The Facebook State Or why there will not be a Palestinian state no matter how many votes the PLO/Palestinian Authority can marshal in any UN vote.

I seriously doubt there is any geographical area denser with NGO's than the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One of the largest of these aid organization is reporting extreme budget shortfalls.Arutz Sheva report:  

 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday raised alarm over a $100 million shortfall in funding for the UN aid agency for “Palestinian refugees”, UNRWA, and called for urgent donations, AFP reported.

Ban said in a statement quoted by the news agency that UNRWA was "a pillar of stability" for five million Palestinian “refugees” at a time when the Middle East is in the throes of crises and suffering.

He called "on all donors to urgently ensure that the $100 million required be contributed to UNRWA at the earliest possible date so that the children of Palestine can begin their 2015-2016 school year without delay."  Ban has personally spoken to several world leaders in the past weeks about the unprecedented funding crisis at UNRWA, his spokesman said, according to AFP. UNRWA has previously warned that it may have to close its schools due to its large debts and fear of going bankrupt.

Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA media adviser, said in July that the financial deficit may cause the body to close 700 schools in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan at the start of the next school year.

I have no doubt that the UNRWA is facing a very dire financial shortfall, but not a single penny should go to either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.  Education, health care, housing, and job creation for Palestinians in either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip is not, and should not be the responsibility of the UNRWA. There is no time like the present to tell Palestinians that the refugee gravy train for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is no more.  These people are not refugees and treating them as if there is any comparison with the ongoing tragic plight of the Syrians is Theatre of the Absurd. 

I am told regularly that Palestinians want and long for statehood, but as long as the UN and NGO's pick up the tab, the Palestinians have no vested interest in creating the infrastructure of governance which creates statehood.  Job creation, medical and education should be the sole responsibility of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. The destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip was the direct result of Hamas launching an offensive against Israel and consequently, it is up to the Hamas government to provide reconstruction to those citizens who have suffered their loss of their home and livelihood no the UNRWA.

It’s ironic that the Kurds, who have built all the necessary underpinnings and infrastructure for a state; including education, job creations, healthcare systems, and  are leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, are the very people the world seems determined to deny them statehood.  As long as the UNRWA provides, education, job creation, job training, housing, medical care for Hamas and the Palestinian Authority the Palestinians will continue their charade of being only a Facebook state.

Veterans Against the Deal

If I was White House, I will be praying this video will not go viral. Since I am not POTUS, I am doing my bit to help make this happen.  Once of the most powerful 1 minute clips I have seen in some time.

Being an American Ally really, really sucks.

The Atlantic quotes Obama's latest speech on Iran “every nation in the world that has commented publicly, with the exception of the Israeli government, has expressed support.”

But that's not true.  Canada has commented publicly about the deal and does not support it. 

Of course, Canada just happens to be one of America's oldest allies, which would explain why we don't count. Being an ally of the America really, really sucks. It has come to mean code for; America will screw you over first. Really - just ask the Israelis, Ukrainians, Murbarak, or even the Shah.

You know what else sucks; being the victim of human trafficking and expecting the Americans will not sell you out if there is a chance their corporations can make a fast buck.

Jack Black should just ask Neda for a game of Frisbee with his sons....

The Hollywood Douche Bags are at it -  again. This time they are trotted out to tell us what passes as 'good' for the rest of us.  Truly I am tired of hearing what is 'good' or 'right' by people who are punching way, way, above their intellectual pay grade.

This time Jack Black et al  want us to know Iranians love their children as much as Americans love theirs, ergo the P5+1 nuclear agreement is a good deal for all of us, well everybody, except those most at risk – like  Israelis, the Arabs, Persians, and pretty much the entire Middle East.

Let's roll to the video.

I have no doubt Persians love their children very much, I just don’t believe the Mullahs and their henchman do.  Jack Black should just ask Neda for a game of Frisbee with his sons..., oh but wait, he can’t. She was toasted, by agents of the regime who decided they did not love other people's children very much. 

