Defense Minister receives a Russian Military delegation


Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:50 AM





DAMASCUS, SANA _Defense Minister L.t. Gen. Hassan Turkmani has received Gen.-Col. Aleksandr Nikolaevich Zelin, deputy chief of the Russian Federation Air Forces and an accompanying delegation.

Talks during the meeting Monday dealt with the latest developments in the region and means of enhancing cooperation between the two countries.

H.Zain/ Idelbi

.....................................................benny

JPost.com » Middle East » Article


Mar 12, 2008 3:39 | Updated Mar 12, 2008 9:08
Pentagon: Syria, Iran supporting Iraq terror
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Despite increased counterterrorism efforts by Damascus, as much as 90 percent of the foreign fighters in Iraq cross the border from Syria, according to a Pentagon report that says Iran's support for Shiite militants also is hurting efforts to improve Iraq security.


The scene of a previous bomb explosion in Baghdad [archive - illustrative].
Photo: AP [file]
As those external pressures dog coalition and Iraqi forces, the government of Iraq is also hamstrung by internal corruption and persistent problems getting basic services to the people, the report said.

The Defense Department's quarterly report on progress in Iraq, released Tuesday, said that militants continue to find safe havens and logistical support in Syria.

"It is not clear that Syria has made a strategic decision to deal with foreign terrorists using Syria as a transit point into Iraq," said the report, which covers events from December through February.

In late January, Iraqi officials suggested that about 150 foreign and Iraqi fighters slipped into the country from Syria a few months earlier and were responsible for a devastating explosion in northern Iraq that killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 200.

On the other border, meanwhile, Tehran's support for Shiite militant groups remains a sizable threat to stability in Iraq. The report asserts that the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, still provides much of the explosives for the militants.

Several military commanders in recent weeks have said that despite recent promises by Tehran to help promote stability in Iraq, there is continued evidence that Iran is training and funding Shiite extremists.

During a recent visit to Iraq, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the allegations and said instead that the US presence there was the problem.

The Pentagon report reflects the ongoing decline in violence in Iraq, bolstered by last year's increase in US forces and the continuing growth of the Iraqi troops.

But while it specifically points to improved security conditions in Anbar Province, Baghdad and some surrounding areas, it also said al-Qaida remains strong in parts of the Tigris River Valley and in Ninewa Province.

Al-Qaida members, it said, have been targeting key figures in the groups of Sunni tribesman that have joined to fight the terrorists. The US-funded groups are called the Sons of Iraq, and the report said they numbered about 91,000, with more than 71,000 being Sunni and the remainder Shiite.

Overcoming corruption in the government, the judiciary and prison systems continue to be key challenges. And the Iraqi government is still struggling to provide basic services to its citizens. Electricity demands have grown and - as of the report date - outpaced supplies by 57 percent.

While electricity generation hit a record high in December, it then dropped sharply in January due to maintenance and fuel distribution problems.

In related testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, auditors told Congress that Iraq isn't spending much of its own money, despite soaring oil revenues that are pushing the country toward a massive budget surplus.

The expected surplus comes as the US continues to invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Iraq and faces a financial squeeze domestically because of record oil prices.

"The Iraqis have a budget surplus," said US Comptroller General David Walker. "We have a huge budget deficit. ... One of the questions is who should be paying."

Walker and the other auditors did not give a figure as to the likely surplus. US officials contend that Iraq's lack of spending is due primarily to Baghdad's inability to determine where its money is needed most and how to allocate it efficiently. Two senators have called for an investigation into the matter.

Democrats say the assessment is proof that the Iraq war was a waste of time and money. The US has spent more than $45 billion (€29 billion) on rebuilding Iraq. And while officials in Iraq contend that much progress is being made, many projects remain unfinished and US troops are still needed to provide security.

"They ought to be able to use some of their oil to pay for their own costs and not keep sending the bill to the United States," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat.


................................................benny

Intelligence report: Chances of 3rd intifada slim


(Video) Outbreak of limited violent revolt possible should number of Palestinian casualties increase significantly, intelligence officials tell cabinet in annual briefing, adding that Syria can be persuaded to sever ties with Iran in exchange for Golan Heights

Roni Sofer Published: 03.09.08, 17:05 / Israel News




VIDEO - The chances of a third intifada erupting are slim, but the outbreak of a limited violent revolt is possible should the Temple Mount complex be damaged or if the number of Palestinian casualties increases significantly, according to an intelligence briefing given to members of cabinet on Sunday.








Video courtesy of infolive.tv



The annual intelligence review, presented by officials from the Shin Bet internal security service, Miltary Intelligence and the Mossad, said 25 Arab-Israelis had been involved in terror-related activities in 2007, adding that they had all operated under instructions from terror groups based in the West Bank.




Opinion

En route to 3rd intifada? / Ron Ben-Yishai

Israel must prepare to contain violence that may follow Jerusalem massacre
Full story



The past year has also seen a general rise in protests by the Arab sector against the government, the officials said.



According to the Israeli intelligence bodies, Syria and Iran estimate that a future military conflict with Israel will be decided by ground-to-ground missiles due to Israel's superiority on land and in the air, but added that Damascus could be persuaded to sever its ties with the Islamic republic in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights and US support.



5 hostile fronts
However, the intelligence officials estimated that the likelihood that Syria would indeed sever its ties with the "radical axis" in 2008 is small.



"There are currently five hostile fronts: Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iran and the Islamist Jihad," one of the officials said, "the main strategic threat to Israel emanates from Iran for two reasons – the advancement of its nuclear program and the fact that it is establishing its leadership role in the radical axis."




Iran, the cabinet ministers were told, is continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of the international community's resolutions, and is also continuing to develop long-range missiles.



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The intelligence officials further stated that the military cooperation between Iran, Hizbullah and the various Palestinian terror groups was growing stronger. Syria, for its part is arming itself at an accelerated pace and is currently developing long range missiles, they said.



According to the intelligence agencies, the arms race is aimed at creating a threat to Israel's home front should a military conflict break out, adding that the regimes in the region's more moderate countries, such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, are currently not in danger of being overthrown despite the power struggle with the "radical axis."



As for al-Qaeda, the ministers were told that the global jihadist group and its offshoots are continuing to operate all over the world, including Europe and North Africa. This activity, the intelligence official said, is also seeping into Gaza.

......................................................benny

Two Peoples, One Land"

Perhaps one of the most misunderstood issues of the Middle East conflict is the issue of the phraseology regarding the Holy Land. We are constantly fed the terms “West Bank”, and “occupied territory”, and “pre-1967 borders”.

One of the most outrageous intended misperceptions of these phraseologies is the perception that the West Bank is “occupied Palestinian land”. This phrase is continually repeated, as though it was historically factual, by all the governments of the world and by the entire news media. It has become so commonly used that there hardly is any rebuttal to the accepted theory of the land being “occupied Palestinian territory” by any nation, including Israel itself. For this reason, Israel has been willing to give most of it away. They were even willing to negotiate the status of the city of Jerusalem, their beloved capital.

The idea that the West Bank is occupied Palestinian land has been accepted by almost everyone. Yet it is, in fact, one of the greatest lies ever perpetrated on the whole of humanity. This may sound like an outlandish statement, but please read on and decide for your own self. Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians claim that Palestine is their land, and that Jerusalem is their capital, and that Israel is occupying their land. To resist occupation, they assert the right to send suicide bombers into crowded bus stations, pizza parlors, etc., and kill innocent men, women and children. Furthermore, all Arab and Muslim countries philosophically support them in their claims and actions against Israel. Why? Is it because of their great affection for the Palestinian peoples?

Supposedly, because of this alleged occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, and because of this alleged crime committed against their Palestinian brothers, all Arabs hate Israel and want to destroy it. But this story-line doesn't convey the whole truth. The truth of the matter is that these Arab and Muslim nations hated Israel, and sought its extermination before the issue of “occupied territory” was ever invented! ( The 1948 and 1967 wars launched by the Arab nations produced the resultant territorial situation )

To anyone who is familiar with the facts, and has an objective eye, all this must be fascinating. Because never before has a complete lie, on such a large scale, been so politically successful. First, if Arab animosity toward Israel is based on their love and support for their Palestinian brothers – and in wanting their Palestinian brothers to have their own state – where was that love and support before the Jewish state existed? Why haven't they assimilated the Palestinian peoples into their own societies? Where was their great affinity for the Palestinian people when the kingdom of Jordan ruled Palestine? Why did they not accuse Jordan of “occupying Palestinian land”? Why didn't the Arab world and the United Nations call on Jordan to stop occupying Palestinian land, and why weren't there any UN resolutions demanding that Jordan grant statehood to Palestine? Second, where were the Palestinians themselves, with all their grievances and claims, when Jordan occupied the whole of the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem?

Did you know that for 19 years, ( 1948 through 1967 ) Jordan occupied and ruled the entire West Bank, including Al Quds, or Jerusalem? Why weren't the Palestinians clamoring for a Palestinian state during that 19 year span? Why didn't Yasser Arafat send suicide bombers against Jordan? During that 19 year span of time, did we hear a word about >I?Palestine being occupied by the kingdom of Jordan? Did we hear anything about a Palestinian state? Did we hear a great outcry about Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine?

No, we did not.
Why not?
Well, the real reason is because Israel did not possess it. The greatest problem for the Muslim world is that Israel exists period. But, the insult of all insults is that Israel should occupy Jerusalem. Therein lies the need for the Arab and Muslim world to create a propagandist lie, and to use the poor people living in the region called Palestine as pawns in a religious war against Israel.

