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30 nov 2012
US Senate Threatens Sanctions Against P.A.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that the United States Senate threatened to block all funding to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) in the West Bank should the Palestinians decide to sue Israel for war crimes at the International Court.
Senators Lindsey Olin Graham, John Barrasso, Charles (Chuck) Schumer and Bob Menendez stated that the Palestinian Authority should not sue Israel should they join the International Criminal Court, and that President Mahmoud Abbas must go back to the negotiation table with Israel, and if they sue Israel, the United States will block all funding.
The senators also threatened to shut down the office of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington D.C. should the P.A. refrain from resuming peace talks with Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the United States Department of State, stated that “the path to peace between Israel and the Palestinians passes through Jerusalem and Ramallah, and not through the United Nations”.
Nuland added that the United States wants all parties to return to the negotiation table regardless of the UN vote.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, reiterated the American stance rejecting the UN vote and all steps that she regarded as “unilateral”.
The Palestinian bid for a nonmember state status at the United Nations General Assembly passed Thursday by 138 votes, while only 9 countries voted against and 41 countries abstained.
As expected, the United States and Israel voted against the bid in addition to Panama, the marshal Islands, the Czech Republic, Micronesia, Palau and Nauru.
Following the vote, thousands of Palestinians took off to the streets celebrating the vote outcome raising Palestinian flags, pictures of President Mahmoud Abbas, and chanted for liberation and for unity among all Palestinian factions.
- 20 sept 2012
Top Palestinian condemns Romney’s remarks on Palestine
A top aide to acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has accused US Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney of dashing hopes of peace in the Middle East.
Saeb Erakat was reacting on Thursday to recent scandalous remarks by Romney who said Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever” in peace.
"No one stands to gain more from peace than the Palestinians, and no one stands to lose from the absence of peace like the Palestinians," the Associated Press quoted Erekat as saying.
In a video footage secretly taken from a donor speech on Tuesday, Romney said: “Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.”
Erekat noted that Romney’s remarks implied his support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, saying he is "working against democracy and peace".
Another senior Palestinian figure said on Tuesday that Romney’s comments were “absolutely unacceptable” and accused him of spending all of his time “pandering to the Israeli Lobby.”
“He seems to think of himself as a mind reader since he claims to know what Palestinian intentions are,” Hanan Ashrawi said.
Actress sues California man linked to anti-Muslim film
LONDON (Reuters) -- An actress in an anti-Islam film that triggered violent protests across the Muslim world sued a California man linked to the film on Wednesday, accusing him of duping her into appearing in the video she had been led to believe was a desert adventure movie.
Actress Cindy Lee Garcia also named Google Inc and its YouTube unit, where the film was posted on the Internet, as defendants in the case, citing invasion of privacy and other allegations. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court also requested that the film be removed from the Internet.
Sudan orders YouTube block over anti-Islam film
KHARTOUM (Reuters) -- Sudan has ordered the blocking of access to the YouTube website to prevent people watching a film that insults Prophet Mohammad, a senior government official said Wednesday.
YouTube owner Google Inc. has already blocked access to the film in Egypt, Libya, India and Indonesia after deadly protests in several countries, but it has rejected a request by the White House to pull it from the site altogether.
The film "Innocence of Muslims", clips of which were posted on the Internet, portrays the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer and has provoked an outcry among Muslims and triggered violent attacks on embassies across North Africa and the Middle East.
The Sudanese government decided to block YouTube after failing to remove the film, Azz el-Din Kamel, head of the country's telecommunications authority told Reuters.
"We sent a letter to Google on Saturday requesting to remove the film that insults Prophet Mohammed from YouTube but when we didn't get any response we tried blocking the film," he said.
"Since blocking the film faced some difficulties we were forced to block the entire YouTube website. This freeze will stay in place until the film gets blocked from the site," he said.
Reuters in Khartoum was unable to open YouTube on Wednesday.
For many Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous and caricatures or other characterizations have in the past provoked protests across the Muslim world
28 sep 2012, 00:17 , Respect -
Maria 23 sept 2012
Egypt's Morsi calls on U.S. to make good on its commitment to Palestinian self-rule
If Egypt is to keep its Camp David commitments to Israel, America should also make good on its commitments from 1978, the Egyptian president explained.
On the eve of his first flight to the United States, where he will attend the United Nations General Assembly, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi called on the U.S. to make good on its commitment to Palestinian self-rule.
In an interview with the New York Times, published Saturday night, Morsi equated Egypt's commitment to peace with Israel to the U.S. commitment to the Palestinians.
“As long as peace and justice are not fulfilled for the Palestinians, then the treaty remains unfulfilled,” he said.
Morsi told the New York Times that it was up to America to revitalize its relations with the Arab world, relations that according to him have been strained by the fact that “successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region” by supporting Israel over the Palestinians and backing oppressive regimes.
Morsi praised U.S. President Barack Obama for "decisively and quickly” supporting the Arab Spring that brought him to power, adding that in doing so the U.S. was supporting “the right of the people of the region to enjoy the same freedoms that Americans have.”
Morsi rejected criticism that he didn't condemn the protesters who recently climbed over the U.S. Embassy walls and burned an American flag in rage over the YouTube video that has been inflaming the Arab world.
“We took our time,” he explained to the New York Times in order to avoid a violent response, but then "decisively” dealt with what the small and violent group of demonstrators. Morsi stressed that the embassy staff was never in danger.
“We can never condone this kind of violence, but we need to deal with the situation wisely,” he said.
Report: U.S. to take Iran group MEK off terror list
Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization seen inside the Liberty refugee camp in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012
Obama administration has demanded the group, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, leave its paramilitary base in Iraq in return for its removal from list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The Obama administration will remove an Iranian militant group formerly allied with Saddam Hussein from the U.S. terrorism list, officials said Friday, describing a move that will infuriate Tehran and end years of high-profile campaigning from the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will notify Congress of her intent later Friday, the officials said. A court order had given her until Oct. 1 to make a decision. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about the matter.
