Category Archives: Israel

Iran, Israel, War on Iran

Netanyahu and Young Frankenstein: Cartoon War ‘Head’, Ahmadinejad as the Road Runner………

   

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                      Young Frankenstien?                               Old Netanyahu


The Natanyahu cartoon show is over at the UN, but the gushing continues in U.S. media. He wowed much of the American media: most of them thought his silly little cartoon of a nuclear program was the best thing since, oh, the iPod. The chicks on MSNBC and Fox both thought he was the most divine thing since Justin Bieber, albeit a bit long in the teeth. The chicks on CNN News were especially reduced to jelly by the graph and especially by the red magic-market line around the “head” (I didn’t see Wolf Blitzer at that moment). Let’s don’t forget the fat symbolism of the war-head with the red curve around the “head”. Nobody seemed to understand that the hustler of Tel Aviv was disrespecting them with his silly cartoon, insulting their intelligence. But that is okay: he was aiming at the American public and its penchant for momentary symbolism.
I didn’t
see an “ACME” logo on the device, but I almost expected one. As I watched him deliver his silly cartoon explanation, and I expected any moment to hear “beep, beep” and Ahmadinejad zooming by as the Road Runner, upending his graph, spilling a lot of snake oil. Now that calls for war: a cartoon war.

One thing about Netanyahu: he has been prime minister of Israel for several years. In the 1990s, then in the 2000s. Israel has waged two wars since the late 1990s (2006, 2009/10), yet none of them involved Netanyahu as leader. He has never waged a major war in his years as leader. That is a good sign.

Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel

Shimon Perez and Ahmadinejad Squabble over Common History………….

   

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“Israeli President Shimon Peres offered his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a history lesson on Thursday, saying his lack of knowledge about the region was an embarrassment. “It was an embarrassing speech which showed a deep historical ignorance with regard to the deep historical connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel,” he said, adding that Ahmadinejad did not even know the history of his Persian ancestors. The name Israel first appeared at the end of the late Bronze Age and Israelite tribes were living in the area more than 3,000 years ago, archaeologists say. Shortly after 600 B.C., Babylonian forces swept through the lands and forced Jews into exile and captivity. But in 538 B.C. the Persians in turn conquered Babylon and King Cyrus let the Jews return to their old homeland. “Around 2,500 years ago King Cyrus, the King of Persia, granted the Jewish people led by Ezra and Nechamia the right to return to Israel and to rebuild their home. The Jews lived on the land of Israel for thousands of years and there is no lie or leader that can remove chapters of history,”…………….”

Shimon Perez is right of course, about the history. He is also wrong in claiming that Ahmadinejad is ignorant of the history. The history is all there in the old testament. Some of it is even in the Quran. Ahmadinejad also knows the history: he is not really questioning the history. He may question the more recent history, better-documented with living eye-witnesses, the history of the Holocaust, but not holy ancient history. Even someone like Bin laden would not contest that history.
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel

Stop the Presses! Change of Plans: Iran-Israel War in is On Again………..

   

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“An Iranian military official has warned that military conflict between Iran and Israel could “turn into World War III.” He added that if Israel “is putting the final touches on attacking Iran,” a preemptive strike against Tel Aviv would ensue.
Israel “cannot imagine” the force of Iran’s response if Tel Aviv attacks it, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told Iran’s Arabic-language television network. “It will sustain heavy damage and that will be a prelude to its obliteration,”he said. Hajizadeh added that Iran does not see this happening at the moment because he does not believe that Israel will conduct an attack without its strongest ally – the United States. If America does decide to back an Israeli plan to strike Iran, Hejizadeh insists Tehran will retaliate against both Tel Aviv and Washington. “Tehran will definitely attack US bases in Bahrain, Qatar and Afghanistan…there will be no neutral country in the region,” Hajizadeh said. “To us, these bases are equal to US soil.” The statement comes after the head of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said that a war between Iran and Israel “will eventually happen.” Jafari did not speculate on a possible date or location of the war. ………….”

