Cantankerous Camel

What’s inside a tyrant’s mind?

2011-07-08T12:53:00.001+03:00

Magazine

What’s inside a tyrant’s mind?

07/07/2011 22:43 By JEREMY SHARON

The question of why dictators – even the most charming among them – oppress their own people.

Photo by: Reuters

Dictators and autocrats have been getting bad press of late, but few people stop and think about just how hard their daily lives really are.

Maintaining a wardrobe of fantastically flamboyant African robes, à la Muammar Gaddafi, isn’t an easy task, nor is getting your tailor to design camp military uniforms with epaulettes more outrageous than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Think of the dangers, confronted by Kim Jong-Il, of confusing Monday’s drab, shapeless, colorless polyester suit with Tuesday’s drab, shapeless, colorless polyester suit. And no one appreciates the time-sapping demands Bashar Assad faces in getting his pencil mustache just so, nor the concentration skills and dexterity needed to effectively wield his facial grooming implements.

Although these kinds of dilemmas are not appreciated by most, there is something even harder to understand – something far less amusing.

That is the ability of present-day dictators to so readily give orders to kill as many people as it takes to maintain their grip on power.

For most people, the enormity of taking one life would be appalling enough; having the deaths of thousands on your conscience – not to mention the suffering caused by the medieval methods of torture employed today in places such as Syria and Libya – is simply unimaginable. Yet, as has been apparent in the past few months on our TV screens, in our newspapers and over the Internet, such crimes come more easily for some people and weigh less heavily on their souls.

Psychiatrists have explored this issue to try and understand what characteristics these dictators share and what allows them to commit the atrocities they do.

According to Prof. Fred Coolidge of Colorado University, there are a number of critical personality disorders that, when occurring together, cause a “perfect storm” for the development of a psychopathic personality.

First and foremost among these traits is an intense narcissism, an extreme form of egocentrism in which the approval and adulation of others is critical to one’s self-esteem.

This narcissism, Coolidge says, also creates a powerful drive to seek power, and the desire for power is a major motivator for a typical dictator.

Another characteristic common among autocratic leaders is a sense of huge self-importance, a feeling that they are special, destined to have some great impact on their country and on history. A complete lack of interpersonal empathy, along with severe paranoia, completes the set, making for a particularly efficient and ruthless dictator.

But despite these antisocial pathologies, despots often have an ability to appear charming and smooth, and even seem empathetic, says Prof. James Fallon of the University of California – Irvine’s Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.

This description of an autocrat’s ability to disarm matches the impression former UK ambassador to Syria Henry Hogger got of Syrian leader Assad: “He was easy to talk to. Tony Blair got on well with him, and he had a good sense of humor.”

It seems implausible that the man who so charmed Blair is now responsible for the deaths of approximately 1,400 people and the inhuman torture of young children.

And according to Sir Terence Clark, another former British diplomat who served as ambassador to Iraq between 1985 and 1990, these features were also noticeable in Saddam Hussein.

“Saddam came across as very well-practiced in the arts of diplomacy and statesmanship,” Clark says, adding that his narcissism was apparent, too. “He took on the [informal] title of ‘Leader of Necessity,’ and saw himself as a figure who was needed by Iraq at that moment in history.”

Saddam also had a vision – not an ideological one of, for example, social reform, but of making Iraq a major player in the Middle East and, most likely, the broader geopolitical arena.

Crucially, he saw himself as the pivotal character and was driven by a desire to acquire power, maintain power and create a dynasty by grooming his sons Uday and Qusai to inherit him. The cult of personality he cultivated is another symptom of his narcissistic egomania and need for adoration. Portraits and posters of the man were made all over the country, designed to portray him as a father figure of the nation.

But what is the pathology that allows for wholesale slaughter and violent repression? Lack of empathy, it appears, is one of the key elements in this regard.

Interfering with the plan of a dictator is a bad idea, explains Fallon. “Assad has a plan, and that plan, in his mind, is the greatest good that can be achieved for his country. To obtain his goals, he is willing to do things normal people would not, which is to kill people who are in the way.”

His vision of himself in relation to his country is almost parental, Fallon continues. “His attitude is, ‘If you threaten my children, i.e., my country or my ideas, I will kill you.’ He just has a lower threshold.”

It seems, therefore, that a dictator’s malignant narcissism helps convince himself that his plan is good; his megalomania is responsible for the development of some grand idea or vision; and his lack of empathy means he has fewer issues with committing what to other people would be unspeakable crimes.

FALLON’S DESCRIPTION of dictators having a grand sense of saving the world fits well with what Eli Shaked, a former Israeli consul-general to Turkey, has to say about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan is not a dictator; he is a legitimate politician and has been democratically elected on three separate occasions. Nevertheless, Shaked’s impression of the man closely mirrors the characteristics described by the psychiatrists.

Erdogan, says Shaked, wants to return the Middle East to the days before Ataturk, with Turkey playing a pivotal and influential role in the region. He wants to restore the country’s influence to what it was under the Ottoman caliphate, and this explains his desire to engage so actively with all the regional problems of its neighbors – with Syria, Greece, Armenia, the Kurds and Israel.

Unfortunately, says Shaked, he has failed to accomplish these dreams, and this is perhaps one of the causes of the retreat of democracy in Turkey over the past few years. Critical journalists have been imprisoned, and according to the former consul-general, opposition leaders have been set up in compromising positions, forcing them to resign.

Erdogan’s grand “neo-Ottoman” visions, combined with his hypersensitivity to criticism, fit well with the classic antisocial pathologies of true dictators, but these are not the only traits they share. Another notable pattern witnessed of late in the recent Middle East uprisings is of leaders such as Assad, Libya’s Gaddafi and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh claiming that the revolts are not, contrary to appearances, led by popular protest against brutal and interminable state repression, but by Islamist cells, Western provocateurs or Zionist agents seeking to undermine the nation.

“They absolutely believe their own rhetoric,” Coolidge says; they are not in any way pretending.

Witness Gaddafi’s ramblings shortly after the rebellion against his rule began in earnest back in February. This “mad dog of the Middle East,” as former US president Ronald Reagan affectionately labeled him, claimed that those protesting against him were, in actuality, protesting for him. In a brief, bizarre TV interview, Gaddafi claimed, “I was talking with the young people in Green Square and wanted to spend the night with them, but it started to rain.”

Later, in a 70-minute televised address Gaddafi said there was, however, a small group of youths who had been given hallucinatory drugs and had attacked a couple of police stations.

This refusal to acknowledge reality comes from autocratic rulers’ deep-seated belief that they are heroic, munificent leaders, working toward the betterment of their country. But it is also nurtured by the corrupting nature of their position. Because they possess an acute sensitivity to criticism, they will remove by any means necessary those who disagree with them, and appoint fawning cronies and relatives, who are themselves attracted to power and financial benefits, as advisers and state officials.

“The proclivity of autocrats to literally shoot the messenger means that these people are never given a true picture of the country’s state of affairs, and they slowly become divorced from reality,” says Fallon. This situation leads the regime to grow ever more distant from its people by completely insulating itself from their grievances, and this in turn, compounded by the ruler’s lack of empathy, leads inexorably to vicious repression against anyone opposing the ruling elite.

Ultimately the despots who have made daily headlines in recent months for their unmitigated cruelty are completely addicted to power.

“All addictions are the same – drugs, nicotine, love, shopping, power, all feed into the hedonic hot spot and support pleasure,” says Fallon. But whereas a normal person can manage without constant stimulation of this pleasure center, someone with an addictive personality is left devastated when he fails to get his fix; it’s real pain, like losing a loved one, and he will do anything to ward off the symptoms of withdrawal.

“Addicts continue with whatever behavior they’re addicted to, just to avoid that pain. It’s not pleasurable, it’s managing the pain of withdrawal,” explains Fallon.

“What makes dictators different is that they’re addicted to power, and no amount of power will satisfy them. It keeps getting worse and worse. This is the idea of malignant addiction to power, and this is what dictators have and what drives their will to cling to power and their totalitarian inclinations.”

This stark diagnosis of what motivates the likes of Assad, Gaddafi and others is frightening, because it means there are few limits to what they are prepared to do to avoid the awful pain that results if they lose power.

“We will enter a bloody war, and thousands and thousands of Libyans will die if the United States or NATO enters,” warned Gaddafi back in February. He was deadly serious. Such threats are not to be taken lightly, and should serve as a clarion signal to the world that tyrants everywhere will stop at nothing to maintain their grasp on the reins of power.

BBC Reports on "Accident"

2008-03-06T22:03:00.005+02:00

According to the BBC, Palestinian terrorists accidentally dressed up as Yeshiva students, walked into the Yeshiva and committed mass murder.

Click on the screen capture to enlarge, scroll down to the BBC's "are you involved" form

Jabbering on about nothing

2007-08-22T20:43:00.000+03:00

Below are excerpts from a really good article by Yosef (Tommy) Lapid. While I disagree with his rhetoric about the settlers, the rest of the piece is right on the money and is basically what I’ve been saying forever.

The road to nowhere

“There is no point to the talks because ultimately they lead nowhere, being an exercise in futility that will never culminate in an agreement. The relationship between Israel and the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria will carry on without the benefit of a formal agreement, as they have until now.

The die was cast when Israel withdrew from Gush Katif. It was a historic step, a sacrifice that shook Israeli society.

The Palestinians' response was not long in coming: They stepped up the Kassam fire and elected Hamas, establishing a regime that does not recognize Israel's right to exist and is unwilling to concede its armed struggle until Israel is completely defeated.

THE ISRAELI public has learned its lesson. It has learned that every Israeli concession boomerangs against us, that the Palestinians prefer suffering and war to prosperity and peace, that there is no one to talk to and nothing that can be trusted: not Oslo, Camp David, Madrid or the withdrawal from Gush Katif. The Israeli peace camp has imploded and the Right is gloating, "We told you so!"

Abbas cannot give up the "right of return" or a single inch of land beyond the 1967 borders because if he does, he will not survive. And Olmert, even if he wanted to, could not close an deal with him because of two ironclad principles: Israel cannot make concession to the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria because Hamas could take over Ramallah at any moment, just as it did in Gaza.

Abbas would be removed from power, Ismail Haniyeh would be declared the president of Free Palestine, women would be ordered to veil their faces, men to grow beards, and the Kassam rockets - and eventually Katyusha rockets too - would land not only on Sderot but on Netanya and Kfar Saba. And on Ben-Gurion airport, cutting off Israel's air connection with the world.

Giving in to the settlers is a shameful capitulation to the use of force and the deterioration of the rule of law. It is a victory for the zealots that will haunt us for all time. But that is the reality in which we live - a destructive, insane one; but reality nonetheless.

Olmert and Abbas can talk until they're blue in the face. The Beduin say that the dogs bark and the caravan moves on. In this case, the peace caravan isn't going anywhere.”

Palestinians send kids to their deaths'

2007-08-22T18:47:00.000+03:00

Yes, it’s true, I don’t know why I’m even surprised, Palestinian terrorists send children to their deaths'. Yesterday, the IDF mistakenly killed two children who had been sent by Islamic Jihad terrorists to collect the rocket-launchers they had used to fire rockets at Israel. The IDF forces saw people approaching the launchers and took them to be terrorists and opened fire.

“The Israel Defense Forces killed six Palestinians in three separate incidents Tuesday, including two children who were targeted as they tried to collect Qassam rocket launchers in the Gaza Strip…

Soon after the launch, an IDF force identified the source of the rocket fire, surveyed the area, and identified a number of suspicious images near the launchers…

They said it is possible that Islamic Jihad had hired the children to collect the launchers after the launch. This phenomenon had already been observed in other instances, the IDF officers said…

An IDF source said that troops that had carried out the operation identified the figures next to the launchers as militants. "They were handling the launchers and they obviously hadn't come to slide on them," he said. "Every Palestinian, including the militants, knows that anyone who hangs around these launchers is endangering themselves. ”

Rocket Defence System Still Being Mismanaged by Politicians

2007-08-17T16:05:00.000+03:00

Haaretz reports that defence industry officials have said that there is still no consistent funding plan for the rocket defence system elected by the Ministry of Defence (which happens to be rubbish anyway compared to other ones which are at a more advanced stage of development, less costly and more effective as I mentioned here).

What is the problem here? How is it so complicated to work out that Israel desperately needs a workable defence system against short range rockets? The major threat facing Israel on its northern border is short and medium range rockets and missiles and that negating their effect would effectively neutralise Hizballah and Syria’s ability to harm Israel without actually trying to invade.

It’s now a year on and we seem to be no closer to having an up and running rocket-defence system, despite the fact that Qasssams are still being fired at the south-western Negev every day and that tensions on the northern border with Hizballah and Syria are still extremely high. How hard is it to decide on a system, fund it, develop it and deploy it? The technology is there and the necessity is there. The funds have to be made available to counter this strategic threat to the State of Israel.

“Lack of funds may expose home front to missiles

Lack of a consistent funding plan may leave the home front open to rocket and missile threats from neighboring countries, defense industry officials told Haaretz Thursday… They warned that inadequate and short-sighted budgeting may cause contractors to be unable to meet the government's deadline 20 months from now for deploying anti-ballistic rocket systems near population centers…

The sources estimate that the budget for Iron Dome, Israel's short-range, rocket-based interception system, will run out by the end of 2007…

A senior official in the defense industry told Haaretz that the Iron Dome project "is advancing at a very slow pace, which contradicts the cabinet's resolutions on quickly setting up active defenses for towns and cities near the Gaza Strip and the border with Lebanon that have in past years come under repeated rocket attacks."…

"The defense industries need money to make headway. But currently, there isn't even a dedicated administrational body for handling development and to regularly allocate budgets and sub-budgets," the official said. ”

UN Security Council to Reject expanded role for UNIFIL

2007-08-16T14:00:00.000+03:00

Notice the soldier at the back carrying a gun which he will never use, maybe he needs a paper-weight though?

The Jerusalem Post reports that UNIFIL, the UN force supposedly responsible for peace-keeping in southern Lebanon and preventing arms-smuggling and other Hizballah activities, will not be given a wider mandate to step-up its operations against the flagrant violations of the cease-fire and UNSC Resolution 1701. Well, we wouldn't want to tire them out, give them something to actually do or otherwise bother them would we?

"Report: UNSC to reject Israeli request to expand UNIFIL role

The UN Security Council will reportedly reject an Israeli request to expand UNIFIL's mandate in southern Lebanon against Hizbullah...

According to the report, the Security Council will reject the request due to safety concerns for its personnel on the ground in southern Lebanon. "

Is there a reason they carry guns or is it simply for the photo opportunities?

Palestinians Continue Ongoing Efforts to Kidnap IDF Soldiers

2007-08-15T23:03:00.000+03:00

Yup, those busy “militants” are industriously burrowing away, trying to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. Thankfully, the tunnel they were digging from Gaza to Israel was discovered before it could be put to use. Good to see Gazans putting their time, effort and money into such profitable endeavours which help the Palestinian cause so much.

Also note that the entrance to the tunnel was being hidden by a greenhouse growing tomatoes, a nice convenient civilian endeavour to hide behind. There’s is no end of civilian property and infrastructure which the Palestinian terrorists have used to hide behind. Sick!