Another reason there had been no charge of occupation before 1967 is simply because there had never existed a Palestinian state in the past. A new Palestinian State was not needed as long as an Arab or Muslim state occupied Jerusalem?

And in the entire history of the roll call of nations, Jerusalem was never the capital of any country other than that of ancient Israel and modern Israel. So how can there be a claim on the city of Jerusalem as the capital of a state that has never even existed? Who could possibly have a more legitimate claim to Jerusalem than the Jewish people?

One of the problems here is that so few people know the history of the world. Hence, lies and more lies, repeated often enough, are assumed to be facts. This begs the question, “Who are the Palestinian people anyway. I have heard many scholars question the very notion of a What, you might ask, makes a tribe of people? Well, there are several elements that define a people: language, religion, culture, cuisine, geography, terrain, and history. For example, the Chinese and Japanese are both Oriental. Still, they are two different peoples, because they each have a different language, a different religion, a different culture and a different cuisine.

The Palestinians speak the same language, follow the same religion, manifest the same culture and eat the same cuisine as all other Arabs. They are really Arabic peoples of various backgrounds who happen to live in a region that came to be called Palestine. That name emanates from Rome. The great Roman Empire extracted the Jews from their ancient land of Israel in 70AD and renamed the region “Palestine”! The terminology of the land into Palestine has stuck now for 2000 years. It was a political attempt to eradicate the name of Israel from the region. But in this attempt, there is a loud historical fact that speaks forth even today.

Palestine is not, and never has been the name of a “country”, or the name of a “people”.

It is the merely a political name of a region, just like Siberia is a region, and not a country. There is no Siberian country, nor is there a Siberian people. It is a region. Just like the Sahara is a region, not a country. There is no Saharan country, nor is there a Saharan people. The Arabs living in that region are Libyans, Moroccans, etc. It is a region.

Because Palestine was a region, and not a country, Great Britain in 1920 was able to carve out 77% of it and give it to the Arabs living on the other side of the Jordan River and call it the Kingdom of Trans-Jordan. Because Palestine is a region, the United Nations was able to further divide the rest of it between the Jews and the Arabs living there in 1948.

Hence we obtained the term, “West Bank”. The “west bank” is simply the region on the western side of the Jordan River that the Kingdom of Jordan occupied in the original 1947 Partition Plan. After Jordan lost it in the 1967 war, it has taken on a different political persona. Since Israel acquired it in 1967, it has obtained its own political status. The transformation has resulted in the diplomatic need for yet another new partitioning in Palestine. Hence the rise of the likes of Yasser Arafat and the PLO.

Here are some other interesting facts regarding the region known today as Palestine. King David built the city of Jerusalem, and King Solomon, David's son, built the holy temple. This commonwealth ( state ) of Israel lasted for a thousand years. There was only one break, when, 400 years after King David, the Babylonian invaders occupied the land for 70 years. Then, with the help of Cyrus the Great of Persia , Israel came back to the land, rebuilt the temple and ruled for yet another 600 years.

Then, the Romans came and ruled the land, followed by the Roman Crusaders, then the Ottoman Empire ruled the land, followed by the British Empire. Finally, in 1948 Israel returned to its homeland and built a modern Jewish state on about 10% of its former territory. It was never – repeat, never – a “Palestinian state”.



So what is all this talk about occupied Palestinian land?


The Palestinian peoples certainly have a right to live there freely and happily. Nobody should move them away from their own private land. But from where comes the right for a Palestinian state? Is it simply because they live there? The concept of a new Palestinian State is a prefabrication by the powers of the world for a political and religious agenda!

Imagine if the Mexican-American community in California, whose numbers are greater than the number of Palestinians in the West Bank, decides tomorrow to claim that the United States is occupying their land, and because they live there and they want their own Mexican state. Imagine if the U.S. government says, "No, you can live here, but you cannot have sovereignty, you cannot have your own state," then they start sending suicide bombers, shooters, mortars, etc. into the rest of the country. What do you think would happen?

This is precisely why there was never any suggestion of a Palestinian state – not under the Romans, not under the Crusaders, not under the Turks, not under the English and not under the Arab kingdom of Jordan, not until after Israel was again established in its homeland. I believe it is the big lie of today's geo-political mindset, and the whole world has bought into it.

In the land called Palestine today, there are two peoples, but there is still only one land. This particular piece of land is unlike any other in the world, in that God decreed that the children of Jacob should possess it. But unlike Jacob, who submitted to God's will, the people of Israel continue to wrestle with God, and therefore continue to wrestle with Esau over the possession of the land! God will settle this issue some day, and both Jacob and Esau will find the peace of the great land contractor. ( Jesus Christ ) The Kingdoms of this world shall become his, and his peace shall reign from Mount Zion!


By: Darrell G. Young
Copyright©2002


Psalms 83:1-6 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee ( Israel-Jacob ) have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, ( Esau ) and the Ishmaelites; ( Arabs ) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
.............................................benny

6 Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran
March 11, 2008 06:52 PM ET | Permanent Link


Is the United States moving toward military action with Iran?

The resignation of the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East is setting off alarms that the Bush administration is intent on using military force to stop Iran's moves toward gaining nuclear weapons. In announcing his sudden resignation today following a report on his views in Esquire, Adm. William Fallon didn't directly deny that he differs with President Bush over at least some aspects of the president's policy on Iran. For his part, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it is "ridiculous" to think that the departure of Fallon -- whose Central Command has been working on contingency plans for strikes on Iran as well as overseeing Iraq -- signals that the United States is planning to go to war with Iran.

Fallon's resignation, ending a 41-year Navy career, has reignited the buzz of speculation over what the Bush administration intends to do given that its troubled, sluggish diplomatic effort has failed to slow Iran's nuclear advances. Those activities include the advancing process of uranium enrichment, a key step to producing the material necessary to fuel a bomb, though the Iranians assert the work is to produce nuclear fuel for civilian power reactors, not weapons.

Here are six developments that may have Iran as a common thread. And, if it comes to war, they may be seen as clues as to what was planned. None of them is conclusive, and each has a credible non-Iran related explanation:

1. Fallon's resignation: With the Army fully engaged in Iraq, much of the contingency planning for possible military action has fallen to the Navy, which has looked at the use of carrier-based warplanes and sea-launched missiles as the weapons to destroy Iran's air defenses and nuclear infrastructure. Centcom commands the U.S. naval forces in and near the Persian Gulf. In the aftermath of the problems with the Iraq war, there has been much discussion within the military that senior military officers should have resigned at the time when they disagreed with the White House.

2. Vice President Cheney's peace trip: Cheney, who is seen as a leading hawk on Iran, is going on what is described as a Mideast trip to try to give a boost to stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. But he has also scheduled two other stops: One, Oman, is a key military ally and logistics hub for military operations in the Persian Gulf. It also faces Iran across the narrow, vital Strait of Hormuz, the vulnerable oil transit chokepoint into and out of the Persian Gulf that Iran has threatened to blockade in the event of war. Cheney is also going to Saudi Arabia, whose support would be sought before any military action given its ability to increase oil supplies if Iran's oil is cut off. Back in March 2002, Cheney made a high-profile Mideast trip to Saudi Arabia and other nations that officials said at the time was about diplomacy toward Iraq and not war, which began a year later.

3. Israeli airstrike on Syria: Israel's airstrike deep in Syria last October was reported to have targeted a nuclear-related facility, but details have remained sketchy and some experts have been skeptical that Syria had a covert nuclear program. An alternative scenario floating in Israel and Lebanon is that the real purpose of the strike was to force Syria to switch on the targeting electronics for newly received Russian anti-aircraft defenses. The location of the strike is seen as on a likely flight path to Iran (also crossing the friendly Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq), and knowing the electronic signatures of the defensive systems is necessary to reduce the risks for warplanes heading to targets in Iran.

4. Warships off Lebanon: Two U.S. warships took up positions off Lebanon earlier this month, replacing the USS Cole. The deployment was said to signal U.S. concern over the political stalemate in Lebanon and the influence of Syria in that country. But the United States also would want its warships in the eastern Mediterranean in the event of military action against Iran to keep Iranian ally Syria in check and to help provide air cover to Israel against Iranian missile reprisals. One of the newly deployed ships, the USS Ross, is an Aegis guided missile destroyer, a top system for defense against air attacks.

5. Israeli comments: Israeli President Shimon Peres said earlier this month that Israel will not consider unilateral action to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. In the past, though, Israeli officials have quite consistently said they were prepared to act alone -- if that becomes necessary -- to ensure that Iran does not cross a nuclear weapons threshold. Was Peres speaking for himself, or has President Bush given the Israelis an assurance that they won't have to act alone?

6.Israel's war with Hezbollah: While this seems a bit old, Israel's July 2006 war in Lebanon against Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces was seen at the time as a step that Israel would want to take if it anticipated a clash with Iran. The radical Shiite group is seen not only as a threat on it own but also as a possible Iranian surrogate force in the event of war with Iran. So it was important for Israel to push Hezbollah forces back from their positions on Lebanon's border with Israel and to do enough damage to Hezbollah's Iranian-supplied arsenals to reduce its capabilities. Since then, Hezbollah has been able to rearm, though a United Nations force polices a border area buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

Defense Secretary Gates said that Fallon, 63, asked for permission to retire. Gates said that the decision, effective March 31, was entirely Fallon's and that Gates believed it was "the right thing to do." In Esquire, an article on Fallon portrayed him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy and said he was a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program. In his statement, Fallon said he agreed with the president's "policy objectives" but was silent on whether he opposed aspects of the president's plans. "Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region," Fallon, said in the statement issued by Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Fla. "And although I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America's interests there," he said. Gates announced that Fallon's top deputy, Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, will take over temporarily when Fallon leaves. A permanent successor, requiring nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate, might not be designated in the near term.

