War in The Middle East

[hebrewdude]

Re: War in The Middle East

The fact is Israel has been the poison of the region from day one. The crazy Shi'ites and the like are the violent reaction of the region to the poison in the first place. You cannot push a man against a precipice and stifle the said man's sense of dignity and freedom and then be shocked when that man does something crazy to get you off of him.

What the hell do you want from Israel? Hasn't Israel been bending over backwards for the last decade or so to try to make peace with these war-mongers? what have we gotten in return ? more and more terror inspired by koran-crazed fanatics. We gave them Gaza and waited in vain for them to start creating something useful and constructive for their people. When the Je ws were in Gaza they built hothouses and produced the best tomatoes in the area, when these fanatics took over they destroyed all the hothouses and instead used the areas to launch rockets against Israeli villages.


Why mince words just say out loud what you think in your heart, namely that Israel does not have a right to exist, namely that you agree strongly with Mr. Ahmedinejad that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth.

[hebrewdude]

Re: War in The Middle East

But what do you think is the reason that these extremist groups came to be in the first place? They are either 1) reactions to American-Israeli history of aggression, or, as in the case of Hamas or the Taliban 2) created by American or Israeli support.



There have been many kidnappings before and Israel always engaged in exchanges. Why pretend this is any different? Why engage in a disproportionate response of bombing the rest of Lebanon? Nevermind the fact that the Israeli soldiers, as was already pointed out, were kidnapped on the other side of the border. Why does Israel blame Lebanon for not dismantling Hezbollah, but when Israel occupied Lebanon from 1982, even it could not dismantle Hezbollah? Israel will also not be able to eradicate Hezbollah this time around either.

If anything, this war will be worse of Israel as Israel is in a lose-lose situation now. Israel has lost it's awe. In the Six Day War in 1967 it defeated several Arab countries and their armies. This present conflict has been going on for over six days and against a guerrilla force of about 3,000 to 4,000 fighters. In guerrilla warfare tactics, the longer the smaller guerrillas survive and stand against the Israeli juggernaut, that for them is a moral victory, as the rest of the Middle East cheers for them. If anything, Hezbollah's resistence and Israeli's poor planning has taken away the awe that Israel once held as the superpower of the region. When lightly armored guerrillas numbering a few thousand can withstand the Israeli assault, that definitely changes the nature of the conflict.

I am not a fan of Hezbollah or fanatic Muslims, but you must realize that Israel's behavior (and America's) is a causal factor in breeding such fanaticism.

I will not attack the government or people of Israel in a time of war even though I think its policies have been disastrous in the past.

Exchanging thousands of prisoners for several Israeli hostages was a grave mistake which I knew would come back to bite Israel hard. Israel cannot afford to back down this time. It has an obligation to defend its citizens and keep them safe.

One thing the news media doesnt show you is entire cities in Northern Israel turned into ghost towns. Here is one interesting video I found. http://israelreporter.com/2006/07/31...rror/#more-940

[Anonymouse]

Re: War in The Middle East

I will not attack the government or people of Israel in a time of war even though I think its policies have been disastrous in the past.

Exchanging thousands of prisoners for several Israeli hostages was a grave mistake which I knew would come back to bite Israel hard. Israel cannot afford to back down this time. It has an obligation to defend its citizens and keep them safe.

One thing the news media doesnt show you is entire cities in Northern Israel turned into ghost towns. Here is one interesting video I found. http://israelreporter.com/2006/07/31...rror/#more-940

It would be good if you actually address the points I make. You cannot seriously compare the damage Hezbollah has done to Israel in terms of property and people, with what Israel has done to Lebanon. It is truly propaganda and arrogance to even dare to compare. Furthermore, Israel's violence and murder of hundreds of children has effectively bred the next generation of Israel haters and people who will have vengance. By doing that Israel is not protectig its citizens, it is only placing them in more danger.

[Davo88]

Re: War in The Middle East

The situation in pre-civil war Lebanon was perfectly fine, until the Palestinians, displaced by the state of Israel, came as refugees in Lebanon. If Israel hadn't been created, Beirut would have still been considered the "Paris of the Middle East"

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

Israel's Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda. The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track websites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of xxxish activists can place supportive messages.

In the past week nearly 5,000 members of the World Union of xxxish Students (WUJS) have downloaded special “megaphone� software that alerts them to anti-Israeli chatrooms or internet polls to enable them to post contrary viewpoints. A student team in Jerusalem combs the web in a host of different languages to flag the sites so that those who have signed up can influence an opinion survey or the course of a debate.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

[Artsakh]

Re: War in The Middle East

most Americans have not seen the grusome images of civilians killed. The us media is keeping this behind the curtains and if more Americans knew then more would actually do something about it, like protest their government on a massive scale for not stopping israel. I think its absurd to send aid for the "rebuilding of lebanon" on one hand and do absolutely thing, not even a whimper of protest, while israel is destroying their country.

