Iran set out this week to show the western world that it's becoming an all powerful genie and that all opposing countries should watch out. On Wednesday it set out to run a ballistic missile testing session and the revolutionary guards distributed a image of the test to global media outlets. It turns out that the images were photoshopped to conceal some malfunctions and create a greater sense of warmongering awe. Not one to let embarassement persist, Amadinejad immediately ordered a re-launch on Thursday to underline the strength of his weaponry and sent the head of the revolutionary guards airforce out with a statement to the effect that " we always have our finger on the trigger and our missiles are always ready to launch".
The Rudd report came out in the US today and strongly advised against a strike on Iran, suggesting that it would accomplish little in the way of influencing internal iranian policy and generate much political ill will. I'm very much in favour of continuing diplomatic pressure and creating further internationally enforced sanctions. In this I meant that even the US should be held to the sanctions. Few people know that under George W., US exports to Iran have jumped from 8.3 million to 143 million dollars US. The exemptions to the US sanctions are purportedly to help Iranian families while pressure is placed on Iranian leaders. The exports include bras, cigarettes, and bull semen. Try googling US exports to Iran. It's a bit shocking. To me this speaks of a failure in diplomatic tactic if further efforts to quell the the drumbeats of war were skipped in favour of a direct strike.
Israel has been media silent in direct response to the testing but will be soon demonstrating a plane capable of spying without detection on Iran and the IDF has been working on the Irondome missile defence system and running prep missions with the airforce as a precautionary measure. Defense minister Barak, has come out with a partially conciliatory statement describing how Israel is strong enough to defend itself and will do so vigorously if needed although we're not particulary interested in a war with Iran especially when we would much rather focus our efforts on the development of peace accords with the palestinians and the syrians.
It seems to me that Amedinejad's Iran is just out to flex it's muscles and test the limits of the US, Israel, and the institutions of global order. For this reason I think the limits need to be tightly strung so that dinyweiny can bounce off them and find himself right back where he began and no further.
Although i think we need to cast a wary eye towards persia because of the possibility of accidental escalation, i would rather focus on the possibilities for peace upcoming. UN security resolution 1701 of the post 2006 lebanon war will finally be upheld when Goldwasser and Regev are returned home on Wednesday/Thursday as part of the exchange deal set up by Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel.
Along with most of Israel, I'm waiting with baited breath for them to be returned home and I think that if Hezbollah follows through then this could be the foundation for further agreements with Hamas and Fatah ( whose internal conflict in preservation of the truce seems a bit bizarre lately). There are no genies playing in our middle east conflicts just a ridiculous amount of hope and belief in humanity that can be the foundation for sweeping wishes towards reality.
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Really interesting info on exports to Iran. Bull semen? Wow, who knew.
glad u posted about this.. i read about yesterday and think its definitely worth noting..
this is far from being a first..
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html
interesting discussion about it also found here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678653/posts
"Iran set out this week to show the western world that it's becoming an all powerful genie and that all opposing countries should watch out"
No Lirun.
Iran responded to the numerous threats from the zionist regime and the US. A very legitimate and legal response by the Iranians. Any attack on the Iranians shall be met with equal reprisal attacks on the tortfeasors - that was what these missile launchings manifested.
I meant to have directed the above post to 'Shawna'.
Hi LDU,
No worries. I understood it to be for me :-) Irans ballistic missile testing though antagonistic was indeed legitimate and legal. But, who's to say that legitimacy and legality equal diplomacy and pacificism. Hate to be a corrector but Iran wasn't responding to threats from the US or Israel. It is Amedinejad who continues to regularly threaten Israel's existance. Israel and the US and allied countries along with international governing bodies are murmuring amongst themselves over how to respond. The threats from the US and Israel are only sanction oriented and defence oriented. You might want to look this up to confirm the order of threats here and the truth of the matter. Reprisal attacks wouldn't be necessary even in thought if Iran wasn't threatening Israel's existance with it's developing nuclear weaponry. This is exactly why the launchings shouldn't have happened. Why take the chance that they might escalate the situation and scare Israel into taking military action early to protect itself. Thank goodness Israel hasn't taken the bait.
Fristly -
If Israel were to 'defend' itself, it would only retaliate after having been attacked. Israel is one of the most militarised nations in the World (more militarised than Germany was between 1866 - 1970, that includes Germany under the Nazis). Israel can mobilise a large number of its reserves within 24 hours.
However, Israel's actions never constitute 'defending' - why? Because it is always on the offence. A good example being the attacks on Syria.