Clinton's decision comes just days after the last big batch of the Iranian exiles reluctantly left their decades-old paramilitary base in northeastern Iraq, relocating for now to a refugee camp outside Baghdad. The U.S. had demanded that the MEK's 3,000 members comply with an Iraqi demand to leave Camp Ashraf as a condition of being removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Derided by its critics as a cult, the group has journeyed through multiple countries and the shifting alliances of the Middle East over its four-decade history. It helped Islamic clerics overthrow Iran's shah before carrying out a series of bombings and assassinations against the Iranian regime. It then fought in the 1980s alongside Hussein's forces in the Iran-Iraq war, but disarmed after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. And it has since suffered violent recriminations from Iraq's new Shiite-dominated government.
The decision to strike the MEK off the list rested on two factors: whether it still had the capacity and the intent to commit acts of terror. Several American military officials and defense contractors were killed by the MEK in the 1970s, U.S. officials maintain, and its attacks have claimed the lives of hundreds of Iranians. But the group insisted that it forswore violence more than a decade ago and now only seeks a peaceful overthrow of Iran's theocratic regime.
And it assembled a high-profile roster of champions, including several retired generals and Cabinet members, even as it remained on the U.S. terrorism blacklist. Luminaries who've advocated for the MEK to be delisted include the Bush administration's attorney general, Michael Mukasey, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and President Barack Obama's first national security adviser, Gen. James Jones.
That led the Treasury Department earlier this year to examine whether the officials were providing illegal material support to designated terrorists -- a civil inquiry that would likely be nullified now. Removal from the list also should make it easier for the MEK to raise money and recruit in the United States.
The organization is far from Iran's mainstream opposition, however.
The group has an ideology mixing Marxism, secularism, an obsession with martyrdom and near adoration of its leaders. A 2009 report by the security think tank RAND accuses it of fraudulent recruiting as well as "authoritarian control, confiscation of assets, sexual control (including mandatory divorce and celibacy), emotional isolation, forced labor, sleep deprivation, physical abuse and limited exit options."
MEK supporters say this is Iranian propaganda, pointing to several former members who've freely left the group.
It also vehemently rejects the Iranian accusation that members have worked with Israel to assassinate several Iranian nuclear scientists. U.S. officials back that claim, saying there is no evidence to suggest recent terrorist activity by the group.
U.S. officials said Clinton's letter to Congress would not amount to a final designation. That will probably come in a couple of weeks as officials unfreeze assets held by the group in the United States and other legal work that might allow it to open a U.S. office.
Camp Ashraf is not yet fully closed. An estimated 200 exiles remain there to try to sell off the property that was left behind in the move, but Iraq's government wants them to leave quickly.
The hostility of Baghdad's Shiite leaders reflect its desire to build stronger ties with Iran, but also the deep hatred for the group in Iraq because of its purported role in helping Hussein crush Shia and Kurdish revolts in the 1990s.
When the MEK handed over its hundreds of tanks and artillery pieces to U.S. forces, the Bush administration agreed to protect the group and posted soldiers and a general at the camp for years. The army and the MEK even worked on joint patrols and other emergency plans.
But for Iraqi authorities the camp remained a no-go zone. In effect, the MEK attempted to defend a sovereign zone inside the post-Hussein Iraq, which U.S. officials say contributed to violence.
An Iraqi raid last year left 34 exiles dead.
The MEK has shown footage of the atrocities and gained U.S. support. But it said it needed the administration to act because the terrorist label helped Iraqi authorities justify mistreatment of its members and made it harder for residents to find permanent homes in other nations.
Most of its members are now in Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base designed as a compromise way-station for the United Nations to speed them out of Iraq peacefully. Several governments are weighing whether to accept them. Washington could allow the immigration of some, but none that were actively involved in terrorist attacks from the 1970s-1990s, officials have said.
After suffering a crackdown under Iran's monarchy, the MEK helped Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.
It then quickly fell out with Khomeini, and thousands of its followers were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile. It launched its campaign of assassinations and bombings against Iran's government in retaliation. The U.S. declared it a terrorist organization in 1997 at a time when Washington sought warmer relations with Tehran under the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami.
Yet the group also has provided the Americans with intelligence on Iran and convinced many governments that it has abandoned terrorism. In 2002, it revealed Iran's secret work on uranium enrichment near the city of Natanz -- intelligence that many speculated came from Israel's Mossad.
And it claims to have a strong network of sympathizers and informants inside Iran. But would-be reformers have distanced themselves from the movement. And the Green Movement that protested after the 2009 fraud-riddled re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly shunned the MEK.
Still, the group presses on with its goal of replacing the Iranian regime with a democratic, secular government. It says its parliament in exile includes Kurds, Baluchis, Armenians, Jews and Zoroastrians.
Since the MEK cannot operate legally in the U.S., it lobbies its cause through several front organizations. Maryam Rajavi is the ostensible head of the whole movement from the France headquarters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Her husband, Massoud, was the MEK's leader before he disappeared in Baghdad nine years ago. He is presumed dead.
Sabri warns against the continuing global campaigns against Islam
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, Chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem and preacher at the Al-Aqsa, warned against the ongoing anti-Muslim campaign in US and Europe under the pretext of freedom of speech.
The American film and the French cartoons, that insult the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, would lend more ground to normalizing the growing intolerance towards Muslims and to hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world, Sheikh Sabri explained in a statement on Saturday.
Islam is a moderate religion that respects others' religions and beliefs and rights, Sheikh Sabri added, stressing the tolerant principles of Islam.
Sheikh Ikrima called on the Arab and Islamic countries to hold an urgent conference in order to enact an international law prohibits insulting religions through the United Nations.
