Not precisely an EU-related subject but what the President of the United States does by way of what he calls foreign policy is important. Anyway, I am off to Oxford for the week-end. Undoubtedly I shall be surrounded by people who have never considered the possibility of anybody disliking the European project.
In the meantime, here is an analysis of the aforementioned foreign policy. As Glenn Reynolds says, this is the audacity of bullying. President Obama might like to remember that bullying one's friends because they are more likely to give in is not always a successful policy. He will remember but it will be too late.
Meanwhile Augean Stables asks why there are no Palestinian settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. Why are so many of them still in refugee camps? The land is there.
Showing posts with label middle east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle east. Show all posts
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Round and round the same track
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An international conference in Egypt on Monday resulted in $4.48 billion (€3.5 billion) in new pledges to help rebuild the Gaza Strip and fund the Palestinian government. The donors who gathered in the resort of Sharm el-Sheik gave a powerful boost to the moderate Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas while seeking to isolate the militant Hamas movement, which controls Gaza.That would be our money, the various taxpayers of the Western world because we strongly suspect that most of the funds will be coming from the United States, the EU and the separate European countries.
More money to go on rockets that can be fired into Israel and on vicious propaganda that turns children into psychopaths. Woops, no, the money is to go to Fatah the "moderate" wing of the Palestinian polity and to bypass Hamas. Exactly how is that going to be achieved?
Fatah has no control over Gaza and its supporters are routinely arrested, beaten up, tortured and murdered by Hamas, as even Amnesty International has acknowledged. Were we not told that the aid sent into Gaza a while ago was not going to go to Hamas but the people of Gaza? Well, Hamas simply helped themselves to the food and the blankets.
As it happens, Egypt, where the conference took place, is very carefully keeping its borders with Gaza closed as well and controls very tightly what goes in and what comes out of that unfortunate area. Even the reporter of Der Spiegel wonders how the reconstruction of Gaza can begin in those circumstances (not to mention the fact that the truth of what has really happened there during the Israeli attack has not been clearly spelled out with Hamas doing its best to obfuscate the situation).
Some German journalists are saying that it is impossible to reconstruct anything or create a lasting solution without Hamas. Even they are not convinced, as it is reasonably clear that there can be no lasting solution with Hamas. They are not interested in any solutions short of Israel's destruction that, even if they can achieve it, will not exactly produce peace and prosperity for the Palestinians. After all, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza produced nothing except a base from which endless rockets could be fired into that country.
Rockets are being fired now and there is some speculation that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton intend to signal to Israel that it would be best if they did not attack Gaza again, no matter what sort of shelling they have to put up with. Otherwise, there will be angry donor nations to face up to who will not like to see the destruction of what their aid has created.
That sounds like a departure from the usual pattern. In the first place, a good deal of the aid, namely from the Arab countries will never get there; in the second place, much of what does get there will be stolen; in the third place, any reconstruction will get bogged down in corruption, inefficiency and a civil war. And the rockets will go on being fired.
By the time the Israelis once again decide that enough is enough either there would have been a change in the Administration or, at least, a new Secretary of State or the present incumbents will have learnt the lesson every American government has to learn over and over again: Hamas does not want peace and will work very hard to make sure that there is none. Meanwhile, we all carry on paying for this lunacy.
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Labels:
Egypt,
Gaza,
middle east
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Can this be true?
Returned home after listening to Jonah Goldberg who was talking about his book "Liberal Fascism", which is being published in Britain this week and chatting to various co-members of the not very vast right-wing conspiracy (we are recruiting suitable candidates). Found the usual police activity on the street and was about to go to bed when I checked Instapundit for news and found this story.
Louis Michel, the EU's commissar for development and international aid, has actually blamed Hamas for the situation in Gaza. Somebody, get me my smelling salts.
UPDATE: For those who have not yet read them, Andrew Roberts's arguments as to why the BBC should not be broadcasting an appeal for Gaza are here. Interestingly enough, most of the comments are supportive of his stance.
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Louis Michel, the EU's commissar for development and international aid, has actually blamed Hamas for the situation in Gaza. Somebody, get me my smelling salts.
Even though he was "shocked" by what he saw in Gaza, he had uncharacteristically harsh words for Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since it staged a violent coup there in June 2007.So, does this mean he will not be sending our money in the form of aid to this terrorist organization to build more terrorist weaponry?
"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," said Michel, according to AFP. "I intentionally say this here: Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such."
Reuters quoted Michel as criticizing Hamas for its use of civilians as "human shields" and for fighting in populated areas.
Last week, when EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero Waldner visited Israel, she said that the EU would not pay to rebuild Gaza until a government that it found acceptable was in power there.Hurrah! But it seems that I was cheering too soon.
On Monday, Michel was more frank, saying the EU was tired of paying for the same infrastructure only to have it repeatedly destroyed.
Still, he announced that the EU was prepared to spend $74 million in aid to Palestinian civilians, including $41 million earmarked to "respond to the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza" following Israel's offensive.Of course not. Just like the previous funds were not channelled to Hamas. Somehow they get hold of the money, though.
Michel insisted none of the funds would be channeled to Hamas.
UPDATE: For those who have not yet read them, Andrew Roberts's arguments as to why the BBC should not be broadcasting an appeal for Gaza are here. Interestingly enough, most of the comments are supportive of his stance.
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aid,
BBC,
middle east,
police
Thursday, January 22, 2009
This will not surprise you
An interesting link sent to me by Anglican Friends of Israel together with a translation of the article. Perhaps, some of our readers who know Hebrew can attest that it is accurate.
Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian Authority's Minister of Social Welfare has accused Hamas of stealing trucks with humanitarian aid that was meant for the people of Gaza. Curiously enough, UNWRA who were supposed to take charge of the aid and distribute it, have not made any comments on the subject. The accusations add that some Hamas members have been selling the aid off.
Mr Habbash has also accused Hamas of murdering and torturing Fatah activists. Hamas has admitted this, explaining that they were rounding up and doing nasty things to people who were openly collaborating with Israel.
This is confirmed by Reuters who, not unexpectedly, cite the figure of 1,300 Palestinians killed without bothering to check. It may be true but is unlikely and minimal checking might be a good idea. Of course, Hamas reasserting its control over Gaza is what all those demonstrators wanted so they ought to be pleased. Then again, they were bemoaning the killing of Palestinians. So, I take it, there will be more demonstrations against Hamas because of it killing and maiming other Palestinians? Probably accompanied by large squadrons of flying pigs.
Richard Landes writes about the Gaza figures on The Augean Stables. He also has a fascinating posting on the coverage by the MSM of wartime casualties. Oddly enough, it seems completely distorted and inaccurate. But the best one is this: the terrible poisoned gift, which European anti-semitism has given the Palestinians - the inability to escape their own problems and to be ruled by Hamas murderers.
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Yossi Bar (Maariv-Hebrew) The Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra Thursday quoted adoctorat Shifa Hospital in Gaza City saying that, despite Hamas and UN claims, most of those killed in Gaza were young men who were members of terror groups.The UN and NGOs less than honest about Gaza and casualties there? Well, colour me surprised.
"The number of deaths was between 500-600...most were young men between 17 and 23 who were recruited into the ranks of Hamas, which sent them to be slaughtered," he said.
Journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi confirmed that only 600 people were killed, and not 1,300 as was widely reported, based on hospital visits and discussions with families of the victims.
"It was strange that the non-governmental organizations, including Western ones, repeated the number without checking, but the truth will come to light in the end," said the doctor.
"It's like what happened in Jenin in 2002," he said. "At the beginning they spoke of 500 dead; afterwards it was clear there wereonly 54 dead, at least 45 of them fighters."
Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian Authority's Minister of Social Welfare has accused Hamas of stealing trucks with humanitarian aid that was meant for the people of Gaza. Curiously enough, UNWRA who were supposed to take charge of the aid and distribute it, have not made any comments on the subject. The accusations add that some Hamas members have been selling the aid off.
Mr Habbash has also accused Hamas of murdering and torturing Fatah activists. Hamas has admitted this, explaining that they were rounding up and doing nasty things to people who were openly collaborating with Israel.
This is confirmed by Reuters who, not unexpectedly, cite the figure of 1,300 Palestinians killed without bothering to check. It may be true but is unlikely and minimal checking might be a good idea. Of course, Hamas reasserting its control over Gaza is what all those demonstrators wanted so they ought to be pleased. Then again, they were bemoaning the killing of Palestinians. So, I take it, there will be more demonstrations against Hamas because of it killing and maiming other Palestinians? Probably accompanied by large squadrons of flying pigs.
Richard Landes writes about the Gaza figures on The Augean Stables. He also has a fascinating posting on the coverage by the MSM of wartime casualties. Oddly enough, it seems completely distorted and inaccurate. But the best one is this: the terrible poisoned gift, which European anti-semitism has given the Palestinians - the inability to escape their own problems and to be ruled by Hamas murderers.
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Labels:
media,
middle east,
NGO
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Just in case you have not seen this
Hamas has already announced that it will not honour the cease-fire but then when did they honour those they had actually signed?
"Its leaders are in hiding," Olmert said of Hamas. "Many of its members have been killed. The factories in which its missiles were manufactured have been destroyed. The smuggling routes, through dozens of tunnels, have been bombed. The Hamas's capabilities for conveying weapons within the Gaza Strip have been damaged."Many things will have to be sorted out. Has Hamas's capabilities been really eroded? How soon will they be able to rebuild them with the help of the inevitable foreign aid, especially from the UN and the EU? Will the Israelis come to an agreement with Egypt and manage to stop the smuggling of arms? Or will the whole process start again in the near future?
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aid,
Egypt,
middle east
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Worth reading
Thanks to Powerline, I was directed to a very good and very balanced article by Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli Arab journalist who writes for the Jerusalem Post. He does not think Hamas has been destroyed but neither does he think the prospects its leadership faces are particularly good, largely because of its own behaviour.
Moreover, the IDF operation has sent the entire Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip into hiding. When and if Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and senior leader Mahmoud Zahar emerge from their hiding places, they are likely to face criticism for abandoning their people during war.Read the whole piece. I don't suppose our Foreign Secretary will, though it will not take long.
The fact that Haniyeh and Zahar chose to hide out of concern for their personal safety has severely undermined their prestige.
Only days before the operation began, the two appeared in public to mock Israel's failure to respond to the rocket attacks. They also warned Israel against attacking the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas had prepared "surprises" for the IDF.
The military offensive has not only sent Haniyeh and Zahar into hiding, but has also succeeded in driving a wedge between them and their Hamas colleagues in Syria.
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Labels:
middle east
Friday, January 09, 2009
I don't think they understand
On the whole I have great respect for UN Watch, an NGO that tries to show up the UN for the sort of pernicious organization it is, though, I suspect, that is not how they would put it themselves. Something about getting the UN to live up to its principles may be how UN Watch sees its role.
