Sunday, October 3, 2010

Middle East Peace Talks: Politics As Usual

Assad: Peace talks aimed only to help Obama politically

That really isn't too surprising, given the history of our President in terms of the Middle East. This article is revealing:

Syrian President Bashar Assad offered dim hopes on Saturday for any success in Middle East peace talks, saying the White House is using its mediation between Israelis and Palestinians only to score political points in the United States.


Who would have guessed?

Assad said the current attempt at dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians have brought “no change” and claimed that President Barack Obama only seeks a political boost.

“The talks are only aimed at supporting Obama’s position inside the US,” Assad said in his first public comments about the process since the latest round of negotiations began last month


It is interesting how this article (above) dovetails with an article from Haaretz:

Diplomats: Mitchell misrepresented initial success of peace talks


The three meetings held so far between Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the current round of peace talks have addressed nothing of substance, diplomatic sources say.

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell presented the talks as very successful, saying they were moving more rapidly than those in Northern Ireland, where he also served as mediator. He said Abbas and Netanyahu were dealing with all the tough issues and not leaving them to the end of the discussions.

But both Israeli and Palestinian sources said Mitchell's statement was "inaccurate" at best. A European diplomat who met the Palestinian negotiating team in New York about a week ago told Haaretz the Palestinians were furious with Mitchell. "He gave a false presentation of progress," the diplomat said a Palestinian official had told him.


The so-called progress of these meetings seems to have been "twisted" to give a more favorable view politically.

As stated before, the world won't see a "peace agreement" until the antichrist arrives on the scene, and at that point, we'll be engaged in an epic celebration which fortunately, will be far away from this world.

In other news, and this is definitely worth watching, we see the following:

Exclusive: Concern That Terror Teams Have Selected Targets, Ready to Strike


Strong concerns that terrorist teams in Europe have selected their targets, completed their surveillance, eluded capture and are now ready to strike at airports and tourist attractions have prompted the State Department to ready a highly unusual travel advisory for Europe, multiple law enforcement and intelligence sources tell ABC News

Intelligence and law enforcement officials have information that the teams could at any time launch a "Mumbai style" terror attack that targets civilians for death or hostage taking. The 2008 Mumbai attack used small arms and explosives to kill 175 people and paralyze the Indian city for days.

The current concerns are for scenarios that include opening fire at airports in Europe as well as executing similar attacks at "soft" targets like tourist attractions or hotels.

According to ABC News sources, the terror plotters have moved through the surveillance stage, checked back in with al Qaeda in Pakistan, and have received the go-ahead to strike.


Only time will tell. We've seen similar threats before, but this one seems more definitive. We'll be watching and praying for the safety of anyone who could be in harms way.

3 comments:

hartdawg said...

i`m currently watching a debate on islam on abc entitled, a way forward? you should go online or something and watch it. its over the mosque.on this week with christne amanpour. a warning tho, it`ll get you upset. on one side is robert spencer from jihad watch, franklin grahm and one other gut.

hartdawg said...

sorry,thats one other guy. i think you can find the debate on abcthisweek.com. one guy defending islam stood and said to spencer "pardon me but i`m gonna take the word of a credible, objective non-partisan source like media matters (objective?) or move on as opposed to someone who spews hate toward islam" i turned it off right there.

Expected Imminently said...

Scott
I can confirm that we have been cautioned via the news channels. Nothing specific, just be aware - especially US tourists!

The only thing I can think may be a target, is when we have 'Poppy Day' in November, on the Sunday closest to the 11th. All past and present services parade past the tomb of the unknown soldier. Parliament is there as well as HM and family. Come rain or shine there is always a good turn out for Rememberance Day. Having said that, security is always very tight.

One other observation. Last week I caught a snippit of news that Obama has declared that he is a Christian by 'choice'. I would have been prepared to believe him if he had said by 'faith' in Christ Jesus.
Sue