The exercises, held mostly on Friday, featured prominently in news reports on state television which seemed aimed to show Russians and the world that Putin is the hands-on chief of a resurgent power.Tests involving command systems and all three components of the nuclear "triad" - land and sea-launched long-range nuclear missiles and strategic bombers - were conducted "under the personal leadership of Vladimir Putin", the Kremlin said.
There will be “no limits” to construction in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
His comments come two days after the European Union, Britain and France condemned the Interior Ministry’s approval of a plan to build almost 800 new housing units in Gilo, a southern Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the 1967 Green Line.
“We are not imposing any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem. It is our capital,” Netanyahu said. He added Israel has a connection to Jerusalem as “ancient and powerful” as other states do to their capital.
Gilo is part of the city captured during the 1967 Six Day War and subsequently annexed to Israel proper, a move contested by the international community and the Palestinians.
Also on Sunday, Netanyahu expressed hope that the recommendations of the Levy report, a state-sponsored document that advised legalization of illegal West Bank outposts
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday responded to international criticism of a plan to build 797 homes in Gilo, saying that Israel will continue construction in Jerusalem in the same way that the international community builds in their own individual capitals.
"We place no limits on construction in our capital city," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting. "Just as they build in London, Paris, Washington and Moscow, we will continue to build in Jerusalem."
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the plan and called it "regrettable" and "illegal."
"Settlements are illegal under international law and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible," her office said. "The EU has repeatedly urged the government of Israel to immediately end all settlement activities in the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem, in line with its obligations under the road map.”
Liberman encouraged European officials to focus on their internal issues, including ongoing strife in Brussels and Cyprus. He also invited them to visit Gilo to gain a better understanding of the neighborhood's relation to Israel's capital. "Gilo is a seven minute walk from the city center," he said. "Its population is homogeneously Jewish.""The stance the EU has taken is unilateral, and one which does not promote dialogue with the Palestinians," he said. "It is an anti-Israel position."
New Muslim Brotherhood Leader Committed To Instituting Sharia Law In Egypt
Don't forget, the U.S. is actively supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and aided in they quest for power:
Don't forget, the U.S. is actively supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and aided in they quest for power:
The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) – the political party of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood – elected former speaker of parliament Saad el-Katatny as its new leader. He replaces Mohammed Morsi who resigned the position this summer after being elected president of Egypt.In his acceptance speech, Katatny called his victory “only a first step” towards the FJP’s many goals, the main one being to establish Shariah law in Egypt. Ahram reports:“The Muslim Brotherhood established the party to represent the Brotherhood’s political project, which, in the end, will be a wise government that will institute Islamic Sharia Law,” he asserted.He went on to say that the party would extend its hands to all of Egypt’s diverse political forces.“The FJP has a vision: to raise Egypt back up to its rightful place among the nations of the world,” El-Katatni said. “The FJP will work to obtain experience from other political parties in this regard.”
Thousands of Lebanese waving the national flag gathered in Beirut Sunday for the funeral for a top intelligence official who was assassinated in a massive car bombing that many blame on the regime in neighboring Syria.
Lebanese forces set up road blocks and cordoned off Beirut’s Martyrs Square, boosting security in the capital. Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan’s coffin will be brought to the square for burial.
Even before the bombing, the civil war in neighboring Syria had set off violence in Lebanon and deepened tensions between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad’s regime. The attack heightened fears that Lebanon could easily plunge back into cycles of sectarian violence and reprisal that have haunted it for decades.
Israel officials responded cautiously Sunday to reports that the US and Iran were setting up direct bilateral talks over the latter’s nuclear program, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman saying he hoped White House denials of such talks were accurate.
Liberman told Army Radio that he prefers to believe the White House denial of the assertion that the US had succeeded in opening direct talks with the Iranians. While the US has long said it is open to talking with the Iranians, Washington rejected the claim that negotiations were under way to arrange a meeting.
“I want to believe the White House denial, and I want to believe that they learn from experience,” Liberman said. “All the Iranians want to achieve through direct negotiations is the removal of sanctions.”
However, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Israel Radio that Jerusalem has known for some time of behind-the-scenes contact between the US and IranOn Saturday The New York Times reported that the US and Iran had agreed to hold direct talks, prompting the denial from the White House.
NBC News later reported that back-channel talks had taken place but had not led to a meeting yet.
Also see:
Just a small window into what the CFR et. al. are thinking along with present realities in the region:
Henry Kissinger’s recent statement, that in 10 years Israel will cease to exist, borders on senile. Although one of his staff members denied it, Cindy Adams from the New York Post insisted: “Reported to me, Henry Kissinger has stated - and I quote the statement word for word: ‘In 10 years, there will be no more Israel’”.
Kissinger is a controversial figure. He can hardly be suspected of excessive sympathy for Israel. He perhaps, inclines to the “syndrome of self-hatred” so fashionable nowadays in the Jewish elite. At the same time, Kissinger is not an exalted pop-diva, cheap populist or rebellious professor. He is an experienced, prudent politician who takes responsibility for his utterance.
What drove him to such a dramatic conclusion? Is there a real and grave threat to Israel?
The reality:
A closer analysis of the situation reveals a different picture - not so bleak. Israel indeed remains an alien backed to sea nation in a world of anarchy, religious fanaticism, rioting crowds and insane dictators. Regardless, the country has a strong and viable economy, advanced technology, modern army and flexible democratic system.
On the other hand, the Arab regimes that emerge from the remains of the collapsed autocracies are extremely unstable, as in Egypt. In some cases they will not be able to establish a state in any form for a long time, like in Syria.
They have neither financial nor intellectual recourses to challenge Israel. Iran is doomed to sink deeper in the swamp of the Sunni-Shiite conflict (Syria and Bahrain are good examples); its economy is unilateral and vulnerable; its armament is outdated.
The Nuclear bomb is an excellent means of blackmail, but its use against Israel - given the nuclear - missile power of the latter - would end the regime and the country itself.
In a way Israel goes back to antiquity. Like in the Kingdom of David, it stands alone and confronts numerous, but scattered, non-disciplined and feuding enemies.
Similar to the biblical era, Egypt is swamped in its own problems – internal intrigues and fighting with armed nomads. Deserts - Sinai and Negev – create a powerful natural buffer between two countries. Even with the help of American weaponry, the Egyptian army is scarcely ready for modern warfare, based on sudden and daring decisions.
Syria is traditionally hostile to Israel, but unaided it is doomed to failure. Just like King David had slammed the pride of Aram-Damascus kings, Israel did not leave the Syrians even a slight chance of winning - neither on the ground in 1967 and 1973, nor in the air in 1982 *. Also, modern Syria, the same as the ancient one, is not more than a mosaic, eclectic and shaky formation.
As the Philistines in ancient times, Hamas in Gaza and “Hezbollah” can strike painful blows to Israel, but they do not present a fatal threat to the country. Besides, today, they struggle for their own survival. Sunni radicalism threatens “Hezbollah” in Lebanon. Hamas is forced to face and confront the growing discontent of the population, on the one hand, and the Salafi groups, on the other.
As a result, with its powerful army and stable economy, the Jewish state, as the Kingdom of David, can maintain its security by playing with the contradictions of its enemies and by engaging in short-term alliances with its neighbors.Is there any powerful force that can fatally undercut the strength of Israel? There is – it is the West.
Israel is part of the West and has associated itself with the West. The West, on the contrary, increasingly perceives Israel as a burden. This can already be considered a fait accompli for Europe, Obama has chosen this path too. From the beginning he preferred rapprochement with the Arab world at the expense of the Jewish state.
7 comments:
Woo hoo! You tell 'em Bibi!
I say....build away!
Ha Ha, Obama's October Surprise, "we are going to talk to the Iranians some more"
WV, thanks for the chuckle....
Ha Ha, is right. good one:)
Does anyone else besides me have the urge to relocate to Israel to live with their leader instead of ours?
JH, personal safety wise, your probably better off in Israel. They don't have Muslims advising their leaders!
Good point Dave. Maybe I'll pack up my bags and head there after I pass my test on Tuesday...if I pass. I'd feel safer with Bibi than in America.
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