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Of all the Israeli journalists currently working and writing; it’s Sarah Honig, who is the one I most admire – her grasp on history and current events is really quite unparalleled for modern journalists – even Israeli ones. Forget Avi Shavit, any book Honig writes will be worth your time, besides any publisher will be able to publish her work in Hebrew without worrying about gettingtheir ass sued from here to the world to come.   If I have one criticism of her, it is this; she needs to write more books! She does have a collection of her published columns out found in one book, but I would love to see her to tackle an in-depth biography on any of Israel’s Prime Ministers.

I always learn something new from any column Honig writes and Shamelessly raring to go is no exception:

Siemens claimed to have been obliged by old contracts which only involved sectors not covered by the sanctions. Still, the Stuxnet virus – which damaged Iranian centrifuges for enriching uranium and which was widely attributed to Israel – ended up attacking Siemens components. This fact alone should constitute ample food for thought.

Yesterday, I wrote; 

 Iranian financial gains amount to over a billion US dollars, I suspect this largess will be filling the coffers of Russian, French and Chinese military manufacturers, with enough to spread around to arm Iranian proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.  If were a betting woman, I would place a bet that  there will be a major Iranian airplane deal with any of the P5+1 nations to bring Iran’s badly degraded air force up to first world standards sometime in the next year.  Woe is Yisrael, if America wins that contract.

This AP report in theKomon News suggests Boeing and Airbus are already bidding at the trough.

 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's president has pointed to another possible windfall from the nuclear deal with world powers - his country may soon be able to buy badly needed new planes for its aging fleet, the official IRNA news agency reported. Iran's Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi has said there have been talks with Boeing and Airbus and that initial agreements will likely come in a few months' time.

"We will provide new aircraft for Iran," Akhoundi said.

Last month at the Paris Air Show, Akhoundi said Iran was prepared to spend about $20 billion to purchase about 400 new planes over the next decade. Iran President Hassan Rouhani said Iranian negotiators came away from the talks in Vienna with "achievements beyond the nuclear" agreement and succeeded in having "aviation sanctions removed." His remarks were carried by the official IRNA news agency late Wednesday.

So I won that bet with myself sooner than I expected. It’s probably the one bet I would have gladly eaten crow over.  More importantly, it is time for the Israelis to start the long arduous shiva process and bring about an end to all military cooperation with the United States. 

Forget Congress, the bagmen of the US economy will win, even if one scores a Pyrrhic victory in the US Congress.  It is time to face facts; the so-called special relationship has ended, even if most ordinary Americans remain senseless of the tectonic shift which has occurred beneath their feet, whereby their government is lining up to support the reign of the Mad Mullahs.  And Woe is, all the American Jews who placed their faith and trust in Obama, rather than Klal Yisrael.

Iranian Nuclear Pact or how the Scarface Rules of Drug Dealing apply to real world politics

What’s most telling to me about the P5 +1 negotiated agreement with the Iranians was the deliberate omission of those countries from a seat at the negotiation table who have the most at stake on the outcome of this agreement.

Israel, the Gulf States, Egypt, not one had a seat at the table with the Iranians, and yet, a nuclear armed Iran poses an immediate and deadly threat to all these states, and only an indirect threat, and at that, only via ‘foreign’ business interests to the P5+1 states who sat around the table with the Iranians.

P5 refers to the 5 permanent members of the UN Security council; USA, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom.The plus 1 is Germany.  So why Germany, and not, say Italy or Switzerland? Well, Germany is a ‘key’ trading partner with Iran, and the Iranian nuclear program relies heavily on German engineering and manufacturing. Think Siemens, Linde, BASF, Lurgi, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and MAN to name a few.

 I would suggest that all P5 nations are poised to reap a major financial windfall with an Iran no longer under sanctions.  So it is in the financial best interest of the P5+1  for a deal, any deal, to be negotiated with the Iranians.  And to hell with American hostages, the Israelis or the Sunni States of the Middle East.  By the way, the German Economic Minister et al will be shortly landing today in Tehran to discuss, well, business opportunities.

