Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was born April 28, 1937 and died December 30, 2006. He was the fifth President of Iraq, holding that position from July 16, 1979 until 9 April 2003. He was one of the leading members of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, and afterward, the Baghdad-based Ba’ath Party and its regional organization Ba’ath Party, Iraq Region, which advocated ba’athism, an ideological marriage of Arab nationalism with Arab socialism. (Patricia Ramos, july 2013)
An especially dangerous threat to liberty occurs when members of the press collude with government agencies instead of monitoring and exposing the abuses of those agencies. Unfortunately, collusion is an all-too-common pattern in press coverage of the national security state’s activities. The American people then receive official propaganda disguised as honest reporting and analysis.
"The national security of America and the security of the world could be attained if the American leaders [..] become rational, if America disengages itself from its evil alliance with Zionism, which has been scheming to exploit the world and plunge it in blood and darkness, by using America and some Western countries. What the American peoples need mostly is someone who tells them the truth, courageously and honestly as it is.
They don’t need fanfares and cheerleaders, if they want to take a lesson from the (sept. 11) event so as to reach a real awakening, in spite of the enormity of the event that hit America.
But the world, including the rulers of America, should say all this to the American peoples, so as to have the courage to tell the truth and act according to what is right and not what to is wrong and unjust, to undertake their responsibilities in fairness and justice, and by recourse to reason..."
Saddam Hussein, INA 15-9-2002
Joe Biden & Truth - 2009
US Vice President Joe Biden said that the new administration would seek the
unvarnished truth from its spies, whether or not their information supported
the goals of the government.
The Vice President's address was greeted with loud cheers by the several hundred CIA employees who gathered for the swearing in ceremony in the foyer of the Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Standing before the wall of 89 stars representing the CIA staff who have died in the line of duty, Mr Biden said:
"We expect you to provide independent analysis, not to engage in group think. We
expect you to tell us the facts as you know them wherever they may lead, not
what you think we want to hear." (Tim Shipman. 20-2-2009)
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign
ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid
to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation
that is afraid of its people …
The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men. …
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F.Kennedy
“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you can not retain.”
Saadi Shirazi
(Persian poet & humanist, born in Shiraz, Iran, c. 1210)
"The post-September 11 era in the US has heralded in a new age of ideology whose discourse and world views have served not only to accommodate such extremist views as those held by Sharon, but also to provide him with a platform and an influence that were unthinkable only a year ago.
Thus while the American President is busy devising a new Manichean universe of absolute good and absolute evil, pronouncing policy on the basis of a simplistic polarization of the world, and unilaterally defining the terms while categorizing state and non-state actors accordingly, Sharon’s Israel has maneuvered itself into a position of even greater power on the world stage provided explicitly by the US."
"The globalists wants to make the world unipolar in order to move towards a globalist non-polarity, where the elites will become fully international and their residence will be dispersed throughout the entire space of the planet.
Accordingly, for the salvation of people, peoples, and societies, the Great Awakening must begin with multipolarity.
This is not just the salvation of the West itself, and not even the salvation of everyone else from the West, but the salvation of humanity, both Western and non-Western, from the totalitarian dictatorship of the liberal capitalist elites.
And this cannot be done by the people of the West or the people of the East alone. Here it is necessary to act together. The Great Awakening necessitates an internationalization of the peoples’ struggle against the internationalization of the elites. Multipolarity becomes the most important reference point and the key to the strategy of the Great Awakening.
"Holism is the most fundamental discovery of 20th century science. It is a discovery of every science from astrophysics to quantum physics to environmental science to psychology to anthropology.
It is the discovery that the entire universe is an integral whole, and that the basic organizational principle of the universe is the field principle: the universe consists of fields within fields, levels of wholeness and integration that mirror in fundamental ways, and integrate with, the ultimate, cosmic whole...." "For many thinkers and religious teachers throughout this history, holism was the dominant thought, and the harmony that it implies has most often been understood to encompass cosmic, civilizational, and personal dimensions. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Lord Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Confucius all give us visions of transformative harmony, a transformative harmony that derives from a deep relation to the holism of the cosmos."
About political holism
Political holism is based on the recognition that "we" are all members of a single whole. There's no "they," even though "we" are not all alike. Because "we" are all part of the whole, and therefore interdependent, we benefit from cooperating with each other. Political holism is a way of thinking about human cultures and nations as interdependent. Political holists search for solutions other than war to settle international disagreements. Their model of the world is one in which cooperation and negotiation, even with the enemy, even with the weak, promotes political stability more than warfare.
