkenazi ?
DeleteThat's what inquiring minds long to know....
;)
I'll let others delve this cosmically important mystery, if they can -
Deletehttp://www.lasttrumpet.org/ashkenazi.htm
"Last Trumpet" will know.
Delete:)
DUMP ISRAEL TURKEY AND SAUDI ARABIA
ReplyDeleteRIYADH, Saudi Arabia — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Gulf Arab officials on Saturday to ease their concerns about warming U.S.-Iranian ties and seek consensus on which Syrian opposition groups should be represented at upcoming peace talks.
Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir presented a united front when they spoke at a news conference after a meeting of foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Gulf states have sided with the kingdom in its spat with Iran and backed the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of the Islamic Republic.
Kerry and al-Jubeir said the U.S. and the GCC agreed on the need to confront destabilizing Iranian activities in the region and on an unspecified "understanding" that will allow the U.N.-led Syria negotiations to begin next week as planned.
"Let me assure everybody that the relationship between the United States and the GCC nations is one that is built on mutual interest, on mutual defense and I think there is no doubt whatsoever in the minds of the countries that make up the GCC that the United States will stand with them against any external threat," Kerry said.
Al-Jubeir denounced Iran for its "hostile and aggressive stance" against Arab nations. But he said he did not believe that the Washington would act rashly in dealing with Tehran because of the nuclear deal just put in place. It has given Tehran access to billions in formerly frozen assets.
"Overall, the United States is very aware of the mischief that Iran's nefarious activities can do in the region," Jubeir said. "I don't believe the United States is under any illusion as to what type of government Iran is." He criticized Iran for briefly taking 10 U.S. sailors captive in early January, saying "normal countries do not act like this."
He took a swipe at Iran by noting that in the prisoner swap that resulted in the release of four imprisoned Americans in Iran, none of the seven Iranians cleared of charges in the United States opted to return to Iran. It "tells you what a great country Iran is that no one wanted to return to it." Six of the seven are dual nationals.
Kerry avoided such blunt criticism of Iran but stressed that the U.S. shares concerns about Iran's behavior and will act against it when necessary, including imposing new sanctions as it did last week in response to Iranian ballistic missile tests.
"Overall, the United States is very aware of the mischief that Iran's nefarious activities can do in the region," Jubeir said. "I don't believe the United States is under any illusion as to what type of government Iran is." He criticized Iran for briefly taking 10 U.S. sailors captive in early January, saying “normal countries do not act like this.”
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of horseshit.
Can you imagine what the US would do if ten Iranians showed up in US waters off the coast of New Jersey, armed to the teeth?
WHILE THE US IS STUCK WITH THE WELFARE QUEEN ON THE MED
ReplyDeleteIran and China agreed to expand bilateral ties and increase trade to $600 billion in the next 10 years, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday during a visit to Tehran by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Xi is the second leader of a U.N. Security Council member to visit Tehran after the nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran in November.
Iran emerged from years of economic isolation this month when the United Nations' nuclear watchdog ruled it had curbed its nuclear program, clearing the way for the lifting of U.N., U.S., and European Union sanctions.
"Iran and China have agreed to increase trade to $600 billion in the next 10 years," Rouhani said at a news conference with Xi broadcast live on state television.
"Iran and China have agreed on forming strategic relations (as) reflected in a 25-year comprehensive document," he said.
Iran and China signed 17 accords on Saturday, including on cooperation in nuclear energy and a revival of the ancient Silk Road trade route, known in China as One Belt, One Road.
"China is still heavily dependent on Iran for its energy imports and Russia needs Iran in terms of its new security architecture vision for the Middle East," said Ellie Geranmayeh, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"Iran plays quite an integral role for both China and Russia’s interests within the region, much more than it does for the Europeans," Geranmayeh said.
HOW ABOUT THEM ASS STABBING TURKS
ReplyDeleteU.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday that Turkey, once vaunted by Washington as a model of Islamic democracy, was setting a poor example for the region in intimidating media, curtailing internet freedom and accusing academics of treason.
On a two-day visit to the NATO ally, part of the U.S.-led alliance against Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, Biden said the strength of Turkey's democracy had a direct impact on its ties with the United States.
Turkey is a vital partner for both Washington and Europe in efforts to combat Islamic State, end Syria's civil war, and curb the flow of migrants and refugees. Opponents of the government have accused the West in the past of pulling its punches over the country's human rights record as a result.