4 oct 2012, 10:30 , Respect -
Maria 27 sept 2012
Assange mocks Obama via video at UN event
By Brian Winter
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking via a choppy video feed from his virtual house arrest in London, lashed out at US President Barack Obama on Wednesday for supporting freedom of speech in the Middle East while simultaneously "persecuting" his organization for leaking diplomatic cables.
Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy since June to avoid extradition, made the comments at a packed event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Assange mocked Obama for defending free speech in the Arab world in an address to the United Nations on Tuesday, pointing to his own experience as evidence that Obama has "done more to criminalize free speech than any other US president."
"It must have come as a surprise to the Egyptian teenagers who washed American tear gas out of their eyes (during the Arab Spring) to hear that the US supported change in the Middle East," Assange said.
"It's time for President Obama to keep his word ... and for the US to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks," he said.
Assange's combative comments, plus statements made by Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and his other allies at the event, suggested no solution is in sight to the diplomatic standoff surrounding the 41-year-old Australian.
British authorities have surrounded the Ecuadorean Embassy and said if Assange sets foot outside, they will arrest him and extradite him to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations.
Assange's lawyers and Ecuador's government fear that could lead in turn to extradition to the United States, where they say he would face "inhumane" prison conditions and even the death penalty.
Assange, who looked to be in good health as he sat at a desk in front of a bookshelf and addressed the 150 or so people at the event, said Britain and Sweden have so far refused to provide guarantees he would not be extradited to the United States.
US and European government sources have countered that the United States has issued no criminal charges or launched any attempts to extradite Assange.
In Britain's court
Patino is scheduled to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in New York on Thursday to discuss Assange, and he said there are "multiple paths" that could lead out of the standoff. Yet, in an interview with Reuters following the UN event, Patino made clear that Ecuador is not willing to cede much ground.
"The ball's in their court right now," Patino said.
Patino held in his hands a mimeographed copy of an 1880 agreement signed between Britain and Ecuador, which he said prohibits extradition in cases such as Assange's. He said he would show the document to Hague on Thursday.
Patino rigorously defended Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Assange, expressing disbelief that Britain is "determined" to arrest the former computer hacker even though he said there are no criminal charges against him. "This means you have reason to suspect he's being persecuted," Patino said.
He said Assange is in relatively good spirits but expressed concern his physical and psychological condition could deteriorate.
"I think of myself, how I'd react in that situation, not being able to go outside, being isolated," Patino said. "It's practically like being jailed."
4 oct 2012, 10:42 , Respect -
Maria 3 oct 2012
Sensitive documents left behind at U.S. diplomatic post in Libya
BENGHAZI, Libya — More than three weeks after attacks in this city killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, sensitive documents remained only loosely secured in the wreckage of the U.S. mission on Wednesday, offering visitors easy access to delicate information about American operations in Libya.
Documents detailing weapons collection efforts, emergency evacuation protocols, the full internal itinerary of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’s trip and the personnel records of Libyans who were contracted to secure the mission were among the items scattered across the floors of the looted compound when a Washington Post reporter and an interpreter visited Wednesday.
The discovery further complicates efforts by the Obama administration to respond to what has rapidly become a major foreign-policy issue just weeks before the election. Republicans have accused Obama of having left U.S. diplomatic compounds in Muslim-majority nations insufficiently protected on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and have questioned the security preparations ahead of assaults on embassies in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Sudan. Capitol Hill critics have also pressed for an explanation for the slow pace of the investigation that has followed the attack in Benghazi.
Although the gates to the Benghazi compound were locked several days after the attacks, looters and curiosity-seekers were free to roam in the initial chaotic aftermath, and many documents may have disappeared.
No government-provided security forces are guarding the compound, and Libyan investigators have visited just once, according to a member of the family who owns the compound and who allowed the journalists to enter Wednesday.
Two private security guards paid for by the compound’s Libyan owner are the only people watching over the sprawling site, which is composed of two adjoining villa complexes and protected in some places by a wall only eight feet high.
“Securing the site has obviously been a challenge,” Mark Toner, deputy spokesman at the State Department, said in response to questions about conditions at the Benghazi compound. “We had to evacuate all U.S. government personnel the night of the attack. After the attack, we requested help securing the site, and we continue to work with the Libyan government on this front.”
State Department officials were provided with copies of some of the documents found at the site. They did not request that the documents be withheld from publication.
None of the documents were marked classified, but this is not the first time that sensitive documents have been found by journalists in the charred wreckage of the compound. CNN discovered a copy of the ambassador’s journal last month and broadcast details from it, drawing an angry response from the State Department. Unlike the journal, all of the documents seen by The Post were official.
At least one document found amid the clutter indicates that Americans at the mission were discussing the possibility of an attack in early September, just two days before the assault took place. The document is a memorandum dated Sept. 9 from the U.S. mission’s security office to the 17th February Martyrs Brigade, the Libyan-government-sanctioned militia that was guarding the compound, making plans for a “quick reaction force,” or QRF, that would provide security.
“In the event of an attack on the U.S. Mission,” the document states, “QRF will request additional support from the 17th February Martyrs Brigade.”
Other documents detail — with names, photographs, phone numbers and other personal information — the Libyans contracted to provide security for the mission from a British-based private firm, Blue Mountain. Some of those Libyans say they now fear for their lives, and the State Department has said it shares concerns about their safety.
“The guys with beards may endanger my life,” said one Libyan contractor, referring to the people who attacked the U.S. mission. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, but his photograph, phone number, birthday, age, religion, English-language skills, Libyan national identity number, marital status, method of transport to work and first date of employment at the mission were all included in a document found at the site, along with similarly detailed information about 13 others and basic information about dozens more.