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

Concern mounts that this is a war Israel is not going to win

Jonathan Pearlman in Jerusalem
August 2, 2006

ANALYSIS

AS HEZBOLLAH'S missiles continue to rain across the Galilee, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, faces growing concerns that Israel may be on the verge of losing the war. In a blunt televised pledge on Monday night, Mr Olmert warned that a ceasefire would be premature and insisted Israel would continue fighting to eliminate Hezbollah's long-term military threat.

Unlike his first national speech on the conflict two weeks ago, which paved the way for diplomatic efforts, this address sounded like a fresh declaration of hostilities. But the slowness of the campaign and the inability to prevent Hezbollah firing Katyusha rockets has forced Israel to flip the traditional course of war in which combat precedes diplomacy.

The prominent Israeli analyst Zeev Schiff , whose daily commentaries are allegedly delivered in Arabic each morning to Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, yesterday accused the Government of failing to achieve its aims and mishandling the campaign. As Schiff pointed out in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in the first Lebanon war in 1982, Israeli ground troops had seized all of southern Lebanon within 48 hours. This time, it has taken three weeks to defeat a handful of Hezbollah strongholds within a few kilometres of the border.

Schiff predicted the war would last "much longer" and the ground campaign would have to be rapidly expanded to pave the way for the entry of an international force. Amid fears of repeating the errors of its ill-fated, large-scale invasion in 1982, Israel has insisted its ground incursions did not target Hezbollah's rocket launchers and were limited to preventing cross-border attacks.

Although Israel says it has reduced Hezbollah's long-range missile capability, killed several leaders and reduced the group's presence at the border, its air campaign has not ended the threat to residents in northern Israel. On Sunday, Hezbollah fired a record 140 rockets across the Galillee. The advancement of the ground campaign as far as the Litani River would return Israel to the security zone it occupied until 2000 and mark a serious reversal from the Government's initial announcement that there would be no big ground invasion.

From the outset Israel has repeatedly insisted that the war will take an unspecified number of "weeks". It mantained that line yesterday as the war neared the one-month mark. While Israel has been careful to avoid fears that this campaign will be associated with the ill-fated first Lebanon war, there are increasing comparisons with the 1973 Yom Kippur war, which caught the Israeli Army off-guard, caused heavy losses and lasted about three weeks. That war was perceived to have ended in a stalemate and restored confidence to Israel's Arab neighbours after their resounding defeat in the Six Days War in 1967.

After the 1973 war, the army's chief-of-staff, David Elazar, was forced to resign. In recent days, the present chief-of-staff, Dan Halutz, has been photographed attending hospital for abdominal pains. If the war ends now, these images may come to signify a much deeper and more comprehensive weakness.

Link: http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fuj/smh8.htm

[Armenian]

Re: War in The Middle East

[TomServo]

Re: War in The Middle East

So hebrewdude, what's going on here?

ISRAEL ASKS U.S. xxxS TO LOBBY
For Azerbaijan, Against Armenia

It is common knowledge that Azerbaijan, following Turkey’s footsteps, tries to use the political clout of Israel and American-xxxish organizations in Washington, D.C. to counter Armenian interests. Israel obliges the Azeri demands out of an interest in importing oil and gas from Azerbaijan and exporting various products, possibly including weapons. Israel also needs access to Azerbaijan in order to collect intelligence on neighboring Iran.

The details of this close cooperation, more aptly described as "mutual exploitation," are not usually made public. The July 10, 2006 issue of The Jerusalem Report, however, published a 13-page article by Netty C. Gross disclosing some of the ties between Azerbaijan, Israel and American xxxish organizations. The Report covered the visit to Baku of "a delegation of Israeli dignitaries and Russian xxxish functionaries" in mid-May. The article titled, "The Azeri Triangle," started with a straightforward statement: "Israel and Diaspora xxxry are deepening their own links with oil-rich Muslim Azerbaijan and helping the Azeri regime win friends in Washington."

Describing "a strong Azerbaijani-American-Israel-xxxish connection…[that] benefits everyone," Gross wrote that Israel "is deeply interested in consolidating its relations" with Azerbaijan. "Israel has seen it in its interest to encourage U.S. xxxs to take up the Azeri cause in the Washington corridors of power, at the same time reinforcing the notion held by many Azeris and others in the Third World that the way to Washington leads through Jerusalem." It is noteworthy that Gross implicated "U.S. xxxs" in carrying out the instructions of Israel -- a foreign power -- in the United States to serve the interests of Azerbaijan.

In addition to its connections in Washington, Gross reported that Israel is using the services of "rich and influential Russian xxxish businessmen, some of whom have powerful contacts from the old Soviet days -- and who proudly point out to me that [Pres.] Ilham [Aliyev]’s son-in-law has a xxxish mother and a Muslim father."

Gross provided the list of visits made to Azerbaijan earlier this year by various xxxish individuals and groups: "In recent months, a parade of several high-level Israeli and xxxish delegations, who have been mobilized to help Azerbaijani interests in the U.S., passed through Baku…. In early February, a 50-strong delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations was received by Aliyev. In April, the Azeri president welcomed Israeli tycoon Lev Leviev…. And in early June, Israeli National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer arrived in Baku, to explore the idea of purchasing Azeri oil or gas at some time in the future.… Underscoring the close ties between the Russian xxxish machers and the locals, EAJC [Euro-Asian xxxish Congress] operatives move about Baku’s corridors of power like kings, freely initiating press conferences and government meetings…."