In an overpopulated world with planet-wide environmental problems, the development of weapons of mass destruction has rendered war obsolete as an effective means to resolve disputes.
Political dualists consider political holists unpatriotic for questioning the necessity to defeat "them." In times of impending war, political dualists tend to measure patriotism by the intensity of one's hostility to the country's immediate enemy. Naturally, they would view as disloyalty any suggestion that the enemy is not evil, any call for cooperation with the enemy, any criticism of one's own country.
To political dualists, cooperation with the enemy means capitulation, relinquishment of the nation's position of dominance. At its extreme, political dualism is essentially tribalism. (Betty Craige, 16-8-1997)
Desmond Tutu & Ubuntu
"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."
"We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World.
When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." (Ubuntu info)
The unipolar world order and its key attribute - the dominance of the West - are a thing of the past. The Northern Hemisphere has seen a return to the Cold War and the confrontation of the two poles - the US and NATO, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute Of World Economy And International Relations (IMEMO), Alexander Dynkin, said at the opening of the Primakov Readings international forum of experts on Tuesday.
"A unipolar world with its mode of global governance that defies the diversity of the modern world and the rise of other non-Western states is a thing of the past. It is premature to judge what the structure of a future world order will be. It is obvious, though, that the Cold War is back in the Northern Hemisphere. A new bipolarity is a fact of life, with the United States and other NATO countries at one pole, and Russia and China at the other," he said.
Dynkin stressed that "NATO's endless eastward expansion has run into Russia's resistance."
"In its attempts to retain its dominant position in the world and maintain its current level of domestic consumption, the United States, in just two decades of the 21st century, has ruined 16 major agreements and institutions of global governance - those concerning arms control, climate, the global economy, and the Arctic," he continued. "The liquidated international treaties and organizations had one common feature - either the absence of US dominance, or the priority or consensus principle of activity."
This "sad truth," Dynkin said, indicates that political realities that do not fit in with the Western ideological narratives are being neglected, while "the most professional expertise often remains untapped due to exorbitant geostrategic assets."
"The reason for these failures, among other things, can be seen in the obsession with the exclusively Western-centric model of strategic planning and attempts to build the scenarios of world development entirely on European or transatlantic historical experience.
Iraq, Syria, Libya and the Afghan catastrophe were the dramatic milestones of such ideological stubbornness and continued defiance of reality.
Now it’s Eastern Europe’s and Ukraine’s turn," the scholar said...
Truman Doctrine & the start of the cold war Wikipedia Info
The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats."
The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, and further developed on July 4, 1948, when he pledged to contain the communist uprisings in Greece and Turkey.
Direct American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. More generally, the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations thought to be threatened by Soviet communism. The Truman Doctrine became the foundation of American foreign policy, and led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance that still exists. Historians often use Truman's speech to date the start of the Cold War.
The remarks that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel made about the 2014 Minsk Agreements being an attempt to give Ukraine time could only confirm that Russia made the right decision to launch the special operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said as a news briefing on December 9, TASS reports.
"Apparently, we got our bearings late, to be honest. Maybe we should have started all this earlier," Putin said. According to him, the purpose of the Minsk-2 Treaty was to arm Ukraine and prepare it for hostilities. Putin called Merkel's statement completely unexpected and disappointing.
"Frankly, I did not expect to hear this from the former federal chancellor. I always assumed that the leadership of the Federal Republic was sincere with us," he concluded.
On December 7, Merkel said in an interview with Die Zeit that the Minsk Agreements were concluded to give Ukraine precious time and an opportunity to become stronger. According to the former chancellor, it was clear to all parties that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine had not been resolved.
In her recent interview with Die Zeit (Time) publication, the former German Chancellor was frank and open-minded. Perhaps, she has never been so honest with the press and herself. Merkel said that the Minsk Agreements were originally created as a trap for Moscow.
No one was going to abide by those obligations — their true purpose was to win time. In 2014, Ukraine was weak, and Russia could quickly annex the country. NATO did not want that to happen — the alliance was making every effort to maintain the status quo. According to Merkel, the Minsk agreements have served their purpose. Kyiv won time, strengthened the army and increased the defensive capability, whereas Moscow stopped at the achieved positions. Angela Merkel's interview translates one simple message: she deceived Putin. Politics is dirty and complex, but in this particular case it goes about the two leaders who considered each other to be not only partners, but also close friends.