Having said that, I have to point out that they do not appear to understand anything about the European Union. Like many other people I received an e-mail from the organizaion, asking me to take action immediately to prevent a completely duplicitous UN resolution that calls for an immediate truce in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops, without once mentioning Hamas terrorism from being passed.
The idea is that we all send e-mails to Javier Solana and to Karel Scwarzeneger, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking them to stop the EU from voting for the resolution.
Furthermore, the EU does not vote in the UN. It is individual countries that do and they seem to have come to an agreement already, if this piece on YNet is anything to go by.
As it happens, EU or no EU, we cannot exactly be proud of our own infantile looking Foreign Secretary.
Incidentally, for those who happen to be in London this coming Sunday, there will be a pro-Israeli and pro-Gazan people, as opposed to Hamas, rally in Trafalgar Square at 11 o'clock. If you want to attend, the organizers, the various Jewish organizers, supported by, among others, Anglican Friends of Israel, are asking everyone to turn up by 10.40 (yes, I know, horribly early) and not to bring any flags or placards - these will be available there.
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Having said that, I have to point out that they do not appear to understand anything about the European Union. Like many other people I received an e-mail from the organizaion, asking me to take action immediately to prevent a completely duplicitous UN resolution that calls for an immediate truce in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops, without once mentioning Hamas terrorism from being passed.
The idea is that we all send e-mails to Javier Solana and to Karel Scwarzeneger, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking them to stop the EU from voting for the resolution.
Please help us ensure the EU will live up to its principles tomorrow by voting No to this one-sided resolution.I am not sure what principles UN Watch have in mind but it is the EU that has consistently aided and protected Hamas just as in the days of long ago, it revived the career of that late unlamented mass-murderer, Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Furthermore, the EU does not vote in the UN. It is individual countries that do and they seem to have come to an agreement already, if this piece on YNet is anything to go by.
Western and Arab foreign ministers on Thursday agreed on a compromise draft resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and decided to put it to a UN Security Council vote, a Palestinian diplomat said.Of course, Palestinian diplomats (an oxymoron, surely) have been known to be economical with the truth before. In any case, the devil will be in the details of the resolution.
As it happens, EU or no EU, we cannot exactly be proud of our own infantile looking Foreign Secretary.
In a key concession to the Arabs, a text circulated by the British delegation earlier Thursday "calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire" in Gaza and "for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."Does Mr Miliband even know what he is talking about? (That is a purely rhetorical question.)
An earlier version merely "stressed the need" for an immediate ceasefire.
The latest British draft available also "condemns all acts of hostilities and terror directed against civilians" and for "the lifting of the Israeli blockade" of Gaza.
Incidentally, for those who happen to be in London this coming Sunday, there will be a pro-Israeli and pro-Gazan people, as opposed to Hamas, rally in Trafalgar Square at 11 o'clock. If you want to attend, the organizers, the various Jewish organizers, supported by, among others, Anglican Friends of Israel, are asking everyone to turn up by 10.40 (yes, I know, horribly early) and not to bring any flags or placards - these will be available there.
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aid,
middle east,
tranzis,
UN
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Gosh, what a surprise!
It seems that Arab states and governments are secretly relieved that Israel is waging war against Hamas and may well destroy that group's ability. In some cases the opposition to Hamas and the support for Israel have not been all that secret. Well, colour me surprised. After all, anyone with half a brain would have realized some time ago that despite the rhetoric Arab states, rich or poor, give very little support to their Palestinian brethren and tend to urge them to ever greater suicidal missions.
Nor have the pictures of demonstrations in the Middle East shown enormous crowds; not if one compares numbers to demonstrations when something really important happens like the bread riots in Egypt last spring.
However, not all is lost. Hamas will still have the EU, the UN, various NGOs and other tranzis on their side. Somebody should do a psychopathological study on people who wander round the corridors of all these organizations.
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Nor have the pictures of demonstrations in the Middle East shown enormous crowds; not if one compares numbers to demonstrations when something really important happens like the bread riots in Egypt last spring.
However, not all is lost. Hamas will still have the EU, the UN, various NGOs and other tranzis on their side. Somebody should do a psychopathological study on people who wander round the corridors of all these organizations.
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Labels:
Egypt,
middle east
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Agents of influence and useful idiots
In other respects we can safely say plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, not least in the selection of "experts" that the media indulges in. Our attention has been called by a number of people to the ubiquitous presence of a Norwegian doctor, Mads Gilbert and his colleague Erik Fosse.
They entered Gaza on December 31 and have, according to Dr Gilbert, been performing operations day and night on an ever larger number of casualties of whom an ever larger proportion are definitely innocent civilians. This miraculous behaviour does not appear to have prevented Dr Gilbert from appearing on every Western TV station with a frequency that makes one wonder when exactly he has time to do any operating.
Camera.org (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) has the story on the good doctor and his colleague. He is a long-standing member of the political Red (Rodt) party, a revolutionary socialist party in Norway and has expressed his view on numerous occasions that medicine cannot be separated from politics. He is a long-standing supporter of Hamas and, indeed, of any terrorist organization, who told the world in 2001 that the attacks on the United States were justified. This is the man the Norwegian government subsidizes and the world media listens to.
