Mr. Gates, 183 are just not enough ..another F-15 Crashes

I have inveighed heavily here about the choice Sec Def Gates has made to replace our 750+ F-15 A-D air superiority defenders with 183 F-22's. I understand the issues involved... he feels the F-35 which will replace the F-16's will be capable. He thinks we can't beat mujahideen with F-22's, and those conflicts we face will be more like that.He also faces the very real constraints on our budget, not only from the war, but from the uncontrollable increase in foreign fuel costs since we refuse to increase our own supply.

So we note the crash of another F-15D

However we face as well a China flush with commercial successes and a Russia flush with fossil energy funds, both of whom are anxious to build up both their strategic forces, and their tactical ones.

Does it matter?

Well to sound like a trailer voiceover, 'In a world where energy starvation might loom, and past and potential future enemies claim the arctic ocean floor, and islands in international waters, superior weapons may make the difference between life and death at the point of contact'

Thus the arctic seabed received a Russian flag via submarine delivery, and the Chinese simply TOOK the Spratly Islands. All for fossil fuel.

Our F-15's designed and built in the 1970's fly today. That means we should expect the F-22 line, WHICH MAY BE SHUT DOWN, to provide our only air superiority fighters until at least 2040. 183 fighters will not be sufficient until 2043.

PERIOD.

Offbeat and strange - Singapore orders 20 F-15E Strike Eagles ??

With the right weapons fit that's enough to DESTROY a lot of nations.
So what did they order?

The weapons list includes 200 AIM-120C AMRAAM radar guided air-to-air missiles, 200 AIM-9X heat seeking air-to-air missiles, 150 JDAM kits (to turn dumb bombs into smart bombs), and 60 AIM-154 JSOW (JDAM with wings, and the ability to glide 50-130 kilometers). In addition, maintenance equipment and practice missiles are also on order.

Uhhhhh, can anyone say China deterrent?

The first F-15Es will start arriving this year, with all 20 being delivered within three years. The Singapore aircraft are actually improved version of the F-15E, to be called the F-15SG. These are similar to the South Korean version (the F-15K.) The South Koreans have ordered 40 of the F-15K, and are happy with the initial batch.
These aircraft can carry ten tons of munitions for several thousand kilometers, and employ smart bombs as well as the latest air-to-air weapons.

For reference the B-17 of WW2 carried 3 tons. Therefore one could look at this as if we sold Singapore 67 B-17's with every bomb capable of hitting it's target. Since in WW2, 3-4% was considered success, these F-15's are 25 times as effective, OR, in WW2 terms... these guys have the equivalent of 1650 B-17's used that that way.

Singapore's neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia, are buying MiG-29s and Su-30s. Malaysia and Indonesia are much larger (in terms of population and territory), and both are envious of Singapore's wealth, and position astride the Straits of Malacca (through which a large portion of the worlds trade moves). Singapore thus puts a lot of effort, and money, into its military.

Maylaysia is OIC (Mahathir anyone?), Indonesia is the largest muslim nation on earth and can't control their own jihadis to any extent at all. Singapore is an island city.

The F-15E/K/SG is a two seat version of the F-15, optimized for precision, long range, bombing. The 36 ton F-15E was developed in the 1980s as a replacement for the two decade old F-111, and entered service in 1988. Costing over $100 million each, the foreign user version of the F-15E (including the Israeli F-15I) have been very successful.

UK Tysons Observes Eid al-Fitr

(With a hat-tip to Michael)

From this source:

Tyson drops Labor Day holiday for Eid al-Fitr
Friday, August 1, 2008
By Brian Mosely

Workers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall.

A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant."

The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."

Eid al-Fitr falls on Oct. 1 this year.

Tyson's Director of Media Relations, Gary Mickelson, stated that while the new contract does not provide an additional holiday, as the union claimed, "the new contract includes eight paid holidays, which is the same number provided in the old contract."