--Terry Atlas

..........................................................benny

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/143185

Israel to Hizbullah: Revenge Attack Could Mean War

(IsraelNN.com) Israel has recently warned Hizbullah that it will not hesitate to retaliate with war for a large scale attack on its citizens, Channel 10 – Nana news reported Wednesday. The Hizbullah attack is expected in revenge for the killing of its operations officer Imad Mughniyeh. Iranian TV vowed that Israel would face its "third destruction" on the 40th day after Mughniyeh's death, which will occur next Saturday.

Israeli intelligence is picking up extensive "chatter" between Hizbullah and Iran but still has not located specific intentions to carry out a terror attack. Israeli military attachés worldwide have been instructed to change their routine movements and retired military persons were warned to exercise caution in their travels.

NEXT SATURDAY??


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/143185

Russia Issues Nuclear Attack Threat
Updated:11:57, Saturday January 19, 2008

Russia's military chief of staff says Moscow would use nuclear weapons in pre-emptive strike if it felt threatened.

Warning is not a policy changeGeneral Yuri Baluyevsky said there were no plans "to attack anyone" but reasserted Russia's right to defend itself.

"To defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Gen Baluyevsky said.

The remarks do not represent a change in policy for Moscow.

....................................................benny

Defense minister warns of Abbas's demise
By YAAKOV KATZ AND GIL HOFFMAN
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Warning of the potential downfall of Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah government in the West Bank, Defense Minister Ehud Barak rejected reports on Wednesday that Israel had agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas, while claiming that additional IDF operations in Gaza were impendent.


An IDF tank heads towards the Gaza Strip.
Photo: AP
"There is a continuous battle taking place in Gaza," Barak said during a meeting of the Labor Party executive committee in Tel Aviv. "This is not a reality show, and there is no reason to fight with a stopwatch. Things will get tougher before they get quiet."

Defense officials said Wednesday night that as long as Hamas continued to use the lull in violence to rearm and rehabilitate its military wing, which was badly damaged during the IDF's operation in northern Gaza last week, additional operations would be inevitable. The officials said that the IDF was continuing to prepare for a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Barak dismissed reports that had surfaced in recent days that the head of his Diplomatic-Security Bureau Amos Gilad had negotiated a cease-fire with Hamas during his visit to Cairo earlier this week.

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"It's not the end, the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning," Barak said. "Anyone who thinks that some type of cease-fire will do the trick is wrong. We will bring quiet to Sderot and the Gaza belt, and when there won't be rockets fired into Israel and smuggling is prevented it will open a path for different relations and life as neighbors."

Barak said that Israel needed to continue to take steps to strengthen Abbas but at the same time warned of the possibility that "we will face in the future a less friendly government in the West Bank."

Defense officials recently warned of Hamas's growing presence in the West Bank and the possibility that the terror group could overthrow Abbas's government over the next year.

Earlier in the day and during a tour of the Gaza border with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Barak dismissed Palestinian claims that he was presenting an obstacle to the peace process and instead said that if Israel failed to reach an agreement with Abbas it would be because the Palestinian leader had failed to create a strong and stable government.

"On the Palestinian side there is not yet readiness to make tough decisions or the ability to set up a judicial system, a government and security service," he said. "The IDF will continue to operate in the West Bank as long as the Palestinians don't act to ensure the security of Israeli civilians."

During a visit to the Northern Gaza Brigade headquarters, Barak spoke with a group of soldiers from the Givati Brigade who had participated in last week's operation in Gaza during which two soldiers and over 100 Palestinians were killed.

"We are facing additional operations here and these young soldiers will soon be called up to participate in additional operations and to win and that is what we will do," he said.
..................................................benny

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Free Headline Alerts

USS Cole back in action: Fleet near Lebanon in warning to Syria

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy has sent at least three ships to patrol the coast of Lebanon as well as monitor neighboring Israel and Syria.
Officials said the force, which includes the USS Cole on its first mission since nearly being sunk by an Al Qaida attack in 2000, was intended to deter Syria or Hizbullah from toppling the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.



Also In This Edition

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NORTHEAST ASIA:

China’s exports growth slackens
MIDDLE EAST:

Musharraf not about to resign, ally says
NORTH AFRICA:

Fresh fighting in reported in Sudan's oil region




The USS Cole is back in action. AFP/James Elliott
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It isn't meant to send any stronger signals than that," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. "But it does signal that we're engaged, we're going to be in the vicinity, and that's a very, very important part of the world."
Officials said the fleet included the USS Cole and an amphibious assault ship, the USS Nassau, which would be the first to arrive off the coast of Lebanon.

"This is an area that is important to us, the eastern Med," Mullen said. "It's a group of ships that will operate in the vicinity there for a while."

The Cole was sent for its first mission in the Middle East since 2000, when Al Qaida attacked and nearly sunk the ship outside the port of Aden. Officials said Cole, designed for anti-aircraft and land attack missions, would be accompanied by two refueling ships.

The six-ship Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group entered the U.S. Sixth Fleet's operational area on Feb. 25, officials said. The Sixth Fleet, based in Naples, Italy. operates in the Mediterranean Sea.

Syria has been accused of blocking the parliamentary election of a Lebanese president. The Bush administration, amid a scheduled visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has been sanctioning key members of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said to be intimidating members of parliament, from voting a successor to outgoing President Emile Lahoud.

"To say it's absolutely directly tied would be incorrect," Mullen said. "But we are certainly aware that elections out there are both important, and they are due at some point in time."

Lebanese politicians have linked the U.S. Navy deployment to the crisis in Beirut. They said Siniora did not relay a formal request for the naval presence.

"It could be aimed directly at Syria or a declaration by the United States of America that it could be part of this equation that could develop if conditions remain the way they are," Lebanese parliamentarian Mustafa Alloush said.
.................................................benny

----
FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Israel in cross-hairs of summer war?
Brit intel says Iran preparing Hamas fighters

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 13, 2008
12:14 am Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Hamas rally

LONDON – Britain's Secret Intelligence Service says Iran's Revolutionary Guards are training hundreds of Hamas fighters to prepare for an all-out war this summer against Israel, according to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The Gaza-based organization's elite Izzedine al-Qassam Brigade will form the southern front of an attack against the Jewish state while Hezbollah will launch its simultaneous assault from southern Lebanon, according to MI6.

Analysts with the organization believe the attack will come in the rundown of the Bush administration and closing months of the bitter Democratic campaign.

"With the Bush White House virtually a spent force and both the Democrats and Republicans looking inward to their conventions, there is mounting evidence that Tehran will seize the opportunity to attack Israel through its surrogates, Hamas and Hezbollah," said a senior intelligence source in London.

(Story continues below)




MI6 analysts have confirmed tortuous negotiations in which Egypt acted as an intermediary between Hamas and Israel are now increasingly fragile.

Hamas, which is pledged to destroy Israel, is officially excluded by Israel from direct negotiations with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.

But with the mounting threat of a simultaneous attack on Israel from two fronts, several members of the Israeli security services have begun to urge Olmert to meet with Hamas leaders.

However, hardliners like the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, and Yuval Diskin, the director-general of Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, are opposed to any negotiations.

Dagan has told Olmert: "To talk to Hamas is a waste of time. Gaza is a noxious mixture of our oxidized hopes."

And Diskin added last week: "While we would be talking, Hamas would be sending still more of its fighters to Iran to be trained."

MI6 undercover agents in Tehran – operating out of a secret base on the country's border with Iraq – have established there are three training camps.


............................................................benny

Gaza Doctor To Sabah: “Next Intifada Will Be Nuclear”

Turkish daily Sabah met in Gaza the Mental Health Program Director Dr. Iyyad Sarrac, who said that soon nuclear weapons would reach the Gaza strip and a nuclear clash would occur. He told Sabah that there is fear for a third uprising, due to the psychology and desperation of the people and said, “A new intifada is around the corner. This time it will not be with stones and sticks. A chemical or nuclear intifada is not far. If there will be no [peace] agreement, chemical weapons will enter Gaza and will be used against Israel. People here are not normal anymore. They are not feeling like human beings. Everybody is so desperate that even 36% of children want to die to become shahids”.

Source: Sabah, March 10, 2008

Posted at: 2008-03-11
..........................................................benny

Russia must use nuclear deterrent to protect allies - analyst
16:11 | 12/ 03/ 2008



MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia must reserve the right to use nuclear weapons to protect Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) members in case of an imminent threat, a Russian political analyst said on Wednesday.

The CSTO is a post-Soviet security group comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"It is necessary to extend part of Russia's nuclear doctrine, which covers the use of tactical nuclear weapons, to all members of the CSTO treaty as a deterrence guarantee," said Leonid Ivashov, the head of the Moscow-based Academy of Geopolitical Sciences.

He said the existing treaty was too vague about the assistance, including military, which each CSTO country must provide to an ally in case of a clear and imminent threat of military aggression.

"Article 4 of the treaty must be revised and contain a concrete definition of such assistance, clearly described in military-strategic terms," Ivashov said during a round-table meeting in Moscow.

The Treaty on Collective Security was signed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 15 May 1992. The CSTO was established on 18 September 2003 in accordance with a decision of the heads of member states on transforming the treaty into an international regional organization.

Article 4 of the current treaty stipulates that: "If an act of aggression is committed against any of the member states, all other member states will render it necessary assistance, including military, and provide support with the means at their disposal by exercising the right to collective defense in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter".

