Ut och resa!

Denna blogg har legat och vilat ett tag, som man ska göra med vilken åker som helst. Nu borde det gro bra här!

Innan skrev jag huvudsakligen om Mellanöstern men det får andra bloggar göra nu. Omväxling förnöjer.

Min nästa resa går till Thailand, där jag har varit sju vintrar det senaste decenniet. Det blir den första resan som sjukpensionär - ända sedan jag fick den första infarkten i balanscentrum i hjärnstammen har mina läkare fajtats med Förkränkningskassan (vars blogg verkar vara nere) och talat om för dom att det enda sättet jag kan fortsätta att arbeta i långsam fart, ett par år till, är om jag är sjukskriven under vintern, under den tiden jag riskerar halt väglag och därmed nästan ofelbart obotliga skador om jag försöker gå ut och handla mat. FK har enbart hånflabbat. Färdtjänst hårdflabbar verkligen hårt, trots 4-5 läkarintyg som i korthet säger att färdtjänst under vintern är en del av behandlingen. Att njurarna är på väg till dialys fick dem att flabba än mer. Nu, efter ett års totala trakasserier har det äntligen lyckats mig och läkarna att övertyga dem om att jag måste bli sjukpensionär. Underförstått av alla utom FK, för att jag och mina läkare ska få chans att sköta om mina återstående år, månader, veckor - på ett sätt som är lämpligt för mig.

I will just go out in a few moments, after finishing the breakfast beside the computer, that my lovely Thai wife has prepared for me before she ran to her Swedish course, to send my passport to the Thai embassy in Stockholm, to get a double tourist visa. We Swedes get an automatic 30-day visa at arrival in Thailand, which is sufficient for shorter visits. There has also been the "visa runs", where you go to one border in the vicinity, over and back again, and get another 30 days. I have done it often enough, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos.... Never tried Burma but I will wait a bit for that. Last year they changed the system so you could do that maximum 90 days, then you were not allowed into Thailand for 90 days. Why? Well - if you more or less live there or have some black job there or whatever, you are supposed to have the proper visa for that! The proper way for a longtime tourist is of course a tourist visa. 60 days, you can prolong it for 30 days within Thailand for 1900 Baht, then you must out and in. So I get a double one like that, I plan to stay somewhat less than 120 days, so I go out in the middle, probably to Malaysia as I plan to be down on Koh Samui.

How to go to Malaysia, Penang, from Koh Samui? Ah well.... There is water in between. The boats take 1-3 hours, except the night boat that takes as long as it takes, but people are supposed to sleep on the floor covered with dirty mattresses. I used that boat once when I came from Penang, and while the boat was ok, when I had to board it, they only had a narrow plank without anything to hold in, and with my lack of balance....... Almost as bad as a few winters later, when I took the 6-hour speedboat over Tonle Sap, half through Cambodia, from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The had a LONG narrow plank up - a little money, or lookalike, walked backwads up the plank, holding both my hands to lead me up....... At least once in PP it was decent way to get off board, but I was obviously nervous all the way, sitting on my seat made for Khmers, who have half the size of ass as a Westerner. You can squeeze in twice as many people and it makes larger headlines when it sinks.


A test of including a link to youtube - I searched for films there about Samui, and found this from Lamai, where I usually stay. You can see pics from my latest stay at this link, and if you are smart enough you might find a lot more pictures around that link.

More links to youtube:





Hm, seems to work.

7 weeks left. What to finish? Ah well, should get vaccinations, have sick insurance for the first 45 days, from the home insurance, should fix travel insurance from this Australian insurance place for the rest. Also just booked a room for when I arrive in Bangkok, always nice to have it fixed, at this place.

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Extremely strange. This was published, I have not been here for a week and now suddenly it was only in draft and not published???

Insändare. Abbas & Olmert ska samarbeta.

Jag reagerade på en av TT:s massprodukter i går. Jag brukar söka på Eniro för att se vad den svenska pressen säger om Israel. Ett utskick från TT ger dussintal hits där, och det föranledde denna insändare till tidningar:

TT:s nyhetsval angående Israel är alltid intressant. I svensk press syntes på lördagen: ”Rysslands utrikesminister Sergej Lavrov kräver en undersökning av Israels bruk av klusterbomber” i ett flertal tidningar.

Samtidigt säger den ryska nyhetsbyrån Interfax http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11583811 att Peres just i Echo Moskvy radio meddelat att de hittade många av Hezbollahs vapen i Libanon med ryska markeringar. Inget hos TT.

Hezbollahs raketer som gick till Israel med mängder av kullagerkulor och annat metallskrot enbart avsett att såra, skada och döda människor – vem kräver undersökning av det? TT berättar ej.

Och de facto – vem ser till att Hezbollah avväpnas enligt Resolution 1701? http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm Iran har redan börjat flyga vapen till Hezbollah via Beirut utan protester från Persson eller FN http://www.debka.org/headline.php?hid=3238 och båtarna som seglar i solgasset i havet utanför Libanon stoppar inte masstrafiken över landgränsen Syrien-Libanon, ej heller motsvarande uppladdning av Gaza, vars terrorister under veckan via den EU-kontrollerade gränsen till Egypten bl.a. tagit emot 400 anti-tankvapen och 15 Grad-missiler http://www.debka.org/headline.php?hid=3232 Israels försvarsmakt har definitiv information om minst ett dussin vapenleveranser till Hezbollah de senaste tre veckorna http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51877 . TT har missat informationen och Persson har inte lagt pannan i några djupa veck. Anledning?

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Områdena som hade kunnat vara ett Palestina de senaste 50 åren men som konstant har sagt nej, senast år 2000 i försök till fredsförhandlingar för att avsluta den legala ockupationen, förlorar alltfler utbildade människor och affärsmän tack vare Hamas:

Brain Drain in Palestinian Authority
11:13 Sep 10, '06 / 17 Elul 5766
by Hillel Fendel
http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=111701

The spokesman for Fatah in the PA-controlled city of Tul Karem says that the difficult economic situation in the Hamas-led PA has led to the emigration of many academics to the Persian Gulf.

The spokesman, Samir Naifa, indirectly blamed Hamas for the situation.

He said the information he has indicates that some 20 engineers from the Tul Karem region alone (east of Netanya) have left recently for the Persian Gulf states. In addition, he said, many doctors have left Judea and Samaria, seeking work elsewhere, as have many Palestinian Authority employees. The latter have not been paid for several months.

Naifa, whose Fatah party was ousted from power by the Hamas in the PA elections eight months ago, said that many businessmen have stopped their projects. The reason, Naifa says, is because of the many obstacles placed in their way by the Hamas government, and the general lack of confidence in the economy.

An Israeli defense source confirmed the above. He told Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman, "Whoever can leave, runs away. Many factories have closed and money is not coming. Businessmen who came to Judea and Samaria are leaving."

Huberman recently reported on similar criticism coming from within Hamas itself. Hamas spokesman Razi Hamed wrote in a daily PA newspaper two weeks ago that the Palestinian Authority leadership and populace has failed to turn Gaza into a functioning society.

"Walking the streets of Gaza," Hamed wrote, "you get the feeling that you have to close your eyes: anarchy everywhere, policemen who don't care about public order, boys carrying guns, people setting up condolence tents in the middle of the street, and murders between rival families. Gaza has become a garbage dump, with a stink everywhere and sewage everywhere. The government can't do a thing, the opposition watches, the two sides fight between them, the Presidency is helpless; we have caught the bug of apathy..."

Vilka som finns kvar? Dessa:

Så vad göra för att klara det? WOW – Olmert och Abbas ska samarbeta för att med gemensamma ansträngningar stödja sina sammanfallande riken! Trots

Tens of Thousands Protest Olmert Government 16:09 Sep 10, '06 / 17 Elul 5766 by Ezra HaLevi

Tens of thousands of Israelis joined a protest against the Olmert government in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square Saturday night. The protest was under the banner of “State Commission of Inquiry Now!”

