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Reporting on the Middle East, Science, and Education for June 30, 2008 - כ"ז סיון תשס"ח
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Making Hebrew the only official language one way to protect Zionist enterprise
By Haim Misgav, YNet News, June 30, 2008
See Also: Demographic Problem
David Ben-Gurion declared the Jewish State’s establishment without fearing a possible petition to the courts. Fortunately for the Jewish people, there were no judges in Jerusalem at this time who could issue injunctions.
Our defense forces, this is what they were called in those days, were therefore preparing for a war against the Arabs, who back then already knew exactly what they wanted: To eliminate the Zionist entity even before it was born; cut the umbilical cord and kill the fetus.
This mission at least has failed – yet ever since then they have not given up. With the help of “good Jews,” devout liberals or infuriating anarchists, or just delusional and naïve people, they do everything in their power in order to eliminate the Jewish people’s national home; the one promised to the Jews in the Balfour Declaration and the international conventions that came in its wake.
One of those people, Ami Ayalon, formerly a glorious fighter and currently a grey politician, seeks to grant the Arabs in Israel “cultural autonomy,” which means no less than permitting disengagement from Israel and a connection to the “Palestinian State,” should it be established, heaven forbid, east of Kfar Saba.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East Report, Monotheistic Religions, Opinion, Recent Posts on June 30, 2008 - כ"ז סיון תשס"ח at 10:34 am
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by Barry Rubin, GLORIA Center, June 30, 2008
See Also: Don’t Talk, Show Me!
Suppose that debate over the world’s most obsessive issue is based on nonsense. Consider if the policy options of governments, discourse of universities, and rivers of word in the media on this matter are clearly illogical. What if thousands of diplomats, journalists, and professors are racing down the wrong path and billions of dollars are being tossed away in a futile pursuit?
To make matters worse, if all that time, attention, energy, and resources are being devoted to the wrong things, they cannot be used to solve real, pressing problems that might be better handled.
That’s a pretty horrendous scenario, right? But that is basically the situation we face regarding the absurd belief that the Arab-Israeli – or more immediately, the Israeli-Palestinian – conflict can be resolved.
So let me say it again: despite the mountains of speeches, conferences, articles, committees, foundation grants, projects, currencies of every description, and policies expended on it, there is no solution in sight for the conflict. It will continue for decades, Hamas is not about to become moderate, even Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which few reporters can even mention without inserting the word “moderate” before their names, isn’t anywhere near moderate enough to make peace.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on June 30, 2008 - כ"ז סיון תשס"ח at 7:44 am
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Discover, June 26, 2008
Around 365 million years ago, a fishy, finned creature that resembled a small alligator clambered up on a sandbank and earned its place in evolutionary history. Researchers who recently discovered fossils of the animal, named Ventastega curonica, say it’s the most primitive four-legged creature ever found. While it wasn’t the first “fishapod” to lurch out of the water (that honor goes to the Tiktaalik, which accomplished the feat about 375 years ago), its more primitive evolutionary stage gives researchers new information about the earliest four-legged creatures, or tetrapods.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts on June 29, 2008 - כ"ו סיון תשס"ח at 12:10 pm
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By Jeremy Manier and Tim De Chant
Chicago Tribune reporters, June 27, 2008
When a falcon swoops from the sky to seize its fleeing prey, no one would mistake the sleek predator for a gaudy parrot.
Yet the secret kinship of falcons and parrots is one of many surprises in a landmark genetic study of 169 bird species being published by Field Museum researchers.
The lovely birds we see each day may never look quite the same again.
One likely consequence of the study in Friday’s edition of the journal Science is a re-ordering of the field guides that many of America’s 80 million bird-watchers use. Most bird guides are based on scientific classifications, which experts said the new work could change in numerous ways.
“This is the most important single paper to date on the higher-level relationships of birds,” said Joel Cracraft, curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was not part of the study.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on June 29, 2008 - כ"ו סיון תשס"ח at 11:57 am
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By Israel Zwick, CN Publications, June 25, 2008
See Also: The Two Israels
It was an unusual day for January in Jerusalem, much different from what I expected. Every January, I visit my children in Jerusalem and I usually encounter damp, cold weather that chills me to the bone. But today was atypical. The sun was shining through a bright blue sky and the temperature was a pleasant 20C (68F). What a day to take the grandchildren to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo! We called for a van, piled in and off we went. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones with the same idea, which is not surprising since the Zoo is Israel’s most popular tourist site. By the time we arrived, the Zoo was already teeming with families and school groups, both Israeli and Arab. A while later, we stopped at a bench to rest. I sat down and gazed at the picturesque landscape, rejoicing in the blessing I received from God, to be able to spend such a lovely day in Jerusalem with my wife, children, and grandchildren. Can it get any better than this? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts, Zwick's Picks on June 26, 2008 - כ"ג סיון תשס"ח at 6:58 am
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John McCain, June 23, 2008
Fresno State University
Fresno, California
Thank you all very much. I appreciate the kind introduction from Jim Woolsey, and the warm welcome to Fresno State. I’m here to listen about energy issues as well as to talk. So let me just offer a few ideas before we begin our discussion.