On Tuesday, two House Republicans sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton demanding more information about the assault on the Benghazi compound. The letter from Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Jason Chaffetz (Utah) said Libyans working as private security personnel at the compound were warned by family members in the weeks before the attacks to quit their jobs because of rumors of an impending attack. The congressmen did not say how they had received the information.
Concerns about safety in Benghazi have confined a team of FBI investigators to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, which is hundreds of miles away, and local security officials say they cannot guarantee that Americans would be safe here.
“We don’t have institutions,” said Col. Salah bin Omran, the newly appointed military head of Rafallah al-Sahati, a government-backed militia that is one of the main groups providing security in Benghazi. “The security for normal people is fine. But I don’t know. If the Americans come, I’m not sure they’ll be completely safe.”
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson would not comment Wednesday on the agents’ location. “We’re continuing with our investigation, and we have not commented on the specific location of our agents or resources,” Bresson said.
The delays may have significantly complicated efforts to interview or detain members of Ansar al-Sharia, the militant Islamist militia that the U.S. government suspects played an important role in the attack. Late last month, the militia’s compound was stormed by angry protesters, and its members have gone underground, taking their weapons with them after living openly in Benghazi for more than a week after the attack on the U.S. mission.
Many of the Libyan contractors, as well as some members of the brigade once tasked with guarding the compound, say they have not been contacted by the Libyan or U.S. governments about their safety concerns. Some say they have tried to contact the Americans but have not received a response.
The Blue Mountain contractors were intended to complement the armed members of the militia. Both groups were present on the night of Sept. 11.
In the unsigned memorandum from the U.S. mission to the militia, which appears to be a draft, guards “are required to acquire and maintain their own weapons and ammunition,” the document states.
The security presence appears to have been bare-bones, with three or more armed militia members on the compound any time the “principal officer” was present — either the head of the mission or the ambassador. A somewhat larger group of unarmed contractors was also hired to guard the site but was not mentioned in the memorandum with the militia.
When the principal officer was not present, a single militia member was instructed to be at the front gate between 8 a.m. and midnight. Between midnight and 8 a.m., one militia member was scheduled to be on roving patrol. The militia members were supposed to work a minimum of eight hours a day and were to be paid a stipend of about $28 a day, a relatively standard wage. They were housed on the U.S. compound.
The memorandum tells the militia security force to summon more guards from its nearby base if the mission is attacked, suggesting that the Americans there were concerned that the regular guard force would be inadequate in an emergency.
The itinerary of Stevens’s trip to Benghazi includes a near-full accounting of his planned movements during what was supposed to be a visit that lasted from Sept. 10 until Sept. 15. It includes names and phone numbers of Libyans who were scheduled to meet with him. Some of those Libyans have not made their contact with Stevens public and could be at risk if it were publicly known.
The meetings include briefings with U.S. officials, a private dinner with influential local leaders, and meetings with militia heads, businesspeople, civil society activists and educators. The highlight of the visit was the opening of the American Space, a center intended to serve as a hub for U.S. culture and education.
Several copies of the itinerary were scattered across multiple rooms of the compound. One appears to be a page from the ambassador’s personal copy; it was on the floor, next to a chair in the bedroom where he had been sleeping.
The compound still reeked of smoke Wednesday, and all of the buildings had been looted. Overturned furniture, broken glass and strewn documents were everywhere. Chandeliers lay on the floor. In kitchens, food was rotting.
But elsewhere on the compound, gardens were blooming and untouched. Guava trees were heavy with fruit; purple grapes were swelling on rows of vines. The newly hired security guards appeared to be living in a small room at the front gate, where a thin mattress lay on the floor, along with preparations for lunch.
Anne Gearan, Sari Horwitz and Ernesto Londoño in Washington and Ayman Alkekly in Benghazi contributed to this report.
5 oct 2012, 00:33 , Respect -
Maria 3 oct 2012
Clinton calling for false flag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msj8PDaPyk4
5 oct 2012, 11:47 , Respect -
Maria 4 oct 2012
Gulf between Netanyahu, Barak widens over ties with US
Israeli Barak (L ) and Netanyahu
The rift between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak over Tel Aviv’s relations with the US is growing wider.
Once seeing eye to eye in adopting a belligerent stance against Iran by backing the military option, the duo have gone their separate ways since relations between the US and Israel were soured over Washington’s rejectionism to fulfill a Netanyahu demand to set red lines for Iran's nuclear energy program.
With a snap election in Israel in the cards, Barak has distanced himself from Bibi in a bid to fish in troubled waters.
“As far as I know, yes, he [Barak] distanced himself in an attempt to make political gains,” Yisrael Katz, the minister of transportation, told Israel Radio.
Netanyahu has been quoted in the Israel media as saying that his defence chief has deliberately tried to fuel tensions between the US and Israel to introduce himself as a moderate actor holding the key to mending ties between the old allies.
Netanyahu loyalists have accused Barak of taking advantage of his recent trip to the US to demonstrate his opposition to the premier’s policies at a time when Bibi’s efforts to garner American support for his position has hit a snag.
The Israeli premier himself has been accused in the US of interfering in the presidential elections by putting pressure on Obama in favor of his Republican rival Mitt Romney, an old friend of Netanyahu's.
An investigation conducted by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has found that 19 of Netanyahu's wealthiest American donors have also given to Romney, the Republican Party, and/or other Republican candidates.
The internal friction in the Israeli political arena comes as Netanyahu has pointed out that he may call a snap election, originally scheduled for October 2013, if the coalition parties fail to concur on a tough 2013 budget which necessitates spending cuts.
However, the US card may fail to tilt the electorate in Israel in favor of Barak. Recent polls indicate that Netanyahu remains unrivaled as a contender for the post of prime minister while Barak’s small Independence party struggles to cross the electoral threshold for a seat in parliament.
According to Israeli experts, there is strong opposition within the Likud Party, led by Netanyahu, to Barak’s presence in the next government as the minister for military affairs.
