DEBKAfile Special Report
05 Sept. Barack Obama has been in the
White House for nine months and Binyamin Netanyahu in the Israeli prime
minister's office six months. Both have spent precious time batting the numbers
of settlement apartments to and fro instead of taking resolute steps to thwart
Iran's spectacular advances on the road to a nuclear weapon. DEBKAfile's
military and intelligence sources note that Tehran has made good use of this
time for the longest strides towards its objective than at any time since its
program was surreptitiously launched.They consist of four major achievements:
1. Iran has succeeded in secretly combining uranium processing, airborne high-explosive tests and work on designing a missile cone to fit a nuclear warhead, according to Western intelligence updates.
2. It has doubled the number of faster centrifuges working at the enrichment plants and is completing tests on a more advanced homemade centrifuge, the IR4, which will halve the time taken for converting low-grade enrichment uranium into weapons-grade material.
3. By February 2010 - and some say sooner -Tehran will have stocked enough high-grade enriched uranium for two nuclear bombs.
4. Iran has also gone into home production of nuclear fuel rods for plutonium.
DEBKAfile Special Report
10 Sept. US intelligence
agencies have concluded that Iran has created enough nuclear fuel to make a
rapid, if risky spring for a nuclear weapon. The White House says "Iran has
deliberately stopped short of the critical last steps to make a bomb." A few
hours earlier, a US diplomat warned that Iran is close to producing its first
nuclear bomb.
These disclosures accompanied Iranian foreign minister
Manouchehr Mottaki's delivery on Sept. 9 of his governments reply to the
incentives offered by the six-nation group of nuclear negotiators (P5 + Germany)
for talks on Tehran's nuclear program. It was the cause of extreme frustration
in Washington since the only reference made to that program in its reply was a
taboo on any negotiation and a demand for Iran to be treated like a world power
and co-opted to all major global decisions.
It leads the entire controversy
into a fresh blind alley. President Barack Obama must now decide on his reaction
to Iran's virtual slap in the face in response to his offer of direct nuclear
dialogue.
The package follows on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
public declaration that his country's "nuclear rights" are not open to
negotiation; the UN nuclear watchdog's determination that its interaction with
Iran is in stalemate; and the statement by US chief envoy to the IAEA, Glyn
Davis, that ongoing enrichment activity is moving Iran "closer to a dangerous
and destabilizing possible breakout capacity."
That the first 24 hours after
the delivery of Iran's proposals went by without a response from Washington
signaled the White House was unready for a decision.
DEBKAfile Exclusive
06 Sept. Sunday, Sept. 6, Hugo
Chavez joined Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a visit to the mausoleum
of Emam Reza at Meshhad, revered by Shiites as the Seventh Imam. DEBKAfile's
Iranian sources disclose that this gave them a chance to discuss a major project
to replicate Iran's key nuclear installations in Venezuela and set up a nuclear
program on the Iranian and North Korean models.The French news agency AFP, reporting from Tehran Sunday disclosed Chavez's suggestion to Iran to establish in his country a "nuclear village" to produce nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. But according to DEBKAfile's Iranian sources, the discussion between the two presidents Saturday was much broader in scope and extended to "removing" or "copying" elements of the Iranian nuclear industry to Venezuela both to keep them safe from attack and to guarantee their uninterrupted operation in the event of a US or Israel strike against Iran.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-996T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09996thigh.pdf
Ahmadinejad: Military will ‘cut off’ hand of enemies
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his army would "cut off" the
hands of those who attack his country.
The Iranian president made the threat in an address to the nation Tuesday
shortly before leaving for New York and the United Nations General Assembly
meeting.
"No power will ever dare to think of launching aggression against Iran.
Today, Iran is experienced and powerful," he said, according to the official
Iranian news agency. "Our armed forces are ready to confront the forces of
darkness. If anybody wants to shoot a bullet at us from anywhere, we will cut
off his hands."
The remarks come following Ahmadinejad's statement last Friday that the
Holocaust was "a lie."
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told his U.S. counterpart
Robert Gates that Israel had not taken any option off the table when it comes to
Iran's nuclear program, including a military strike on the reactor.
Also Monday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi
told Army Radio that he would not rule out a military strike on Iran's nuclear
facilities.
"Israel has the right to defend itself," Ashkenazi said, "and all options are
on the table."
Israel, U.S. plan drill to combat missiles
The X-band,
U.S. officials said, was intended to be hooked into Israel's missile defense
shield to function primarily with the Arrow-2 long-range anti-ballistic missile
system, built by Israel Aerospace Industries and Chicago-based Boeing Co., to
counter Iranian Shehab-3 missiles.
by Staff Writers
Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Sep
21, 2009
The Israeli and U.S. militaries are expected
to launch joint exercises in October to counter the nightmare scenario of
coordinated missile and rocket attacks against the Jewish state from Iran, Syria,
Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The maneuvers are part of the biannual Juniper Cobra exercises on missile
defense conducted by the two allies since 2000. These are designed to integrate
the two countries' missiles, radars and other systems.