"However, the union leadership did request and receive Eid al-Fitr (which is apparently spelled various ways including Id al-Fitr and Eid ul-Fitr) as a paid holiday in place of Labor Day," Mickelson confirmed in an e-mail to the T-G.

"Since all Team Members will still have eight paid holidays, the change will not affect production," Mickelson said.

Eid al-Fitr means "Festival of the Breaking of the Fast" in Arabic, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting....

Read the rest.

And just what is Ramadan? See my post of last year on the topic. Dhimmis won't bother to do the research or to open their eyes as to the larger meaning of the various concessions the West is making to Moslems.

Are You Ready To Vote For Ha Moshiach Baruch O'Bummer?

The other day, we argued here in a comments thread about whether John McCain had really taken off the gloves with his latest ad. I said, "Yes." Others said, "No."

Well, get a load of the latest from McCain, and tell me you don't think the gloves are off:

What year is this, again?

'Rat people' forced to beg on Pakistan's streets (AFP)
Outside a Muslim shrine in this dusty Pakistani city, a "rat woman" with a tiny head sits on a filthy mattress and takes money from worshippers who cling to an ancient fertility rite.

Nadia, 25, is one of hundreds of young microcephalics -- people born with small skulls and protruding noses and ears because of a genetic mutation -- who can be found on the streets of Gujrat, in central Punjab province.

Officials say many of them have been sold off by their families to begging mafias, who exploit a tradition that the "rat children" are sacred offerings to Shah Daula, the shrine's 17th century Sufi saint.

"These are God's children. We are proud to look after her," said Ijaz Hussain, the shrine's government-employed custodian, as Nadia shrieked unintelligibly and put coins in a battered wooden box at her side.

According to local legend, infertile women who pray at Shah Daula's shrine will be granted children, but at a terrible price. The first child will be born microcephalic and must be given to the shrine, or else any further children will have the same deformity.

Hussain said Nadia was just a young child when she was dumped at the shrine 20 years ago in the dead of the night. Her parents were never traced, he says.

"Since that day we have taken care of her, she is like family to us. People come here for prayers and seek fulfilment of their desires but they are respectful towards her," added Hussain, 56.

Pakistan's government says it has tried to crack down on exploitation of the "chuhas" (Urdu for rats) and says it plans to set up a shelter in Gujrat to rehabilitate them.

The shrine stopped officially accepting microcephalics in the 1960s when the government took over the site.

But not only does it still keep Nadia at its gate, the town's beggar masters also keep the superstition alive.

"Get lost! I don't want to talk to you," shouted a bearded beggar master in Gujrat's main bus station, grabbing a microcephalic woman by the hand and leading her through the crowds when asked to comment on his actions.

Bus passengers gave the woman money, as many believe it is bad luck not to.

Another microcephalic man stood with his handler in the wilting afternoon heat, staring into space.

The high incidence of microcephalics in Gujrat, an industrial city of around one million people, has long been a bone of contention.

The popular belief among many Pakistanis -- that cruel beggar gangs clamp the children's heads in infancy -- is strongly denied by government and advocacy groups, who say there is no evidence to support this.

Recent medical studies say the most likely cause is that the normally rare recessive genes behind many microcephaly cases crop up with greater frequency because of the common custom of marrying cousins in Pakistan.

But finding the cause is easier than stamping out the exploitation of "rat children" in the name of religion, says Pir Nasiruddaula, a descendant of the saint who has written several books on the shrine.

"The myth of the chuhas has been exploited by beggar mafias and religious groups," said Nasiruddaula, a former science professor in his 70s.

"They roam the villages and if the real chuha is born they give them some money and they take them," he said.

"But what kind of saint would really curse issueless women with the 'blessing' of deformed children?"

Rakhshan Sohail, of the Punjab provincial government's Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, said his department planned to establish a centre in Gujrat to stamp out exploitation of microcephalics.

"Some of these children, the handicapped ones especially, are accompanied by relatives," he told AFP. "But begging gangs also look for poor parents who will sell them because they are a burden to feed and shelter."

