Nov 07 2008

Obama brings international acclaim, from people who hate the USA

Category: election 2008,Islam,middle east,Obama,Palestine,Syria — harmonicminer @ 11:17 am

Arabs happy Obama won… and that Bush’s man lost | Middle East | Jerusalem Post

Arab and Muslim reaction to incoming US President Barack Obama’s electoral victory around the globe has been largely optimistic, but some remain skeptical that Obama will bring significant change to the Middle East.

The excitement appears to be as much a celebration of Obama’s victory as of the perceived defeat of President George W. Bush – in the shape of his would-be Republican successor John McCain – whose foreign policies in the region have drawn widespread criticism from the Arab and Muslim world.

“Farewell racism, farewell tyranny, farewell wars and terrorism,” wrote Muhammad el-Said of Egypt Wednesday on the Facebook social networking site page entitled “The Arab campaign to support Obama…a necessity and a moral obligation.”

In rare praise, Syria’s state-run newspaper Al-Thawra said Thursday that it “extends its hand to Obama,” that his win “inspired” people around the world and that the American people should be congratulated for electing him.

One can only wonder how tangible was the “necessary and moral” support for Obama.  “The Arab campaign to support Obama” sounds like a possible source for all the “untraceable” donations that came into the Obama campaign via its validation-free online credit-card donation system.  Somehow, I suspect some of those donations came from Ali Baba…  or one of his friends.

Then there’s this, after the 9/11 attacks:

Let’s try to put this another way, for perspective.  What would have been the reaction of the American media and the Democrats if a Republican president-elect was hailed as a new beginning by an obviously racist, apartheid regime, maybe something like South Africa some years back?  Would Democrats and the media be talking about how this means the new president will be able to reach out and negotiate effectively with the racist regime?

SURE they would….

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Sep 29 2008

CAIR, a terrorist sympathizing organization, tries to muzzle freedom of speech

Category: Islam,media,middle east,terrorism,Uncategorized — harmonicminer @ 8:59 am

CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is well known by students of the group as being sympathetic to terrorism and radical Islam, founded by people with ties to HAMAS, and an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation case resulting from attempts to illegaly fund HAMAS.

Now, CAIR is trying to shut down the distribution of a DVD about radical Islam, saying it violates election law.

A U.S. Muslim advocacy group Tuesday asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether a nonprofit group that distributed a controversial DVD about Islam in newspapers nationwide is a “front” for an Israel-based group with a stealth goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The promoters of “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” denied trying to promote any presidential campaign. They said it’s also incorrect to tie the DVD campaign to Jerusalem-based educational group Aish HaTorah International, although current and former employees are involved with the project.

The Council for American-Islamic Relations asked the FEC to investigate the DVD distribution, which targeted about 28 million households mostly in battleground election states.

Continue reading “CAIR, a terrorist sympathizing organization, tries to muzzle freedom of speech”

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Jul 31 2008

Challenge lies, or ignore them?

Category: Hamas,Hizbullah,Israel,media,middle east,terrorism — harmonicminer @ 9:00 am

A writer in the Jerusalem Post observes that US newspapers constantly attack Israel in editorial pages and with slanted, distorted coverage and wonders what the appropriate response is. To defend, or to ignore? It’s hard to know what will be most effective:

Verbal attacks on Israel in US papers and other media outlets are ceaseless, and can be demoralizing. But how do we measure their impact on the average American? Should we simply assume that a pro-Hamas op-ed in The New York Times is far more damaging to Israel’s cause than a local activist’s letter in a minor paper? Perhaps we should assume that Times’ readers are less likely to fall for obvious spin because they are more sophisticated than local media consumers? It’s impossible to be sure.

My inclination, which the writer eventually seems to share, is that if you want to affect public opinion, you have to fight unfair assertions, every single time.

The Bush administration learned, too late, that when you don’t answer outrageous assertions, and those assertions are constantly repeated, they have a way of becoming received wisdom in the relatively uncritical public mind. By the time the Bush administration wised up a bit and began to try to counter the main stream media’s narrative that Bush had lied about weapons of mass destruction, and that the presence of those weapons was the only reason for going into Iraq, it was just too late to affect the public understanding with facts.

