When the wise man points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger.
Rarely has the Chinese adage seemed so clear to me as it does today.
For, of course, all eyes are riveted on the downward slide in the president's popularity.
The entire political class has pounced, as one man, on the episodes leading up to McChrystal's sacking and their consequences.
And yet, while all this has been going on, an event has gone completely unnoticed, a huge, colossal event, one which, in the long run, can redraft the map of the planet, and one which this shadow theater nonetheless conceals from view.
This major event absent from all the main radars, this geopolitical reversal that has not earned a thousandth of the media coverage devoted to Hillary Clinton's changing moods, is the United Arab Emirates's decision to inspect ships more or less directly linked to Iran or to trade with Iran arriving in their territorial waters and to freeze 41 bank accounts belonging to Iranian entities that may serve as a screen for contraband operations to further Tehran's nuclear program. In other words, the UAE has chosen to side with the camp of those who apply to the letter the new United Nations resolution of June 9th that provides for further intensification of sanctions against Iran.
This event occurs a few days after Hamad al-Kaabi, permanent representative of The Emirates to the IAEA, declared, at the closure of the annual meeting of the Global Initiative to CombatNuclear Terrorism at Abu Dhabi, that within the past few weeks, Emirates police have already inspected several dozen ships containing sensitive materials.
It follows Georges Malbrunot's article in June 26th's French daily Le Figaro, revealing how the strange circumstances of the Mossad's assassination of Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai last January may well have been another red herring, another tree for which we were unable to see the forest, and another version of the apologue of the wise man, the imbecile, and the moon. For during this time, The Emirates were working closely with Israel to secure their borders, protect their oil wells, and prepare themselves for eventual destabilizing operations on the part of Iran!
It comes on the heels of still another news item that appeared, this time, in the June 13th Times of London and has since been denied, though laconically, by Riyad: Saudi Arabia has decided to open its air space to Israeli planes. No details were provided, but one cannot help but think of a hypothetical surprise attack conducted by Tsahal against Ahmadinejad's nuclear sites.
All of this constitutes a major event for at least three reasons.
First of all, because it reminds those who refuse to observe the fact that Islam is not a bloc. Islam of peace exists, vs Islam of war; moderate Islam vs fanatical Islam; and, of course, in this case, Sunni Islam vs Shiite Islamor, to be exact, vs this heresy of Shi'ism that is the apocalyptic Islam of the loonies and the gangsters who, a year ago, stole their vote from the Iranians.
And then, it demonstrates as well that the front of refusal against the Iranian regime and its plans for total war is growing larger and taking shape and consistency. Obviously, the Israeli democracy and the Saudi autocracy have little in common; it is undeniable that nothing, no political or geopolitical gesture, no great rapprochement with whatever State can make one forget, for example, the massive violations of human rights, and of women's rights, on the part of Riyad. Nonetheless, the perspective of seeing Iran possess weapons of mass destruction represents a threat that cannot possibly be regarded as comparable to any human rights violation whatsoever, and to know that an increasing number of countries of the region are beginning to realize the fact is, in itself, an important piece of news.
And I would add that, concerning the 41 bank accounts identified and frozen by the United Nations resolution, we should know that, 1) as Ambassador al-Kaabi himself admitted, the port of Dubai was in the process of becoming the hub of the very worst trafficking in nuclear materials; 2) even apart from nuclear materials, The Emirates are the third destination, after China and Iraq, of Iranian exports, which have tripled in the past four years; and, 3) of the 41 accounts targeted, nearly half are the property of the Islamic Republic itself, or of the corps of the Guardians of the Revolution.
We might as well say that The Emirates's decision is truly a blow to the regime. Better still, it's a cold shower of truth destined for the suckers who believed in an alliance that is against nature, on the pretext of a "union sacrée " of all the Muslims of the region against the "Zionist enemy".
And the fact that, for the first time, an Arab country took this step, the fact that it said no to the Iranians' attempted holdup, thus foiling the manœuvre of which Hamas and Hezbollah were the vanguard but whose ultimate goal was to set the region ablaze, constitutes not only a gesture of survival but proof of maturity and a welcome sign of clarification.
If this decision is maintained, nothing will ever be the same again. And for Ahmadinejad, the countdown will have begun.
"Iran is completely responsible for what is happening in the region.
Investigations reveal that Tehran was responsible for many horrible incidents that have taken place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It{Iran} still occupies three islands in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It has disregarded the demands and decisions of the international community to return the islands to its rightful owner.
Iran is behind everything that has happened and is happening in Lebanon, as well as the past and current incidents in Gaza.
It will not be a surprise if we will discover later that it is also behind the operations of Somali pirates and the chaos in Yemen.
Iran has been killing our people, yet it has the nerve to attend funerals of their victims, shedding crocodile tears without shame and without bothering to ask for the mercy of Allah so the dead can enter His paradise.
It has repeatedly claimed ownership of Bahrain only to apologize for such claims later....
Isn’t it that Iran has collaborated with traitors to wreak havoc in other countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen and Egypt?
... We want Iran to identify its weaknesses and strengths because at the end of the day it cannot do anything beyond its capacity."
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitnews/faqdetails.asp?faid=1690&faqid=9
"Iran is a country that has gone very far in subjecting governance and societal institutions to the crushing influence of religious leadership, and to the clutches of organized clerical power.
The insecure Iranian regime monitors dissidence as a matter of routine.
The country’s “moral” police force surveys universities and worries even about the spread of social sciences in classrooms. Political sociology and philosophy are now considered dangerous topics.