All across this state and nation, people are hurting because the price of gasoline is higher than it should be, and more than many folks can afford. Because of far-off events in the world oil market, a barrel of oil has more than doubled in a year. And the bad effects of that are spreading across our economy. The cost of business is rising, the cost of food and other essentials is rising, the whole cost of living is rising. What isn’t rising is the value of your paychecks and the rate of America’s economic growth. Back in the 1970’s, they used to call this “stagflation.” And it feels the same today, because the unwise policies of our government have left America’s energy future in the control of others.
America imports about one third of its oil from Canada and Mexico and no one need worry about a reliance on friendly, stable neighbors, and partners in NAFTA. The Middle East and Venezuela are a different story. We import roughly a quarter of our oil from them, and they have a disproportionate impact on world prices. When we buy foreign oil from these and other sources, there are many consequences — all of them far-reaching and none of them good. Worst of all, by relying on foreign oil, we enrich bad actors in the world, some of whom finance terrorists.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Alternative Energy, Biomass fuels, Recent Posts on June 24, 2008 - כ"א סיון תשס"ח at 11:01 pm
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By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, NY Times, June 22, 2008
See Also: When Does Hebron’s Story Begin?
HEBRON, West Bank
To travel through the West Bank and Gaza these days feels like traveling through Israeli colonies.
You whiz around the West Bank on new highways that in some cases are reserved for Israeli vehicles, catching glimpses of Palestinian vehicles lined up at checkpoints.
The security system that Israel is steadily establishing is nowhere more stifling than here in Hebron, the largest city in the southern part of the West Bank. In the heart of a city with 160,000 Palestinians, Israel maintains a Jewish settlement with 800 people. To protect them, the Israeli military has established a massive system of guard posts, checkpoints and road closures since 2001.
More than 1,800 Palestinian shops have closed, in some cases the doors welded shut, and several thousand people have been driven from their homes. The once flourishing gold market is now blocked with barbed wire and choked with weeds and garbage.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion on June 23, 2008 - כ' סיון תשס"ח at 7:48 pm
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By Israel Zwick, CN Publications
Author’s Note: The following story was adapted from Classic Logic Puzzles (Sterling Publishing Co., 2003). The story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is completely coincidental.
Once upon a time there was a little town in the desert called Greenfield. The Greenfielders were mostly poor immigrants who were struggling hard to build better lives for themselves and their families. They succeeded in developing their small desert town into a flourishing community.
However, near Greenfield was a small strip of land called Azan. The people of Azan believed that Greenfield was rightfully their land so they decided that they would drive out the Greenfielders by force. To do that, they started shooting rockets at Greenfield on a daily basis. The rockets were specifically aimed at the civilian population: at schools, homes, and businesses. Some of the rockets fell harmlessly, some caused property damage, some caused injuries, and occasionally they caused deaths.
The Greenfielders were frightened of these rockets because they never knew where they would land, they could land anywhere. They had only 15 seconds to seek shelter once a rocket was detected. Their lives were in constant turmoil. Children were afraid to play outdoors and mothers were afraid to go shopping. Many Greenfielders fled the town for a safer environment.
Finally, the Greenfield Town Council decided to have a meeting to decide what to do about the incessant rockets. They decided to hire three tanks that would go into Azan and finally destroy the rocket launchers. So the next week, three tanks lined up on the Azan border ready to attack Azan as soon as they received the orders. The tanks were named Emunah, Chochmah, and Gvurah. However, as soon as the international community detected the tanks, there was a big outcry of protest.
An aging, former leader of the country Yoo-Essay, went to visit the Azan leaders and came back saying, “The Azan people want peace with the Greenfielders. The only reason that they are shooting rockets is because the Greenfielders are constantly harassing and irritating them. So if the Greenfielders stop their harassment, the Azans will stop their rockets. If the Greenfielders attack the Azans with their tanks, that would constitute collective punishment against an innocent civilian population so they must not be allowed to do that.”
