Courtesy of the talented and well-trained zoologists at the Zurich Zoo. According to the caption on another pic of the adorable Indeever - a pic that may even be impossibly cuter than this one - he was born on April 27th and just finished his first round of vaccinations. And here are two more pics - this time of Indeever and his mom Dshamilja - that come from here and here:

Yeah, kind of cute.

References:
* At the Zoo [Reuters]
* At the Zoo [AP]
* News in Pictures [Sulekha.com]
* Djamila and her cub posing [Tambako / Flickr]

Previously:
* Sunday Cute - Lemurs Like To Move It Move It
* Sunday Cute - Orphaned Owls Plus Stuffed Mama Owl Equals Cute
* Sunday Cute - Dolphin Lulls Naive Biped Into False Sense Of Security [Video]

Remember that time when Israel signed a peace deal with Jordan? And remember how that peace deal involved promises of cultural normalization? Yeah not so much:

The refusal of a Jordanian newspaper to publish an advertisement supporting the Arab peace initiative because it displayed the Israeli flag shows there is "long way to go before we reach peace," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Wednesday. AFP reported that the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab Al-Yawm refused to publish the advertisement taken out by the Palestinian Authority, and which appeared in the Israeli press last week. An editor at the paper was quoted as saying that the advertisement was rejected both because of the flange and because it promoted the idea that Israel accepted the peace initiative, "although Israeli officials have rejected the initiative."

Just to be clear: they rejected an ad about peace with Israel because it included the national symbol of Israel. Is there a possibility that Middle East peace deals are being embraced with less than full enthusiasm by Israel's Arab neighbors?

Not for nothing - but Jordan just sealed a nuclear deal with China. Which I wouldn't be so worried about except one of the end games for inevitably failed peace negotiations involves dumping the West Bank on Jordan. Which would unfortunately set in motion an eventual coup by radical Palestinian groups. Which would put them in charge of said nuclear reactor. Which would be, all things considered, suboptimal.

References:
* Foreign Ministry irked as Jordan paper refuses ad because of Israeli flag [JPost]
* Jordan seals nuclear deal with China [JPost]
* Back to the Jordanian option [YNet]

Previously:
* Mid-East Energy Update: Fuel To Gaza, Nuclear Power To The Rest Of The Arab World
* Pro-Islam Christian Leaders Seemingly Untroubled By Muslim World's Surreal Anti-Christian Oppression And Murder
* Genocidal Lunatics And Vicious Terrorists Helpfully Illustrate Negative Connotations Of "Change" For American Electorate

In Iran little toddlers are being brainwashed to have "the annihilation of Israel" as their "greatest desire":

In Gaza little toddlers are being brainwashed to "kill Jewish children":

dozens of children have undergone training in the past few days by gunmen from the Salah al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. The training included firing pistols and rifles. "I am learning how to fight the Jews and kill Jewish children," 11-year-old Muhammad told Ynet.

And in the West Bank Fatah has picked up the theme:

In the immortal words of Bruno Gianelli, I love it when the women get involved:

Flying chairs and punches thrown by women students at a Gaza university this week may seem a rather minor manifestation of the factional fighting that has riven Palestinian society over the past year or so. But with Hamas and Fatah still smarting from bloody armed clashes in 2007, when the Islamists routed President Mahmoud Abbas's PLO forces in the enclave, the scuffle shows how deep the rift runs... The fight at the university in Khan Younis was, according to witnesses, triggered by arguments over mutual allegations of repression between leaders of Hamas, who now control Gaza, and of Abbas's Fatah, which dominates the West Bank. "I saw chairs flying over heads and some students were injured. And I saw two or three teachers hit," said one witness, who refused to be named.

Whatever. They've been at this for 15 years without it ever erupting into a sustained civil war, perennially sensationalist MSM headlines aside. They'll go back to attacking Israelis soon enough. Two weeks ago it was pipe bombs in the West Bank and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip. Who knows what next week will bring.

Upside: this time Fatah's got US weapons and training that they're supposed to use against Hamas outlaws. They've even occassionally shown kind of a kind of willingness to use them that way! Downside: they had all that last time and Hamas captured those weapons when they rolled Gaza anyway. And any civil war scenario assumes that Abbas doesn't make good on his suggestion to turn Fatah's weapons on Israelis in the cause of unity.