To coin a cliché, this deal is all about the benjamins and has very little to do blocking Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon.  In order to safeguard the P5+1 vested financial interests, there is a little remarked upon clause in the deal. Arutz Sheva: 

One particularly interesting detail: Tucked away near the very end of the deal's massive text is a section entitled "Nuclear Safety, Safeguards and Security," which stipulates that the West will train Iran to thwart sabotage against its nuclear facilities. According to text, Iran will learn how to secure its controversial and covert nuclear program from all threats thanks to training by the "E3/EU+3," another designation for the P5+1 countries consisting of the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China, as well as the EU.
The section seemingly begins benignly enough, with a clause saying that "E3/EU+3 parties, and possibly other states, as appropriate, are prepared to cooperate with Iran to establish a Nuclear Safety Centre in Iran, engage in workshops and training events in Iran." But then things take a turn, with the same world powers obligating to "co-operation in the form of training courses and workshops to strengthen Iran's ability to prevent, protect and respond to nuclear security threats to nuclear facilities and systems as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems."  Leaving no doubts about the intentions, the text then promises "co-operation through training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage."

The implications of this clause are huge. Let’s be real, the Saudis and other Gulf states do not the capacities to attack any part of the Iranian nuclear program but there is one state who does, and that state has been repeatedly threatened by the Iranians.  Conceivably, there could come a day, when United States will be actively using its nuclear and military intelligence to undermine any Israeli attempts to safeguard our people from Iranian threats.

The United States, despite the belief of a hard core group of anti-Semites, is not a proxy for Israel.  America is not Israel, and has never and will never, act in Israel’s best interest unless Israeli interests dovetails with American interests.

America has never fought in any of Israel’s wars, and will never.  In fact, the PLO owes its existenceto a beloved American President who chose to save Yasser Arafat and his menfrom the imminent Israeli death blow. America will sell Israel weapons, and will actively seek to contain Israel when Israeli interests clash with American policy.   I would suggest there is no special relationship between America and Israel except in the minds of American Jews and a cynical political class who regularly seek to exploit this myth for their own purposes and interests.  

Americans have been very cynically offering the Sunni statesand Israel the promise of increase military hardware but I would hazard a guess that any military largess offered is for ‘defensive’ rather than any offensive capacities, at best, there might be some meager offerings of ‘dual’ use military hardware – hardware which is primarily defensive but could be modified for and used in an offensive capacity in a best case scenario.

Iranian financial gains amount to over a billion US dollars, I suspect this largess will be filling the coffers of Russian, French and Chinese military manufacturers, with enough to spread around to arm Iranian proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.  If were a betting woman, I would place a bet that  there will be a major Iranian airplane deal with any of the P5+1 nations to bring Iran’s badly degraded air force up to first world standards sometime in the next year.  Woe is Yisrael, if America wins that contract.

Much has been made about the snap back provisions, I won’t even go there, but I will stay I find it rather telling that only inspectors will be made up from countries who have diplomatically relations with Iran. If that isn’t stacking the deck, I don’t what is.  And bonus points are awarded if you know which of  the Scarface Rules of Drug Dealing apply here.

It's rule #3. Never underestimate the other guy's greed.

Canada stands apart from US and Iran

Canadians are often characterized as the flunkies of Americans so it is a nice change to have a Prime Minister who does not blindly follow the US into the Dark Abyss and remains standing with his feet firmly on the moral high ground.

Canada will keep its sanctions in place – at least for now – despite the nuclear agreement Iran has reached with major world powers.

Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson issued a statement saying that Canada “will continue to judge Iran by its actions not its words,” and that the government in Ottawa will examine the agreement carefully before making any policy changes.
“We will examine this deal further before taking any specific Canadian action,” Mr. Nicholson said in the statement.

That means Canada is refusing to follow the course set by its major allies, including not only the Obama Administration in the U.S., but Britain, France, and the European Union. They negotiated the deal with Iran as part of the “P5+1” group that also included China and Russia, and have agreed to lift economic sanctions in return for Tehran’s nuclear concessions.(The Globe and Mail)

And for those who insist Canada is standing on the wrong side of history I have two words for you: North Korea. Furthermore, I predicate Obama's real legacy will be spurning nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.