The Russian leadership has already reaffirmed its commitment to building and maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent, while strongly criticizing the proposed deployment of the U.S. missile shield in Central Europe, and further eastward expansion of NATO.
..............................................benny

Israelis bolster new front line with Gaza By Ilene R. Prusher
Thu Mar 13, 4:00 AM ET



Ashkelon, Israel - When Alan Marcus moved here from Framingham, Mass., more than 30 years ago, this was a quiet seaside city relatively far from the Middle East's strife-ridden hot spots.

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Seemingly overnight, it became a frontline community in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And Dr. Marcus, who has a PhD in physical geographic environments, has been trying to transform Ashkelon from a sleepy beach town to a city ready to weather a rain of rockets from Gaza – and to keep the city's citizens from getting hurt.

This effort includes a computerized system that he developed and a high-tech situation room, opened just two weeks ago, to dispatch help when rockets fall.

"This has been quite a change," he acknowledges, surveying the nerve center he has been setting up over the past year and a half. With bird's-eye mapping – the most detailed in Israel, he says – he can immediately zero in on the area hit, know who or what was hit, and how to respond.

After several strikes on Ashkelon last month, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza on Feb. 29, in which more than 120 Palestinians and three Israelis died. Amid global criticism over the loss of life – and stepped-up efforts from Washington and Cairo to forge some kind of cease-fire – Israel pulled back and Palestinians have been launching fewer missiles and rockets.

But realizing that a new dynamic has emerged in the conflict, Ashkelon is taking serious precautions. The one thing it doesn't have yet is a surefire way to find people to a safe place when the missile is careening in their direction. The city has 26,000 schoolchildren, but no schools are armored. And though there are shelters, Marcus notes, its impossible to get to most of them in time. "You only have 15 seconds to get to a safe place."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, visiting here Tuesday, told people to "grit their teeth" and face the likelihood that – despite what appears to be a cooling off in the war between the Israeli military and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza – Ashkelon would suffer more attacks. An hour after he left what had been billed as a "solidarity visit," a Qassam rocket was shot at Ashkelon from Gaza. The rocket, the first in two days, landed in an open area in southern Ashkelon. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular left-wing group, claimed responsibility for it, Reuters reported.

The continued, if intermittent, rockets have fomented some confusion about whether Israel and Hamas might quietly be moving toward a cease-fire. Earlier in the week, both denied that was the case. On Wednesday, however, Hamas outlined demands for such a truce.

Mr. Olmert's grin-and-bear-it message didn't go over well with many, who had hoped he would bring a more concrete solution.

"If we knew it were a month of living in shelters, like during what they did up north during the Lebanon war, it would be fine," says Marcus. "But to let it go on like this for years, no country can take that strain. We hope that the army and the government will reach a solution."

In the meantime, the city is doing what it can. One problem was that when the "Red Alert" alarms go off, warning of an incoming missile, most people couldn't hear the alarms, as there were only 18 for a city of 120,000 people. Last week, the government decided they should use the much louder, wailing air raid sirens, but some officials here are concerned that these much more disruptive alarms will sow panic and increase the feeling that Ashkelon has become a war zone.

But for Mazal Levy, the city's chief social worker, it sometimes feels as if it is. Since the end of February, there have been 15 "serious hits" here, causing damage or light injuries, and that means that Ms. Levy constantly needs to have someone on duty to help treat people for shock and related problems.

"It's a new situation and a new threat. It took some time to realize that it was here, that it was real. I personally haven't felt anything like this since the Gulf War, which was in 1991," Levy says. She grew concerned when her 14-year-old daughter, upset by the attacks, went to live in their basement. "First of all we're citizens, people, and parents, and we all have our own worries – like whether our kids are safe every time a missile falls."

Levy is part of a project to set up a local help center in each neighborhood of the city, where members of the community can get training to help people in crisis after a missile attack. "It's time for the politicians to see if they can get to some understandings."

................................................benny p.s...just watching with this scripture in mind. Zephaniah 2: 1-7

'Magic is over' for U.S., says French foreign minister
By Alison Smale Published: March 12, 2008

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PARIS: Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France and a longtime humanitarian, diplomatic and political activist on the international scene, says that whoever succeeds President George W. Bush may restore something of the United States' battered image and standing overseas, but that "the magic is over."

In a wide-ranging conversation with Roger Cohen of the International Herald Tribune at the launch of a Forum for New Diplomacy in Paris, Kouchner on Tuesday also held out the hope of talking with Hamas, the Palestinian faction that rules the Gaza Strip but has been ostracized by the West and by its Palestinian rival, Fatah, because it opposes peace talks with Israel and denies that Israel has a right to exist.

Asked whether the United States could repair the damage it has suffered to its reputation during the Bush presidency and especially since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kouchner replied, "It will never be as it was before."

"I think the magic is over," he continued, in what amounted to a sober assessment from one of the strongest supporters in France of the United States.

U.S. military supremacy endures, Kouchner noted, and the new president "will decide what to do - there are many means to re-establish the image." But even that, he predicted, "will take time."

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Kouchner began the 90-minute event with a speech that emphasized that "there is not just a new diplomacy; there is a new world."

To those intimidated by or fearful of what seem to be the rising challenges of globalization, climate change, spreading disease or new technology, Kouchner had a simple message: "The great difficulty is to accept this new world."

"There are not more problems - please, have a little memory - than 35 years ago," he said, recalling how, in 1971, he co-founded Médecins Sans Frontières in response to the horrors of the conflict in Nigeria over Biafra.

The challenges may be daunting, he said, noting for instance that the world had decided to act to curb the AIDS epidemic, but asking, "Can we take charge of all the other diseases? I'm not sure."

Some of the most persistent diplomatic challenges emanate from the Middle East, and Kouchner was asked about approaches to Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for the destruction of Israel, or to Hamas, which has the same stated goal.

Kouchner and other European diplomats have tried to talk Iran out of its controversial nuclear program, but officially rejected all contacts with Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union. Asked whether there is a way to engage Hamas, which is supported by a significant minority of Palestinians, Kouchner appeared to hold out hope of contact, saying: "I'm looking for a diplomatic way to say yes."

He then carefully couched this statement by noting that, in general, "we have to talk with our enemies," and that Fatah, which controls the West Bank, "always said they were in favor" of unity talks with Hamas. But after Hamas routed Fatah forces from Gaza in June, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, has refused to deal with Hamas, which he accused of committing a coup. Kouchner, of the Socialist left in France, stirred controversy when he accepted the offer from President Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of the Gaullist center-right, to join his government last May.

At the end of the conversation, held in a glittering hall at the Académie Diplomatique Internationale, the IHT's partner in the new diplomatic forum, Kouchner denied that his activism had been curbed by the need to run the resplendent Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay and France's large diplomatic machinery around the world.

But he conceded that practicing the new diplomacy - which he defined as being action that is more practical, multifaceted and realistic than mere protocol calls and visits - "is very difficult, and very time-consuming."

.........................................................benny

ISRAEL ATTACKED BY ROCKET FROM LEBANON


TEL AVIV [MENL] -- For the first time in nearly a year, Israel was struck by rockets fired from neighboring Lebanon.

At least three Katyusha rockets landed in northern Israel on Sunday. The 107 mm rockets fell near the Israeli city of Kiryat Shemona and nobody was hurt. Damage was reported.

Israeli and Lebanese officials identified Palestinian gunners as responsible for the rocket attack. They said the attack was linked to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.

"We believe the attack was meant to divert attention from the Gaza Strip and establish a new area of tension," an Israeli official said.
....................................................benny

Gloom and Doom or Our Blessed Hope?

By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org





I played a clip on my radio show last weekend (March 8,) which you can hear early in hour 2 at “Radio Archives.”



In part the young woman states:



The end-times are here, the end-times are here. Gloom and doom, doom and gloom! You hear about it all the time (yes, because we’re in them). I am so sick about hearing about the end-times when we have a job to do. I talked to a friend and she said the Bible said certain things were going to happen. I couldn’t believe it. So we are just to sit back and drop the ball and don’t do anything?



We have radio and TV shows just talking abut the end-times. People actually make a living out of this. Instead of having a meeting as to how the end-times are upon us, shouldn’t we be redeeming the time for the days are evil? We have a whole generation of forgotten kids—forgotten by the church so they can have their meetings on the end-times.



I wish we DID have a whole lot of churches having meetings on Bible prophecy rather than tossing it out of the church 20 years ago! She couldn’t be more wrong.



She continues:



If we truly believe these are the end-times, shouldn’t we be saving souls? Your gloom and doom meetings are depressing and there is no life in them. I might as well just go kill myself because there is no hope. It’s just gloom and doom from you people.



This young woman’s statements came from a radio program, so it is hard to say how many people heard them. She virtually plastered everyone in two generations above her as having a morbid pre-occupation with the glorious news that the King is coming! I couldn’t make it through a lot of days without knowing that. It’s the most positive, uplifting message out there.



Yet, this is how many in the younger generation (thankfully not all) consider eschatology that is the theme of one-third of the Bible! There is a special crown for those who long for His appearing (II Tim. 4:8). Jesus chastised the religious rulers of His day for knowing the signs of the weather but not the signs of the times (His first coming.)



This gal went on to say all we need is to focus on winning the lost. I have to ask, What better tool is there for that than eschatology which reminds us that the hour is late?



Yes, Peter said there would be such scoffers in the last days but in spite of her claim to really know the Bible, she doesn’t know that she is partially fulfilling it.



Studying prophecy is a faith-builder. We see how Jesus fulfilled all His first coming verses and believe there is no reason why He would not fulfill the verses for His return. Eschatology reminds us that God has a glorious future for us! He is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). His return is hardly gloom and doom.



Of concern is if the Lord should tarry, in another 20 years Bible prophecy will be an ancient relic set on the shelf by most everyone as even today the lovers of it are primarily over age 50.