IDF uncovers tunnel from Gaza to Israel

"An underground tunnel stretching towards Israel from the northern Gaza Strip and hidden by a Palestinian greenhouse was discovered by the IDF on Tuesday, security forces reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Palestinian terror organizations hoped to fill the tunnel with bombs, which would then be detonated under an unspecified Israeli civilian or military target. The army is also checking into the possibility that gunmen intended to use the tunnel to infiltrate into Israel."

US to immortalise Iran’s Guards as Heroes

2007-08-15T22:34:00.000+03:00

The Revolutionary Guards fight to win the Ahmadinejad Lookalike Competition. First prize - Ahmadinejad’s toupee. Still greasy.

The Times Online:
“US to blacklist Iran's Guards as terrorists
America is planning to increase the pressure on Iran by designating its elite fighting force, the Revolutionary Guards, a terrorist organisation. “

America clearly needs a new plan of action. Does George Bush not realise that as soon as he says something is bad, the entire world of radical Islam want to make it ten times bigger, stronger and more explosive? Let’s take the Revolutionary Guards as an example. No doubt, as soon as America decides they are the big bad, their funding and publicity will increase tenfold. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will no doubt get up on his soapbox and start yelling (because they do always yell don’t they, invest in some microphones people…) about how evil America is and how the West is trying to take over the world, destroy all that is good, steal your last rolo…

I really think that Mr Bush would be better off giving Haniyeh and his friendly neighbourhood bomb supplier Ahmadinejad a big hug and kiss on the cheek. It’s the quickest, shortest and least bloody way to bring peace to the Middle East. As soon as he says Hamas is good and Israel is bad, every Arab leader will be queuing up to sign a peace agreement with Israel before you can say “we’re so contradictory we’ll blow up Al Aqsa ourselves dammit.”

Taliban Scum Killing Hostages One by One

2007-08-07T21:52:00.000+03:00

Shim Sung-min, who was with his church group on an aid mission in central Afghanistan, was found Tuesday. Authorities say Taliban militants fatally shot him.

The inhuman scum who terrorised Afganistan and the rest of the world for seven years, and who continue to try to thrwart democracy and decency in Afghanistan today, are doing what they do best; killing people.

Twenty-three South-Koreans were abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan and two have now been murdered after the Taliban demands and deadlines were not met.

Afghanistan, and the fight against the Taliban is a crucial battleground against Islamism and NATO needs to send more troops and spend more resources on this huge problem before the insurgency there gets out of hand once again.

Brazen Cheek

2007-07-29T19:46:00.000+03:00

You really got love the chutzpah (wow, chutzpah is in my Word spell-check). Olmert, like the appeasement monkey that he is releases 250 Palestinian terrorists from prison as a “gesture” (of what, his spineless, craven capitulation? – ed) to Abbas and the PA and then what does Abbas say? “I want 100 more please, thanks”.

“Abbas wants release of 100 prisoners”

“PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday asked Israel to release 100 Fatah prisoners serving their terms in Israeli penitentiaries, Army Radio reported.

Last Friday Israel released 255 prisoners after they signed a form in which they promised not to engage in terrorist activities following their release (is that even worth the pulped cellulose product it’s written on? –ed)”

2007-07-26T19:08:00.000+03:00

I just thought I'd highlight this article by former U.K Muslim extremist Hassan Butt from the beginning of this month.

It's important because it destroys the argument of the apologists that Islamist violence is a result of Western foreign policy, poverty, checkpoints and all the other crap. Straight from the horses mouth Hassan Butt refutes this notion and gives it to us straight; Islamist terror is borne from a corrupt, twisted and violent ideology, nothing else. Read the full Daily Mail article here, excerpts below.

“When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network - a series of British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology - I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.

By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us

More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.

For example, on Saturday on Radio 4's Today programme, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: "What all our intelligence shows about the opinions of disaffected young Muslims is the main driving force is not Afghanistan, it is mainly Iraq."...

And though many British extremists are angered by the deaths of fellow Muslim across the world, what drove me and many others to plot acts of extreme terror within Britain and abroad was a sense that we were fighting for the creation of a revolutionary worldwide Islamic state that would dispense Islamic justice.”

You’re Gonna Reap Just What You Sow

2007-07-25T23:23:00.000+03:00

Musharraf is now perhaps regretting the years he’s spent coddling and supporting Islamist parties and terrorists in Pakistan as the backlash from the storming of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad earlier this month intensifies. Over 300 people have been killed in suicide bombings and such like in Pakistan since the Red Mosque was stormed.

Now it appears the Taliban are mixing it and expanding their operations from killing U.S. and U.K. forces in Afghanistan to trying to take over Pakistan themselves. This is one seriously screwed up country.

AP - "Rockets kill 10 in northwest Pakistan"

"PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Four rockets crashed into a city in northwest Pakistan Wednesday, killing 10 people, wounding 40 and stoking the confrontation between Islamic militants and the government...

Taliban militants have been expanding their influence into northwestern Pakistan from strongholds in the tribal belt along the Afghan border, and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is under growing pressure from his key international backer, the United States, to crack down. Since a bloody army siege of Islamabad's radical Red Mosque earlier this month, Pakistan has sent thousands of troops to the northwest, triggering a fierce militant response. More than 300 people who have died in violence across the country this month.

[Also very interesting...] Abdullah Mehsud [pictured above in 2004], a Taliban veteran of Guantanamo Bay who was one of Pakistan's most-wanted rebel leaders, killed himself with a hand grenade Tuesday when cornered by security forces in Zhob, south of his home in South Waziristan. [yup, obviously the Guantanamo Bay inmates are there simply because the U.S. likes locking up Muslims for no reason, let’s just close the whole place down and let some of the most dangerous people on this planet wander off scott free]"

Hizballah Prepares for War

2007-07-24T21:55:00.000+03:00

Well, as I mentioned below, Hizballah are gearing up good and proper for another go at us. This is not simply scare-mongering on my behalf, they are not finished by a long shot.

Washington Post: "Hezbollah: Rockets Can Reach All Israel"

“BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Monday his group possesses an arsenal of rockets that can reach all of Israel, including Tel Aviv..

"We could absolutely reach any corner and any point in occupied Palestine," Nasrallah said in an interview aired by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera and Hezbollah's Al-Manar television…

In Israel, senior military officials said that Hezbollah is not capable of striking all parts of Israel, but its missiles can reach the northern Tel Aviv area, which is about 60 miles south of the border with Lebanon.”

Haaretz: "Hezbollah hides rockets from UN in S. Lebanon villages"

"Hezbollah has moved its short-range Katyusha rockets into built-up areas in southern Lebanon, mostly in Shi'ite villages, to hide them from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), military sources say…

Most of the organization's long-range rockets are kept north of the river, but there is a continuous effort to smuggle missiles into southern Lebanon, controlled by UNIFIL.”

Israel; Screwed

2007-07-21T22:31:00.000+03:00

Israel is getting increasingly screwed, both externally and internally. A senior IDF officer just said that Hamas' military capabillities in the Gaza Strip have jumped light years ahead since Israel's cowardly retreat with its tail between its legs from Gaza...I mean disengagement in 2005. Hamas is smuggling in katyusha's, anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, smuggled 20 tons of explosives into Gaza since it took over at the beginning of June and has 13,000 men under arms.

In the mean time, Israel is releasing terrorists from prison, America and the EU are giving bucket loads of money to Fatah depsite the fact that in the past year Fatah affiliates were responsible for more terror attacks than any other group and Bush, Blair, Olmert et al are all running around after some kind of legacy. In Bush's case, this is because he is so roundly loathed and is fighting to create some kind of positive achievement he can point to when he leaves office, Olmert ditto plus he still would like to keep ruling for a good time yet and Blair, God knows, to try and remove the deep stain his decision to go to war in Iraq made on his legacy in the U.K. I guess. That's all great, but it screws Israel into the ground, something I guess I'm used to from foreign leaders but is a bit of a first for Israeli ones, apart from Rabin and Peres.

Anyway, at some point it's going to go critical in Gaza, we'll get serious rockets into powers stations in Ashkelon and we'll have to invade and fight a nasty urban war in Gaza and loose a lot of soldiers, which essentially will be Sharon's fault, but he won't have to have those soldiers on his conscience because he doesn't have one any more. During this nasty little counter-guerrilla/terrorist war a lot of Palestinians are going to get killed because that's good for the Palestinian cause so Hamas will fight from civilian positions, which will then give Hizballah a good excuse to get stuck in again. Then I'm guessing Syria won't want to miss out this time so they'll fire some of their large medium-range missiles at us, we'll have to hit back at them which will then get Iran to fire their long-range missiles at us, hopefully without Chemical and Biological tipped weapons. If it's with, we'll have to nuke Tehran, then Russia will nuke Israel if Iran don't do it themselves, America then may nuke Russia and I guess, that'll be the end of the world, Armageddon, Gog and Magog and all that, who knows, might turn out ok. At least we'll be able to stop worrying about global warming. I'm feeling a bit pessimistic this evening if you haven't noticed. The last few steps may be a bit exaggerated but the rest could happen this summer or later this year and won't be particularly funny.

Israeli Minister Exposed as Red Dwarf Star

2007-07-13T01:23:00.000+03:00

Yes, it's true. Israeli Minister for Welfare,Yitzhak Hertzog, has been earning a few bob on the side from red dwarf royalties.

Mickey gets the Axe, but his friends are yet to debut

2007-07-04T18:38:00.001+03:00

Evil Islamist Rat, Farfour has been axed, cruelly martyred by Al Aqsa's twisted producers, however the TV station has announced that the "Pioneers of tomorrow' program is set to introduce some other equally poisonous furry fiends to disseminate hatred among Palestinian children.

We've yet to meet any new faces, but here are a few examples of what is to come. Meet Darwish Duck, and his cunning friend Barghouti Bunny.

The Penguin and the Camel set you the challenge: which other characters could Al Aqsa Tv use to spread its diatribe? The best suggestions will win a date with the Cantankerous Camel or a picture of a cat if you're a boy.

Hirczhson resigns to pursue TV opportunity

2007-07-01T14:47:00.001+03:00

Following controversy over funds at the Israeli Finance Ministry, Avraham Hirschzon is returning to his previous role, starring as Byker Grove's understanding but firm social worker come manager Geoff. Hirchzon was written out of the show when Kadima came to power, in a story line that gave him promotion to direct a larger youth club in Strathclyde. The Punctillious Penguin can confirm however that Geoff is to return to Byker Grove for at least a few months until Olmert can find another job for him in his Cabinet.

Still No Rocket Defence

2007-06-29T18:26:00.000+03:00

A small, frightened girl in Sderot and the C-RAM defence system

I just wanted to bring up the topic of Israeli rocket defence again. Although I appreciate that some people may not find it the most stimulating of topics, the residents of Sderot, not to mention those of northern Israel, find it utterly critical.

Indeed, the poor people of Sderot must be wondering why they still don’t have any effective defence against the continuous barrage of projectiles fired at them from Hamastan (Gaza).

Not only is there a working laser system which has been proved to knock out katyushas and mortars, including in salvos (as I have I pointed out here and here) there is now a U.S. system called C-RAM being used by the U.S. and U.K. in Iraq which has a 70%-80% success rate against rockets artillery shells and mortars which I’m sure the people of Sderot would be most grateful for.

Instead, the Israeli Minisry of Defence, under Peretz, decided on an Israeli made system which will cost a ridiculous $100,000 to intercept every projectile. This is clearly unfeasible and is thus an utterly stupid system to employ, yet development still goes ahead.

With short-range rocket rockets being one of the most significant strategic threats to Israel, as witnessed by the panic, destruction, mass internal displacement and economic losses they caused in last summer’s war with Hizballah, it is criminal that the Israeli government is not procuring either the C-RAM system or one of the others which are currently available for this vital defence task. The poor planning with regard this matter once again underlines the ineptitude of the current government and its continued failure to learn and apply the military lessons of the past war.

Spot the Difference

2007-06-27T16:13:00.000+03:00

If you've wondered why Eastenders' star Jim Brannon has been a little aloof of late, there's a perfectly plausible reason why. ...He's taken up residence as Israel's Interior Minister under a cunning new name, Roni Bar-On.

One For the Road

2007-06-21T15:35:00.001+03:00

The A-Team's Hannibal and Israel's own action man Avi Dichter are cousins and share a common antelope named Belinda.

Hamastan

2007-06-20T22:16:00.000+03:00

Well, your guess is as good as mine basically regarding Hamas’ capture of Gaza. There’s so many different possible outcomes and consequences.

E.g., Hamas could try and turn it into a mini-statelet run by Sharia law and use it as a base for permanent attacks against Israel. We could also see the ascendancy of Fatah in the West Bank and have perhaps two different Palestinian entities to deal with.

All the idiot leftists are now cock-a-hoop with the thought that now Hamas are isolated in Gaza, Israel can make an historic peace with the Fatah “moderates”. Hmmm...yes, nice idea, but about as likely as a glass bulldozer. For a start Israel tried to make peace with Fatah in the Oslo Peace Process begun in 1993. Fatah, with Arafat as the head, ended that. The current head of Fatah, Farrouk Kaddoumi, has said that “At this stage there will be two states. Many years from now there will be only one” and “there is no struggle for our rights other than armed military struggle…”, so my hopes for peace with him aren’t too high either. Furthermore, people have forgotten that Fatah, and all of its vicious and murderous offshoots were responsible for more suicide bombings and attempted suicide bombings then Hamas in 2006. Last year, 126 potential Fatah suicide bombers were detained as opposed to 30 from Hamas. What type of peace partner is that?

The reality is that the Palestinian national movement is completely balkanised and not one part of it has ever fully come to terms with Israel’s existence and permanently renounced violence.

Now, even if lets say Mahmoud Abbas is genuinely interested in making peace there’s two problems of equally gigantic proportions. 1) Abbas does not control the seventeen, yes that’s seventeen, Palestinian “security services”, armed factions and terrorist groups. Arafat created so many different groups as part of a traditional divide and rule policy in typical dictatorial style whereby nobody would have enough power to ever challenge his own authority. 2) The emergency government Abbas has set up is essentially a coup against Hamas which was elected by the Palestinian people in free and fair elections. Doing any deal with such an entity would be invalid since it would not be signed in the name of the Palestinians. Any attempt to force such a deal on the Palestinians without a referendum would have no legitimacy in their eyes and they would not feel bound by it.

When will people get it into their heads that there is nothing more that Israel can do at this point to advance this chimera they are obsessed with of a “final status” peace? Until the Palestinians can put their own house in order there is nothing Israel can or need do.

Once again, as with Syria, we see Olmert scuttling around trying desperately to resurrect his pathetic career by inventing for himself the role of an architect of peace, only he’s playing with Israeli security as he does so. His only reason for chasing a peace deal is his own political life and this is as reprehensible as it is irresponsible.

By Way of Apology

2007-06-19T18:27:00.002+03:00

By way of an apology for my unpopular suggestion that Ehud Barak and Uma Thurman shared a likeness, please accept this token of good will. I'm sure you'll agree that the late Hollywood star Howard Keel and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are truly one and the same.

Barak looks like Uma Thurman

2007-06-12T17:39:00.002+03:00

Shut Up!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-11T21:30:00.000+03:00

In similar style to his feckless attempts to resurrect his political career by chasing after a chimeral peace-agreement with Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians, Olmert is now trying to do something similar with the Syrians.

