Essam el-Erian, the 'moderate' voice of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: "All Jewish individuals have the right to live among Arab countries. And they lived for decades and centuries in safety in our countries. But existence of a state for Jews is against all rules of states all over the world.… I hope the revolutions in the Arab world can change the map. All the maps can be changed." Is that not super-radical?
FP: And here’s Israel response: Israel to allow more Egyptian forces into Sinai, Barak saysEgyptian troops, armored vehicles, choppers to be allowed in to deal with growing terror infrastructure, but no tanks • Rivlin: Move will have to pass Knesset • Mass march planned on Israel's Cairo embassy, which is still flying an Egyptian flag.
Adi Schwartz: A Tragedy Shrouded in Silence: The Destruction of the Arab World's Jewry
Thousands of pages of similar testimony have been collecting dust in various government offices since the 1950s. Under the bureaucratic heading “Registry of the Claims of Jews from Arab Lands,” they tell of lives cut short, of individuals and entire families who found themselves suddenly homeless, persecuted, humiliated. Together they relate a tragic chapter in the history of modern Jewry, a chain of traumatic events that signaled the end of a once-glorious diaspora.
Yet for all its historical import, this chapter has been largely repressed, scarcely leaving a mark on Israel’s collective memory. The media seldom mentioned it then, and rarely do so today.
Schools do not devote comprehensive curricula to it, and academia pays it little attention. Indeed, in the past decade only one doctoral dissertation was written on the devastation of Jewish communities in Arab countries. Furthermore, of all the parties represented in Israel’s Knesset, not one has included in its platform an explicit demand for the restitution of these Jews’ property, or the recognition of their violated rights.
FP: Another major strategic blunder of Israel: failure to include the Jewish refugees, what they lost and what their integration cost from 1948 on in all negotiations with the Arabs.Yet for all its historical import, this chapter has been largely repressed, scarcely leaving a mark on Israel’s collective memory. The media seldom mentioned it then, and rarely do so today.
Schools do not devote comprehensive curricula to it, and academia pays it little attention. Indeed, in the past decade only one doctoral dissertation was written on the devastation of Jewish communities in Arab countries. Furthermore, of all the parties represented in Israel’s Knesset, not one has included in its platform an explicit demand for the restitution of these Jews’ property, or the recognition of their violated rights.
Michael Rubin:Tehran’s Nuclear Endgame
Both inside and outside the State Department, Pentagon, and Old Executive Office Building, officials whisper privately what they will not state publicly: The United States is not prepared to use military force to deny Iran a nuclear weapon. Instead, the United States will rely on traditional deterrence.
Those around the administration, as well as respected analysts, agree. “I don’t think this is a suicidal regime. I don’t dismiss out of hand at all the idea that they could be deterred,” Thomas Fingar, one of the primary authors of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, told National Public Radio two years ago. Joshua Pollack, a columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and government consultant, argued on the same program that deterrence is the least bad option. “The alternatives to deterrence are what, after all?” he explained, pointing out that the costs associated with military action against Iran would be greater than those in Iraq.
…
Qaddafi’s last stand should provide a wake-up call for those who wish to tie American national security to deterrence. Placing a bet on a nuclear Islamic Republic’s desire for self-preservation discounts two important factors: The determination of the Iranian people to be free, and the ideological sincerity of the small elite whose fingers would be on the nuclear button.
FP: The West is neither willing, nor capable to address the Iranian threat and it will pay for it dearly.Those around the administration, as well as respected analysts, agree. “I don’t think this is a suicidal regime. I don’t dismiss out of hand at all the idea that they could be deterred,” Thomas Fingar, one of the primary authors of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, told National Public Radio two years ago. Joshua Pollack, a columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and government consultant, argued on the same program that deterrence is the least bad option. “The alternatives to deterrence are what, after all?” he explained, pointing out that the costs associated with military action against Iran would be greater than those in Iraq.
…
Qaddafi’s last stand should provide a wake-up call for those who wish to tie American national security to deterrence. Placing a bet on a nuclear Islamic Republic’s desire for self-preservation discounts two important factors: The determination of the Iranian people to be free, and the ideological sincerity of the small elite whose fingers would be on the nuclear button.
Victor Davis Hanson: The Middle East Mess
The center of our Middle East policy should be to ensure vast oil revenues are not translated into subsidizing terrorism aimed at the U.S. and its allies, or used by crazed dictators to absorb other weaker nations to create some sort of Pan-Islamic caliphate or Pan-Arabic belligerent.
That would mean in a post-Saddam world thwarting Assad’s Syria and theocratic Iran, and to the extent we can, steering the third stage of some seven decades of postwar Middle East unrest away from Islamic fundamentalism toward constitutional government, while remaining a strong supporter of Israel. To accomplish those goals, a confident America would (a) have to get its financial house in order; (b) seek to limit blackmail by exploiting all of our own huge and growing fossil fuel reserves; (c) stop backbiting democratic Israel; (d) work where we can and when it is possible with petro-rich Sunni states to isolate Syria and Iran; (e) promote consensual government apart from Islamic republicanism—especially through far more vocal and stealthy support for the Syrian and Iranian protestors. (Suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood is largely secular would not be part of the plan. Nor would apologizing for past American sins. Nor would publicly rebuking Israel. Nor would outreach to Iran and Syria.)