Sohail said his department had busted more than 30 gangs across the province involved in exploiting street children, some of which had broken the limbs of children so that they would earn more as beggars.

But the "rat children" are symptomatic of hardships faced by up to 100,000 street children nationwide -- and an economic crisis caused by spiralling fuel and food prices is hurting his department's efforts, he said.

"It's a critical issue," he said. "When people are living on less than a dollar a day, they are more likely to put their children on the roads and make them beg."

Never mind the gangs, do something about the children. The gangs will do something else.
What kind of ignorance is this? Did someone say tourism?
Where's the damn madrassah now?

Storm Track Infiltration: Islam Education Proposed as Compulsory in UK

So when faced with a foreign radical element that is anti your society and culture, what do you do? Fight back, right?

Not in the UK.

On the surface, what Communities Secretary Hazel Blears proposes sounds benign enough.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

Today's MENSA HEADLINE: HAMAS and Hizballah are cooperating with Al Qaeda ...DUH !

Those of us who have been watching the religious theories driving HUNTINGTON world, despair at the thought this is a surprise to some people.

Israeli intel warns of Al Qaida attack helped by Hamas, Hizbullah

JERUSALEM -- Israeli intelligence community has detected evidence that the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah in Lebanon were beginning to cooperate with Al Qaida.

"There is concern that Al Qaida will cooperate with extremist elements in the region such as Hizbullah and Hamas," a senior intelligence official said.

Ya think?

Officials said the intelligence assessment was relayed to a Cabinet panel during a session on July 23. The so-called Security Cabinet held its first meeting to discuss the Al Qaida threat to Israel and the region.

So far, officials said, Al Qaida has not established a significant presence in Israel or the West Bank. But they said young Muslims have been encouraged to contact Al Qaida via the Internet for such missions as intelligence-gathering and attacks against strategic facilities in Israel.

A blindfolded suspected Al Qaida insurgent drinks water as he sits with other suspects in a vehicle in al-Nida, in the Diyala province. AFP

Senior ministers, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, were briefed by directors of the Mossad, Israel Security Agency and military intelligence. The intelligence chiefs were said to have warned that Al Qaida was seeking to recruit Westerners to enter Israel as tourists and conduct mass-casualty strikes in coordination with such groups as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"It arose in the discussion that Global Jihad organizations, led by Al Qaida, pose significant threats to the state of Israel, to Israeli citizens and to Jews around the world," Olmert's office said in a statement after the meeting.

Officials said the intelligence community has detected cooperation between the Hamas regime and elements of Al Qaida. They said Hamas has allowed an Al Qaida presence in the Gaza Strip for both operational and political reasons. The presence has included such groups as the Army of Islam, the Army of the Nation and the Army of Believers-Al-Qaida in Palestine.

"Hamas wants to show that the alternative to its regime is Al Qaida and that additional pressure by Israel or the international community will only ensure a Taliban-style regime in Gaza," an official said.

So we have Qutb's muslim brotherhood warning, hey Al Qaeda is worse? Worse than what?

The Al Qaida presence in the Gaza Strip has also been supporting cells in the Sinai Peninsula in neighboring Egypt. Officials said Al Qaida cells in eastern Sinai were planning to abduct Israelis and Westerners.

Al Qaida was also seen as cooperating with Hizbullah, particularly in southern Lebanon.

It should be obvious even to the thick headed morons who insist Iran and KSA will never cooperate that when looking at what should be the death's head enemies of Hizballah and Al Qaeda they agree on TWO THINGS:

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah."

They will cooperate against the kufr. It is their individual responsibility to do so.

Officials said Hizbullah has coordinated with Al Qaida elements to attack the Spanish contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in 2007.