IAngela Merkel said that it would have been impossible to bring all European countries together in 2014. Ukraine would have been left alone, she said. She admitted that NATO would not have been able to supply so much arms to Ukraine.
At the end of the interview, Angela Merkel added that all wars come to an end, which means that time will come for the parties to sit down at the negotiating table.
The Jerusalem Post - Israel News
Chief Rabbi Yosef: Reform, Conservative Judaism is a false religion By Zvika Klein, 11 december 2002
The [Sephardi] Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, criticized Reform and Conservative Jews during his weekly class on Saturday night, stating that they represent "a new religion" and are actively "uprooting our Torah."
"They have their own religion; a new religion," Yosef said of Reform and Conservative Jews. He added that "there is no difference between the Reform and the Conservative [Jews] - they are both the same."
Yosef emphasized that Reform and Conservative Jews are "both Shabbat violators and actively uprooting our Torah..."
According to the chief rabbi's class that was broadcast on the Kikar HaShabbat ultra-Orthodox news website, it is better to interact with secular Jews and to try and bring them closer to religion:
"A secular person can become a ba'al teshuvah ("master of return to God," a Jew who adopts a form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a secular lifestyle), he can be brought closer; he knows he is secular; he knows he is wrong, there are many who have returned to God."
Yosef later asked, "have you ever seen a Reformer [Jew] who repented? I didn't see any, there are none. They feel they are okay; that they have a religion, [but I think that they] have a new religion." Yosef added that Orthodox Jews should refrain from anything that may resemble a custom of Reform Jews: "Everything that resembles the Reform [Jews] I disagree with," he said.
“A Jewish state is one that has a Chief Rabbinate; a Jewish state is one in which the Chief Rabbinate makes the decisions, writes the rules, and leads...” (124News, 31-1-2022)
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel consists of two Chief Rabbis: an Ashkenazi rabbi, and a Sephardi rabbi; the latter also is known as the Rishon leZion. The Chief Rabbis are elected for 10-year terms. The present Sephardi Chief Rabbi is Yitzhak Yosef, and the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi is David Lau, both of whom began their terms in 2013.
The Rabbinate has jurisdiction over many aspects of Jewish life in Israel. Its jurisdiction includes personal status issues, such as Jewish marriages and Jewish divorce, as well as Jewish burials, conversion to Judaism, kosher laws and kosher certification, Jewish immigrants to Israel (olim), supervision of Jewish holy sites, working with various ritual baths (mikvaot) and yeshivas, and overseeing Rabbinical courts in Israel. The Rabbinical courts are part of Israel's judicial system, and are managed by the Ministry of Religious Services.
The courts have exclusive jurisdiction over marriage and divorce of Jews, and have parallel competence with district courts in matters of personal status, alimony, child support, custody, and inheritance. Religious court verdicts are implemented and enforced — as for the civil court system — by the police, bailiff's office, and other agencies.
Rabbi Arye Deri, one of the founders of Shas, a Haredi religious party, advocates for the increased influence of Halakha, the Jewish religious law, in Israeli society and actively engages in the Baal teshuva movement, encouraging non-Orthodox Israelis of Sephardic and Mizrahi-Jewish heritage to adopt an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle.
Hours after electing a new Knesset speaker from their camp, Yariv Levin, incoming coalition members won preliminary votes on four bills, some of them highly contentious, set down as political preconditions for finalizing the hardline government coalescing under Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Demanded by Likud’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, three of the bills will augment key roles and powers: expanding the authority of the national security minister — set to be Otzma Yehudit head Itamar Ben Gvir — over the police force; clearing a path for a party leader serving a suspended sentence — Shas’s Aryeh Deri — to helm three ministries; and enabling a member of Religious Zionism, likely party leader Bezalel Smotrich, to become an independent minister in the Defense Ministry in control of West Bank building.
The fourth will make it harder for rebel MKs to peel off from their parliamentary factions without sanction, a bill specifically desired by Likud.
Smotrich, who is expected to take the newly-formed position in the Defense Ministry, is a staunch settlement supporter and advocate of annexing West Bank land.