The protest was organized by IDF reservists as well as the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), a private group that has been running a separate protest alongside the reservists in Jerusalem’s Rose Garden. The reservists have been calling for the resignation of the top government officials for their management of the recent war in Lebanon, while the MQG is calling for a state commission to examine the government’s actions. “The Prime Minister must open his eyes and realize that a state commission of inquiry is needed,” the group’s chairman, Eliad Shraga, said. Also speaking at the protest were former Defense Minister Moshe Arens of the Likud, retired Meretz Party chairman Yossi Sarid, senior reserves officers and relatives of soldiers who fell during the war. “It is unacceptable that those under investigation appoint the investigators,” Arens told the crowd. “Only a state commission of inquiry will examine in a thorough manner the decision of the government in the last war in Lebanon. Never have there been such confusing and contradictory orders issued in the handling of a war.” “If we continue to remain silent, we will be hit with another bomb,” Movement For Quality Government spokesman Shuki Levanon said. He added that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had been invited to the protest, “to declare from this podium that he has heard the will of the people and will establish a state commission – but the chicken didn’t even answer.” Though most protestors held signs accusing the government of not allowing the IDF to act strongly enough, some Meretz members joined as well – protesting the decision to go to war in the first place. Though the rally’s organizers number the participants at 40,000, police said 25,000 attended. Musicians and composers took part in the demonstration as well. Nimrod Lev, Danny Linti, Miki Gavrielov, Pablo Rosenberg, Etti Ankari and Yankele Rotblitt, the composer of Shir HaShalom, the Song of Peace embraced by Israel’s left-wing and sung publicly by Yitzchak Rabin just prior to his murder. Shraga closed the rally by calling on those present to join the struggle more actively. “The struggle is not over. Don’t go home and think you have done enough – speak out and join us at our protest vigil in Jerusalem,” he said.

Ska Olmert fortsätta att beväpna Abbas, och tala vänligt till honom som han gör till sina andra gubbar bakom buskarna – det kan ju ge lite goodwill hos Blair, som också ser sin tron falla sönder:

Olmert Pushing Road Map Plan

By Hillel Fendel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday night, announced he plans to meet - unconditionally - with Abu Mazen in the near future.

Blair arrived in Jerusalem late Sabbath afternoon, meeting with Mr. Olmert on what many feel is his farewell tour of the region before his expected resignation next year.

Olmert told reporters that he plans to meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in the near future. Though just last week he said he would not meet with Abbas before captive soldier Gilad Shalit is released, he no longer has set any preconditions for such a meeting.

Olmert expressed his willingness and intention to advance the Quartet's Road Map Plan between Israel and the PA. He announced that the Realignment Plan, his main election campaign platform, was no longer relevant.

The Road Map plan, initiated in 2002, calls for an end to terrorism, an end to Israel's settlement activity, and the formation of a Palestinian state. Ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the U.S. guaranteed that Israel could retain major settlement blocs in the Shomron, but this has not been borne out by the relevant documents. The plan has not yet made it to its first step.

The British leader told reporters that events taking place in the Mideast directly impact his country, as well as the entire world community. Blair expressed his willingness to do whatever possible to advance negotiating efforts between Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority).

Prime Minister Olmert has said that he now realizes that his Realignment Plan, calling for the dismantling of most of the communities in Judea and Samaria and the handing over of most of the territory to Hamas, is no longer realistic. The Road Map Plan is all Olmert has left on the political horizon, analysts say.

Olmert placing the focus of his Saturday night remarks not on Lebanon or Iran, but on the PA. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who still retains his position despite the fact that Hamas controls the Parliament, is also willing to talk unconditionally with Olmert. Both leaders apparently feel they need each other in order to stay in power. [häromdan sa Nasrallah att HAN ville att Olmert skulle kvarstå….]

The Deputy Director of the GSS (Israel's domestic security service), whose name is not known to the public, says that Abbas also needs Hamas cooperation in order to survive. The official told the Cabinet today that Fatah is continuing to crumble in the face of increasing Hamas strength and influence within the internal PA security agencies. Efforts continue to create a unity government of both Hamas and Fatah. ,[och Kadima]

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Folkrätt

The Fantasy World of International Law
The criticism of Israel has been "disproportionate."
by Jeremy Rabkin
08/21/2006, Volume 011, Issue 46

Då det senaste kriget i Libanon startade, protesterade de europeiska regeringarna att Israels svar var "oproportionerligt". FN:s commissioner för mänskliga rättigheter, Louise Arbour, höll med och talade dystert om israeliska "krigsbrott". Jag råkade vara på en konferens mitt i juli som vesöktes av ett antal militära advokater. Jag frågade en, som undeervisar i militäårlag vad allt detta tal om "proportionalitet" egentligen betyder. Svaret var kort och bestämt: "Det betyder att de inte tycker om Israel."Läs vidare på länken ovan!

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Nyheter

Nasrallah har rekommenderat Olmert att stanna kvar som israels ledare. Önskvärd reklam eller klarsynthet?

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England, Italien, Spanien, Portugal och Tyskland har förenat sina ansträngningar att begränsa Israels möjlighet att försvara sig.

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FN glänser i klarsynthet. KoffikAnnan har utropat att Israel måste sluta stoppa Hizbollah från att skaffa sig vapen. Att Säkerhetsrådets Resolution 1706 hela tiden talar om att denna tillförsel måste stoppas, men att ingen annan gör det, räknas inte. 1706 säger också att de kidnappade israeliska soldaterna ovillkorligen ska lämnas tillbaka, men KoffikAnnan anser sig behöva medla i fallet trots allt??? Han, med alla foton i pressen om hur han skakar tass med Nasrallah, är inte den lämpliga. Israel har dessutom knappt motsvarande fångar, däremot en libanes som illegalt tog sej in i Israel, krossade skallen på en liten flicka och avlivade hennes far - är det jämförbart? Men det är klart - Olmert har på sistone deklarerat att en israel är ungefär lika mycket värt som 800 araber, så . . . . .

UNIFIL, som inte har upptäckt och rapporterat en enda av de bortåt 15.000 raketer och missiler som Hizbollah har införskaffat, är tyvärr som en stor fet padda som kan göra exakt vad de vill - när de hjälpte Hizbollah år 2000 att tillfångata och döda israeler, inte har det någonsin ordentligt utretts.

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Spengler

Jag har upptäckt en fascinerande skribent, som jag för övrigt inte vet något om, Spengler. Han skriver artiklar i Asia Times och har alltså distans till vårt närområde - Eurabien och USA. Här en av hans fascinerande artiklar som berättar om Irans framtid, och som kanske kan förklara en del. Jag har försökt kopiera två artiklar hit, med rätt misslyckat resultat, och du kan hitta hans artiklar om du går till http://www.atimes.com/atimes/others/spengler.html

Den första behandlar Iran om 50 år, den andra behandlar Europa nu och framåt.