Gross gave the details of some of the links between the two countries as relayed to him by Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, Arthur Lenk, a native of New Jersey: "The weekly Azerbaijani Airlines flights between Tel Aviv and Baku are packed, and there are xxxish studies programs, with local and Israeli students and some Israeli faculty, at Baku State University…. Israeli agro-businesses recently visited Baku for a bilateral trade forum and Israeli technology in telecommunications and waste management is being used in Azerbaijan. (In the past, Israelis have had financial interests in, among other things, Azerbaijan’s second-largest cell phone firm, a hospital project and a turkey farm)."

Gross then disclosed the political connections between Azerbaijan, Israel and American xxxs regarding Armenian issues: "Israel’s main selling point with Azerbaijan is not Israeli. Rather, it’s the American xxxish lobby, which, encouraged by Israel, has helped Azerbaijan in Congress. The background to the story is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict…. A particularly painful sore point is Section 907, a U.S. congressional amendment to the 1992 Soviet [sic] Freedom Support Act, aimed at boosting economic and humanitarian aid to all of the 15 emerging former Soviet republics except Azerbaijan. Passed at the urging of the Armenian-American lobby in 1993, when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was flaring, 907 barred the U.S. from military or other cooperation with Azerbaijan…. Encouraged by Israel, influential American xxxish groups have since acted on behalf of Baku as a bulwark against the powerful American-Armenian lobby in Congress and have tried to get 907 repealed. Since 2002, when the U.S. needed Azeri airspace to reach Afghanistan, the U.S. has agreed to annual presidential waivers of 907, which lift restrictions."

Gross then specifically cited Mark Levin, the executive director of the National Conference on Soviet xxxry, a Washington-based organization that is "a member of the coalition of xxxish groups that have worked on behalf of Azerbaijan’s interests on Capitol Hill." Levin, who traveled to Baku with the Conference of Presidents in February, told Gross that the organized xxxish community has "worked closely with the administration to implement the presidential waiver of 907 in 2002," and that the coalition "continues to express support on a regular basis for the waiver."

Gross quoted Levin as stating that the American-Armenian lobby in Washington "is very strong and organized, and speaks in a unified voice. On other political issues, we have partnered with [the Armenians], but when it comes to Azerbaijan, we are on different sides of the fence." Levin acknowledged that, on the whole, American xxxish policymakers feel comfortable in their strong support of Azerbaijan on the Hill and take their cue from the U.S. and Israel.

Various Azeri officials confirm the value of the xxxish lobby in countering Armenians: "American xxxs have helped us lobby in Washington against the Armenians and their help is very important. We are very appreciative," Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told Gross. Sheikh Alla Shukur Pasha Zade, the Spiritual leader of Azerbaijan, is also quoted telling the gathered xxxish delegation in Baku: "I know that xxxish groups have played a role against the Armenian lobby in trying to find a positive alternative to the conflict. I would like to express my gratitude to these groups for lobbying on Azerbaijan’s behalf."

Regrettably, Gross misleads his readers by not pointing out that not all xxxs sell out their souls to Azerbaijan or Turkey. As it has been repeatedly documented in previous columns, many xxxish individuals and organizations in both Israel and the United States are strong supporters of Armenian issues, despite the pressures from the government of Israel!

Gross balanced the effusive pro-Azeri comments in his article by including statements that accuse Azerbaijan’s leaders of "corruption and political repression." He referred to critics who said that the cozy relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan "will unravel just as Israel’s romance with Iran did." He quoted Dr. Asim Mollazade, the chairman of an Azeri opposition party, as saying that the United States, Israel and xxxish Americans would someday be "deeply disappointed" for supporting the undemocratic and corrupt regime in Azerbaijan. Gross also pointed out the double standards practiced by Azeri leaders who present themselves to xxxs as being pro-Israeli while distancing themselves from Israel in front of the Muslim world. He mentioned, for example, the fact that Israel opened its Embassy in Baku in 1993, and yet Azerbaijan has not opened its Embassy in Israel in order to appease fellow Muslims. Last month, Azerbaijan assumed the chairmanship of the Organization of Islamic Countries which held its annual conference in Baku.

Furthermore, Gross reported that the xxxish community in Azerbaijan has dwindled from 80,000 to around 10,000 during the past decade. He also pointed out another telltale sign of potential trouble in "paradise" when he revealed that "all the xxxish institutions in Baku appear to be protected by armed guards."

Obviously, Israel is free to establish economic and political ties with any country, including Turkey and Azerbaijan. American xxxish organizations are likewise free to send delegations to various countries. But when they agree to place their considerable political clout at the services of Azerbaijan or Turkey against Armenia’s interests, Armenians worldwide then have the perfect right to expose their sinister arrangements and counter their every move.

http://www.azg.am/?lang=EN&num=2006080305