יום שבת, 20 באוקטובר 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

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How Obama is selling out another ally (Tony Badran)

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 01:29 PM PDT

There is a very important recurring theme of the Obama presidency, and his "hands off" approach to foreign policy will almost certainly have the most dangerous long-term consequences to US interests imaginable.

When the US gives mixed signals about its allies, it means that our allies will no longer trust us - and the weaker ones will find other patrons.

You don't have to be a big fan of Turkey to see that from a geopolitical viewpoint President Obama is making the same mistakes with that ally that he has made elsewhere.

From Tony Badran in Now Lebanon:
Over the last two weeks, the Syrian regime has directed mortar and artillery fire at Turkish villages. The US ambassador to Turkey, Francis Ricciardone, might have stated, in response, that the United States stands behind its ally, Turkey, however it sees fit to protect itself.  Instead, he confidently declared that Washington sees no possibility of war between Turkey and Syria. What the ambassador couched as a benign prediction was, in fact, an obvious instruction to Turkey.
 
Many have wondered whether the Assad regime's shelling was meant to provoke Ankara. A cartoon in the daily al-Hayat depicted the Syrian president thumbing his nose at Turkey, while shells were fired from his fingers.
 
Assad's aggression is an expression of his contempt not just for Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan but, in addition, the United States. He sees, on the one hand, Iran rallying all the members of its alliance network in the region (Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militants, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki) to prop him up and to isolate their common adversary, Turkey. On the other hand, Assad sees the US leaving its Turkish ally and the Syrian opposition alone in the cold.
 
Assad correctly interpreted the US position and concluded that he could attack Turkey with impunity. Washington not only had no interest in coming to the defense of its NATO ally, but also did not want to see any escalation from the Turkish side.  
 
Reading Obama's preferences is easy for Assad. The US president has been advertising his inhibitions for many months. Last March, when the Turks came to plead with the administration to take the lead on more assertive measures in Syria, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, shot them down repeatedly. The Turks tried again in August and were once more rebuffed. 
 
The more the US has signaled its intent, no matter what, to stay out of the game in Syria, the more aggressive Assad and his Iranian patrons have become.
 
Since as early as last summer, the Iranians have been showing the Turks that they would use the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) against them. Tehran has shown its ability to reach a tactical alliance with the PKK in order to exploit one of Ankara's principal vulnerabilities: the Kurdish issue. They first released the PKK's commander, Murat Karayilan, in July of last year. A year later, Iran was allowing the PKK to use its soil to launch operations against Turkey. 
 
But the most brazen attack came in July with the shooting down of a Turkish F-4 jet over international waters off the Syrian coast. The Turks were enraged, but once again, word immediately came from Washington that left no doubt about the Obama administration's preferences. In comments to the Wall Street Journal, an anonymous senior US defense official not only did not endorse the Turkish account of what happened, but also seemed to lend credence to the Syrian version.
 
The Turks, rightly, saw this leak as a calculated American effort to tarnish their credibility. The purpose of the sleight was clear: the Obama administration did not want this incident to become a slippery slope to US involvement in Syria, on the side of Turkey. The downing of the jet, therefore, had to be papered over, and Turkey had to swallow its pride. That was, in effect, the point made by US Chief of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, who admitted publicly that he impressed upon the Turks the importance of not being "provocative."
 
This display was not lost on the Russians. At the time, the Obama administration was in the middle of its ill-conceived attempt to coax Moscow into supporting a "peaceful transition plan" for Syria. Seeing that the Americans had thrown the Turks under the bus, the Russians piled it on. They upheld the Syrian account, and then rubbed Erdogan's nose in it by offering to provide him with "objective observation data" about the incident. They then advised the Turks not to allow the incident to "ignite passions." 
 
Ambassador Ricciardone's comments on Tuesday repeated Dempsey's message: The US will not support Turkey escalating its response against Syria's provocations.
 
Riacciardone's comments are a perfect distillation of the US position on Turkey and Syria. After encouraging Turkey to take the lead on the Syria policy, the Obama administration has now opted to leave the Turks alone in facing Assad's Iranian and Russian allies.
 