Let’s be clear; any effort right now to try and come to a peace-treaty with Syria is utterly pointless. For a start, Assad is about as trustworthy as a hungry crocodile in a petting zoo. Secondly, even if he was sincere he has only very shaky control over his Ba’ath party which is ideologically opposed to Israel’s existence and would very overthrow Assasd should he make such a deal with Israel.

By raising the issue though, Olmert raises international hopes for a deal and thus increases the pressure on Israel to make concessions. It is simply not in Israel’s interests at the moment to give up the Golan Heights and with Syria an international pariah at the moment because of Hariri, Iraqi insurgents, Hizballah, Hamas and other bad connections there is simply no reason for Olmert to raise the issue and bring about this pressure on Israel.

The only reason for his overtures to Damascus is to divert attention form his own ineptitude and to try and forge some sort of positive political development to improve his political standing.

Olmert is therefore not only incompetent, he is a positive danger to Israel’s national security. This country has never had such a calamitous leader.

Peres & Castro are brothers

2007-06-08T12:45:00.000+03:00

Recent DNA tests can now confirm, Israel and Cuba's longest serving politicians are brothers separated at birth following a freak yachting accident orchestrated by a large toad named Ian. The two will meet next Thursday for an emotional reunion.

Don Vladimir Putin makes another offer that can't be refused

2007-05-30T22:15:00.001+03:00

Spot the Difference

Irwin Stelzer, a business adviser and director of economic policy studies at the Hudson Institute, has written a superb piece on Putin and Russia’s current modus operandi regarding its energy resources and general foreign policy which, basically, is in agreement with what I have written here, here, here and other places too, just do a search of the blog for "Russia".

The spark for this article is what is very likely to be the next forced sale by a foreign energy company of its assets in Russian energy. Last time it was Royal Dutch Shell which was forced to cede control of its $22 billion Sakhalin-2 natural-gas project to Gazprom, the state-owned Russian gas mega-company. This time it's British Petroleum (BP) who are being forced to give up their share of another gas-field.

As Stelzer comments, echoing my very words here, “Putin takes his inspiration from Mario Puzo’s The Godfather rather than Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and makes potential sellers offers they just can’t refuse”.

He also states that “Putin’s goal is not the mere profit maximisation that guides decision-making in market economies. It is to gain influence over the foreign policies of European countries and, to a lesser extent, America. He has already shown that he is willing to cut off gas to Europe, and cooperates with Opec to damage the American economy by keeping oil prices high”.

Read the whole article here

Racist U.K. University Union Boycotts Israeli Academia

2007-05-30T21:49:00.000+03:00

The nefarious racists of Britian’s academic world have once again banded together to censure Israeli academia for the crime of being a particular nationality. The University and College Union (UCU) of Britain voted tonight (30.5.07) in favour of an academic boycott of Israel. Discrimination along lines of nationality is known formerly as racism so I hope they wear this tag proudly.

This boycott is not only racist but obviously rabidly anti-Semitic since Israeli academics and institutions are the only ones the British union boycotts. There are no boycotts of Russian academia for the killing of 200,000 civilians and other atrocities in Chechnya since 1994, no boycotts of Chinese academia for the deaths of an estimated 800,000 Tibetans since the Chinese occupation of the country in 1950 and the “cultural genocide” they have committed there. How about a boycott of Sudanese academia, if such a thing exists, due to the genocide in Darfur of perhaps 400,000 people and the mass atrocities there? Nope, no boycott for the war criminals of Khartoum either. Israel’s ‘crimes’ against the Palestinians are hundreds of times less serious than the aforementioned catastrophes and the UCU boycott illustrates a vile and, as noted, anti-Semitic double standard towards Israel.

Besides all this, boycotting academia is utterly unreasonable. Academics don’t decide government policy and demanding that all Israeli academics denounce government policy is plain and simple McCarthyism.

It’s hard to put into words the outrage I feel about this issue so I’ll just conclude by saying that once again, British academia has decided to compromise the exchange of knowledge and ideas in favour of their blinkered, anti-Semitic witch hunt. I seem to be saying this a lot recently, but shame on them, shame!

Letter to The Economist

2007-05-30T21:07:00.000+03:00

Ok, I hope you don't think I'm obsessing, this is tthe second post in a row about the Economist but having read their "Briefing" on forty years on from the Six-Day War I had to write to them to let them know what I thought. Since they'll never publish it in a month of Sundays I thought I'd post it here. Unsurprisingly, I have not received a reply. Happy reading

------

Sir,

As you can see, this is a rather long letter, not intended for publication but simply to let you know the opinion of a reader regarding an article in the latest edition of The Economist (26 May, 2007). I would greatly appreciate a reply to some of the points I make.

I would simply like to address a number of issues raised in your article “Forty years on” and highlight what I feel are some problematic areas. I have dealt with my various concerns as they appeared in the article and not in a thematic manner.

Firstly, a most serious and fundamental matter. The article states that ‘the reunification of historic Palestine...under Israeli rule seemed to give the Palestinians a chance to get their own struggle for a state back on track’ (emphasis added). ‘Back on track’ implies that the Palestinians were already struggling to liberate what are now known as the ‘Occupied Territories’ before the Six Day War. But this is clearly not the case. There was no Palestinian national movement to liberate the West Bank from Jordan. Jordan was as much an ‘illegal occupier’ of that territory as Israel is today. The state of Transjordan captured the West Bank in the First Arab-Israeli war of 1947-1949 when it had no right or claim to that land whatsoever, yet there was a complete absence of either Palestinian or international pressure on Jordan to relinquish it in order to set up a sovereign state of Palestine for the Arabs living on the west bank of the Jordan river.

A smaller, yet significant point and one which illustrates the general problem of The Economist’s approach to reporting and commentating on the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the use, or lack thereof, of adjectives in this Briefing. Yasser Arafat is described as ‘a young engineer’, Nasser is given no description at all. However, Yitzchak Rabin is ‘hot-headed’ and Moshe Dayan is ‘hawkish’. The problem is clear.

While on the topic of nomenclature, I notice that the Palestinians engage in ‘armed struggle of some sort’ and ‘extremism’ while Israeli settlers and Palestinian combatants are both classed as ‘militants’, without any distinguishing adjectives. The word terrorist or terrorism is not used once in the whole Briefing, in keeping with The Economist’s standard policy regarding Palestinian violence, despite the fact that the term is employed by the publication in relation to the perpetrators of Islamist violence in Britain, al-Qaeda in general and other conflicts as well.

The article makes a dramatic, and in all probability, false assertion about the intentions of Nasser and the Arab states in their military escalation of April and May 1967 when it says of the war that it was prompted in Israel by ‘a misreading of the enemy’s intentions’. The article is clearly coming down in favour of one of the main historiographical opinions of the war that both sides stumbled into a conflict which neither really wanted. The other side of this historiographical conflict is that Nasser and the Egyptian leadership knew exactly what they were doing and thus sent 80,000 troops and 900 tanks into the Sinai, expelled the UN force patrolling the Egyptian-Israeli border, sent two MiG-21’s on a reconnaissance flight over Dimona and closed the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping in order to provoke a war with Israel which, it was believed, would be won quickly by the invading Arab armies. Anwar Sadat said that upon blockading the Straits of Tiran, Nasser declared that this action would increase the chances of war to one hundred percent. If this article sought to present the conflict in a neutral manner it would have been necessary to highlight some of these facts.

Another aside to the main issue of the Six-Day war tackled in the Briefing is the manner in which the article tags the 2006 Lebanon War as a ‘debacle’ from the Israeli point of view. The media generally overlooks the fact that the IDF estimates that it killed approximately 600 Hizballah guerrillas in just over a month of fighting and suffered 119 casualties in so doing. This 6 to 1 ratio would be enough to win many wars and had the fighting continued over several months the larger part of Hizballah’s army would have been destroyed with, in objective and unemotional terms, very little damage to the IDF as an effective fighting force. That the conflict was halted before this happened is due to both domestic Israeli and foreign pressure. The subsequent portrayal of the war as at best a ‘debacle’ and at worst a defeat for Israel is largely due to political considerations of both Israel’s external enemies and domestic critics.

The Briefing also directly compares Hamas to Israel’s settler movement (‘Hamas is to the Palestinians what the settlers are to Israel’) in religious terms. Unlike Hamas, however, Israeli settlers don’t perpetrate mass-murder bombings against Palestinian civilians or fire rockets indiscriminately at Palestinian towns. The comparison is highly offensive.

The article then boils down the conflict since 2000 to the usual ‘cycle-of-violence’ type analysis. Israel demands security first and Palestinians demand an end to the ‘occupation’ first and so the conflict perpetuates itself. The ‘occupation’, and its accompanying checkpoints, roadblocks and IDF incursions, was re-instated after the Palestinians launched the intifada in late 2000 as a means of protecting Israeli civilians from terrorist attack. Before that point, the Palestinian Authority directly administered forty percent of West Bank territory and ninety percent of the Palestinian population. The drastic decline in the political and economic fortunes of the Palestinian people is wholly attributable to the decision to take up arms once again against Israeli civilians.

The article carries on to state that ‘neither side has ever had a leadership willing to override those views’. This is simply wrong as Ariel Sharon did exactly that when he discarded the land-for-peace, bilateral strategy of the previous thirty-eight years of diplomacy and gave the Palestinians the Gaza strip without anything in return, especially security guarantees. The danger of this approach was subsequently highlighted (and Israel’s prior insistence on security guarantees before territorial concessions justified) by a huge increase in weapons smuggling into the Gaza strip from Egypt after the IDF relinquished control of that border, increased rocket fire into sovereign Israeli territory and the cross border attack by Hamas combatants on 25 June, 2006 in which Corporal Gilad Shalit was abducted and two Israeli soldiers were killed.

The Briefing also argues that economic conditions create ‘extremism’ when it states that the measures of IDF control over the West Bank ‘stifle the West Bank’s economy and drive even more Palestinians to extremism’. This assertion, frequently made by the media, is grossly misleading, if not completely false. There are numerous examples of Islamists who have perpetrated terrorist attacks and had not been reduced to abject poverty or oppressed by a brutal occupying regime. Such examples include, the members of the Hamburg cell who plotted the 9/11 attacks, the bombers who carried out the 7/7 atrocities, the would-be-bombers who tried to blow up a number of London Underground stations on 21 June, 2005, the conspirators who planned to use the 600kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer they had acquired to commit terrorist outrages in Britain and numerous other cases. It is indoctrination and hatred that creates terrorism not economic conditions, otherwise how could affluent, middle-class Arabs living in a modern German city come to murder nearly three thousand innocent people? The assertion to the contrary is disingenuous to say the least.

The Briefing also states that the Saudi Peace Plan of 2002 was an admission of defeat by the Arab world by offering Israel ‘full normalisation of relations in return for full withdrawal from the territories captured in 1967’. The article fails to mention that this plan also states that the Palestinian refugee problem be solved in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194 which calls for the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes in Israel. Arab insistence on the ‘Right of Return’ for Palestinian refugees remains a political and not a humanitarian demand aimed at nullifying the Jewish majority in the State of Israel, thereby destroying its Jewish character and thus the very aims and purposes of Zionism. Such a plan will never be acceptable to Israel and should not be portrayed as any deviation from the general Arab aims since 1947.

The problem with this Briefing, and The Economist’s approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict in general, is that it simply fails to balance its presentation of the complex issues of this struggle, which are overwhelmingly in favour of the Arab world, with the alternative Israeli perspective. In this article alone one, I have tried to point out the numerous instances when the alternative historical and political interpretation of events is simply whitewashed by The Economist’s political inclination. This attitude is so entrenched that the publication can not even bring itself to call the war by its most common name, the Six-Day War, as it alludes to the overwhelming Israeli victory and the defeat of not only the Arab armies but the failed and ideologically bankrupt regimes of the Arab world in the face of the resurgent, vibrant and newly-freed Jewish people. The Economist’s shortcomings in reporting and commentating on this crucial arena of international affairs is a stain on its reputation and, for the sake of the publication’s credibility, should be reviewed and amended to provide a more balanced perspective on this enduring and multi-faceted conflict.

Yours sincerely

The [extremely] Cantankerous Camel

He who controls the past controls the future

2007-05-27T21:05:00.000+03:00

Quite typically, the Economist in its latest edition has written a highly favourable book review of a new revisionist work by Ha’aretz journalist Tom Segev about the build up to the Six-Day War. Segev claims in his book that “there was indeed no justification for the panic that preceded the war nor for the euphoria that took hold after it” and argues that Israel’s mad, gung-ho militaristic, Prussian-type Generals hijacked the decision making process and forced the politicians into a war they didn’t want. The Economist says of this book that “Mr Segev mixes a meticulous narrative with a shrewd analysis of the complex Israeli pysche” and that the work is “a marvellous achievement”.

Now it’s one thing to offer one’s opinion on a historical debate as the Economist does in this issue blaming Israel for failing to make peace with the Arab states after the war. It’s quite another to try to influence the historiography of an event by shamelessly promoting the view you agree with in a book review in order to have people by that book, read it, agree with it and thereby shape their views and the views of the intelligentsia in general. Frankly, this brazen attempt to manipulate history makes me sick and extremely angry. It is a particularly insidious, devious and underhand method of thought-control, worthy of an Orwellian dystopia.

Furthermore, as Michael Oren points out in a recent article in the Jerusalem Post, “the adversaries [of the historiographical struggle] are not merely vying for space on university bookshelves, but grappling with issues that have a profound impact on the lives of millions of people: Israel's security, the rights of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jerusalem”. He goes on to state that "the newly released Israeli diplomatic documents from the period leading up to June 5, 1967, offer overwhelming evidence against any suggestion that Israel sought war with the Arabs. Nor do the tens of thousands of papers so far declassified contain a single reference to any desire to divert public opinion from the economic situation, to overthrow Arab rulers or to conquer and occupy the West Bank, the Sinai or the Golan Heights".

The real purpose of the revisionist historians is to shape the current political and diplomatic situation. They are not just debating an abstract historical point, they are trying to assert real influence over the Israeli-Arab conflict in accordance with their own ideological and political views through the means of their distorted and purposefully slanted historical claims. Shame on them and shame on the Economist for promoting such manipulative, ideological obfuscation. The entire academic world, students, political commentators, journalists and general public should be on the highest alert for such outrages against history.

As Orwell himself wrote, “He who controls the past, controls the future; and he who controls the present, controls the past”. A salutary warning.

Somaliaza

2007-05-18T17:16:00.000+03:00

Gaza’s descent into internecine violence is finally demonstrating to the world that basically, Gaza is a failed state before it’s even become a state, which must be some kind of record. Simply put, both political sides, Fatah and Hamas, now care for little else other than power, over and above their care for the people they are supposed to represent. When this happens what you get is civil war as exemplified in places such as Somalia since the early 1990’s, Afghanistan after the Russians left in 1989, Angola in the 70’s and so on. In this case, the Palestinian people were stupid enough to actually choose Hamas themselves at the ballot box, so they only have themselves to blame, although I can’t help feeling rather sorry for the desperate situation they now find themselves in.