"The more Turkey succeeds, the stronger the message sent to the entire Middle East and parts of the world who are only beginning to grapple with the notion of freedom," Biden said, flanked by members of Turkish civil society groups.
"But when the media are intimidated or imprisoned for critical reporting, when internet freedom is curtailed and social media sites...are shut down and more than 1,000 academics are accused of treason simply by signing a petition, that’s not the kind of example that needs to be set," he told reporters.
Turkey was cited by Washington as an example for the Middle East of a functioning Islamic democracy in the early years of then prime minister Tayyip Erdogan's rule. More recently, reforms have faltered and Erdogan, now president, has demonstrated a more authoritarian style.
Last week, he denounced as "dark, nefarious and brutal" more than 1,000 signatories, including U.S. academic Noam Chomsky, of a declaration that criticised Turkish military action in the largely Kurdish southeast.
Security forces briefly detained 27 academics on accusations of terrorist propaganda. Dozens face investigation by their universities.
ANOTHER US ALLY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SNAKE PIT - THE SAUDI SLIME BALLS
ReplyDeleteOpinion: Saudi Arabia reaches low point under Salman
King Salman has been in power for one year. When reviewing Saudi Arabia's domestic and foreign policy over the past year, one can only come to a devastating conclusion, DW's Naser Schruf writes.
On January 23, 2015, King Salman ascended the throne of Saudi Arabia after the death of his predecessor and half-brother Abdullah. Seeing that the regent took office at the age of 79, many observers believed he represented a transitional phase before the next ruling generation, the grandchildren of the founder of the House of Saud, took over the monarchy. It was clear from the outset that the change of power came at a very difficult time for the kingdom.
Never before in the history of Saudi Arabia has a king been confronted with so many existential threats at once: regional wars in Syria and Yemen, explosive relations with Iran, increasing threats of terrorism, serious economic problems - and all the resulting social unrest in the country.
Salman took office and announced that he would bring stability and security to the kingdom. But the opposite has happened: For nearly nine months, Saudi Arabia has been waging a war in Yemen, where destitution and the number of civilian victims are growing. The entire region is becoming increasingly unstable. International human rights organizations accuse the kingdom of serious human rights violations and of using prohibited weapons.
Saudi Arabia's international image has never been as bad as it is under Salman. It has reached a low point. The war in Syria and the conflict with President Bashar al-Assad is developing into a fiasco for Saudi Arabia. Even though the kingdom provides various rebel groups with billions in financial support, Saudi Arabia cannot boast of any successes in the battle against Syria's hated regime. Opposition groups backed by Saudis are powerless, internally at odds, and accused of being pro-terrorist. The surrounding region has not seen such instability since Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932.
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ReplyDeleteIran debacle
On an internatonal level, Saudi Arabia's power struggle with Iran seems to have been resolved in favor of Tehran. The regime in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia had done everything in its power to maintain the isolation of mostly Shiite Iran. But today Tehran sees itself in a strong position, especially after the lifting of international sanctions. Iran is calling the shots in Iraq and in Lebanon - and even in parts of Syria and Yemen.
Good times are in store for Iran’s economy, while Saudi Arabia’s is facing massive problems that could lead to social tensions on a dangerous scale. Saudis have been spoiled by oil wealth, and they must accept painful cuts in the next few years. This is likely to elicit resentment and unrest. Salman has not been able to find a satisfactory response to the enormous economic and social challenges that lie ahead for his people.
At the same time, Amnesty International and others have called attention to Saudi Arabia's disastrous human rights situation. Amnesty has underscored Salman's "appalling record." In the very first months of his reign, he approved numerous executions, and, most recently, he allowed the execution of the famous Shiite leader Nimr al-Nimr, which led to a global wave of protests. The well-known blogger Raif Badawi, who has been serving a prison sentence for allegedly insulting Islam, faces more flogging in the future.
King Salman does not have much time to pull his country out of its wretched state. The Saudi monarchy urgently needs reforms. Individual freedoms for citizens need to be addressed, as do better measures to combat corruption. Salman must swiftly find a way out of Yemen and realign Saudi Arabia's relations with other key countries in the region, such as Iraq, Syria and Iran. Otherwise, the reviews for the coming years of the king’s reign may turn out to be even worse than those of this first one.
http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-saudi-arabia-reaches-low-point-under-salman/a-18999675
t was the morning of September 11, 2001. As the eyes of the world were fixed on the terrorist attacks, a special election was being held in Massachusetts where Stephen Lynch quietly won a vacant Congressional seat.