Some of these Iranians must have been listening and reading what Israeli officials have been saying since, oh, at least 1992. I posted on that here, and others have written about it. That they claim they would like to attack them at some point, not clear when, depending on how much prayers are performed in some royal palaces of the Middle East. That the Israeli leaders want a war and are not afraid to ask the Americans for it.
So, change of plans. Stop the presses, forget what I wrote in my previous posting. The war is back on track. Not only that, it is aiming at no less than World War III. Or maybe the Armageddon.
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel

Iranians Declare Israel is not a Threat: Will the Tehran Embassy be Reopened?……….

   

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“The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has said that the Zionist regime no longer constitutes a threat to Iran. “Today, we have crossed the boundary of concern about the threats of the Zionist regime,” Brigadier General Hossein Salami stated in an interview published on Sepah News, which is the official website of the IRGC, on Sunday. “Israel has bitter memories of confrontation with regional (allies) of the Islamic Republic during the wars of the past decade. Now, how can it be a threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran?” Salami added, “Only a single infantry battalion of ours would be able to break the back of this regime, which only has a width of 24 kilometers in some areas, in a day.” “Iran has reached such a zenith that an attack on it is no longer put on the political agenda of the superpowers. The level of deterrence has risen to the extent that the idea of starting and imposing another war no longer exists in the mind and belief of all the major powers, and Islamic Iran is a known great power,” he said……………”

Okay, the Israelis are no danger to Iran anymore. I could have told this general a long time ago. I could also have told him to study the history of the Arab-Israeli wars, from before 1948 until now (leave out the 2006 war of Lebanon, that was exceptional defeat). So what does all this mean? Resumption of diplomatic relations? Full speed toward the nuclear bomb as Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and Don Rickles would claim? Can the Iranians breathe easier now that they have one less threat?
What about Dhahi Khalfan’s threat to storm the Persian beaches and re-establish true Islam for the second time? (FYI: Dhahi Khalfan is the Chief of Police of Dubai and UAE shadow foreign minister and shadow head of the UAE CIA and chief of the UAE Revolutionary Guard Corps (UAE RGC), among other things).
They also underestimated the Spartans so long ago (the Persians not the UAE), and eventually paid a price.
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, Libya

Breaking News: Netanyahu to Blame Iran’s Qassem Suleimani for Libya Terror Attack……….

   

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Breaking News: There are reports from my unreliable sources in Israel that Benyamin Netanyahu may announce later today that Iran is responsible for the murders of American diplomats in Libya. He will reportedly point the finger (you guess which finger) toward Qassem Suleimani of the Quds Brigade of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). Netanyahu will quote an anonymous reporter of the New York Times who will be quoting an anonymous Israeli official who will quote a high Arab official in close contact with the Free Syrian Army. Brigadier General Suleimani will, as usual, decline to comment.
My Republican source in Berkeley (CA) also reports that Mitt Romney may jump the gun and publicly declare his support for Natanyahu’s pointed finger before the Israeli prime minister makes his announcement.
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Netanyahu Trying to Blackmail Obama, Help Romney in U.S. Elections……………..

   

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“The White House has rejected a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet President Barack Obama in the United States this month, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, after a row erupted between the allies over Iran’s nuclear programme. An Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu’s aides had asked for a meeting when he visits the United Nations this month, and “the White House has got back to us and said it appears a meeting is not possible. It said that the president’s schedule will not permit that“…………”

Whining again. You’ve got to hand it to Netanyahu: as far as hitting low and dirty, he never disappoints. Even as he whines. This is clearly an attempt to blackmail Obama weeks before the presidential, and to give the Republican right-wing new ammunition for the campaign. I would not be surprised if this was closely coordinated with the Romney campaign. In fact I am almost certain this is the case. It is unlikely to sway many Jewish voters, but the name of the game is either Florida or cornering Obama into a promise to wage an unprovoked internationally illegal war of aggression in the Middle East. Most people in the Muslim and Arab world see it that way.
Will it work? It needn’t work: Romney looks set to defeat himself in the November elections. Yet he may get his wish to meet Obama.
 Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Tale of Netanyahu and the Red Line: Is It a Small World After All?………

   

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“It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears.
It’s a world of hopes and a world of fears.
There’s so much that we share, that it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all…..
” Disneyland Anthem.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday launched an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government over its stance on the Iranian nuclear program. “The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday. “Now if Iran knows that there is no red line….…….”

