Clipmarks | Lebanon Clips

Egypt urges Israel to stop threats against Lebanon

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:09:54 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy

Egypt has urged Israel to stop making threats against Lebanon, its foreign minister said on a visit to Beirut.

Ahmed Abul Gheit has been holding talks with Lebanese leaders about the rising tensions with Israel.

Israeli Environment Minister Gideon Ezra said the entire Lebanese state would be a target if the government "conferred legitimacy on Hezbollah".

He was echoing similar remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday.

"We reject any threat to the unity and sovereignty of Lebanon... especially from Israel," Mr Abul Gheit told a news conference.

"Yesterday, we spoke with the Israelis during Defence Minister Ehud Barak's visit to Egypt, and asked them to stop thinking about threatening this friendly Arab country," Mr Abul Gheit said.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed

to destroy Israel if it carried out threats to attack Lebanon.

"If [a war] is to happen as they are threatening, our victory this time will be decisive, unquestionable and final," Mr Nasrallah said.

Tags: israel, egypt, lebanon, hezbollah

Maids in Lebanon die every week

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:48:10 GMT

clipped by: Smoke TNT

Clip Source: www.alarabiya.net

Some 95 foreign housemaids died in Lebanon since Jan. 2007. (File)

Lebanon must improve working conditions for migrant domestic workers, who often commit suicide or die while trying to escape from their employers, a U.S.-based rights group said on Tuesday.

Out of about 95 foreign housemaids who died in Lebanon since Jan. 2007, 40 deaths were classified by their embassies as suicides and 24 as workers falling from high buildings, often trying to escape their employers, it said in a statement.

"Domestic workers are dying in Lebanon at a rate of more than one per week," said Nadim Houry, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The rights group said interviews with embassy officials and friends of domestic workers who committed suicide suggested that "forced confinement, excessive work demands, employer abuse and financial pressures are key factors pushing these women to kill themselves or risk their lives".

Joe Biden, Friend of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:30:26 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: And the IRGC and its Quds Force were both designated “supporters of terrorism” in October 2007. Though the latter two designations would not have been so had Biden had his way.

And most importantly – for the sake of sanctions and the unequivocal denial of any form of support to terrorists and terrorist supporters – the amendment said, “the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization … and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”

The text of the amendment included Congressional testimony from then-commander of Multi-National-Force Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, who said, “Iran, through the use of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps Quds Force, seeks to turn the Shiia militia extremists into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq.”

Clip Source: www.familysecuritymatters.org

Sen. Joe Biden – Barack Obama’s eagerly anticipated running mate – should be named an honorary soldier in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We’re all familiar with the IRGC: Iran’s unique corps of Islamist fighters who have been directly involved in deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq – even Afghanistan – threatening our ships in the Persian Gulf; and organizing, training, equipping, funding, and providing direct operational support to Lebanon-based Hezbollah (perhaps the most dangerous terrorist army on earth). And that’s just for starters.

Also known as the Pasdaran, the IRGC is not Iran’s conventional territorial armed force, but the military force of the Khomeinist-inspired Islamic Revolution. The organization fields an army, a navy, and an air force, as well as an extranational special-operations force known as the Quds (Jerusalem) Force.

Iran, of course, is a “state sponsor of terrorism,” so-designated by the U.S. State Department back in 1984.

Tags: joe biden, iran's islamic revolutionary guard corpps, ouds force, state sponsor of terrorism, state department, gen. david petraeus, amb. ryan crocker

Beauty of Iran

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:46:45 GMT

clipped by: Kelika
clipper's remarks: From the site: "Richly-textured land, rarely seen in the West

Outside of politics, this is a fascinating, enchanting world, rarely shown in all its color. Since our first part we received many requests to continue with the series, and in fact, we'll continue to highlight the natural beauty of Near and Middle East countries, such as Armenia, Lebanon and Israel. In our humble opinion, people should learn to appreciate natural beauty and historic customs, without reaching for a "telescopic finder" of a rifle."

