President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran could not have picked a better time to be both defiant and adamant about his nuclear ambitions. Not only are there widespread disagreements in the international community about whether or not Iran is a danger and whether or not it should be stopped, the nations with the will and the means to stop Iran militarily are politicially unable to do so. An international high-stakes hot potato game has begun.
Archive for the 'Middle East' Category
Nuclear Iran - Passing the Hot Potato
Published November 23rd, 2006 in Middle East and Iran. 0 CommentsA day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused the Lebanese government of a lack of credibility and being “in a state of weakness and feel[ing] a huge defeat as the result of the last Israeli war in Lebanon”, the anti-Syrian bloc in the Lebanese government fear a coup is imminent.
Prominent politician Walid Jumblatt warned his party members today that “the (pro-Syrian) opposition groups are on the verge of announcing a coup in the country and we (the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority) should take the brave decision to confront all options.” Jumblatt is the Druze leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, the second largest party in the Lebanese parliament and a member of the coalition.
UN General Assembly Urges End of Gaza Violence
Published November 18th, 2006 in Middle East, Israel & Palestine, Opinion and United Nations. 1 CommentThe United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging an immediate end to all acts of violence by Israelis and Palestinians. (Sources: BBC World and Haaretz).
The resolution calls for an immediate end of Israeli incursions in Gaza and Palestinian rocket fire into Israel. It also calls for an immediate investigation into the recent Beit Hanun shelling, where a few misfired shells killed 19 Palestinians, to be set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The investigation is likely to be headed by former US president Jimmy Carter. There is no mention of the Hamas-led abduction of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit.
The IAEA found trace amounts of plutonium and enriched uranium in an Iranian waste facility today.
Well now, Mr. Ahmadinejad, how are you going to spin that one? If all that Iran wants is ‘peaceful nuclear energy’, why does it need plutonium? Are you still going to deny that as I’m writing this you’re building a heavy water research reactor in Arak to produce the plutonium you’d need to rain destruction on, oh I don’t know, Israel? For the time being, the Iranian President has been busy continuing his act as a friendly neighborhood dictator who simply wants cheaper energy for all his citizens.
The True Face of Hamas
Published November 12th, 2006 in Middle East, Israel & Palestine and Opinion. 0 CommentsMany of our friends in Europe and the Arab world would have us believe that Hamas is a modern, respectable party. That they won their landslide victory in the Palestinian elections last January due to their plans to fight corruption and improve health care and education. Our friends continue to say that they are the legally elected governing party of the Palestinians and that the United States and Israel are monsters for not throwing billions of dollars at them.
Hamas Urges Attacks on US Targets
Published November 12th, 2006 in Middle East and Israel & Palestine. 1 CommentFrom the Associated Press:
Hamas’ military wing called Wednesday on Muslims around the world to attack American targets following reports that an Israeli tank strike killed 18 people in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun
The Hamas-led Palestinian government distanced itself from the call, saying its fight was with Israel.
Hamas militants have historically directed their suicide bombings and rocket attacks only against Israeli targets.
“America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons,” Hamas’ military wing said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.
US Vetoes UN Resolution Condemning Israel
Published November 12th, 2006 in Middle East, Israel & Palestine and United Nations. 0 CommentsThe United States tonight vetoed a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning the IDF ‘massacre’ at Beit Hanoun - an incident last wednesday that killed 19 Palestinians, calling for Israel to immediately withdraw all forces from the Gaza Strip and for UN observers to be deployed in the area.
The resolution, proposed by Qatar, called for an “immediate investigation into the massacre that took place in Beit Hanoun” and for Israel to “cease all violence against the civilian population in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.” In a last-minute effort to avoid a US-veto, Qatar changed some of the language in the resolution - including dropping the word ‘massacre’.
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