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Olde Tyme Religion

Pope Francis prays for volunteers killed in Gaza, renews calls for immediate ceasefireVolume 90%�

2024-04-05

[AFRICANEWS] **Pope Francis ...Argentine liberation theologist, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was elected pope in 2013. Rather than setting up shop in Avignon, where he belongs, the first Jesuit Pope chose to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse instead of the papal apartments. He is big on climate change, against consumerism, and in favor of throwing a blanket over homosexual activity (so to speak) within the clergy. He's not real sure about the Resurrection, about Christ's divinity, and a few other things that would have gotten him burned at the stake a few hundred years ago, but he's hot for a certain South American Earth Mother Goddess... renewed his call for a ceasefire in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip.**During his general audience, the Pontiff of the Catholic Church expressed his "deep sorrow" at the death of volunteers from the NGO World Central Kitchen. Francis once again called for "access to humanitarian aid" for "exhausted and suffering civilians". "Unfortunately, we continue to get sad news from the Middle East. I once again renew my firm request for the immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. I express my deep regret for the volunteers killed while they were involved in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza. I pray for them and their families, I renew my appeal so that the exhausted and suffering civilian population may be allowed to get access to humanitarian aid, and that the hostages are immediately released..... In a speech released on Tuesday evening, Israel Defence Forces Commander Herzi Halevi stated that there was "no intention to harm" WCK volunteers in the attack that killed seven people in Gaza. On the same day, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the killing of aid workers in Gaza was a "mistake" while the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell condemned the incident and called for "an investigation". The number of volunteers killed in the Paleostinian enclave is now around 200. the deadliest ever crisis for humanitairian workers.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Wisdom from Zion

2017-09-12

h/t Unstapundit Israel and North Korea are on opposite sides of the Asian landmass, separated by 5,000 miles as the ICBM flies. But Israelis feels close to the nuclear standoff between Washington and Pyongyang. They have faced this sort of crisis before, and may again. Some history: In the mid-1970s, it became clear to Israel that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was working on acquiring nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them. Saddam had already demonstrated an uninhibited brutality in dealing with his internal enemies and his neighbors. He aspired to be the leader of the Arab world. Defeating Israel was at the top of his to-do list. After coming to office in 1977, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin tried to convince the U.S. and Europe that Saddam was a clear and present danger to the Jewish state, and that action had to be taken. Begin was not taken seriously. But Begin was serious, and in 1981 he decided that Israel would have to stop the Iraqi dictator all by itself. His political opponents, led by the estimable Shimon Peres, considered this to be dangerous folly. Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, the legendary former military chief of staff, voted against unilateral action on the grounds that it would hurt Israel’s international standing. Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann, the former head of the air force (and Dayan’s brother-in-law) was also against a military option. He thought the mission would be unacceptably risky. Begin had no military expertise. But his family had been wiped out in the Holocaust. He looked at Saddam, who was openly threating Israel, and saw Hitler. To Begin, sitting around hoping for the best was not a strategy; it was an invitation to aggression. If there was going to be a cost -- political, diplomatic, military -- better to pay before, not after, the Iraqis had the bomb. In the summer of 1981, Begin gave the order. The Israeli air force destroyed the Osirak reactor. The United Nations Security Council condemned the attack. The Europeans went bonkers. The New York Times called it "inexcusable." But the Israeli prime minister wasn’t looking to be excused by the Times or the Europeans or even the usually friendly Ronald Reagan administration. He enunciated a simple rationale that would come to be known as the Begin Doctrine: Israel will not allow its avowed enemies to obtain the means of its destruction. The wisdom of this doctrine became clear a decade later, during the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein made good on his threat to fire Russian-made SCUD missiles at Israeli cities. The SCUDs landed, and caused some damage and a fair amount of panic, but they were not armed with unconventional warheads. Israel had taken that option off the table. Similarly, in 2007, Israel confirmed what it had suspected for five years: Syria, with North Korean help, was trying to build a nuclear reactor. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a Begin disciple, sent Mossad chief Meir Dagan to Washington, to ask for American intervention. The CIA chief, Michael Hayden, agreed with Israel’s contention that Damascus (with Iranian financing) was constructing the reactor. But Hayden convinced President George W. Bush that bombing the site would result in all-out war, and who wants that? Acting on its own, Israel destroyed the Syrian site (reportedly killing a group of North Korean experts in the process). Hayden was wrong about how Syria would react, as he later admitted. If Israel had been reasonable and listened to the CIA, Bashar al-Assad would have nuclear weapons right now. What's so reasonable about listening to CIA?