Middle East Sep 13, 2005

Demographics and Iran's imperial design By Spengler Aging populations will cause severe discomfort in the United States and extreme pain in Japan and Europe by mid-century. But the same trends will devastate the frail economies of the Islamic world, and likely plunge many countries into social chaos. By 2050, elderly dependents will comprise nearly a third of the population of some Muslim nations, notably Iran - converging on America's dependency ratio at mid-century. But it is one thing to face such a problem with America's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $40,000, and quite another to face it with Iran's per capita GDP of $7,000 - especially given that Iran will stop exporting oil before the population crisis hits. The industrial nations face the prospective failure of their pension systems. But what will happen to countries that have no pension system, where traditional society assumes the care of the aged and infirm? In these cases it is traditional society that will break down, horribly and irretrievably so. Below, I will review the relevant numbers. In a recent essay, I argued that declining Muslim population growth rates give the Islamists just one generation in which to strike out for their goal of global theocracy (The demographics of radical Islam, August 23). Muslim birth rates are collapsing as literacy rises, that is, as the modern world intrudes upon traditional society. Islamic traditional society is so fragile that it crumbles as soon as women learn to read. But the Islamists will not wait for traditional society to unravel. I grossly underestimated Iran's new president Mahmud Ahmadinejad in a report on the Iranian elections (Iran: The living fossils' vengeance, June 28). In programs made public on August 15, Ahmadinejad revealed a response worthy of Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin to the inevitable unraveling of Iran's traditional society. He proposes to reduce the number of villages from 66,000 to only 10,000, relocating 30 million Iranians. That is a preemptive response to the inevitable depopulation of rural Iran, in keeping with a totalitarian program for all aspects of Iranian society. As Amir Taheri wrote in Arab News on August 20, "He [Ahmadinejad] wants the state to play a central role in all aspects of people's lives and emphasizes the importance of central planning. The state would follow the citizens from birth to death, ensuring their health, education, well-being and leisure. It will guide them as to what to read and write and what 'cultural products' to consume so as not to be contaminated by Western ideas." Reengineering the shape of Iran's population, the central plank of the new government's domestic program, should be understood as the flip side of Iran's nuclear coin. Aggressive relocation of Iranians and an aggressive foreign policy both constitute a response to the coming crisis. Iran claims that it must develop nuclear power to replace diminishing oil exports. It seems clear that Iranian exports will fall sharply, perhaps to zero by 2020, according to Iranian estimates. But Iran's motives for acquiring nuclear power are not only economic but strategic. Like Hitler and Stalin, Ahmadinejad looks to imperial expansion as a solution for economic crisis at home. Iran wants effective control of Iraq through its ascendant Shi'ite majority, and ultimately control of the oil-rich regions of western Saudi Arabia, where Shi'ites form a majority. As Pepe Escobar reported from Tehran (Iran takes over Pipelineistan , Sep 10), Ahmadinejad wants to make Iran a regional power not only in production but in transmission, through a proposed oil pipeline through Iraq and Syria. This may appear to be a desperate gamble, but conditions call for desperate gambles. Ahmadinejad is not a throwback, as I wrote with a dismissiveness that seems painful in hindsight. He has taken the measure of his country's crisis, and determined to meet it head-on. Washington, from what I can tell, has no idea what sort of opponent it confronts. Iranian dissidents were supposed to push their country toward democratization, following the glasnost model of Soviet deterioration, and contagion from the new democracy in Iraq was supposed to hasten the process. Ahmadinejad's ascendancy took Washington by complete surprise. Now there is nothing obvious the US can do to reduce Iran's influence among Iraqi Shi'ites, or to prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions. The rising elderly dependent ratio, that is, the proportion of pensioners in the general population, has given rise to a genre of apocalyptic literature in the West: governments will raise taxes, debase the currency, cut pensions and flail about hopelessly as the cost rises of supporting the rising number of aged. In the US, pensioners now are 18% of the population, but will become 33% by 2050, according to the United Nations' medium forecast. In other words, a full additional 15% of the population will require support from the remaining population. Shifting a full 15% of the population from the ranks of the working to the ranks of the retired will place an uncomfortable burden on American taxpayers, to be sure. But the shift in the case of Muslim countries is much worse. Between 2005 and 2050, the shift from workers to pensioners will comprise 21% of Iranians, 19% of Turks and Indonesians, and 20% of Algerians. That is almost as bad as the German predicament, where the proportion of dependent elderly will rise from 28% in 2005 to 50% in 2050. Each employed German worker will have to support a pensioner in 2050. A simple way to express the problem is that German productivity must rise by 0.8% per year between now and 2050 simply to maintain the same standard of living, for that is the rate of productivity growth that would allow a smaller number of German workers to produce the same amount of goods and services. That is not inconceivable; during the 1990s, German productivity grew at such levels. Productivity growth in the Arab world and Iran has been low or negative, and is not likely to improve. As I observed in my June analysis of Iran's presidential election, "From an economic standpoint, Iran is a changeling monster, an oil well attached to an iron lung, as it were, maintaining with subsidies a rural population that is no longer viable. Oil and natural gas earn $1,300 a year for each Iranian, roughly a fifth of per-capita GDP. The Islamic republic dispenses this wealth to keep alive a moribund economy. Government spending has risen by four-and-a-half times during the past four years, financed via the central bank's printing press, pushing inflation up to 15% pa [per annum], while unemployment remains at 11%." Iran's ultra-Islamist government has no hope of ameliorating the crisis through productivity growth. Instead it proposes totalitarian methods that will not reduce the pain, but only squelch the screams. Iran envisages a regional Shi'ite empire backed by nuclear weaponry. And Washington, from what I can tell, has not a clue as to what is happening. Apart from Iran, the population dynamics described above will lead to more rather than fewer terrorist demonstrations. A school of thought represented by Daniel Pipes, for example, holds that "terrorism obstructs the quiet work of political Islamism", as Pipes wrote on August 3 in the New York Sun. "In tranquil times, organizations like the Muslim Council of Britain and the Council on American-Islamic Relations effectively go about their business, promoting their agenda to make Islam dominant and imposing dhimmitude (whereby non-Muslims accept Islamic superiority and Muslim privilege). Westerners generally respond like slowly boiled frogs are supposed to, not noticing a thing." Here I think Pipes is wrong; the Islamists have to strike quickly and decisively, not only to advance their cause in the West but also to consolidate their power in home countries where conditions will become unstable before long. * * * En annan skrämmande artikel av honom beskriver Europa på det sätt ingen europeisk politiker skulle våga presentera det: Middle East Aug 22, 2006 The peacekeepers of Penzance By Spengler Like W S Gilbert's cowardly policemen in The Pirates of Penzance, Europe's prospective peacekeepers have decided that "a policeman's lot is not a happy one". Europe's serious exercise in peacekeeping led to the massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica, when Dutch soldiers turned over Muslims in their charge to Serb death squads. France offers no more than 200 engineers to join the peacekeeping force that the United Nations Security Council has mandated as a buffer on the Israeli-Lebanese border. The last time French peacekeepers ventured into Lebanon, a Hezbollah suicide bomber killed 58 paratroopers. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has appealed to Italy to lead the 15,000-strong UN force. The last time an Italian army confronted a well-armed and determined force in the region, at the Ethiopian battle of Adwa in 1896, the Italians suffered 70% casualties. Otto von Bismarck pronounced the Balkans unworthy of the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier, and Europe's governments seem unwilling to sacrifice a single soldier to maintain the peace in southern Lebanon. This raises the question: What is Europe's interest in the Middle East? The answer appears to be: To disappear and be forgotten with the least possible fuss. A people without progeny will not accept a single military casualty. If this generation is the last, there will be no children for whom to sacrifice. Today's Europeans value their distractions and amusements more than they do prospective children. Germany's 2005 birth rate of only 8.5 per 1,000 inhabitants indicates that Europe is following the low variant of UN population estimates. These guarantee the virtual disappearance of the Europeans by the end of the present century. Only 300 million Europeans, nearly half of them geriatric, will remain at the end of the present century against more than 700 million (including all of Eastern Europe) today. Europeans younger than 60 years of age now number about 560 million; that number will fall by only 150 million by the year 2100. This number excludes immigrants, overwhelmingly from the Middle East and Africa, who show no signs of assimilating as Europeans. The number of Americans will exceed the number of Europeans, Russia included, by around the year 2080, although the aggregate numbers mask the true extent of the catastrophe, for nearly half of Europe's survivors will have reached retirement age. A fifth of Europeans are past 60 now; by 2050 more than a third will be above 60; and by the end of the century nearly half. The United States' elderly will number about 30%, so that the number of Americans younger than 60, at 280 million, will be close to double the number of young and working-age Europeans. It might be objected that Europe's demographic catastrophe lies a generation hence, and that it need not determine European policy today. Just the opposite is true: it is Europe's present attitudes that dictate the demographic catastrophe. Europe began to die in the 1990s when deaths outnumbered births. It seems unlikely that French diplomats deceived the world by promising French leadership and boots on the ground to enforce the latest UN ceasefire resolution. It simply is difficult to find volunteers to bell the cat. From this we should conclude that the so-called "international community" is an empty construct. The Europeans, Russia included, are the walking dead. Europe wants a quiet transition to the cemetery, while Russia plays spoiler indifferent to future consequences; whatever those consequences might be, very few Russians will be alive to see them. The United States is the only superpower not because no other Western country will have sufficient people to act like a superpower a century hence; the United States will have more people a century hence precisely because Americans think and feel like citizens of a superpower. All that matters is the coming confrontation between the United States and Iran. Iran's own demographic future resembles that of Europe more than it does the United States. By mid-century, Iran's aged will compose nearly a third of its population, and its population pyramid will invert. Social and economic catastrophe threatens Iran, persuading its present leaders to establish a regional empire while they still have the opportunity. The Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire came into effect because Washington threatened Tehran with something extremely unpleasant if it continued to enrich uranium. Iran is not sure how far the United States will go, or how it should respond, and wants to buy time. That is why it kenneled its dogs in southern Lebanon, at least for the moment. Israel shrank before the number of casualties required to neutralize Hezbollah, and was happy to let the United States have a heart-to-heart conversation with the dogs' master. The rest of the matter, notably France's buffo part, is light farce. What happens next is entirely up to Iran. I have predicted that Iran will remain intransigent, for it cannot abandon its last chance for a new Persian Empire. The Persians have been an annoyance since the Battle of Marathon, and it will not displease me to see them fail again. If Iran refuses to change course, nothing short of force of arms will keep it from building nuclear weapons, something the US is reluctant to employ. That would bury what is left of America's nation-building exercise in Iraq, and possibly throw the world economy into recession through much higher oil prices. The two protagonists are circling each other, while their proxy warriors - Hezbollah and Israel - lick their wounds and watch. In the end, I believe the US will attack Iran's nuclear facilities. But the outcome is in Iranian hands. Even Nineveh repented and was saved after hearing Jonah's prophecy that it would be destroyed otherwise; who can tell if Washington's threats are as potent as the execution? (Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)