The October drills follow speculation that the Americans may deploy strategic
anti-ballistic missile systems in Israel
after President Barack Obama scrapped Bush-era plans to locate such systems in
Poland and the Czech Republic.
The administration has said it now plans to rely on naval anti-ballistic
interceptor missiles deployed on warships in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic
Ocean
to protect the United States from missile attack, with Iran as the most likely
adversary.
No U.S. official has made any mention of basing any interceptor systems in
Israel. However, Poland's media reported earlier this month that Israel -- and
possibly NATO ally Turkey -- was being considered as an alternative location.
Whether U.S. interceptors are deployed in Israel or not, Israel's
multi-layered missile defense shield, built up over the last two decades with
U.S. help, is one of the most advanced in the world.
This has altered the strategic equation in the Middle
East,
and as Israel senses its ability to protect itself from Iranian-led attack,
analysts believe it will feel more confident about the possibility of
pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear program.
U.S. support for Israel's protective shield moved up a notch in 2008 when the
U.S. European Command deployed a long-range X-band radar, normally used with the
Americans' Theater High Altitude Area Defense system in southern Israel.
The X-band, U.S. officials said, was intended to be hooked into Israel's
missile defense shield to function primarily with the Arrow-2 long-range
anti-ballistic missile system, built by Israel Aerospace Industries and
Chicago-based Boeing Co., to counter Iranian Shehab-3 missiles.
The U.S.-manned radar installed at Nevatim air base in the southern Negev
Desert, which regularly hosts joint U.S.-Israeli air exercises, has doubled
Israel's detection range.
Israel also has almost real-time access to some U.S. satellite intelligence,
which is an important element of its early-warning network.
Israel says that Iran has accelerated its ballistic program, particularly
with the successful test-firing of a new missile, the Sajjil 2, which is powered
by solid fuel rather than the liquid fuel that propels the Shehab-3s.
Missiles with solid fuel can be launched at extremely short notice, unlike
those using liquid fuel. That means the timeframe for detecting launches is
critically reduced, shortening the time for mid-air interceptions.
Even without the nuclear warheads the United States and Israel say Tehran
is seeking to develop, these missiles, able to carry large high-explosive
payloads, could still pack a strategic punch if fired in salvoes.
But this is only part of Israel's doomsday scenario. Israel's strategic
planners expect that any Iranian assault would be accompanied by rocket
bombardments by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon
and the Hamas fundamentalists in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.
Syria, Iran's key Arab ally, might also join in. It is believed to have
several hundred Soviet-era Scud missiles and other rockets that could carry
chemical warheads.
During Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah in July-August 2006, Hezbollah
unleashed nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel, averaging 150 a day.
Hezbollah is now believed to possess some 40,000-42,000 rockets of all
calibers, compared with the 20,000 it was said to have in 2006. These include
Iranian-made Zelzal-2 and Fajr-3 rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Hamas is said to have several thousand rockets, many of them supplied by
Iran. It produces its own Qassam rockets, and according to Israel has now been
able to extent their range so they can reach the periphery of the major urban
conurbation around Tel Aviv.
In fighting earlier this year, Hamas claimed it hit the air base at Tel Nof,
16 miles from Tel Aviv. All told, 849 rockets were fired into Israel between
Dec. 27 and Jan. 18.
Israel has developed a three-tier anti-missile system, with the Arrow, first
deployed in 2000, aimed at taking out ballistic missiles, with shorter-range
systems known as Iron Dome, built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and
David's Sling, developed by Rafael and the U.S. Raytheon company, to counter the
Hezbollah and Hamas rockets.
Iran rejects talks on nuclear program: FM
by Staff
Writers
United Nations (AFP) Sept 22,
2009
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
Tuesday renewed Tehran's refusal to discuss its suspect nuclear program and
urged the US to work for a compromise, a Japanese official said.
Mottaki's comments came in talks with his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada
on the sidelines of this year's United Nations General Assembly, a Japanese
government
official said.
"Iranian people respect dialogue, but we are not willing to hold negotiations
on our rights," Mottaki told Okada, according to the official, who spoke to
reporters on condition of anonymity.
"While President (Barack) Obama calls for change in his slogan," the Iranian
minister told Okada, "I hope he can prove it not just through words but also
through actions. It's time for us to nail down such actions."
Washington has warned that Iran, which Western nations fear is secretly
developing nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear
power
program, will face further sanctions if it shies away from talks.
Tehran denies the charge and maintains its program aims to promote global
nuclear disarmament.
Sep 23,
2009 01:26 PM
UNITED NATIONS — Muammar Gadhafi waited 40 years for his turn at the United
Nations microphone. He was not about to let the moment pass quickly.
In a rambling, largely improvised 95-minute address to the United Nations
General Assembly, the controversial Libyan leader let fly in all directions,
beginning with an attack on the UN itself, which he called a "terrorist"
organization on par with Al Qaeda itself due to a format that favours the will
of the mighty over the weak.