People in sympathy with Israel, and Israel itself, need to learn this lesson: absolutely no good comes from “taking the high road” and not responding to outrageous claims. Lies need to be countered, period.

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Jul 19 2008

Feminism, jihadi style, and children’s TV in Palestine

Category: Hamas,Islam,Israel,middle east,terrorism — harmonicminer @ 1:31 pm

It seems that feminism is alive and well in Palestine. (video at the link: you may need to wait a moment for it to load)

transcript here

In case you think this some kind of aberration in Palestine, here is how children are taught about crime and punishment.

transcript here

Thanks to memritv.

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Jul 17 2008

Bases loaded and full count in Israel

Category: Iran,Israel,middle east — harmonicminer @ 3:38 pm

While sports metaphors are often suspect in political matters, this may be a time when Israel gets exactly one swing at the ball.

An Israeli attack on Iran seems inevitable. If it succeeds, it will return to Israel its deterrent power and send a clear message to the saber-rattling jihadists that they were too early in beginning the countdown for the disappearance of the Jewish state.
Iranian missile tests

If it fails, or fails to achieve the majority of its objectives, it could amount to an act of national suicide. Fanatical Muslims on every side will be encouraged by the failure and outcome of an Iranian retaliation which would cause heavy damage to the whole center of our country.

Iran would unquestionably be joined by its proxies on our borders, Hizbullah and Syria on the north and Hamas on the south, the PLO jihad brigades under various names, and the Arabs of Israel. The latter have already shown their ability to block major traffic arteries and demonstrated that their loyalties rest with their Arab brethren, not with the Jewish state.

The repeated declarations of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the aim of Iran is to wipe Israel off the world map should not be taken as the empty, fiery words of a fanatical Muslim dictator, but as a plan of action. True, Iran does not need a pretext, but an Israeli attack on any nuclear installation in Iran, or just an invasion of Iranian air space could be used as an excellent reason for mounting an all-out missile attack.

We’re going to know, quite soon, whether or not Israel is going to survive as a nation.

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Jul 17 2008

Trading the living for the dead: How many will die at the hands of released terrorists?

Category: Hamas,Hizbullah,Islam,Israel,middle east,terrorism — harmonicminer @ 2:09 pm

Power Line asks some obvious questions about Israel’s trade of live terrorists for dead bodies: Why did Israel do it?

Why did the government of Israel turn over four terrorists and a mass murderer for the bodies of two dead soldiers? Herb Keinon purports to explain the deal via an exploration of the Israeli national psyche. Keinon does not address the question whether Ehud Olmert and his cabinet in fact fairly represent the desires of the people of Israel in agreeing to the exchange. Do they?

It is naturally demoralizing for those with a healthy psyche to watch evil rewarded and celebrated. Are the Israelis somehow different in this respect? I doubt it. Watching the Lebanese celebrate the return of Samir Kuntar and the Hezbollah terrorists (as in the video above) is profoundly demoralizing. Ynet News editor Sharon Gilad, for example, describes her blood running cold as she watched the exchange take place. In this video former Israel Defense Minister Moshe Arens frankly condemns the exchange. Who speaks for Israel?

UPDATE: Carl in Jerusalem adds: Hezbollah mutilated the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev.

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Jul 16 2008

Trading Future Dead for Bodies of Soldiers

Category: Hamas,Hizbullah,Israel,middle east,politics,terrorism — harmonicminer @ 11:27 am

Israel’s leadership is sacrificing the lives of future victims of terrorism for the bodies of a couple of soldiers.

Hours after the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were transferred to Israel in a dramatic prisoner swap with Hizbullah which saw the release of convicted killer Samir Kuntar, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised the deal, and offered his condolences to the families of the reservists.

“With all of Israel, I embrace and hug the families of Regev and Goldwasser in mourning,” Olmert said in published statement.

I wonder if he also plans to embrace and hug the families of the people who will be killed by the terrorists he released.