Clip Source: www.darkroastedblend.com

"Armenian Church Maryam-e Moghadas (The Holy Mary)", photo by Peter Kerber

"Woods of Mazanderan", photo by Zohreh Ghaemi

"Oroumieh Lake", photo by Hamid Sedghinejad

"Saayeh khosh formations in Southern Iran", photo by Sizif

"A mansion in Uramanat" Photo: paveh2005

"Sobatan Village - Ardebil", photo by Ali Vakilirad

"A Stream in the Golestan Province", photo by Avahid

"In Alam Kooh Mountains", photo by MountainZone

"Emam Mosque - Isfahan", photo by Sergej Marsnjak

Akhavan Residence

Persian Miniature by Bagher Aghamiri

Tags: photos, iran

Bucking your party

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:53:48 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

McCain bested Obama again when Warren asked for an example of a time in which he “went against party loyalty and maybe even against your own best interest for the good of America.”

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

When McCain got the question, everyone in the room thought he would bring up campaign-finance reform, the issue on which he has alienated the Republican base for years. But he didn’t. “Climate change, out-of-control spending, torture,” he said. “The list goes on.” McCain’s prime example, though, was his story of opposing Ronald Reagan’s decision to send a contingent of Marines to Lebanon as a peacekeeping force. “My knowledge and my background told me that a few hundred Marines in a situation like that could not successfully carry out any kind of peacekeeping mission, and I thought they were going into harm’s way,” McCain said

McCain answered the whole question without touching on campaign finance; he had so much more life experience to draw on that he could swamp Obama without using everything he had.

Patrick Buchanan: US views of Georgia "ring hollow"

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:07:25 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "For a decade, some of us have warned about the folly of getting into Russia’s space and getting into Russia’s face. The chickens of democratic imperialism have now come home to roost—in Tbilisi."

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

American charges of Russian aggression ring hollow. Georgia started this fight—Russia finished it

Russia’s response was “disproportionate” and “brutal,” wailed Bush.

True. But did we not authorize Israel to bomb Lebanon for 35 days in response to a border skirmish

Was that not many times more “disproportionate”?

Russia has invaded a sovereign country, railed Bush

But did not the United States bomb Serbia for 78 days and invade to force it to surrender a province, Kosovo, to which Serbia had a far greater historical claim than Georgia had to Abkhazia or South Ossetia

When the Soviet Union broke into 15 nations, we celebrated. When Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo broke from Serbia, we rejoiced. Why, then, the indignation when two provinces, whose peoples are ethnically separate from Georgians and who fought for their independence, should succeed in breaking away?

Are secessions

laudable only when they advance the agenda of the neocons

whom viscerally detest Russia?

Tags: war, georgia, russia

Scholarships for Terror

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:04:16 GMT

clipped by: Smoke TNT
clipper's remarks: "Islamic University, after all, is where Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier whose kidnaping by Hamas helped fuel the 2006 Lebanon war, initially was held, according to Israel's largest newspaper. The paper also reported that a raid last year by Fatah forces at the university found a cache of rocket launchers and rifles."

"A professor at the school told The Baltimore Sun in 2006 that "Hamas built this institution. The university presents the philosophy of Hamas. If you want to know what Hamas is, you can know it from the university." "

Clip Source: www.nypost.com

Back in May, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly raked Israeli officials over the coals after they refused to let seven Palestinians who'd won US-sponsored Fulbright scholarships leave Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Under heavy pressure from Washington, Israel agreed to give exit visas to four of the Palestinians, letting them accept their US-taxpayer-funded scholarships.

But the Israelis remained adamant about the other three, all of whom were either students or teaching assistants at the Islamic University of Gaza - a notorious Hamas stronghold.

Now State has taken a closer look, and guess what? Washington has notified all three that "information has come to light that you may be inadmissible to the United States"

No one's saying precisely what that information is, but we can well imagine.

Secretary Rice's protests notwithstanding, the last thing US taxpayers need to be wasting their money on is prestigious scholarships for terrorists-in-training to come to America.