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Former Israeli PM Olmert, 71, wins early release from prison

2017-06-29

[Reuters] Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is serving a 27-month prison term for corruption, won parole on Thursday, one of his lawyers said. Israel Radio reported that Olmert could be freed as early as Sunday after a parole board decided to cut his sentence by a third, a common practice in Israel for prisoners who have not committed violent crimes. But the release might be delayed if prosecutors decide to file an appeal, Shani Eluz, an attorney for Olmert, told reporters. "He was very excited. He was very happy," Eli Zohar, another Olmert attorney, said of the parole decision. "He hopes very much the prosecution service will not ask to delay his release." Olmert was found guilty in 2014 of accepting bribes from real estate developers when he was Jerusalem's mayor, before his 2006-09 term as prime minister and head of a centrist political party.

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Africa North

Sudan: A Front For Israel's Proxy War On Sinai Jihadis?

2012-10-26

[Ma'an] If Israel bombed a Sudanese munitions factory, as Khartoum alleges, the raid was part of its widening proxy war against Islamist bully boyz in neighboring Egypt which Israel is reluctant to confront directly. A huge kaboom destroyed the factory near the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday, killing two people, with Sudan swiftly accusing Israel of sending four military planes to take out the complex. The poor Mohammedan east African state, with its ties to Iran and Sunni jihadis, has long been seen by Israel as a conduit for weapons smuggled onward to the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-ruled Gazoo Strip, via the Egyptian Sinai desert. With Sinai itself becoming a seedbed of al Qaeda-inspired cadres during Cairo's political upheaval, the Israelis now fear such arms could be used against them from within Egyptian territory. That puts Israel in a strategic bind, laid bare by the half-dozen guerrilla attacks it absorbed over the Egyptian border in recent months. The countries' landmark 1979 peace accord precludes Israeli military action, whether preventive or retaliatory, in the Sinai, and Israel is highly unlikely to risk even a one-off breach given Egypt's unsympathetic new Islamist-led government. Israel's response, government and military sources said, has been to hit first against those on Egypt's periphery suspected of links to the Sinai jihad boys. That has meant stepped-up up air strikes on Gazooks accused of plotting operations in Sinai, and - to judge by reports from Khartoum - similar escalation in Sudan, to Egypt's south. Israel has never confirmed or denied carrying out attacks on Sudanese targets. But Israeli defense officials admit placing a high priority on tracking arms trafficking through the country. The monitoring, one retired official said, dates back to the previous government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Since early in 2009, shortly before the centrist Olmert was succeeded by the right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudan has accused Israel of carrying out several strikes on its territory. The sense of a far-flung covert campaign was further fueled by the Israelis' alleged liquidation of a senior Hamas armourer in Dubai in 2010 and abduction for trial of a suspected Paleostinian rocket expert from Ukraine the following year. Commenting tersely on Israel's strategy, the ex-official said it aimed to "stem the flow of arms (to Sinai and Gazoo) without triggering major confrontations." "This is all the more relevant today," the ex-official said, referring to instability in Egypt and surging Sinai militancy. Drone to jets Foreign intelligence sources said Israel carried out a unmanned drone raid on a convoy south of Khartoum last month that destroyed 200 tonnes of munitions, including rockets, intended for Gazoo. Tuesday's blowing up of the Sudanese munitions factory was different to previous incidents, in that a state asset was hit. In a further suggestion of escalation by Israel, witnesses said the sortie was carried out by piloted fighter jets. Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official, made clear that Sudan should be considered fair game - an enemy like Hamas and Iran - and that Cairo's interests were also at stake. "It is clear that it (Sudan) supports the smuggling of munitions, or it helps Gazoo. In actuality, these munitions pass through Egypt, so it is endangering its major neighbor, Egypt. It harms national security because tomorrow these arms could also be used against the Egyptians," Gilad told Army Radio. Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman declined to say whether any weapons from the attacked Yarmouk arms factory in Khartoum had ended up in Gazoo, saying on Wednesday that only "traditional weapons in line with international law" were produced there. A Swiss-published 2009 Small Arms Survey sponsored by several European governments found that Iran was a major supplier of light munitions to Sudan. Khartoum has not said whether Iran was in any way involved in the factory that was bombed. A non-Israeli source briefed on the incident said the air strike focused on the main open area between the plant's main buildings, leaving open the possibility the target was specific personnel or production lines, rather than the whole complex. Given the some 1,900 km distance between Israel and Sudan, some Israeli commentators saw in the alleged raid a warning to Iran, whose similarly remote nuclear facilities the Netanyahu government has hinted it could attack should diplomatic efforts to shut them down fail. Alex Fishman, senior defense analyst for Israel's top-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, dubbed the Sudan raid a "live-fire practice run" for Iran. But the Israeli ex-official, who has an extensive military background, was skeptical about comparing a fenced, open-air Khartoum factory with antiquated air defenses to Iran's dug-in nuclear facilities. The ex-official also noted the further difference between flying along the Red Sea toward Sudan, an international aviation corridor, to the prospect of Israeli jets reaching Iran through the unfriendly skies of Arab states like Jordan, Iraq, and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face.... "Israel isn't 'signaling' to Iran, just as it's not 'signaling' to the faceless myrmidons in Sinai," the ex-official said. "Whatever actions might be taken in Sudan are taken to counter a real, immediate threat." Though attacks on Israel by Sinai jihadis have been mainly with small arms, there have been occasional short-range rocket launches and Israeli officials worry about possible attempts to down airliners with shoulder-fired missiles.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Report: IAF dropped 17 tons of explosives on Syria reactor in ''07