Gadhafi's full frontal attack on the veto power wielded by the UN Security
Council's five permanent members was the first salvo in a marathon rant that
wore out two UN translators. Among the more striking claims, many of which
prompted peals of laughter from the press corps covering the proceedings:
The Libyan leader called for new investigations of all conflict and political
assassinations since World War II, including the killing of John F. Kennedy,
which he suggested may have been the work of Israelis.
Qadhafi praised Barack Obama as a "son of Africa," expressed hope the U.S.
President would become leader for life, but worried that the post-Obama America
will revert to its former place on the world stage.
Positioning himself as a champion of post-colonial indemnification, Qadhafi
called for $7.7 trillion in restitution for Africa. Until the debt is paid,
Qadhafi called for immigration without limits to allow Africans to migrate to
Europe to share in the wealth that was stolen from them.
In a rambling aside about the sheer jet-lag many world leaders suffer in the
journey to New York, Gadhafi called for the UN headquarters to be relocated to
the "middle" or "Eastern hemisphere" to make the trip less arduous and relieve
New York of so attractive a terror target. Qadhafi suggested Beijing or Delhi as
alternates and said America would not be "angry" over the transfer but would
welcome the move.
Addressing the dangers of "swine flu," Qadhafi conspiratorially suggested the
ailment may be have deliberately released by profit-seeking pharmaceutical firms
looking to enrich themselves on vaccination sales. He suggested "fish flu" may
be next.
Gadhafi attacked the NATO-led effort in Afghanistan as folly, saying he was
doing Western allies a favour by speaking so frankly. "If I really want to
deceive my friends in America and Britain I would encourage them to send more
troops to this bloodbath." Instead, Gadhafi suggested Afghanistan be abandoned
to battle internally for its future, even if all-out civil war resulted. He
compared the Taliban to the Vatican, describing both as "religious states" and
observing that Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden was neither Taliban nor
Afghan.
Calling for a probe into the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein,
Gadhafi wondered at the identity of his masked hangmen, suggesting that they may
have been the then leaders of the U.S. and U.K., for all anyone knows.
Gadhafi's surreal speech – his first to the UN, 40 years after seizing power
in oil-rich Libya – followed immediately on the heels of Obama's keynote address
this morning, in which the U.S. President called for an new era of international
engagement and an end to the grandstanding that so often infuses United Nations
discourse.
Yom
Kippur War of 2009
Israelis again face
multiple attacks, but this time not only from bombs
Abraham Cooper, Harold Brackman
Published:
09.23.09, 00:15 / Israel Opinion
With the approach of Yom Kippur, our day of remembrance and repentance, we remember
the trauma of 1973 when Egypt and Syria chose the Jewish High Holy Days to launch a surprise attack that nearly succeeded in destroying the state
of Israel. That existential crisis inflicted not only massive casualties but
also a wound that still reverberates in the Israeli psyche. Today, at the outset
of the New Year of 5770, Israelis are once again under multiple attacks - not
only from bombs and bullets, but also from diplomatic bombast and “poison pill”
prescriptions falsely promising peace.
Israel’s tribulations, which affect Jewish communities everywhere, are
the product of a multi-pronged, global campaign to undermine the Jewish state’s
status as a member in good standing of the international community:
- Diplomatic Blitz: UN interlocutor Richard Goldstone’s report on Israel’s December response to 8,000 rockets from
Gaza’s Hamastan since 2005. Redefining self-defense as “war crimes,” Goldstone
demands that the Jewish state either convict its soldiers and commanders or turn
over the job to the International Court in The Hague for the crime of fighting a
terrorist group that deploys its infrastructure among civilians, homes, and
hospitals.
- From on High - The World Council of Churches: In the WCC’s 60-year tradition
of demonizing Israel, General Secretary Samuel Kobia treats Israel as the “Jew”
among the nations, declaring Israel guilty of a “sin against God” for expelling
“no less than a million people . . . from their homes at gunpoint.”
- On the Union Front: Britain's 6.5-million member labor federation, the Trade
Union Congress, is calling for a consumer-led boycott and sanctions campaign against Israel, urging the
British government to condemn the “Israeli military aggression and the
continuing blockade of Gaza.” No mention of Hamas’ relentless terror war on
innocent Israelis.
- Updating the Medieval Blood Libel: Sweden, currently president of the EU,
steadfastly refuses to condemn the revival of the medieval blood libel by its
leading daily, Aftonbladet, which falsely accuses Israeli soldiers of harvesting Palestinian organs to
sell overseas.
Today attacks on Israel’s very legitimacy as a democratic Jewish state
regularly reverberates in the flagship of American media. That Palestinians -
and not 700,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries during and after 1948 - are
the only legitimate “refugees” has become a staple of the New York Times’ op-ed
pages. Last January that great post-Lockerbie humanitarian Muammar Gaddafi
touted the “One-State Solution” in a piece demanding that the Jewish state
commit national suicide by absorbing what the Palestinians claim are four
million refugees.
Even-handed approach needed
While the goal of official US
policy, reiterated by the Obama Administration, remains what President George W.