References:
* THE WEST WING "20 HOURS IN AMERICA PART I"
* Hamas, Fatah women brawl in Gaza as factional tempers flare [Ha'aretz]
* Breaking news from gaza [Soccer Dad]
* Palestinian caught with pipe-bomb at checkpoint outside Nablus [JPost]
* Killing in the West Bank Exposes a Furtive War [WaPo]
* Palestinian Unit Battles Gunmen In Test for U.S.-Funded Program [WaPo]
* Qabatiya residents wounded in Palestinian infighting [YNet]
* Hamas Has 200 Tons Of Explosives That The US Gave To Fatah (Plus: Egypt Says It's Israel's Fault) [MR]
* The Oh-So-Moderate Abbas Urges Palestinians To Unite, Target Israelis [MR]

Previously:
* Hamas: Of Course We'll Never Stop Attacking "Zionist Enemies Of God"
* Hamas Launching Dozens Of Rockets From Palestinian Neighborhoods, Attacking Israeli Troops (Plus: US Announces $14 Million In New Aid)
* Moderate Palestinian State Department Darling: We "Cherish The Path" Of Genocidal Hamas Lunatic Ahmed Yassin

Written after the brutal lynchings of of Vadim Novesche and Yosef Avrahami in Oct. 2000, more than half a decade after Israel made irreversible concessions to the Palestinians in return for an intangible promise of peace. It's a little heavy handed and has some weirdly Christian iconography...

... but it's undoubtedly effective.

References:
* The IDF Never Forgets - Last Member Of Ramallah Lynch Mob Caught [MR]
* Sh'ma Israel [pyari1985 / YouTube]

Previously:
* Tributes To Ofra Haza [Video]
* Shabbat Beauty - Zionist Hip Hop In Remembrance Of Yaakov Paz. A Momentary Song" [Video]
* Shabbat Beauty - Sarit Hadad Is Good At Singing [Video]

Zimbabwe is about to go from bad to worse because of a massive cholera outbreak. So he's not exactly wrong...

Carter issued a statement Tuesday condemning what he said was Harare's decision to renege on an agreement to allow him, Annan and Machel into the country. He also offered a damning assessment of the Mugabe regime. "After almost three decades of governmental corruption, mismanagement and oppression, Zimbabwe has become a basket case, an embarrassment to the region and a focus of international concern and condemnation," he said.

... he's just a shameless hypocritical simpleton:

Carter had barely settled in at the White House in 1977 when he set about establishing his presidency as different. Instead of leading with the pragmatic idealism that marked most successful U.S. presidencies, the former governor of Georgia said he would base his leadership on a new, ill-defined concept of "human rights."... In Rhodesia, Carter kept up sanctions begun under his predecessors. But he went further by undermining the election of Bishop Abel Muzorewa as prime minister in 1979 to protest the exclusion of candidate Robert Mugabe. In response to Carter's pressure, new elections were held, giving Mugabe the victory he has held onto as Africa's worst dictator.

What next? A tirade against the mullahs who took over after Iran after he sold out the Shah?

At least we haven't just elected a human rights-inclined President who ran on the exact same empty slogans that propelled Carter into the White House - and thus Mugabe into Zimbabwe and the mullahs into Iran:

Hamas's most recent mortar barrage scored a direct hit on an IDF base, badly injuring 8 soldiers and costing one his leg. This was while they were also launching another one of their constant rocket and missile attacks on Israeli schools and hospitals. Eventually the IDF will have to do something...

Following a mortar shell attack by Palestinian terrorists on an IDF base that left eight soldiers wounded, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i said on Saturday that a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip was approaching... "The calm is important to us and to them [when] we are controlling the checkpoints and [when they] fear the IDF's strength. But, we must find the right time for action. Their [actions] do not leave us many choices," he said.

... as is being recognized more and more widely...

Public sentiment notwithstanding, Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, argues that a military offensive in Gaza should be undertaken if rocket fire persists. Even Israeli political leaders, who typically agree on virtually nothing, can agree on this point. Likud leader Yuval Steinitz surmised earlier this year, "The only way to eliminate rocket attacks is for Israel to launch a military operation." He added that because Gazans elected Hamas, this gives Israel "the full right and duty to react." In May, Labor leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer agreed, stating that Israel has "no choice but to destroy all the nests of terror."

... at which point global anti-Israel condemnation will naturally erupt. Because it's a cycle of violence you see. I mean - it's actually a cycle where Israel talks about extending the ceasefire and Hamas attacks Israelis. But close enough for UN work.

