This blog is dedicated to progressive and liberal thought. It also discusses new technology, how technology affects privacy and developments in Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rightardia fully supports the rights of workers to organize, the feminist movement, and all Americans regardless or ethnicity, sex or gender.It uses humor, satire and parody to expose conservative thought for what it truly is: BS! Rightardia contributes to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and MoveOn.Org.
In the latest in a series of New York Times front-page features on U.S. policy toward Iran based on anonymous sources within the administration, the newspaper proclaimed today the chances of armed conflict with the Islamist state had markedly declined. The unnamed American officials did no more than state the obvious when they noted that . . .
Commentary's Jonathan Tobin adds:
These factors all have a more immediate goal: rendering any attack on Iran out of the question, and thus enabling the president to face the voters without either a huge spike in oil prices or another Middle East conflict.
Rightardia agrees with this assessment. Of course, attacking Iran is not in the self-interest of the US.
Some of the former members of Mossad and Shin Bet think Bibi Netanyahu holds messianic views about attacking Iran and that the Iranians would be likely to accelerate their nuclear program if attacked.
Rightardia predicted gas prices would rise when the use positioned naval forces near the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices went up immediately.
TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia is building up forces in the Caucasus region, preparing to protect its interests if Israel attacks Iran with the help of the United States, the western media said.
GenerationalDynamics.com said the Russian military believes that if the US goes to war with Iran, it may deploy forces in friendly Georgia and warships in the Caspian Sea with the possible help of Azerbaijan.
Hence, Russia is deploying guided anti-ship missiles on the Caspian shore in preparation, and is forming an offensive spearhead force, heavily armed with modern long-range weapons.
In the case of an Iranian war, it's expected that the Russian spearhead will be ordered to strike south to prevent the presumed deployment of US bases in the region, to link up with the troops in Armenia, and take over the South Caucasus energy corridor along which Azeri, Turkmen and, other Caspian natural gas and oil may reach European markets.
By one swift military strike Russia may ensure control of all the Caucasus and the Caspian states, for the first time since the Soviet Union dissolved.
It is clear from the Generation Dynamics article that an Israeli attack on Iran will predicate a regional war that could lead to a conflict between the US and Russia.
The Israelis are willing to embark on a war with Iran to preserve their nuclear superiority in the middle east.
Should the Us be drawn into a regional war to protect Israel, a nation of 7 million people?
Rightardia doe not see how backing Israel in this tiff with Iran is in US national interests.
Obama is promising to improve the Israeli air combat capability according to DEBKAfile.
The US will provide four KC-35 ( probably the KC-135) aerial refueling aircraft, doubling the number of tankers already in the Israeli Air Force's inventory.
Wikipedia suggested Israel has 8 Boeing 707 tankers. The DEBKAfile report suggests that 4 of these tankers must be mothballed. The older US KC-135 refueler is based upon the Boeing 707. The US will also provide GBU-31 JDAM bombs
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs" into all-weather "smart" munitions.
JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. These bombs have a stand off range of at least 15 nautical miles (28 km).
This bomb is under powered for any attack on Iraqi nuclear facilities.
Obama is giving the Israelis an improved capability but Israel still lacks the tools to launch a successful air attack against Iran.
Israel would have to launch a combined air and ground attack against Iranian facilities to be successful. A punitive air raid would not do the job without combined US strategic bomber and tanker support during the raid.
The Russians are unlikely to idly stand by if the US provides additional air support to Israel. Russia could deploy the S-300 air defense system to Iran.
A bigger issue is the aftermath of an attack. Such an attack could push the region into another regional war that would involve the US.
Is Israel worth more US blood and treasure after the Iraq war which already cost tax payers nearly $1 trillion and American families 36,395 in casualties?
Rightardia doesn't think so. If Israel wants to risk annihilation by attacking Iran, it should go for it.
Benjamin Natenyahu likes to tell Obama that Israel is a sovereign nation.
Then Israel should start acting like one and start by fighting its own battles.
A US attack on Iraq is not justified and there is little US self-interest is such a venture.
New York, NY - "Everyone who goes to the movies knows about a game police interrogators play called "Good Cop/Bad Cop". The "good" cop tries to seduce the accused, promising he will go easy if there is co-operation.
The "bad" cop is more menacing, threatening and sometimes inflicts brutality to force admissions or a confession. The duo coordinates their approaches to give their victims a false sense that they can wriggle out of their problems with the bad by cooperating with the good. Tel Aviv and Washington are playing this game with Iran."