Iran, like Israel, has a right to nuclear technology, and indeed nuclear weaponry. The world needs to be more concerned about the unknown WMD's that Israel has in its arsenal. In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu publicised Israels potential possession of a hydrogen bomb. Two decades later, we have no idea about the sophistication of Israels own weaponry.
Second -
Ahmadinejad never threatened to wipe Israel of the map. His exact words were "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish". The word 'wipe' or 'face of the earth' was never used. Just as communism had to vanish, Zionism too, many people believe, needs to vanish. The twisting of Ahmadinejad's words is a large fabrication by the American media - very similar to the activities of Joseph Goebbels.
Third -
It would be very interesting to see what the outcome of this situation would be. In the advent of War between Israel and the Iranians I think the Iranians will come under attack from a few fronts. One being from Israel, and the rest being from American bases across the Gulf region.
Having said that, Iran in itself is a power, and I just hope it can sufficiently defend itself in the face of combined American Israeli hostilities. If Iran were to come out on the bright side, it would also be interesting to see how the politics in the region develops with a defeated, and somewhat weakened, Israel.
Thanks LDU :-) I needed a good laugh and I love to talk haha so this could go on for a while.
1.
a) Defence sometimes constitutes pre-emptive actions.
b) offence or defence we're really playing with semantics here. Either way, Israel needs to be alert since it's very existance is so often threatened. your example of israel always being on defence is kind of inaccurate. Let me help you a bit. Israel did bomb the nuclear facility in syria and it was done with the international communities consent. This was one event, not plural and it was not an attack on syria but instead a pinpoint attack with specific purpose.
c) Your opinion on the right to nuclear weapons differs from that held by the UN, group of 8, and other such international bodies. I'd say that awareness of the apocolyptic possibilities of nuclear war has developed enough that there is a massive emphasis on nuclear disarmament right now just to prevent any puff of a thought that nuclear war might occur. Seriously, you might want to start reading a bit more because you'll discover that over the past few years there have been nuclear disarmement efforts with respect to other countries as well ie. south korea ( who recently publised the destruction of a heavy water containment building). Countries with nuclear development programs have had really enticing offers dangled in front of them as a reward for dismantling their nuclear programs. Right now Iran is being offered incentives as well. Irans possession of nuclear weaponry is frightening precisely because of the threats and unstable nature of it's leadership. We live in an era of awareness. Nuclear dismantling in all countries is a mantra.
2. "All official translations of Mr. Ahmadinejad's statement, including a description of it on his Web site (www.president.ir/eng/), refer to wiping Israel away"
Nothing better than proof in the pudding. Read that and you might want to read the article that I got the quote from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/weekinreview/11bronner.html
3. No one in Israel wants war. I most certainly do not but it's not even a matter of combined US/Israeli hostilities. The world doesn't need another war and even Iran's arab neighbours want Iran to pipe down and learn to play nicely. Try reading this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/10/middleeast.iran
As much as I hate the regime in Iran, but I think all this propoganda is making oil companies and countries like the Gulf, Russia and the USA benefit more while we the people are paying the price because of the crazy soaring oil prices. Israel has always remained silence in such cases as its usualy planning on a strike. Yesterday CNN spent 30 minutes analyzig the PICS from Iran TV, time that could have been spent on negotiating with the Iranians. I salute everyone who is considering diplomatic efforts
Lirun,
I'm still catching up and have to read all of this, but the first thing I noticed was your link to Free Republic - I am not a big fan of the FReeps - but I'll give it a go. I guess they can be considered for some things. Just seeing Ann Coulter as one of their poster children makes me cringe.
hmmm guys, if i say what i really believe about this then we might get a long long string of comments... so i won't.. but to be honest.. as an Emirati.. i see both Israel and Iran and the USA acting as bullies with no interest in peace whatsoever for our little piece of the Gulf or middle east.
Buj, it disappoints me to hear that you see Israel acting as a bully with no interest in peace especially since everything Israel has been doing and sacrificing has pointed to our interest in peace.
I don't believe it's that way at all.
Almost everyday one of our public figures comes out in the media with a plea to our neighbours for peace and our government continues to make painful concessions and engage in difficult negotiations often without willing partners to obtain that peace.
Shawna.. I guess I am a disappointing person then.
Please do confuse patriotism with defending the undefendable. I think even some Israeli politicians realise that Israel has acted as a bully at some point. Look at what happened with Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. I respected the guy so much, but obviously someone within didn't like the idea of leveling the playing field with the Palestinians.