2012-09-10

In March, 2007 Mossad agents raided the Vienna home of Ibrahim Othman, the head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission amid US and Israeli concerns over Syria's nuclear program. The information the operatives recovered was damning: Roughly three dozen color photographs taken from inside a building under construction in the desert of northeastern Syria indicated that it was a top-secret plutonium nuclear reactor. According to an exposé by The New Yorker's David Makovsky, the photographs showed workers from North Korea at the facility, and the reactor, from the inside, had "many of the same engineering elements as the North Korean reactor in Yongbyon." In the days after the discovery of the Syrian site, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "began hosting important meetings at his official residence, on Balfour Street," Makovsky wrote. In April, the article said, the White House was informed about the discovery. The Bush Administration felt that it "didn’t have enough evidence to justify a preemptive strike on the Al Kibar reactor, and so the Israelis began preparations for an attack on their own. The IDF, the Mossad, and the Foreign Ministry all favored a low-signature attack on the reactor. "Just before midnight on September 5, 2007, four F-15s and four F-16s took off from Israeli Air Force bases. Using standard electronic scrambling tools, the Israelis blinded Syria’s air-defense system. Sometime between 12:40 and 12:53 am, the pilots indicated that 17 tons of explosives had been dropped on their target," according to the article. Israel has never admitted to attacking the reactor.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Nasrallah: Our Missiles Are Syrian

2012-07-19

In speech marking Second Leb War's 6th anniversary, Hezbollah leader says 'shahids' killed in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... blast were 'our comrades in struggle against Israeli enemy' "Israel is rejoicing today because the pillars of the Syrian Army were hit. That's what Israel wants - that Syria won't have a strong army, only a police force," Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah told supporters in Beirut Wednesday via video feed.   Nasrallah, who addressed the crowd to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the Second Leb War, pointed out the ties between his organization and the Syrian regime and praised the top Syrian officials who were killed in Wednesday's blast in Damascus for their support of the Paleostinians. He mentioned Damscus' support of Hezbollah during the war. "In the war, the most valuable weapons we had in our possession were from Syria. The missiles we used in the Second Leb War were made in Syria. And it's not only in Leb but in Gazoo as well." Where did these missiles come from? The Saudi regime? The Egyptian regime? These missiles are from Syria."   Nasrallah referred directly to the top Syrian officials who were killed, Defense Minister Daoud Rajha and his deputy Assef Shawkat. "When Gazoo had nothing to eat Syria sent missiles and food. Rajha and Shawkat (symbolize) the Syria which helped the resistance in Paleostine. While other Arab regimes blocked (the transfer) of food and donations to Gazoo, it was Syria that sent food and weapons to Gazoo and took a chance. This is the Syria of Bashir al-Assad, this is the Syria of the shahid leaders. We denounce this blow which only serves the interests of the enemy."   "These shahids were our comrades in arms, in the resistance and in our struggle against the Israeli enemy. The Syrian army has many leaders which can shatter their enemies' hopes," claimed Nasrallah, while calling for political negotiations. "The solution can only come from dialogue, and we need to hurry up to get it going," the sheikh said.   Nasrallah pointed an accusatory finger towards the US and Arab countries. "The Syrian army is the only army in the region not receiving training or weapons from America. There was an interest to destroy this army. America, the West and its pawns in the Arab world used the just demands of the Syrian people and threw Syria into war," he claimed.   Nasrallah's speech was broadcast on giant screens during a Hezbollah gathering in a southern suburb of Beirut. "If it be Allah's will, you will remember the 33 days of fighting," he said, referring to the war.   Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah has a surprise in store should Israel choose to attack first in any future conflict. "We're preparing a big surprise for Israel, but I won't say what it is because then it won't be a surprise. We know that Israel is constantly gathering intelligence about us and, like in previous wars, it's preparing to land the initial blow."   "All Israelis - the generals, the military, the politicians are still under the shock of their surprising defeat (during the war). The Israelis keep on conducting symposiums, write articles and hold discussions with present and past leaders - and they're all talking about the defeat," the Shiite group's leader said.   He quoted Meir Dagan, former director of the Mossad, who told former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the war was "a national disaster."   "That's good enough for us," said Nasrallah, and claimed that during the war the "resistance" was prepared to bomb Tel Aviv.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