Not all is lost, however. Thanks to Power Line, which has a good posting on that UNWRA school, we also have the story of France2 (the TV station involved in the infamous Mohammed Al-Dura case) admitting that ... ahem ... they made a mistake in some photographs they displayed prominently.
It would appear that the dead civilians and Hamas operatives got to be that way because of a truck with explosives detonated in 2005 in a refugee camp and not because Israel bombed the place in 2009. I suppose, as we were told during the row over Qana, they are dead and that's what matters. How and why are luxuries.
Here is some more reading matter: a fascinating analysis of what might well be the Israeli strategy in the Jerusalem Post and another stonking article by Christopher Hitchens. The man specializes in giving no comfort to anybody. Even if one disagrees with much of his analysis, the article is well worth reading.
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France,
media,
middle east,
qana
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Does anyone care what David Miliband says?
The Foreign Secretary insisted any ceasefire had to ensure Israel's security and reinforce the position of elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.The first part sounds like a lost cause since Hamas is seriously uninterested in Israel's security or even in its existence and couldn't care less about Mahmoud Abbas, especially as the latter has blamed the crisis on them.
Speaking before the talks in Paris, Mr Miliband said the EU also had an important role" to play in the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip.
The second part is idiotic. Humanitarin assistance is going through and all the much-vaunted EU aid has done so far is to enable Hamas to acquire quasim rockets at our expense.
Then again, the Shadow Foreign Secretary has not exactly disintinguished himself in this crisis. What else is new, one might say.
It is very difficult to know what to do about the Gaza story and my colleague and I have had some discussion on the subject without coming to any conclusions. On the one hand, the story is the biggest one around and we cannot simply ignore it; on the other hand, it is being covered by every media outlet and numerous blogs, especially on the other side of the Pond.
Then again, how often can one say that the Israeli attack was predictable from that day a couple of weeks ago when Hamas stepped up its rocket barrage? Or announce that this time the Israelis must finish the job and get rid of Hamas as that is an absolute prerequisite for anything resembling peace in the area and decent life for Palestinians?
For the time being we shall do periodic round-ups of interesting news items. So here goes:
Fausta blogs on the conference call conducted by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, as organized by the Israel Project. Speaking as someone who has been trying without any success to interest various organizations in this country in the importance of the blogosphere, I can only welcome such an exercise. The more we hear directly about what is going on in Israel and in Gaza, instead of accepting Hamas propaganda and media distortions (but I repeat myself) the better for all concerned.
Oddly enough, there is disarray among the media. However much one talks about disproportionate this, that and the other, it is hard to get away from the fact of that continuing barrage of rockets and the other fact of Hamas refusing to consider any kind of negotiations.
The excerpts on Fausta's blog are worth reading and she is promising a link to the full transcript as soon as possible.
Richard Landes is blogging from Israel, keeping up-to-date on all the news and still managing to read the western media.
Al-Jazeera, as ever, provides excellent coverage on the English-langage website. Here is the hilarious story of the little boat, Dignity, equipped by the Free Gaza Movement (free from whom, I should like to know), that was stopped by the Israeli navy.
Rule number one: when you are a small boat trying to get through a naval blockade you do it a little less obviously. Unless, of course, the aim is to get maximum publicity rather than help anyone else.
Avital Leibovitz, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said that humanitarian aid was being allowed into the Gaza Strip and the medical supplies on the boat would not have made much impact on the humanitarian situation.Sadly, Al-Jazeera missed on a particularly juicy aspect of the story, the presence on the boat of former Congresswoman Cindy McKinney (Dem, of course, since you ask) who, back in her DC days got into trouble by refusing to show her pass to security guards and trying to bully them. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now.
Meanwhile, back in the tranzi farce of the UN, the SecGen Ban Ki-Moon has announced that Israel's response was disproportionate to the original problem and called for everyone to sit down and talk nicely to each other. Yes, I expect you did all know that.
Naturally, the UN is not taking up the point that a proportionate response would be indiscriminate shelling of civilian towns and villages, something the Israelis are trying to avoid, thus being disproportionate in their response. Even according to the UN of the 380 plus people killed about 61 are women and children, who can be counted as "civilians". The overwhelming majority are Hamas fighters. Fighters get killed in a war. Well, not if they simply fire rockets over the border into Israeli towns but things have changed in the last four days.
I shall not cover the various demonstrations, having already pointed out that several of them are against Arab states and governments who are refusing to support Hamas. Then again, the demonstrators are not volunteering to go and fight either. They are simply complaining about the unfairness of it all.
Here is Al-Jazeera's story on Mahmoud Abbas and the Egyptian Foreign Minister blaming Hamas for the troubles and here is the Press Association report on Egyptian border guards firing on Palestinians trying to escape from the Gaza strip. Good to see that famous Arab solidarity we are always being threatened with by our media.
The still-in-place American Administration is refusing to support any all-out calls for a cease-fire, insisting that the trouble was caused by Hamas and they should stop firing rockets into, otherwise known as attacking, Israel. The incoming Administration is keeping quiet. Oddly enough, this was the lead article on the Reuters website. Clearly, their journalists have not quite got over their Obamania. The President-Elect has made statements on all sorts of issues, despite maintaining that he does not have to say anything yet. The crisis in Gaza, on the other hand, he is keeping quiet on.