With all of the posturing, it is easy to lose site that Israel lacks the air capability to attack Iran. The US would need to support an Israeli attack with KC-10 tankers and the B-2 bombers carrying two 30,000 pound Mother of All Bombs (MOB) bunker busters.
Israel would also have to overfly Iraqiairspace both inbound and outbound and would likely have some aircraft shot down. Iran would probably get warning of the attacks because the Russians upgraded a big radar site in Syria.
Russia could up the ante by deploying the S-300 air defense system into Iran. The Russians may be restrained by Obama suggesting the Jackson-Vanik amendment could be rescinded in his second term.
The Russians want to trade with the US and this is probably the only reason they are restrained in Iran.
Of course, if the GOP wins the 2012 election, something that seems improbable, they would never trade with Russia. Republicans see Russia as an ideological enemy.
Enemies are needed to justify massive defense spending that the GOP prefers.
Rep. Keith Ellison was on MSNBC advocated diplomacy and said the US should not be dragged into a war by an ally. Ellison was afraid that Israel would go it alone which could endanger US troops in the middle east.
Ellison also pointed out that Israeli citizens are hardly united on another middle eastern war.
Apparently some wingers are suggesting a domino theory in which other Arab countries would develop nuclear programs.
Rightardia considers this view specious. Israel has nucclear supremacy in the middle east and uses it to deter an all out Arab attack. Once Iran became a nuclear power, Israli nuclear deterrence will have little value. in some respects.
Andrew Adler, the owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times suggested that Israel assassinate President Obama.
Adler suggested that Israel should attack Hamas and Hezbollah, destroy Iranian nuclear facilities and assassinate the president. Adler has since apologized for his suggestion that Israel assassinate the president.
Regardless, this Israel Firster broke the law and he should stand trail for his apparent crime.
Adler wrote the following which Gawker published:
Yes, you read "three" correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don't you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel's most inner circles?
Another way of putting "three" in perspective goes something like this: How far would you go to save a nation comprised of seven million lives ... Jews, Christians and Arabs alike?
You have got to believe, like I do, that all options are on the table.
It is neoconservatives like Mr. Adler who were greatly responsible for pushing the US into war with Iraq. We are happy that Obama is more of an honest broker in the middle east than other American presidents have been. We don't need another war in the middle that would probably cost more than the $one trillion we have already blown on Iraq.
It is not in the US national interest to attack Iraq and the show of force in the Persian Gulf with two carrier task forces and an amphibious task force should be enough for Israel.
Attacking Iran is not in the US national interest and would immediately lead to a huge increase in gas prices. This would be a drag on the US economy that is just starting to recover.
Obama would be wise to assists the opposition Kadima Party and the its leader,Tzipi Livni, in defeating Binyamin Natenyahu in the forthcoming Israeli election.
Bibi Natenyahu wants another regional middle eastern war that could lead to world war with Russia and China.
Israel is in great need of new leadership that is capable of working harmoniously with the US government.
The US is the dog and Israel is the tail. The tail needs to stop trying to wag the dog!
Rightardia believes all Americans should be America Firsters.
You can see that they have the technology to make the feed "go bad " whenever they want. Please Re-post.
This should END CNN as a network. Advertisers should boycott them and shut them down. ....... **Make note of this*** CNN says the reason for this was a failed satellite feed. When they come back to the newsroom if you look behind him on the left side there is another caucus feed that is likely using the same sat. uplink that is grooving along just fine. This is bullshit.
- From Youtube User solarpowerhome
Both Dana Bash and Wolf Blizer are both Jewish-American reporters. Although Blitzer is a center-right journalist, Bash is even farther to the right.
Will CNN end as network as "SolarPowerHome" would like. Rightardia doubts it.
The soldier, CPL Jesse Thorsen, talks about how dangerous it would be to be "nitpicking wars with other countries, someone like Iran and that Israel is more than capable . . .(blip) (of taking care of itself)?
CNN is starting to look a lot like Fox news, isn't it!
More than one hundred managers of leading zoos from around Europe met in Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo Friday. this was the first time the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria has held a conference in Israel.
Among other issues delegates got the full story of the “Mossad agents” recently captured in Saudi Arabia.
In January, Saudi media reported that a vulture captured in the country was sent by the Mossad, after its captors found standard Israeli tracking marks on the bird.
The vulture, like all other vultures born in captivity in Israel in recent years, hatched in the Biblical Zoo and was released from the Golan Heights.