Empire trapped: US role in a new Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud
Editors representing many Asian newspapers stood in a perfect line. They were nervous and giddy at the prospect of meeting Li Changchun, China’s powerful member of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee.
Personally, the Great Hall of the People and the fortitude of Chinese society mesmerized me. Despite its challenges and repeated accusations of corruption and power struggles, China appeared composed while an unwavering forward movement was propelling it. As for the country’s foreign policy, it is governed by a cautious slowly churning agenda, which is unambiguously clear in its long-term objectives.
On that day, nearly two years ago, we knew that Li was awaiting our arrival, for a solitary old jacket, which bore his name with a sticker fastened on the hanger, hung in a closet in the hallway leading to the room where the meeting took place. Li Changchun spoke frustratingly slow as if he were a Hollywood stereotype of a Chinese emperor.
Self-assertive and unperturbed by our presence and the many probing questions, Li’s perception of history was much more far-reaching than one expected from the chief of propaganda. Li clearly saw his country’s foreign policy in light of US global military adventures, geopolitical advances and setbacks. No other country seemed to matter. It was a competition and China was determined to win.
A few months later, upheaval struck the Middle East. Its manifestations – revolutions, civil wars, regional mayhem and conflicts of all sorts – reverberated beyond the Middle East. Shrinking and rising empires alike took notice. Fault lines were quickly determined and exploited and players changed positions or jockeyed for advanced ones, as a new Great Game in the resource and strategic rich region was about to begin.
The so-called 'Arab Spring' was rapidly becoming a game-changer in a region that seemed resistant to transformations of any kind. China was wary of its existing investment in the region. So they moved with predictable caution; wobbling at times, as in Libya, appearing firmer in Syria, and almost entirely aloof in Bahrain.
For China however, the space for future political movement is boundless.
Unlike the United States, a 'new' or stagnant Middle East will not change the fact that China is barely associated with an atrocious history of military onslaughts or economic exploitation, with which western powers are undeniably associated.
The speed of the political transition underway in the Middle East may require Li Changchun to speak a bit faster, a tad louder and with greater clarity, but it will hardly demand a complete shift in China’s policies. It is the interests and rank of the US, as the dominant foreign power in the region, that will consequently suffer irreparable damage.
When discussed through the prism of sheer political analysis, history can be narrow, selective and problematically short. But based on a methodical historical investigation, reality is much less confusing, and the future is far less unpredictable. The seemingly unbridled conflict in the Middle East is no exception.
In his review of Fredrik Logevall’s recently published book "Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam," Gordon Goldstein wrote; "Over the centuries, strategic over-extension by great powers acting on the periphery of their national interests has hobbled ancient empires and modern states" (Washington Post, September 28).
Goldstein was referring to US conduct in Southeast Asia, where the US adopted as its own, the disastrous legacy of French colonialism in Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). Both powers were squarely and humiliatingly defeated.
Empires don't crumble overnight, however. A fall of an empire can be as agonizingly long as its rise. Signs of that collapse are often subtle and might not be followed by a big boom of any sort, but can be unambiguous and definite.
Since the Second World War, US foreign policy has been largely predicated on military adventures, by severely punishing enemies and controlling 'friends'. Diplomacy was often the icing on the cake of war, wars that seemed to follow similar patterns such as targeting powerless, economically browbeaten and isolated countries.
It was a successful brand while it lasted. It allowed the generals to speak of the invincibility of their military might, the politicians to boast of their global responsibilities and the media to tirelessly promote American values. Few seemed to care much for the millions of innocent people who bore the brunt of that supposed quest for democratization of the Third World.
Few US foreign policy disasters can be compared to that of the Middle East. Similar to its Southeast Asia inheritance from the French, the US 'inherited' the Middle East from fading British and French empires.
Unlike European imperial powers, US early contacts with the region were marred with violence, whether through its support of local dictatorships, financing and arming Israel at the expense of Palestinians and other Arab nations, or finally by getting involved – some say, entangled – in lethal wars.
The problem of 'great' empires is that their ability to maneuver is often restricted by their sheer size and the habitual nature of their conduct. They can only move forward and when that is no longer possible, they must retreat, ushering in their demise.
US foreign policy is almost stuck when it is required to be most agile. While the Middle East is finally breaking away from a once impenetrable cocoon, and China – and Russia, among others – is attempting to negotiate a new political stance, the US is frozen.
It took part in the bombing of Libya because it knows of no other alternative to achieving quick goals without summoning violence. In Syria, it refuses to be a positive conduit for a peaceful transition because it is paralyzed by its military failure in Iraq and fearful over the fate of Israel, should Syria lose its political centrality.
Even if the US opts to stave off a catastrophic decline in the region, it is shackled by the invasive tentacles of Israel, the pro-Israel lobby and their massive and permeating network, which crosses over competing media, political parties and ideological agendas. The US is now destined to live by the rules – and red lines – determined by Israel, whose national interests are barely concerned with the rise or demise of America. Israel only wants to ensure its supremacy in the 'new' Middle East.
With the rise of post-revolutionary Egypt, Israel's challenges are growing. It fears that a nuclear Iran would deprive it from its only unique edge - its nuclear technology and massive nuclear arsenal. If Iran obtains nuclear technology, Israel might have to negotiate in good faith as an equal partner to its neighbors, a circumstance that Israel abhors.
Between the Israeli hammer and the anvil of the imminent decline of all empires, the US, which has held the Middle East hostage to its foreign policy for nearly six decades, is now hostage to the limitations of that very foreign policy. The irony is an inescapable.
Listening to the monotonous voice of Li Changchun, it was clear that China was in no great hurry. Nor are the other powers now eying with great anticipation, the endgame of the Middle East upheaval.