Börjar det koka? SvD

Olmert och hans kabinett vägrar fortfarande titta ut genom fönstret för att se det växande antalet demonstranter mot honom. Israel är ju inte precis berömt för att ha långvariga regeringar, men han vill visst till varje pris bita sej kvar. Åtminstone har han inte som högsta prioritet att avfolka Västbanken längre, så på det sättet har Sommarlovskriget gjort nytta, och kanske på andra sätt också, förutom att snabba på regeringen Olmerts fall. Peretz' arbetarparti vill inte ta pengar de har lovat i socialbidrag till fattiga, för att försvara Israel, vilket har lett till brytning mellan dom och Olmers Kadima - en annan fördel.

Här i Sverige är livet som vanligt. Svenska Dagbladets diskussionsarea Brännpunkt vägrar ha några diskussioner - en kollega berättade om ett rekord, det hade tagit mindre än en minut för dess Sune Olofsson att läsa igenom en anti-terroristartikel och refusera den p.g.a. "platsbrist", samtidigt som de har den ena hata-Israelartikeln efter den andra. Deras Bitte Hammargren har krafsat ihop en snyftartikel om "araberna i Israel" genom att snacka ett par minuter med några av dem, och besluta att de har det fruktansvärt. Hon är helt ointresserad av den lättillgängliga statistiken om deras åsikter, helt ointresserad av att jämföra genomsnittsaraben i Israel med genomsnittsaraben på Västbanken, Gaza, Egypten, Libanon . . . . . . För att inte jämföra genomsnittsarabiska kvinnan i dessa områden, eller för den delen genomsnittsjuden.

Diverse judehatande organisationer som Amnesty International har skyfflat ut "rapporter" som beskyller Israel för det ena och det andra - till och med al Jazeera undrar hur idiotiska de kan bli. Human Rights Watch kör parallellspåret med judehat. Internationella media sväljer allt med hull och hår, utan någon som helst kritisk eftertanke.

Vår förnämliga utrikesminister, Eliasson tror jag han heter, var mäkta stolt över att ha totat ihop den nygamla variationen av FN:s Human Rights Organisation emot USA:s och Israels vilja, så den garanterat innehöll tillräckligt många länder som inte på något sätt uppehåller några mänskliga rättigheter för sin egen befolkning, och så att judehat blir en permanent egenskap därstädes. Från Wikipedia kan man hämta:

Position on Israel

The new UN Human Rights Council voted on 30 June 2006 to make a review of alleged human rights abuses by Israel a permanent feature of every council session. The Council’s special rapporteur on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is its only expert mandate with no year of expiry. The resolution, which was sponsored by Organization of the Islamic Conference, a block of Muslim countries, was passed by a vote of 29 to 12, with five abstentions. Israel, the United States and some human rights groups raised concerns about this revival of a practice of the UN's discredited former Commission on Human Rights^[3].

Vad tycker libaneserna om aktionen i Libanon? Mycket varierande förstås, men en som nog talar för rätt många skriver såhär i en engelskspråkig tidning i Beirut.

En del tycker att Hezbollah är generösa som skänker bort packar med dollars till människor i södra Libanon för att bli älskade, andra har talat om allt som säger att de är hemmagjorda.

Efter kriget?

Folkstormen i Israel börjar - med kommentarer från återvändande soldater som:

Many Israeli combat soldiers take a pretty dim view of their superiors and elected leaders

August 14, 2006, 10:20 PM (GMT+02:00)

Their views were freely expressed as the first groups exited Lebanon Monday with great relief after a ceasefire went into force

DEBKAfile summarizes some of their comments:

- The rear command did not know what was going on in the field.

- Some of their orders were suicidal. There were cases of officers and men agreeing to ignore such orders.

- Some of the tanks were ten years old and were confronted with an enemy armed with the most sophisticated, up-to-date equipment.

- Our training prior to being sent into battle was not adapted to the conditions we found in Lebanon.

- Their officers called Hizballah fighters terrorists or even primitive. This was a misleading misnomer. They are highly-trained, professional soldiers.

- Although we were better, Hizballah fought like lions.

- We had no food or water.

- Our entry into battle in Lebanon was belated.

- The troops were short of accurate intelligence.

- We were not prepared for combat against camouflaged bunkers.

- We had no information on the Hizballah’s anti-tank missile techniques.

Till och med det vänsterinriktade Ha'aretz, Israels Aftonbladet, skriver vettigheter och anklagar regeringen Olmert/Peretz som
A Spirit of Absolute Folly
Defense Minister: IDF didn't warn me of missile threat in the north
Dead man walking

Andra röster i frågan kan läsas på
Sellout
Why go to war if you don't intend to fight?

* * *

Israel och folkrätten

Detta debattinlägg blev självklart omedelbart refuserat av Svenska Dagbladet.