August 10

Tags: united states, palestine, israel, taxes, terrorism, college

The Israeli-Georgia Connection, $1 Billion and Oil

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:43:10 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: "A new [oil] pipeline is being built to bypass Russia".

The news about Russia's attacks on Georgia highlighted that oil pipelines were targetted.

Could this be the real reason Bush is speaking out against Russia? I was thinking how hypocritical of Bush (although I do not disagree necessarily with the conclusion) that Russia's military action was "disproportionate" (over the top) against Georgia, when he was silent on Israel's destroying of Lebanon (for capturing soldiers). Just whose or what principle interest is Bush really defending in criticizing Russia?

Clip Source: www.israelnationalnews.com

Israeli Has $1 Billion Invested in Georgia

(IsraelNN.com) The Israeli-Georgia connection is estimated to be worth $1 billion, according to a former Georgian ambassador to Israel. The Jewish state and private investors have provided military assistance and advisors to Georgia, where pipelines pump oil destined for Israel. A new pipeline is being built to bypass Russian territory.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Israeli companies in Georgia have begun evacuating their staff and that Israeli tourists are leaving for home.

Tags: russia, israel, georgia, war, nato, oil

General Petraeus hails SAS

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:09:29 GMT

clipped by: RecordSage

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

General Petraeus hails SAS after Iraq victory over al-Qaeda car bombers

The SAS has helped to defeat a murderous web of al-Qaeda's car bombers in Baghdad that brought devastation to the capital, the top US commander in Iraq said yesterday as he heaped praise on the unit's efforts.

General David Petraeus, who is due to leave his post in Iraq shortly, also dismissed the notion that American and British military relations had been strained by the recent offensive in Basra, emphasising that the problem of tackling militias in the southern port city had been rightfully Iraqi-led.

The four-star general, looking forward to his next posting as head of Central Command, said he would draw on lessons learnt from his four years in Iraq on how to fight an insurgency when tackling his new area of responsibility, which includes Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

He said Britain's special forces in Iraq worked alongside their American counterparts on “many, many cases of very important operations”.

Tags: petraeus, sas, iraq war, progress

Limited US attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards Bases in Sight

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:00:11 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Tehran would view a US attack on the IRGC bases as a casus belli and might react in ways and on a scale unanticipated in Washington.

Two days ago, Iran’s defense minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar warned: “Iran’s Armed Forces are fully prepared to counter any military attack with any intensity and to make the enemy regret initiating any such incursions.”

According to DEBKAfile’s Iranian and military sources, the IRGC had by mid-May completed their preparations for a US missile, air or commando assault on their command centers and bases in reprisal for Iranian intervention in Iraq. These preparations encompass al Qods’ arms, most of them undercover, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan. At home, the Revolutionary Guards have evacuated their key bases together with manpower and equipment to regular army sites or temporary quarters in villages located in remote corners of eastern and northern Iran.

Clip Source: www.debka.com

Our Washington sources report that president George W. Bush is closer than ever before to ordering a limited missile-air bombardment of the IRGC-al Qods Brigade’s installations in Iran. It is planned to target training camps and the munitions factories pumping fighters, missiles and roadside bombs to the Iraqi insurgency, Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.

Iran is geared up for counteraction.

US intelligence estimates that Tehran’s counteraction will likewise be on a limited scale and therefore any US-Iranian military encounter will not be allowed to explode into a major confrontation. Because this US assault is not planned to extend to Iran’s nuclear installations, Tehran is not expected to hit back at distant American targets in the Persian Gulf or at Israel

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report, however, that Iran’s military preparations for countering an American attack are far broader than envisaged in Washington

Tags: war, nuclear, usa, god, help, us

Syrian general's killing severs Hezbollah links

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:37:37 GMT

clipped by: RecordSage
clipper's remarks: The wonders of a stray bullet...

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Syrian general's killing severs Hezbollah links

Bashar al-Assad’s regime is considering moving into the arms of the West as peace talks with Israel, using Turkish mediation, continue

The mysterious killing last week of a top Syrian general and key aide to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has sparked intense speculation about internal feuding within the regime’s intelligence apparatus.

