Via Sassy Wire I found this reference to recent Barbara Kay post in the National Post. I am short on time but I hope to have a much longer response either this evening or tomorrow morning. Until then, let me just remind readers Barbara Kay has a has a history of axe grinding with the religious among Jews.. I suppose they don’t meet her litmus test for authentically Jewish.
Hamastan needs a bigger armed forces. AP:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The top security official in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Tuesday he is considering setting up a bigger military force, first with volunteers and eventually with conscripts as well.
Such a step could further tighten Hamas’ control of Gaza and deepen the rift with the group’s Western-backed rivals in the West Bank. Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007, wresting control from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Currently, Hamas has a paid security force of about 18,000.
Interior Minister Fathi Hamad raised the idea of a broad-based force during the inauguration Tuesday of a new police building. He said his ministry is “open to the idea of voluntary recruitment and then going to conscription.” He gave no details.
Other Hamas officials deny a draft will be instituted…
I suppose it was just a matter of time before someone published this.
Although, I think I will wait for the Mearsheimer & Walt review before I read it.
h/t My Right World.
Give up? These countries are all tied for 8th place in the happy citizen index. Arutz Sheva.
Israelis are among the happiest people in the world, according to a new Gallup Poll published this week by Forbes magazine. Israel was tied with three other countries for eighth place, placing far ahead of the United States and Britain.
(…)Following the four Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden atop the list, the next three rankings were shared by Holland, Costa Rica and New Zealand, with only a percentage point putting them ahead of the four-way tie among Israel, Canada, Switzerland and Australia. All four of the latter tallied a 62 percent report of people whose lives are thriving. The United States, where only 57 percent of the population are happy, was in 14th place, tied with Australia. The United Kingdom was in 17th pace, with a score of only 54 percent.
Despite Finland’s high ranking, it has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and Denmark’s alcohol consumption is among the ten highest in the world. On the other hand, Israel has one of the lowest suicide rates, as well as a high fertility rate, another indication that Israelis are happy.
So its nice to know during my opt-out year I will be replacing one happy place with another happy place. Speaking of learning Hebrew, if you ever needed a daily exercise in humiliation, learning Hebrew is a sure fire way to go. And I haven’t even gotten to the point where I have misused the slang yet!
Daniel Pipes says something I have been suggests something I have been trying to tell people which is simply this. Any Israeli attack will be lethal, devastating and completely unconventional. He hints at it in this interview.
EMQ: How should Israelis feel about this?
DP: I think it’s realistic for the Israelis to attack and do real damage. Now, what constitutes success, I’m not exactly sure. There are many, many questions. If I were [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin]Netanyahu, I would say to [U.S. President Barack] Obama, “Why don’t you take out the Iranian nukes? Or else we will And we will not do it by trying to fly planes across Turkey and Syria or Jordan or Saudi Arabia. We will do it from submarine-based, tactical nuclear weapons. You don’t want that; we don’t want that; but that’s the way we can do this job for sure. You do it your way so we don’t have to escalate to that.” That would be a way of applying pressure. There are so many details which I’m not privy to. But that would be my kind of approach if I were the Israelis.
I have a confession to make. I was war-gaming this very scenario. Of course, the scenario I played out was an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The great thing about war-gaming software is most of the ‘knowns’ of Israeli and Iranian weapons capacity/forces are already plugged in so I did not spend time combing the internet or journals trying to come up with figures and capacity.
Eight times I tried the traditional approach to attacking Iran via the IAF, and eight times I crashed and burned…along with most of the Middle East as the ripples of original battle spiraled and spread ever outward. I almost gave up until I realized some of my assumptions were wrong.
Firstly, I had to redefine what would make the mission a success from the Israeli point of view and then I had to design a scenario where all of my goals would met.
Attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities is just infrastructure and while it might take time to replace, an Iranian government with the ‘will’ to pursue a nuclear program will do so regardless of cost. The best case scenario in a traditional attack leaves Iran’s program mostly in tact and pushed back a few years until the infrastructure is replaced. Then we are back at square one – again. The true wealth of Iran’s nuclear program lies in its’ investment in human capital. Maybe 10% of any given population is smart enough to become a trained nuclear physicist and out of that 10% you would be lucky to have 2% who actually have the desire to become a nuclear physicist. Then it takes time and extensive training. The type of human capital we are talking about is far more precious and any attack would have to wipe out the infrastructure as well as the reality of available pool of human capital.
