Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalIsrael Faces Deepening Isolation, Kerry Warns
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's peace mission to the Middle East is semi-quixotic, if not wholly quixotic. I doubt he'll reach his goal of negotiating a final-status agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The two sides haven't even agreed yet to the topics they'll discuss in negotiations.
But we should give Kerry this: He has managed to at least partially capture the attention of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. I say partially because the Netanyahu government's self-destructive West Bank settlement program continues apace (though the latest round of construction is scheduled to take place on territory that would almost certainly be granted to Israel in final-status talks).
There are some early signs that Netanyahu is realizing the price his country may one day pay for its settlements, in particular those near Palestinian population centers. He met recently with some of Israel's leading manufacturers, who expressed their worry that their products may one day be boycotted in Europe, a worry he shares. Kerry, capitalizing on this anxiety, has warned Netanyahu in recent weeks that if the current peace talks bear no fruit, Israel may soon be facing an international delegitimization campaign -- in his words -- "on steroids."
According to officials I have spoken to, who requested anonymity so they could speak freely, Kerry thinks the one thing Netanyahu fears as much as Iran's nuclear program is the growing power of the international movement that seeks to isolate, scapegoat and demonize his country. (One caveat: Kerry, like most Americans who know Netanyahu, understands that the prime minister's narrowest but most potent fear is of being unseated.)
Although Netanyahu is worried that the campaign to make Israel appear to be an illegitimate state could hurt the country's robust economy, he is said to be even more worried that this campaign will erode Israel's ability to defend itself. The theory is simple: A country seen as illegitimate, not only by the powerful Arab lobby at the United Nations but also by Western powers, will have little standing if it is forced to retaliate against sustained attacks from groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which remain committed to Israel's extermination. Netanyahu thinks that the campaign to delegitimize Israel could force Western powers to rein in Israel, or at the very least, rush to condemn it before it has the chance to defend itself.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-08-12/israel-faces-deepening-isolation-kerry-warns.html
Ted Koppel: America's Chronic Overreaction to Terrorism
The country's capacity for self-inflicted damage must have astounded even Osama bin Laden.By TED KOPPEL
June 28, 2014, will mark the 100th anniversary of what is arguably the most eventful terrorist attack in history. That was the day that Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, shot and killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
In one of those mega-oversimplifications that journalists love and historians abhor, the murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife, Sophie, led directly and unavoidably to World War I. Between 1914 and 1918, 37 million soldiers and civilians were injured or killed. If there should ever be a terrorists' Hall of Fame, Gavrilo Princip will surely deserve consideration as its most effective practitioner.
Terrorism, after all, is designed to produce overreaction. It is the means by which the weak induce the powerful to inflict damage upon themselves—and al Qaeda and groups like it are surely counting on that as the centerpiece of their strategy.
It appears to be working. Right now, 19 American embassies and a number of consulates and smaller diplomatic outposts are closed for the week due to the perceived threat of attacks against U.S. targets. Meantime, the U.S. has launched drone strikes on al Qaeda fighters in Yemen.
By the standards of World War I, however, the United States has responded to the goading of contemporary terrorism with relative moderation. Indeed, during almost a decade of terrorist provocation, the U.S. government showed the utmost restraint. In February of 1993, before most of us had any real awareness of al Qaeda, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who would later be identified as the principal architect of 9/11, financed an earlier attack on the World Trade Center with car bombs that killed six and injured more than 1,000.
more...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324653004578650462392053732.html
Peace Talks: The Perfect Alibi For Settlement Expansion In The West Bank And East Jerusalem
The announcement Sunday that Israel’s housing minister has approved construction of 1,200 new settlement units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem should be no surprise. It comes just a few days after the Civil Administration announced 878 new housing units in the West Bank. In fact, Israel’s approval of new settlement construction is the one new concrete development on the ground since Kerry announced the resumption of negotiations on July 19.
Something like 2,000 new units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – some in final approval stages before building begins and others at the start of the tender process – have been announced in the last few weeks. The construction published today enumerates 400 new units in Gilo, 210 in Har Homa and 183 Pisgat Ze’ev — all settlements beyond the Green Line in East Jerusalem. In the West Bank,it was made up of 117 units in Ariel, 149 in Efrat, 92 in Ma’aleh Adumim and 36 in Beitar Ilit.