But nothing energizes me more than the simple phrase, “The King is coming!” And thankfully, I talk to a lot of people who feel the same! This is all that offers us hope in perilous times.

To learn more, visit the category of “Prophecy Watch” at my Web site.


Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com
.......................................................benny

Mar 14, 2008 0:12 | Updated Mar 14, 2008 4:46
Israel makes another bid on F-22 jets
By YAAKOV KATZ
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In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear weapons, defense officials who will visit the US next week plan to ask the Pentagon to reconsider its decision not to sell Israel the F-22 fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, The Jerusalem Post has learned.


The Lockheed F-22 Raptor.
Photo: Courtesy
Defense Ministry Director-General Pinhas Buhris will visit the US for several days next week to discuss a wide range of security and defense issues, including the continued funding of the Arrow missile defense system as well as the possibility that Israel will receive the F-22.

Israel had asked for the stealth jet - manufactured by Lockheed Martin - last year in an effort to retain its qualitative edge in the region in the face of American plans to sell Saudi Arabia advanced JDAM smart bombs. The Israeli request was turned down.

The IAF did not give up hopes of acquiring the aircraft, particularly since Israel is only expected to begin receiving the stealth Joint Strike Fighter - also known as the F-35 - in 2013 at the earliest. This could be too late to be used if Israel decides to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

The F-22 formally entered operational service in the US Air Force in December 2005, but has not been sold outside America due to a federal law barring export sale of the aircraft.

In recent talks with the US, Israel again expressed interest in the jets, and defense officials told the Post this week that "things were looking positive."

"This would be a major boost for Israel and its image of deterrence," an official said.

Israel is particularly encouraged by remarks made last month by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during a visit to Australia. Gates said he would look into lifting the congressional ban on the sale of the F-22 to foreign nations. Australia and Japan have also expressed interest in buying the stealth aircraft.

Buhris will also use his US trip to try to secure funding for the continued development of the Arrow missile defense system.

Israel currently operates the Arrow 2, and in a recent meeting at the Defense Ministry, Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved plans to begin developing the Arrow 3, an upgraded version that is slated to have a longer range and be capable of reaching higher altitudes.

Israel is also holding high-level talks with the Pentagon concerning a future Israeli acquisition in a time of war of the Lockheed Martin-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense system.

A delegation of officials from Israel's Homa Missile Defense Agency were in Hawaii recently to view a successful test of the system. The US Congress recently allocated $200 million subsidy for Israel's use if it decides to purchase the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
...............................................benny

Interesting!

Home Front to Test Sirens in Ashkelon, Netivot


(IsraelNN.com) The Home Front Command intends to test the emergency sirens in the city of Ashkelon and the town of Netivot Tuesday. The exercise will test how well the sirens are heard by residents.

The two urban centers are within range of the missiles that are being fired on a daily basis by the Hamas entity in Gaza, and have come under attack recently.

The sirens will sound in Netivot at 9:30 A.M. for 30 seconds. They will sound for a similar duration in Ashkelon at 11:30.

..................................................benny

Qatar minister: oil prices could hit 300 dollars if US attacks Iran

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amman - Qatar's Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al- Attiyah warned Wednesday that crude oil prices could reach 300 dollars per barrel or more if the United States were to attack Iran.

But al-Attiyah told the Doha-based Aljazeera satellite network that he personally 'excluded this scenario,' because US President George W Bush had little time left in the White House.

'In case Bush decides to carry out his threats to attack Iran, then oil prices may jump to unprecedented levels, perhaps to 200 or 300 dollars or more or less,' the Qatari minister said.

Though it refuses to rule out any military options, the Bush administration has regularly said it has no plans to attack Iran as it confronts the Islamic nation over its nuclear programme.

Al-Attiyah also attributed the recent record rises in oil prices over the past few months to 'political tensions and speculation rather than supply shortages.'

Bush has pushed the OPEC cartel to increase production, saying high energy prices were in part to blame for the US economic slowdown. Crude oil rose above 110 dollars per barrel for the first time ever in New York trading on Wednesday.

The 13-member OPEC oil cartel includes four Arab countries in the Gulf region - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates.

Al-Attiyah said OPEC had no plans to switch from the pricing of crude oil in dollars - despite the US falling to record levels against the euro and other currencies amid an economic slowdown - unless all oil producers agreed.

'OPEC members export only 40 cent of the world's daily energy needs currently running at about 85 million barrels (per day). All producers of the world should agree on shifting to another currency' for it to be effective.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/m...S_attacks_Iran
......................................................benny

Report: Israel threatened to target Syria if Hizbullah attacks


Israel reportedly warned Syria in February that it would hold it accountable for Hizbullah attacks

Reuters Published: 03.14.08, 23:10 / Israel News




Israel recently conveyed a warning to Syria through a third party that it would hold Damascus accountable if Hizbullah launched attacks on the Jewish state, Israeli and European sources said on Friday.




The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warning stemmed largely from Israeli concerns that Hizbullah would launch salvoes of cross-border rockets to coincide with any major Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

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The sources said the message was conveyed in February through at least one European intermediary following the assassination of a top Hizbullah commander and before this month's five-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.



After the group's senior commander, Imad Mugniyah, was killed in a bombing in Damascus, Hizbullah leader Nasrallah threatened Israel with "open war."



'This is sound strategy'

A European source familiar with the matter noted that the message conveyed to Damascus said Syria could be targeted by Israel even if Hizbullah's attack emanated from Lebanese soil.



An Israeli source with knowledge of government affairs said: "The message was passed around late February, before the last round of fighting in Gaza."



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"It has become clear to us Syria has to understand there is a price for its use of proxy terrorism, especially as Damascus is itself a proxy - the long-arm of Iran," the source said.



Another senior Israeli government official with knowledge of defence affairs declined comment on whether a message was sent to Damascus, but told Reuters: "This is sound strategy. Syria has significantly deepened its involvement with Hizbullah in southern Lebanon since the war."



Asked about the risk of an Israeli attack on Syria in response to a Hizbullah attack, a British official said: "There is always a danger that a turn of events here could prompt something on the northern border, which would be a disaster."

.................................................benny

Foreign envoys to press Israel on peace process


German chancellor, US vice president, Republican presidential candidate, Russia's foreign minister and Britain's foreign secretary expected to visit Jerusalem this week. Diplomatic tsunami reflects international community's concern over escalation in region

Roni Sofer Published: 03.15.08, 23:49 / Israel News




A busy and stressful week packed with visits by foreign diplomats awaits Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The different envoys will try and exert pressure on Israel to uphold understandings reached at the Annapolis peace conference and refrain from engaging in an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip.



During the week Olmert is scheduled to host German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as eight German ministers, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.



US Vice President Dick Cheney will land in Israel next Saturday. Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband may also visit the country, if his schedule permits.



What has triggered this wave of high-profile visits is the growing concern in the international community over a possible escalation in Gaza and a potential IDF military operation that could have a devastating effect on the peace process.



The foreign nations are also worried regarding the humanitarian situation in the Strip following Israel's blockade on the area.



The diplomats are likely to press Israel over its recently-published decision to build some 2,000 new housing units in east Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements.



Israel denies follow-up to Annapolis in works
The US believes that both Israel and the Palestinians were not doing enough to promote the diplomatic process. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week that neither side has done "nearly enough" to meet its obligations under a 2003 peace plan, making it difficult to sustain the US push to end the conflict. EU leaders echoed the sentiment during a Brussels conference this week.



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Meanwhile, officials in Jerusalem rejected recent reports that a follow-up conference to the Annapolis peace summit was set to take place in Berlin in July and focus on the peace negotiations.



A senior official explained that the conference in question will concentrate on strengthening the Palestinian police, and on technical issues. .........................................benny

I agree that Israel has the right of self defense.
So God will intervene in a most extraordinary way.

Last update - 19:38 17/02/2008


Hezbollah and Israel / What Hezbollah could lose in a reprisal

By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel

Tags: Hezbollah, Imad Mughniyah

The German weekly Der Spiegel reported yesterday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to declare the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, dead. Olmert was in Germany last week, and the Germans are the chief mediators between Israel and Hezbollah on this issue. The likelihood that they are dead increases with every day that goes by with no sign of life from them. Israeli security sources confirmed last night that the intelligence community is reassessing the kidnapped soldiers' situation and is likely to make "difficult decisions" on the matter in the coming weeks.

But Israel is not the only one facing "difficult decisions." Exactly 16 years ago today, Israel's assassination of then-Hezbollah secretary-general Abbas Mussawi led to the surprise appointment of Hassan Nasrallah, then only 32, as his successor. This week, Nasrallah must decide how to respond to another assassination of a senior Hezbollah official for which he blames Israel: that of Imad Mughniyah.

For years, Nasrallah has been working on two parallel tracks: consolidating Hezbollah's position as a legitimate Lebanese political party and the leader of the country's Shi'ites, and conducting a violent "resistance" against Israel. For the sake of the former, Nasrallah has abjured certain terrorist tactics used by his predecessor, such as kidnapping Westerners. Hezbollah also has not committed an attack overseas since 1994. However, in his speech Thursday, Nasrallah promised to avenge Mughniyah's death and hinted that his reprisal might occur overseas. If it does, this might cost him assets that he has spent years acquiring.
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Senior Israel Defense Forces officers said they have "no doubt" that Hezbollah will carry out a "harsh and painful" reprisal, but admitted that they have no clue where it might take place. For Israel, the worst-case scenario would be a totally unexpected response, like the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994 or the launch of an Iranian cruise missile at an Israeli naval ship during the Lebanon war in 2006. But even if Nasrallah sticks to the known options, it is hard to predict what he will choose, since all have significant downsides for him.