Bush stated - “two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side
in peace and security” - it’s Gaddafi’s vision that was highlighted this summer by yet another
high-profile Times’ op-ed, coauthored by Robert Malley (Bill Clinton’s former
special assistant for Arab-Israeli affairs), opining that “The Two-State
Solution Doesn’t Solve Anything.”
And now comes “How to Put Pressure on Netanyahu,” by Pierre Razoux - an
anti-Israel ideologue billed “a senior research adviser on Middle Eastern
affairs at the NATO Defense College in Rome.” Razoux is full of such
“constructive” suggestions as US cease blocking anti-Israel resolutions in the
UN Security Council, cut loan guarantees to Israel, reduce US-Israeli military
cooperation, and “freeze the Israelis out of the negotiations with Iran, informing them neither of the status of discussions nor
of their content.” With the implicit backing of the Times’ editorials, the EU’s
Javier Solana suggests that the world may have to impose an Israel-Palestinian
“solution” - one in which the Palestinians get their state even if they refuse
to make reciprocal concessions to Israel.
Meanwhile, in far-off Waristan, Osama bin Laden on the eighth
anniversary of September 11 uses the Arabic word Mustad’aaf to call the American
president a “victim” of Jewish conspiracies. He urges Americans to read and rely
on the ramshackle arguments of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. This
anti-Israel book’s thesis caused David Remnick to joke that - if only the US
would distance itself from Israel - maybe “bin Laden will return to the family
construction business,” even re-erecting the Twin Towers with Saudi financing!
Advertisement
As
President Obama headed for the UN, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas only reluctantly abandoned his insistence on a
total Israeli settlement freeze as a precondition to meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the president - a
joint appearance reminiscent of the historic 1993 Arafat-Rabin-Clinton handshake
at the White House. But forgive Israelis if they are skeptical of another
“peace” photo- op when neither PA president Abbas nor Hamas are preaching peace to their constituents and when the
UN General Assembly yet again rolls out the red carpet for the Holocaust denying, genocidal rants of Mahmoud “Wipe Israel
From the Map” Ahmadinejad.
To move forward prospects for peace this week at the UN, President Obama will
have the tall order of slaying pernicious “one-state” fantasies while advancing
a truly even-handed approach that not only opposes new West Bank settlements but
pressures Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim world to end anti-Israel
incitement, accepts Israel’s “Jewish character,” and provides the Israeli people
with the confidence that they'll never have to face another Yom Kippur
War.
Ahmadinejad Denial
Ahmadinejad: Military will ‘cut off’ hand of enemies
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his army would "cut off" the hands of those who attack his country.
The Iranian president made the threat in an address to the nation Tuesday shortly before leaving for New York and the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
"No power will ever dare to think of launching aggression against Iran. Today, Iran is experienced and powerful," he said, according to the official Iranian news agency. "Our armed forces are ready to confront the forces of darkness. If anybody wants to shoot a bullet at us from anywhere, we will cut off his hands."
The remarks come following Ahmadinejad's statement last Friday that the Holocaust was "a lie."
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates that Israel had not taken any option off the table when it comes to Iran's nuclear program, including a military strike on the reactor.
Also Monday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told Army Radio that he would not rule out a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Israel has the right to defend itself," Ashkenazi said, "and all options are on the table."
The X-band, U.S. officials said, was intended to be hooked into Israel's missile defense shield to function primarily with the Arrow-2 long-range anti-ballistic missile system, built by Israel Aerospace Industries and Chicago-based Boeing Co., to counter Iranian Shehab-3 missiles. |
Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Sep 21, 2009
The Israeli and U.S. militaries are expected to launch joint exercises in October to counter the nightmare scenario of coordinated missile and rocket attacks against the Jewish state from Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The maneuvers are part of the biannual Juniper Cobra exercises on missile defense conducted by the two allies since 2000. These are designed to integrate the two countries' missiles, radars and other systems.
The October drills follow speculation that the Americans may deploy strategic anti-ballistic missile systems in Israel after President Barack Obama scrapped Bush-era plans to locate such systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The administration has said it now plans to rely on naval anti-ballistic interceptor missiles deployed on warships in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to protect the United States from missile attack, with Iran as the most likely adversary.
No U.S. official has made any mention of basing any interceptor systems in Israel. However, Poland's media reported earlier this month that Israel -- and possibly NATO ally Turkey -- was being considered as an alternative location.
Whether U.S. interceptors are deployed in Israel or not, Israel's multi-layered missile defense shield, built up over the last two decades with U.S. help, is one of the most advanced in the world.
This has altered the strategic equation in the Middle East, and as Israel senses its ability to protect itself from Iranian-led attack, analysts believe it will feel more confident about the possibility of pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear program.
U.S. support for Israel's protective shield moved up a notch in 2008 when the U.S. European Command deployed a long-range X-band radar, normally used with the Americans' Theater High Altitude Area Defense system in southern Israel.
The X-band, U.S. officials said, was intended to be hooked into Israel's missile defense shield to function primarily with the Arrow-2 long-range anti-ballistic missile system, built by Israel Aerospace Industries and Chicago-based Boeing Co., to counter Iranian Shehab-3 missiles.