The American policy is short sighted. At stake is the balance of power in the region that is favorable to US interests. Iran is marshaling all the elements of its national power to support its Syrian ally and pressure Turkey. By urging restraint on Ankara, Washington is inadvertently helping. 
 
In Moscow, in July 2009, Obama said that powers forging "competing blocs to balance one another" was an antiquated "19th century view." Two months later, he again asserted at the UN General Assembly that "no balance of power among nations will hold." 
 
Power politics may be dead and buried in Washington, but for Assad and his allies, it is alive and well.


I don't know enough specifically about Romney to know if he agree with this general problem with Obama's view of the world, but if he does, he can easily say it in his two minute statement at Monday's night's foreign policy debate. I hope he does. it is the most important distinguishing factor between the candidates, and it has the most far-reaching ramifications.

US leadership does not mean invading countries on a whim. It does not mean imperialism or colonialism, as some believe. It means showing our allies that we are consistent in our national beliefs, that we will keep our promises to them (even if done by another administration,) and that we will not abandon your friends without a damned good reason. If we have friends who do not live up to our standards of democracy and especially freedom, we must push them, both in private and in public - we don't have to blindly accept what every dictator does, even if he is on "our side" in a particular circumstance. But on the other hand, we must not abandon those who we have said we would support.

Right now, the unthinkable is becoming possible. Assad might survive. If he does, then Iran will be the de facto strong horse of the Middle East, as scared Arab countries will realize that America's promises are useless. And when America is perceived as weak - it is weak, and it signals that it will tolerate being pushed around by two-bit thugs.


This is not an Israel issue. This is not a Jewish issue. This is the future of the free world.

Friday links

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 11:45 AM PDT

From Ian:
Latma: The spinmasters finest hour and what truly motivates Obama


The world wants Israel to show restraint. But why should it place its life in the hands of foreign bureaucrats?
"The leaders of Iran have declared many times that they wish to obliterate Israel. Why should Israel not believe this threat? More to the point, why should Israel stay its military response and instead put its trust in the capacity of the bureaucrats in "the international community" to shuffle papers?"

Honing Anti-Semitism in France and Sweden "Blame the Victim"
"In France and Sweden -- and in the UN -- authorities fail to acknowledge that Europe's Jewish communities are under attack by Muslims who have formed insular, radical and often criminal enclaves. They are attacked NOT because of what they do or do not do; NOT because of what Israel does or does not do, and NOT because their tormentors face discrimination in Europe, but because they are Jews."

Judith Butler: More Palestinian than the Palestinians
"Viewing the two-state solution as a sell-out, Butler attacks the PA application to the United Nations for recognition. The bid's only value, she argues, is that it allows the left to jump up and down on grave of the "sham of the peace negotiations" and celebrate the "break with the Oslo framework."

CIF Watch: Following CiF Watch post, Guardian corrects John Pilger's false casualty figures from Gaza War

What is Abbas' true ideology?
The official PA daily quotes Abbas' Facebook page: "...our land is occupied and not disputed territory, and this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied before June 1967.
(Ma'an says Israeli media misunderstood the Arabic - but Abbas changed the FB text right after it was exposed - EoZ.)

Hamas denying Palestinians energy billions
Hamas's supremacy is the chief impediment to attaining the life-transforming economic miracle that beckons for Palestinians
"Palestinian Gaza has an offshore natural gas resource worth an estimated $4 billion. While massive gas discoveries off Israel are proving to be world class, Palestinian Gazans should be looking to their own energy miracle and a bright future. Instead, abject poverty and hopelessness prevails – and it's all self-inflicted."