Critics have charged that putting an ultranationalist minister in charge of Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank may create a situation akin to annexation.
Successive Israeli governments have failed to form definitive policy vis-a-vis the territory, home to close to 3 million Palestinians and about 500,000 Israeli settlers. Instead, it continues to permit controlled Jewish settlement, while simultaneously avoiding extending its sovereignty over the territory.
In the days preceding his election victory, Israel’s incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed by Christians United for Israel (CUFI) founder and chairman, Pastor John Hagee. The comfortable rapport between the two men was evident throughout their talk. Pastor Hagee heaped “God’s prayers” on the Israeli leader “for all the rest of his life.”
This display of mutual admiration reflects the years Netanyahu has spent cultivating connections between Israel and the U.S. evangelical community.
For example, Netanyahu spoke at CUFI’s 2017 annual conference and told the Christian crowd that they are “Israel’s best friends in the world.” Netanyahu’s address to attendees at the Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem this week indicates that a Likud-led government will remain wedded to safeguarding Israel’s relations with evangelicals.
That Netanyahu would take time away from a hectic campaign to speak to Pastor Hagee suggests an awareness of the fractious response Israel’s new coalition would soon receive from American Jewish groups.
For example, following the electoral success of the Religious Zionist Party (RZP), led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a statement expressing “serious concerns” over previous declarations by RZP members, which conflict with the AJC’s prioritization of “pluralism” and “inclusion.” Indeed, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s incendiary comments targeting the LGBTQ and non-Orthodox communities understandably disconcerted the American Jewish establishment.
Unsurprisingly, the Union for Reform Judaism’s chosen language touched on how Likud partnering with the RZP would potentially “jeopardize” Israel’s democracy.
Yet it was the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, who issued the most direct condemnation. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post last month, Foxman said that he would cease supporting Israel if the incoming government alters the definition of who qualifies as a Jew under the country’s Law of Return.
To date, U.S. Jewry and evangelicals have retained robust differences in their approaches to the U.S.-Israel relationship. While over half of U.S. Christians backed former President Donald Trump’s 2017 relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, only 16% of American Jews did so, according to an AJC poll.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he has formed a new Israeli government, returning to power as prime minister in Israel’s most right wing administration in history.
“I got it,” the incoming premier tweeted on Wednesday night, minutes before a midnight deadline set by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government following elections on 1 November.
“Thanks to the enormous public support we received in the last elections, I was able to establish a government that will work for the benefit of all Israeli citizens,” he added...
Netanyahu & the Bible
Israel’s longest serving prime minister, who led the government from 1996 to 1999 and again between 2009 and 2021, returns to power after his Likud party, far-right religious Zionist factions and ultra-Orthodox parties secured 64 of parliament’s 120 seats.
Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism political alliance, and Itmar Ben Gvir, leader of Israel’s Jewish Power party, will take up prominent positions in the incoming government.
Smotrich, a self-declared homophobe and settler activist, has been named finance minister and will also be placed within Israel’s defence ministry, with oversight of settlements inside the illegally occupied West Bank.
Ben Gvir, who was previously convicted in Israel of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation, will be named national security minister, with oversight of police and the force that controls security at al-Aqsa Mosque.
Meanwhile, Avi Maoz, head of the anti-LGBT Noam party, was appointed deputy minister in charge of “Jewish identity”, with control over parts of Israel’s national education system.
Israeli far-right coalition promises 'Torah Study' law
The New Arab Staff, 22 December, 2022
The new far-right coalition in Israel has announced plans to place Jewish religious study at the heart of the Israeli legal system...
The Likud-led planned government had agreed to table a quasi-constitutional Basic Law enshrining Torah study as "a fundamental principle in the heritage of the Jewish people", a Religious Zionism Party statement said. As well as gearing the Israeli state towards the religious right, the far-right party pledged "significant and historic reform" of the legal code.
The Sovereignty Movement on Friday welcomed the coalition agreements promoting the process of applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria as another level in the realization of the Zionist vision.
“The opportunity for great historical merit is opening for the leaders of the agreements between the Likud and the Religious Zionist Party and their partner factions to advance the State of Israel and the People of Israel toward the realization of the dream of generations, Israeli sovereignty over the cradle of the Jewish People’s birthplace, Judea and Samaria, say the co-chairwomen of the movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar...