Professor Bjereld har http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/brannpunkt/did_13430610.asp ett antal betänkliga luckor i sitt resonemang om Israel och folkrätten liksom utrikesminister Eliasson. Han har i dagarna sagt att Israel bryter mot ”andan” av FN-beslutet (ej tvingande), medan han är ointresserad av om Hizbollah gör motsvarande. Eliasson, som sitter på delad sits, var glad när han lyckades omskapa FN:s grupp för mänskliga rättigheter mot USA:s vilja, av många länder med skamfilat rykte i frågan – och gruppen har i huvudsak ägnat sig åt att fördöma Israel, inte Sudan och Darfur, inte Kina och Tibet, inte Ryssland och Tjetjenien, inte kvinnans ställning i muslimska länder. Cuba, Pakistan, Saudiarabien och Kina är med, men inte Israel. Därför är Israels brott ”välkända”.

UNESCO har judarnas heligaste plats, Tempelplatsen, på sin bevarandelista sedan 1982, men inte ett dugg har gjorts mot att muslimerna försöker hacka bort alla judiska lämningar från området. Vad hade FN sagt om judarna hade gjort motsvarande i Mecka (ej på världsarvslistan)?

Ordet demokrati bör nog läggas på is ett slag. Vad säger folkrätten om ett krig där den ena sidan har byggt skyddsrum för sin civilbefolkning men inte den andra? Vad säger den om ”demokratiska” val i en miljö som har haft flera generationers statlig och religiös hatpropaganda, till den grad att ungdomarna har förlorat självbevarelsedriften och mödrar villigt sänder sina barn i döden?

”Vägplanen” inleds med ett absolut stopp för denna hatpropaganda – den har intensifierats men EU/Sverige beivrar aldrig detta. I stället betalar EU skolböcker, fulla av hat mot Israel/judar, för palestinska barn.

Israel har översköljts av FN-resolutioner (jämför gärna med arabländerna) – men aldrig ett kapitel 7-beslut, vilket är de enda som är bindande. Däremot är San Remo-beslutet från 1922 folkrättsligt bindande, där hela Mandatet Palestina skulle utgöra ’judiskt folkhem’ medan den återstående 539/540-delen av Ottomanska Riket blev arabiskt.

Fram till 1967 existerade inga ”palestinska områden”, enbart områden illegalt ockuperade, av Jordanien och Egypten och ”palestinier” betydde fortfarande ”judar i Mellanöstern”. En 19-årig illegal ockupation av Jerusalem (förutom de judiska förstäder som började byggas för drygt 100 år sedan) kan knappast bestämma stadens hela framtid. Judarna hade accepterat staden som internationell, ingen protesterade under Jordaniens ockupation, men när Israel åter förenade sin huvudstad sedan 3000 år, under försvarskrig, blev det full kalabalik. Övrig legal ockupation försökte Israel förhandla bort med Arafat, utan resultat. Gaza lämnades helt och hållet – under ansvar – och vi vet hur väl araberna vårdar området. Konstigt att de har råd med enorma mängder dyra vapen men ej mat.

Ockupationen av Golanhöjderna är ett problem, visst, eftersom 80 kvadratkm köptes av Edmond Rothschild 1892 och gavs till den judiska staten några decennier senare av hans son.

Tortyren i arabiska fängelser vill vi gärna höra mera om. Liksom vilka förhörsmetoder som kan vara lämpliga med människor som har varit beredda att offra sina liv för att mörda så många civilpersoner som möjligt, när informationen kan förhindra ytterligare massmord.

Antag att världens ”judeproblem” måste lösas efter andra världskriget – dels återstoden från Europa (fortfarande finns färre judar än före Hitler) och alla från Arabländerna, vilket var ännu flera. Antag att UNHCR fick hand om problemet – de har framgångsrikt omplacerat 50 miljoner (10 gånger Israels folkmängd) som ej har flyktingstatus längre. Placerade i länder med samma kultur, religion, språk och inte mitt i en öken. Israel är då enda möjligheten. Detta skedde nu utan att världen behövde betala en enda krona till UNHCR, placering i vad som 1922 bestämdes skulle vara ’judiskt hemland’.

Tvåstatslösning? Ja, Israel och Jordanien. De mellanliggande områdena har varken visat intresse eller förmåga att skapa en ekonomiskt livskraftig stat, utan det är västvärlden som har försökt tvinga det på dem. Israel började bygga sin första kibbutz och stat för ca 100 år sedan, palestinaaraberna har inte börjat än – och ingen vågar ge dem lån för uppbyggnad.

Till syvende och sist gäller det judarnas överlevnad. Som Irans ledare sa: ”Bra att judarna samlas i Israel för då kan vi avliva dem med en eller två atombomber. Om de svarar med en atombomb försvinner bara några miljoner av oss, en droppe i havet.” Tänk om världssamfundet hade varit lika intresserat av att få stopp på Irans atombombsproduktion som av Israels försök att avväpna en terroristgrupp!

* * *

"Prime Minister of Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem"

Om du söker på ovanstående rubrik, inklusive citationstecken, får du hundratalet hits på ett tal av Olmert. Det hade varit intressant att försöka klassificera reaktionerna. "Se hur bra han är!" "Äntligen har han lärt sej!" "Näääää, nåt är fel." och de som förklarar att det är från Ma'ariv, ett stycke som skrevs - vad som Olmert borde ha sagt. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/olmert.asp

Vad han verkligen säger: tja . . . .

. . . . .

OLMERT TODAY devotes his attention not to addressing the question of how Israel can win this war, but rather to how he can convince the Israeli public that he is not a failure. And he is not alone. Over the past week or so the main push of the Olmert government, the IDF General Staff and the left-wing establishment in Israel has been to prepare the public to accept their version of events.

. . . . . .

* * *

Media ljuger om Libanon. Reuters, CNN, BBC . . .

Reuters admits to more image manipulation

News organization withdraws photograph of Israeli fighter jet, admits image was doctored, fires photographer. Reuters pledges 'tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict'
Yaakov Lappin

Reuters has withdrawn a second photograph and admitted that the image was doctored, following the emergence of new suspicions against images provided by the news organization. On Sunday, Reuters admitted that one of its photographers, Adnan Hajj, used software to distort an image of smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut in order to create the effect of more smoke and damage.

The latest image to face doubts is a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter jet over the skies of Lebanon, seen in the image firing off "missiles during an air strike on Nabatiyeh," according to the image's accompanying text provided by Reuters.

Reuters admits to more image manipulation

News organization withdraws photograph of Israeli fighter jet, admits image was doctored, fires photographer. Reuters pledges 'tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict'
Yaakov Lappin

Reuters has withdrawn a second photograph and admitted that the image was doctored, following the emergence of new suspicions against images provided by the news organization. On Sunday, Reuters admitted that one of its photographers, Adnan Hajj, used software to distort an image of smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut in order to create the effect of more smoke and damage.

The latest image to face doubts is a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter jet over the skies of Lebanon, seen in the image firing off "missiles during an air strike on Nabatiyeh," according to the image's accompanying text provided by Reuters.

Reuters has recalled all photos by Adnan Hajj

The owner of the My Pet Jawa web log noted that the warplane in the picture is actually firing defensive flares aimed at dealing with anti-aircraft missiles.

In addition, the Jawa blog says the flares have been replicated by Reuters, giving the impression that the jet was firing many "missiles," thereby distortion the image.

"The F-16 in the photo is not firing missiles, but is rather dropping chaffe or flares designed to be a decoy for surface to air missiles. However, a close up (of) what Hajj calls "missiles" reveals that only one flare has been dropped. The other two "flares" are simply copies of the original," Shackleford wrote. "But what about the 'bombs' in the photo? Here is a close up of them. Notice anything? That's right. The top and bottom "bomb" are the same."