The vulture’s story was described as “Birds as peacemakers in a conflict zone,” showcasing of the Zoo’s incubator and the return to nature of wild birds hatched there.
“Some of the project we initiate could be a bridge to our neighbors,” zoo director Shai Doron told Haaretz.
by Lamis Andoni Last Modified: 11 Feb 2011 18:51 GMT
The Egyptian revolution, itself influenced by the Tunisian uprising, has resurrected a new sense of pan-Arabism based on the struggle for social justice and freedom.
The overwhelming support for the Egyptian revolutionaries across the Arab world reflects a sense of unity in the rejection of tyrannical, or at least authoritarian, leaders, corruption and the rule of a small financial and political elite . . .
The Palestinian pretext
The era of using the Palestinian cause as a pretext for maintaining martial laws and silencing dissent is over.
The Palestinians have been betrayed, not helped, by leaders who practice repression against their own people. It is no longer sufficient for regimes in Syria and Iran to claim support for Palestinian resistance in order to stifle freedom of expression and to shamelessly tread on human rights in their own countries . . .
Rightardia comments
The Israelis are bracing for a period of instability and the likelihood Egypt will become a belligerent on the Southern border.
The Palestinians will dump the Palestinian Authority who was willing to sacrifice East Jerusalem for borders. Of course, the PA is not the legitimate government of Palestine, Hamas is.
But the US has taken the position of Israel that Hamas is a terrorist organization which complicates any possibility of peace. Israel has also insulted Turkey and if it entered the fray with Egypt against Israel in the next middle east war, Rightardia suggests Israel would lose.
Israel needs a new government and to dump Netayahu and his wingnut foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Israel needs a peace treaty with Palestine, now more than ever!
“He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. --Matthew 26:52
Rightrdia hopes a new government forms in Israel soon that understands that violence will never serve the long term survival of the country.
Remarks by a top US military commander that Washington has not relinquished the option to attack Iran for its clandestine nuclear program show that the US has not deviated from its carrot-and-stick policy toward the Islamic nation.
Admiral Mike Mullen said during the course of an NBC program on August 1 that the US has a military strategy to strike Iran if needed to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, indicated that military measures are not the preferred option to deal with Iran.
The US has adopted this double-faced strategy to defeat Iran ever since the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution June 9 to impose a fourth round of sanctions against the Middle Eastern power over its suspected nuclear program.
By taking this kind of approach, the US is hoping Iran would eventually succumb to its pressure to roll back the program.
Recently, Washington had clearly signaled that it was still interested in, and willing to engage Iran in, constructive negotiations. Yet, on the other hand, it has unilaterally implemented severe sanctions against Iran, even urging the European Union to follow suit.
It is clear that the US is at its wit's end in trying to find a way out of the impasse. Although it is too early to precisely measure the impact of the latest round of sanctions, previous UN efforts to curb Iran have never taken the direction that the US has desired. This might just be the right time for Washington to go down a new road.
The tactics of tit-for-tat retaliation and preemptive action have proved outdated and futile in dealing with extant security issues. Past experience indicates that drastic moves will only escalate tension and nullify any chances of further mediation.
To resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff, it may be wiser if Washington can set into motion the Vienna group comprising itself, France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Negotiations are always preferable to saber rattling.
Rightardia agrees with the Chinese writer. the US should be trying to withdraw form the middle east, not creating further entanglements. Iran is not a direct threat to the US. It presents a threat to Israeli nuclear hegemony in the middle east.
After Admiral Mullen made his announcement, the Iranians announced they had procured some S-300 air defense missiles. The Iranian crises will escalate if the US does not show more restraint. The US must stop fighting Israel's battles.
In the Mideast, dreams can only end badly. Not because messianic messages are, in and of themselves, bad dreams, but because of the nature of this place, the history which is as much imagination as it is record, as much sacred hallucination as it is shared memory. And because the dreamers of this place fail again and again because they are under the illusion that they are realists.
The decade just passing is one in which Middle East dreams came to die. It began, appropriately, with an Israeli leader who saw his place in history as dependent on imposing a peace plan on the entire Arab world, and a Palestinian icon who saw his place in history as dependent on saying no.
In no decade of the modern Middle East has the roll of failure been so democratic. The titans Arafat and Sharon fought their battle to the death, and both lost. Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmed Yassin, hilltop youth, Al Aqsa Martyrs, Yossi Beilin, the Yesha Council, even Jimmy Carter - all dreamed Icarus dreams and realized, only too late, that in the brilliant sun of the Holy Land, wings of feathers and wax reveal their true selves, which is to say, nothing more than feathers and wax.
