{"id":142,"date":"2007-01-06T21:42:12","date_gmt":"2007-01-06T21:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=142"},"modified":"2007-01-06T22:05:18","modified_gmt":"2007-01-06T22:05:18","slug":"news-round-up-6-january-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/news-round-up-6-january-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"News Round Up (6 January 2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treasury Steps Up Pressure on Syria<\/a>
<\/font>Thursday January 4, 2007 4:16 PM
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer <\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON (AP) -The Bush administration, intensifying pressure on Damascus, moved Thursday to financially clamp down on three Syrian institutions suspected of helping spread weapons of mass destruction. <\/p>\n

The Treasury Department's action means that any bank accounts or financial assets belonging to the three entities found in the United States would be frozen. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with them. <\/p>\n

The three entities targeted are the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, the Electronics Institute and the National Standards and Calibration Laboratory. <\/p>\n

“Syria is using official government organizations to develop nonconventional weapons and the missiles to deliver them,'' Stuart Levey, Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in explaining the United States' action. <\/p>\n

The department has the power to take the financial-blocking action under an executive order issued by President Bush in June 2005. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

U.S. sanctions arms suppliers to Iran, Syria<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>1\/5\/2007 The Bush administration imposed sanctions on Chinese, Russian and North Korean companies for selling weapons to Iran and Syria, The Washington Times reported, quoting U.S. officials.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this week, a top Russian defense ministry official said that Moscow’s contracts to sell anti-aircraft weapons to Syria and Iran are being fulfilled as scheduled. <\/p>\n

The sanctions prohibit the companies from doing business with the U.S. government or acquiring American high-technology items. <\/p>\n

Russia has consistently defended its weapons trade with Iran and Syria, saying that the arms sales are legitimate because they would be delivered in accordance with Moscow's international commitments in the nonproliferation sphere and under control by the appropriate bodies. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Moscow slams US sanctions on its military firms<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow said the latest U.S. sanctions against its arms firms were again "groundless" and added: "And yet once again, the United States is embarking on this vicious circle.<\/p>\n

"As a result of its politicized actions, the American state also denies itself and U.S. firms the right to cooperate with our advanced companies," Russia's Foreign Ministry said. "In business language, this is called 'lost opportunities'."<\/p>\n

Rosoboronexport, one of the world's biggest arms traders, has recently won control of the Russian firm VSMPO-Avisma, the world's largest titanium producer. It is a key supplier of titanium parts to U.S. aviation giant Boeing and Europe's EADS.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Iraq Slogger<\/a> is an invaluable one-stop-shop for Iraq News. Nir Rosen is one of the principal journalists and founders of the site. It is excellent. Add the Iraq Slogger to your Juan Cole reading on Iraq. This week Nir Rosen interviews none other than Imad Mustapha,<\/strong> Syria's ambassador in Washington. Read it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Polls On Syria, Two Opinions
<\/a>07:55 Jan 03, '07 \/ 13 Tevet 5767<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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(IsraelNN.com) A Ma'agar Mochot poll reveals that 58 percent of the respondents support peace talks with Syria. The survey comes less than two weeks after a Dahaf polls showed that 67 percent of Israelis are against negotiations.<\/p>\n

The Ma'agar Mochot poll, published by Voice of Israel<\/em> government radio, was taken after United States Senator Arlen Specter visited Syria and then Israel, where he reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad is "very interested in peace negotiations."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ori Nir<\/a> Ori Nir, former Washington correspondent for Israel's Ha'aretz Daily, is the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now.<\/em> Jan. 3, 2007 in San Fran Chronicle<\/p>\n

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Why is Olmert rejecting the Syrian overtures? Because of another tenet of Israeli foreign policy: Never act in a way that contradicts the policies of America, Israel's chief ally. President Bush is trying to isolate Syria, punish it and possibly topple Assad's regime because he considers Damascus a part of the "axis of evil." According to several press reports, the White House even communicated to Jerusalem its disappointment that Israel did not attack Syria during its war against Lebanon's Hezbollah last summer. <\/p>\n

Everyone in Israel, a state with many military secrets but very few political ones, knew for months that Olmert was dismissing Assad's overtures mainly because Bush expects Israel not to break ranks and engage with Syria. Israeli politicians, according to numerous press reports, confirmed the American pressure in private but declined to do so publicly. <\/p>\n

Until last month. At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting (held behind closed doors but — in a typical Israeli fashion — leaked verbatim to the media), Olmert reportedly said: "Bush has a clear position on this issue. One should ask whether, when the president of the United States, Israel's most important ally, is struggling on every front — including the internal front — against those who are trying to thwart his policy, it is appropriate for Israel to say the opposite." Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres reportedly said: "The worse thing we could do is contradict the United States, which opposes negotiating with Syria." And following the meeting, Interior Minister Ronni Baron told a television reporter: "When the question on the agenda is the political legacy of Israel's greatest friend, President Bush, do we really need now to enter into negotiations with Syria?" <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Scott Ritter<\/a>, a former United Nations weapons inspector and leading Iraq War opponent, has written a new book alleging that Jerusalem is pushing the Bush administration into war with Iran, and accusing the pro-Israel lobby of dual loyalty and “outright espionage.”<\/p>\n