US secretly sold Israel bunker-busters

2011-09-25

US President Barack B.O. Obama secretly authorized the sale of 55 powerful bunker-buster bombs to Israel, a report by Newsweek magazine says. The 55 bunker-busters are reportedly small-sized GBU-39 bombs which have been designed to enable jet fighters to carry a higher number of bombs in place of a single one-ton bomb. When Israel first asked to buy deep-penetrating GBU-28 bombs in 2005, the then president George W. Bush refused to sell these bombs because at that time the Pentagon had frozen joint US-Israeli defense projects due to fears of Israel transferring advanced military technology to China, the magazine wrote. In 2007, Bush informed the then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the bombs would be ready for delivery in 2009 or 2010 despite the fact that the Israelis wanted them immediately. According to the magazine, unnamed officials said that in 2009 Obama authorized the delivery of the bombs. And then in 2010, the president changed his mind...and now he's changed it again. Let it not be said of this president that he is guilty of the sin of consistency. For as Ralph Waldo Emerson so famously wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Quoting anonymous US and Israeli officials, Newsweek claimed that Israel has developed bunker-buster technology but considers it cheaper to buy the bombs from the US. The 2,000-pound bombs are designed to destroy hard targets. They are capable of penetrating 6 feet (at least 1.8 meters) of reinforced concrete and more than 3 feet (approximately 1 meter) of steel-reinforced concrete. The Pentagon declined to confirm or deny the report but press secretary George Little said "the United States remains committed to helping Israel provide for its own security and we remain committed to helping Israel maintain its qualitative military edge".

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Arabia

Saudis give Israel clear skies to attack Iran

2010-06-12

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. I guess this means Turkish air space is closed to Israel ... You think the rat bastards perfidious Turk would do that to their long time ally favourite arms supplier? In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom's air defences will return to full alert. Ummm, does this imply the Saudis will clear the way for the Israelis to return, too? "The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way," said a US defence source in the area. "They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren't scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department." Sources in Saudi Arabia say it is common knowledge within defence circles in the kingdom that an arrangement is in place if Israel decides to launch the raid. Despite the tension between the two governments, they share a mutual loathing of the regime in Tehran and a common fear of Iran's nuclear ambitions. "We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing," said one. The four main targets for any raid on Iran would be the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom, the gas storage development at Isfahan and the heavy-water reactor at Arak. Secondary targets include the lightwater reactor at Bushehr, which could produce weapons-grade plutonium when complete. The targets lie as far as 1,400 miles (2,250km) from Israel; the outer limits of their bombers' range, even with aerial refuelling. An open corridor across northern Saudi Arabia would significantly shorten the distance. An airstrike would involve multiple waves of bombers, possibly crossing Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Aircraft attacking Bushehr, on the Gulf coast, could swing beneath Kuwait to strike from the southwest. Passing over Iraq would require at least tacit agreement to the raid from Washington. So far, the Obama Administration has refused to give its approval as it pursues a diplomatic solution to curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. Military analysts say Israel has held back only because of this failure to secure consensus from America and Arab states. Military analysts doubt that an airstrike alone would be sufficient to knock out the key nuclear facilities, which are heavily fortified and deep underground or within mountains. However, if the latest sanctions prove ineffective the pressure from the Israelis on Washington to approve military action will intensify. Israeli officials refused to comment yesterday on details for a raid on Iran, which the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has refused to rule out. Questioned on the option of a Saudi flight path for Israeli bombers, Aharaon Zeevi Farkash, who headed military intelligence until 2006 and has been involved in war games simulating a strike on Iran, said: "I know that Saudi Arabia is even more afraid than Israel of an Iranian nuclear capacity." In 2007 Israel was reported to have used Turkish air space to attack a suspected nuclear reactor being built by Iran's main regional ally, Syria. Although Turkey publicly protested against the "violation" of its air space, it is thought to have turned a blind eye in what many saw as a dry run for a strike on Iran's far more substantial -- and better-defended -- nuclear sites. That wasn't actually a dry run, since they actually destroyed something at the end of it. Very effectively, too. Israeli intelligence experts say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are at least as worried as themselves and the West about an Iranian nuclear arsenal. Not all of the West. Apparently America -- or President Obama, anyway -- can live with the possibility. Israel has sent missile-class warships and at least one submarine capable of launching a nuclear warhead through the Suez Canal for deployment in the Red Sea within the past year, as both a warning to Iran and in anticipation of a possible strike. Israeli newspapers reported last year that high-ranking officials, including the former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have met their Saudi Arabian counterparts to discuss the Iranian issue. It was also reported that Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, met Saudi intelligence officials last year to gain assurances that Riyadh would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets violating Saudi airspace during the bombing run. Both governments have denied the reports.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Abbas wanted Hamas toppled in Gaza war: Israel