Not responding is not an option: It would damage his credibility and broadcast weakness to the rest of the Arab world. But attacking Israeli or Jewish targets overseas would get Hezbollah in trouble with other countries and return it to the status of an anti-Western terrorist organization like Al-Qaida. If he nevertheless chooses this route, South America or Southeast Asia are considered more likely targets than Europe.

A comparatively modest response, like firing Katyusha rockets at northern Israel, would not meet the high expectations Nasrallah created with his speech. But a mass-casualty attack in Israel would certainly spark a massive Israeli response and could even embroil Lebanon and Israel in another full-scale war, which Nasrallah does not currently appear to want.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is that Israel expects a harsh response, but does not know where or how it will happen. Therefore, it has declared a general alert and taken various precautions, from beefing up its forces along the northern border to issuing travel advisories to Israelis overseas.

At such times, psychological warfare, including disinformation, also plays a key role. A good example is Nasrallah's statement that "50,000 Hezbollah fighters are on high alert in South Lebanon." In fact, the organization does not even have 50,000 fighters.

................................................benny

JPost.com » Israel » Article


Mar 16, 2008 11:59 | Updated Mar 16, 2008 15:05
Syrian FM: War with Israel possible
By JPOST.COM STAFF
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A war between Syria and Israel is certainly a possibility, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem was quoted as saying Sunday.


Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem
Photo: AP [file] , AP
In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba, Moallem was asked if he believed that Israel was preparing for war against Lebanon or Syria in order to avoid addressing internal issues. "Everything is possible", he answered, adding that "every rational person should prepare for every eventuality in the wake of the crazy policies advocated by the US, whose goals are certainly not achieving stability and security in the region."

Moallem went on to call Hizbullah a friend of Syria. "Hizbullah is not a proxy of Syria but a friend. Hizbullah is a part of Lebanon and the difficulties Lebanon faces."

Regarding Israel's possible involvement in the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, the Syrian foreign minister stated, "The investigation is ongoing. I do not wish to jump to the concluding part of the investigation." However, he said that every time a great crime is committed, the question of who stands to benefit from it must be asked, adding that "Israel holds a top spot on that list."

Moallem denied reports that Syria was itself involved in the assassination. "Whoever makes this assertion is not familiar with the details of the investigation."

He also rejected the claim that the assassination constituted a security breach. "Crimes such as this take place in many capital cities around the world and I cannot classify it as a security breach. Furthermore, Mughniyeh habitually entered Damascus under aliases and he lived in a community in which the neighbors believed he worked as a driver. He did not have bodyguards and did not take security precautions," said Moallem.

The Syrian foreign minister noted that the country's security services were entrusted with the investigation into Mughniyeh's assassination. "We are undertaking significant efforts in order to complete the investigation. We will announce the results at its conclusion," he added


..............................................benny

Merkel Recognizes Israel’s Capital – But Opposes Military Steps against Iran

DEBKAfile Special Report

March 16, 2008, 6:11 PM (GMT+02:00)


German-made Dolphin submarine
Some unusual aspects stand out in the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s four-day official visit to Israel starting Sunday, March 16. One is her arrival with seven of her top ministers, including foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and defense minister Franz Josef Jung. Both will hold bilateral talks with their Israeli counterparts.

Three items of business bring the German chancellor to Israel:

One: To honor Israel on the 60th anniversary of its founding as a state. She will be the first German chancellor to address the Knesset on Tuesday. Ahead of the event, she said: "Those who keep the Nazi-era history in mind know that the stable and friendly relations of today are one of the miracles of history."

Chancellor Merkel will not hold talks with Palestinian officials on this visit. Before setting out, she spoke on the telephone to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to explain this was not a normal working visit but of special significance to German-Israel bilateral relations.

Two: To launch the German-Israeli strategic cooperation forum with a joint cabinet-level meeting in Jerusalem. The cabinet-level consultations will be held in the German and Israeli capitals in turn once a year. The chancellor’s initiative equals de facto recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

They will be the first Germany is holding regularly outside Europe. Until now, these bilateral cabinet meetings took place only with France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Russia.

Three: To put the finishing touches on Berlin’s preparations to hold a Middle East conference in Berlin in June, attended by the four Quartet members (the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN), Israel and the Palestinians as well as Arab and Muslim governments.

The event aspires to follow up the US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference of last year and further elevate the chancellor and Germany as major figures on the world stage. It caps the drive she launched soon after she assumed the chancellorship in 2006 to carve a place for Germany on the Middle East map, to which end Berlin has tightened its political and military ties with the Gulf states and Israel.

The German hand in the region is cautious and discreet.

At the end of the Israel-Hizballah war in 2006, a German contingent was added to the UN peacekeeping force in South Lebanon. Later, the unit was withdrawn, but a German flotilla continues to cruise Lebanese waters.

German agents participate in the Western intelligence and security protecting the anti-Syrian Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora; they are also involved in the security monitoring set-up in the making for cutting down Syrian arms smuggling into Lebanon.

A key component of Berlin’s Middle East disposition is the highly-developed military and intelligence relations with Jerusalem. They include the sale to Israel of German Dolphin assault submarines for its navy.

Before her visit, Merkel stated: "The threats to which the Israeli state is exposed are also threats to us.”

DEBKAfile notes: Sincere as this ringing statement undoubtedly is, there is equally no question that the chancellor has no intention of giving up German’s extensive relations with Iran, Syria and Hizballah. It was only after the third round of UN sanctions had been watered down last week that Berlin agreed to endorse the measure against the Islamic Republic, with which German firms maintain brisk business relations.

Above all, the chancellor is flat against an American or Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear sites or the revival of warfare between Israel and the Lebanese Hizballah. She is convinced that cautious diplomacy can bring Iran round to stopping short of making a nuclear bomb.

Merkel is also confident that Hizballah can be finessed through Tehran into a constructive role in Lebanese governance and abandoning its militancy for politics.

The architect of Berlin’s Middle East orientation is Ernst Uhrlau, director of German’s external intelligence agency, the BND.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that Uhrlau is thought to be the only important Western intelligence chief who can claim direct ties with Iran’s intelligence chiefs and Hizballah’s security apparatus.

Angela Merkel’s perspective on Israel can be summed up in a word: A genuine commitment to a secure Israel, a willingness to assist in its armament for possible war with Iran and a wish to develop bilateral strategic relations. But she has no intention of giving up Berlin’s strategic ties with Tehran.

.............................................benny

It's The Moment On Iran
By Dave Lindorff
3-15-8

(This Can't Be Happening) -- Every horror movie has that moment, when the hero or heroes are huddled in some creepy hideout, and suddenly something happens that tells you that the monster is just around the corner, or just about to attack. In "Jurassic Park" it was the pulsing ripples in a cup of water, heralding the arrival of a T-Rex. In "Jaws" it was the deep base music, letting you know that a monstrous shark was about to attack.

Well, we just got our moment with the just-announced resignation of Admiral William J. Fallon, the military commander of US Middle East operations.

Adm. Fallon, 63, famously said that an attack on Iran would not happen "on my watch," and is widely believed to have already threatened, along with a number of other top generals and admirals, to quit the service if the Bush administration were to launch an air attack on Iran.

Put the pieces together. We know that the vice president is obsessed with a desire to attack Iran, and has been since before he even took office. Bush has repeatedly stressed that Iran cannot be permitted to continue with its nuclear processing (he calls it their "nukular" bomb program, though there is no evidence that the country has a nuclear bomb development program, and in fact the last National Intelligence Estimate on Iran said there was not and hadn't been since 2003). And Fallon has now quit.

The Eisenhower nuclear aircraft carrier strike force has departed for stationing off Iran, joining forces already in place there, and loaded to the brim with strike aircraft, Tomahawk missiles, and even nuclear weapons. It was long ago reported that stealth bombers had been put in place in come of the countries of the old Soviet Union north of Iran, as well as on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

All the elements, that is to say, are in place for a massive air assault on Iranian targets, designed to destroy its nuclear program, cripple its military command and control, and--at least this is a stated Cheney goal--to lead to the overthrow of the Iranian government by its own people.

It is, of course, the strategy of madmen.

The US has no forces to send into Iran. All they can do is bomb it. And bombing a country doesn't lead its people to rise up. It leads them to rally 'round the flag. Especially when the civilian casualties of our not-so-"smart" bombs start to soar.

If such an attack were to happen, we can kiss goodbye to six years of domestic peace, such as we've had. The Iranians have considerable capability to inflict damage on US targets of interest, both overseas and here in the domestic US using assymetrical warfare techniques. The worse part is, they'd be completely justified in doing so, since any attack on them would be a crime against peace--the gravest of all international crimes.

American troops already mired and pinned down in a war in Iraq, would find themselves suddenly under attack by Shia forces there, who for several years now have been largely leaving them alone.

And oil, which just bumped up against $110 a barrel, an all-time record, will double in price overnight, as the whole Persian Gulf becomes a war zone.

We can expect massive launches of small boats armed with missiles and torpedoes, as well as sophisticated anti-ship missiles from shore batteries, all fired at US ships in the Gulf, and it would be astounding if some or even many vessels of the US fleet weren't sunk.

Meanwhile, tanker traffic in the Gulf, which accounts for 20% or more of the world's oil, will cease as insurance rates for those vessels goes through the roof.

The monster of war will be unleashed, and will not easily be defeated. That's why Adm. Fallon was so opposed to the whole idea. He knows that it will be a disaster for the US militarily, economically and politically.