Another manipuated Reuters image

Following the accusations, Reuters conceded that a second image it provided had been manipulated, and released a statement saying it had recalled all photos by Hajj. "Reuters has withdrawn from its database all photographs taken by Beirut-based freelance Adnan Hajj after establishing that he had altered two images since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbullah group," the statement said.

The news outlet said that it discovered "in the last 24 hours that he (Hajj) altered two photographs since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbullah," Reuters added.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image", Reuters' statement quoted Tom Szlukovenyi, Reuters Global Picture Editor, as saying.

'Tighter editing needed'

Reuters also said it would apply "tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict to ensure that no photograph from the region would be transmitted to subscribers without review by the most senior editor on the Reuters Global Pictures Desk."

"Reuters terminated its relationship with Hajj on Sunday... An immediate enquiry began into Hajj's other work," the statement said.

Hajj had provided Reuters with several images from the Lebanese village of Qana, many of which have also been suspected of being staged .

Other Reuters images have been called into question by blogs in the United States.

A reader of the Power Line blog , Robert Opalecky, wrote: "I don't know if this has been brought to anyone's attention yet, but in a quick search of the authenticated Reuters photographs attributed to Adnan Hajj, I found the following two."

The first Reuters image of July 24

"One is from July 24 of a bombed out area in Beirut, with a clearly identifiable building in a prominent part of the shot. The second is of the exact same area, same buildings, same condition, with a woman walking past "a building flattened during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006," he wrote.

Reuters' second 'Beirut attack' photo, dated August 5

A film released on the YouTube video sharing website compares the two images, and appears to show striking similarities between the photograph used by Reuters on both July 24 and August 5.

However, Reuters needs to explain clearly to the public several critical issues:

1. Why did a Reuters photographer manipulate the images to make the damage look more severe than it was;
2. How could Reuters editors not catch the fraud when a blogger and a group of amateur photographers noticed it easily;
3. What steps is Reuters taking to punish all those involved in the creation and distribution of this forgery and what Reuters is doing to prevent these hoaxes in the future.

A CNN MAN LETS SLIP
"CNN senior international correspondent" Nic Robertson admitted that his anti-Israel report from Beirut on July 18 about civilian casualties in Lebanon, was stage-managed from start to finish by Hizbullah. He revealed that his story was heavily influenced by Hizbullah's "press officer" and that Hizbullah have "very, very sophisticated and slick media operations."
When pressed a few days later about his reporting on the CNN program "Reliable Sources," Robertson acknowledged that Hizbullah militants had instructed the CNN camera team where and what to film. Hizbullah "had control of the situation," Robertson said. "They designated the places that we went to, and we certainly didn't have time to go into the houses or lift up the rubble to see what was underneath."
Robertson added that Hizbullah has "very, very good control over its areas in the south of Beirut. They deny journalists access into those areas. You don't get in there without their permission. We didn't have enough time to see if perhaps there was somebody there who was, you know, a taxi driver by day, and a Hizbullah fighter by night."
Yet "Reliable Sources," presented by Washington Post writer Howard Kurtz, is broadcast only on the American version of CNN. So CNN International viewers around the world will not have had the opportunity to learn from CNN's "Senior international correspondent" that the pictures they saw from Beirut were carefully selected for them by Hizbullah.
Another journalist let the cat out of the bag last week. Writing on his blog while reporting from southern Lebanon, Time magazine contributor Christopher Allbritton, casually mentioned in the middle of a posting: "To the south, along the curve of the coast, Hezbollah is launching Katyushas, but I'm loathe to say too much about them. The Party of God has a copy of every journalist's passport, and they've already hassled a number of us and threatened one."
Robertson is not the only foreign journalist to have misled viewers with selected footage from Beirut. NBC's Richard Engel, CBS's Elizabeth Palmer, and a host of European and other networks, were also taken around the damaged areas by Hizbullah minders. Palmer commented on her report that "Hizbullah is also determined that outsiders will only see what it wants them to see."
Palmer's honesty is helpful. But it doesn't prevent the damage being done by organizations such as the BBC. First the BBC gave the impression that Israel had flattened the greater part of Beirut. Then to follow up its lop-sided coverage, its website helpfully carried full details of the assembly points for an anti-Israel march due to take place in London, but did not give any details for a rally in support of Israel also held in London a short time later.

Following an Israeli Air Force strike against a building in the village of Qana, Israel is once again subject to some severe criticism in the international media. TV viewers and newspaper readers have been confronted with highly emotive and disturbing images of bodies being pulled from the rubble.
Undoubtedly, the loss of life is extremely tragic and the vast majority of Israelis deeply regrets this incident. However, while some media wishes to portray Israel as a malevolent force that deliberately murders civilians, some wider context needs to be added to the coverage of the Qana story:

• Some 150 rockets have been fired at Israeli cities from Qana over the past three weeks. This IDF map traces how these rockets have been launched in 30 salvos at Haifa and other locations, including Nahariya, Ma'alot and Kiryat Shmona. To date, 18 Israeli civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded as a result of this rocket fire.

• Hezbollah has been deliberately hiding behind and operating from within civilian areas in the knowledge that Israel does not deliberately target civilians. Thus, when an incident such as Qana occurs, Hezbollah is presented with a propaganda coup, as is currently the case. Indeed, Australia's Herald Sun published damning photos "showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia. The images...show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon."

As the Washington Times points out:
One photograph depicts a fighter with an AK-47 rifle guarding "no-go" zones after an Israeli attack, and another with a group of men and youths preparing to fire an anti-aircraft gun in an apartment block, with sheets hanging out to dry on a balcony. Another shows the remnants of a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket in the middle of a residential block destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. An Australian was standing just down the street when the block was obliterated. "Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets," he said. "Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then, it was totally devastated...It was carnage. Two innocent people died in that incident, but it was so lucky it was not more."

• While Israeli civilians in northern towns and cities have between 15 seconds and one minute to find cover after an air raid siren is sounded, Lebanese civilians have been forewarned of IDF operations, in some cases, by days. The residents of Qana were warned 48 hours in advance of potential IAF air strikes.

DOUBLE STANDARDS
The Qana incident is likely to be a defining incident in this current conflict, aided by a media that lacks context and prefers to judge Israel by different standards to other nations involved in military actions. It is, for example, interesting to examine the record of NATO forces that bombed the Serb military in Kosovo in the late-1990s. In the face of an estimated 500 civilian deaths, NATO admits that: "Strikes were also complicated by the cynical Serb use of civilian homes and buildings to hide weapons and vehicles, the intermixing of military vehicles with civilian convoys and, sometimes, the use of human shields. In this way, NATO's concern to avoid civilian casualties was exploited by the Serbs."
EMERGING DOUBTS?
In past incidents such as the Mohammed Al-Dura affair, the "Jenin Massacre" and the Gaza Beach deaths, Israel has been castigated by the international media only for new evidence to emerge that has changed the nature of the story. While it is still too early to draw any conclusions before the results of any official investigation are known, there are a number of questions and inconsistencies regarding Qana:

• The Red Cross has published that 28 corpses were evacuated from Qana, 19 of which were children. These figures clash with the Lebanese report that 57 people were killed.
• Why is there an unexplained 7-8 hour gap between the time of the air strike and the building collapse? Initially the IDF speculated that Hezbollah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse. Another possibility is that the rickety building remained standing for a few hours, but eventually collapsed. "It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, IDF Brigadier General Eshel said. "I'm saying this very carefully, because at this time I don't have a clue as to what the explanation could be for this gap," he added.

UNIFIL. Mänskliga sköldar. Yaalon. Olmert vill underlätta för terroristerna att attackera Israel med en bredsida.

Detta gick just som insändare till tidningar:

Vi minns hur hela världen inklusive Kofi Annan anklagade Israel när en missil från dem oavsiktligen landade nära en UNIFIL-position. Varför har nedanstående varit ointressant att rapportera?