While the new units are mostly part of “consensus settlements” – meaning areas that are presumed to remain part of Israel in any two-state solution – it is important to remember that the only reason they have become so is because of U.S. and international complacency in Israeli settlement building over the years. There is no logical or legitimate reason for places like Ariel, deep in the West Bank, and Har Homa, a relatively new but highly controversial settlement that cuts Bethlehem off from Jerusalem, to remain part of Israel in a future agreement.
The tandem news headlines of “peace talks to resume” coupled with “new Israeli settlements announced” are ridiculously insulting. How can anyone take these talks seriously? It is as if Israel was waiting patiently for the U.S. to announce peace talks before it could fling the settlement floodgates wide open; there was actually more restraint in the last year, with a de facto settlement freeze in East Jerusalem.
Despite its formal statements of condemnation, the U.S. clearly has no problem with the new settlement construction, since it is not doing anything to stop it. According to Ma’ariv‘s report Sunday morning, a U.S. official said that Israel notified the administration of this new round of settlement plans, presenting it as a carrot and stick deal in which the carrot is settlement building, and the stick is releasing Palestinian prisoners.
MORE...
http://972mag.com/peace-talks-the-perfect-alibi-for-settlement-expansion/77268/
Iran to Sign New Nuclear Power Plant Deal with Russia – Minister
TEHRAN, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Iran intends to sign an agreement with Russia soon on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the Islamic Republic, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday, citing Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
“Iran has held consultations with the Russian side and soon an agreement of mutual understanding will be signed on the construction of a new nuclear power plant,” Mehr quoted Salehi as saying.
Iran’s foreign minister said the Islamic Republic needed nuclear power for electricity generation, and also for medicine.
Iran’s newly-elected President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday during his first press conference after his inauguration that the Islamic Republic would continue negotiations with Russia on nuclear power development in the country.
Rouhani said Iran needed to produce 20,000 MW of nuclear power and planned to build new nuclear power plants and continue cooperation in this sphere, in particular, with Russia.
Russian parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on August 4 during his visit to Iran to attend Rouhani’s inauguration ceremony that Russia hoped for holding consultations with Iran on expanding cooperation in civilian nuclear power after the Islamic Republic’s first nuclear power plant at Bushehr was fully commissioned in September.
more...
http://en.rian.ru/world/20130811/182707490/Iran-to-Sign-New-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Deal-with-Russia--Minister.html
Edward Snowden Is Viewed As 'Some Kind Of Jason Bourne,' John McCain Says
WASHINGTON -- Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on widespread government snooping, is viewed by a younger generation as "some kind of Jason Bourne," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) offered on Fox News Sunday. He referred to Matt Damon's portrayal of the fictional character, who becomes a hunted enemy of a secretive U.S. government agency as he learns of its unconstitutional activity.
The character, created by novelist Robert Ludlum, is chased around the globe by U.S. agents.
While Snowden's most recent experiences may have been more reminiscent of Tom Hanks' character in "The Terminal" who was perpetually stuck in an airport, McCain said that the leaker had become something of a folk hero for young people mistrustful of the government.
"There's kind of a generation change here. Young Americans don't trust this government," McCain said.
He added that Russia's decision to grant Snowden a reprieve is indicative of "incredibly bad relations between the United States and Russia," in which Vladimir Putin is "putting his thumb right in America's eye."
more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/11/edward-snowden-jason-bourne_n_3739440.html
Considering the shit the USA is and has started in the middle east with our invasion of Iraq, about time someone "put a thumb in America's eye"...indeed!
A Texan Tragedy: Plenty Of Oil, But No Water
By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
Sunday, August 11, 2013 13:35 EDT
Beverly McGuire saw the warning signs before the town well went dry: sand in the toilet bowl, the sputter of air in the tap, a pump working overtime to no effect. But it still did not prepare her for the night last month when she turned on the tap and discovered the tiny town where she had made her home for 35 years was out of water.