It was a decade framed by a fundamentalist Palestinian belief in salvation through suicide and a fundamentalist Israeli belief in salvation through brutality.
The decade ends as it began, clueless, hopeless, exhausted. For having lived through this, we are, all of us, somehow much more than 10 years older, yet none the wiser. In fact, what passed for our wisdom had died with our dreams. Socialist collectivism, rabid Revisionism, Reagan-Thatcher neo-conservatism, none of them has anything to teach us.
The Palestinians are ideological orphans as well. Ten years ago, they were promised that the armed struggle would cause the Jewish state to collapse like a spider's web. Ten years ago, they might have had a state of their own. Now they can barely breathe.
For both peoples, the lessons of this decade are unbearable. No Greater Israel, no Peace Now, no Wholly Palestinian Palestine, no Two State solution. Perhaps this is truly what the messiah has decided to settle for: a situation in which every single inhabitant of the land is unhappy to the same extent.
In this regard, there is perhaps no better time than this to review Israel's 10 Worst Mistakes of the Last 10 Years:
Rightardia comment: The Israelis refused to cooperate with the investigations an are getting their just rewards. The US needs to stop enabling this 'rogue nation.'
A United Nations investigator has defended a report published earlier this month that accuses Israel and Palestinian fighters of war crimes following the Israeli offensive in Gaza earlier this year.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Richard Goldstone said a lack of accountability for war crimes committed in the Middle East had reached "crisis point", undermining any hope for peace in the region. The former South African judge rejected criticism by Israel that the 575-page report was politically motivated.
He said his team was led by a belief in the rule of law, human rights and the need to protect civilians during war. US pressure
Goldstone said the report had investigated 36 incidents surrounding Israel's military operation.
"A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long, the lack of accountability for war crimes and possible war crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point," he said. "The ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence."
Goldstone's report urged the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court in The Hague if either Israeli or Palestinian authorities failed to investigate and prosecute those suspected of such crimes within six months. Michael Posner, the US assistant secretary of state, called on Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into the allegations, saying it would help the Middle East peace process. Israeli rejection
Posner said that Hamas' leaders also had a responsibility to investigate crimes and to end what he called its targeting of civilians and use of Palestinian civilians as human shields in the strip. Israel did not co-operate with the UN inquiry and has rejected the report as biased.
Hamas, which helped facilitate the work of the UN in compiling the report, has agreed that local authorities will investigate the relevant cases in the inquiry.
"We encourage Israel to utilise appropriate domestic [judicial] review and meaningful accountability mechanisms to investigate and follow-up on credible allegations," Posner said in a speech to the Geneva forum.
"If undertaken properly and fairly, these reviews can serve as important confidence-building measures that will support the larger essential objective which is a shared quest for justice and lasting peace."
The US joined the council, set up three years ago, for the first time earlier this year.
Posner reiterated Washington's view that the council paid "grossly disproportionate attention" to Israel, but said that the US delegation was ready to engage in balanced debate. 'Barrage of criticism'
Goldstone said his four-member panel had been hit with a "barrage of criticism" on its findings and it was important not to ascribe collective guilt to a people.
Goldstone says he found evidence that Israel targeted civilians [AFP]
"People of the region should not be demonised," he said. Goldstone urged the 47-member state forum to adopt the report which would mean it is referred to the UN Security Council for further action.
An Arab-backed resolution to accept the findings is opposed by European countries and the United States because of concerns about how the report was compiled.
In his report, the judge said that he had found evidence that Israel had targeted civilians and used excessive force in the assault which took place from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009.
"The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly in some respects crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defence Force," Goldstone said.
While the report was more sharply critical of Israel, it also said that there was evidence "that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity", by firing rockets into southern Israel.
'Well-documented case'
Saad Djebbar, an international lawyer and the deputy director of the Centre for North African Studies, said that the investigators must be given credit for a well-documented case.
"I think you have to start somewhere and usually we criticise the UN and such bodies, like the human rights council, for not doing enough. But to focus on one particular situation and do it well goes to the credit of the council," he told Al Jazeera.
"Before we complained that there wasn't must interest in the Palestinian issue by the uinternational community because of the influence of Israel."
More than 1,400 Palestinians - about a third of them women and children - were killed in the offensive.
Thirteen Israelis died during the same period, mostly due to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Thirty years ago when Secular Human was in college in the west, he met some Saudi students. The Saudis believed that time was on the side of the Arabs. They stated that it might take 50 to 100 years to beat Israel, but it would eventually happen. Rightardia suggests the Saudis had a point.