Report: Palestinian Authority Involved in Money Laundering
"Israeli political sources say the Palestinian Authority recently asked the Bank of Israel to increase the limit of Palestinian Authority deposits to $2 billion, the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.
The report said officials of the Bank of Israel were surprised that the PA was asking to allow deposit of such a "mountain" of money while the PA leadership claims to be facing a severe financial crisis. The report highlighted that Israeli officials were starting to have suspicions that the Palestinian Authority "is helping criminal Arab families" inside Israel with money laundering. "

Terror attack against Israeli targets said thwarted in Cyprus
Cypriot newspaper reports security forces seized 100 grams of explosives in resort town

Calorie counting misreporting: Leading Arab daily equates IDF to Nazi army
The only thing left is to send [Palestinians] to the gas chambers, says London-based paper in editorial
See also Honest Reporting: New York Times and The Guardian Starving Readers of Context

Hezbollah jeopardizing regional peace, UN chief says in report

Jewish groups statements on Australia's success in winning a seat on the UN Security Council for 2013-2014

Anglican Friends of Israel respond to calls for boycott
TALKING POINTS on the so-called "illegal settlements"

Historic Jewish graves desecrated in Auckland

Denmark: MP denied entry to Bahrain over Israel passport stamp

Turkish pianist Fazil Say goes on trial accused of insulting Islam on Twitter

Israel Promotes First Female Christian Arab to Combat Commander
Mona Abdo, 20, grew up in a Christian home in Haifa. She voluntarily enlisted in the IDF when she turned 18 with the encouragement of her family. Upon enlistment Mona was assigned to the Ordnance Corps. However, she quickly realized that she wanted more of an active role and was transferred to the combat unit Caracal—which has both male and female, and Arab and Jewish soldiers fighting alongside each other.

Michael Oren's Israel compared to Egypt

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT

This is why I couldn't be an ambassador.



Oren even used my line from this poster:

Proving once again that I control the world! Bwa-ha-ha!

Kol hakavod to Oren to be able to do stuff like this.

While Oren was talking about how friendly Americans and Israelis are, the US Embassy in Egypt issued a warning to Americans there:

The current security environment in Egypt may offer opportunities to groups or individuals that want to target westerners or U.S. interests. While these risks cannot be completely avoided, there are many personal security measures that U.S. citizens can take to lower their profiles and minimize their exposure to situations and environments that pose a significant threat. These include but are not limited to:


  • Varying times and routes in your daily schedule;
  • Maintaining awareness of your surroundings;
  • In traffic, maintaining space around your vehicle in which to maneuver, always leaving yourself an exit, and avoiding choke points;
  • Keeping the windows of your car rolled up and doors locked;
  • If followed while driving, blowing your horn repeatedly to attract attention and driving directly to a safehaven (e.g. a police station or hotel). Make a point to know where these potential safehavens are in your neighborhood;
  • If walking, using well-lit, heavily traveled streets. If you feel threatened, walking into a store, police station, or other public building;
  • Varying the times and locations of your recreational activities so as to avoid establishing an identifiable pattern;
  • Limiting knowledge of your personal activities to those who need to know;
  • Learning uniforms of local police and being able to recognize their credentials;
  • Being on a constant lookout for surveillance activity;
  • Never giving out personal information, such as family member or household staff names, addresses, and telephone numbers in an open setting;
  • Avoiding emblems on clothing and cars that overtly identify you as a U.S. citizen;

...
U.S. citizens should avoid areas where large gatherings may occur. Even demonstrations or events intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. U.S. citizens in Egypt are urged to monitor local news reports and to plan their activities accordingly.
This isn't a warning to diplomats, or intelligence operatives - it is a warning to every American who wants to visit Egypt.

So as hard as Oren's job to explain Israel is, just imagine the poor shmuck who has to put a happy face on Egypt.

(h/t Ian)

Tanzania and Iran playing games with oil tanker flagging

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Forbes does some real reporting, which is refreshing:
Trying to elude the reach of U.S. sanctions, Iran's oil tankers have put on quite a circus this year, renaming, reflagging and at times switching off their onboard vessel tracking systems to drop off the maritime grid. Now comes a further drama, fraught with mystery, in which ship-tracking databases show a growing number of Iranian oil tankers flagged to Tanzania, while Tanzanian authorities say they have no such Iranian ships registered.