ReplyDeleteSo it may be fitting that today, Congressman Lynch is devoting a great deal of effort to revealing long held secrets from Congress' 9/11 investigation.
Lynch says that when he read the 28 pages, "I thought this information is something that the public should have."
No ordinary American can view them. And members of Congress, sworn to secrecy, are only permitted to read the 28 pages under strict conditions.
"You had to make an appointment with the intelligence committee," says Lynch. "And also go to a secure location. They, they take your pen, paper, electronics. You sit in a room and they watch as you read it."
In October of 2013, Lynch went to the secret room in the basement of the Capitol and began reading. The censored material begins on page 395 under the heading, "Certain Sensitive National Security Matters."
Lynch says, "It gave names of individuals and entities that i believe were complicit in the attacks on september eleventh. They were facilitators of those attacks and they are clearly identified. How people were financed, where they were housed, where the money was coming from, you know the conduits that were used and the connections between some of these individuals."
Individuals, he says, who were never brought to justice. But who are they? And why would the U.S. government want to keep the information secret?
Former Senator Bob Graham thinks he knows. He co-authored the Congressional report, including the 28 pages.
In a news conference earlier this year, Graham said, "Here are some facts. The Saudis know what they did. Second, the Saudis know that we know what they did."
http://fullmeasure.news/28-pages-a-full-measure-special-report-about-the-911-attacks-09-26-2015-032643632
The data sets revealed in those 28 pages may well be the reason the US defrosted its relationship with Iran.
DeletePayback can be a bitch, especially for the Saudis and their allies in the Likud.
Did Money Seal Israeli-Saudi Alliance?
ReplyDeleteApril 15, 2015
Saudi Arabia may have found another way to buy influence inside the United States – by giving money to Israel and currying favor with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Over the past several years, as both Saudi Arabia and Israel have identified Iran and the so-called “Shiite crescent” as their principal enemies, this once-unthinkable alliance has become possible – and the Saudis, as they are wont to do, may have thrown lots of money into the deal.
According to a source briefed by U.S. intelligence analysts, the Saudis have given Israel at least $16 billion over the past 2 ½ years, funneling the money through a third-country Arab state and into an Israeli “development” account in Europe to help finance infrastructure inside Israel. The source first called the account “a Netanyahu slush fund,” but later refined that characterization, saying the money was used for public projects such as building settlements in the West Bank.
In other words, according to this information, the Saudis concluded that if you can’t beat the Israel Lobby, try buying it ...
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/04/15/did-money-seal-israeli-saudi-alliance/
400 ISIS fighters killed recently in outskirts of Mosul, says KDP
ReplyDelete(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – On Saturday, Kurdistan Democratic Party in Nineveh Province announced, that 400 fighters of the Islamic State in Iraqi and Syria (ISIS) were killed in the outskirts of Mosul during the past few days, while pointed out that Peshmerga forces become stronger and has the ability to liberate any area.”
The Kurdistan Democratic Party’s Spokesman in Mosul Saeed Mamouzini said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “ISIS terrorist gangs attack the Peshmerga forces in the outskirts of Mosul from time to time, but they are not able to control the land,” noting that, “400 ISIS fighters were killed during the last few days.”
Mamouzini added, “Peshmerga forces have become stronger and more capable to fight ISIS,” pointing out that, “The Peshmerga forces have all the needed weapons and equipment, as well as the ability to liberate any area.”
“ISIS in Mosul suffered a major collapse in its ranks that led its leaders to execute dozens of ISIS members who retreated from the combat axes,” Mamouzini continued.
Iraqinews
Centcom Official Calls Aerial Assault on ISIL the Most Precise in History
ReplyDeleteBy Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, January 22, 2016 — The aerial assault on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is the most precise in history, but there are still some civilian casualties, a U.S. Central Command official said here today.
Air Force Col. Pat Ryder told Pentagon reporters that “the preponderance of evidence indicates five separate U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria, between July 4 and July 17, 2015, have likely resulted in the death of two civilians and injuries to an additional four civilians.”
Since Operation Inherent Resolve began in August 2014, coalition forces have dropped almost 35,000 precision-guided munitions on ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, Ryder said. “We take great care, from analysis of available intelligence to selection of the appropriate weapon to meet mission requirements to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to civilians,” he said.
In that same period, indications are that the coalition “likely killed” 16 civilians and injured nine, Ryder said. “Since the beginning of the campaign we’ve received 120 allegations of civilian casualties, 87 of which were deemed not credible,” he said. “We currently have 14 allegations which remain open, nine of which are pending credibility assessments and five pending investigation. We have closed 19 allegations.”