There are 9 suspected nuclear sites spread throughout the country and buried deep beneath the ground. The logistics of getting there and out again are horrendous and probably constitute a true ‘hail mary’ pass – not to mention there is no guarantee the actual infrastructure buried deep within the ground can actually be harmed which means huge civilian loss of life – potentially all for nought.
So how to do it? I figured it out and ran my scenario through a beta program. It worked and mission was a success…and the Middle East didn’t implode. All the fighting was over in eight days. After I ran my scenario there were a number of side benefits. Iran’s ability to export terror and mayhem was completely destroyed. Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas were completely left without a patron and the Israeli state lived to celebrate another year.
I got rid of the notion of the Israeli air force spearing heading the attack using their planes and instead chose to launch my attack via the Israeli dolphin class submarines and I utilized the Shavit space station vehicle – nor did I use conventional warheads but nuclearized my war heads on the Jericho III missiles. The Jericho III missiles ranged are rumoured to be rather extensive. Iran became literally a wasteland with no communications or leadership left intact. The survivors were too busy just trying to survive getting out of Dodge – let alone regroup and coordinate an attack against the Israeli state.
What about retaliation via Syria and Hezbollah? Well, that’s what took up the other 7 days but you have to remember without Iranian patronage these regimes will be busy fighting for survival in the reality of the new middle east. Assad might be a crazy bastard but he wants to continue to rule Syria so he is not about to go mano-to mano with the Israeli state – which has just nuked his patron. I suspect Nasrallah will suddenly start to speak very softly as well.
Sure there will be an outcry in the UN and lots of condemnation all around even as the Gulf Arab states breath a deep sigh of relief. Besides an Israeli diplomatic message to most of the neighbours who start to make to much fuss along the lines of – ‘who wants to be next?’ should quell their thirst for Israeli blood. That UN Security veto – well, if the Israelis pull it off the Chinese will be very interested in making the Israelis their new best friends. The Chinese are motivated and interested in acquiring a space program their own and the Israelis have just pulled off a success attack based on their own naval and space station vehicle. Russia, Russia stands to make a fortune and usher in a new level of prosperity by becoming the primo European energy supplier. Can we say ‘hegemony’!
Everyone else will be too busy helping working to alleviate the humanitarian disaster the Iranian neighbour states will be faced with as survivors struggle in seeking refuge. Yes, the Europeans will make a fuss but America will be circumspect. On the one hand, any American leadership will be appalled beyond the pale but most of the world will believe the Israelis had the go-ahead via POTUS. If the Americans are too strident publicly in its’ denials; it will work to defeat any advantage gained out of the situation and a huge major loss of face or credibility in the Arab and Muslim world.
And Israel, well Israelis may have to hunker down for a decade or so being the world’s pariah state, but eventually things will turn around. Israel is well on the way of becoming an energy independent state with its electric cars system, solar energy homes and extraction of oil from shale to need too much from the rest of the world. In fact, with the Israelis on the verge of so many cutting edge techniques and technology the rest of us cannot afford to keep the Israelis in Coventry for too long. Third world states the world over need exactly the kind of technological advantages and water filtration systems which have made Israel a techno-marvel. There will always be alliances to be pursued.
At some point in the near future an Israeli prime minister and his cabinet will be faced with this very decision. It all depends which way they role the dice. Take a chance and live with a nuclear armed Iranian state or unleash devastation on a scale unparalleled in the history of human warfare. Eighty million lives against 7 million Jewish ones. Who to pick? I know who I would pick but I cannot speak for Israeli prime ministers.
But here is some grist for thought. The current Israeli Chief of Staff is being very unceremoniously replaced in February 2011 and it was a very surprising decision. Ashkenazi is a popular and effective commander but it may well have been precipitated by Ashkenazi’s rumoured objection to an attack against the Iranian state.
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Apparently, my father sends my daughter pictures he doesn’t send me.
This is a picture of my great-grandparents (paternal-maternal side), who my daughter only knows from stories. This happens to be the only picture I have ever seen with the two of them sitting nicely together. Their battles are the stuff of family legends…is it still called a ‘legend’ if I actually survived the witnessing? Everyone thinks their family unique but my has a certain flavour which truly is different.
I can never remember a time when my great-grandmother did not wear a hat. Mention my great-grandmother’s name to my mother, and 34 years after the woman’s death, my mother still gets enraged just someone saying her name. Personally, I always got on well with her but then I never did try to cross her.
My great-grandfather left Eastern Europe in 1917 and worked his way around the world as a merchant sailor. He made his living but gambling, and in fact, he won my grand-mother in a poker game – when her father ran out of cash so he put her in the pot. We won’t mention her age…This happened in a seaport in Eastern Canada. He wasn’t sure what to do with her so he married her and eventually they made their way to Montreal.