You have every right to be patriotic and I actually respect that. However with Israel having a stronger army than all the Arab armies put together, as well as the continual crippling of the Palestinians and flourishing of the Israelis it's hard for me to defend that term.
Don't think I support Palestinians blindly. They have done some big big mistakes and I'd rather read the train schedule than read about Fatah.. but we have to be just.
Terrorism is bad. Bullying is bad. Denying human rights is bad.
Does that make me bad as well?
BUJ, ofcourse that doenst make you or lirun or anyone in this forum bad. We are trying to understand each other and realize the human side of this delimma that we are all living. It is true that Israel is responsible for the continuing Genocide against Palestinians since 1948 until today, but that doesnt mean that we the Palestinians are perfect. We "The Palestininas" did many mistakes that we need to admit. But always remember that Israel is a strong nation as you said that is fighting people who have no sort of weapons, organized army nor support, nor financial aid from any country. But still Israel is afraid form a Palestininan child holding a stone in his hand facing a huge Tank. Hope we can all meet someday, to dicuss all these issues, maybe in Jordan.
Thanks Ali... wallah I make a good coffee.. both Turkish and Italian.. come all to my place... :)
BUJ, I like Turkish but I prefer Expresso....hmm I'll go make one now at my office
hey ali i disagree that (a) the palestinians have had a genocide.. that is a gross misuse of the word genocide and (b) that israeli is responsible for the suffering of the palestinians..
while i accept that we share the problem and have jointly failed to fix it - assigning responsibility is a reckless overstatement..
furthermore using the image of a stone weilding child as the face of the "Resistance" is also misleading and unbalanced..
our issues will not be resolved until the sides learn to stop romanticising the facts and can face reality as it is rather than through verbal sourcery and image games..
i blame the mainstream media for causing people to have these distorted perceptions.. but there are obviously sources who have been feeding such media for generations..
i dont recommend playing into it
Lirun smart man.. True it's a lot about the media.. and that is very difficult to recify.. especially after people have formed an opinion.
As for genocide.. if you disagree with it.. so what term should we use? Friendly fire?
genocide =
"Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.
While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2, of this convention defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."[1]"
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
i call our situation with the palestinians armed conflict.. it is very easy for me to quote hamas and former PLO charters that call for the destruction of my people and submit a parallel argument (with equally persuasive support) but luckily i dont think that either of us are victims of the other party's genocidal acts..
the population of gaza alone grew 6 fold since the occupation began that would have to be the lousiest genecide that ever took place..
well said.
hi Lirun, you know how much respect I have for you, but this is where fundamental differences between Israeli and Arab show. Israelis will never admit what they did in 1948 was wrong. It's like Arabs created the problem of Palestine 100% by themselves and for themselves.
Gaza's population grew coz Israel doesn't allow Gazans to leave easily, plus it's full to the brim of refugees from Palestine/Israel proper.
If Gaza was such a lovely place to live in, would you do so?
buj - dude
(a) u r always welcome to disagree with me.. whether based on opinion or fact i respect your manner and approach and u dont need to apologise for any disagreement ever.. ;)
(b) i need u to be more specific.. we were attcked by a huge host of armies in 1948 - which part of what we did was wrong..
Lirun, who is "we" you were part of in 1948, u make it sound like you were a countrty in 1948 and were attacked by Arab States, and therefore it was the fault of the Palestinians who attacked first. As far as History know, Hagana groups have attacked my family, including my dad, in Lod at the Dahmash Mosque Masacre(which happens to belong to my grandfather as well)
oh i forogt Dier Yaseen, Hebron, Safad Massacres prioe to 1948
here is a bit of history:
"The objective behind the Deir Yassin massacre was to terrify the Arab civilian population, and force them to flee to secure for the Zionists the land without the people. The plan succeeded and they fled in terror, to save their lives. Before May 15th, 1948, while the British Government was still responsible, the Jews had occupied many purely Arab cities like Jaffa and Acre and scores of villages that were in the territory assigned by the U.N. Resolution for the Arab State and evicted more than 300,000 inhabitants from their homes. In an attempt to stem this tide, the neighboring Arab states sent their armies on 15th May 1948 into Palestine. On 15th July 1948 the U.N. imposed a final truce between Israel and the Arabs, by which time Israel had occupied an even larger part of the territory allotted to the Arab State in Palestine"
In order for us to live together Peacefuly, we need to understand the mistakes that were done on both sides.
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