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aid,
blogosphere,
blogs,
Egypt,
middle east
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
"Profitability was just around the corner"
Or so the unfortunate American taxpayer was told by the ethanol industry and Congress that was happily shelling (if I may use that expression) said taxpayer's money. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out in a recent article - it hit the European edition today so I had to go scurrying through the website - the ethanol industry has been another victim of falling oil prices, together with the bubble economies, of Russia, Iran, Venezuela and the Dubai property market. (Actually, the last of these may survive if Dubai continues to diversify. Then again, it may not.)
Sadly, the WSJ concludes that more subsidy will probably be provided:
With the fall of the price of oil to around $40 a barrel and a severe economic crisis (though the word is not mentioned) gripping the country, some of the big media commentators are catching up with us. Look out for trouble in the early spring, the traditional time for that in Russia.
It is, however, Iran that is being eyed uneasily by the world because of the events in Gaza. Hamas is a client organization and needs Iranian support, both physically and emotionally. Who else is going to scream about destroying Israel? Mind you, the Iranians may provide arms and ammunition but when they talk about self-sacrifice, they mean Palestinian self-sacrifice.
How long will they be able to support Hamas and Hezbollah as well as control internal problems with oil prices staying low?
The commodity bust has clobbered corn ethanol, whose energy inefficiencies require high oil prices to be competitive. The price of ethanol at the pump has fallen nearly in half in recent months to $1.60 from $2.90 per gallon due to lower commodity prices, and that lower price now barely covers production costs even after accounting for federal subsidies. Three major producers are in or near bankruptcy, including giant VeraSun Energy.The answer is, of course, to ask for some more of that tax money as there is no way on earth that the ethanol industry in the United States can survive, never mind become profitable, without influx of subsidies.
Sadly, the WSJ concludes that more subsidy will probably be provided:
Ethanol may never be profitable in the real world, but in Washington it's alucrative business that provides jobs and votes. Like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ethanol is a business created by Congress that now has to be bailed out to save Congress from embarrassment.Meanwhile another article in today's newspaper deals with the sorry plight of the oil rogues: Hugo, Mahmoud and Vladimir. Numerous postings on this blog dealt with the problem of Russia. In most of them we pointed out that Russia's supposed newly acquired power was worth nothing. Economically the country was not developing the way it should and in foreign affairs it could bully but achieve very little. Even tiny Estonia stuck its tongue out at mighty big brother.
With the fall of the price of oil to around $40 a barrel and a severe economic crisis (though the word is not mentioned) gripping the country, some of the big media commentators are catching up with us. Look out for trouble in the early spring, the traditional time for that in Russia.
It is, however, Iran that is being eyed uneasily by the world because of the events in Gaza. Hamas is a client organization and needs Iranian support, both physically and emotionally. Who else is going to scream about destroying Israel? Mind you, the Iranians may provide arms and ammunition but when they talk about self-sacrifice, they mean Palestinian self-sacrifice.
How long will they be able to support Hamas and Hezbollah as well as control internal problems with oil prices staying low?
Labels:
aid,
energy,
middle east,
Russia
Whatever the media may say ...
... the Arab leaders are not supporting Hamas and the protests in those countries are not as widely attended as one might think. Of course, if the EU and the UN starts bribing various Middle Eastern countries with aid then, undoubtedly, Hamas will become flavour of the month. As long as they stay in Gaza and do not enter, say, Egypt, whose foreign minister has openly accused them of being at fault.
Let us not forget that in the endless cycle of violence since the end of the Second World War the highest level of casualties suffered by the Palestinians was in 1970 - 71 when the Jordanian army on orders from King Hussein threw the PLO out of Jordan.
The PLO went to Lebanon and proved conclusively that King Hussein and his army knew that they were fighting for the survival of their country.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot: William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary has come up with rubbish again. Does that man ever get anything right?
UPDATE: An interesting short piece on the Atlantic blog that indicates support for the Israeli Air Force from Fatah. Given the treatment meted out by Hamas to their Fatah brethren, this is hardly surprising.
Meanwhile, the IDF, sensibly, is taking the battle to cyberspace, setting up a YouTube Channel "to show the precision and care they are taking in destroying Hamas terrorist weapons dumps smuggling tunnels, and rocket launching sites located in residential areas by the terrorists".
Needless to say, some sequences have already been flagged by pro-Hamas users and removed for "terms of use violation". Some have been restored. Some not. Michelle is following the story with a great photoshop. I really hate being rude about YouTube as I spend hours watching bits from old films and listening to such luminaries as Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra.
Let us not forget that in the endless cycle of violence since the end of the Second World War the highest level of casualties suffered by the Palestinians was in 1970 - 71 when the Jordanian army on orders from King Hussein threw the PLO out of Jordan.
The PLO went to Lebanon and proved conclusively that King Hussein and his army knew that they were fighting for the survival of their country.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot: William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary has come up with rubbish again. Does that man ever get anything right?
UPDATE: An interesting short piece on the Atlantic blog that indicates support for the Israeli Air Force from Fatah. Given the treatment meted out by Hamas to their Fatah brethren, this is hardly surprising.
Meanwhile, the IDF, sensibly, is taking the battle to cyberspace, setting up a YouTube Channel "to show the precision and care they are taking in destroying Hamas terrorist weapons dumps smuggling tunnels, and rocket launching sites located in residential areas by the terrorists".
Needless to say, some sequences have already been flagged by pro-Hamas users and removed for "terms of use violation". Some have been restored. Some not. Michelle is following the story with a great photoshop. I really hate being rude about YouTube as I spend hours watching bits from old films and listening to such luminaries as Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra.