The ships at the core of this conundrum belong to Iran's main tanker company, NITC, formerly known as the National Iranian Tanker Company. This past July, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted NITC, along with 58 of its vessels, as belonging to the government of Iran. Among the blacklisted NITC vessels were more than 30 tankers which had only recently distanced themselves from looming European sanctions by reflagging from Malta and Cyprus to Tanzania and the Pacific archipelago nation of Tuvalu.

Under U.S. pressure, government authorities of both Tuvalu and Tanzania said in August that they would de-register ships blacklisted by the U.S. as owned or controlled by Iran. By mid-September, Tuvalu had done exactly that, not only de-registering more than 20 NITC tankers which had been sailing under its flag, but also de-flagging a nest of Iranian cargo ships, blacklisted by the U.S. as part of Iran's large state merchant fleet, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).

But what's going on with Tanzania? Rather than de-registering the 11 NITC tankers that were already sailing under its flag, Tanzania appears to have let them stay, and added more, according to ship-tracking data from Lloyd's List Intelligence.

Worse yet, Tanzania's shipping registry appears to have picked up at least eight of the NITC tankers evicted last month by Tuvalu.

All told, among the ships listed by Lloyd's as currently flagged to Tanzania are at least 44 now blackballed by the U.S. as owned or controlled either by IRISL or NITC. That would account for well over one-fifth of all Iranian ships currently on the U.S. Treasury's blacklist of Specially Designated Nationals, widely known as the SDN list. If the shipping data is accurate, it would mean that Tanzania's shipping register is now the world's second-largest host, after Iran itself, to major vessels of Iran's commercial fleet.
The article gets better, as the reporter tries to track down apparent Tanzanian lies that Iran is illegally sailing using Tanzanian call signs.

The episode would be almost funny if it didn't prove that sanctions can only go so far, and all it takes is a tiny country or two for Iran to be able to create a huge gap in the sanctions.

Hamas cracking down on - baggy pants (updated x2)

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 07:15 AM PDT

From Al Arabiya:
Young people in Gaza Strip are complaining that their freedom to wear saggy pants and have haircuts of their choice is hampered by security officers as they might be arrested.

Both Khaled and his brother were arrested by a security officer for wearing saggy pants and for him wearing a silver chain around his neck.

Initially Khaled and his brother did not know the reason of their detention until one security man said to his boss "look at his outfit."

The security men did not respond to Khaled when he asked them to outline "if there is any Palestinian law that prevents young people from wearing saggy pants or silver chains?"

Young men can also be scoffed at for wearing shorts.

Ahmed, another resident from Gaza, said that he was going to buy some food from one of the city's restaurants but was scolded by a police man for wearing shorts and showing his legs.

According to the police man, Ahmed shouldn't be wearing shorts in front of girls unless he was at home.

As the news of a campaign by security officers against "saggy pants" started proliferating, Islam Chahwan, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior denied that there is such campaign.

He said that his ministry does not interfere in the personal lives of citizens in Gaza.

"We have not received complaints from the citizens regarding such issues, but maintaining the morals and values of the Palestinian society is highly required."
To be fair, the baggy pants might be used to hide Zionist spy equipment. You can't be too careful with the lives of Gazans.

Speaking of, during the last two weeks of September, 3 Qassam rockets fell short and landed in Gaza instead of killing Israeli kids as they were intended.

UPDATE: Israellycool had the baggy pants story weeks ago.

UPDATE 2: But one of my own linkdumps, courtesy Ian, beat him to it!

Islamists kill secular politician in Tunisia during riot

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 05:30 AM PDT

Freedom of expression, Islamist-style:
Clashes between Islamists and secular opponents in the southern Tunisian town of Tataouine on Thursday left a secular politician dead, a local official and resident said.

The violence broke out during a march organized by a group of Islamists close to the Ennahda party, which leads Tunisia's Islamist government. Protesters chanted slogans against the secular Nida Touns party, accusing it of being close to ousted leader Zine ElAbidine Ben Ali, a resident said.