Listening to US President Barack Obama’s lecture to the UN’s General Assembly on September 25, as he spoke of democracy, values and the predictable and self-negating language, it seems that there is no intention in changing course or maneuvering or retreating or simply going away altogether.
The empire is entangled in its own self-defeating legacy. This is to the satisfaction of its many contenders, China notwithstanding.
Ramzy Baroud is an internationally syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com.
5 oct 2012, 15:52 , Respect -
Maria 5 oct 2012
Two Palestinian Institutions on the American list of Terrorism
Torture in Israel and America the same
On Friday 5th October, U.S. Department of the Treasury listed on Thursday Al-Waqfiya and Al-Quds Palestinian-Labanese charities on its list of terrorism.
The U.S. Treasury department said in a press release published on its website that it listed these two charities under Executive resolutions number 13224 and 13224 because they "exist to support the families of Hamas fighters."
According to the resolutions, these two Palestinian-Labanese charities were listed on the U.S. list that prevents Americans from dealing with them.
Treasury Department revealed that these two institutions were also established to financing Hamas programs and projects in the Palestinian occupied territories, "intended to spread Hamas influence and control."
David Cohen, Department of the Treasury's Assistant Secretary, said in a press release "the departement will continue to work on blocking the efforts of Hamas movement to convert the fragile societies to racist and to undermine stability in the region."
US tourist kills Israeli hotel staffer in Eilat resort
Israeli forces at Leonardo Club hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat
An American tourist has shot and killed a person at the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat following an argument that finally led to the killing of the shooter by the police.
The Friday incident at the lobby of Leonardo Club Hotel took place after an Israeli armed guard tried to intervene in an intense argument between the American and a hotel employee.
The US tourist then grabbed the guard’s gun and fired several shots, killing the hotel staffer.
The shooter has been described as “in his twenties” and part of an Israeli-American exchange program that is regularly sponsored by various pro-Israeli organizations across the US.
No other deaths or injuries have yet been reported, although some hotel guests and employees were reported to be suffering from psychological distress, requiring hospitalization.
Reports indicate that the shooter barricaded himself in the hotel’s kitchen after killing the employee and was shot dead by the police forces following what has been described as failed negotiations for his surrender.
6 oct 2012, 12:48 , Respect -
Maria 6 oct 2012
Hamas slams US treasury for sanctioning two Palestinian charities
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement strongly denounced the US treasury department for labeling Al-Quds international foundation and the welfare association for Palestinian and Lebanese families-al-Waqifya as terrorist organizations and banning its citizens from dealing with them.
In a press release on Saturday, Hamas highlighted that these organizations are not its affiliates and are known for their humanitarian activities.
Hamas said this decision is consistent with the Zionist agenda and would augment the suffering of the Palestinians at home and abroad.
It expressed its belief that the decision was made in compliance with pressures by the Zionist lobby and the double standard policy pursued by the US against the Palestinian people who are exposed to daily terrorism by Israel and its extremist groups.
"As we reiterate that Hamas Movement has nothing to do with these two institutions, we appeal to the US department of the treasury to backtrack from its unjust verdict and we call upon the organization of Islamic cooperation, the Arab League, the concerned human rights groups and the world's free people to take action against this decision which is in favor of the occupation and its schemes."
8 oct 2012, 10:03 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2012
US officers in Israel for army drills
JERUSALEM (AFP) - US army officers have begun arriving in Israel ahead of joint military manoeuvres between the countries’ armed forces, an Israeli newspaper said on Sunday.
The officers will supervise the arrival of hundreds of US troops on October 14 for joint manoeuvres that will take place the following week and last for three weeks, according to Yediot Aharonot. The US-Israeli exercises will be the most important yet between the two countries, the paper said. Time magazine reported on September 1 that Washington had significantly reduced the number of its joint military exercises with Israel, probably because of disagreement between them over how best to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme.
Yediot said Israel’s air defences will be tested on this occasion, including its Hetz missile-to-missile batteries and its “Iron Dome” rocket interception system. Israel, the US and much of the international community accuses Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons capability under the guise of a peaceful programme for civilian use, charges that Tehran has repeatedly rejected.
An Israeli army spokeswoman contacted by AFP refused to comment on the upcoming military exercises. Time said Washington had reduced the number of military staff going to Israel, as well as the number and strength of missile defence systems that would be used during operation Austere Challenge 12.
Of the initial 5,000 US troops lined up to take part in the exercises, only up to 1,500 will take part. US Patriot missiles will be sent as originally planned, but not the crews that were to operate the batteries, Time said.
In addition, only one of two Aegis anti-missile cruisers is bound for Israel, and even this is not certain, according to the magazine. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta late on Saturday warned Iran must respond to international concerns about its suspect nuclear program, or face additional punitive sanctions.
The West worries Iran is trying to develop an atomic bomb under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program but Tehran insists its intentions are purely peaceful. “Our hope would be that the most important thing that they could do at this point is to engage seriously with the international community to try to resolve this issue,” Panetta said during a visit to Peru. “Hopefully they will do that, but if they don’t, make no mistake, the international community will continue to impose additional sanctions,” he added, stressing that the United States and its allies are unified in their effort to stop Tehran’s uranium enrichment activities.
Protests in the Iranian capital this week that saw occasional scuffles with police show that sanctions are having a “significant impact” on the country’s economy, according to the Pentagon chief.
In one week, Iran’s rial currency has shed around 40 percent of its value, sharply accelerating a slide that has gone on over the course of this year as Western sanctions have worsened the Islamic republic’s underlying economic woes.
Israel is seeking to convince the international community to strengthen sanctions against Iran. A French official said the European Union is considering the possibility of “hardening” them further.
This news was published in print paper. Access complete paper of this day.