What the resolution is I have no idea. I don’t see the merit in the IDF going in to Gaza to help Fatah against Hamas since the numerous branches of Fatah, such as the Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades, are as active as Hamas in firing Qassams from Gaza and planning suicide bombings from the West Bank. Abbas is so weak and has such little power over all the various factions of even his own party that Israel would simply be wasting its time, money and most importantly its soldiers lives trying to assure the ascendancy of Fatah in the strip as the different Fatah factions would continue to fire the rockets whatever Abbas would say once Israel left. A large ground invasion would temporarily halt the rocket fire but once the IDF troops left, which would be a necessity, the Qassam fire would very quickly return.

No solutions from the Camel then, not sure if the Penguin has any answers, perhaps he’ll let us know.

Camel, out.

Russia Bullies Another Neighbour

2007-05-17T23:20:00.000+03:00

As I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions, particularly in this article, Russia’s behaviour under Vladimir Putin has often resembled a vengeful mob boss, employing financial blackmail to get what he wants, breaking legs when things don’t go his way, flat out assassinating problematic people who won’t keep quiet and occasionally indulging in a good old blood bath to remind everyone who’s in control and not to mess about with the Godfather.

Well this time poor old Estonia has copped it good and proper. On 27 April, Estonian authorities moved a statue known as the Bronze Soldier, from a square in the capital Tallinn and relocated it to a military cemetery outside the city. The statue commemorates Soviet troops killed fighting the Nazis during WWII but many Estonians consider it to be an unpleasant reminder of five decades of Soviet occupation.

In response the Kremlin stirred up the ethnic Russian minority in Estonia which led to riots in Tallinn, allowed the Estonian embassy in Moscow to be blockaded by an angry mob and the Estonian Ambassador was physically threatened by pro-Kremlin youth groups at a news conference. Most astonishingly, a concerted campaign of cyber-attacks has been carried out against Estonian websites originating from Russia. These attacks have knocked down government, business and media websites in the country. The Estonian Defence Minister stated that they had tracked the initial attacks to Russian IP addresses and that instructions in Russian had been spread on the web explaining how to jam Estonian websites.

These reprehensible actions illustrate perfectly the ugly character of Russia’s foreign policy. Moscow is behaving like a brutish thug, smacking down anyone who dares displease her. The gangster-style punishments the Kremlin meets out these days need to be addressed and vociferously condemned, with threats of economic consequences if this type of behaviour continues. Sadly, the European’s craven need for Russian gas seems to preclude any such possibility.

Joke of the Year: Zimbabwe to head UN Sustainable Development Commission

2007-05-14T22:42:00.000+03:00

As is pointed in this Times editorial, that Zimbabwe has been appointed to head the UN Sistainable Development Commission, largely due to other African nations voting for them, is an utter disgrace and highlights the terrible flaws in the UN system. That a country with 4000% inflation can be appointed to lead this Commission is a ludicrous joke.

Mr Mugabe has recklessly destroyed its once-thriving agricultural sector, forcing out not only white farm owners but also 350,000 of their black farm-workers and handing much of the land not to the landless, but to cronies who have let it go to waste.

Millions of malnourished families now rely on food aid – aid that the regime uses as a weapon of political intimidation. As officially measured by the prices of controlled goods, inflation is 2,200 per cent; the real rate is double that appalling figure. The environmental consequences of misrule are acute. With electricity now rationed to four hours a day and cooking fuel unaffordable, even where it is available, people are raiding forests for firewood. Wildlife poaching is rampant in the national parks that are the mainstay of Zimbabwe’s tourism. Unemployment is 80 per cent and life expectancy is down from 60 in 1990 to 35. Talent has fled the country and few but the Chinese are prepared to invest there...

...That Zimbabwe insisted on its “right” to the post is no surprise; but for the 12 other African governments on the Commission to have chosen Zimbabwe to take Africa’s “turn” for the rotating chairmanship is a disgrace for which each one of them must be held to account. They have failed Africa.

Calling for Backup

2007-05-09T23:52:00.000+03:00

Ok, so the Camel may have the hump, but the boys in black and white aren't done yet.

Point 1) the argument about ground troops earlier or later is not as straight forward as it sounds. We all know, our soldiers did well and did kill a fair number of the Hizbollah, but we also know that our ground troops had a very tough time against Hizbullah in their bunkers. Going in earlier could well have led to more deaths with the same deadlock. Bint Jbail was a disaster, what's to say other towns wouldn't have been the same or worse?

The Camel is right to say the war had to be fought on the ground, but he forgets that we just weren't ready or prepared for such a situation. Those Jihadist bastards fired anti tank shells at our boys at close range. That's how most of them died. That is a symptom of an army out of practise and poor planning, and that Olmert was too fresh in the job to have done much about. I'm not saying he's blameless, I just think everyone is getting carried away with calls for his head. The problem is far more complex and serious than just one politician alone.

There is no argument between the Camel and myself on Peretz apart from a far more punctillious understanding of Labor party affairs. That party is a complete embarassment and a disgrace to itself and the country. The party's founders would be turning in their graves to see the selfish egotism that now rides roughshod over all of its core values. Peretz was the hopeless leader for the impossible party.

I also restate to the hallowed humped one, that this political mess should not be scapegoated on Olmert - it is a reflection of our inner turmoil as a State. Something profound has to change to earn us back our success. Maybe, it's caught up with our actions towards one another... Maybe sadly it can only be remedied by the threat of another war? G-d forbid but maybe that's it.

Following on from that point, isn't it time we move on from the war and dig our heads out of the sand again. We still have Iran on our doorstep, who once again this week threatened Israel and Tel Aviv with thousands of long range rockets. Now is the time, for refocusing and uniting. This infighting is taking all of the anger and energy within the people and turning it inwards on ourselves.

I do agree that a fresh start would be great, new PM, new page, new start... great. Israel can't stomach defeat, this I know,but Mr. Camel beware of the precedent it sets. If Israel will find it increasingly harder to win wars in the future, will he have to demand the PM leaves office every summer from here on in? If so the country will be in turmoil, but the store owners at Rabin Sq. will be singing all the way to the bank.

PP

Mickey Mouse Recruited for Jihad by Hamas

2007-05-08T22:27:00.000+03:00

Check out this frightening compilation of television clips from a childrens programme on Hamas Television with a Mickey Mouse type charachter cheering on Islamic world supremacy and Palestinian "resistance", courtesey of Palestinian Media Watch.

That Goat

2007-05-08T22:09:00.000+03:00

Following up on a previous story, The Cantankerous Camel is sad to announce that the goat Rose who was caught in flagrante with a Sudanese man has sadly passed away due to a case of chronic plastic bag ingestion.

Charles Tombe was caught by the goats owner, Mr Alifi in a rather compromising situation and was forced to pay a dowry of 15,000 dinars to Mr Alifi. The storybecame famous on the internet and was one of the most viewed items on the BBC.

Rose, we hope you are content and unmolested in that big meadow in the sky, rest in peace.

Rose the Goat, Gathered unto her People, 4 May, 2007

Return of the Camel

2007-05-08T21:59:00.000+03:00

Dissent amongst the ranks, what are we to do? I see the Penguin is getting a little uppity. Well, the cut and thrust of healthy debate is what this blog’s all about. So let me start like this: YOU’RE WRONG, my fish guzzling, flightless friend!!!!!

Firstly, the Penguin says that everyone was well up for a good fight when the war started and now it’s hypocritical to say the war aims were too ambitious. Firstly, that was the Winograd Committee’s conclusion, not mine and I didn’t say I agreed with everything the committee concluded. I personally think that it was fine to want to really strike a blow against Hizballah but as it transpired Olmert, Peretz and Halutz relied on air-power to win the war which was never going to work against an enemy as liquid as Hizballah’s guerrilla army. As I have said previously, by delaying a major ground invasion until the last two days of the war because of a fear of higher casualties, the political leadership wasted the lives of the men who died, since the limited ground operation never had a chance of coming near to the goal of severely damaging Hizballah.

I know these words sound cavalier and perhaps show a disregard for the lives of young Israeli boys who would be sent to fight such a war and die in it. As someone who will never be a combat soldier such statements could be considered callous and unthinking. However, had Eshkol and Dayan thought this way in 1967, and had pulled the attack because of fears about what turned out to be nearly 800 casualties, who knows what would have happened. Now I know the two situations are vastly different but had the IDF significantly hurt Hizballah, it is possible they wouldn’t be sitting on the border again with more rockets and arms than before the war. As it stands, we’re back to square one but with 119 more graves and two soldiers in Hizballah’s hands.

As for the Penguin’s other points, Peretz was irresponsible in the extreme for taking the Defence Minister job, regardless of whether it would have been politically problematic for him to turn the job down or give it to someone else.

He also squawks that “Everyone from Olmert to Halutz, Sharon, Mofaz, Bibi, Barak and Rabin”. I agree apart from Bibi and Rabin (although we can still blame Rabin for Oslo). Bibi left office in 1999 while the IDF still remained in South Lebanon and seven years before the Second Lebanon War. I fail to see how he can be apportioned blame in this whole affair. If anyone should, than it should be Barak as he withdrew from South Lebanon without a bilateral agreement, a cause of much of the current problems. Doesn’t it bode well that Barak is a leading candidate to win the Labour primaries and possibly become the Defence Minister, sounds like a good idea going on his past record...or does it?

Finally, the people have as much right to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister they elect as they have to elect him in the first place. Sovereignty resides with the people and just because we are not at the appointed time for elections does not nullify that fact. If there is a problem serious enough to warrant the PM’s resignation before scheduled elections then the people have every right to demand that the man they elected to lead them competently remove himself from the office he so clearly is not fit for.

And yes, you are a pansy!

Has the Camel gone too far?

2007-05-06T18:21:00.000+03:00

Having read the Camel's last post and his venomous attack on lackluster prime minister Ehud Olmert, I have to come clean, break ranks and admit that I don't share his sentiment. It's time for the Penguin to have his say.

While we usually agree on most issues, my cantankerous friend's call for Olmert's resignation doesn't sit so well with me. We all remember the Euphoria of 'going to war' in the summer. We all remember the initial airstrikes on South Lebanon, and yes Mr Camel, we also all remember Olmert's stated aims of retrieving our soldiers and destroying Hizbullah. We were all impressed with Olmert, impressed with the speed of the response and quite frankly, we were all up for a good old fight. I find it a little unfair now that so many Israelis march on Rabin Square lamenting last summers unachievable war goals and foolhardy strategy for beating Hizbullah; hindsight is a wonderful thing. Olmert went on the advice of an arrogant Chief of Staff. Who was to know any better?

My Humped friend is right that the Winograd Report did highlight Olmert's ridiculous management of government; making a raving trade-union leader with no military finesse our defense minister was an irresponsible and cynical political move. I also agree that Peretz' inexperience is not his fault but is his concern. With that said, as the Camel should remember, of all the political parties, Labor was and is still the most back-stabbing, two-faced and nonsupporting of its leader. Whilst Peretz is to blame for being an imbecile, it would have been political suicide giving any on of his untrustworthy colleagues the top job of Defense. Ami Ayalon and Matan Vilnai could not have set their egos aside to serve under anyone else. In fact the Knesset's sickness is typified by the appointment of Peretz in the first place; the Labor Party only voted him in to snub Shimon Peres. A calamity akin to a British Lib Dem protest vote gone horribly wrong.

So all that said, it may be that the war was a failure and the political system let us down, but I think that the entire system is to blame. Everyone from Olmert to Halutz, Sharon, Mofaz, Bibi, Barak and Rabin should be under the same burning spotlight as the current beleaguered prime minister. Olmert inherited a corrupt, bureaucratic knesset and army that had taken itself down the wrong path for years, probable even decades.

Is it really all Olmert's fault oh Cantankerous one? Will it really all be solved by letting Olmert's unphotographic head roll? I think my Cantankerous friend that this will only serve to scapegoat the whole problem and the country won't be learn the right lessons. Winograd told us of an infrastructural corrosion of good governance and military prowess. I'm in favor of giving the country the government they voted for and letting them live with it. It's an important lesson to force the whole country to fix this problem together.

It may be written on the wall that Olmert won't survive another election, but I'd like to see him implement some of the recommendations of the Winograd Report. One last thought and you may call me a pansy, but I've felt uncomfortable with the victimization and bullying that has dominated the media headlines in the last few weeks.

As a spiritual zionist, I am a firm believer that our fate in this country is more determined by the way we treat each other than who we elect to Knesset. The accusations that Olmert should be blamed personally for the soldiers who were killed in the war (as many have suggested) is too much for me. Olmert is as much to blame as Sharon, Mofaz, Barak and all those others who let us grow so brutally unprepared and naive to the threats around us. What we need now is collective responsibility and accountability ..and our eyes focused forward on oiling our badly rusting State.

The Penguin has Spoken.

"In the Name of God, Go!"

2007-05-04T16:58:00.000+03:00

Olmert, Peretz, the Second Lebanon War. What comes to mind, a bloody fiasco that's what. And so concluded the Winograd committee which presented an interim report on the war this week.

Now the committee did largely take the view that Olmert and Peretz rushed into a war which they were ill equipped to prosecute owing to their lack of experience in such matters and should not have set such ambitious war aims such as the destruction of Hizballah and the return of the captured soldiers which were hugely demanding military goals.

Winograd is in fact rather dovish and makes suggestions such as "the government did not consider the whole range of options, including that of continuing the policy of 'containment".

Now, I personally think that particular suggestion rather feeble as "containment" was clearly not working due to Hizballah's repeated attempts to capture Israeli soldiers in the six years prior to the war and its bold and successful attempt in July 2006, not to mention the vast arsenal and army it had succeeded in building.

Nevertheless, the report does go on to damn Olmert and stated that his conduct of the war "add up to a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence".

Of Peretz the committee stated that "The Minister of Defense did not have knowledge or experience in military, political or governmental matters. He also did not have good knowledge of the basic principles of using military force to achieve political goals".

In short, what we have is a country being run by a weak, bumbling and above all incompetent Prime Minister and defended by a Defence Minister who has no experience in defence, military doctrine or strategic thinking. This would be problematic enough in a secure country with no clear threats, enemies or hostile states and/or illegal, non-state actors living on or inside its borders. For Israel to run by such a pathetic pair of incompetents is simply dangerous.

The incredible thing is, the man refuses to go, he just will not leave like the entire country wants him to. A poll this week surveying Israeli attitudes on who they would like to see Prime Minister showed that 0%, yes that's 0%, want Olmert as PM. The audacity of the man to keep turning up to the Prime Ministers office is simply unbelievable. In the face of such public loathing he just refuses to give up on the power he so clearly loves, and demonstrates every day that he doesn't resign his contempt for the Israeli people and his love for power above his sense of duty to the people. His aides even mock the direct action of the 150,000 people who came to Tel Aviv last night (see picture - taken by yours truly on poor camera phone) by calling the mass protest of "irrelevant". The stupefying scorn Olmert and his peers have for their own people is a insult of massive preportions and tells of the moral bankruptcy of his administration.

To conclude, I would like to quote Leo Amery (who was in turn quoting Oliver Cromwell) , a British anti-appeasement Conservative politician during the 1930's and an ally of Winston Churchill who said quite neatly...

..."You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

2007-05-04T16:48:00.000+03:00

Ok, so I've said it before but regular postings may, and I repeat may, begin to appear again from now on. The past few months have been a bit hectic for the Cantankerous one but we'll see if we can get things going again. Having said that, I'm sure everyone has appreciated the humourous shenanigans of the Punctillious Penguin and we thank him for keeping our spirits up in these dark times. Truth is there's a lot to be cantankerous about in at the moment, so stay tuned for some really irrascible posts.