"The People of Israel's sovereignty over the Land of Israel stems from the Biblical promise." Sovereignty Statement
“Mr. Netanyahu and his ministers must remember that by promoting the steps of sovereignty, they are expressing their faithfulness to the will of the people in Israel who have clearly stated: Yes to sovereignty, no to a Palestinian state. With these steps, the Israeli government will restore the State of Israel to the path of Zionism – building, development and strengthening the Jewish people in the Land..
RIYADH: China’s business links with Saudi Arabia have been significantly boosted thanks to the signing of 35 investment agreements involving organizations from the two countries.
The raft of deals came during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Kingdom. They cover a range of sectors, including green energy, technology and cloud services.
Transportation, logistics, medical industries, construction and manufacturing are also covered by the deals, as is a petrochemicals project, housing developments and the teaching of the Chinese language.
The agreements are worth about $30 billion, and come as China seeks to shore up its COVID-19-hit economy and the Kingdom continues to diversify its economic and political alliances in line with Vision 2030.
One of the deals involved a memorandum of understanding with China’s Huawei Technologies on cloud computing and building high-tech complexes in Saudi cities.
The signing of the agreements was overseen by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Xi, with the first an alignment plan between the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. [...]
The signing of the MoUs and agreements was followed by a ceremony during which the Chinese president received an honorary doctorate degree in administration from King Saud University.
The range of deals prompted the CEO of the Saudi Export Development Authority, Abdulrahman Al-Thukair, to hail the strong economic relations between Saudi Arabia and China..
Al-Thukair praised the growth and development of the volume of trade exchange between the two countries, noting that China is one of the Kingdom’s main trade partners, as total non-oil exports from the Kingdom to China reached SR36 billion ($9.57 billion) in 2021, mainly petrochemicals, which amounted to SR31.7 billion, and minerals, which amounted to SR2 billion.
Thursday’s developments prompted Hussain Al-Shammari, the Ministry of Media’s director of international media, to claim that Saudi Arabia is now a “hub” for Chinese industry.
Speaking to Arab News, he said: “Today they will open a regional center for all factories of China in Saudi Arabia that makes Saudi Arabia a hub for the industry for China. The Silk Road of China will be served with the Saudi Vision.
Both countries are interested in strengthening these relations and we will benefit, both China and Saudi Arabia, from these visits.”
Al-Shammari highlighted the importance of the Chinese president’s visit to the Kingdom and the aligned goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed the formation of a trilateral mechanism with Russia and Syria to help end the war in Syria, Reuters reported.
"First our intelligence agencies, then defence ministers, and then foreign ministers could meet. After their meetings we as the leaders may come together.
I offered it to [Russian President] Mr Putin and he has a positive view on it," Erdogan was cited as saying.
Erdogan pointed out that there is a problem that must be dealt with quickly, which is that terrorist organisations in northern Syria harass Turkiye from time to time.
"Terrorists threaten and provoke our country from there, and according to previous agreements, whether in Astana or Sochi, we have the right to do what is necessary within our security corridor, which reaches a depth of 30 kilometres," Erdogan said.
Moscow on Friday welcomed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's proposal to establish a three-way mechanism for diplomacy between Türkiye, Russia and Syria, Russian state news agencies reported, citing a deputy foreign minister.
The RIA Novosti news agency also reported that Syria's position on the idea, which could involve a summit between the leaders of the three countries, was not yet known, but that Moscow was in contact with officials in Damascus.
Türkiye on Thursday expressed willingness to collaborate with Syria and Russia in its counterterror efforts.
Israel's Ambassador to Türkiye Irit Lillian on Tuesday presented her credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, marking a new era after four years with the position unstaffed.
The ceremony at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara marks the latest step in warming ties between Israel and Türkiye.
Once close regional allies, relations between Israel and Türkiye have been strained for more than a decade, with Ankara having expelled Israel's ambassador following a 2010 Israeli raid on an aid ship to Gaza, which killed 10 Turkish citizens.
Bilateral relations began to fray in 2008 following an Israeli military operation in Gaza.
Relations then froze in 2010 after the deaths of 10 civilians following an Israeli raid on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla trying to breach a blockade by carrying aid into the Gaza enclave.
A brief reconciliation lasted from 2016 until 2018, when Türkiye withdrew its ambassador and expelled Israel's over the killing of Palestinians during a conflict with Gaza.