ISIL makes avoiding civilian casualties more difficult by operating in civilian areas and using civilians, essentially, as shields, Ryder noted.
Progress on the Ground
On the ground, Iraqi forces are making slow, but steady progress along the Anbar corridor out of Ramadi, the colonel said. “There is still some tough fighting happening in the Hit [and] Haditha areas, but we are seeing successful operations by Sunni tribes supported by [Iraqi security forces],” he said.
ISIL is trying to break through the combined front, but is not succeeding, Ryder said, noting that Iraqi forces have repelled a dozen attacks. “The coalition continues to support these indigenous forces through our advise and assist efforts as well as our air support,” he added.
In Ramadi, Iraqi forces continue to clear the city of improvised explosive devices and have extricated thousands of Iraqi citizens from harm’s way, Ryder said. This area is important to ISIL, he said. It was an important al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold and a central node of the supply line that runs along the Euphrates River valley between Raqqa, Syria, and Baghdad, he said.
Clearing the valley will make it much more difficult for ISIL to infiltrate into Baghdad, the colonel noted.
Attacking ISIL’s Economy
DeleteRyder also briefed on the continuing operation against ISIL’s economic infrastructure. Ongoing Tidal Wave 2 airstrikes against the illicit oil infrastructure and its financial hubs have meant the terror group had to halve the pay of its adherents.
Thus far, the strikes have hit 34 modular refineries, 138 oil collection points and 399 tanker trucks and millions of dollars in cash, he said. The strikes will erode ISIL’s ability to govern and finance itself in the long term, the colonel said.
Russian airstrikes continue and still seem to be aimed at supporting the Bashir al Assad regime, Ryder said. “This has been the trend since the beginning of Russia’s presence in Syria,” he said. “The vast majority of their targets are opposition groups vice ISIL.”
Russia’s involvement only prolongs the suffering of the Syrian people, he said.
“It enables groups like ISIL to take advantage and to expand into areas where opposition groups are being impacted,” the colonel said.
DOD
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats may turn to......Joe Biden !
ReplyDeleteWhat a joke the Democrats have become.....
1)The Criminal
2)The Commie
3)The Mallard
4)If #1 gets indicted, Joe Biden, or, perhaps
5)Fauxcohantes
bwabwabwaaaaaahahaha
Drinkin' Joe got about 2% percent last two times he timed out for the job, the last time getting the boot for plagiarism.
Is there a political party in Israel as corrupt as the Democrat Party, USA ?
NO
The Republicans are just as corrupt as the Democrats, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peteron.
DeleteCheney lied, good men died.
The Republicans are just as corrupt as the Democrats, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
DeleteBwabwabwahahahaha...
DeleteJanuary 23, 2016
State Department tells judge it needs an extra 30 days to release Hillary emails because of snow
By Thomas Lifson
Apparently the snow ate the State Department’s homework. CNN reports:
After misplacing about 7,000 pages of documents for several months, the State Department is now asking a federal judge for more time to release former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails, blaming the blizzard currently slamming Washington.
Lawyers for the department asked Judge Rudolph Contreras on Friday if State can release some of Clinton's emails on February 29, one month after it was initially supposed to turn over the last of the documents. That would also result in many emails not becoming public until after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.
Unless there is some reason to anticipate the blizzard will last a month, this is a just a lame excuse.
Has anyone else noticed that it seems like the worst (or best depending on your perspective) emails seem to be saved for last? The discloures are getting more and more damning. In fact, for those who are willing to open their eyes, there are already seven smoking guns, by the count of Investor’s Business Daily. There is an excellent chance that brave secret agents working for us have been killed because Hillary wanted to evade the laws requiring access to her correspondence. The New York Post sums up this explosive possibility:
Fox News, which last week disclosed that messages on Clinton’s private server went beyond even Top Secret classification, now reports they even included material on clandestine human-intelligence sources.
That is, secret agents and local assets in the field — people whose very lives are in danger if they’re exposed.
And this comes as President Obama’s own former defense secretary, Robert Gates, admitted, “the odds are pretty high” that her home server was accessed by one or more hostile foreign governments.
I see an excellent chance that all this delay will work to the disadvantage of Hillary and her party – just as the limiting of the number of Democratic presidential debates is now harming her, preventing her from going after the surging Sanders. It now seems quite possible that Hillary will come in second to Sanders in both Iowa and New Hampshire. This will energize his base even more.