“My throat is dry, my eyes are tearing, and my heart goes out to the families that struggled without a sign [of life], and didn’t lose hope until the very last moment,” he continued. “This is a day of removal of doubt. Certainly with regards to the fate of Udi and Eldad, may their memories be blessed, but also regarding the moral and ethical power of Israel.”

Do you suppose he also plans to sympathetically bite his lower lip? Surely morals and ethics are more about actions and outcomes than about acting out of feelings of grief and remorse, no matter how genuine. What will be Omert’s ethical position when he has to comfort the families of yet more victims of the terrorists he is releasing?

“By virtue of this power we decided to return the boys, even with the heavy price of releasing a despicable murderer,” the prime minister said. “Nobody else will understand what every Israeli understands well: the worry over the fate of every one of our soldiers is the glue which binds us as a society, and it this which allows us to survive in an area which is surrounded by enemies and terror organizations.”

Actually, what has allowed Israel to survive so far has not been empty emotional gestures that endanger citizens still living, but instead the tough mindedness to fight and win.

More on this here and here. This is really a travesty, revealing a weakness in the Israeli government that is very worrying, though not new, given the mishandling of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, etc. Bluntly, the Left seems to have proven itself incompetent at protecting the nation. This is, of course, another way that politics in Israel parallels politics in the USA.

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Jul 13 2008

There’s no speculative bubble in water

Category: election 2008,energy,middle east,Obama,oil prices,politics — harmonicminer @ 9:00 am

It’s popular to blame oil speculators for the high price of gasoline. These are the people who buy the right to purchase a future amount of oil product at a given price. So when there is a “bubble”, they are betting the price will be higher in the future, and so they’ll pay for that bet, and the price of oil goes up.

Factors the speculators consider include the political situation in the Middle East, rising demand in Asia, the likelihood that new supplies won’t be developed elsewhere anytime soon, etc. It’s important to realize that ALL of these reasons boil down to guessing if there will be enough supply for the demand. Everytime Iran makes a threat, the price goes up, because no one knows what Iran will do in the future, if military action against Iran or by Iran will reduce supply then, etc.

Remember, if the speculators bet wrong, they lose money.

But not everyone buys that it’s the speculators’ fault:

Continue reading “There’s no speculative bubble in water”

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Jul 04 2008

GAZA, ammo dump for Hamas

Category: Hamas,Islam,Israel,middle east,terrorism — harmonicminer @ 9:00 am

Hamas is arming Gaza to the teeth and eyeballs. They have obtained quantities of Russian anti-tank missiles, the AT-3 Sagger, the AT-4 Spigot, the AT-5 Spandrel and the AT-14 Spriggan (all with ranges of several kilometers), as well as the RPG-29 Vampir, a grenade launcher on steroids.  Continue reading “GAZA, ammo dump for Hamas”

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Jul 02 2008

The Arab “street”: Really Alien, or just biding its time?

Category: Uncategorized — harmonicminer @ 9:11 am

A recent poll of “the Arab street” has produced some some interesting results.

In all six countries surveyed (those polled were all non-Palestinian Arabs), Arabs favored Hamas over Fatah.They also wanted to see a Palestinian unity government. Palestinian polls that Telhami mentions in his paper keep showing some advantage for Fatah, but also that the leader of Hamas in Gaza would defeat Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a head to head election (47 percent for Ismail Haniyeh, 46 percent for Abbas).

Telhami asked in the poll: “What step taken by Washington would most improve your views of the United States?” The options he presented the participants in the poll were:

Pushing for the spread of democracy in the Middle East even more.
Providing more economic assistance to the region.
Stopping economic and military aid to Israel.
Withdrawing American forces from Iraq.
Withdrawing American forces from the Arabian peninsula.
Brokering comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.

As for what they choose: “Fifty percent of the public identified brokering Arab-Israeli peace based on the 1967 border as the single most important step to improving their views of the United States.”

The incomprehensible aspect of this is that Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel’s destruction is official Hamas policy. So “the Arab street” prefers the government that wants to destroy Israel, and wants the USA to broker a peace between these two parties, and return Israel to its (indefensible) 1967 borders.

Continue reading “The Arab “street”: Really Alien, or just biding its time?”

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