Türkiye and Israel began improving relations with high-level visits this year including Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit to Ankara.
Following months of diplomatic warming, Israel and Türkiye announced in August the full restoration of relations and the return of ambassadors to both countries.
Türkiye, too, has appointed an ambassador to Israel. A presidential decree in November named Şakir Özkan Torunlar to the post, Turkish media reported at the time.
He is expected to present his credentials to Israeli President Herzog "soon," according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Despite past tensions between the two, Erdoğan last month congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu on his victory in the general election. The two leaders agreed to "work together to create a new era in relations" on a basis of respect for mutual interests.
David Grossman: "The chaos is here...
The people who call good evil and evil good are also already here." Haaretz [Israel], 28-12-2022
"As part of the coalition agreements between the Likud and Religious Zionism, the new government will work to strengthen the Jewish settlement in Hebron, This is in addition to general clauses that discuss the fortifying of the settlement of Judea and Samaria in a wider sense. The clause is an answer to the demands by the left to evacuate Hebron and a clear statement that the Jewish settlement is not only not slated for evacuation but is slated to be expanded." Arutz Sheva, 28-12-2022
Everything that has happened in Israel since the election is ostensibly legal and democratic. But under its cover – as has happened more than once in history – the seeds of chaos, emptiness and disorder have been sown in Israel’s most vital institutions.
I am not talking merely about the enactment of new laws, extreme and outrageous though they are, but about a deeper, more fateful change, a change in our identity, a change in the character of the state.
Throughout the negotiations to form a new government, a verse from the book of Isaiah has been constantly running through my head – “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that change darkness into light, and light into darkness; that change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!”
The negotiations, which more closely resembled a looting spree, have flickered before our eyes in rapid pictures, in flashes of an alien, provocative logic – “the override clause,” “the discrimination law,” “Smotrich will be the ultimate arbiter on construction in the West Bank,” “Ben-Gvir will be able to set up a private militia in the West Bank,” “The serial criminal Dery will be able...” In the blink of an eye, with increasing freneticism, with the sleight of hand of a streetside card sharp.
Now, after the dust storm has settled, after the dimensions of the catastrophe have been revealed, Benjamin Netanyahu may be telling himself that after his sowing of chaos has achieved its goals – destroying the legal system, the police, education and anything that emits a whiff of “leftism” – he will be able to turn back the clock, erase or at least moderate the crazy, dishonest worldview he himself created and go back to leading us in a proper, legal, rational fashion. Back to being the responsible adult in a well-run country.
But at that point, he may well discover that from the place to which he has brought us, there is no return. It will be impossible to eliminate or even tame the chaos he has created. His years of chaos have already etched something tangible and frightening into reality, into the souls of the people who have lived through it.
They are here. The chaos is here, with all its suctioning force. Internal hatreds are here. Mutual loathing is here; as is the cruel violence in our streets, on our highways, in our schools and hospitals. The people who call good evil and evil good are also already here...
Iran news: Tehran Univ Science & Tech Park
ready to cooperate with Venezuela IRNA News, 26-12-2022
Head of University of Tehran Science and Technology Park Ali Assadi on Monday said that the well-known Iranian university and its Science and Technology Park are ready to have cooperation with Venezuela, given the numerous capacities the two sides have.
Assadi made the comment in a meeting with Venezuelan Ambassador to Tehran José Rafael Silva Aponte.
Referring to political and cultural cooperation between Iran and Venezuela, Assadi said that the two sides need to expand cooperation in other fields as well, including technology.
He said that University of Tehran Science and Technology Park is the oldest of its kind in Iran, and is in charge of developing the technology sector at the university.
Also, he added, 300 knowledge-based companies and technology units are member of the University of Tehran Science and Technology Park, which are active in a variety of specialized fields.
Given that, he said, the complex is ready to have cooperation with Venezuela, adding that companies active in sectors such as petrochemical, oil and gas, as well as agriculture and natural resources, could be the first entities to begin the cooperation...
The Venezuelan ambassador, for his part, said that his country aims to shift from an oil-based economy, and as part of efforts to achieve that goal, it seeks development in the technology sector, adding that Iran serves as a good model in this regard...
Russia and Iran are building a new transcontinental trade route stretching from the eastern edge of Europe to the Indian Ocean, a 3,000–kilometer (1,860–mile) passage that’s beyond the reach of any foreign intervention, informs Bloomberg.