At least international anti-Israel partisans will sound marginally less stupid when they rant about "occupied Gaza." Silver lining and all that.

References:
* Soldier loses leg in mortar shell attack [JPost]
* Maybe Hamas Will Extend The Ceasefire They Keep Breaking With Daily Rocket Barrages... [MR]
* Vilna'i: Large Gaza op approaching [JPost]
* Shaky Ceasefire Now Being Shaken Daily By Hamas Rockets [MR]
* Gaza Powder Keg Set to Explode [Sharnoff / PJM]
* The Myth Of Occupied Gaza [WaPo]

Previously:
* Israel Responds To Long-Range Rocket Attacks By Sending Food And Medicine Into Gaza (Plus: Gaza Markets Still Bustling) [Video]
* Moderate State Department Darling Abbas: We'll Declare War If Israel Doesn't Withdraw
* Palestinians Firing Missile Barrages At Israeli Hospitals Treating Gaza Residents (Plus: Israeli Response Somewhat Underwhelming, Constrained)

Britain, France, and Germany are done being polite about Iran's nuclear program. And it only took 5,000 working centrifuges and enough material for a nuclear bomb before they got to that conclusion. But maybe Obama's planned high level meetings can fix things. I mean - Bush tried 28 times and failed. But maybe the 29th time will be the charm. Sure Iran says they'll keep refusing to meet while they build game-changing weapons...

The very appearance of this new missile is a living testimony to the failure of the world community to curb the trade in missile technology, not to speak of curbing the malicious ambitions of Iran's mullahs. The Iranians dubbed the missile launched on Nov. 12 "Sajeel," but its general layout was indistinguishable from the description of the "Ashura," which was flight-tested about one year ago, apparently without success.

To the uninformed eye, the Sajeel/Ashura resembles the familiar Shahab-3, an evolved clone of the North Korean 1,300-kilometer No Dong single-stage, liquid propelled ballistic missile. In fact, some commentators pooh-pooh'd the new missile as another manifestation of the ever-evolving Shahab-3 design. Nothing is further from the truth. Perhaps the most striking feature of the new missile is its very newness. This is not another permutation of the No Dong formula - this is a brand-new missile... While still lagging behind the latest in the United States or Russia, the Sajeel/Ashura displays several mature features and signifies Iran's graduation into world-level missilery... The appearance of the Sajeel/Ashura signals... It highlights Iran's single-minded pursuit of ballistic missile capability in every conceivable technology.

... but hope! Actually its more likely that Obama's approach will leave him with no alternative but to appease Iran. But hope! For instance, the Presidents of 6 major US universities will be touring Iran soon. Because the Iranians - they seem interested in talking.

References:
* EU 3 accuse Iran of "utter disrespect" [Middle East Forum]
* Iran centrifuge claim worries J'lem [JPost]
* Inevitable: Iran Has Enough Material For A Nuke (Plus: US Foreign Policy Sophisticates Urge Obama To Abandon Sanctions Because "Threats" Don't Work) [MR]
* Bush Administration Contacts with Iran [Middle East Forum]
* Iran Rejects Talks With Obama, Foreign Policy Sophisticates Confused [MR]
* Iran's Game-changer [Defense News]
* Wishful Thinking and Iran [Middle East Forum]
* U.S. Academics Tour Iran [CBS News]

Previously:
* Vast Financial War On Terrorism Going Kind Of OK, Actually
* Al Qaeda Misses Memo About How Sunnis And Shiites Don't Cooperate, Thanks Iran For Critical Financing And Infrastructure
* US Warns Israel Against Pre-Obama Attacks On Iran Or Hamas

Because sometimes people forget these things:

The Holy Land Foundation was a direct outgrowth of the international Muslim Brotherhood, as are CAIR, MSA and other groups under the MB umbrella... the entire enterprise was not only to fund Hamas, but to set up the architecture to wage jihad in this country, with the aims of radically altering the entire U.S. system of government. What is still most fascinating to me, after two trials, is that the most damning documents were not contested at all by the defense.... The most compelling evidence of the Brotherhood’s true aims is contained in an internal memorandum written in 1991 by a senior Brotherhood leader and titled: "On the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America."... "In order to do that, we must possess a mastery of the art of “coalitions”, the art of “absorption” and the principles of "cooperation"."...there is no longer any excuse for anyone in the US government to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood legacy organizations. Their currency is access, and without access they have nothing.