2010-03-30

[Al Arabiya Latest] sraeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel to topple Hamas in the Gaza war last year, then turned around and blamed Israel for war crimes. Lieberman said that raised questions over Abbas's fitness as a leader with whom Israel could make peace. "Over the past year, I witnessed (Abbas) at his best. In Operation Cast Lead, (he) called us personally, applied pressure and demanded that we topple Hamas and remove it from power," he told Israel's Maariv daily. "A month after the operation ended, he filed a complaint against us with the International Court of Justice at The Hague for war crimes. Is that a partner?" An aide to Abbas vehemently denied the allegation, accusing the right-leaning Israeli government of trying to deepen the deadlock over U.S.-sponsored efforts to revive negotiations. "This is not true. It is a continuation of the (Israeli) campaign of defamation ... to create an atmosphere that would destroy any chance of salvaging the peace process," Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said. Israel launched its three-week Gaza offensive on Dec. 27, 2008 with the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Such attacks have tapered off since, though there has been sporadic cross-border violence. The war's Palestinian toll -- 1,400 dead, mostly non-combatants, while Israel lost 10 troops and three civilians -- drew fierce censure abroad and stalled negotiations between Abbas and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a centrist.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria threatens to take back Golan by force

2009-06-28

*Snicker* How many times have they tried thus far? [Haaretz Defense] Syrian officials threatened on Saturday to take back the Golan Heights by force if a peace agreement involving the return of the strategic plateau is not reached with Israel, Army Radio reported. A group calling itself the Syrian Committee for the Freedom of the Golan said it would take steps to regain control of the territory, adding that Israel has not shown willingness to achieve peace or to return what they called "Syrian land." The comments were made at the inauguration ceremony, attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad, for a new communications center in Quneitra. "The communications center will report on the troubles of Syrian residents residing in the occupied Golan under barbaric and racist Israeli rule," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal was quoted as saying at the ceremony, in a reference to Druze in the Golan who wish to live under Syrian sovereignty. Last Sunday, Assad rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to resume peace talks between the two countries from "point zero." Assad said the negotiations should resume from the point at which they stopped under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, when the two sides had planned to formulate mutual commitments that would enable the talks to move to a direct negotiations stage. The indirect negotiations stopped some six months ago, following Operation Cast Lead, and the announcement of early elections in Israel. Israel gained control of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. Syria insists that the basis for peace talks with Israel is a full withdrawal from the territory. Which will not happen until Israel trusts that Syria will not again use the Heights to rain down missiles on the communities below, which is how the Syrians had used them before. These days the Golan, as a strategic high ground, is over-rated. Longer-range missiles and accurate fire-control means that Syria, if it wishes, can launch missiles at Israel from its own territory today. What's humorous in all this is that the Syrians, as is so typical for them and the Arab mind-set, can't imagine actually making a 'deal' -- it's all about their demands and never about what they'll do in return. Even the ethereal 'peace' they'd offer isn't worth anything and everyone knows that. But their world-view is that the infidels eventually have to accept their something-for-nothing offer.