15 oct 2012, 10:07 , Respect -
Maria 12 oct 2012
EU's Nobel Prize raises eyebrows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9QbU0Ad4_I
The choice came as a bit of a surprise to many early Friday. In a 2012 world where Africa is fraught with hardship and the Arab world continues to fight for its voice -- you can hear the press pool gasp as the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee made this announcement.
The blogosphere immediately lit up -- especially Twitter -- with comments like "I hope Greece doesn't try to take the EU's Nobel Prize to the pawn shop this afternoon" and "Europe awards Europe the Nobel Peace Prize for being Europe." Other critics pointed out Europe's infighting over austerity measures in the wake of the world financial crisis.
EU wins 2012 Nobel Peace Prize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1lcTSMd5oU
This is the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Here the Norwegian Nobel Committee has had secretive meetings throughout the year. And today, as part of an annual tradition, they have announced the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2012.
The Norwegian parliament elects the Nobel Committee members. But officially the committee is politically independent. Still some experts believe that the committee's decisions have been politically motivated on a number of occasions.
Norway is not part of the EU. But has a strong interest in keeping good relations with the EU. So, a Norwegian institution, awarding the peace prize to the European Union, for having worked for peace within Europe. Isn't this a bit controversial?
'Nobel Committee making another mistake'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWUUsHks3J4
Although European nations support Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians, the Nobel committee has awarded its Peace Prize to the European Union, an analyst tells Press TV.
The EU has won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize at a time that social unrest and financial problems are shaking the very pillars of the 27-nation bloc.
Announcing the award on Friday, the Nobel Committee President Thorbjoern Jagland acknowledged the EU's current financial woes and social unrest as many analysts also questioned the timing of the event coinciding with a wave of unrest in the bloc.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Afshin Rattansi, an author and journalist, from London, to further discuss the issue.
15 oct 2012, 10:51 , Respect -
Maria 14 oct 2012
Murdoch: Obama 2nd term, Israel’s nightmare
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has minced no words in mauling US President Barack Obama and his running mate, US Vice President Joe Biden’s electoral campaign over a tweet attack.
"Nightmare for Israel if Obama wins,” tweeted the chairman and CEO of the sprawling News Corporation media conglomerate on Saturday.
“Biden outright lied about personal relations with Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu),” Murdoch said after the VP called Netanyahu “my friend for 39 years."
“Biden threw CIA under bus, now WH throws State!" he wrote.
Listed three times as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Murdoch is known for exploiting his vast media empire to push for war in Iraq, former US President George W. Bush’s election, spreading resentment of Muslims and immigrants, and blocking global action on climate change.
The verbal attack followed Obama’s calling a September 2 demand by the Israeli premier for the international community to set a "clear red line" for Iran to halt its nuclear energy program, just “noise,” he tried to ignore.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program with the Israeli regime repeatedly threatening to attack Iran's nuclear facilities based on the unsubstantiated allegation.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
16 oct 2012, 10:21 , Respect -
Maria 15 oct 2012
US says Palestinian UN bid jeopardizes peace process
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A Palestinian bid to upgrade its UN status to a sovereign country would jeopardize the peace process with Israel and make it difficult to get the two sides to return to talks on a two-state solution, the United States said on Monday.
But the diplomatic drive by President Mahmoud Abbas received support from Russia and Arab countries at a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East situation.
Having failed last year to win recognition of full statehood at the United Nations, Abbas said last month he would seek a less-ambitious status upgrade at the world body to make it a "non-member state" like the Vatican.
The president of the 193-member UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, has said the issue will likely be debated in mid-November, after the US elections. Washington argues a Palestinian state can only be created through direct talks.
"Unilateral actions, including initiatives to grant Palestinians non-member state observer status at the United Nations, would only jeopardize the peace process and complicate efforts to return the parties to direct negotiations," the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, told the Security Council.
There have been no direct Palestinian talks with Israel on peace since 2010, when the Palestinians refused to resume negotiations unless the Israeli government suspended settlement building in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"Any efforts to use international fora to prejudge final status issues that can only be resolved directly by the parties will neither improve the daily lives of Palestinians nor foster the trust essential to make progress towards a two state solution," Rice said.
The Palestinians' current UN status is an "observer entity." If Abbas wins, that would change to "observer state."
Joining international bodies
Being registered as a state rather than an entity would mean the Palestinians could join bodies such as the International Criminal Court and file complaints against Israel for its continued occupation of land it seized in the 1967 war.
Egypt's UN Ambassador Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil, speaking to the council on behalf of the Arab group of countries, said it fully supported the Palestinians bid.
"We expect the General Assembly to adopt a resolution during its current session to upgrade the status of Palestine to become a 'non-member observer state,' as a first step towards reaching full membership," he said.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: "We believe that the initiative to gain broad international recognition for Palestinian statehood ... complements efforts to achieve a negotiated solution to the conflict with Israel rather than serve as an alternative."
"In no case should they be used by Israel to tighten the screws in the occupied territories or exert any other pressure on the Palestinian Authority," he said.
The Palestinians won admission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in October last year, a move that prompted the United States to cut off funding to the UN agency.
A 1990s US law prohibits US funding to any UN organization that grants full membership to any group that does not have "internationally recognized attributes" of statehood.
The law could also prohibit American funding for any other U.N. organization that grants Palestinians full membership status, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, which among other things monitors Iran's nuclear program.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last month that the two-state solution was the only sustainable option for peace. But he said the continued growth of Israeli settlements meant that "the door may be closing, for good."
The so-called two-state solution involves the creation of a state of Palestine to exist peacefully alongside Israel.
24 oct 2012, 10:07 , Respect -
Maria 23 oct 2012
'Obama, Romney push Zionist policies'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJEmjB0qBfY
US President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney represent different political parties, but they both share the same Zionist-devised foreign policy, an activist tells Press TV.
The third and final debate of the US presidential campaign touched on a broad range of issues, including the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the threat of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, and the US-led war in Afghanistan. The two candidates also talked about Iran's nuclear energy program and trade with China.