"We are are witnessing a paradigmatic change in the Middle East in which radical countries and elements are trying to [install] a new order to replace the traditional national, secular one that exists today," Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, visiting the United States, said on July 23, "At the center of this radical axis is Iran, who seeks to achieve its regional aspiration of hegemony by upsetting the existing balance of power. I believe it is therefore crucial that we block Iranian aggression, which would in turn weaken the radicalization process in the region presently being manifested in such places as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories."

In July 2008, Israel reported the capture of two Al Qaida-aligned squads comprised of Israeli Arab citizens. Officials said elements in Israel's Islamic movement were drawing closer to Al Qaida.

Steven Emerson's Recent Congressional Testimony

From The Investigative Project on Terrorism:

Rep. Sherman, Emerson, Ponder State Department Reforms
IPT News
July 31, 2008

The State Department has collaborated with many radical Islamist organizations and individuals in its attempts to engage in outreach to the American Muslim community at large, Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Executive Director Steven Emerson told a congressional panel Thursday. Many of the individuals in charge of these organizations, and the organizations themselves, have been convicted, indicted, or designated as unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases throughout the United States.

(For detailed examples, see Emerson's complete written testimony here.)

Emerson's appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade came despite the protests of some of the same Islamist organizations. Emerson urged Congress to review the State Department's interaction with these organizations in its attempts to reach out to the Muslim community.

Emerson outlined some of the more troubling aspects of participation with these groups: namely their ties to terrorist entities and promotion of radical Islamic ideology. A number of groups that the State Department has cooperated with have links to entities such as Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hizballah - which are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States government. The groups partnering with the State Department help to support an ideology that focuses on eliminating secular Western powers and promoting their stringent ideas of Sharia law, or law as governed by Islamic text.

[...]

In response to the protests [from various Moslem groups], Congressman Sherman issued a press release in which he stated, "This hearing will go on. We need to make sure that the State Department is not giving U.S. tax dollars to those on the other side in the war on terrorism." He added "The Muslim Public Affairs Council should apologize for the statements of its executive director on September 11, 2001."

MPAC, ISNA and a constellation of other radical groups and individuals have been supported by the State Department. Perhaps Thursday's testimony will signal a turning point, seeing the State Department implement stricter guidelines to avoid past mistakes and embarrassments, which have damaged America's national security.

[...]

"I think one of the greatest fears of people in the United States is somebody may call you a racist...they may call you an Islamophobe," he said in the hearing. "And what we've seen with some of these organizations is their message is clear: ‘Give us money or we'll call you an Islamophobe'...that's what they say to the State Department. What they say to us in Congress is ‘Don't question the fact that we're getting money or we'll call you an Islamophobe.'"

Regular IBA readers might not find much new in the report, but it does serve as a good review. Whether or not Congress and the State Department will take appropriate action remains to be seen. I'm not holding my breath.

It has the feel of the Bioweapons presentation Powell made ......BUT how can you ignore this stuff

The one and only Bill Gertz:

Iran's high-altitude test was 'consistent with EMP attack' on U.S.

WASHINGTON -- A congressional commission warned that Iran is developing an advanced missile and a nuclear warhead meant to paralyze the United States.

The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse has concluded that Iran was planning to conduct a nuclear attack that could disable U.S. infrastructure.

Reported here before

The commission said Iran could install a nuclear warhead on a Shihab-3 missile that would result in an electromagnetic pulse that would destroy power, software and electronics.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seen here in 2007, said the country will not retreat in the face of demands by world powers for Teheran to halt sensitive nuclear work. AFP/ISNA

"Iran has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shihab-3 a test mode consistent with EMP attack, and described the tests as successful.

Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States," commission chairman William Graham said. "While the commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots."

In July 10 testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Graham said Iran has already conducted missile tests from ships in the Caspian Sea. He said Iran could achieve the capability to conduct an EMP attack from a freighter in international waters off the coast of the United States.

"A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication," Graham said. "For example, an adversary would not have to have long-range ballistic missiles to conduct an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the U.S. coast using a short- or medium-range missile to loft a nuclear warhead to high-altitude. Terrorists sponsored by a rogue state could attempt to execute such an attack without revealing the identity of the perpetrators."