Thus, if damning evidence comes to the fore and/or if a criminal referral is made by the FBI, the pressure will be on Hillary to withdraw, and for Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, or some other Obama favorite to step forward and attempt to accumulate delegates.
DeleteAll of this could very well lead to a Democratic convention where the party bosses and superdelegates strong-arm their choice and push aside Sanders, no matter how many delegates he is able to win in the primaries. The more momentum Sanders generates, the bitterer his followers will be. So keeping the damaging information from the public and keeping Biden, Warren, or whomever out of the race as long as possible could add to the estrangement the Sanders faction feels, possibly leading some to stay home in November, no matter who else is on top of the ticket.
Apparently the snow ate the State Department’s homework. CNN reports:
After misplacing about 7,000 pages of documents for several months, the State Department is now asking a federal judge for more time to release former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails, blaming the blizzard currently slamming Washington.
Lawyers for the department asked Judge Rudolph Contreras on Friday if State can release some of Clinton's emails on February 29, one month after it was initially supposed to turn over the last of the documents. That would also result in many emails not becoming public until after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.
Unless there is some reason to anticipate the blizzard will last a month, this is a just a lame excuse.
Has anyone else noticed that it seems like the worst (or best depending on your perspective) emails seem to be saved for last? The discloures are getting more and more damning. In fact, for those who are willing to open their eyes, there are already seven smoking guns, by the count of Investor’s Business Daily. There is an excellent chance that brave secret agents working for us have been killed because Hillary wanted to evade the laws requiring access to her correspondence. The New York Post sums up this explosive possibility:
Fox News, which last week disclosed that messages on Clinton’s private server went beyond even Top Secret classification, now reports they even included material on clandestine human-intelligence sources.
That is, secret agents and local assets in the field — people whose very lives are in danger if they’re exposed.
And this comes as President Obama’s own former defense secretary, Robert Gates, admitted, “the odds are pretty high” that her home server was accessed by one or more hostile foreign governments.
I see an excellent chance that all this delay will work to the disadvantage of Hillary and her party – just as the limiting of the number of Democratic presidential debates is now harming her, preventing her from going after the surging Sanders. It now seems quite possible that Hillary will come in second to Sanders in both Iowa and New Hampshire. This will energize his base even more.
Thus, if damning evidence comes to the fore and/or if a criminal referral is made by the FBI, the pressure will be on Hillary to withdraw, and for Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, or some other Obama favorite to step forward and attempt to accumulate delegates.
All of this could very well lead to a Democratic convention where the party bosses and superdelegates strong-arm their choice and push aside Sanders, no matter how many delegates he is able to win in the primaries. The more momentum Sanders generates, the bitterer his followers will be. So keeping the damaging information from the public and keeping Biden, Warren, or whomever out of the race as long as possible could add to the estrangement the Sanders faction feels, possibly leading some to stay home in November, no matter who else is on top of the ticket.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/01/state_department_tells_judge_it_needs_an_extra_30_days_to_release_hillary_emails_because_of_snow.html#ixzz3y5uW1Jys
Hillary is so yesterday, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, no one here supports her.
DeleteWhile your main man, Doc Carson, has been abandoned by you
The going gets tough Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson jumps ship.
Always looking for the next bandwagon, that's our Boobie.
ReplyDelete"Iran and China have agreed to increase trade to $600 billion in the next 10 years," President Hassan Rouhani said at a news conference with Xi broadcast live on state television.
"Iran and China have agreed on forming strategic relations (as) reflected in a 25-year comprehensive document," he said.
Iran and China signed 17 accords on Saturday, including on cooperation in nuclear energy and a revival of the ancient Silk Road trade route, known in China as One Belt, One Road.
"China is still heavily dependent on Iran for its energy imports and Russia needs Iran in terms of its new security architecture vision for the Middle East," said Ellie Geranmayeh, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"Iran plays quite an integral role for both China and Russia’s interests within the region, much more than it does for the Europeans," Geranmayeh said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-china-idUSKCN0V109V
Delete"The China-Iran friendship ... has stood the test of the vicissitudes of the international landscape," Xi was quoted as saying by China's Xinhua news agency.
Guess the Chinese have seen through Bibi ...
Jack HawkinsSat Jan 23, 01:34:00 PM EST
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans are just as corrupt as the Democrats, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
Close, but no cigar, Dead Beat Dad & Supervisor of SuperSecret National Security Project Off the Coasts of Panama....