The U.S.-manned radar installed at Nevatim air base in the southern Negev Desert, which regularly hosts joint U.S.-Israeli air exercises, has doubled Israel's detection range.
Israel also has almost real-time access to some U.S. satellite intelligence, which is an important element of its early-warning network.
Israel says that Iran has accelerated its ballistic program, particularly with the successful test-firing of a new missile, the Sajjil 2, which is powered by solid fuel rather than the liquid fuel that propels the Shehab-3s.
Missiles with solid fuel can be launched at extremely short notice, unlike those using liquid fuel. That means the timeframe for detecting launches is critically reduced, shortening the time for mid-air interceptions.
Even without the nuclear warheads the United States and Israel say Tehran is seeking to develop, these missiles, able to carry large high-explosive payloads, could still pack a strategic punch if fired in salvoes.
But this is only part of Israel's doomsday scenario. Israel's strategic planners expect that any Iranian assault would be accompanied by rocket bombardments by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and the Hamas fundamentalists in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.
Syria, Iran's key Arab ally, might also join in. It is believed to have several hundred Soviet-era Scud missiles and other rockets that could carry chemical warheads.
During Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah in July-August 2006, Hezbollah unleashed nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel, averaging 150 a day.
Hezbollah is now believed to possess some 40,000-42,000 rockets of all calibers, compared with the 20,000 it was said to have in 2006. These include Iranian-made Zelzal-2 and Fajr-3 rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Hamas is said to have several thousand rockets, many of them supplied by Iran. It produces its own Qassam rockets, and according to Israel has now been able to extent their range so they can reach the periphery of the major urban conurbation around Tel Aviv.
In fighting earlier this year, Hamas claimed it hit the air base at Tel Nof, 16 miles from Tel Aviv. All told, 849 rockets were fired into Israel between Dec. 27 and Jan. 18.
Israel has developed a three-tier anti-missile system, with the Arrow, first deployed in 2000, aimed at taking out ballistic missiles, with shorter-range systems known as Iron Dome, built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and David's Sling, developed by Rafael and the U.S. Raytheon company, to counter the Hezbollah and Hamas rockets.
|
United Nations (AFP) Sept 22, 2009
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Tuesday renewed Tehran's refusal to discuss its suspect nuclear program and urged the US to work for a compromise, a Japanese official said.
Mottaki's comments came in talks with his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada on the sidelines of this year's United Nations General Assembly, a Japanese government official said.
"Iranian people respect dialogue, but we are not willing to hold negotiations on our rights," Mottaki told Okada, according to the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
"While President (Barack) Obama calls for change in his slogan," the Iranian minister told Okada, "I hope he can prove it not just through words but also through actions. It's time for us to nail down such actions."
Washington has warned that Iran, which Western nations fear is secretly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear power program, will face further sanctions if it shies away from talks.
Tehran denies the charge and maintains its program aims to promote global nuclear disarmament.
UNITED NATIONS — Muammar Gadhafi waited 40 years for his turn at the United Nations microphone. He was not about to let the moment pass quickly.
In a rambling, largely improvised 95-minute address to the United Nations General Assembly, the controversial Libyan leader let fly in all directions, beginning with an attack on the UN itself, which he called a "terrorist" organization on par with Al Qaeda itself due to a format that favours the will of the mighty over the weak.
Gadhafi's full frontal attack on the veto power wielded by the UN Security Council's five permanent members was the first salvo in a marathon rant that wore out two UN translators. Among the more striking claims, many of which prompted peals of laughter from the press corps covering the proceedings:
The Libyan leader called for new investigations of all conflict and political assassinations since World War II, including the killing of John F. Kennedy, which he suggested may have been the work of Israelis.
Qadhafi praised Barack Obama as a "son of Africa," expressed hope the U.S. President would become leader for life, but worried that the post-Obama America will revert to its former place on the world stage.
Positioning himself as a champion of post-colonial indemnification, Qadhafi called for $7.7 trillion in restitution for Africa. Until the debt is paid, Qadhafi called for immigration without limits to allow Africans to migrate to Europe to share in the wealth that was stolen from them.
In a rambling aside about the sheer jet-lag many world leaders suffer in the journey to New York, Gadhafi called for the UN headquarters to be relocated to the "middle" or "Eastern hemisphere" to make the trip less arduous and relieve New York of so attractive a terror target. Qadhafi suggested Beijing or Delhi as alternates and said America would not be "angry" over the transfer but would welcome the move.
Addressing the dangers of "swine flu," Qadhafi conspiratorially suggested the ailment may be have deliberately released by profit-seeking pharmaceutical firms looking to enrich themselves on vaccination sales. He suggested "fish flu" may be next.
Gadhafi attacked the NATO-led effort in Afghanistan as folly, saying he was doing Western allies a favour by speaking so frankly. "If I really want to deceive my friends in America and Britain I would encourage them to send more troops to this bloodbath." Instead, Gadhafi suggested Afghanistan be abandoned to battle internally for its future, even if all-out civil war resulted. He compared the Taliban to the Vatican, describing both as "religious states" and observing that Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden was neither Taliban nor Afghan.