Labels:
aid,
Egypt,
media,
middle east
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tzipi Livni
She won the leadership election of the Kadima Party by 431 votes or 1.1%. (How different from the political lives of former President, now Prime Minister Putin and his teddy bear, President Medvedev. No wonder the latter appeal to the likes of Peter Hitchin and other supporters of strong government.)
Ms Livni has 42 days to put together a coalition government. In the meantime, Ehud Olmert, a man who is not only facing various charges to do with financial malpractice but has also been, by a general agreement, the worst prime minister Israel has had in its history.
The Times says that she is being touted as the new Golda Meir. That is quite a claim for anyone. We shall see. She has shown herself to be fairly tough in politics but will she be able to stand up to bullying by "world opinion"? Above all, will she finally start looking at the propaganda war that Israel has been losing steadily for some time?
Labels:
American elections,
middle east
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Drip, drip, drip
One such organization is the Palestinian Media Watch that keeps on dripping water on rock of political stupidity and self-righteous victimology (though I would like them to keep their website a little more up-to-date).
Their director, Itamar Marcus, visited Norway recently and managed to spark something of an important political debate there about the money that goes to the Palestinian Authority and what use it is put to.
It seems that the shocked Norwegian politicians and media pundits (a.k.a. news readers) had known nothing about the psychotic mouse, named Farfur, his cousin and successor as presenter of children's programmes, Nahul the Killer Bee or the homicidal rabbit named Assud who thinks he is a lion with a diet exclusively of Jews. Even if they had heard of all these horrors the Norwegians appear not to have worked out that possibly the money they so generously hand over to the Palestinian Authority pays for some of this.
At least now they are debating the subject and, at least, one political party is calling for the cessation of payments though, I have no doubt, that if ever that became serious government policy the weeping and wailing about humanitarian crises would go up.
Still, it is good to know that the media and politicians of at least one donor country are beginning to wake up. Of course, we wrote about this problem extensively in February when the Taxpayers' Alliance produced a report on the subject, and referred our readers back to previous postings. We wrote about NGO funding that goes on hate-filled books and children's programmes in May. I have no doubt we shall return to the subject again. Who knows: maybe Norway will, by then, have shown the way to do things and cut off aid to the pernicious Palestinian Authority.
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Perhaps they insist on organic milk
The story and the pictures purport to prove that the so-called smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza (a wall runs along that border but that is rarely mentioned by the reporters) are not used for guns, explosives and "heavy mortar shells, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles". Goodness me, how could you think that? Whatever next?
No, they are used by selfless and dedicated Hamas fighters, pictured with their faces hidden, to bring in milk and babyfood. What else could you possibly use such tunnels for?
The Israelis have demanded that the Hamas leadership shut those tunnels down but Ismail Haniyeh, the Prime Minister, refused in a refreshingly honest fashion:
"We cannot talk about stopping smuggling because it is something beyond our ability as a government and we did not give a commitment in this regard," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told worshippers at a Gaza City mosque on June 25 as the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire was being finalized.It would appear that Hamas is no more in control of its territory, despite the periodic purge of Fatah supporters, than the latter is in the West Bank where there are also periodic purges.
Egypt has never denied that the tunnels exist and has, every now and then, shut a few down.
But we were all wrong. The tunnels quite clearly exist for humanitarian purposes. Understandably, Israel is a little sceptical. Israelies tend to be sceptical about most things, especially their own leaders, but this time they go beyond that and pronounce themselves to be extremely dubious.
Between 100 and 150 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Israel and international aid organizations enter Gaza on a daily basis. Out of that number, the 50 or so daily shipments that enter via Gaza's central Sufa Crossing contain milk and baby food, according to the manifests.A long way from the humanitarian disaster we keep hearing about but, of course, this all contributes to the social and political disaster that Gaza remains. What of the smuggled milk, though? I can only suggest that the Gazans prefer the organic stuff and the nasty Israelis insist on providing them with Longlife milk. Enough to make anyone's blood boil.
ADDENDUM: Actually I wrote "onlie begetter" about Charles Johnson, getting a little carried away with the Shakespearian references but the boss changed that. He doesn't like me getting all greenery-yallery.
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Thursday, February 14, 2008
We are funding this
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Then, in a rather horrific episode, Farfur was clubbed to death by a thuggish looking Israeli settler. The programme went on with Farfur’s cousin, Nahul the Killer Bee. Can’t help feeling that it might be more useful if those Gazan children learnt some biology. For instance, it might be useful to know that bees and mice are rarely related to each other even in Disney films, never mind real life.
As we have pointed out before, in connection with the rather inane statement made by the Council of European Union after the pointless Annapolis Conference, other children’s programmes on the Hamas Al-Aqsa TV are equally horrifying.
Word reaches me that Nahul the Killer Bee has died because he could not get to the hospital fast enough. The reason? Well, naturally enough, the “Israeli siege of Gaza”. Which hospital was the little fellow trying to get to, I wonder, as a number of Palestinian children and adults are routinely treated in Israeli hospitals. Not an Egyptian one, perchance?
He has been replaced by a homicidal rabbit, whose name is not Rabbit, as that is a nickname given to “a bad person and a coward” (just goes to show how little they know) but Assud, which means lion. I assume the homicidal rabbit is related to the killer bee and the psychotic mouse as he proclaims here to the same pretty little girl that his intention is to kill all Jews and eat them.