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In the new book, called “Target Iran,” Scott Ritter, who served as a senior U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998 and later became one of the war’s staunchest critics, argues that the United States is readying for military action against Iran, using its nuclear program as a pretext for pursuing regime change in Tehran.<\/p>\n

“The Bush administration, with the able help of the Israeli government and the pro-Israel Lobby, has succeeded,” Ritter writes, “in exploiting the ignorance of the American people about nuclear technology and nuclear weapons so as to engender enough fear that the American public has more or less been pre-programmed to accept the notion of the need to militarily confront a nuclear armed Iran.”<\/p>\n

Later in the book, Ritter adds: “Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak<\/a> accused the US in an interview published yesterday of obstructing peace between Israel and Syria.<\/p>\n

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"I believe America is preventing (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert from achieving peace with Syria," Mubarak told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth during Olmert’s visit to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Bush is expected to call for more troops<\/a> in a speech as soon as Wednesday, as part of a renewed effort to secure Baghdad. But Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker of the House, and Harry Reid, the new Senate majority leader, dismissed that approach as a strategy “that has already failed.”<\/p>\n

Here is the pre-announcement of the surge by Bush's favorite planners. The neocons are not dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Iraq: A Turning Point<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n

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With Reports from Iraq from Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Start:<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n

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Friday, January 5, 2007  11:00 AM <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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End:<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n

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Friday, January 5, 2007  1:30 PM <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Location:<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n

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Wohlstetter Conference Center, Twelfth Floor, AEI
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
Directions to AEI<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Registration for this event is now closed. Walk-in registration will not be available. For media inquiries, please contact Andrew Ryan at 202.862.4870.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

U.S. senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and U.S. senator Joseph Lieberman (I-D-Conn.) recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Iraq. Both held extensive discussions with U.S. forces and Iraqi government officials. In light of a possible change in course for U.S. strategy in Iraq, their views will be critical in the upcoming Congressional debate.<\/em><\/p>\n

At this important time, AEI resident scholar Frederick W. Kagan and former acting Army chief of staff General Jack Keane will release the updated and final version of phase one of “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq.” The study calls for a large and sustained surge of U.S. forces to secure and protect critical areas of Baghdad. Mr. Kagan directed the report in consultation with military and regional experts, including General Keane, former Afghanistan coalition commander Lieutenant General David Barno, and other officers involved with the successful operations of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tal Afar. An interim version of the report was released on December 14, 2006.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

French leader Jacques Chirac<\/a> also spoke out strongly against Bush's strategy, claiming that America's "adventure" in Iraq had radicalized the region, created a new breeding ground of terrorism, exacerbated sectarian strife, and undermined the West's position in the region. <\/p>\n

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"As France had foreseen and feared, the war in Iraq has sparked upheavals that have yet to show their full effects," Chirac said in his New Year's address at Elysee Palace to the foreign diplomatic corps.<\/p>\n

"This adventure has worsened the divisions among communities and threatened the very integrity of Iraq," he said. "It has undermined the stability of the entire region, where every country now fears for its security and its independence. It has offered terrorism a new field for expansion."<\/p>\n

As President Bush prepares to unveil a new military strategy in Iraq, Chirac added that "the priority, more than ever, is to restore full sovereignty to the Iraqi people."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
Israeli Experts Say Middle East Was Safer With Saddam in Iraq<\/a> <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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By Orly Halpern
The Forward, Page A1, Dec. 4, 2007<\/p>\n

Although few tears were shed in Israel over Saddam Hussein's death last week, a small but growing chorus – including government officials, academics and Iraqi émigrés – is warning that Israel could find itself in more danger with him gone, and that it might even regret having welcomed his toppling. Saddam was feared and reviled in Israel, both as a tyrant and as an enemy of the Jewish state. He demonstratively supported Palestinian terrorists, and few have forgiven his bombarding of Israel with Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. Some Israeli officials, however, including Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, believe that Saddam's death could lead to "a reinforcement of Iranian influence in Iraq," thereby putting Israel in a far more serious and dangerous position than when Saddam was in power. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

 Read more…<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Al-Akhbar reported a visit by two Hezbollah representatives to Saudi Arabia. Number two of the Party of God, Naim Kassem, and the ex-minister Mohammed Fneich are said to have met King Abdullah. This unprecedented meeting is said to have taken place on 26 December and was not reported by official Saudi sources. However the meeting between a group supported by Shiite Iran and a historic ally – perhaps the main one in the Arab world – of Sunni Lebanese, did not yield concrete results, at least in the here and now, other than “affirmations of availability”. Here is the Arabic version from al-Jazeera <\/p>\n