Calling for a probe into the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Gadhafi wondered at the identity of his masked hangmen, suggesting that they may have been the then leaders of the U.S. and U.K., for all anyone knows.
Gadhafi's surreal speech – his first to the UN, 40 years after seizing power in oil-rich Libya – followed immediately on the heels of Obama's keynote address this morning, in which the U.S. President called for an new era of international engagement and an end to the grandstanding that so often infuses United Nations discourse.
Israelis again face
multiple attacks, but this time not only from bombs
Abraham Cooper, Harold Brackman
Published:
09.23.09, 00:15 / Israel Opinion
Israel’s tribulations, which affect Jewish communities everywhere, are the product of a multi-pronged, global campaign to undermine the Jewish state’s status as a member in good standing of the international community:
- Diplomatic Blitz: UN interlocutor Richard Goldstone’s report on Israel’s December response to 8,000 rockets from Gaza’s Hamastan since 2005. Redefining self-defense as “war crimes,” Goldstone demands that the Jewish state either convict its soldiers and commanders or turn over the job to the International Court in The Hague for the crime of fighting a terrorist group that deploys its infrastructure among civilians, homes, and hospitals.
- From on High - The World Council of Churches: In the WCC’s 60-year tradition of demonizing Israel, General Secretary Samuel Kobia treats Israel as the “Jew” among the nations, declaring Israel guilty of a “sin against God” for expelling “no less than a million people . . . from their homes at gunpoint.”
- On the Union Front: Britain's 6.5-million member labor federation, the Trade Union Congress, is calling for a consumer-led boycott and sanctions campaign against Israel, urging the British government to condemn the “Israeli military aggression and the continuing blockade of Gaza.” No mention of Hamas’ relentless terror war on innocent Israelis.
- Updating the Medieval Blood Libel: Sweden, currently president of the EU, steadfastly refuses to condemn the revival of the medieval blood libel by its leading daily, Aftonbladet, which falsely accuses Israeli soldiers of harvesting Palestinian organs to sell overseas.
Today attacks on Israel’s very legitimacy as a democratic Jewish state regularly reverberates in the flagship of American media. That Palestinians - and not 700,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries during and after 1948 - are the only legitimate “refugees” has become a staple of the New York Times’ op-ed pages. Last January that great post-Lockerbie humanitarian Muammar Gaddafi touted the “One-State Solution” in a piece demanding that the Jewish state commit national suicide by absorbing what the Palestinians claim are four million refugees.
Even-handed approach needed
While the goal of official US policy, reiterated by the Obama Administration, remains what President George W. Bush stated - “two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security” - it’s Gaddafi’s vision that was highlighted this summer by yet another high-profile Times’ op-ed, coauthored by Robert Malley (Bill Clinton’s former special assistant for Arab-Israeli affairs), opining that “The Two-State Solution Doesn’t Solve Anything.”And now comes “How to Put Pressure on Netanyahu,” by Pierre Razoux - an anti-Israel ideologue billed “a senior research adviser on Middle Eastern affairs at the NATO Defense College in Rome.” Razoux is full of such “constructive” suggestions as US cease blocking anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council, cut loan guarantees to Israel, reduce US-Israeli military cooperation, and “freeze the Israelis out of the negotiations with Iran, informing them neither of the status of discussions nor of their content.” With the implicit backing of the Times’ editorials, the EU’s Javier Solana suggests that the world may have to impose an Israel-Palestinian “solution” - one in which the Palestinians get their state even if they refuse to make reciprocal concessions to Israel.
Meanwhile, in far-off Waristan, Osama bin Laden on the eighth anniversary of September 11 uses the Arabic word Mustad’aaf to call the American president a “victim” of Jewish conspiracies. He urges Americans to read and rely on the ramshackle arguments of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. This anti-Israel book’s thesis caused David Remnick to joke that - if only the US would distance itself from Israel - maybe “bin Laden will return to the family construction business,” even re-erecting the Twin Towers with Saudi financing!
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To move forward prospects for peace this week at the UN, President Obama will have the tall order of slaying pernicious “one-state” fantasies while advancing a truly even-handed approach that not only opposes new West Bank settlements but pressures Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim world to end anti-Israel incitement, accepts Israel’s “Jewish character,” and provides the Israeli people with the confidence that they'll never have to face another Yom Kippur War.
By Marvin Hier
founder and dean, Simon Wiesenthal
Center
Once again, on the eve of his departure to New York to
deliver a
speech Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad thumbed his nose at the world by declaring
the Holocaust "A lie based on an improbable and mythical claim." His remarks
drew universal condemnation, led by Germany's Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, who called Iran's President, "a disgrace to his country" and the EU,
which accused him of "encouraging anti-semitism and hatred."