Love is in the air

2007-05-03T13:42:00.000+03:00

In a dramatic twist to the political turmoil in Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu have annouced they are to marry.

Intergalactic Investigation

2007-05-01T18:27:00.000+03:00

Retired Judge Eliyahu Winograd will now return to filming the next in the Star Wars series following his secondment to the Israeli Special Knesset Committee.

Cowabunga Dude!

2007-03-22T08:48:00.000+02:00

-TURTLE POWER! -

Marking the screening of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, Israelis of all ages donned Turtle costumes to show their excitement. Donatello was the most popular choice for fancy dress goers, Leonardo was also a popular choice. One Hamas member was hailed for his Splinter the rat costume, but later authorities clarified that he wasn't in fancy dress - rather he just looked like a rat.

Shell Suits make a Comeback

2007-03-20T18:19:00.000+02:00

Ahead of England's meeting with Israel on Saturday night and with knowledge that several Liverpudlians are set to land in Tel Aviv soon, Israel has been hit by a new Shell Suit craze.

The Main Stream Media's Libel Against Israel's Dig Next to Temple Mount Proved False, Coverage Practially Zero

2007-03-16T15:51:00.000+02:00

One of the most dastardly crimes of late committed by the main-stream media is certainly the libel they propogated that the restoration work, preceeded by an archaelogical dig, was undermining the Al-Aqsa mosque built atop the Temple Mount. UNESCO have now issued a report syaing that the works have not caused any damage to the site and praised these works for their professional standards.

It was reported, of course, as another example of Israeli crimes against Palestinians and Muslims in general. Palestinian claims, based on nothing at all apart from a desire to cause trouble, were reported with equal weight as that of Israeli announcements about the purpose and content of the works. The BBC was, naturally, one of the prime exponents of this lie. For example...

"Palestinian leaders say the work threatens Islamic archaeological remains and see the work as a huge provocation. Muslim leaders around the world have demanded all work on the site is halted. Israel insists that the work poses no risk to the holy site."

What Muslim leaders, what is their authority and architectural qualifications? Why give two sentances for the Palestinian claim and a couple of words for Israel's response. The media reporting certainly encouraged and goaded the riots that took place in Jerusalem over this issue and once again shows the power of the media to stir-up a hornets nest when there's the possibilty of a nice juicy "Israel is a terrible country" story.

The whole issue was coverered fanatiaclly, every twist and turn being reported, frontpage news, headline stories, first items on TV news, the works. Looking on the BBC site there's at least eight seperate reports on the accusations. That is until the truth came out in the UNESCO report that it was all a pack of lies. Then the media basically just didn't report it which is just scandalous. Either that or they buried it, as the BBC did, on their website for instance, confining it to a simple link in a long list and also headlining it with the fact that UNESCO did call for the work to stop (because they said that enough work had been done for Israel's stated needs and to allow for international inspectors to come despite their own admission that the work has not caused damage).

To inflate such a lie and cause such problems, including actual riots in which people were injured, and then not to report that the story it pedalled was false is irresponsible, cowardly and reeks of prejudice and merely confirms the obvious; the mainstream media is out to smear Israel.

The BBC, Still Atrocious

2007-03-16T15:20:00.000+02:00

Here is an interesting article from the New York Times on the new BBC Arabic television service scheduled to begin this Autumn.

"When a State Department representative referred to Syria as a dictatorship, his BBC interviewer immediately interrupted and reprimanded him".

More on the BBC here from Stephen Pollard

"I can barely watch reports by Matt Frei, the BBC's Washington Correspondent, without screaming at the TV. He's one of the worst examples of the 'opinionating masquerading as reporting' disease at the BBC, and his sneer when dealing with Republicans is barely masked."

The World Is Regressing

2007-03-16T14:52:00.000+02:00

Once again, posts have been very few and far between apart from a couple of the Punctilious Penguin's amusing interludes which are much appreciated in these dark times.

I was just browsing through the news and blogs today and was so depressed about the state of the world I thought I'd spread the misery. I barely even know where to start.

Lets start with my alma mater, the University of Leeds. Now, this place wasn't exactly a pleasant place to be for a Jew and and a Zionist when I was there. The Islamic society was extremely active and anti-Israel and anti-American sentiment abounded in both the student population and amongst the faculty. Things are getting a lot worse. In December 2006, the Leeds University Student Union passed a motion stating that complaints about the Palestine Solidarity Movement by the Jewish Society should be ignored. Strike another blow for freedom of speech.

This week, German academic Dr. Matthias Köntzel, a political scientist who lectures on the anti-Semitism of Islamist groups, has had his three-day programme of lectures cancelled on "security grounds". Strike two for freedom of speech at Leeds University. The Islamic society had indeed contacted the Vice Chancellor to complain about Dr. Köntzel and hey presto the guy gets booted out. The sheer, spineless, appeasing, cowardice of this beggars belief.

Firstly, it's telling that as soon as there is something which Muslims object to there's a threat of violence to get their way and silence the dhimmi who dares express an opinion counter to Islam or which exposes the violent, racist nature behind these people.

Secondly, if there's a threat of violence STAND UP TO IT, bring in some more security officials and don't let freedom of speech be quashed by a bunch of fascists.

Who Says Jews are Expressive?

2007-03-11T18:05:00.000+02:00

France Waves the Flag

2007-02-15T08:26:00.000+02:00

FRENCH COWARDICE SIMPLY BAFFLES

The following is taekn from Haaretz. It needs no commentary.
Chirac backs easing pressure on Iran to protect UNIFIL troops

French President Jacque Chirac has announced his support for lessening pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program, for fear Hezbollah will strike at French troops serving in Lebanon, according to information recently received in Jerusalem. According to reports, Chirac proposed sending a special envoy to Tehran to reach understandings that would protect the French soldiers serving in in the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Last Line of Defence

2007-02-13T21:50:00.000+02:00

Good to know Tzahal is keeping up to speed in one area of missile defence. The Arrow missile system was tested again and once again shot down an incoming missile, this time at night. While it is clearly 1000 times preferebale that Iran never obtains nuclear weapons, it is slightly reassuring that we have at least a last line of defence against total destruction to fall back on other than the U.N.

First nighttime Arrow test successful - "In the face of Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, the Israel Air Force successfully conducted its 15th test of the Arrow missile defense system Sunday night.

The test took place at 9:18 p.m. when the Arrow 2 interceptor took off towards a Black Sparrow test missile, fired by an F-15 fighter jet, and designed to simulate an incoming Iranian Shihab missile headed toward Israel.

The Green Pine Radar located and identified the incoming missile, and the Citron Tree battle management center related the information to the Arrow 2 battery."

General Musings

2007-02-11T22:47:00.000+02:00

Since I've been out of it for nearly a couple of months I thought I'd just set down a couple of thoughts about recent events.

Since I've been gone, Saddam Hussein departed this world with a rather sudden jerk despite my protestations against the death penalty on these hallowed pages. However,, discussion with a number of my friends and a glance at a couple of comments left on the blog shows that most people I know comprise a blood-thirsty lynch mob which I am of course charmed to be associated with.

Other events include Russia's completion of its anti-aircraft missile defence system with Iran, previously mentioned here. This system is probably the best in the world and having purchased twenty-nine units, Iran will station them around all its most sensitive nuclear sites. This is a seriously concerning prospect. The system can engage two targets at once, shoot down cruise missiles and laser guided bombs as well as aircraft at a range of 12km and an altitude of 6km. As far as I can tell, although clearly I'm not an expert military analyst, were Israel to undertake a mission to knock out Iran's nuclear capabilities, her air-force would sustain serious damage. It seems that the U.S. would have to be involved for any mission to be truly effective which would have to involve stealth-bombers to avoid Iran's new air-defence system.

The requirement to act against Iran has been becoming ever clearer with Tehran announcing that it will install cascades of 3000 centrifuges at its Natanz installation by June which could theoretically be able to produce enough uranium for one bomb in less than a year.

What cheers me slightly is that Bush has sent a second aircraft carrier battle group to the Gulf which gives me hope that when the time comes the U.S. will act against this very scary threat to Israel's existence. They have also been rounding up nefarious Iranian agents in Iran who have been fanning the flames of civil war there to thwart the sprouting of any peace in that war-ravaged country.

Finally, among other things I could mention, we have the Palestinians who having now finished killing each other for the moment are very effectively creating world hysteria over Israel's archaeological and construction works outside the Temple Mount. There is of course nothing sinister in these works which are simply to re-build the broken Mughrabi bridge. The work was reported ahead of time to the Waqf which administers the site and the media and diplomatic storm which has ensued is simply nonsensical.

Ad Kaan, more to follow in the coming days.

Thoughts of an IDF Sniper

2007-02-11T21:55:00.000+02:00

While on the subject of military matters, I thought that the following extracts from a Ma’ariv interview with an Israel sniper would be of interest. I found them to be riveting.

The solider in question has killed thirty-one terrorists to date through his sniper’s scope. The following are some of the most interesting extracts in which he relates his thoughts about his job, how he copes with it, his methods and how he feels about killing people through his sniper’s scope. Translation by yours truly.

“I was nine when I got my first rifle. It was an air-rifle which my parents gave to me and I would practice with it the whole time, standing up matches and shooting them down or shooting out the flame of a candle from a distance of thirty or forty metres.

“Two days after I finished my five-week sniper’s course I was sent on my first mission. The whole night before hand I felt unbelievable pressure. I lay on my bed and couldn’t stop thinking about all the responsibility on my shoulders. The adrenalin was flowing through my veins but I was not required to fire during the mission.

“The first time I fired my sniper’s rifle was on a mission which started out as a simple mission into Gaza during the night. I was lying out in a field when I saw two suspicious figures in the dark. I felt unbelievable stress. I was lying in a bunch of thorns and rocks but couldn’t feel a thing. I was completely focused on the two images and because of the pressure I forgot everything I had been taught. However, I received the order to shoot, I shot and one of the figures dropped to the floor and ceased to move. I think because this mission was at night and I only saw him fall through the sniper’s scope it was less frightening. I didn’t see him die in front of my eyes, it was in the dark and through the scope. When we returned to the base I couldn’t get to sleep the whole night. I began to think about the man I killed and his life but then I understood that if he had remained alive he would have hurt one of us. At this point I decided to never think about the fact that I had killed a man but the opposite: that I had saved other people.

“With time you begin to become accustomed to these missions and then you are able to relax. When I take up a position in house we’ve taken control of I find a corner and disengage from everything around me. I sit and wait patiently, sweating like crazy in the summer and suffering the cold in the winter, but I wait in silence. Sometimes we wait for hours, my personal record is eighteen hours straight. I just sat and waited with my finger on the trigger and my eyes scanning the territory in front of me.

“When I get to a certain area and begin to work I begin to understand the surroundings, who lives in which building and with who; how many people are in this or that family; who lives in which room and who he hangs out with..

“If I see an armed terrorist I don’t open fire immediately, I give him time to feel secure. One time I identified four combatants armed with RPGs and I took down just one of them and not the whole group in order not to be discovered. I heard stories about snipers that got too excited and took out a whole group of terrorists but then got an anti-tank missile into the house where they were hiding and that was the end of the story. Because of this it’s important to be patient.

“One time the opposite happened. I once watched a terrorist enter his house then leave it again, look right and left and then lifted something up which had been concealed under his legs. I already had my finger on the trigger and I nearly squeezed it when I saw he was lifting up a baby.

“In general terms it’s preferable to shoot the target in the head or the heart, depending on the distance. You aim, breathe lightly and rhythmically and then...boom! You hear the noise, the smell of gunpowder burning in your nostrils and the combatant falls.

“When we’re in these people’s [Palestinians] houses we’re pretty orderly. Sometimes we give sweets to the kids, sometimes the family offers us food. We are also always very strict to put the house in back in order once we leave.

“I don’t scratch x’s into my gun to mark my kills like other snipers because I don’t want to graffiti on the weapon and also it means I get fewer questions. My friends and family also don’t ask too many questions. It’s a little hard to explain to them what I do and the situation I’ve been in now for such a long time.

“I think that after all my missions as a sniper I have really become accustomed to what I do. A short time ago, while on a mission, I was woken up in the middle of the night and told I’ve got just a couple minutes to identify the target and take him down . I got up, stretched, identified the target, took him down and went back to sleep and in the morning they told me what it had been about. It seemed to me that what had taken place that night happened almost in my sleep.

“In four months I’ll be finished in the army. I don’t think it will trouble me afterwards. When you’re on a mission you don’t think about anything, you’re just adrenalin. When you’re outside, you understand that it’s preferable not to think about it too much. This was my work, that’s it. It was either me or them and I preferred it to be them”.

Tironut

2007-02-11T18:57:00.000+02:00

Well, tironut (basic training) is over. What we, that is my plugah (company) got was a taster. What I mean to say is that, sure there are a lot of boys who are drafted at age 18 do the same tironut as we did and then go on to do not much for three quite boring and mind-numbing years. However, there are also a lot of boys who get put through hell and back. My tironut was four weeks of really not doing very much within a framework of strict discipline. Get up somewhere between four and five o’clock. Stand outside in the cold, forced to scream out ‘ken mefakedet’ (yes commander) at the top of your voice when you still haven’t really woken up; thirty or forty push-ups for being two seconds late at a quarter to five in the morning; holding your cold and heavy M-16 at sixty degrees with the cocking mechanism drawn back in the rain or sleet, your fingers aching and your arm sagging from the weight of the gun while the mefakedet slowly makes her way along the line checking each individual rifle of close on forty soldiers; run there in fifteen seconds, run here in twenty seconds; clean your barracks in four and a half minutes; pack up all your belongings, not a single possession to be outside your bag for morning inspection; ten minutes to eat with a three kilo assault rifle dangling round your neck; stop eating on command whether you’ve finished or not; standing still for twenty minutes in the cold until instructed otherwise; having orders barked at you day and night, a twenty-six year old having to ask permission to go to the bathroom from a nineteen and a half year old; being screamed at if just one of your tzevet, was late, spoke when he wasn’t supposed to, left his water bottle behind or a host of other minor misdemeanours.

This is not a fun lifestyle, it is tiring and unpleasant and I only did a month. What’s more, we never faced any real physical challenges whatsoever. We had a day of field training, and two days of shooting at the shooting range. We had to hike to the shooting range, which was maximum two kilometres away, with a fair amount of gear and we slept in a shed on the concrete and marched back. That was the extent of our physical challenge. Regular combat units’ tironut lasts six months and more and includes long distance hikes with very heavy gear, camping out under the sky, orienteering at night and a lot more besides. Elite units have to deal with hikes of seventy kilometres and more. The level of discipline is also extremely severe, much more so than we experienced with the smallest infraction of the rules eliciting very harsh punishments. Compared to that, our tiranut was as Paddington Bear is to a half ton Grizzly Bear – rather more soft, fluffy and cuddly than the real thing.

Yet, as I mentioned, even our tiranut was by no means fun. Basic training is largely focused on creating a new reality for the raw recruit in which he is brought to understand the fact that he is not in control of his own life, that he is under the total control and authority of the military and, as such, must fulfil, pretty much unquestioningly, all orders and instructions that he is given. As I said, we didn’t get a full dose but we came away with a good understanding of what it must be like.