Both candidates repeated the accusation that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and expressed strong support for Israel, the only player in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abdul Alim Musa, Imam of Masjid al-Islam in Washington, to further discuss the issue.
7 nov 2012, 19:07 , Respect -
Maria 7 nov 2012
Haneyya gov’t urges Obama to stop bias in favor of Israel
GAZA, (PIC)-- The government of Ismail Haneyya in Gaza has said it was following up with concern the American presidential race that resulted in the re-election of Barack Obama.
Taher Al-Nunu, the government’s spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday that there is a chance before Obama to give up the US biased stand in favor of Israel.
President Obama should pursue an ethical approach that would end double standard dealing in the region and restore Palestinian people’s rights, he added.
Nunu said, “We listened to a moderate speech at the first election of Obama but his policy did not conform to that speech. Now he has a chance to carry out what he promised peoples in the region away from Zionist pressure.”
Abu Zuhri urges US to revise its policy towards Palestine issue
GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, has called on US president Barack Obama in his second term in office to revise his country’s policy toward the Palestinian question.
Abu Zuhri, in a press release on Wednesday, urged Obama to reconsider his country’s biased stand in favor of Israel.
Any change in the Arab and Palestinian attitude towards the US would be linked to restoring balance to the US foreign policy, the spokesman added.
Abu Zuhri said, “We call on president Obama in his second term in office to re-evaluate the American foreign policy toward the Arab and Palestinian issues”.
28 nov 2012, 14:24 , Respect -
Maria 28 nov 2012
Brzezinski to US: Stop following Israel on Iran like a stupid mule
Leading US strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski, unofficial dean of the realist school of American foreign policy experts, has drawn an unflattering picture of US-Israel relations.
In a speech to the National Iranian American Council, Brzezinski said, “I don’t think there is an implicit obligation for the United States to follow like a stupid mule whatever the Israelis do. If they decide to start a war, simply on the assumption that we’ll automatically be drawn into it, I think it is the obligation of friendship to say, ‘you’re not going to be making national decision for us.’ I think that the United States has the right to have its own national security policy.”
By denying any US "obligation" to "follow like a stupid mule whatever the Israelis do," Brzezinski accurately implied that this is exactly what the US has been doing up until now. And by plaintively opining that "the United States has the right to have its own national security policy," the former National Security Adviser underlined the fact that since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who secretly went to war with Ben Gurion in a doomed effort to abort the Israeli nuclear weapons program, the US has not enjoyed that right.
Brzezinski's assertion that the US is being led by the nose like a stupid mule by the Israelis is perhaps the most candid statement of its kind ever uttered in public by a high-level US strategist. Brzezinski's remarks reflect the mainstreaming of the arguments presented by leading US political scientists Walt and Mearsheimer in their book The Israel Lobby.
Indeed, Brzezinski has gone much further than Walt and Mearsheimer, who couch their critique of the tail-wags-the-dog US-Israel relationship in extremely cautious language. By laying it out so explicitly, Brzezinski is in effect joining the ranks of such scholars as James Petras and Grant Smith, who leave Walt and Mearsheimer in the dust as they boldly and accurately describe the outrageous, destructive, and quite literally criminal Israeli domination of the US (As Smith argues in Foreign Agents, the hundreds of thousands of members of the Zionist Power Configuration described by Petras are acting as unregistered agents of a foreign power; if the law were properly enforced, they would all be in prison.).
The strong words from Brzezinski, and the mainstreaming of similar sentiments, illustrate a growing backlash against Israel's ever-more-shameless, ever-more poorly concealed domination of the USA. The post-9/11 era has witnessed a rash of unbelievably arrogant Israeli actions, including:
* Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction to 9/11 (He triumphantly chortled that 9/11 was "very good," then hastily added that he meant it was very good for Israel.).
* Ariel Sharon's reaction to 9/11, "We Jews control America, and the Americans know it."
* Allegedly retired Mossad chief spook Mike Harari's huge victory party in Bangkok, Thailand celebrating the success of the 9/11 operation.
* The actions of newly-retired Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Barak, Christopher Bollyn's top 9/11 suspect, had come to the US for mysterious reasons after stepping down as PM in March 2001, and immediately after 9/11 all but ordered the US to declare a "war on terror" and invade Afghanistan and other countries - making him the first public figure to describe the "war on terror" response to 9/11.
* The Israel lobby's demolition of the Congressional career of 9/11-truth-seeker Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
* The Israel lobby's persecution of American Muslims including Sami al-Arian, who was imprisoned and tortured for the "terrorist" crime of supporting the Palestinians' right to defend themselves.
* The Israel lobby's persecution of Christian peacemaker Mark Siljander, who was sent to prison on trumped-up charges for the crime of telling other Christians the truth about Islam, and thereby undermining the Israeli's islamophobic "war on terror" narrative.
* The Israel lobby's increasing use of its organized crime assets to dominate American politics through blackmail, fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, assassination, and other crimes.
* Israel's blatant intervention in US elections, including its use of organized crime in vote-fraud efforts - which may finally have failed in 2012 when Netanyahu imploded at the UN, and his hand-picked puppet Mitt Romney imploded in the final election results.
*Israel's ongoing attempts to drag the US into wars-for-Israel that damage US interests - including wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan and elsewhere, as well as Israel's proposed attack on Iran.
*And finally, of course, Israel's ever-more-arrogant refusal to do what the US and every other country on earth insists it must do: Return to its pre-1967 borders and make peace with its neighbors.
Is the "stupid American mule" described by Brzezinski finally waking up?
Or, to use Anatole Lieven's animal metaphor, Is the dog finally noticing that "this is not a case of the tail wagging the dog, but of the tail wagging the unfortunate dog around the room and banging its head against the ceiling”?