This kind of attack doesn't exactly need to have pinpoint accuracy either, does it?
What communications, besides hardened military communication would survive?
The far fetchedness of this idea derives partly from it's sheer horrifying impact on our ECONOMY and daily life. Forget those those electronic deposits, boyz & girlz. Forget starting your car. Forget the web. Forget TV. Forget radio. What's Farraday cage hardened in YOUR house?
I thought so.
If your work requires any kind of 'tech', well then, happy ditch digging at those temp stafffing jobs, IF YOU CAN GET THE GIG.
Someone had better get the hard intelligence to rule this out before it's mere possibility results in casus belli based on speculation. Retaliation by our military even if no two bricks stand on top of each other in Iran will not make up for the quadrillions of damage to our economy, and property, or the decades it will take to rebuild (but there will be plenty of oil, since no car or oil burner will be working)

The commission said a relatively low-yield nuclear weapon, including one installed on a Scud B, can be employed to generate an EMP attack over a huge area of the United States. The panel said Iran and other countries could acquire foreign assistance to complete development of a nuclear weapon.

"Potentially hostile states, such as North Korea and Iran, may also be developing the capability to pose an EMP threat to the United States, and may also be unpredictable and difficult to deter," Graham said. "With a Scud B, they could cover the east coast and the west coast [of the United States]."

There is only one question in all this ..can Iran be deterred from using nuclear weapons?

Or will this kind of thing be viewed as paralyzing the great satan to get at the little one.

Sen McCain, they are in Arizona....

Just sayin'

Arizona-based Maglev Wind Turbine Technologies is apparently constructing a $50 million magnetically levitated vertical axis wind turbine in central China. The designers claim that the Maglev turbine will decrease operational costs by as much as 50% as compared to conventional wind turbines.

Some demonstration models have been constructed; however the big question is whether such technology can be successfully scaled up.

And the reason we are not seeing if this can be scaled up is???????????????????

Info HERE.

Tailor made campaign issue ..Economy, National Security, Financial Irresponsibility, Contempt for the retired and working people

SF Chronicle:

Pelosi blocks offshore drilling vote GOP wants

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Friday, August 1, 2008

For weeks, pressure has been mounting in Congress to approve more domestic oil drilling, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held the line, using her power to block a vote on offshore drilling.

President Bush has made almost daily calls for Democratic leaders to take action. House GOP leaders, citing a new poll showing that a slim majority of Californians now favor offshore drilling, issued a release Thursday saying "even (Pelosi's) own California neighbors oppose her efforts to block new drilling far off American coasts." GOP lawmakers are so disgruntled they're urging Bush to deny Congress its August break by calling a special session on energy.

Unless the USA takes action and is seen to take action to increase energy supplies (drilling, conserving, nukes, wind, solar, battery technology, fuel cell), the most important IMMEDIATE action of which is DRILLING gasoline prices will continue to drain away disposable income as the prudent STOP SPENDING to conserve cash for heating, and the imprudent find themselves OUT OF CASH in February.

Unless the USA takes action and is seen to take action to increase energy supplies (drilling, conserving, nukes, wind, solar, battery technology, fuel cell), the most important IMMEDIATE action of which is DRILLING 70% of our oil will continue to be imported, transferring national wealth to those who not only mean us ill, but also teach we are evil- from right here in the USA.

Unless the USA takes action and is seen to take action to increase energy supplies (drilling, conserving, nukes, wind, solar, battery technology, fuel cell), the most important IMMEDIATE action of which is DRILLING sovereign wealth funds and other national treasuries will exert a growing influence on US national decision making, gradually narrowing the options we might need to take on our own behalf. This very FACT was the subject of a closed congressional hearing this year given by the CIA

Unless the USA takes action and is seen to take action to increase energy supplies (drilling, conserving, nukes, wind, solar, battery technology, fuel cell), the most important IMMEDIATE action of which is DRILLING those people in the USA on fixed incomes and those working people without the means to increase their income proportionally with the devastating rise in every price caused by competition for fossil energy worldwide will find themselves unable to meet their minimal needs and fall to dependence on the govt, which will have to choose between printing money to help, or ignoring their own people.

Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic party leadership, including Barack Obama, who certainly has the most influence, by their inaction and roadblocks have decided for reasons not yet understood by many scientists, disputed by many scientists, and DISBELIEVED by many scientists, decided we can afford to remove disposable income from a cash constrained america, transfer our wealth to other nations, give other nations a say in our decision making, and place working and retired people in financial jeopardy.

Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic party leadership, including Barack Obama, who certainly has the most influence have demostrated they are unable to manage the national course - counting energy responsibility as damaging to a future WE WON'T BE ABLE TO COMPETE IN.

John McCain, HERE is your campaign.

It's the economy, stupid

It's national security, stupid

It's national sovereignty, stupid

It economic callousness for working and retired americans, stupid

And Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic party leadership, including Barack Obama, who certainly has the most influence BELIEVE in what they are doing.

Tonight On KFNX Talk-Radio

[Image courtesy of Stogie]

Tonight, July 31, at 8:00 P.M. Phoenix time, WC and I will host "Voices of Freedom," a one-hour weekly show on KFNX 1100. See this time-zone chart (Refresh the page!) if you are in a different time zone than Phoenix, Arizona; click directly on the word "PHOENIX" to get a world map of time zones.

Tonight's guest is Nonie Darwish. Formerly a Muslim and now a Christian, she is the author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror and the founder of Arabs for Israel.

Tune in if you can! In addition to AM air time at the scheduled hour, KFNX offers live streaming at the station's web site.

VOICES OF FREEDOM: THE SHOW THAT MAKES JIHADISTS CRY.

Web site for VOICES OF FREEDOM

UPDATE: Click here to download the program.

More dangerous than ever

Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert may have announced his eventual resignation last night, but that certainly does not signify the end of the danger his government poses to the continued existence of the Jewish state. All his announcement does is make him a lame duck, but one who still holds the reins of executive power and who may continue to hold them for another seven months. During those seven months, Olmert could reach agreements (Hat Tip: Memeorandum) with Syria and the 'Palestinians' which - even if never ratified by the Knesset (and Israel has no constitution and no fixed in stone procedure for ratifying international agreements, such that arguably there is no need for Knesset ratification) and never implemented - could serve as precedent for the inevitable 'next' round of negotiations. Moreover, it is probable if not likely that some decision will have to be made on Iran during the next seven months (or less) and that is a decision that is most unlikely to be brought to a Knesset debate (think of how the attack on the Syrian nuclear plant was perpetrated last September - for those of us not in the Knesset it was like a sudden storm on a clear day).

For now, all the MK's on the right can do about it is to practice damage control by questioning Olmert's legitimacy even before he does anything stupid.

"The prime minister lacks the public or political legitimacy to continue with the negotiations," Communications Minister Ariel Atias of the Shas party told Ynet.

"From the moment he announced he was stepping down, he is only considered as the caretaker. What legitimacy does he have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians or with Syria that the next government would be bound to?"

Likud MK Silvan Shalom, a former foreign affairs minister, said that Olmert lacked the necessary directive to make concessions on Israel's behalf.

"This is a very serious problem. This could lead to (Olmert) making concessions towards the end of his term just so he will have an achievement to boast," said Shalom. [No kidding! CiJ]

Fellow Likud member Gideon Saar said it was the responsibility of the cabinet and Olmert's own party to prevent him from staging any dangerous underhanded diplomatic moves.

MK Avigdor Lieberman, a former minister in Olmert's cabinet and chairman of Yisrael Beitenu, also had harsh words for the prime minister's plans.