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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Cruiser Aurora Turned Into Party Barge

2009-06-14

Former marines of Russia’s Baltic Fleet were insulted by the party, which officials and oligarchs had enjoyed on board Russia’s legendary warship, the Aurora, the symbol of the Communist Revolution in Russia. Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s richest man, organized a party on board the Aurora cruiser after the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. Russia’s top officials and millionaires were invited to come to the party: presidential envoy Ilya Klebanov, beer tycoon Oleg Tinkov, the president of Russia’s popular odnoklassniki.ru social network Nikita Sherman, vodka tycoon Rustam Tariko, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko and many others. As it usually happens, strong beverages made the guests lose control over themselves. Some of them decided to jump overboard to swim in the Neva River. The businessmen were not at all confused with the fact that the party was taking place on board the nation’s historical warship. The Aurora is the flagship of the Russian Navy. The cruiser has the crew and the captain in spite of the fact that she does not navigate. The crew is responsible for the order on board the ship and for her safe docking. The ship currently operates as a museum. “Everything that happens on board the ship during the time when the museum is closed for visitors – namely from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. of the next day – is the responsibility of the navy and the crew. Any decision to hold any kind of events on board the ship – whether it is a meeting with war veterans or something else – needs to be authorized by the Commander of the Leningrad Naval Base, Rear Admiral Lepitsky,” Igor Kurdin, a former naval captain said. However, the rear admiral was not informed about the party. “Yes, there were big people on the Aurora. However, it would never occur to anyone of us to throw a party on board the ship, to jump overboard and so forth. It’s very painful that the Aurora has become a floating bar,” the former captain complained. Veterans claim that oligarchs could organize another party like that in Lenin’s Tomb or at the Hermitage State Museum. Top officials in other countries can be fired for their addiction to entertaining events at the expense of private individuals. The former president of the Central Bank of Germany, Ernst Welteke, for example, did not refuse from free plane tickets or motor racing. Canada’s Minister for Tourism Cam Jackson was dismissed for his love for free travel and fancy restaurants. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert found himself in the middle of a similar scandal when it transpired that the official did not pay for his own holidays. During the First World War the Aurora operated in the Baltic Sea. In 1915 her armament was changed to fourteen 152 mm (6in) guns. At the end of 1916, the ship was moved to Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd) for a major repair. The city was brimming with revolutionary ferment and part of her crew joined the 1917 February Revolution. A revolutionary committee was created on the ship (Aleksandr Belyshev was elected its captain). Most of the crew joined the Bolsheviks, who were preparing for a Communist revolution. On 25 October 1917, the refusal of an order for the Aurora to take to sea sparked the October Revolution. At 9.45 p.m. on that date, a blank shot from her forecastle gun signalled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace, which was to be the last episode of the October Revolution. Aurora's crew actually took part in the attack.

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Africa Horn

Sudan: 119 killed in Israeli-accused attack on smuggling convoy

2009-05-26

The convoy attacks from earlier this year. Sudan on Monday officially announced the death of 119 people during raids it accused Israel of carrying out on smuggling convoys in eastern Sudan during January and February this year. The nationalities of individuals who took part in the operation, he said, were Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis amongst others. Sudanese Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussain in a statement presented at the country's parliament, said that estimates compiled by the ministry reveal one of the attacked convoys included 81 smugglers, of which 25 survived, while another attack on a convoy including 180, led to the killing of 63. The minister went on to say that a total of 35 trucks took part in the smuggling operation, of which 27 were destroyed. The nationalities of individuals who took part in the operation, he said, were Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis amongst others. What was it President Bush said after 9/11 about those who aid or shelter terrorists? Investigations into the case he described as "ambiguous and complicated" are still being carried out, he added, in coordination with the foreign ministry, security bodies in the country and neighbouring countries. International forces operating in the Red Sea or Israeli unmanned aircraft, unnoticed by local radar systems could be targets responsible for the raid, according to the Sudanese minister. Could have been the evil Zionist death ray ... ...or Giant Ants. Ants? What do ants have against... ohhhhh, they were attracted by the juice! Let that be a lesson to y'all -- do not let even the odor of juice permeate where ants might be, especially giant desert ants. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had hinted an Israeli role in the convoy attacks last year which led, according to Sudanese estimates at the time, to a total of 800 deaths, with Washington denying its own responsibility. US and Israeli media had mentioned that the raid targeted an automobile rocket-smuggling convoy on its way to Gaza. Accused recipient of the convoy, Palestinian movement Hamas, had denied any relation to the convoy, adding that it had not received any weapons from neighbouring Arab countries or organizations. Of course it would have, had it not been for the giant ants, who secreted the bodies of the smugglers in their vast underground nest to feed the new queen. I'm comfortably certain I've seen that movie ...

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