They lived in the first floor and basement of a bordello where he ran the gaming tables and my grandmother cooked…or so I was told. Things were pretty prosperous for them until one night when my great-grandfather’s partner decided my six year old grandmother was too great a temptation to resist. My grandfather killed him when he caught Andre in the act. This necessitated the children being put on the last evening train to Toronto where arrangements were made to live with a Russian Jewish childless couple by the name of Cooper.
My grandmother told me stay with the Cooper’s was the the greatest year of her childhood. She had a clean bed with sheets and blankets all to herself which beat sharing a pile of rages in the basement with my uncle Richard and auntie Bernice. Not only was she feed three times a day but she got to go to school and had special school clothes. After six months, my great-grandparents turned up to claimed the children – much to the horror of the couple who had taken them in. The Coopers begged them to leave the children with them but my great-grandparents refused. My great-grandmother decided to honour them instead by taking their last name which is how they became known as the ‘Coopers’.
I have to admit I just don’t care about the census and feel its just another governmental intrusion into my private affairs. What language I chose to speak at home, how many people live in my home, their employment status/educational level, military status or the faith we practise (or not) is just not any of the federal government’s business. Neither is my ancestry or ethnic origins. All the feds need to know is my immigration status and the fact I pay my taxes when due. End of story.
American radio host Michael Savage went to a Shabbos dinner and was wowed by a group of 16-17 year old Chabad girls.
Savage’s reaction to these girls is very much the same reaction I have felt when I have been invited into various Chassidic homes. It is a different world, often a strange one to outsiders filled with all manner of little peculiarities for the uninitiated.
You can argue to the end of time about Chabad or the chassidic movement in general, but its very hard to deny after spending any significant time around them that their lives lack meaning or direction. Those in the Chassidic world can suffer from some of the same ills which plagues or often characterizes modern life but there is something else there that is hard to define and must be experienced to be fully understood.
Perhaps, it is the sense of a home or community which acts as a light and a refuge against the increasing malevolent world. I freely admit the life of a Chassid is not for me, I am the original rebellious daughter, but it doesn’t mean I cannot look in from time to time from my exile and not say I miss a little of the light which the observant world has created.
Ushpizin is a movie following the life of a Breslov couple during Sukkot and gives you a tiny peek into the world view of those who tremble with awe before G-d.
h/t Life in Israel
Generally speaking, I am a law and order type but the one thing I have zero tolerance for is when agents of the state callously abuse the coercive powers of the law to subvert the law of the land. The civil suits from the G20 are going to be a horrendous burden on the taxpayers of this country because the security services acted in a fashion which put their conduct above the law they had sworn to uphold. Think I am wrong – just think Officer Bubbles. Secondly, it’s going to be very hard for the government to successfully win any of the suits brought against them considering the number of ‘legal monitors’ which were arbitrary detained among the 1100 plus arrested and detained, and then, mostly released without charge. The Hill Times Online
Civil liberties lawyers and Parliamentarians are gathering evidence they say will show Toronto police systematically violated legal and human rights as they quelled protests with the largest mass arrests in Canadian history at the G20 leaders’ summit in Toronto last month.
The evidence includes eyewitness accounts from lawyers who acted as monitors during the protests where police arrested 1,105 people, including bystanders, lawful protesters and some of the legal monitors, but released more than 900 with no charges.
Up to six lawyers who volunteered as monitors with the Osgoode Hall Law Union were swept up by police and have provided affidavit-style evidence to organizers about the abuses they witnessed in the notorious temporary prison Toronto police set up in an abandoned film studio, says Adrienne Telford, one of the organizers. The Canadian Civil Liberties Union had up to 50 legal monitors at the protests and is compiling information.
Go ahead and rant about the violent antics of the so-called Black Bloc rioters but remember this; 15,000 security officers allowed the Black Bloc to riot contrary to in downtown Toronto without a single police officer lifting a hand to stop the riot for over 90 minutes. The Black Bloc could have been easily been apprehended and stopped in their tracks, but instead, security forces chose to stand down regardless of potential threat to human lives and willful destruction to property. There were many law abiding citizens in the stores and restaurants the Black Bloc attacked but security forces chose not to intervene. Now the Toronto Police are spending umpteen hours and funds from the public purse attempting to hunt down and arrest the so-called Black Bloc. It would have been far easier on the public purse to arrest them in the act rather than harassing innocent citizens for wearing black and carrying backpacks long after the Black Bloc had disappeared much like thieves in the night.