Russia is frustrating US efforts to put the Haririr tribunal<\/a> on a fast track. Al-Hayat reports that the Russians have dismissed proposals to bring the issue before the Security Council in the coming days.<\/p>\n

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???? ??????? ???? ??? ???? ?? «??????» ?? «??? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??????» ??? ?????.<\/p>\n

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????? ?? ???? ?? ?? «????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ???????? ????».<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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??????? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????<\/font><\/strong><\/font><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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??? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ????.<\/font>????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?? 26 ??????\/????? ????? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????.<\/font>????? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???? ???????? ????? ???? ??????.<\/font>???? ?????? ?? "???????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???????? ?? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ????? ??????"? ????? ??? ?? ???????? ???? ????????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????. <\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n



Syrian has many important archaeological sites <\/p>\n

Archaeologist finds traces of ‘humanity's first war’ in Syria <\/a><\/p>\n

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German archaeologist finds oldest ‘example of offensive war’ in form of clay balls used as ammunition. <\/p>\n

BERLIN – A German archaeologist says he has found relics of "humanity's first war" in the northeast of Syria in the form of clay balls used as ammunition almost 6,000 years ago, Die Zeit weekly said in its edition due for publication on Thursday. <\/p>\n

"We have there the oldest example of an offensive war," said Clemens Reichel, who is leading an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hamoukar, on the border with Iraq, for the University of Chicago. <\/p>\n

Reichel said that the city, whose fortifications were three metres (10 feet) thick, was besieged and reduced to ashes probably by attackers from southern Mesopotamia. <\/p>\n

"It was not a little skirmish which took place here," said Reichel, who has been leading the dig since 2003. He spoke of a real "combat zone", to which the some 2,300 balls of clay discovered at the main part of the site bear witness.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Druze and Jumblat<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the comment section of the pervious post Idaf wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It seems to me that Jumblat is loosing it! After blatantly calling for the assassination of Asad (and actually proudly saying that “we will do it”!) and after accusing Hizbullah of carrying out previous assassinations in Lebanon, he is now calling Hizballah followers “Magian”<\/font><\/a>! <\/p>\n

For those not familiar with the term you would find historical info here<\/font><\/a>. In Arabic and Islamic context, this is a very serious insult as Magus used to worship fire in Persia and fought with Muslims in early Islamic history. Basically, Jumblat is accusing Hizbullah followers of “Kufr” (being non-Muslims). This is even more extreme than the fanatical Wahabi classification of Shiites (Khawarij, Rawafidh, Safawiin.. etc.). It is remarkable how a leader of a small minority sect in Lebanon is accusing the majority of Lebanese people of being “Kaafirs”. Osama Bin Laden would really be proud of Jumblat.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I added<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Jumblat’s reference to the Shiites as Magian is not only an accusation that they are kufr, but just as importantly, an accusation that they are Persian. It suggests that they have deep and nefarious cultish reasons to take orders from Iran and are merely an extension of that distant power.<\/p>\n

Junblat knows all about the damage such accusations can make. The Druze have frequently been accused of being crypto-Persians and part of the “Shu`ubi” conspiracy within Islam to corrupt the religion in order to get revenge for the Arab conquest of the Persian empire. What is more, Druze beliefs in the transmigration of souls and the like have often been interpreted as “Eastern” roots of their religion. The same has been said of the Alawites. <\/p>\n

For Jumblat, who lives in a glass house, to throw such stones at the Shiites is a bit rich. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Alex<\/strong> came up with the kicker. Read this article he posted about the Druze-Hari krishna connection: "Druze Sheikhs at Home in India<\/a>." So the war is not one between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but between Iran and India! You have to love Lebanon. And I thought it was home to only 22 world religions. It is now 23.<\/p>\n

The irony in all this is that fundamentalist Sunnis accuse the Druze of being Magians. Here is a choice paragraph from one fundamentalist site<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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With regard to the Druze, the followers of Hashtakeen al-Durzi, who was one of the freed slaves of al-Haakim whom he sent to the people of Wadi Taym-Allaah ibn Tha’labah and he called them to believe in the divinity of al-Haakim and they call him “the creator, the all-knowing”, and swear by him, they are among the Ismailis who believe that Muhammad ibn Isma’eel abrogated the law of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd-Allaah. They are worse kaafirs than many other extremist groups. They believe that this universe has no creator and they deny the resurrection and the duties and prohibitions of Islam. They are among the esoteric Qarmatians (al-Qaraamitah) who are worse kaafirs than the Jews, Christians and mushrik Arabs. Basically they follow the philosophy of Aristotle and his ilk, or the Magians<\/strong>. Their ideas are a mixture of Magian philosophy but they make an outward, hypocritical display of being Shi’ah. And Allaah knows best.  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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