| |
|
14. juli 2006
|
|
In a rather unexpected move, Saudi Arabia condemns Hezbollah for its "adventures" attacking Israel.
Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's political heavyweight and economic powerhouse, also caught international attention by accusing Hizbullah guerrillas - without naming them - of "uncalculated adventures" that could precipitate a new Middle East crisis.
A Saudi official quoted by the state Saudi Press Agency said the Lebanese Hizbullah's brazen capture of two Israeli soldiers was not legitimate.
The kingdom "clearly announces that there has to be a differentiation between legitimate resistance (to Israel) and uncalculated adventures."
The Saudi official said Hizbullah's actions could lead to "an extremely serious situation which could subject all Arab nations and its achievements to destruction."
"The kingdom sees that it is time for those elements to alone shoulder the full responsibility for this irresponsible behavior and that the burden of ending the crisis falls on them alone."
The Saudis see this as Iran flexing its muscles, and an Iran with nuclear and regional power ambitions obviously scare the Saudis and almost everyone in the Arab world.
Syria is also distancing itself from the recent escalations. It appears the Arab governments are more restrained in their criticisms of Israel than European nations. Pretty astonishing, and revealing.
Via a very good roundup of recent reports on Hot Air. It also points out that Hezbollah's denial of launching missiles (not rockets) on Haifa may be credible after all. This attack may have been staged by Iranian guards in southern Lebanon.
6:03:26 PM 
|
|
India's intelligence services are reportedly convinced that operatives in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were behind the deadly Mumbai train bombs.
Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the “mastermind” of the blasts that killed about 200 people.
The Mumbai Police, meanwhile, identified the trio who planned and executed 11/7: Rahil, Zahibuddin Ansari and Faiyaz, linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Of them, Rahil had reportedly made an abortive bid to trigger a blast at Byculla railway station on March 11 — the eve of the anniversary of the 1993 Bombay blasts.
The agencies, which briefed National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi, said the blueprint for Tuesday’s blasts was made by the ISI while the “plan” was executed by “local Indian operatives”.
A senior intelligence officer said the synchronised explosions had the “hallmark” of an ISI operation. Militants operating in Kashmir were not capable of such meticulous planning and could only carry out fidayeen attacks or plant bombs in crowded places like markets.
“A lot of planning went into the blasts. This is typical of an ISI operation, as was revealed during the 1993 Bombay blasts,” said an officer.
None of this is impossible - ISI has been aiding the Taliban and is known to be heavily infiltrated by Islamic militants - but neither is the arguments above entirely convincing. For one, Al-Qaeda surely has the capacity to plan and support such an operation.
India's prime minister Manmohan Singh accuses Pakistan, not of direct involvment, but failure to curb the terrorists.
"We are also certain that... terrorist modules are instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border," he said.
Pakistan on its side is denying involvment, and Musharraf expresses willingness to help:
On Thursday night, Gen Musharraf said: "I assure Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Pakistan government and I myself are with him in any investigation he wants to carry out."
The world certainly doesn't need another round of Pakistan and India going to the brink of disaster. At the end of 2001, a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament caused tensions along the Kashmir border to escalate, and war was barely avoided. Since then, the nuclear rivals have been gradually defusing the situation. That ended with the horrible Mumbai terror blasts last Tuesday.
2:58:21 PM
|
|
Interesting argument about some conservatives and intelligent design (aka creationism) by Jonathan Adler:
On a related note, I am quite puzzled that so many conservatives who accept the idea of spontaneous order in the marketplace are nonetheless enthralled by the idea of "intelligent design." As F.A. Hayek and other important economic thinkers explained, the order and coordination of the marketplace arises spontaneously and does not require any central planner (or intelligent designer). Further, the economic order evolves over time without any such central planning, as successful innovations and organizations displace their predecessors. Why is it that those who see no need to ascribe the existence of complex evolutionary organizatioal systems to a central intelligence in one sphere find the concept so necessary in another.
Why indeed.
5:48:42 AM
|
|
English police are warning women to wear nice underwear, in case they get drunk and reveal it. A Suffolk police safety campaign magazine is quite explicit:
"If you fall over or pass out, remember your skirt or dress may ride up," the magazine says. "You could show off more than you intended -- for all our sakes, please make sure you're wearing nice pants and that you've recently had a wax."
I'm all for that, except the falling over and passing out part.
4:11:25 AM
|
|
Israel says that Hezbollah planned to move the two captured IDF soldiers to Iran.
On Thursday, Israel said it had information that the guerrillas who captured the two soldiers were trying to transfer them to Iran in an apparent move to prevent the IDF from rescuing them. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev did not disclose the source of his information.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi categorically denied the allegation.
Of course they did.
3:52:42 AM
|
|
Surely, I am European, but on matters of international security, I find myself mostly on the side of the United States. Why? Because Europe, and the most of the rest of the world, has entirely lost its mind whenever the topic of Israel comes up.
The United States blocked an Arab-backed resolution Thursday that would have demanded Israel halt its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the first U.N. Security Council veto in nearly two years.
The draft, sponsored by Qatar on behalf of other Arab nations, accused Israel of a "disproportionate use of force" that endangered Palestinian civilians, and demanded Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza.
Some nations abstained.
The United States was alone in voting against the resolution. Ten of the 15 Security Council nations voted in favor, while Britain, Denmark, Peru and Slovakia abstained.
Why didn't they vote against? It's rather simple: don't shoot at Israel and it will not shoot back! Would any European nation restrain from responding militarily if rockets were raining down on their civilians? Of course not! The mere thought is absurd. But Israel is obviously required to lie down and die whenever they are attacked.
I am utterly ashamed at the reaction of the Norwegian Foreign Department, headed by the infamously spineless Jonas Gahr Støre:
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere criticized Israel for attacks on Lebanon and Hizbullah for kidnapping Israeli soldiers and launching strikes against Israel.
"I am deeply concerned about the developments we now see in the Middle East," said Stoere. "The sparks that are already ignited must not be allowed to become a full fire."
"Norway condemns Hizbullah's attack on Israel, and the taking of the two soldiers. We demand that the soldiers be released immediately," said Stoere.
"We also condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including the bombing of the airport and the blockade of Lebanese waters," said Stoere. "This is completely unacceptable, and is a dangerous escalation. The attacks are also hitting civilians."
So whenever somebody is attacking Israel while hiding behind civilians, they are totally immune? What a totally disgraceful response! It's so politically correct you'd like to strangle him. I wished some journalist, somewhere, had the brain to ask Støre exactly what, in his opinion, Israel should do in face of these ferocious attacks. Lie down and die? Obviously that is what Europe's "intelligensia" would like the Jewish state to do.
Update: I certainly appreciate the link to this story from Pajamas Media, and welcome new readers. I hasten to say, however, that I am in Norway, not Sweden, and that is the kind of mistake that causes eternal fatwas here ;)
3:38:05 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2006 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.08.2006; 17:37:23.
|
|
|