Except the world is not telling Netahyahu “wait, there’s still time”. The world is telling him that an unprovoked attack on another country is an act of aggression, illegal according to international law. Just like Hitler’s attack on Poland was in 1939 (to use one of his most often evoked monstrous characters). The “world” is almost seven billion people who are not quite represented by a few right-wing kooks and spineless politicians in the U.S. Congress, certainly not represented by Joe Lieberman or Bugs Bunny.
Netanyahu is telling the “world”, his “world”: “let me at him, I wanna get him. Please hold me back, I don’t wanna a hurt him“. It is getting almost tedious, boring, if it were not so dangerous. Now, if you feel that you are in the Red Zone, Bibi, then go for the TD, to use a favorite fall Sunday term. Otherwise, it is time for Bibi to STFU (a k a ShutTheFuckUp). Saying it politely, of course.
Cheers
 mhg
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Israel, Palestine, U.S. Politics

Oh Romney, Oh Jerusalem, Oh Jesus Holy Christ Obama……………..

   

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“But the standard rationale for treating Jerusalem’s status as uncertain is that the partition plan designated it as an internationally ruled “corpus separatum.” Neither America nor anyone else is consistent on this point, either. In a last blast of imperialism, the corpus separatum was mapped to avoid Jewish or Muslim rule over Christian sites. ………….. I suspect that if Mitt Romney is elected, he will be absolutely irresponsible about cutting taxes on the rich and ballooning the deficit—but I don’t think he is reckless enough to move the American embassy to Jerusalem before a peace agreement. Doing so would remove the last shred of American credibility in the Arab world. It might very well ignite a new intifada, which—trust me—would not be healthy for those of us who live in Jerusalem. How many Americans will vote based on what the Democratic platform says about the Jerusalem? You can count them on your thumbs. This may be the most ideologically stark American election since 1932, if not since 1860. Most American Jews will vote for Obama. If they are worried about Israel, they will notice that Obama has upped funding for Israeli missile defense, vetoed U.N. resolutions criticizing Israel, and kept Benjamin Netanyahu from launching a disastrous attack on Iran. The minority of Jews who support Romney don’t care if the Democrats put the entire Israeli national anthem in their platform, in Hebrew. Most evangelicals will vote Romney, and are similarly unconcerned about whether “Jerusalem”—or “God”—is in the Democratic platform ……………..”

This whole quadrennial noise (it is just noise) in U.S. politics about Israel and Jerusalem is aimed at two American constituencies this fall. The first one, the Jewish voters, will continue to vote heavily Democratic, partly because they can smell demagoguery in disguise and their whole “modern” history screams against it (at least when it is non-Jewish demagoguery). Maybe a few elderly migrant voters in Florida can be terrified and swayed, which is one possibly useful target. The second receptive constituency is the Evangelicals and Bible-belters who will not vote for Obama in any case, even if his name were Jesus Holy Christ (with or without the ‘Obama’).
Come to think of it, the same Evangelical Bible-belters would probably vote against Jesus Christ himself, once they see how he is dressed, how he speaks and, more important, what he preaches.

Cheers
mhg
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Arab Politics, Egypt, Iraq, Israel

Muslim Brothers and Israelis: Their Land from the Tigris to Beyond the Nile……….