FP: Even if the US did that tomorrow—and it won’t—it would be too late.That would mean in a post-Saddam world thwarting Assad’s Syria and theocratic Iran, and to the extent we can, steering the third stage of some seven decades of postwar Middle East unrest away from Islamic fundamentalism toward constitutional government, while remaining a strong supporter of Israel. To accomplish those goals, a confident America would (a) have to get its financial house in order; (b) seek to limit blackmail by exploiting all of our own huge and growing fossil fuel reserves; (c) stop backbiting democratic Israel; (d) work where we can and when it is possible with petro-rich Sunni states to isolate Syria and Iran; (e) promote consensual government apart from Islamic republicanism—especially through far more vocal and stealthy support for the Syrian and Iranian protestors. (Suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood is largely secular would not be part of the plan. Nor would apologizing for past American sins. Nor would publicly rebuking Israel. Nor would outreach to Iran and Syria.)
LittleGreenFootballs: Proposed Amendment
Proposed Congressional Reform Act of 2011:
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. ****The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
FP: Might have prevented the American decline if it had been included in the Constitution.1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. ****The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
The underground military facilities also are used to protect and hide command posts and communications sites, to store weapons and equipment and to protect people.
Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs analyst, said the report is significant for listing strategic nuclear forces that show an estimated increase of up to 25 new ICBMs, some with multiple warheads, in a year, and the first references to China’s program for nationwide missile defenses.
“Taken together, a well-protected, growing ICBM force that will soon have active defenses should be of great concern to the United States,” said Mr. Fisher, of the International Assessment and Strategy Center. “China will not reveal its missile-buildup plans or its [anti-ballistic missile] plans, so this simply is not the time to be considering further cuts in the U.S. nuclear force, as is the Obama administration’s intention.”
…
In 2005, Gen. Zhu Chenghu told reporters in Beijing that if the U.S. military used conventionally armed weapons on Chinese territory, “we will have to respond with nuclear weapons.”
FP: China has nothing to worry about the US—it simply can cut its credit to bring it down without a shot. And anyway, in the PostWest America will be no factor.“Taken together, a well-protected, growing ICBM force that will soon have active defenses should be of great concern to the United States,” said Mr. Fisher, of the International Assessment and Strategy Center. “China will not reveal its missile-buildup plans or its [anti-ballistic missile] plans, so this simply is not the time to be considering further cuts in the U.S. nuclear force, as is the Obama administration’s intention.”
…
In 2005, Gen. Zhu Chenghu told reporters in Beijing that if the U.S. military used conventionally armed weapons on Chinese territory, “we will have to respond with nuclear weapons.”
IDF develops doctrine for accurate sniper fire
“The snipers could not see well and we used the Amit, which can see in all weather, to put a laser designator on the legs of the protester and then the sniper shot at the laser,” an IDF Ground Forces Command officer explained. “Our goal was not to kill people but to shoot at the legs of the violent protesters who were trying to cross into Israel. This made the shooting more accurate.”
In addition to instituting the use of the Amit, the IDF has also decided to procure new non-lethal weapons that will help disperse large demonstrations and marches that could break out in the West Bank and along Israel’s borders in the north.
Last month, the IDF decided to begin distributing throughout the infantry a new receiver for the standard-issue M-16 semi-automatic rifle that can enable it to shoot a 0.22 mm. round instead of the usual 5.56 mm. bullet. The smaller rounds are not as lethal when fired from a distance.
In addition, the IDF has purchased impact rounds for snipers for use with Remington M-24 7.62 mm. rifles. Impact rounds are usually made of non-lead materials and do not penetrate the skin but deal a painful blow.
FP: In its strategy to appease the world, rather than vanquish its enemies, I srael is sending a genocidal culture a message that it is unwilling to win, thus feeding them hope and guaranteeing the continuation and exacerbation of the conflict. All this creativity and innovation would be much more effectively be spent on defeating Hamas e.g. commando raids into Gaza, rather than preserving attackers to live for another attack.In addition to instituting the use of the Amit, the IDF has also decided to procure new non-lethal weapons that will help disperse large demonstrations and marches that could break out in the West Bank and along Israel’s borders in the north.
Last month, the IDF decided to begin distributing throughout the infantry a new receiver for the standard-issue M-16 semi-automatic rifle that can enable it to shoot a 0.22 mm. round instead of the usual 5.56 mm. bullet. The smaller rounds are not as lethal when fired from a distance.
In addition, the IDF has purchased impact rounds for snipers for use with Remington M-24 7.62 mm. rifles. Impact rounds are usually made of non-lead materials and do not penetrate the skin but deal a painful blow.
LittleGreenFootballs: Official PA Daily Cartoon: All of Israel is 'Palestine' and there can be no compromise
[Link: www.hudson-ny.org...]
The Palestinian Authority is telling its people that peace with Israel is not a goal. Instead, the PA says that all of Israel is "Palestine," and that no compromise is acceptable because this principle is "the only red line." This message was expressed by the regular cartoonist, Muhammad Sabaaneh, in the official PA daily.
There really is nothing clever or insightful to add at this juncture in history. Along with the mass demonstrations being organized outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo and the Arab League's reminder that treaties are made to be abrogated (because let's be honest, that is both the sub- and super-text of Elaraby's statement), I am left with the assessment that in Arab relations with Israel, it is a situation of: same shit, different day.
FP: No matter how many times the Palestinians not just say, but also prove this, neither the West nor Israel are willing to accept it and act accordingly. Rather they actively support it.b
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