Farcical Election War

DEBKAfile's

1. Iranian sources report that circles in the US administration have begun to entertain serious doubts about the wisdom of entering into negotiations with Iran after its government deceived the secret US envoys acting for the release of US journalist Roxana Saberi. When the affair first broke US intelligence watchers assumed the arrest had been drummed up by Iranian ultra-extremists in the Revolutionary Guards and clergy to sabotage the forthcoming dialogue with the US. But Washington has since discovered it was a conspiracy hatched at the highest level – spiritual ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's bureau – to falsely incriminate Saberi by planting on her a classified document.

2. Syrian president Bashar Assad has sidestepped every effort by Obama's special envoys to Damascus to persuade him to keep his hands off Lebanon. He is clearly helping Iran's stooge Hizballah and its Christian ally Gen, Michel Aoun, to rig the election for removing the pro-Western government. A debacle in Beirut would put the United States at a disadvantage in talks with Iran.

3. If direct US-Iranian diplomacy fails to deter Tehran from uranium enrichment, the US cannot fall back on sanctions tough enough to stifle the regime economically and strategically, because Russia, China and Berlin will not play ball. Obama will be left with only one trump card, a military option whether American or Israeli.

4. US administration strategists are also disenchanted by the Turkish-Syrian axis they promoted. Turkish Prime minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan and Assad are happy to team up – but not in the US interest in Iraq or any other Middle East arena. By fostering the Turkish-Syrian alliance Obama did more harm than good

5. While the US president has not abandoned the two-state formula, he is not blind to the fact that the unending feud between Palestinian factions leaves the Palestinians with no representative body able to put the formula into effect. He is therefore likely to follow George W. Bush's tactic – another policy reversal which will be unpopular in his own party – of leaving Palestinian statehood on the table as an option while focusing on economic and security shots in the arms for the West Bank. This is an option that Netanyahu can live with.

Has Iran put the US on its Knee Again? According to Iranian sources, US journalist Roxana Saberi was released as part of an exchange deal under which Washington agreed to free four senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers captured in Iraq in January 2007.

Election in Iran will Change Nothing – Time to Strike is Now! Former Revolutionary Guards chief and presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai warned on Sunday that he could stop Israel with “one strike”.

Useless Resolutions – Policy of Failure!

North Korea's second nuclear bomb test reverberated around the world Monday, with the U.N. Security Council condemning it as a "clear violation" of international. (What is next, nuclear Iran?)

Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak

Shouldn’t the Pope pray at the Mexico-USA border at the wall, which the US government has built, for the souls of poor Mexican Christian migrants hundreds of whom are dying in the desert each year due to this wall? Instead, the bigot has prayed for ‘poor Palestinians’ at the wall, which saves Jewish lives from Arab terror!

Another Reason to Let Them Go. 70 percent of prisoners incarcerated in the Israeli correctional system are Arabs. Out of those, 3,419 Israeli Arabs are in prison for criminal offences, while 370 are in prison for security related reasons. 7,720 Arabs from Judea and Samaria are in prison for security reasons, while 2,015 are in prison for criminal acts.

Israel Must Make Terrorist Busters Pay for Their Crime. A United States court rejected the PA’s request not to compel them to pay damages to the family of Americans Yaron and Efrat Ungar, who were murdered in a terror act near Beit Shemesh in 1996. The PA is ordered to pay US $116 million in damages to their family.

‘Public Opinion’ is used to Cover Hypocrisy. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Monday, ''Public opinion in Egypt does not allow me to invite foreign affairs minister Avigdor Lieberman to Cairo.'' (Since when do Muslim leaders care about public opinion, especially of their own people?)

Israel the Best Ally of the US. The Obama administration secretly warned Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Katar that he risks losing the three big American bases located in the emirate if he persists in promoting Iran's radicalizing influence over Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians. (In spite of betrayals and constant unfair pressure the US has been putting on Israel, the Jewish state is still the best political and security ally of the USA!)

Make Jerusalem Truly United. Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin believes that Israel must take action now in order to make “united Jerusalem” a reality, and not merely a slogan. “The flowery speeches about a complete, united city must not remain empty words.” (The Arab population of East Jerusalem must keep their Jordanian citizenship)

Quote of the Week: "Israel has always, and today more than ever, striven to reach full peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world." - Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu – Can any Arab or Muslim leader say the same about their own country? So, who does not want peace, ‘right-wing’ Netanyahu or ‘peace-loving’ Islamists?

Solar Farm in Israel. Israeli scientists have discovered a way to harvest 50 percent of the sun's radiation, compared with the standard 10 percent. The technology has been put into use in the creation of the world's first commercial thermal-electric solar farm.

World Leaders Must Drop Slogans. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman kicked off a four-nation European tour by saying, "This government does not intend to produce slogans and pompous declarations but concrete results." The "main problem" in the Middle East is "Iran, which is going nuclear and is a destabilizing factor for the region and the entire world." The 'Palestinian' issue is "deadlocked" despite the best efforts of a series of dovish Israeli governments. "Israel has proved its good intentions, our desire for peace."

Iran Must Be Stopped. The world's intelligence agencies and defence experts are quietly acknowledging that North Korea has become a full nuclear power, with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea. North Korea has miniaturised nuclear warheads to the extent they can be launched on medium-range missiles. "North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact," IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said. (This international failure is a direct result of ineffective negotiations, unenforceable economic sanctions and empty threats which are now being used against Iran with the same results!)

Do it, but not in Israel. Deputy (MK) Alex Miller from the Israel Beitenou Party, for people of Soviet Union origin, has submitted a draft law that would outlaw the celebration of the Naqba by Israeli Arabs. It would be punishable by up to three years in jail. “Those who want to support our enemies will do so from Gaza” (Compulsory deportation with the loss of Israeli citizenship would be a better punishment.)

Vatican is Silent Again!

During the Papal visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Pope Benedict XVI "to make his voice heard" and use his moral authority to condemn the harsh anti-Israel rhetoric voiced by Iran's hard-line president. But Pope Benedict XVI deflected the request by saying that he believes that the moderate elements in the region should be strengthened and the extremist ones should be fought. Benedict has never directly spoken about Ahmadinejad’s statements on Israel and his denials of the Holocaust. However, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Thursday, “We have made objections in the past." (The same behaviour was exhibited by the Vatican before and during Holocaust. No lesson has been learned - the same policy of hypocritical posturing!)

Anti-Semitic Church or/and the Church of Inhumanity? According to an Irish government commission, thousands of children suffered sexual abuse, beatings, malnutrition and emotional abuse for decades, if not generations, in the Catholic clergy ran the vast majority of the reformatories and orphanages where the abuse allegedly took place. There were institutions where sexual abuse was a "chronic problem". Boys were far more likely to be sexually abused than girls. "Complaints were not handled properly and the steps taken by the congregation to avoid scandal and publicity protected perpetrators of abuse," the report says. "The safety of children was not a priority at any time…” The turning point in exposing the inhumane system came only in 1996, when state broadcaster RTE aired a documentary detailing abuse suffered by former pupils.