It seems that he managed to sneak in from Egypt when the Gazans blew up the border between Gaza and
So there we are dear reader, the indoctrination of those little
The Taxpayers’ Alliance, an extremely useful and sensible body has recently produced a report on the subject. The report goes through the various ways British and EU taxpayers’ money makes its way to Hamas and comes to the sad conclusion that we contribute in two different ways:
Direct funding from the British government. Britain has donated £15 million to the Temporary International Mechanism, the new financial arrangement designed to bypass Hamas, since it was founded in June 2006. The Department for International Development has also given £3 million to the Palestinian Authority to help pay off the Authority’s debts.How does this help that loathsome propaganda for children?
Funding through the European Commission. The European Commission donated €340 million to Palestinian causes in 2006. This represented 0.28 per cent of the €121 billion European Union budget in 2006. Around £29.5 million of this will have been paid by the UK, i.e. 0.28 per cent of
Britain’s £10.5 billion gross contribution to the EU budget.
Through the new aid spending, part of the £47.5 million donated by Britain is helping to fund hate education and promote violence in the Palestinian territories. It is doing this in three ways:The report is well worth reading as it gives excellent references and is copiously illustrated with little tots totting very big guns; textbooks that extol suicide/homicide bombing and murder of other children; as well as pictures of the psychotic mouse and the killer bee. Presumably, the report was completed before the homicidal rabbit made his appearance.
- Funding the Palestinian education system. The Palestinian authorities have produced textbooks that promote martyrdom, support the execution of apostates and support insurgents fighting British troops in Iraq.
- Funding the Palestinian Authority directly. Direct financial support has effectively given the Palestinian Authority more money to spend on, among other things, hateful propaganda.
- Freeing up resources by funding services Palestinian authorities would otherwise be expected to provide. Bypassing the Palestinian authorities by paying directly for basic services that a government would usually be expected to provide has actually left a greater proportion of the budgets of the Palestinian authorities free to be spent on propaganda and violence.
I do not agree with all the conclusions. Well, actually, there is one particular conclusion I do not agree with. There is no possible method whereby aid given to the Palestinian Authority could influence that body of men could contribute to peace and stability in the region. As I recall, Hamas campaigned on being less corrupt and more efficient than Fatah. Well, let them prove it all to the people of Gaza.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Mr Bolton agrees with EUReferendum
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According to Ha'aretz, John Bolton has publicly disagreed with Prime Minister Olmert's account of what motivated UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the international pressure put on Israel to stop before it could destroy Hezbollah (who has since shown its gratitude by destroying Lebanon's political structure).
It was not Israel's ground offensive but the shock caused by the Qana episode or, to be precise, the way the Qana episode, about which we still do not know the truth, was presented by Hezbollywood and its willing agents, most of the Western MSM.
However, the former ambassador said, the main reason for America's retreat from its initial position was U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who "changed her mind fundamentally" after an Israeli aerial assault killed 28 civilians in Kana on July 30. "Rice exerted enormous pressure on me to reach an agreement already," he said. "Until Kana, the U.S. wasn't interested in another typical Middle Eastern cease-fire. We thought we would exploit the fighting to fundamentally change the situation, especially in Lebanon and Syria. But under the influence of her shock over Kana, the secretary of state changed her mind and only wanted an immediate end to the fire. That was the policy Rice dictated."This blog was convinced at the time that the Qana episode was crucial in the propaganda war, which is an intrinsic part of the war against terror we are all fighting and which Israel had to fight in the summer of 2006 against Hezbollah.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Shum mishtake?
So here is part 1 of the nifty little story, as published in the Jerusalem Post. Yesterday the Israeli announced that the IDF and Shin Bet had found “6.5 tons of potassium nitrate hidden in sacks that were disguised as aid from the European Union”. If we go by the picture, it was disguised as sugar but, clearly, something alerted the Israeli security services.
Potassium nitrate is banned in Gaza for obvious reasons. Oh all right, I shall spell it out. There is this rather unpleasant prejudice in Israel about terrorists in Gaza or, for that matter, the West Bank using the chemical for the manufacture of explosives.
The statement was very cautious about the EU:
This is another example of how the terror organizations exploit the humanitarian aid that is delivered to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip with Israel's approval.24 hours later the EU denied everything. But before everybody choruses the words “Well, they would, wouldn’t they?” let us have a look at their argument.
The EU official, however, said that the bags could not be confused with bona fide EU aid for a number of reasons, including that the EU does not export sugar as part of aid to the Palestinians, and that food assistance to the PA - funneled through UNRWA or the World Food Program - clearly carries the 12-star symbol of the EU and the name of the European Commission on the bags.Undoubtedly that is true. One cannot imagine that there might be a situation in which the EU omits the flaunting of those stars. There will be a lot more of it, as the EU is pledging another $650 million of aid in 2008. We wrote about all those fruit machine numbers here.
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A little less comfort is to be taken from the surmise that somebody somewhere in the vast EU aid giving machine must have passed a certain amount of information on as to when and where sugar was going to be taken through (or possibly into) the West Bank.
Looking at it from another point of view, one cannot help wondering what other findings the Israeli security services will announce before President Bush’s forthcoming and probably completely pointless visit to the region.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The peace process processes
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One thing goes on relentlessly: the Middle Eastern peace process. Not much peace there, one may argue but there is a great deal of process. Part of that process are the endless meetings of the Quartet Principals, which sounds like a piece of modern classical music but is, in fact, considerably less tuneful than the late Karlheinz Stockhausen’s efforts. At least some people understand these but I have never come across anyone who has understood the purpose of the Quartet Principals.