“The day that we ran out of water I turned on my faucet and nothing was there and at that moment I knew the whole of Barnhart was down the tubes,” she said, blinking back tears. “I went: ‘dear God help us. That was the first thought that came to mind.”
Across the south-west, residents of small communities like Barnhart are confronting the reality that something as basic as running water, as unthinking as turning on a tap, can no longer be taken for granted.
Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry’s outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse.
In Texas alone, about 30 communities could run out of water by the end of the year, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
MORE...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/11/a-texan-tragedy-plenty-of-oil-but-no-water/
I'll sell 'em all the water they want at today's price of a gallon of unl/reg gasoline which is currently at $3.49. Y'all come know...ya hear!
Donnie McClurkin Removed From MLK Concert Over 'Ex-Gay' Claims
Source: ABC7News/WJLA
WASHINGTON (WJLA) - Donnie McClurkin, a gospel singer who says God delivered him from being gay, is firing back at Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and other officials after he says he was removed from headlining a concert at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
A Grammy winner and pastor, McClurkin was scheduled to perform at the concert Saturday evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Several gay rights activists objected to his participation ahead of the event.
Doxie McCoy, a spokeswoman for Mayor Vincent Gray, says McClurkin decided to not perform because the purpose of the event was to bring people together.
Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/08/donnie-mcclurkin-removed-from-mlk-concert-over-ex-gay-claims-92611.html#ixzz2bhnwi4m0
Biden To Attend Fundraiser In Iowa, Key 2016 State
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden will head to Iowa next month to headline Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's steak fry fundraiser, a key stop for aspiring presidential candidates.
The White House says Biden will speak at the Sept. 15 event. It's the latest in a string of Biden appearances with ties to critical states for primary candidates. Iowa kicks off the 2016 primary season with its first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Biden is also planning to raise money for the governor of New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, and spoke earlier this year in South Carolina, another early state. During inaugural weekend this year, he mingled with Democrats from Iowa and New Hampshire.
Biden hasn't closed the door to a third presidential campaign in 2016.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/biden-attend-fundraiser-iowa-key-2016-state
Pro-Morsi Encampments Fortify For Battle
By William Booth and Sharaf Al-Hourani, Sunday, August 11, 6:43 PM
CAIRO — Past the bouncy castle and the inflatable kiddie pool, past the potted plants, cashew vendors and signs welcoming visitors to come in peace to the protest rally and sit-in by supporters of the Egypt’s ousted president, security teams led by the Muslim Brotherhood were busy early Monday filling sandbags and erecting brick walls reinforced with rebar.
They were fortifying themselves for what the backers of toppled President Mohammed Morsi say could be a bloody siege of two massive encampments in Cairo, both still filled with women and children.
Egyptian security officials warned media Sunday that time was running out for the tens of thousands of pro-Morsi demonstrators who have been camped out around Cairo University and Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque for more than a month.
Two weeks ago, the cabinet of the military-backed interim government signaled it had given the go-ahead to Interior Ministry forces to use “all necessary measures” to break up the two sprawling sit-in sites.
More than 130 of Morsi’s supporters were killed in two deadly incidents when they confronted security forces. Many were shot by military snipers or plainclothes police.
MORE...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/pro-morsi-encampments-fortify-for-battle/2013/08/11/e1f3e846-02aa-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
Toxic Water Detected In Newly Built Well At Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Source: The Japan Times
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday it has detected radioactive tritium in groundwater collected from a newly built observation well by the sea at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The groundwater sample collected Saturday from the well contained 34,000 becquerels of tritium per liter, up from 23,000 becquerels detected in a sample collected Thursday, a day after the well was installed some 4 meters away from the sea, the plant operator said.
--clip
The utility suspects that groundwater has been contaminated at an underground trench by the sea that is connected to the No. 2 reactor building. The newly built well is located some 160 meters north of the trench.
Around 300 tons of groundwater containing radioactive substances could be flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex, according to the government. Tepco recently admitted that toxic groundwater is leaking into the ocean.
Read more: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/11/national/toxic-water-detected-in-newly-built-well-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant/#.UgfkqDtOZJE
Profile Information
Member since: 2003 before July 6thNumber of posts: 29,876