The Islamist group, the Association for the Protection of the Revolution, was passing the building of the local Agricultural Union which is headed by the local representative of Nida Touns, when the clashes began.

"The coordinator of Nida Touns in Tataouine, Lofi Nakd, was killed after he was attacked," Nida Touns official Khemais Ksila told Reuters by phone. A resident who gave his name as Samil Smida said knives and stones were used in the violence.

"The clashes broke out between Islamists and some people from Nida Touns," he said. "The Islamists were chanting slogans against Nida Touns, calling them liars, telling them to leave. Those inside reacted, throwing stones and it all began."
Notice how Reuters tries to be even-handed in describing the death as a result of "clashes," when it appears clear that the Islamists - carrying knives - were rioting against and besieging a group of people inside their workplace.

500 dead - and hypocritical "pro-Palestinian activists" are silent

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 03:31 AM PDT

You know how all the Israel-haters pretend to be "pro-Palestinian"?

Here's more proof that they are anything but.

It appears that as of today, more than 500 Palestinian Arabs have been murdered in Syria by Bashir Assad's regime.

(Calculation: 482 documented on October 7, 8 killed last Friday, 12 killed today.)

Have any of the supposedly "pro-Palestinian" groups, like "Ship to Gaza" or "Miles of Smiles," said anything about this?

Have there been any press releases from passionate advocates of the "Palestinian cause" about "genocide" being perpetrated by the Syrian regime?

Have you read any articles written by them about how terribly Syria is treating Palestinian Arabs?

No, of course not. No fundraising, no speeches, no tours of college campuses, no flotillas, no op-eds - nothing.

Here's another interesting proof of Arab hatred for their Palestinian brothers that "pro-Palestinian activists" completely ignored, buried at the end of an AP article yesterday:
The U.N. refugee agency said Thursday the number of Syrian refugees who have fled their country's civil war and found shelter in Egypt has now topped 150,000 — a significant jump from last month's figure of 95,000.

The director of UNHCR in Egypt, Mohamed Dayri, said that despite the growing number of refugees in Egypt, only 4,800 Syrians have registered with the agency in Cairo. He called on Egyptian authorities to help UNHCR deal with the "rising emergency" of Syrian refugees here.

...[Dayri] said that the U.N. is urging Egypt to maintain an "open door policy" not only for Syrians, but also for Palestinian refugees in Syria who also are fleeing the civil war.

"The Palestinian refugees should be treated equally like Syrians who are fleeing violence and insecurity," Dayri said.
It doesn't take much reading between the lines to see that Egypt is not treating Palestinian Syrian refugees as they are treating the rest; it is possible that Egypt is not even allowing any of them to enter Egypt.

And it is not only Egypt. Other countries are singling them out too:
Syria's roughly 500,000 Palestinians "have been been thrust into the crisis since June and July," Radhouane Nouicer, the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, said at a Cairo press conference.

"Many of them have been displaced like Syrians and we are trying to encourage neighbouring countries to adopt an open door policy with them, like Syrians," he said, adding that he hoped Palestinians would not be forced out of Syria.
He is apparently referring to Jordan and Lebanon, although probably those fleeing to Iraq are having similar issues.

UNHCR knows this, and of course the Palestinian Arabs who tried to flee to Egypt know this, but I have not seen a single article anywhere that discusses the extent of Egypt's discrimination against Palestinians.

In the end, the "pro-Palestinian activists" don't give a damn about their Palestinians. Like the Arab leaders for the past 65 years, they only want to use them as pawns to destroy Israel.

And their silence when hundreds of Palestinians are killed and tens of thousands singled out by their Arab hosts is all the proof you need of their hypocrisy.

Of course, the media is also burying the stories of discrimination against Palestinian Arabs by Syria's neighbors, even after UN officials point it out explicitly. No follow up questions, no independent investigations as to the extent of this discrimination and the hypocrisy of Arab governments who pretend to support Palestinians but treat them differently than every other Arab.
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