They do, however, produce statements and this meeting was no different. A statement was issued.
The Quartet lauded the success of the November 27 Annapolis Conference, which resulted in agreement to launch bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty and demonstrated broad regional and international support for Israeli-Palestinian and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. The Quartet welcomed the commencement of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues, including all core issues, and looked forward to vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations. The Quartet reaffirmed its commitment to remain closely involved and to support the parties’ efforts in the period ahead as they make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008.Only in the insane world of peace processes can one solemnly laud the success of a conference that achieved nothing as one side of it still refuses to recognize the other side’s right to existence. But you see what I mean about it being more complicated than Stockhausen’s music.
What on earth do they mean by the sentence
The Quartet welcomed the commencement of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues, including all core issues, and looked forward to vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations.Vigorous the negotiations might be but those core issues, surely, involve the existence of Israel as an entity and the cessation of terrorist activity.
The Quartet condemned the continued rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and called for an immediate cessation of such attacks.Wake me up when it happens, somebody.
Of course the crunch part of that statement is the following:
The Quartet reiterated its deep concern over the humanitarian conditions facing the population of the Gaza Strip and emphasized the importance of continued emergency and humanitarian assistance without obstruction. The Quartet called for the continued provision of essential services, including fuel and power supplies. It expressed its urgent concern over the continued closure of major crossing points given the impact on the Palestinian economy and daily life.At the meeting of international donors it was decided to hand over $7.4 billion (€5.6 billion, £3.65 billion) to the Palestinians. Well, to be quite precise, the money was promised but, presumably, it will reach the Palestinian government if not necessarily the Palestinian people, judging by past performance.
The European Commission pledged to donate 650 million dollars in aid for 2008 while Britain and Saudi Arabia announced three-year aid packages of 490 million dollars and 500 million dollars respectively.What do they think they are playing with, a fruitmachine?
Opening the conference earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged 300 million dollars over three years. Germany promised 200 million dollars by 2010 and Sweden offered 300 million dollars in 2007 and 2008.
Curiously enough one organization to protest was Oxfam but, predictably, it did not tackle the real problem:
Either Adam Leach started saying something else and was stopped by his minders or he cannot think clearly. A leaking bucket means that the money is going somewhere else not being stoppered by Israel. Where is that somewhere else where all the money poured into the leaking bucket that is the Palestinian budget has gone? Could it be a selection of numbered bank accounts and terrorist organizations?In London, the development charity Oxfam warned donors were pouring cash "into a leaking bucket," arguing that aid efforts already in place were being seriously hampered by Israeli restrictions on movement.
"The challenge is to fix the leak, not pour faster ... Due to Israel's movement restrictions and the blockade of Gaza, millions of dollars of aid for Palestinians are being lost," Oxfam's Middle East director Adam Leach said.
It would appear that while concern is expressed “over the humanitarian conditions facing the population of the Gaza Strip”, said population is happily demonstrating its support for Hamas and its determination to destroy Israel.
Waving green flags and banners, throngs of Palestinians poured into Katiba Square ahead of the rally at which Hamas leader Ismail Haniya and other officials reaffirmed their commitment to armed struggle against Israel.You can tell Annapolis was a success and those core issues are going to be addressed.
"Resistance and jihad (holy struggle) is the best path to the liberation of Palestine, not negotiations and meetings, sitting at round tables and exchanging smiles and chuckles with the Jews," Haniya told the crowd.
Friday, December 14, 2007
I wonder if they have seen this
Going through recent news from the Council of the European Union (I do have a life, honest) I found the inevitable hip-hip-hooray response to the completely inconclusive Annapolis Conference.
The first two articles, always the ones to watch, rather appealed to me, as they presumably indicate the holding of further conferences and handing out more of our money:
It is worth playing the tape through but only if you have a strong stomach. Had the people who wrote that statement for the Council seen it, I wonder.
The first two articles, always the ones to watch, rather appealed to me, as they presumably indicate the holding of further conferences and handing out more of our money:
1. The EU welcomes the holding of the Annapolis Conference and the joint understanding reached between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty before the end of 2008. This should lead to the establishment of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza that will unite all Palestinians, living side by side in peace and security withIt so happens that I had just before that been scanning through Little Green Footballs and found an interesting item about Hamas educational TV programmes.
Israel and its neighbours. It is also important that the parties implement their Road Map obligations in parallel to their negotiations. The EU welcomes the wide participation of Arab partners at the conference and calls for their continued and positive involvement.
2. The EU is determined to accompany this new momentum by supporting the parties in their negotiations in a sustained and active manner and through working closely with other members of the Quartet and partners in the region to keep the negotiations on track. As set out in the EU Action Strategy: "State-building for Peace in the Middle East" the EU stands ready to adapt and enhance its activities in support of a new, substantive and credible process.
Amongst its immediate priorities the EU aims to further strengthen security and law and order. In this context, the re-engagement and expansion of EUPOL COPPS is an important element in the improvement of security. To this end, the Council expects Israel to engage constructively in providing accreditation to the mission without further delay. The EU will also further strengthen its programmes to foster institution building, good governance, civil society contributions and support for growth of the Palestinian economy working in close cooperation with the Quartet Representative. The Council welcomes the work of Tony Blair and in particular, his recent announcement of a number of quick impact projects.
It is worth playing the tape through but only if you have a strong stomach. Had the people who wrote that statement for the Council seen it, I wonder.
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