Från UNIFILs websajt, http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/unifilpress.htm

Aug. 4: ”… Hezbollah avlossade raketer från närheten av två FN-poster...”

Aug. 3: “En raket från Hezbollasidan träffade direkt en UNIFIL-post … En halvtimme senare träffade ytterligare en raket från Hezbollahsidan samma UNIFIL-post… Hezbollah sköt också med mindre vapen från närheten av två FN-poster …”

Aug. 2: “… Hezbollah avlossade raketer från närheten av tre UNIFIL-poster …”

Aug. 1: “… Hezbollah sköt med granatkastare från närheten av tre UNIFIL-poster …”

Juli 31: “. . . Hezbollah avlossade raketer från närheten av denna UNIFIL-post . . . Hezbollah sköt också med mindre vapen från närheten av två UNIFIL-poster …”

Juli 30: “Det rapporterades att Hezbollah sände raketer från närheten av tre FN-poster… De avlossade även mindre vapen från närheten av två FN-poster …”

Juli 29: “… det rapporterades att Hezbollah fired sköt från närheten av sex FN-poster …”

Juli 28: “… Hezbollah sköt från närheten av fem FN-poster …”

Och så vidare. Visst har massmedia flitigt rapporterat om detta intima samarbete mellan FN och Hezbollah huh? Ett UNIFIL som precis har fått hundra miljoner fräscha dollars för det kommande året, att göra – vad då? Dricka kaffe med Hezbollah? Eller finns rapporterna om 15000 importerade missiler i Kofi Annans papperskorgar? Vad är säkerhetsavståndet mellan UNIFIL-post och terroristläger?

* * *

Från http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2006/07/emuna_news_spec_7.html hämtar jag följande:

I nästan 30 år, sedan UNIFIL startade sina operationer i södra Libanon, har FN-soldater judiskt blod på sina händer. Nej, de har inte avlossat skotten men de har förvisso gjort vad de har kunnat för att hjälpa Israels fiender. Som:

• UNIFIL-observatörer har ofta avslöjat IDF:s (Israels Försvarsmakt) positioner för terroristerna;
• UNIFIL-observatörer, glada över att öka sina begränsade löner med tjocka buntar med dollars från iranska källor, har ofta hjälpt Hizbollaterristerna som artilleriobservatörer att rikta terroristeld mot Israel;
• UNIFIL-observatörer har de senastre 6 åren blundat för den massiva konstruktionen av bunkers i södra Libanon liksom för den massiva upplagringen av dödliga vapen att använda mot Israel;
• UNIFIL-observatörer lämnar fri passage åt terroristerna för att attackera eller infiltrera Israel och bygger även upp broar åt dem sprängda av Israel för att försvåra transport av ytterligare vapen från Syrien;
• UNIFIL-observatörer håller terroristerna uppdaterade angående IDFs trupprörelser och aktiviteter.

* * *

I Washington Post skriver Yaalon om det vansinniga i Hizbollahs utnyttjande av civilbefolkningen som mänskliga sköldar:

The Rules of War

By Moshe Yaalon
Thursday, August 3, 2006; A27

The conflict in the Middle East is about much more than Israel and Hezbollah, or even Hezbollah's Syrian and Iranian sponsors. What is at stake are the very rules of war that underpin the entire international order.

Sadly, judging from how most of the world has responded to Israel's military action against Hezbollah, these rules have been completely abandoned.

The rules of war boil down to one central principle: the need to distinguish combatants from noncombatants. Those who condemned Israel for what happened at Qana, rather than placing the blame for this unfortunate tragedy squarely on Hezbollah and its state sponsors, have rewarded those for whom this moral principle is meaningless and have condemned a state in which this principle has always guided military and political decision making.

Faced with enemies who openly call for its destruction and victimized by unremitting wars and terrorism since well before it was born, Israel has risked the lives of its citizens and its soldiers to abide by this principle in a way that is unprecedented in the history of nations.

Here is but one of countless examples: In 2003, at the height of the Palestinian terror war against Israel, our intelligence services discovered the location of a meeting of the senior leadership of Hamas, an organization pledged to the annihilation of the Jewish state and responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever carried out against Israel.

We knew that a one-ton bomb would destroy the three-story building and kill the Hamas leadership. But we also knew that such a bomb would endanger about 40 families who lived in the vicinity. We decided to use a smaller bomb that would destroy only the top floor of the building. As it turned out, the Hamas leaders were meeting on the ground floor. They lived to terrorize another day.

Imagine for a moment that the United States had advance knowledge of the meeting place of al-Qaeda's senior leadership. Does anyone believe that there would be a debate about what size bomb to use, much less that any leader would authorize insufficient force to do the job?

So while it is legitimate to question whether Israel should go to such extreme lengths to avoid civilian casualties, it is preposterous to argue that Israel uses excessive force. Even more absurd was the shameful statement last week that Israel appeared to have deliberately targeted U.N. officials -- a statement fit for a knave or a fool, not for the secretary general of the United Nations. Rather than lead the fight against those who target civilians and use them as human shields, Secretary General Kofi Annan has strengthened them.

It is clear to any objective observer that Hezbollah is using Lebanese civilians as human shields. It builds its headquarters in densely populated areas, embeds its fighters in towns and villages, and deliberately places missiles in private homes, even constructing additions to existing structures specifically to house missile launchers.

The reason terrorist groups such as Hezbollah use human shields is elementary. They try to exploit the respect for innocent human life that is the hallmark of any civilized society to place that society in a no-win situation. If it fails to respond to terror attacks, it endangers its own citizens. If it responds, it runs the risk of killing innocents, earning world opprobrium and inviting diplomatic pressure to stand down.

Hoping to retain its high moral standards in the face of such a cynical enemy, Israel has made every effort to avoid harming civilians. We have dropped fliers, sent telephone messages and broadcast radio announcements so that innocents can get out of harm's way. In doing so, we imperil our own citizens since, by losing the element of surprise, we invariably allow some of the enemy to escape with their missiles.

But at Qana, Hezbollah responded to Israel's compassion with more cynical brutality. After launching missiles at Israel, the terrorists rushed inside a building. When Israel fired a precision-guided missile to strike at the terrorists, scores of civilians, including children, were killed.

The difference between us and the terrorists is clear: We endanger ourselves to protect their civilians. They endanger their own civilians to protect themselves.

If tragedies such as Qana are not to be repeated, then, rather than condemning Israel, the world should be directing its anger at Hezbollah and at the Syrian and Iranian regimes that support it.

Terrorists are fanatics, but they are not idiots. If the terrorist tactic of using human shields helps them achieve their goals, they will utilize it. If it undermines their goals, they will abandon it.

If we want to live in a world where civilians are never used as human shields, then we must create a world in which employing such measures results in the unequivocal condemnation of terrorists and in forceful action against them by the civilized world.

If the world were now blaming Hezbollah, Syria and Iran for the innocent Lebanese killed, hurt or displaced in this conflict, then it would be sending a powerful message to every terrorist group on the planet: We will not tolerate the use of human shields. Period.

Instead, those who condemn Israel have sent precisely the opposite message. They have told every terrorist group around the world that the use of human shields will pay huge dividends, thereby providing them with a powerful weapon that endangers innocents everywhere.

The writer, a retired lieutenant general, was chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2002 to 2005. He is now a distinguished military fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

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Ya'alon har alltid haft sunda åsikter, och det var därför Sharon/Mofaz slängde ut honom. Här ett stycke från honom före massdeporteringen av judar i fjol:

IDF Chief of Staff Sees Terror Wave after Disengagement

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 / 10 Nisan 5765

Speaking in Herzliya last night, outgoing Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon said, "Immediately after the disengagement, we can expect a burst of terrorism - especially in Judea and Samaria."