The worst part is that Cheney knows this, too. He just doesn't care. This is the man's parting shot as he leaves office--to put the country into the throes of a war so vicious that no one will think of pursuing him for his long list of crimes against the nation and the Constitution.

He is guessing--and he may be right--that the American public will, sheep-like as always, rally to the cause, with a new round of yellow magnet "ribbons" on their cars. He is hoping--and he may be right-- that war will be a boon for the candidacy of Republican John McCain and for embattled Republicans running for Congress.

It's a kind of political Hail Mary.



http://www.rense.com/general81/moment.htm
.......................................................benny

OP-ED - BRUCE BEACH : "Fallon Fallout"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lots of people have noted
the two events -
the dropping of Fallon -
and
the dropping of the dollar -
but so far as I know -
I am the only one who sees
a direct tie.

Yes,
admittedly,
the bank crises,
the mortgage crises,
the derivative crises,
the bond insurer crises,
all this and everything else,
is a part of the dumping of the dollar.

However,
for a long time
there have been watchers
who have been saying "Watch Fallon",
to know what Bush is planning for Iran.

"Not on my watch" Fallon,
has held the key.
Fallon had to go -
for Bush to be able to go.

As Gates said -
"It was the right thing to do."
One can't buck their boss that way.
It kills authority and the system.

I am not saying -
that the Bush plan for Iran
is right -
or wrong -
or even that it is now going to happen.
In fact -
I think that other events will intervene.

What I do think is that -
the big "Sovereign" Middle-East investors
looked at the fall of Fallon -
and said -
"the die is cast" -
"the game is cooked"
"I want to cash in my chips"
and go home.
And so they sold the dollar.

Well -
you have to admit
that it is at least coincidental
that they both happened at the same time.

Death of the Dollar:

10% annual loss rate 2004-2006
17% annual loss rate 2007
72% annual loss rate last 30 days

Do you see a trend here.
What does the term worth less mean to you?

The dollar has become worth---less.
Then worth--less.
Then worth-less.
Well,
you can see where this is going.

Ahmadinejad said -
"The US dollar is worthless" -
and that he would no longer take it
for Iran's oil.
Sells Iran's oil to Europe for Euros.
Sells Iran's oil to the Japanese for Yen.
But sells Iran's oil to no one for dollars.

Saddam threatened the same thing -
and look what happened to him.
If you don't think this is considered
a serious situation by Bush, Cheney and the Oilers -
then you don't read the world the way that I do.

But anyway,
down goes the dollar -
and the BIGGEST dollar holder
(China)
announced that they are going to diversify -
to other currencies.
Others are also -
as quickly as they can.

None of them are wanting to see
the US dollar plunge.
When you are holding a trillion of them -
the last thing you want
is someone to walk into your office
and say -
the bank notes you are holding -
are worth half today -
what they were yesterday.

Everybody blames the banks.
Everybody blames the sub-prime mortgage holders.
Everybody blames the sub-prime mortgagees - therefore -
Everybody therefore blames me.

Wrong.
The cause was none of the above.
Those are just money veils.
Money is created by human rules.
Money is destroyed by human rules.
Money is replaced by human rules.
Matters not -
so long as real stuff
is being made and distributed.

When rules fail -
rules can be changed.
When money is destroyed -
money can be recreated
at the push of a computer button -
just like it was created
in the first place.

But -
when real stuff is destroyed -
that takes longer to replace -
and the US destroys
over $2billion dollars of real stuff -
in Iraq EACH day.

AND -
that is just on the American side.
They destroy lots on the other side also -
and in other places also.
When you are busy building bullets -
you can't be busy making butter.
So -
American kids lunch programs don't get butter -
and kids elsewhere in the world get bullets.

Other countries have been paying
for America's bullets.
The US established itself
as the world reserve currency.
A position it is now losing.
When it was the world reserve currency
it was able to print as much money
as it wished
to pay for its bullets.
Other countries gave the US
real things
like oil
for its 'bank notes'.

No longer.
Quickly now -
the bank notes will buy less and less.
The US will not be able
to support its big military elsewhere
or anywhere.
The US will cease to be a world power.

The US will not go into the dark quietly.
Hence - at the bell -
one final big round
to try for a knock out blow.

The fall of Fallon was the bell.
Just like at the carnival -
hit the flipper with the sledge -
and ring the bell.
The oil bell is ringing also.
The gold bell is ringing also.
Sounds like a fire station -
with all the bells going off.

Friday was bell day.
Monday will be bell day also.
Tuesday will also be bell day.
On Tuesday Bush will meet
with the Plunge Protection Team.
On Tuesday the Fed will meet
to lower the discount rate.
On Tuesday the dollar will fall.

The end of the week
is the beginning of Spring.
Naw Ruz for the Persians.
A very significant time.
It is also the end of the
forty day morning period
for the Leader of the Terrorists
who was killed in Syria.

Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran
have all promised to retaliate.
Fallon not slated to be gone
until the end of the month.
If one is convinced that
the US is going to strike -
then the advantage is to pre-empt.

Beach is hearing bells.
Maybe it is just tinnitus (ear ringing).
Does this ring a bell for you?
We won't be long finding out -
if it is a false alarm.

----------
Meanwhile -
fun down on the farm.
At the moment -
taking a rest from snow shovelling.

Jean saw neighbour through the window
out in the stream.
My shovel head that came off
a couple of weeks ago
was blocking their water intake.
They threw it back up on the bank for me.

I have spent an hour
shovelling out towards it -
but have another hour to go.
Needed to do it anyway -
because I need to shovel out
to the battery house
and put water into the batteries.

We are having a warm week
this coming week
and then back into cold, snow and storms.
If possible
I hope to get a big tractor snow blower
to make us a path into the shelter.
Some members are planning to come up next weekend
so that we can do some things we need to do.

We are in Spring Break
so it has been a fun week
with the grandkids.
Took Jema (dog) to the Sportsman Show
where we manned the NSD booth one day.
We are supposed to do another activity for them
(kids, dog and NSD) this next Friday.

Rewrote my dog poem.
Change from 4 line stanzas to three -
and put it into iambic pentameter.
Put some new stories on the web page.
Wish I could find someone to set it to music.

Anyway -
if it interests you -

www.webpal.org/dog/

--------

Speaking of the farm.
Friend Farmer Fred sends the following:

Wednesday I spoke with the owners/managers of the three major seed
companies here in Maine - Fedco, Johnny's Selected, and Pinetree
Garden. All of them reported that sales so far this season are running
20+ percent higher than last year -- far beyond their expectations. CR
Lawn at Fedco said he is already running out of organically grown seed
in some varieties, and the peak ordering season is still a couple of
weeks away. Both he and Richard Meniers at Pinetree compared the
current boom to the pre-y2k rush. Rob Johnston at Johnny's said the
increase is twice what he was projecting, and he attributed most of
the additional demand to people getting edgy about the economy.

If you don't have seeds yet, you might want to rush that order.
----------

I am certainly trying to encourage all
that can come and give a hand
next weekend
to do so.

There is always lots to do around here.
This week -
the grandkids helped Jean
to start another worm farm.

The first worm farm had gotten over grown.
We started out with a couple of thousand
and there must be ten thousand now.
Both farms are sitting in our dinning room.

I have run out of small wood -
and now have to run all the wood through
the wood splitters.
Taking quite a bit of energy and time.

Snow is waaay too deep to go out
and bring in more wood.
The path out past the wood piles -
which I am shovelling today -
gets shoulder deep in some of the drifts
and it takes a lot of effort
to throw the snow out that high.

Well, about time that I get back out to the shovelling.
Then comes the battery watering.
After that – back in to do the wood splitting.
I have to keep getting up during the night
to put wood on the fire
because we have a small fire box
in the cook stove that we are using.

I will be checking the dollar from about
2:00 or 3:00 on in the morning.
The FOREX (Foreign Exchange Market)
goes 24 hours a day -
seven days a week -
but there is no 'one' market -
and I don't know how to check them all.

The one that I track -
in New York
closed on Friday evening
and opens at that hour in the night on Monday morning.

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX

If you look at the chart -
and look at the middle of November -
you see a little vertical drop
about a third of the distance between the two lines.

That is where I woke Jean up in the middle of the night
and told her to come watch -
because 'it was happening'.
Well -
the PPT got it back up
and did a marvellous job of keeping
the red line level up
for three months.

But now when you look at the last days
on the chart -
you see a drop that looks like
the devils ski jump -
and makes that previous drop look like a bump
on the beginner's hill.

----------
Ahhh - beautiful spring!
Lots of snow -
but sunny and no wind -
so working outside is pleasant.

Spring -
the time of change.
Lots of activity at Jean's bird feeders.
Snow melting off the roofs and trucks -
just an exhilarating time.

Spring time also -
in the world of humanity.
The build up of the snow banks
of old systems will melt away.

Change will seem traumatic -
and for a while the earth will appear dead -
until the new leaves begin to appear.
It is a marvellous time to be alive in.

Yes -
the old systems will be swept away -
and we must rake up the dead limbs and leaves
to make way for the new.
But it is the best of times for the gardeners -
both those who grow vegetables -
and those who garden humanity.

Peace and love,
Bruce
.........................................................benny

Islamic Jihad Announced 22-km Range Missile


(IsraelNN.com) The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced Sunday it has acquired a new missile capable of hitting the outskirts of Ashkelon from Gaza. Islamic Jihad also operates in Judea and Samaria; rockets fired from those areas would be capable of hitting numerous other targets in pre-1967 Israel as well.

The new rocket is a 22-kilometer range missile, according to a report on Voice of Israel government radio. Hamas terrorists, who also receive generous support from Iran, have already succeeded in attacking Ashkelon numerous times using GRAD missiles.