Social science has become “anti-Islamic” and “unpatriotic” to a regime gradually losing its grip over society."
http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2009/09/25/86076.html
Quotes from mainstream Arab media sources confirming Mr. Levy's opinion:
"Yes, we want Iran to stop its wickedness. It is very difficult for us to see the goodness of Iran as it has isolated itself from the rest of the world.
Isn’t it that Iran has collaborated with traitors to wreak havoc in other countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen and Egypt?
King Mohammed VI took a right decision when he cut ties with Iran."
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitnews/faqdetails.asp?faid=1690&faqid=9
"Iran now constitutes a major threat to the security of the region,... to dictate its will across the Middle East," said El-Gammal, who reminded MPs that Yemen, Bahrain and Morocco have all accused Iran and Hizbullah of trying to destabilise their regimes."
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/943/fr1.htm”
“"Take note that the rate of Iran's escalation and intervention in Arab and Islamic affairs has increased with every step closer that Tehran has taken towards building an integrated nuclear reactor.
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=18782”
"Iran's mullahs are lying in wait for the opportunity to stoke their fires and plow the region into turmoil ... all other Arab and Muslim countries... put aside their differences and unite against the oppressive Iranian influence. ."
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=18782
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/07/what-does-the-uae-think-about-iran-and-israel/59286/
Human rights activists and other officials, however, warned that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, could still be hanged.
The outcry over the death sentence is the latest thorn in Iran's relationship with the international community, with the United States, Britain and international human rights groups urging Tehran to stay the execution.
Stoning was widely imposed in the years following the 1979 Islamic revolution, and even though Iran's judiciary still regularly hands down such sentences, they are often converted to other punishments. The last known stoning was carried out in 2007, although the government rarely confirms that such punishments have been meted out.
from other HP article. time for Iran to get their act together!!
Glad to hear that.
A brief glimpse of common everyday suffering endured by Palestinians under the boot of Israel's illegal and brutal occupation:
Occupied Palestine in 2010 or occupied Poland in 1941?
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/if-you-look-at-anything-on-this-site.html
einstein in that time cell phones were not invented hence no phone but the comparison is pretty much the same...
Necessary Condition: "Israel wants to show Iran that their nuclear trade isn't safe in Dubai"
Sufficient Condition: "Mossad wanted to be caught"
Logic 101 my friend.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-society-falling-apart-1.300883
Haa'retz - July 9, 2010
By Zeev Sternhell
"A Society Falling Apart"
EXCERPT: "From the Second Lebanon War to the Gaza flotilla - and this period includes Operation Cast Lead - Israel's failures have been much greater than its successes. Against this backdrop, Israel's moral crisis is getting deeper all the time."
"Among the regimes in the Western world, Israel stands out with certain characteristics that generally do not indicate a strong democratic system. Its parliament is paralyzed, the opposition is nonexistent, and contempt for the law is becoming more pronounced. This not only refers to the unrest caused by the ultra-Orthodox, but also to something much more dangerous, the unrest caused by the settlers. The 'respectable' right has chosen leaders of the most dangerous kind, like Moshe Ya'alon, who erases the line between Likud's level-headed elements and the extremist 'Feiglins' and far-right National Union party. In the not-too-distant future, they will replace Likud's current leadership, which itself is much less restrained than the veteran Revisionists."
Israel's world-wide image is in free-fall. Day by day, it is increasingly viewed as a pariah state. For further confirmation check this out:
"Israel suffering from poor media image"
http://www.mediatenor.com/newsletters.php?id_news=297
Yediot Ahronot, July 1/10
Israeli Minister of Trade, Industry and Labor, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, says the world is tired of Israel and that Israel, rather than the Gaza Strip, is actually blockaded.
"We're not the ones maintaining a blockade. We're blockaded, utterly isolated. We're in a situation where the world is tired of us," the Jewish Daily quoted Ben-Elezier as saying in an interview in the Yediot Ahronot Friday supplement.
"They're tired of hearing our explanations, of showing empathy for our troubles, even if they're real troubles. [The world is] Tired of understanding us. This business just isn't working anymore. After 43 years, nobody wants to hear any more explanations about why this occupation is continuing and how we have nobody to talk to." Elezier continued.
Always interesting to discover the sincerity of the papers you read and therefore how the Huffington webmaster is hiding some truths concerning his friends .
Thanks , it 's sound clearer now.
1. Islam working to solve its own familiy's problems
2. Israel/Saudi efforts to avert war to their mutual benefit is a template that could pay massive dividends
3. (Unmentioned) Lloyd's of London, under pressure from State Dep't., has ceased insuring cargo bound for Iran, specifically refined petrol. Their decision has led other insurers to follow suit.
4. UN sanctions and Obama's foreign policy actually working in union (vs> W/Bolton obstinacies)
It is these last 2 points that American voters need to weigh. W and the neocons clearly drove the world to the brink by promulgating policies that gave radical Islam cause. Obama and Clinton are undoing that damage, bit by bit and defusing the bomb through skillful alliance-building THAT BEGAN WITH WILLINGNESS TO EXTEND A HAND TO IRAN (which they of course bit).
When Rethuglicans say their policies ar superior and make the US safer, we need to state these accomplishments clearly as irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
The world is becoming united in its opinion on Iran's rogue behavior. That's a fact.
As far as what the UAE does, and what they want us to do for them, I could not care less. The UAE would love for us to get into a war with Iran - one or their representatives stated as much this past week, before trying to walk it back - so as to continue to prop up their sheiks' fiefdoms. None of them care about the American people. Why should our blood and treasure be spent propping up their sheiks and Israel's apartheid regime?
In so many other ways, this article completely s*cks. But he does demonstrate that the biggest enemy to western intellectual tradition are some of these western writers, philosophers and political analysts, who seek to turn logic on its head to advance their narrow agendas.