"The Israeli public must not think that the Mashiach (Messiah) is arriving with the withdrawal," Yaalon said, at the Army and Society Seminar.

Yaalon was one of the first to warn of the dangers of the disengagement, having said over a year ago that the withdrawal would provide a "tail wind" for terrorism. It is widely felt that this statement is one of the reasons why Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Mofaz did not allow him to remain in his post for a fourth year, as is customary. Yaalon's term as head of the IDF will end in June.

"All the signs point to [a renewal of terrorism]," Yaalon said last night, referring to intelligence reports reaching the security forces. The reports speak not only of the terrorists' massive preparations for the "day after," but also of the sharp increase in terrorism in recent days and weeks.

Yesterday, for instance, two Israelis were wounded in a sniper attack in southern Gaza, while last night, there were two infiltration attempts in Gaza and another shooting attack at Gush Katif.

Yaalon demanded that Israel insist that Abu Mazen fight concretely against the terrorist organizations. Abu Mazen's attempts to peacefully accommodate the terrorists without forcefully disarming them are not sufficient, Yaalon apparently feels.

Thousands of weapons have been smuggled to various locations in Judea and Samaria over the past several weeks and months. Among the weapons are anti-tank missiles and even five anti-aircraft missiles that could be used to threaten air traffic to and from Ben Gurion International Airport. Materials and instructions for the construction of roadside bombs and other explosives have also been smuggled in.

Other signs of likely terrorism in the future are attempted Kassam rockets from the Jenin area to Afula, distribution of Jordanian weapons in Jericho, attempts to smuggle terror experts from Gaza to Judea/Samaria, and more.

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Jämför med det helt otroliga Olmert/Peretzparet. Samtidigt som de vägrar låta IDF göra sitt bästa för att försvara Israel håller de på att planera så att terroristerna kan attackera HELA Israel med en bredsida och inte enbart kortändarna:

Olmert Says War Will Advance Realignment, Refusals Result
11:23 Aug 03, '06 / 9 Av 5766
by Yechiel Spira and Ezra HaLevi

As a result of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's declaration that victory in the Lebanese war would advance his withdrawal plan, ten reserve soldiers have announced their refusal to fight.

For the past several months, Olmert has championed his "convergence" plan, which is in essence another unilateral withdrawal and the planned destruction of most of the remaining Jewish communities located throughout Judea and Samaria. Olmert has said he will "converge" them together into settlement blocs, but the international community has not agreed to this. Speaking with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Prime Minister Olmert said, "I'll surprise you. I genuinely believe that the outcome of the present [conflict] and the emergence of a new order that will provide more stability and will defeat the forces of terror will help create the necessary environment that will allow me... to create a new momentum between us and the Palestinians." "We want to separate from the Palestinians," he added. "I'm ready to do it. I'm ready to cope with these demands. It's not easy, it's very difficult, but we are elected to our positions to do things and not to sit idle." Word of Olmert's statements quickly spread through the ranks of the IDF units fighting in Lebanon. Army Radio featured a father from Ofrah, one of the communities slated for destruction due to its proximity on the "other" side of the Partition Wall. "I text-messaged my two sons serving in Lebanon to tell them to come home," he said. "It is outrageous that the man sending them to war states that the victory they are risking their lives for will result in their family being expelled from their home, allowing it to become exactly what Gaza and southern Lebanon have become." Shortly after, it was reported that at least ten reservists had refused to continue their emergency reserve duty if further withdrawals are truly the goal of the operation. Olmert's public relations team later insisted that the war with Hizbullah has nothing to do with his plan, stating his planned ‘realignment’ must move forward as he promised it would prior to being elected. Among the critics of Olmert’s plan is MK Dr. Yossi Beilin, who heads the left-wing Meretz-Yahad opposition party. Beilin stated there can be no additional unilateral Israeli policies, only withdrawals resulting from negotiations and agreements. His remarks were echoed by Arab MK Mohammad Barakeh. Likud MK Gidon Sa’ar stated that the so-called realignment plan would bring the rockets to fall upon the entire country, and not the just the north and south as is the case today. MK Dr. Ephraim Sneh (Labor), a former deputy defense minister, stated that it is obvious from the prime minister’s remarks that he has learned nothing from the unilateral withdrawals from Gaza and southern Lebanon. The prime minister currently enjoys widespread support for his ongoing effort to destroy Hizbullah. Some critics are accusing the prime minister of taking advantage of his popularity to advance his political agenda, explaining he has made an error since he is splitting the nation at this critical time. MK Effie Eitam (National Union-NRP), a retired IDF brigadier-general and former commander of forces in southern Lebanon, has been advising the prime minister and Defense Minister Amir Peretz frequently since the war broke out over three weeks ago. Eitam was quick to comment on Olmert’s AP interview, stating he made a tactical error, splitting the nation at this critical time. Eitam told the media that following the prime minister’s interview, he was contacted by many rabbis and deans of IDF preparatory yeshiva programs, all expressing concerns regarding the timing of the prime minister’s remarks as the nation is in a state of war. Realizing Eitam was the unofficial liaison to the Orthodox community that supports Olmert during the ongoing Hizbullah war, the Prime Minister’s Office was quick to contact him, seeking to implement damage control. Aides to the prime minister quickly issued a clarification, stating the realignment was not intended to have been the main focus of the AP interview. Asking Eitam to convey a message to the Torah-observant public, the prime minister announced that at present, he is only dealing with efforts to halt rocket attacks, nothing else. The prime minister’s interview broke the current momentum, with rabbis and other right-wing community leaders calling to reevaluate the war in the north, explaining it is unconscionable that soldiers living in Judea and Samaria fight for the country and then be evicted from their homes by the same army. Eitam was called upon by Olmert to act as a go-between, seeking to allay fears and repair the damage resulting from his interview. Eitam told the media that following a conversation with the prime minister, it is clear to him that the realignment/expulsion would not be dealt with at present. Eitam admits that the plan will be problematic at some time in the future, after the war, but for now, the nation must remain united behind the government while efforts continue to eliminate the Hizbullah threat. Wednesday night, at a gathering of some 15,000 Jews who marched around Jerusalem's Old City at the fast of Tisha B'Av began, Women in Green co-founder Nadia Matar called upon all those present to bring their children home from the war front in order to defend their homes in Judea and Samaria, unless Olmert announces the cancellation of his plan. Manhigut Yehudit, the Jewish Leadership faction within the Likud, was calling for refusal even prior to PM Olmert's explicit statements, saying it was obvious that the war's goal is to prove to the Israeli public that past withdrawals had been beneficial. Already last week, Manhigut director Michael Fuah issued such a call. “We must remember what the IDF was busy with exactly a year ago,” he wrote in an essay published on Arutz-7's Hebrew site Tuesday. “The IDF, in its present state, is not capable of beating Hizbullah. When one adds the supposed ethical code the IDF is charged with – where the Defense Minister praises a soldier for refraining from shooting at a terrorist holding a child on one hand and his gun in the other – there is no chance for victory.” Fuah adds that he realizes the stance is not a popular one, but while the Prime Minister continues to say he will continue with the destruction of Jewish communities and the expulsion of their residents, only such a refusal movement can demand: 1. Replacement of the IDF top brass who took part in the expulsion. 2. Rewriting of the IDF's ethical code to rule out endangering soldiers to protect the lives of terrorists and those around them. 3. A decision by the Knesset and the cabinet allowing all those expelled from Gaza, Samaria and the Sinai to return to their homes. More than 10% of soldiers killed in combat in Lebanon hail from towns in Judea and Samaria - three times their proportion in the general population.

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