......................................................benny

Merkel Recognizes Israel’s Capital – But Opposes Military Steps against Iran

DEBKAfile Special Report

March 16, 2008, 6:11 PM (GMT+02:00)


German-made Dolphin submarine
Some unusual aspects stand out in the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s four-day official visit to Israel starting Sunday, March 16. One is her arrival with seven of her top ministers, including foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and defense minister Franz Josef Jung. Both will hold bilateral talks with their Israeli counterparts.

Three items of business bring the German chancellor to Israel:

One: To honor Israel on the 60th anniversary of its founding as a state. She will be the first German chancellor to address the Knesset on Tuesday. Ahead of the event, she said: "Those who keep the Nazi-era history in mind know that the stable and friendly relations of today are one of the miracles of history."

Chancellor Merkel will not hold talks with Palestinian officials on this visit. Before setting out, she spoke on the telephone to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to explain this was not a normal working visit but of special significance to German-Israel bilateral relations.

Two: To launch the German-Israeli strategic cooperation forum with a joint cabinet-level meeting in Jerusalem. The cabinet-level consultations will be held in the German and Israeli capitals in turn once a year. The chancellor’s initiative equals de facto recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

They will be the first Germany is holding regularly outside Europe. Until now, these bilateral cabinet meetings took place only with France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Russia.

Three: To put the finishing touches on Berlin’s preparations to hold a Middle East conference in Berlin in June, attended by the four Quartet members (the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN), Israel and the Palestinians as well as Arab and Muslim governments.

The event aspires to follow up the US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference of last year and further elevate the chancellor and Germany as major figures on the world stage. It caps the drive she launched soon after she assumed the chancellorship in 2006 to carve a place for Germany on the Middle East map, to which end Berlin has tightened its political and military ties with the Gulf states and Israel.

The German hand in the region is cautious and discreet.

At the end of the Israel-Hizballah war in 2006, a German contingent was added to the UN peacekeeping force in South Lebanon. Later, the unit was withdrawn, but a German flotilla continues to cruise Lebanese waters.

German agents participate in the Western intelligence and security protecting the anti-Syrian Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora; they are also involved in the security monitoring set-up in the making for cutting down Syrian arms smuggling into Lebanon.

A key component of Berlin’s Middle East disposition is the highly-developed military and intelligence relations with Jerusalem. They include the sale to Israel of German Dolphin assault submarines for its navy.

Before her visit, Merkel stated: "The threats to which the Israeli state is exposed are also threats to us.”

DEBKAfile notes: Sincere as this ringing statement undoubtedly is, there is equally no question that the chancellor has no intention of giving up German’s extensive relations with Iran, Syria and Hizballah. It was only after the third round of UN sanctions had been watered down last week that Berlin agreed to endorse the measure against the Islamic Republic, with which German firms maintain brisk business relations.

Above all, the chancellor is flat against an American or Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear sites or the revival of warfare between Israel and the Lebanese Hizballah. She is convinced that cautious diplomacy can bring Iran round to stopping short of making a nuclear bomb.

Merkel is also confident that Hizballah can be finessed through Tehran into a constructive role in Lebanese governance and abandoning its militancy for politics.

The architect of Berlin’s Middle East orientation is Ernst Uhrlau, director of German’s external intelligence agency, the BND.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that Uhrlau is thought to be the only important Western intelligence chief who can claim direct ties with Iran’s intelligence chiefs and Hizballah’s security apparatus.

Angela Merkel’s perspective on Israel can be summed up in a word: A genuine commitment to a secure Israel, a willingness to assist in its armament for possible war with Iran and a wish to develop bilateral strategic relations. But she has no intention of giving up Berlin’s strategic ties with Tehran.

.................................................benny

Israel Air Force may buy vertical-takeoff planes to dodge Hizballah-Hamas rockets
March 17, 2008, 11:36 AM (GMT+02:00)


New Lockheed Martin vertical takeoff F-35B
This is reported in the American Defense News . The expanding Palestinian and Lebanese Hizballah’s missile threats to its southern and northern air bases have persuaded Israeli’s Air Force to consider switching its procurement plans from 100 US F-35A stealth jets to the F-35B Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) version, designed to serve the US Marine Corps under fire.

Israel’s southern and northern air bases have come within range of rockets from Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas from the Gaza Strip, respectively, and possibly from the West Bank too. Air landings and takeoffs have therefore become hazardous. Israeli air bases and installations have been fortified against Palestinian rocket attack from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“Air base survivability is no longer hypothetical,” said one retired air force general.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that IAF chiefs reckon that in any future flare-ups, the Palestinians will not be satisfied with hitting Sderot and Ashkelon but will go for its main air bases as well.

This information has been kept from the Israeli public as the Olmert government continues to avoid proactive options for knocking out the increasingly dangerous Hamas and Hizballah’s rocket capabilities - boosted by Iran, and remains fixed in defensive mode. This fixation is not lost on Iranian, Syrian, Hizballah and Hamas in charting their assault scenarios against Israel.

Most military strategists warn that a comprehensive ground operation is unavoidable and the longer it is delayed, the harder it will be and the more casualties.

Israel’s designated Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, who assumes his new duties on April 1, stated at a recent lecture: “Professionally speaking, if Israel wants to prevent high-trajectory rocket or mortar fire, it must establish good control on the ground.” He added: “…if Israeli forces are present on the ground... then we can stop the development and manufacture of rockets and other weapons in time.”

DEBKAfile’s military sources add that the government continues to lag behind Israel’s perceived security needs. The new Lockheed Martin planes will not be available in time for the confrontations widely predicted to erupt over the next two or three years. The rockets already in Hizballah and Hamas hands - not to mention Iran and Syria - may be able to prevent some Israeli warplanes from taking off from vulnerable runways.

Salvation will not come from the F-35B, which is still undergoing initial testing. On March 26, a Pentagon Acquisition Board will decide whether to approve the production of the first six STOVL F-35Bs, conditional on a successful first flight. In April, the first plane will begin propulsion system ground testing, ahead of its first flight by June. Its capabilities in relation to cost have still to be determined. There is no estimated timeline for the F-25B to go into service with the US Marines.

Israeli defense ministry’s director general Pinhas Buchris visits Washington in mid-March to discuss IAF procurements.

........................................................benny

Mar 17, 2008 18:19 | Updated Mar 17, 2008 19:36
Israel beefs up security ahead of Purim
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Police will deploy thousands of officers throughout the country this weekend as a precautionary measure during Purim, out of fears that Hizbullah may try to carry out a revenge attack for the assassination of one of its top masterminds, a police spokesman said Monday.


Hizbullah members fix a giant poster of top commander Imad Mughniyeh on a building in the southern city of Tyre, Lebanon, Wednesday.
Photo: AP
Hizbullah has blamed Israel for the Feb. 12 car bombing in Syria that killed Imad Mughniyeh, a Hizbullah leader suspected of masterminding a series of deadly attacks against US and Jewish targets. Israel has denied the charge.

Officials in Jerusalem fear that Hizbullah will try to strike at the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period, which coincides with Purim, a time when schools are closed and many Israeli families attend outdoor celebrations.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said thousands of officers and volunteers will guard holiday celebrations and be stationed at bus stations and malls throughout the country. He said also said Israel would likely impose a closure on the West Bank, preventing Palestinians from entering the country. Israel often imposes closures during holidays and other times of high alert.

One of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists, the 45-year-old Mughniyeh was linked to a series of attacks that killed hundreds of Americans, including 241 US Marines in Lebanon and the brutal kidnappings of Westerners in the 1980s.

His trail of violence was believed to have extended into the 1990s, with the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, a Jewish center in Buenos Aires and an attack on foreign military housing in Saudi Arabia. Scores of people were killed and hundreds more wounded in those attacks.

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed at Mughniyeh's funeral to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world, and Israeli precautions have been extended across the globe.

Israel fought a war with Hizbullah in the summer of 2006. The war killed 40 Israeli civilians and 119 IDF soldiers and more than 1,000 Lebanese.
......................................................benny

By Stan Goodenough
March 17, 2008

Israel is to hold its largest-ever emergency exercise in April - shutting down parts of the country as it tests its responses to massive, possibly non-conventional, attacks from Syria and Iran.

This is according to the top story Monday in The Jerusalem Post, and comes the day after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem was quoted as saying a war between Syria and Israel is certainly a possibility.

Starting April 6, and stretching over five days, the emergency drill will include a convening of the cabinet following "an enemy attack," the sounding of sirens country-wide, mass-evacuations from "hit" areas - simulating responses to chemical and nuclear strikes - and the inundating of hospitals with thousands of Israeli casualties.

A high-ranking defense official said the drill would be "the biggest exercise in Israel's history."

He took pains to stress, however, that Israel was not planning the event because of fears of an imminent war but rather to implement lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War.

Moallem, interviewed by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba, was asked if he believed that Israel was preparing for war against Lebanon or Syria

"Everything is possible", he answered, adding that "every rational person should prepare for every eventuality in the wake of the crazy policies advocated by the US, whose goals are certainly not achieving stability and security in the region."

WorldNetDaily reported last week Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was saying that Iran's Revolutionary Guards are training hundreds of Hamas fighters to prepare for an all-out war this summer against Israel.

...................................................benny

Rumors of Peace
Peace is perhaps the most prevalent issue on the minds of mankind in these volatile times. The rumors of war that look to be much like those prophesied by Jesus in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew Chapter 24) are on the increase, when thinking upon things brewing in the Middle East. This region threatens to break out in violence between Israel and her enemy neighbors at any moment, an action that could swiftly progress to a much larger conflict involving atomic weaponry. This mu