The army has a slang term for raw recruits; shockistim. It refers to the state of total, bleary-eyed, vacant-expression numbness which soldiers in basic training experience as part of their induction into the IDF in which they basically don’t know what’s hit them. We were never quite there but spare a thought now and then for the eighteen-year old kids who have to give up three years of their lives for the army and then get hit with the full force of the IDF’s basic-training regime.

Caption Competetion is back

2007-02-09T12:28:00.000+02:00

"Dress down day in Gaza."

The caption competition is back in action.
Mr Camel, I throw the gauntlet down to you.

British Comedian Star Wins Big in Israel

2007-01-29T08:53:00.000+02:00

Eddie Izzard has been named the new temporary President of the State of Israel. As President, Izzard told Israel's daily Maariv, "I'll look forward to dressing as a lady in the Knesset and making lots of new friends."

We're In The Army Now

2006-12-17T23:54:00.000+02:00

Well, for the next six months postings are going to be a bit erratic. More erratic than normal that is. Yes, the Camel is off to Tzahal (the Israel Defence Forces) to fend off hordes of marauding Arabs from Israel's borders. Also, if you hear of any mysterious explosions in Damascus or Tehran during the next six months you'll know who's behind them, if you know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, nod's as good as a wink to a blind man...or something.

But never fear, the Camel will return, probably as grouchy and irrascible as ever and the Punctillious Penguin may be posting in his stead, although that remains to be see as the Penguin himself may be joining the Camel in the army menagerie defending the borders of our land...well, at least making some coffee for the people defending the borders of our land.

Anyways, as Prince George said to Blackadder "Toodle ooo and all that".

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God, from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May the Almighty cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighters from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.

May He lead our enemies under our soldiers' sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is the Lord your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

Now let us respond: Amen.

You Damn Skippy!

2006-12-14T10:46:00.000+02:00

The Israeli Supreme Court just ruled that targeted killings are ok. However, legal expert that I am, I disagree with the way the three-justice panel came this conclusion. The court said that terrorist operatives are not legally defined as combatants and therefore must be considered civilians, but are nonetheless not afforded the same protections granted to innocent civilians under international law. Frankly, this confuses me. Israel is fighting an undeclared terrorist / guerrilla insurgency and anyone involved in those operations, be it planning them, directing them or carrying them out, is clearly an enemy combatant and therefore a legitimate military target. How can these people be considered civilians simply because when they carry their guns, bombs, anti-tank missiles and RPG’s they’re not wearing uniforms and haven’t officially declared war? Who cares, they’re committing hostile acts against Israeli civilians and soldiers, what else does one need to know. They know the risks they take when they engage in such activities and they have to be willing to pay the price for the relentless violence they perpetrate.

2006-12-13T22:43:00.000+02:00

"Ok Ehud, let me go now. The camera's are on us."

Sign Petition to Excommunicate Neturei Karta

2006-12-12T15:56:00.000+02:00

Arye Friedman, Ahron Cohen and Jew-hater. Telling the differene is admittedly not easy (from left to right if you were couldn't figure it out)

Click here to sign the petiton to excommunicate this twisted group of traitors and collaborators against the Jewish People

The infamous Neturei Karta have unbelievably also attended this sick conference. I never cease to be disgusted and outraged when I hear about the activities of these idiots and I think it's time we did something about them.

The Guardian reports "Moshe Ayre Friedman, an Austrian rabbi, argued that the figure of six million Jewish dead had come from a prophecy by Theodore Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, long before the second world war. He said recent research suggested the true figure was about one million. "Politically and historically, the land of Palestine doesn't belong to the Jews and should be returned to Palestinians," he said."

More on Iranian Students Protest

2006-12-12T15:02:00.000+02:00

Placard reads: 'Fascist President, Polytechnich is not your place'

As it's such a fascinating and positive story I thought I'd post up some other comments made by the students at their protest against Ahmadinejad and the Holocasust Denial Conference currently being staged in Tehran and being attended by assorted fascists, Nazi's, Holocaust deniers and multifarious scum.

The Times reported one student saying that the conference “has brought to our country Nazis and racists from around the world”

The L.A. Times wrote that a slogan used by the students was "Fascist president, the Polytechnic is not a place for you."

AFP reported that "Between 2,000 and 3,000 students also demonstrated at Tehran University on Wednesday to mark students' day, chanting slogans such as "for freedom and against despotism",ISNA reported at the time.

CNN reported that a student, "who witnessed the incident and did not want to be identified, told CNN that the protesting students interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech with slogans, including "Death to the dictator," "Get lost Basijis" -- a reference to right-wing students who support the government -- "Get lost liars" -- referring to the state-run press -- and "Political prisoners must be freed."

With unbelievably Orwellian audacity Ahmadinejad said in response to the protests
"We have resisted dictatorship for many years -- from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution," Ahmadinejad said, according to the agency. "Nobody can bring back a dictatorship even in the name of freedom."

I guess he's forgetting that Iran is ruled absolutely by the Theocratic dictatorship of the Ayatollah and the Council of Guardians

Iraq Study Group Report, Very Silly

2006-12-11T19:39:00.000+02:00

It is incomprehensible to me how sane rational people can think that the Israeli-Arab conflict is linked to the sectarian violence in Iraq. I mean, what are these people actually smoking? America invaded Iraq one hundred and twenty-one years after Leon Pinsker published Autoemancipation, one hundred and seven years since Herzl wrote Der Judenstadt, one hundred and six years after the First Zionist Congress, fifty-five years after the establishment of the state of Israel, thirty-six years after the Six-Day War and three years after the Palestinians rejected a two-state solution and launched their murderous, terrorist war against Israeli civilians. How, in the pit of Hades, can the two be related, hmmm?

The truth is that I don’t think that even these capitulators and appeasers believe it. It just makes good political sense to say these things as it’s the popular, in-vogue thing to say and provides a scape-goat for the disaster in Iraq.

The other nonsense, about talking with Iran and Syria, is also, well, nonsense. These states are run by tyrannical, oppressive regimes who are cock-a-hoop at the moment because America is so hamstrung in Iraq. They see the political weakness of Bush’s administration and his inability to take any further harsh action and are therefore running amok in the Middle East, funding, arming and hosting terrorists, starting wars, assassinating people they don’t like, threatening oil-embargoes and building nuclear bombs. Iran in particular is run by a bunch of theocrats, religiously and ideologically devoted to destroying the State of Israel, removing all American influence from the region and establishing itself as the regional hegemon. Negotiation and compromise with these nutjobs is like trying to negotiate with a hungry crocodile, who's got a really bad case of tooth ache and has come from a particularly bad day at the swamp, to find his supper's not been cooked, his laundry's not been done, the kids are playing up and his wife's gone down river for a drink with her friends. I.e., not likely to succeed

Iraq Study Group Report, Stupid

2006-12-11T18:36:00.000+02:00

Barry Rubin tells it like it is on the nonsensical Iraq Study Group Report.

“Let's focus on what the report says about the Arab-Israeli conflict...The section on this issue is just silly....

THE REPORT concludes that:

1. The Arab-Israeli conflict is inextricably linked to Iraq.

Really? I can't think of a single issue in the region it is less linked to. Iraq is about an internal struggle for power. The radicals are not extremists because of the conflict. By regional standards, nobody in Iraq even talks much about the conflict. This is repeating a mantra, not looking at the facts.

In this context, negotiations lead to violence because the extremists want to ensure the talks don't succeed. Unfortunately, those radicals include both the Palestinian and Syrian leaderships. Like it or not, there can be no diplomatic progress until the radicals are defeated.

2. The most important thing right now is for everyone to negotiate since it was the breakdown in talks that led to violence.

Wrong again. It was the refusal to make an agreement that led to the breakdown in talks, and to violence. The extremists don't want serious talks because they want victory, not compromise; or, to put it another way, the kind of gains they want are not those achieved by bargaining (West Bank/Gaza Palestinian state, return of the Golan Heights) but by fighting (demagoguery, holding onto power, destroying Israel)...Like it or not, there can be no diplomatic progress until the radicals are defeated.

3. A negotiated peace would strengthen Mahmoud Abbas.

Do these people pay any attention to the Middle East? To obtain peace, Abbas would have to make concessions. Making the needed concessions would destroy him. To make peace, Abbas would have to enforce law and order as well as stopping terrorism.

He is incapable of doing that. To get a peace treaty, Abbas would need to suppress Hamas, which he can neither do nor even try to do. Is that so hard to understand?

ANY COLLEGE undergraduate who has taken a couple of courses on the Middle East should understand the points above. (They probably don't because of the way the region is taught in universities, but you get my point.)

The only way this kind of thinking is going to damage the radical forces is if they fall down and hurt themselves from laughing so hard”.

Iranian Students Burn Pictures of Ahmadinejad

2006-12-11T18:26:00.000+02:00

Fascinating report here about Iranian students trying to shout down their maniac, racist, Holocaust denying, Genocide aspiring President. I have concerns about their saftey though.

“Iranian students on Monday interrupted a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Amir Kabir University in Teheran, Fars news agency reported.

The students interrupted the president's speech by shouting, "Death to the Dictator," and even tried to storm the podium, but were prevented by other students...

The students were reportedly taken out of the hall.

Eyewitnesses said that the protesting students also burnt pictures of the president on the university compound”.

Palestinians Hit Bottom of Moral Pit, and Keep Digging

2006-12-11T12:47:00.000+02:00

This morning, in a drive by shooting, unidentified Palestinian gunmen shot and killed three children of Baha Balousha, a Fatah security official who led a crackdown on Hamas ten years ago. One Palestinian official said "The killers knew Baha was not in the car because he never drove his children to school. They couldn't get to him to kill him, so they killed his children instead". Another opinion has it that, the target was Balousha himself, noting that the windows on the car were blacked out and the gunmen therefore could not see who was inside and also that was the target of a esacped assassination last September.

From Russia With Love

2006-12-11T08:42:00.000+02:00

Just thought people would be interested in this excerpt of a masterful summation of Russia's aggressive foreign policy, written by an up and coming political commentator. For the full version click here

""I shall be an autocrat, that's my trade". Thus quipped the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, who stamped Russian authority onto the international stage, seizing vast swathes of territory and establishing Russia as a formidable power in the middle of the eighteenth century. It appears that Vladimir Putin has taken her example to heart.

Buoyed up by high energy prices, Putin has embarked on an aggressive foreign policy agenda which seeks to re-establish Russia as a pre-eminent international power in opposition to what it perceives to be American and European hegemony. This foreign policy agenda is based around two primary goals, namely tightening Russian control over the former Soviet Republics and tightening alliances and friendships with like-minded states and in areas of strategic importance.
To Israel's detriment, it appears that Moscow has identified the Middle East as a primary region through which to recapture its former international significance. Russia has sought to present itself to the Arabs as a more neutral arbiter than the U.S. in order to increase its international influence in this strategic region of the world".

Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming, There'll Be Pigs Flying Next

2006-12-05T17:09:00.000+02:00

Please read this paean to free-market economics and Economic reform from...Ha’aretz!!!. I know!!! Soon this bastion of leftist thinking will be advocating annexing the shtachim and population exchange. Ok, perhaps not, but this is still spectacular.

“There is not an economist in the whole world who could have predicted the current economic situation. After an unsuccessful war in Lebanon and enormous military outlays, accompanied by strategic threats from Iran and Syrian saber-rattling, after missiles on Sderot and a fragile cease-fire - despite all of this, the Israeli economy in 2006 is demonstrating extraordinary strength...

There is a single explanation for all the good things described here: A responsible, free-market economic policy expressed through budgetary restraint, a small deficit, tax cuts, reforms, privatization and opening the economy to the free movement of goods, services and capital, or in short: Less government, more business.

This is the policy that has been implemented in Israel since 1985, by all governments, but it was greatly accelerated by then finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2003. We are now reaping the fruits of his cuts, reforms and privatizations. We can now also thank the god of politics who prevented Amir Peretz from implementing his plans in 2003 - more taxes, more government, no reforms, no privatization....

Give it a chance, guys. Give the economy a chance to continue to grow. Stop with the populist headlines, do not block the reforms and growth. Only growth can create jobs and give the government the money - the taxes - needed to take care of society's ills. Only a wealthy state can, and must, take care of its poor”.

Tanks for Nothing

2006-12-04T10:17:00.000+02:00

IDF tanks to be fitted with advanced anti-missile systems

The Israel Defense Forces will begin equipping its tanks with an advanced, active protection system capable of countering the latest anti-tank missiles. The locally developed system, known by its export name as Trophy, will be installed on Merkava Mark IV tanks, partly in response to the experience of the recent war in Lebanon. The new defense system creates a "canopy" that surrounds the tank, identifies the threat of the incoming anti-tank missile, and destroys that missile's warhead before it strikes.

The trophy system was ready for use years ago. The question we should be asking, is why this system was not fitted to Israeli tanks before the IDF's emabarassing debacle in Lebanon this summer. Israel... get a grip! Not just on your tank tyres, on the ineffective security doctrine that is so badly letting this counrty down.

WOMB FOR IMPROVEMENT

2006-12-04T08:35:00.000+02:00

Arab, Jewish birthrates in Jerusalem equal for first time

For the first time ever, in 2005 the Arab and Jewish birthrates in Jerusalem were equivalent at 3.9 children per woman. An American-Israeli research report recently submitted to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski found that the Arab fertility rate in Jerusalem has dropped in recent years, while the fertility rate among Jewish women in the capital has risen.

Hooray, for oneg shabbat!

Holodomor

2006-11-30T22:22:00.000+02:00

I wanted to draw attention to the Great Ukranian Famine of 1932-3 when, due to Stalin’s forced collectivisation, approximately seven million Ukrainians were starved to death. Despite the death toll, which was known to Stalin and the Kremlin, Russia continued to export grain abroad during 1932 and 1933 and also confiscated seed-grain, which is used to plant the crop for the following year.

This immeasurable catastrophe is almost unknown and, to that end, the Ukrainian President, Victor Yushchenko, issued a Presidential decree in 2006 mandating a four-minute silence on the Memorial Day for the victims of the famine. The fourth Saturday of November, which was last week, is the official Memorial Day.

For more information visit Holodomor.org and see this pamphlet from the Ukrainian Museum

Solana's Biggest Fan

2006-11-30T14:57:00.001+02:00

Meet Xavier Solana. The biggest wasteful surplus in the EU today. I'd hazard a guess there's no one more unstomachable anywhere from Belfast to Berlin. I wish he'd stop visiting the Middle East and talking like he's got the faintest idea what's really going on here. This man has got his head so far up the Palestinian people's proverbial backside, he wouldn't know an effective policy suggestion if it jumped inside a kassam rocket and slammed into his own tuchus. His solution to everything is to shake everyone's hands, promise more money to the Palestinians and scold Israel for not doing more. Solana represents the very worst of Europe, a continent that spent five hundred years creating the world's problems and then expects to fix them all in ten minutes from the luxury of five star hotel in Brussels.

Xavier, if you ever need a reference, I'll happily oblige - personally I feel a career change would suit you very well, maybe apply for a job performing colonic irrigation in Gaza, I see you've made significant inroads already.

GENTLE DIPLOMACY

2006-11-30T14:52:00.000+02:00

Abbas: 'Ok I'll call off the Kassams, just let go of my hand.'