   

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“A delegation from the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood and its political party visited the headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party Saturday to meet with FJP leaders. The meeting was attended by Ayad al-Samarrai, secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party; Saad al-Katatny, former speaker of Egypt’s People’s Assembly; and Essam al-Erian, acting head of the FJP. Samarrai, who also serves as the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, said he came to Egypt to visit a number of political leaders, including President Mohamed Morsy, as well as Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb and Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie……… He added that the delegation explained to the FJP the Iraqi initiative to resolve the crisis in Syria…..……”

There is allegedly a quote, an alleged quote, supposedly inscribed outside the Israeli Knesset that says something to the effect that (roughly): “Your land, O Israel, is from the banks of the Nile to the Tigris River (or is it the Euphrates, or both?)……” This quote has been widely repeated for decades in the Arab world to indicate that Israel has expansionary ambitions that includes territory well beyond the historic land of Palestine. I have never seen this quote so I can’t vouch for it, but it has been quoted by Arab politicians frequently, especially by the late Yasser Arafat.
 
This Iraqi visit to Cairo was a sightseeing one, for other Muslim Brothers to inspect their new Egyptian acquisition. Now there is no doubt that the Muslim Brotherhood is realizing its own long ambitions to control the Arab lands well beyond this Euphrates-Nile boundary. In fact it is trying to, maybe it is poised to, control the Arab world from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian-American Gulf. With a few exceptions in Iraq and Lebanon and maybe Syria, maybe.
Now, to be truly Iraqi the delegation should have included representatives of the Sadrist current, the Da’awa Party, the KDP (Kurdish), PUK (without an “E” but also Kurdish), the Kurdish Donkey (Ass) Party (it exists but is widely ignored for some reason), PKK, and the Emir of the Un-Islamic State of Iraq  who can be Saudi or Egyptian or Libyan or Sudani…………

(These Samarrais, several of them, and other Islamists, served the Baath Party under Saddam quite well, thankyouverymuch. Now that the dictator is dead they, are suddenly rediscovering that they are really Muslims. Not just any Muslims, but Sunni Muslims. Not just any Sunni Muslims, but Muslim Brothers, with a few wild bomb-strapping Salafis thrown in for flavoring).
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, United Nations International Organizations

New York New York: Ahmadinejad’s Last Hurrah in Seeb e Buzurg…………….

   

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“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is preparing to make his final visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York as president of Iran, where he is scheduled to speak at the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Mojtaba Hashemi-Samareh, the senior advisor of President Ahmadinejad, said on Wednesday, “As this is the last appearance for Mr. Ahmadinejad at the United Nations, he will present a summary of his visits and speeches over the past eight years.” As the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Ahmadinejad will also submit a report on the 16th NAM Summit, which was held in Tehran in August. This will be the eighth consecutive year that Ahmadinejad has attended the annual UN General Assembly session………..”


What this senior adviser meant to say was that “this is the last chance for the Big Apple (seeb e buzurg سیب بزرگ in Persian; التفاحة الكبيرة in Arabic; Beeg Apple in some other tongue) to enjoy the company of Ahmadinejad. After that, they won’t have him to kick around anymore, to plagiarize a Nixon phrase. Unless the mayor loses it and decides to invite him for a private visit in the future.
I have been pondering this point (for about 3 minutes): the departure of Ahamdinejad. The end of an era. Will we, the world at large, miss him after he has to hand over the office next July? Who will Bibi Netanyahu have to accommodate him? I mean Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, and Rosenberg are all dead, long gone. Without Ahmadinejad, he will have to find a new bête noire, a new alibi if he wants to stay in power and talk many American Jews out of their money.
It all depends on who is elected to replace Ahmadinejad. If it is a cleric, then Netanyahu will have plenty of fuel to play with. So will the Saudis, come to think of it. All they have to do is show a photo of a scowling new leader (unless he is a mirthful cleric). Ever notice how Ahmadinejad is always smiling? Yet he has managed to make himself quite a few enemies in the West; imagine what a scowling ayatollah can do.
Of one thing I am certain: his will be the only UN speech this year listened to by a large world audience and broadcast live by most news networks (especially in the USA).

Cheers
mhg
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