Israel is an island of 6 million Jews in the middle of an Arab sea. It is a unifying issue among Arabs. It is also not a self-sufficient nation after 50 years of US foreign aid. Although it is the smallest of nations that the US provides aid to, it it is also the biggest beneficiary of US foreign and military aid.
If Israel is unwilling to stop settlements in the West bank and follow UN Accords, the US should freeze foreign and military aid until it comes back to the table. We need to start playing hard ball with Israel. It is the best interests of Israel if we do this in the long run.
Rightardia also likes the Pope Benedict's idea of making Jerusalem an international city rather than the capital of Israel. Again the Israelis are trying to be a player in situation that affects three of the world's religions.
The construction of illegal Israeli settlements is a major sticking point to restarting peace talks [AFP]
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has met the US special envoy to the Middle East in Jerusalem for talks on restarting stalled peace negotiations.
Netanyahu held talks with George Mitchell on Tuesday, for a meeting that was expected to focus on reaching an agreement on freezing the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
But in advance of the talks, Netanyahu reaffirmed his position that Israel will not bow to US demands to completely halt the building of settlements.
In remarks to a parliamentary committee on Monday, Netanyahu rejected calls to freeze all settlement construction, but said he would consider a temporary slow-down in the rate of building.
'Reducing scope'
"They (Americans) asked us for a complete freeze and we told them that we will not do this," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by a parliamentary official.
"I told the Americans we would consider reducing the scope of construction.
"But there has to be a balance between the desire to make progress in political negotiations and the need to allow inhabitants of Judea and Samaria to continue to lead normal lives."
Netanyahu was referring to areas of the occupied West Bank. A freeze on settlement building is one of the key Palestinian conditions for the resumption of peace talks.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said that peace talks will not restart negotiations, on hold since December, until Israel freezes its settlement activity.
Rightardia comment: It appears the Arctic Sea was carrying S-300 missiles bound for Iran according to the Times of London.The Russians had indicated they had intended to supply these missiles to Iran in the past. These missiles would have significantly complicated an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, one of Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapons, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad, a port notorious for arms smuggling.
Mossad, supposedly tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld. Rightardia believes this story is probably bogus. Russia had agreed to sell the S-300 to Iran in December, 2007.
Maritime reporter Mikhail Voitenko, was also forced to flee Russia after receiving threats for his suggestions about the cargo contents of the hijacked merchant vessel Arctic Sea. He moved a second time from Bangkok from Istanbul.
Admiral Tarmo Kouts, former commander of Estonia’s armed forces and the European Union’s rapporteur on piracy, infuriated Moscow by saying that the ship was transporting weapons.
The story about the hijacked Russian-crewed cargo ship grows ever more mysterious. Time magazine is alleging that the “Arctic Sea” was intercepted by Israel as it carried weapons to the Middle East.
The allegations began with Admiral Kouts, a former commander of the Estonian armed forces who now heads the European Union’s piracy watch.
According to him, Israel is the country most likely to have carried out the hijacking on the ship to prevent missiles being delivered to countries in the Middle East.
Time writes that in an interview with the magazine, Kouts said “only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia's bizarre behavior throughout the month-long saga.”
"There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way," he is quoted as saying. "As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic."
The official word, however, is that the “Arctic Sea” was transporting timber from Finland to Algeria. In response to Kouts’s allegations, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said he should stop "running his mouth."
Meanwhile, the majority of Israel’s population does not believe their country was in any way involved in the situation.
So, if Israel was involved in the hijacking of the Russian-manned vessel, why did it not draw attention to it?
According to Ronen Bergman, an investigative journalist at the Yediot Aharonoth newspaper, “Israeli intelligence would create the framework in which, for example, international police force would seize the ship.”
He said they’d “embarrass Russia or the company supplying the S-300 [Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems] to either Syria or Iran” by drawing the world’s attention to their actions and saying “Look, we caught them!”
S-300 missile system
In Russia, the Israeli involvement version has not met much support either.
“Look at the faces of the men who stormed the “Arctic Sea” and their backgrounds – they are criminals. Not a single security service in the world would ever deal with such people,” said Russian opposition politician Aleksey Mitrofanov. “The whole incident looks like score settling between the ship owner and his partners.
However, those who believe the allegation that Israel was involved in the interception of the ship say that no other country is more willing or more able to carry out an operation like that on such a professional level. Another question that some people keep asking is why Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Russia just a day after the hijacking.