Gemayel Assassination Update

2006-11-21T18:51:00.000+02:00

As referenced by the Sandmonkey, Beirut Spring has brought to attention an article in the Kuwait Times from Saturday 18 November where another anti-Syrian Christian leader in Lebanon, Samir Geagea warned that assassination attempts were likely in light of Hizballah's declared intention to topple the Lebanese government after it did not accede to Hizballah's demand that it be given veto power in the coalition.

Geagea said in an interview with reuters "I think there might be operations targeting ministers and I take this opportunity to say it publicly and especially to tell the ministers to take all precautions,"

Should the government loose three more ministers it would automatically fall thereby achieving Syria's goal of thwarting the formation of a UN-backed tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri in February 2005 and achieving Hizballah's goal of bringing down the government.

BEIRUT -- Anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea said yesterday efforts to topple Lebanon's Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora could lead to assassination attempts against cabinet ministers.

Geagea, a former militia chief whose Lebanese Forces party has one minister in the cabinet, said Syria was determined to stop the formation of a UN-backed tribunal to try suspects in the killing of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. He did not say who might try to kill ministers.

Lebanon plunged deeper into crisis this month when six ministers, including all five Shia Muslims, quit the cabinet after the collapse of all-party talks over giving the pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies a decisive say in government.

All the remaining ministers are members of, or close to, the anti-Syrian majority coalition.

If the government lost three more ministers, it would automatically fall.

"There are no three ministers who will resign of course, but someone might think of 'sacking them', in quotes, by pushing them to a final resignation. Thus the government falls. Therefore we have big fears over the ministers," he said.

"I think there might be operations targeting ministers and I take this opportunity to say it publicly and especially to tell the ministers to take all precautions," Geagea said in a telephone interview from his north Lebanon home.

Iran-Syria-Hizballah Axis Continues Attempts to Subvert Lebanese Government

2006-11-21T18:07:00.000+02:00

The Axis of Warmongers, Despots and Oppressors continue to advance their nefarious aims of subverting Lebanon and bringing it firmly back into the Syrian- Iranian-Shi‘a sphere of control and have assassinated a top anti-Syrian Christian politician. They are emboldened by the Invertebrates of Europe, the mess in Iraq (and the consequent bind the Americans find themselves in as well as the Democratic victory in the Congressional elections) as well as the pathetic leadership in Israel. This Axis of Scum march inexorably forward towards their goals of regional domination. Will the West stand up to this threat or will it allow the entire Middle East to be totally de-stabilised and over-run by these criminal regimes and their proxies?

Lebanese cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel assassinated in Beirut

"BEIRUT - Lebanese anti-Syrian cabinet minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel was shot dead in a Christian suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.

The shooting - at a time when Lebanese political and sectarian tensions already are at fever pitch - seemed certain to intensify the tensions, regardless of who was responsible.

Gemayel, the minister of industry and son of former President Amin Gemayel, was a member of the Phalange party and supporter of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, which is locked in a power struggle with pro-Syrian factions led by Hezbollah.

Pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies are preparing to take to the streets to topple Siniora's government, which they accuse of being allied with the United States, arguing that it has lost its legitimacy since Shi'ite Muslims are no longer represented.

Gemayel is the fifth anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated in the past two years in Lebanon. Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive car bombing in February 2005. The journalist and activist Samir Kassir and former Communist Party leader George Hawi were killed in separate car bombings in June last year. And lawmaker and newspaper manager Gibran Tueni was killed in a car bombing in December.

Pierre was a rising star in the party and expected to carry the mantle of the political family to the next generation".

UNimpressed

2006-11-20T14:20:00.000+02:00

UNimpressed

Israel has made its discontent for the United Nations once again clear after being condemned, vilified and berated for the tragic but accidental deaths of civilians at Beit Hanoun a fortnight ago.

Since when should anyone be condemned for a mistake? Where is the logic in that? Had Israel championed the wayward missiles that killed 18 and wouned many more, that would be one thing, but an inquiry was launched, apologies were made, by Olmert, Peretz and every Knesset big shot (probably not Mr Lieberman). Every effort was made to set things right, Olmert extended another over generous hand to Abbas. All this while the kassams continued to fall on Sderot.

What sort of arrogant dimwitted collaboration of largely biased, pigheaded, slime sucking, Arab-loving, Israel hating scumbags would scold a country in such a way for a self proclaimed mistake?

Need you ask?

..Once again, most U.N impressed.

'This is your 9 o'clock missile attack alarm'

2006-11-19T20:07:00.000+02:00

Can I just ask ‘what the expletive!?!#!#!!!’ Has the whole world gone mad? Why are we warning terrorist scum we’re going to shoot at them? I don’t get it. How does the telephone conversation go, I’d like to know?
‘Good morning is that Mohammed?’
‘Yes, may I ask who’s calling?’
‘Yes, it’s Avital from the IDF here, we just wanted to inform you that, in light of your terrorist activities we’re going fire a couple of missiles at you, erm...hope that’s alright and all?’
‘Well, missiles you say, hmmm..., I don’t know, those are the things that travel very fast, end in a large explosion and hurt quite a bit if you’re on the end of one’.
‘Oh, you’re familiar with our work, yes you’re spot on, yes’
‘Well, erm, see I’m...hmmm, you know, I think I might give those a miss if it’s all the same to you’.
‘Oh certainly, I mean the operation’s more for the look of the thing than anything else, but if you do decide to absent yourself we’ll completely understand’.
‘Well, thanks for the call and the warning, I haven’t decided if I’ll just leave or get loads of civilians to act as a shield for my bomb-making, rocket making terrorist-attack-planning activities but hopefully, we’ll be killing more Zionists in the near future’.
‘Ok Sir, well have a nice day and take care, bye now’.
‘Byeee’.

‘BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Hundreds of Palestinians serving as human shields guarded the homes of two top militants Sunday, a new tactic that forced Israel to call off missile strikes on the buildings and re-evaluate a mainstay of its aerial campaign in Gaza.

The standoff over the homes of the militants began late Saturday when Mohammed Baroud, local leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, was informed by the army that his house would be hit. The three-story building is home to 17 people from Baroud's family. Another militant from Hamas also received a warning’.

Peace Plans Do Enormous Harm to Environment By Expending Hot Air Causing Global Warming and Wasting Lots of Paper

2006-11-17T01:16:00.000+02:00

There's so much poo going on in the world it's hard to know what to start with. One of the most annoying things is the way the entire world twitters on about "re-starting the peace-process" or "negotiations" are such twaddle. This week, Spain, France and Italy trotted out another irrelevant "peace plan" in some lame, blind effort to find an easy solution to the problems here. Let's be clear, there is no peace-process and there can be no peace-process until the Palestinians put down there guns and say lets talk. I mean, how hard is that and how difficult is it for the "international community" to understand that as long as Israel faces violence she will respond. Israel withdraws from Gaza and says here it is, make it work and what happens? Weapons smuggling, Qassam launching, bombing of goods crossings and so on.

This is the plan, the peace-process, the road-map which Israel should adopt. Do absolutely nothing. There is no need for Israel to do anything, there is no pressure. We can sit and control the shtachim from now until forever. If the Palestinians decide at some point that they'd like a state along side Israel and are willing to stop all violence then there's something to talk about. Until then, all Israel has to do is sit tight, there is nothing which is forcing us to make any compromise, any disengagement, any "hitkansut" or whatever other ludicrous and capitulatory nonsense the surrender-monkeys, both foreign and domestic, might come up with.

Carrying On Regardless

2006-11-14T22:25:00.000+02:00

AhmadiDinnerjacket knows exactly who he's dealing with and has sussed the West out for the bunch of spineless, craven, feeble, appeaserers they are. I think the excrement is going to hit the circulatory cooling device pretty soon, one way or the other.

Ahmadinejad: Int'l community caved in

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday expressed hope that Iran would celebrate the completion of its controversial nuclear fuel program within Iran's current calendar year, which ends on March 20.

"With the wisdom and resistance of the nation, today our position has stabilized. I'm very hopeful that we will be able to hold the big celebration of Iran's full nuclearization in the current year," the hard-line president told reporters during a press conference.

"Initially, they (the US and its allies) were very angry. The reason was clear: They basically wanted to monopolize nuclear power in order to rule the world and impose their will on nations," Ahmadinejad said.

"Today, they have finally agreed to live with a nuclear Iran, with an Iran possessing a nuclear fuel cycle," he said, without elaborating."

Stay the Course!

2006-11-13T21:52:00.001+02:00

Now that the Democrat Party in America has secured control of Congress, it has quickly begun to indicate that it wants to quickly start withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

Having originally supported the war, I now see it as a total disaster. I don’t think the general fall-back argument for the war, that the oppressive and brutal nature of Saddam’s regime justified the invasion, holds water since so many people have been killed and injured since he was toppled, that one could easily argue that there would have been less death and upheaval if Saddam had been left in power. Yes, the main culprits for the horrendous level of killings in Iraq are the Iraqis themselves, terrorists, insurgents and Shi‘a militias, but that doesn’t alter the fact that tens of thousands of people have been killed since the U.S. led invasion who wouldn’t have died otherwise. Someone once asked Mao what he thought the consequences of the French Revolution were and he said “it’s too early to tell”. Well, I hope that’s the deal with Iraq and maybe some day soon the carnage will stop and a stable democracy will emerge but that’s not the way it’s looking at the moment.

Having said all that, and perhaps in light of it, I think that the suggestion that America now desert Iraq is repugnant. Having got Iraq into this mess it would be the height of cowardliness and irresponsibility to leave now. If the U.S. pulls out now then tens of thousands of people will die in a terrible civil war and the international Jihadists, their supporters and sympathisers will gain the biggest PR coup since Judah the Maccabee got a half price deal on 10,000 inflatable toy hammers with the words Greeks Go Home printed on them.

Furthermore, the Iraqi government has repeatedly stressed that they want the U.S. troops to stay and until that changes the U.S. has a responsibility to stay and do as much as it can to stop the country going up in smoke any more than it already is. For the U.S. to run away now with its tail in between its legs is the least sensible thing to do at this stage.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq in the next few months but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables."

France: Will shoot at Israelis, not Hizballah

2006-11-12T18:31:00.000+02:00

I know this news came out a couple of days ago but isn't it crazy that France will seriously consider and threaten to shoot down Israeli warplanes but yet will not contemplate disarming the illegal war-mongering guerrilla organisation Hizballah.

"Israeli fighter jets were reported to have penetrated deep into Lebanon on Thursday, a day after France said its troops were "two seconds" away from firing on a squadron of F-15s that buzzed their positions in the south of the country at the end of October".

Hizballah-Syria-Iran Nexus Gearing Up

2006-11-12T18:11:00.000+02:00

Really concerning news coming out of Lebanon. Hizballah has now completely re-armed and is probably better equipped than before the July/August war of this year according to this Sunday Times report. Nasrallah is trying hard to gain control of Lebanese politics as this report shows and Israeli Generals are warning that there will be renewed conflict with Hizballah by early next year.

Coupled with this is the failure of the U.S., UN, the U.K., France and Germany or anyone else to seriously tackle the Iranian nuclear threat. Simply put, if Israel sometime soon decides to act against the existential threat of Iranian Nukes we will have a war on three fronts with Lebanon, Syria and Iran which will mean rockets and missiles from three different directions as well.

The storm clouds are gathering in the Middle East.

Case in Point

2006-11-08T18:00:00.000+02:00

Talking about Russia, this JPost report exemplifies what I'm talking about.

"Russia has rejected passages in a UN Security Council draft proposing broad sanctions on Iran's nuclear and missile programs, reflecting its differences with the West on how harshly to punish Teheran for defying demands that it stop uranium enrichment, according to a document obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The document - Moscow's proposed amendments to a Security Council draft resolution drawn up by Britain and France and broadly endorsed by the United States - also waters down Western demands that Teheran stop working on a reactor that can produce plutonium and allow tougher UN inspections of its nuclear program. And it deletes any reference to Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, being built with Russia's help".

The Resurgent Bear

2006-11-08T16:32:00.000+02:00

I’ve ranted before about Putin and his brutal, authoritarian, murderous, corrupt, gangster-like regime. As previously mentioned here, and here on the Cantankerous Camel, Russia sells advanced weapons all over the middle East to the most nefarious regimes, represses democracy at home, bullies its former imperial vassals and sides with genocidal states such as Sudan and the genocide-wannabes in Iran in the U.N., blocking international action on these and other crucial issues, all to show to the U.S. and Europe that Russia is still a world power. And builds nuclear reactors for Iran.

As detailed in this recent article in FrontPage magazine, one of its primary tools for spreading its influence and foreign policy agenda is through its arms sales which continue to have a negative impact for Israel’s security. Russia has sold Iran one of the most advanced anti-aircraft air defence systems in the world and also sold Iran advanced anti-tank weapons which were passed through Syria and used by Hizballah in their guerrilla war against Israel this summer. It has also provided Syria with medium range ballistic missiles capable of hitting any target inside Israel, and sold warplanes to the genocidal regime in Khartoum.

Sadly, this trend seems to set to continue as Russia continues to seek export revenues and more importantly assert its influence around the globe. Even when Putin is gone after his second Presidential term finishes in 2008 his influence will be huge due to his overwhelming public popularity. He will effectively appoint a successor and said recently in a “live TV phone-in” that “even after I no longer have presidential powers I think that ... I will be able to preserve the most important thing that is dear to any politician: your trust...Using this, we can together influence life in our country and guarantee that it develops in a continuous manner”.

Jews Control World Finance and Start Wars According to Official Palestinian Authority Newspaper

2006-11-05T21:48:00.000+02:00

As reported by Palestinian Media Watch, the official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, published an article on October 23 replete with classical anti-Semitic accusations against Jews.

Below are some excerpts, see the whole expose at Palestinian Media Watch here.

“There is one global stock market situated in New York, and it is controlled by Jews. This stock market guides the currency markets in all of the world, sets the price of gold, and ultimately the value of various currencies around the world…

“In order for this idea to be realized, it was necessary to initiate [lit: to spark] wars, because wars, according to the custom of the Jews, are the only means that can bring about the desired change. The [wars] uproot the opponents, as they did in the first and second World Wars, so that had they [the wars] not happened, the United States would have not taken over the world, and the Jews would have not reached the center of this dominance.”

Hamas Broadcasts Radio Appeal for Human Shields

2006-11-05T20:52:00.000+02:00

Once again displaying their contempt and disregard for the laws of war, Palestinian terrorists employed human shields to aid their escape from Israeli forces. The terrorists had sought refuge in a mosque in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, another breach of the laws of war, and when the IDF refused to allow such cynical tactics to prevent them from achieving their mission the terrorist Hamas government broadcast a radio appeal for women to form a human shield and allow the gunmen to escape and hundreds took up the challenge. Under the cover of the human shield most of the terrorists escaped although two were shot dead in the crowd. Some of the other terrorists were dressed up as women to facilitate their escape.

Capital Punishment is Wrong

2006-11-05T20:44:00.000+02:00

Well, I haven’t posted for ages so I’ll weigh in with a hot topic and say that I think the death penalty is simply wrong for whomever, for whatever. Capital punsihment seems to me to be cold blooded, calculated murder by society as a collective. Is it not hypocritical to say that if someone murders, contravening the laws of the state and humanity, society will then murder the murderer?

If murder is wrong for the individual it must also be wrong for the state.