It’s an example of how Great Power’ competition is rapidly reshaping trade networks in a world economy that looks set to fragment into rival blocs. Russia and Iran, under tremendous pressure from sanctions, are turning toward each other—and they’re both looking eastward, too.
The goal is to shield commercial links from Western interference and build new ones with the giant and fast-growing economies of Asia.
The emerging trade corridor would allow Russia and Iran to share thousands of kilometers off existing routes. At its northern end is the Sea of Azov, which is bracketed by the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine’s southeastern coast — including the Russian–occupied port of Mariupol — and the mouth of the River Don.
Earlier this month, listing his country’s gains from the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said the Sea of Azov “has become an inland sea” for Russia. From there river, sea and rail networks extend to Iranian hubs on the Caspian Sea and ultimately the Indian Ocean. Putin has flagged the importance of that end of the corridor, as well.
At an economic forum in September he underlined the need to develop the ship, rail and road infrastructure along the route that “will provide Russian companies with new opportunities to enter the markets of Iran, India, the Middle East and Africa, and will facilitate supplies from these countries in return.” [..]
Trade delegations are shuttling between Iran and Russia with growing frequency — and trade is rising, too.
Officially it surged by almost half through August this year. The annual figure likely will soon exceed $5 billion.
There’s a “clear path” to reaching $40 billion once a free-trade agreement is in place, Sergey Katyrin, the head of Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told a conference in Tehran.
For Iran the pivot has become more urgent amid faltering efforts to restore the 2015 deal with world powers, which lifted sanctions in exchange for restrictions on the country’s nuclear program. Iranian officials say they’re fully focused on what they call “the Eastern axis” — scrapping any plans to revive economic ties with Europe and instead pursuing a slew of trade and energy agreements with Russia, China and Central Asian nations.
The Turkish, Syrian and Russian defence ministers have held previously unannounced talks in Moscow, the Turkish and Russian defence ministries said on Wednesday. It was the first ministerial-level meeting between rivals Turkey and Syria since the start of the Syrian conflict 11 years ago.
A Turkish defence ministry statement said the Turkish, Syrian and Russian intelligence chiefs also attended the talks in Moscow which, it said, took place in a “positive atmosphere.”
Political analysts said the Moscow talks held under Russian auspices, were a step towards finding common ground in Syria, which could mean further besieging Kurdish groups and containing US presence in northern Syria.
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During their Moscow talks, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar and the head of its National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Hakan Fidan, met with Syrian defence minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk along with Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu, the Turkish defence ministry said.
The discussions focused on “the Syrian crisis, the refugee problem and efforts for a joint struggle against terror organisations present on Syrian territory,” the ministry said. It added that the sides would continue to hold trilateral meetings.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed that the three ministers discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the refugee issue and to combat extremist groups.
The parties noted “the constructive nature of the dialogue ... and the need to continue it in the interests of further stabilising the situation” in Syria and the region as a whole, the short statement said. It didn’t provide any other details.
The efforts towards a Turkish-Syrian reconciliation also comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who faces presidential and parliamentary elections in June — is under intense pressure at home to send Syrian refugees back. Anti-refugee sentiment is rising in Turkey amid an economic crisis.
Earlier this month, Erdogan said he had proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin a series of trilateral meetings among Russian, Syrian and Turkish ministers which could culminate in a summit gathering the three countries’ leaders. He also said he wanted to meet Syria's President Bashar al-Assad...
The Palestinian Authority called for an international boycott of Israel’s new government over its hardline, right-wing agenda, saying it poses “an existential threat to the Palestinian people.”
“The State of Palestine rejects the annexationist, violent, racist, and incitement to ethnic cleansing policy guidelines of Israel’s new government. The State of Palestine considers this agenda an existential threat to the Palestinian people and their inalienable and inviolable rights,” said a statement released by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry late Thursday.
The PA urged the international community to “carry out its responsibilities and reject any dealings with a government committed to carrying out international crimes, including annexation, political persecution and racial discrimination.”
The statement called for the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, to “ensure the protection of the Palestinian people from Israel’s ongoing campaign of dispossession and displacement, colonization and annexation, ethnic cleansing and persecution.”
The statement came the day that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swore in his new government which includes three far-right factions that want to extend Israel’s control over the West Bank, which the Palestinians claim for a future state.
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