Larry "Toe Tapper" Craig tapped his toe in the men's restroom in an airport and he got ejected immediately from the Party.
This would not have happened among the Democrats.
And Billygoat has done much much much worse....
The Republicans at least still retain the remembrance of a little remnant of social propriety.
I'll be voting for Ben if he hasn't dropped out by the time my turn comes.
ReplyDeleteHe's got no chance, though.
Very rarely in politics does the best man win.
I'm pissed at Trump for his support of Kelo.
DeleteIf, however, he does the other things he claims he will do, that will be forgiven.
He might, actually, do some of them !
Who knows ?
I spoke to my niece, she is lovely, you are all ugly and I would never lie with you.
ReplyDeleteISTANBUL — Turkey and the United States continued Saturday to disagree about the status of Syrian Kurdish forces who have become a key part of the U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State in Syria.
DeleteIn statements after two hours of meeting here, Vice President Biden and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu praised the U.S.-Turkish alliance. The partnership is “enduring, it’s rooted in history, it’s in the hearts of our people,” Biden said. “Turkey is a strategic partner.”
But while saying ties with the United States were strong, Davutoglu repeatedly referred to the Syrian group — called the People’s Protection Units and known by its Arabic initials as the YPG — as a terrorist organization on par with the Islamic State and as a component part of Turkey’s own Kurdish militants, who have long used violence to try to carve out their own state inside the Turkish border.
“We shared this vision” with Biden, Davutoglu said. “It’s good to see we’re on the same page.”
Biden, standing beside Davutoglu as the two delivered statements without taking questions, agreed that the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, is a terrorist group and has been labeled as such by the U.S. government. But he never mentioned the Syrian Kurds.
Clinton Campaign: Sanders’ Mideast Policies Would Put Iranian Firepower at Israel’s Doorstep
DeleteJake Sullivan, a foreign policy adviser to Clinton, depicted as dangerous Sanders’ proposal to normalize relations with Iran, made during the most recent debate for Democratic presidential candidates.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.699006
Sanders for President
Donald Trump said Saturday that his supporters are so loyal that he would not lose backers even if he were to shoot someone in the middle of downtown Manhattan.
ReplyDelete"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?" Trump said at a rally in Sioux Center, Iowa as the audience laughed. "It's, like, incredible."
Trump has previously boasted about the devotion of his fans, but the new comment is the most extreme example of such a remark.
Arecent NBC News/Survey Monkey poll suggested that Trump supporters, once decided, are likely to stay with him. About half of respondents backing the real estate mogul said they were "absolutely certain" that they will vote for Trump
Before condemning The Donald for such an act, an intelligent person would take under consideration the nature of the victim.
Delete:)
I think The Donald is just having some fun here.
Hillary can put US undercover folks at mortal risk and her supporters don't seem to give a shit about it.
Ruf idolizes O'bozo and he has the blood of hundreds of thousands in the mid east on his hands....
It all depends....
I could post an article I just read about Camus and Algeria and France in this context, but the author came to a conclusion I don't agree with, so I won't.
Someone is imitating poor old Laggard, so I'll change my name.
ReplyDeletePage and McLaughlin: The FBI Will Recommend Prosecution For Hillary
626
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Please upgrade your Flash Plugin
by Ian Hanchett23 Jan 20161,111
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board member Clarence Page and “McLaughlin Group” host John McLaughlin predicted the FBI will recommend Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face prosecution for mishandling classified information on Friday.
McLaughlin asked, “Forced prediction for the panel: the FBI will recommend that Hillary Clinton face prosecution for mishandling classified information? That’s the FBI. Yes or no?”
Page stated, “I’m going to say yes, but she won’t be indicted.”
McLaughlin responded, “I’m with you.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
What this means is that these two gentlemen are predicting that Ruf's Hero O'bozo is going to nix the idea of an indictment.
Actually, I suppose I will be supporting Hillary. The Bettors are laying about 4:1 that she beats Bernie for the nomination (and, approx. 2:1 that she beats the opposing Republican in the General.)
ReplyDeleteI've been studying 538's interactive demographic tracker
HERE
and, I don't see any way that the best Republican (much less, Trump) could beat the worst Democrat.
I considered it a possibility, at one point, that the Pubs might be able to squeak one through by picking the right African-American for V.P., but I no longer believe that even that would work (the fact that the Dems get to pick After the Pubs being not the least of my reasons - Position matters.)
Well, better a criminal than a commie, I suppose.
ReplyDelete