Saddam Hussein is a pretty evil human being with the blood of hundreds of thousands of people on his hands. But are we not reduced to his level if we adopt the same attitude to the sanctity of human life which he did?

Any thoughts?

Presidential Message: Yom Kippur, 5767

2006-10-01T12:03:00.000+02:00

On this most holy day of the Jewish calendar, Jews celebrate God's goodness and reflect on their lives. Yom Kippur is a solemn time to express thanksgiving that the Almighty remembers the names of all His children. During this blessed Day of Atonement, Jewish people gather in synagogues, consider their deeds and actions, and celebrate as the sound of the Shofar proclaims the forgiveness and mercy shown by the Creator of life.

As the High Holy Days come to an end, the Jewish people in America and around the world remind us of the gift of religious freedom and the blessings of God's steadfast love. On Yom Kippur and throughout the year, your deep commitment to faith helps make the world a more hopeful and peaceful place.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed Yom Kippur.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Oooooaaaahhh, aint that sweet

Gmar Chatimah Tovah

The Rising Sun?

2006-09-27T21:50:00.000+03:00

Shinzo Abe has become the new Japanese Prime Minister, a nationalist who wants to re-write Japan's pacifist constitution and take a more active role in international affairs.

I think this is a really crucial and vital development in today's era of international lethargy and catharsis. Japan is the world's second biggest economy, a vibrant democracy and pro-American. The parts of the world which still have a faint grasp on reality need bolstering against the appeasers, dictators, Islamists and Islamist apologists. Japan has to start taking up its international responsibilites incumbent on it's status as a highly developed democracy. I think it's time it starts contributing combat troops to international forces such as the force in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, the U.N. mission in southern Lebanon and many other trouble spots. When so many Western nations are just ignoring their responsibilities in this arena because of the cost, financial, political and human (i.e. dead soldiers), and their plain gutlesness, Japan can be a vital ally for those countries not willing to see Iran become a nuclear power, or let Sudan butcher hundreds of thousands of its own citizens and other such issues which the degenerate, spineless Europeans seem all to ready to accept. What's more, the U.K. and U.S. need to get Japan on the U.N. Security Council as a permanent member to counter the influence of France, Russia and China.

"TOKYO - Japan's new nationalist prime minister Shinzo Abe pledged to repair tattered relations with China, bolster his country's long-standing alliance with the United States and overhaul the pacifist constitution after cruising to an easy victory Tuesday in a parliamentary vote.
(Advertisement)

Abe's roadmap takes Japan down a path toward a more robust military and more assertive foreign policy, delineating a fresh direction for a leader who, at 52, is Japan's youngest premier and its first born after World War II".

Europe's Surrender to Islamists

2006-09-22T11:48:00.000+03:00

A great article here entitled Confronted by the Islamist threat on all sides, Europe pathetically caves in from James Baker in The Times addressing a number of themes I've highlighted recently.

"Last week we had the tragicomic spectacle of European Nato countries lining up to decline politely the request to beef up their forces in Afghanistan, many of whom are now fighting in perilously under-resourced conditions against a resurgent enemy.

Then on Monday Jacques Chirac went to New York to upend the long, delicate diplomacy designed to deny Iran nuclear weapons. He said France no longer thought the UN should impose sanctions if Iran did not end its uranium enrichment programme.

But the scale of Europe’s moral crisis is larger than ever. Opposing the war in Iraq was one thing, defensible in the light of events. But opting out of a serious fight against the Taleban, sabotaging efforts to get Iran off its path towards nuclear status, pre-emptively cringing to Muslim intolerance of free speech and criticism, all suggest something quite different.

It may well be that history will judge that Europe’s decline came at the very moment of its apparent triumph. The traumas of the first half of the 20th century have combined with the economic successes of the second half to induce a collective loss of will. Great civilisations die not in the end because of external force majeure but because internally the will to thrive is sapped".

Jenny Tonge Promotes Elders of Zion Conspiracy

2006-09-21T19:18:00.000+03:00

The despicable Jenny Tonge, a British member of the House of Lords and former Liberal Democrat MP, is exemplifying her anti-Semitism once again. Not content with telling people that she would consider being a suicide-bomber she now tells us that the nefarious Zionists control the West's finances. She said "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party". Well, of course we do, we want to take over the world, poison wells, kill Christian children and use their blood in our Matzot.

Linked here is a BBC article by Tonge at the time she first started spouting her tripe about how she could understand Palestinians becoming suicide bombers. She came to Israel and took a tour of the shtachim. She said "Someone has reminded me that Samson was the first suicide attacker", meaning "the Jews invented the suicide bomber". I wanted to ask if , given her fervent belief in the bible, she also agreed that God gave the Land of Israel as an eternal inheritance to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children as stated in Bereishit.

I also wrote an article, published in the L.S.E student paper, about how suicide bombers were caused by indoctrination, brainwashing and hatred not poverty. I sent it to her asking for her comments but surprisingly enough never got a reply.

Stephen Pollard commented "Much as I would condemn anyone who decided to scream Antisemitic Bitch at her, I could understand and would try to understand where they were coming from".

Israel Continues to Ignore Rocket Defence System

2006-09-20T22:12:00.000+03:00

As previously mentioned by the Cantankerous Camel, Israel and the U.S. developed a perfectly good system for shooting down Katyushas. Despite this, the project was mothballed and we were left defenceless against the 4000 rockets that the Hizballah terrorist mass-murderers launched at us. Because of this decision nearly fifty Israelis were killed by Katyushas during the recent war with Hizballah, hundreds of thousands of Israelis fled northern Israel or lived in air-raid shelters for a month and Israel lost about NIS23 or $5billion. Well, the Tactical High Energy Laser system is still lying idle and there is still no official plan to resurrect it.

Is it just me, is it not blindingly obvious that Israel needs this system and quick. How hard can it be to say, "hmmm, yes, lots of rockets were fired at us, we need to prevent this in the future, apparently there's a system which can shoot rockets down, lets buy it and set it up". I mean, I don't think it requires a genius to get to this conclusion.

"A missile defense system that consistently knocked out Katyushas -- the
World War II-era missiles that have killed scores of residents in northern
Israel in recent months -- sits in mothballs at White Sands Missile Range.
Despite the fact that the system has the potential to save lives, there is
no official plan to resurrect it."

President of War-Mongering, Facist, Genocidal-Wanabee, Illegitimate Regime Addresses U.N.

2006-09-20T21:39:00.000+03:00

It makes me sick to my very bones that this man is allowed into the U.N. building and given a platform to speak, as if he, his opinion and his regime actually have any legitimacy whatsoever. I don't even care what he said, I haven't even read what he said and I don't intend to. Giving this man and the regime he represents a platform to speak at the U.N. provides him and Iran with legitimacy and recognition that is just not acceptable. This regime supports Hizballah, supports the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Israel, sponsors violence and unrest in Iraq, plots war with Syria, is permanently trying to export its Islamic Revolution, a central doctrine of its Foreign Policy, undermines stability throughout the Middle East, is trying to establish itself as a regional nuclear-armed super-power and executes, tortures and oppresses its own people in ways to barbaric to describe.

This regime is beyond the pale, it’s a repulsive scar on humanity and the face of the earth and yet its representative to the world is just allowed to stroll into the U.N. and spout any propaganda and nonsense he likes. I just do not understand what is happening to this world.

Islamists Plan War in Somalia

2006-09-20T21:20:00.000+03:00

The Islamists who are currently in control of Mogadishu and other parts of southern Somalia reinforced their neo-Taliban credentials by declaring that they would lauch a jihad against any foreign peace-keepers. As mentioned previously on the Cantankerous Camel, the ruling faction in Somalia, the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, is a new Afghanistan in the making and its violent jihadi tendencies are coming to the fore. Watch this space.

It should be pointed out that the countries who are supposed to comprise this peace-keeping force are Sudan, which has butchered millions of its own citizens in the south and west of Sudan and Uganda which only in August of this year tentatively ended a disgusting and brutal rebelion by the "Lords Resistance Army" which lasted nineteen years.

'The Islamic militia that controls much of southern Somalia said Tuesday it will train students for holy war against foreign peacekeepers, an ominous development amid fears that a Taliban-style regime is emerging in the country.'

'"We will fight a jihad (holy war) against them and we will train our students in military tactics', said Fuad Mohammed Kalaf, an education official for the Islamic militia".'

The Pope and all that

2006-09-20T21:15:00.000+03:00

The Sandmonkey sums up the preposterous reaction to Pope Benedict XVI's Speech where he quoted a Byzantine Emperor of the 14th Century criticising Muhammad

"In order to refute such lying claims, and to prove that muslims are peacefull people after all, muslims all over have decided to act violently"

The UN's Shaming in Darfur

2006-09-19T19:11:00.000+03:00

David Aaronovitch in The Times discusses the world's failure to stop the Sudanese genocide of Darfurians.

Between 65,000 and 255,000 people in Darfur have died and another million and a half are now exiles. Yet we’ve known about all this for years. Where has the outrage been?

Michael Moore, the [Liberal Democrats'] foreign affairs spokesman, “took up the post in March 2006, and is a leading campaigner against the Government’s Iraq policies” and not much else. “Latest news from Michael Moore”, as of yesterday, included slagging off the Government over Afghanistan and Iraq and slagging Israel off over Lebanon. On Darfur — zip.

But surely the Stop the War Campaign wants the Sudanese Government’s war on its own people stopped? The front page mentions Iraq 11 times, Afghanistan 5 times, Lebanon 5, Darfur 0.

A better question, though, might be about what has happened to the Start the War Campaign — we muscular liberals and others who said “Never again” after Rwanda, but have since been watching “Again” happening in the Sudan.

This week the United Nations must insist that Sudan accept the UN force, or we must accept that the UN can offer no protection from genocide.

SPEECHLESS

2006-09-19T19:03:00.000+03:00

Ha'aretz reports that terrorists, "without blood on their hands", freed in the past as part of "confidence-building gestures" on behalf of Israel committed fourteen terrorists attacks and killed 132 Israeli civilians in recent years.

This is indescribable irresponsibility from Israeli governments and it makes me sick to my stomach to think that worthless political gestures to invertate terrorists led to the deaths of innocent people in Israel.

The utterly tragic and despicable thing is that Israel is as we speak negotiating a mass transfer of Palestinian prisoners.

"The organization [Almagor Terror Victims Association] issued a list of 14 major attacks carried out or engineered by released terrorists, including the 2002 Park Hotel attack in Netanya (29 killed, 155 injured), the 2002 Karkur Junction attack (14 killed, 42 injured), the suicide attack at Jerusalem's Cafit Cafe (11 killed, 20 injured), and the 2003 suicide attack at Cafe Hillel, also in Jerusalem, in which seven people were killed and many more were injured".

Gazans Wise Up

2006-09-19T18:58:00.000+03:00

People in Gaza seem to finally be understanding who the root cause of their problems is. After numerous and disgustingly cynical attacks on the Karni goods crossing from Gaza to Israel by Palestinian terrorists, icluding Hamas, aimed at forcing Israel to close the crossing and increase Palestinian poverty and thus anger against Israel, a group of Gaza businesses called on the terrorists to stop attacking the crossing.

"We are the ones who gave (Israel) the reasons and opportunities to close the crossing points," Qidwa said.

"Without security, there can be no crossing points," he added, stressing that the blockade had forced many companies to transfer their activities abroad.

The business groups said the situation had "completely paralysed the industrial, agricultural and construction sectors and caused many companies and workshops that provide work for 30,000 people to close."

Churchill on Islamic Fundamentalism

2006-09-19T18:47:00.000+03:00

Check out this very good speech by Winston Churchill's grandson...Winston S. Churchill, made to the Jewish National Fund of Australia. Follwing are some nice excerpts, the full article can be found here .

Without hesitation, I concluded that I would grab whatever weapon might come into my hands and fight at the side of the Israelis.

It is clear that the writing is on the wall for Judeo-Christian Europe, as we have known it over the past 2,000 years. Why are the alarm-bells not ringing? Can it be that we would sooner commit national suicide than risk being labelled 'politically incorrect'? Can anyone imagine a comparable situation in reverse being tolerated in Saudi Arabia? The answer is so self-evident, it needs no response.

On 14 June 1921, hard on the heels of the Cairo Conference, at which he [Winston Churchill] presided over the re-shaping of the Middle East, including the creation of modern day Iraq, he warned the House of Commons:

'A large number of [Saudi Arabia's King] Bin Saud's followers belong to the Wahabi sect, a form of Mohammedanism which bears, roughly speaking, the same relationship to orthodox Islam as the most militant form of Calvinism would have borne to Rome in the fiercest times of [Europe's] religious wars.

The Wahabis profess a life of exceeding austerity, and what they practice themselves they rigorously enforce on others. They hold it as an article of duty, as well as of faith, to kill all who do not share their opinions and to make slaves of their wives and children. Women have been put to death in Wahabi villages for simply appearing in the streets.

2006-09-17T22:06:00.000+03:00

Blaming the Jews - Hate in Islam (Part 1)

Very interesting documentary on Muslim attitudes to Jews. You can see the rest of the video in parts 2,3 and 4 at You Tube and check out Right Conservative for his take.

Palestinians Attack Churches in West Bank and Gaza

2006-09-17T21:35:00.000+03:00

A bunch of thugs have used the Pope's recent speech as an excuse to attack churches. I just don't get it. Why is it that this behaviour is acceptable; that Muslim's go nuts everytime someone says something that annoys them. If the Dhimmis attacked Mosques everytime some Muslim leader said something about the infidel Crusaders and Zionists, there wouldn't be that many mosques left. What I can't wait for is the Christian clegy in Israel and the shtachim to start blaming these attacks on "the occupation".

Europeans Shirk International Responsibilities - Old News I Know

2006-09-13T22:51:00.000+03:00

I am continually amazed by the cowardice and degeneracy of European governments. They act on the international stage as important diplomatic powers but when they have to step up to the plate and take concrete action, it’s a whole other question.

The Taliban are growing ever stronger in southern Afghanistan and NATO desperately needs greater numbers to counter this threat. When this troop increase was requested guess who refused; France, naturally, Spain and Italy being among some of the other culprits. Even the troops they’ve already got their are mostly on peace-keeping missions in the relatively stable north while the Americans are left to do the actual fighting down south. Well we wouldn’t want the Europeans to get their lovely uniforms dirty now would we?

The Europeans should make up their minds; are they committed to international stability or not. If yes then send troops to trouble spots when needed, as they are so badly in southern Afghanistan. If no then they should shut their bloody traps and not deign to venture an opinion on international affairs.

Treason in Israel

2006-09-10T22:35:00.000+03:00

Arab MKs visited the totalitarian, Hizballah and general terrorist-supporting, Iranian-allied, war-mongering state of Syria recently in defiance of Israeli law which forbids MKs from visiting an enemy state. A criminal investigation has now been ordered of the three Arab MKs who made the visit. One of them, Azmi Bashara, told the Syrian news agency Sana ‘we are friends of Syria and we will continue to maintain ties with her on a national level, as is our known stance’,

Interior Minister Roni Bar-On on Sunday called on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to recall the passports of three Arabs lawmakers who visited Syria without seeking permission from the government.

At Bar-On's request, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered a criminal investigation be opened against Balad MKs Azmi Bashara, Jamal Zahalka and Wassel Taha over their recent visit to Syria.

See full article here