Which brings us to the larger question: What kind of reception will Ahmadinejad get at the General Assembly? Will the presidents and prime ministers and their delegations inside the hall put his Holocaust denial aside and opt for the pragmatic role of just sitting and respectfully listening to his speech> Or will they find the courage to get up and walk out, demonstrating that there must be consequences for such tyranny?
Unfortunately, history is replete with examples where pragmatic reasoning prevented us from confronting tyrants and oppressors.
In 1936, Adolf Hitler already had a stained reputation. A year earlier, he had promulgated the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived Jews of their citizenship and isolated them from German society. His Propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels, convinced him that it was in Germany's best interest to do everything to bring the Olympics to Berlin. This, he argued, would enable Hitler to showcase the Third Reich to an international audience. Hitler agreed and, in a few weeks in August during the games, the streets of Nazi Germany were free of anti-Semitic posters and newspapers limited their attacks on Jews.
Forty-nine countries were sold on the pragmatic approach. They overlooked Hitler's racist crimes and rushed to the Berlin Games, bringing with them prominent businessmen from around the world, who wound up praising the accomplishments of Hitler's Reich.
Which led Frederick Birchalls, of The New York Times, to write then that the Olympics put the Nazis "back in the fold of nations," and even made them "more human again." That's what we do when we provide a platform and sit there and listen to Ahmadinejad - we bestow legitimacy on him and his regime.
Tragically, that policy of pragmatism was never available to the victims of Nazism. In 1938, a few months after Kristallnacht, the parents of Eric Lucas who lived on the border of Germany sent their young 9-year-old son to safety in England. Despite repeated attempts to get a Visa to join him there, they were unable to do so and perished in the Holocaust. Before being deported to the death camps, they wrote their son a final letter, which said in part, "We shall never see you again, was there no space in the whole wide world for us two old people.... Was there nobody who could have helped...."
The Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad are betting their future on that same pragmatism, on the unwillingness of President Obama and the Europeans to act decisively against them. On their ability to again divide the major powers by announcing, at the last minute, that they're again open to dialogue on the nuclear issue, providing Russia and China just enough of a carrot for them to attempt to delay any crushing sanctions that would be voted against Iran.
Speaking at his swearing in ceremony Ahmadinejad said of his critics, "They said they would recognize the election but will not congratulate. Nobody in Iran is waiting for anyone's congratulations." Ahmadinejad is absolutely right. The regime is not looking for praise from the President of the United States - what it is counting on is his stubbornness and insistence to pursue dialogue with them at any costs.
But what would the millions who perished at Auschwitz and Maidanek say about those who flock into a hall to listen to a demagogue? They would probably paraphrase the question that Eric Lucas' parents posed: Why was there no space in the whole wide world for us? And why is there always a place at the table for the likes of an Ahmadinejad?
Marvin Hier is founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
 Pyongyang recently said it had reached the final stages of enriching uranium and was also building more plutonium-based atomic weapons. |
London (AFP) Sept 28, 2009
There can never be peace and security on the Korean peninsula while the United States "continues to threaten us with nuclear weapons", Pyongyang's ambassador to London said Monday.
North Korea was committed to denuclearising the peninsula but the secretive state would pursue its nuclear programme while Washington's "hostility" remains, Ja Song-Nam said in a rare public speech.
He said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had pulled out of the six-party talks on its nuclear activities because they were being treated unfairly, given they were surrounded by nuclear-armed states and countries under a nuclear umbrella.
"To eliminate the nuclear threat from the Korean peninsula and denuclearise the peninsula is the consistent policy of the DPRK," Ja, speaking through a translator, told the Royal United Services Institute security think-tank in London.
"With the continuation of the status quo, I doubt there can ever be genuine peace and security.
"We have rejected the six-party talks because the six-party talks are not based on impartiality and equality.
"If our national sovereignty is respected and if there is no nuclear threat against our country, then the nuclear weapons from the DPRK will go."
Detailing the chronology of the atomic stand-off between Pyongyang and Washington, he said: "The nuclear issue arose because the US threatened us with nuclear weapons, because the US pursued an anti-DPRK hostile policy."
Pyongyang recently said it had reached the final stages of enriching uranium and was also building more plutonium-based atomic weapons.
North Korea quit six-nation disarmament talks in April and staged its second nuclear test the following month. The forum hosted by China also includes Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
Ja said it was hypocritical to say North Korea possessing atomic weapons was a threat to international peace while Washington "threatening the DPRK with nuclear weapons" was not.
"The United States has disregarded all proposals and efforts made by the government of the DPRK," he said.
"The United States continues to threaten us with nuclear weapons and put our country on the list of nuclear pre-emptive strikes.
"We realised that the main aim of the US from the six-party talks is... to dispossess us from the nuclear deterrent we have had."