Now, if you had to guess: which political party seems more inclined to grant CAIR access in the name of cooperation? Special bonus question: which federal Department has engaged in "multiple collaborative efforts" with Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the name of cooperation?

References:
* The Holy Land Verdict in Perspective [Douglas Farah]
* So, About Those Unindicted Co-Conspirators That Democrats Are So Cozy With... [MR]
* State Department Outreach Results In "Multiple Collaborative Efforts" With Islamists (Plus: State To Revolutionize Arab And Muslim Relations By Giving More "Respect") [MR]

Previously:
* The Denial of the Obvious By Reference to the Irrelevant: Center-Left Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics
* USC Professor: Zionism Responsible For Arab Anti-Jewish Hatred
* Video: Obama Outreach Coordinator Meets With CAIR Reps, Terrorist-Endorsing Preachers (Plus: FBI Testimony Links CAIR To Terrorists)

Are they doing this on purpose? First top politicians feted Khatami in Germany despite the mullah's charming declaration that Israel is "an old, incurable wound on the body of Islam, a wound that really possesses demonic, stinking, contagious blood." Potentially embarrassing questions about internal Iranian politics - like the ones that cracked Ahmadinejad in NYC - were prohibited. Naturally.

On the economic side it's almost like Germans are going out of their way to flaunt sanctions and keep Iran's economy afloat:

While the United States reacts to reports that Iran had enriched enough uranium for a nuclear weapon with concern and calls for tighter sanctions, in Germany it is business as usual. Today, many of the leading lights of German-Iranian trade will be meeting at a conference in Hamburg in order to discuss how further to promote the "success" of German business with Iran... the Hamburg-based German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce... continues to work with the Iranian Saderat Bank: a bank that was blacklisted by the United States in September 2006 on account of its relations with terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad... The list of conference participants reads like a “Who’s Who” of German-Iranian trade relations.

Strong German-Iranian ties are apparently a matter of... achem... "tradition." Although economic relations are hardly the only common interest shared by contemporary Germans and Iranians. German Jews are actually experiencing anti-Semitic attacks that you couldn't even get away with in Iran (albeit only for technical halal reasons - it's not like the sentiment would be unrecognizable).

Maybe this is just Germany's attempt to reach out to their large, unassimilated Muslim populations. "Interfaith dialogue" and spirited theological disputation kind of spectacularly backfired. So maybe cozying up to the genocidal Iranian regime was their next best option. That and selling cutting edge subs to Egypt.

References:
* Jews slam Germany for hosting Khatami [JPost]
* Sanctions? What Sanctions? German-Iranian Trade Booms [PJM]
* Berlin hearts Iran III [WSJ]
* Pictures Of German Students' Anti-Semitic Pro-Palestinian Rampage (Plus: Not At All Anti-Semitic Berkeley Protesters Keep Attacking Jews) [MR]
* Vandals hang severed pig's head outside entrance to Jewish cemetery in Germany [Ha'aretz]
* German outreach to Muslims backfires [Hot Air]
* Germany-Egypt sub sale worries Israel [JPost]

Previously:
* Rabbis Are Again Being Attacked And Stabbed On German Streets
* Wherein We Almost Entirely Decline To Comment On Iran's Major Trading Partner
* German Anti-Zionists Momentarily Forget That They're Not Anti-Semitic, Trash Anti-Nazi Memorial

The Indian navy just got done sinking a pirated fishing vessel that still had the captured crew tied up below deck. Definitely an awkward move on the IN's part - but more or less inevitable given how they've been straining against the least of Western legal niceties:

Are the U.S. and her allies being too gentle with Somalia's pirates? That's the accusation from Indian retired Rear Admiral Raja Menon. NATO's rules of engagement -- when their ships can fire, and when the can't -- "worries more about the human rights of the pirates, than about stamping out piracy," Menon writes in the New Indian Express. "... Today’s interpretation by human rights lawyers state that pirates cannot even be handed over to their own state if that state does not respect the human rights of the pirates. This is an absurd situation." I'm hearing, second-hand, that Western sailors are making similar complaints.

Just in case you're curious, this is the kind of nonsense he's talking about:

Article 110 of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Convention -- ratified by most nations, but not by the U.S. -- enjoins naval ships from simply firing on suspected pirates. Instead, they are required first to send over a boarding party to inquire of the pirates whether they are, in fact, pirates. A recent U.N. Security Council resolution allows foreign navies to pursue pirates into Somali waters ... but the resolution expires next week. As for the idea of laying waste, Stephen Decatur-like, to the pirate's prospering capital port city of Eyl, this too would require U.N. authorization. Yesterday, a shippers' organization asked NATO to blockade the Somali coast. NATO promptly declined.