Syria is at a critical juncture as it pursues indirect peace talks with Israel and a closer relationship with the West, while attempting to maintain its long-standing regional alliances with Iran and the militant Shia Hezbollah of Lebanon.

After Mr Assad became president in 2000, General Suleiman ran his intelligence affairs, and is reported to have handled the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Tags: syria, hezbollah

A Sculpture of Bird's Head Dating Back to 10th Millennium BC Unearthed in Syria

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:52:37 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.sana.sy

Damascus, (SANA)- the Syrian-French archeological mission working at Mount Bala'as site in the central governorate of Hama, (Salamiyeh) had recently unearthed circle-shaped small-size houses built on natural rocks in front of caves used for habitation and dating back to the 10th Millennium BC.

The General Directorate of Ruins and Museums said the first and most important discovery in Bialdul Cham (historically Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) is the sculpture of bird's head engraved on the natural rocks, adding that the finding could be the imitation of an eagle's head etched on natural rocks.

The mission also discovered in the same site a small-size housing structure near the statue along with a small basin engraved also in the rocks and designed to pour into another stone basin built beside the house.

The sculpture and the structure represent a symbolic concept for the man in that period, and believed to be used in certain rituals.

Tags: syria, discovery, archaeology

A Race Hanging By a Thread

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:27:57 GMT

clipped by: netsubsite
clipper's remarks: I have never spoken a kind word about the Israelis in my life, but it's simply impossible to deal with these hate-consumed Arabs.

Clip Source: www.bobmillerwrites.com

A Race Hanging By a Thread

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Five militants freed in a prisoner swap with Israel prayed and laid wreaths at the grave of a slain Hezbollah commander Thursday, vowing to fight Israel as supporters showered them with rice.

"We swear by God ... to continue on your same path and not to retreat until we achieve the same stature that God bestowed on you," said Samir Kantar, who had been the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel. End

I have never spoken a kind word about the Israelis in my life, but it's simply impossible to deal with these hate-consumed Arabs. True, the U.S., British, and Israelis have committed barbaric acts against Muslims. But Muslims, what day in the future can we expect to come together with you, and like the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland say, "Enough!"

Tags: lebanon militants, prisoner swap, taliban al qaeda, florence, alabama, controversial

The World's Most Optimistic Countries

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:43:15 GMT

clipped by: Catshade

Clip Source: www.citizensugar.com

Satisfied with the direction your country is headed? The Chinese sure are. The rising nation tops the list of optimistic countries with a glass much more full than those of trailing countries.

Economic growth and national excitement surrounding the Beijing Olympics seems to be boosting China's civic mood — in 2002, only 48 percent of the Chinese responded positively. But the people still have their concerns, most notably, worries about inflation, rising prices, and environmental degradation burden the Chinese.

Who is happy with the direction their country is headed?

China — 86 percent content
Australia — 61 percent content
Russia — 54 percent content
Spain — 50 percent content
Jordan — 49 percent content
Poland — 42 percent content
India — 41 percent content
Egypt — 40 percent content
South Africa — 36 percent content
Germany — 34 percent content

And some other favorites:

France — 29 percent content
United States — 23 percent content
Lebanon — 6 percent content

Tags: optimism, politics, happiness, economy, china

Afganistan; The "good" war for Democrats?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:21:33 GMT

clipped by: nolaman

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

For many Democrats, Afghanistan was always the “good war,” as opposed to Iraq. I think Barack Obama needs to ask himself honestly: “Am I for sending more troops to Afghanistan because I really think we can win there, because I really think that that will bring an end to terrorism, or am I just doing it because to get elected in America, post-9/11, I have to be for winning some war?”

The truth is that Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Pakistan are just different fronts in the same war. The core problem is that the Arab-Muslim world in too many places has been failing at modernity, and were it not for $120-a-barrel oil, that failure would be even more obvious. For far too long, this region has been dominated by authoritarian politics, massive youth unemployment, outdated education systems, a religious establishment resisting reform and now a death cult that glorifies young people committing suicide, often against other Muslims.