 An Iranian long-range Shahab-3 missile is fired in desert terrain at an unspecified location in Iran on September 28, 2009. The Islamic republic Iran test-fired the Shahab-3 missile which it says could hit targets in arch-foe Israel, as the Revolutionary Guards staged missile war games for the second straight day. Photo courtesy AFP West slams Iran's 'provocative' tests ahead of talks France led Western criticism of Iran's latest "provocative" long-range missile tests on Monday, calling them deeply destabilising as Russia appealed for the world not to "succumb to emotions." "We call on Iran to choose the path of cooperation rather than confrontation, by immediately ceasing these deeply destabilising activities," the French foreign ministry said after Iran fired the missiles it said could hit arch-foe Israel. "These tests are a provocation, especially since we have made repeated offers of dialogue," foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages told journalists. Paris said the tests would heighten concern after it was revealed last week that Iran was building a second uranium enrichment plant. Western countries suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies. Iran and world powers meet in Geneva on Thursday to discuss Tehran's disputed atomic programme. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called the tests "reprehensible" but said they should not distract attention from the talks. "It is obviously reprehensible as such but it mustn't distract us from the big question of this week, which is how will Iran respond at the meeting with the international community on Thursday?" he told Sky News television. The five UN Security Council permanent members -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- plus Germany are due to take part in the talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on October 1. Germany said the tests were "troubling" ahead of the talks. "Tehran is testing missiles despite the fact that it wants to talk about regional peace and stability. Ahead of the upcoming talks, this is not a signal that will build trust," foreign ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the chief Western nuclear negotiator, expressed concern and said Tehran had produced "a new context" for the talks, although he said the time was not right to discuss further sanctions. Russia, which has long resisted US-led moves to tighten the screws on Tehran through international sanctions, said the world should not "succumb to emotions" in dealing with the Islamic republic. "Now is not the time to succumb to emotions, it is necessary to calm down and above all to start up an effective negotiation process," a foreign ministry source was quoted as saying by Interfax. "We are awaiting results from the Geneva meeting of the six parties, and are counting on the Iranians not to come to it with empty hands," he said. |
Tehran (AFP) Sept 28, 2009
Iran on Monday test-fired its two long-range missiles which it says could hit targets in arch-foe Israel, as the Revolutionary Guards staged war games for the second straight day.
The exercises coincide with heightened tension with the West after the UN nuclear watchdog revealed on Friday that Tehran was building a second uranium enrichment plant. Western countries suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.
On Sunday, the Guards launched the missile manoeuvres marking "Sacred Defence" week, which commemorates the start of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Guards' air force commander Hossein Salami said the force test-fired on Monday the Sejil and Shahab-3 versions of the long-range missiles.
"An improved version of Shahab-3 and the two-stage Sejil, powered by solid fuel, were fired," Salami was quoted as saying by state-owned Arabic language Al-Alam television channel.
Iran's Fars news agency said Sejil was test-fired for the first time during missile manoeuvres.
Iran's state-owned English language Press TV channel broadcast footage of Shahab-3 lifting off in a thick ball of fire from desert terrain.
Iran says both missiles have a range of around 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles), which would put Israel, most Arab states and parts of Europe, including much of Turkey, within their range.
On Sunday, the Guards fired several short- and medium-range missiles, some with multiple warheads, state media reported.
The medium-range Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, with a range of between 300 kilometres and 700 kilometres, were successfully launched, Salami said.
"The missiles shot have precisely hit the targets," he said.
Earlier, the Guards test-fired three types of short-range missiles -- the Tondar-69, Fateh-110 and Zelzal. All three weapons, powered by solid fuel, have a range of between 100 and 400 kilometres.
On Monday, Salami issued a stern warning to Iran's foes.
"Our response will be strong and destructive to those who threaten the existence, independence, freedom and values of our regime. They will regret it," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
He said the missile exercise was aimed at practising for "long wars, moving the missile installations from one point to another as well as simultaneous and non-simultaneous shots at convergent and divergent targets."
On Sunday, Salami dismissed Israel as a potential threat, saying "that regime is not in a position that we need to comment about threats from it."
The Jewish state is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East.
The manoeuvres come after US President Barack Obama earlier this month scrapped the plan by his predecessor George W. Bush to deploy missile interceptors in Poland and a powerful tracking radar in the Czech Republic by 2013.
Obama said he had decided to replace the shield with a more mobile system using mainly sea-based interceptors.
In taking the decision, Obama emphasised the threat of Iran's short-range and medium-range missiles instead of the potential danger of its longer-range weapons.
The White House said the intelligence community now believed Iran was developing shorter-range missiles "more rapidly than previously projected," while progressing more slowly than expected with intercontinental missiles.
Iran has in the past threatened to target US bases in the region and to block the strategic Gulf Strait of Hormuz waterway for oil tankers if its nuclear sites are attacked.
Israel and the United States have never ruled out a military option to thwart Iran's nuclear drive, which they suspect of having a military aim despite Tehran's denial.
On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran was building a second uranium enrichment plant.
Iranian officials say that the second plant is also aimed for peaceful nuclear aims, but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with CBS network, said "we don't believe that they can present convincing evidence that it's only for peaceful purposes, but we are going to put them to the test on October 1."
Iran and world powers meet in Geneva on Thursday to discuss Tehran's disputed atomic programme.
Meanwhile Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi denied there was "any link" between the missile tests and the current nuclear controversy.
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