The leader of a peace organization called the Yoo-Enn, said,” If the Greenfielders attack the Azans it would be a violation of international law and result in unlawful occupation of Azan territory. They cannot do that”
The leader of the Eey-Yoo said, “If the Greenfielders attack the Azans with three tanks it would be considered disproportionate and excessive retaliation against mostly harmless rockets. The Greenfielders must show restraint.”
The Azan leaders warned the Greenfielders, “If you attack us with your three tanks, we will retaliate with our most advanced weapons – our digital video camera with video imaging software. We will produce a video showing children and goats lying in pools of blood with wailing women kneeling over them. We will use Yoo-Toob to distribute this video to millions of people around the world. All the human rights organizations and trade unions will condemn, vilify, and boycott you. You will be finished.”
The Greenfielders were very concerned about these threats so the Town Council decided to meet again. After a lengthy debate, they decided that they would show restraint to the international community. They resolved that they would attack with only one tank, leave another tank at the border for backup, and send the third tank back to the military base.
Using the information below, determine which of the three tanks would attack, which would stay at the border, and which would withdraw to the base.
For solution, click on the link below.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts, Zwick's Picks on June 22, 2008 - י"ט סיון תשס"ח at 12:01 am
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Asharq Alawsat, 20 June 2008
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
Iran’s followers committed massacres and evicted people from their homes in a way unprecedented in Iraq’s history. Iran today wants to attain its goals regardless of the weapons used. It funds and sponsors all extremist Sunni groups like the Palestinian Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other extremist Sunni groups in north Lebanon and North Africa.
Paradoxically, Iran, an extremist theocratic Shiite regime with Ahmadinejad at its helm, is orchestrating and funding the activities of extremist Sunnis in the region.
The paradox is most striking in the case of Al-Qaeda, the most extremist Sunni organization, which has joined, in the full sense of the word, the Iranian apparatus. The alliance between the two enemies began in the wake of the defeat of Al-Qaeda and the organization’s flight from Afghanistan to all Sunni countries. The first group of Al-Qaeda, which was led by Egyptian national Saif Al-Adel, and included Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son, fled to Iran immediately after the fall of the Taliban regime. I do not know whether the first group of Al-Qaeda entered Iran by mistake, after its members roamed aimlessly in the rugged mountainous region on the Pakistani-Afghan border, or as a result of contacts who arranged for the Iranian hosting. We were initially puzzled by the rumors that Iran had arrested a group of fleeing Al-Qaeda members who crossed its border from Afghanistan, only to realize later that the story had far deeper implications. The investigators of the attack that Al-Qaeda carried out in Riyadh found evidence indicating that the operation came from Iran and that the perpetrators were Al-Qaeda members. This was confirmed after satellite mobile telephone recordings were discovered between Saif Al-Adel and the Saudi commander of the group. The communication clearly showed that the call originated in Iran. Those concerned with this were surprised because Iran did not deny the call, but quickly admitted that it had a number of Al-Qaeda members in a certain prison. It justified the incident by saying that the group members perhaps broke the rules of their hosting. Crude though it was, the justification might have been deliberate. Perhaps Iran wanted to tell concerned parties that it was now in control of Al-Qaeda. In the past four years, the largest number of Al-Qaeda members have made Iran their headquarters. It has even been suggested that Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who some consider to be Al-Qaeda’s actual leader, is also being hosted by Iran, as evidenced by his many relaxed audio and video statements, and especially his famous public criticism of the late Al-Qaeda agent in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, for attacking Shiites.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on June 20, 2008 - י"ז סיון תשס"ח at 4:52 pm
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by Daniel Pipes, Jerusalem Post, June 19, 2008
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5629
“As in 1945 and 1991, the goal must be to marginalize and weaken a coherent and aggressive ideological movement, so that it no longer attracts followers nor poses a world-shaking threat.”
If you cannot name your enemy, how can you defeat it? Just as a physician must identify a disease before curing a patient, so a strategist must identify the foe before winning a war. Yet Westerners have proven reluctant to identify the opponent in the conflict the U.S. government variously (and euphemistically) calls the “global war on terror,” the “long war,” the “global struggle against violent extremism,” or even the “global struggle for security and progress.”
This timidity translates into an inability to define war goals. Two high-level U.S. statements from late 2001 typify the vague and ineffective declarations issued by Western governments. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defined victory as establishing “an environment where we can in fact fulfill and live [our] freedoms.” In contrast, George W. Bush announced a narrower goal, “the defeat of the global terror network” – whatever that undefined network might be.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on June 19, 2008 - ט"ז סיון תשס"ח at 7:40 am
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