"It's sounds pathetic. The prime minister's speech was stately, conscientious and solemn. I suggest he refrain from ruining that effect. He doesn't have a majority in the Knesset, he doesn't even have a majority in his own party. He can't lead any process," Lieberman asserted.

Regardless of Olmert's announcement, a fresh round of indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria ended on Wednesday under Turkish mediation. And a fifth round is due next month, a senior source close to the talks told the Reuters news agency. The source described the talks, which had taken place at an undisclosed location in Istanbul, as "positive."

If Atias' view reflects Shas' view, maybe Shas will finally support a no-confidence motion to bring down the government? After all, even forgetting what Olmert might do between now and the formation of a new government, a Kadima primary may legitimize its winner for the several thousand Kadima voters who have the right to vote in that primary but it certainly doesn't legitimize the winner for the rest of us.

As to Gideon Saar (whom I know would love to bring down the government), I hope he really doesn't expect this government or Kadima to prevent Olmert from doing anything underhanded. Talk about trusting the bees to watch the honey!

The opposition cannot afford to sit on its laurels in light of Olmert's announcement last night. The government should be forced out now and elections should be scheduled as soon as possible. November would be great. If Kadima chooses to wait until September to hold their primary with elections in November, that's their problem.

Isn't it curious then that Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has been silent about bringing down the government now? It is especially curious since two days ago, he took former IDF Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan into the Likud, to whom he has apparently promised the defense ministry (ahead of former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe "Boogie" Yaalon, from whom we have not heard in quite some time, and making it difficult to form a coalition with Kadima if former IDF Chief of Staff and former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz wins the primary there). Dayan is one of those 'moderates' that Bibi talked about a year ago. Netanyahu is trying to take what remains of the post-Sharon Likud and turn it into a Sharon-style 'centrist' party. This is Israel Harel (token right-winger) writing in Thursday's Haaretz:

Dayan, as has been proven in previous elections, is not a major vote bringer. Moreover: Quite a number of Likud members, including those who strongly object to Netanyahu's wooing of reinforcements such as Dayan and Dan Meridor, will vote for the right-wing parties. Netanyahu probably knows that, and he does not expect a dowry of votes from these new members, but rather to strengthen the pragmatic wing, which is distancing itself from the Likud's traditional ideology.

Regarding Dayan's views on the main national issues, one can say that he belongs to the large and lukewarm camp that includes Kadima, the Labor Party (which he also considered joining, according to reports) and to a great extent, today's Likud as well. The differences between them are slim.

Dayan, the man behind the separation fence, still believes in it, as he said at the press conference. In his preliminary agreement with Netanyahu, the two also agreed that when the Likud comes to power, the fence construction will be accelerated. The main reason for the fence is political, rather than security-based - it divides the western part of the Land of Israel and leaves about 90 percent of Judea and Samaria outside Israeli sovereignty. Nevertheless, he promised to complete it.

The change, therefore, is not Dayan's, as his critics claimed, but rather to Netanyahu's Likud. The Likud head has taken another step to sever his party from the broader camp, with its ideology and its proven capacity to sacrifice and to realize its ideals. He is joining an admittedly larger camp, whose ideological vagueness has led its security and political path to fail for the past two decades. Just when the public has begun to recognize this failure, Netanyahu is embarking on the path of vagueness, which lacks a goal, and therefore lacks a clear destination, too.

When no ideology exists or remains, we get policy like that of the most recent prime ministers, who mostly reacted, while others - especially the terror organizations - initiated most of the moves to which Israel responded with weakness, hesitation, a high cost in human life, resources and a loss of reputation and deterrence.

Especially for those of you who wonder why my support for Netanyahu is lukewarm at best (and why I do not plan to vote for the Likud in the upcoming election), read the whole thing.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

V I G I L A N C E

...

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

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-Thomas Jefferson

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Bosch Fawstin

Blue In Green - Bill Evans Trio

Bill Evans on Piano
Chuck Israels on Bass
Paul Motian on Drums