The pirates are cooperating with international terrorist groups, are getting information from terrorist sympathizers in Yemen, are drawing reinforcements from jihadists in Somalia, and are expressing their "love" for Saudi Arabia. I mention this only because certain foreign policy sophisticates have begun suggesting that the pirates are opposed to partisans of political Islam. This claim seems, all things considered, less than tenuous:

Multiculturalist "honest dialogue" about legal Muslim polygamy - the kind of dialogue that's ostensibly neutral but always seems to end with objectively less human rights - is now common across countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Australia, and Canada. And of course, the UK:

[A] lecture focused on Islamic marriages and divorces in this country, with Sheikh Faiz ul-Aqtab Siddiqi (of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal) speaking candidly on many areas. One such topic was that of polygamy, and the refusal of English law to recognise such relationships. Siddiqi boldly stated:.. "polygamous marriages should not be such an alien concept." Siddiqi is a practising barrister, and has been involved with the process of reforming English law to accommodate Muslim cultural practices, especially within the area of family law.

He was speaking at the Temple Church because of course he was. And wouldn't you know it, leading barrister Stephen Hockman - a former chairman of the Bar Council - has come out in favor of incorporating sharia into the British legal system. Because it will "improve relations between faith groups," you see.

Meanwhile judges in Scotland are already bending the law to accommodate Muslim polygamy:

But yesterday one motorist offered what must be a unique reason why he should keep his licence. Mohammed Anwar said a ban would make it difficult to commute between his two wives and fulfil his matrimonial duties. His lawyer told a Scottish court the Muslim restaurant owner has one wife in Motherwell and another in Glasgow - he is allowed up to four under his religion - and sleeps with them on alternate nights. He also needed his driving licence to run his restaurant in Falkirk, Stirlingshire. Airdrie Sheriff Court had heard that Anwar was caught driving at 64mph in a 30mph zone in Glasgow, fast enough to qualify for instant disqualification. Anwar admitted the offence, but Sheriff John C. Morris accepted his plea not to be banned and allowed him to keep his licence.

On the plus side monogamy is in no way related to the foundations of Western morals or culture.

References:
* Muslim is spared a speeding ban so he can drive between his two wives [Daily Mail]
* Westerners Welcome Harems [Daniel Pipes]
* Sharia law should be introduced into legal system, says leading barrister [Telegraph]
* Dangerous liaisons [Rosa Freedman / Guardian]

Previously:
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - If You're In Egypt You Can Pretty Much Forget About Fighting Back When You're Assaulted
* Time For Another "Liberals Bragging About Their Pathological Hatred For Palin" Post
* Female Egyptian Lawyer: "All Arabs" Should Go Launch Mass Rape Campaign Against Israeli Women [Video]

The Arab League says it's a "vicious circle of violence and counter-violence." Deepak Chopra is naturally blaming "Washington." Some Australian hack is blaming disaffected Hindus. And of course the Jews:

It was all a Mossad conspiracy, doncha know. The Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that is dedicated in its own words to "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions," has done the inevitable and expected and unsurprising in blaming the jihad attacks in Mumbai not on the jihadists whose motives and goals it shares, but on none other than...the Jews.

The one thing that we do know is that it's not Islamic terrorism.. Because as Britain's government has made plain, terrorism is the exact opposite of something a Muslim would do. Except maybe for how the terrorists assured Muslims hostages that they wouldn't be harmed. I guess that kind of suggests a connection. Oh - and how they demanded the return of Muslim lands. That might count too. And I guess we should probably include how the Deccan Mujahideen have claimed the attack. Unless "mujahideen" is commonly found in, say, Quaker propaganda. Then who knows.

References:
* Arab League leader: Mumbai part of "cycle of violence" [Elder]
* Deepak Chopra Blames Washington For Mumbai Terrorist Attacks ...Update: Iran Agrees [Gateway Pundit]
* Australian prof: Hindus responsible for Mumbai attacks [Spencer]
* Muslim Brotherhood: The Jews and Hindus attacked Mumbai, not Islamic jihadists [Spencer]
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - Britain More Or Less Gives Up [MR]
* Mumbai: "The Terrorists Told the Muslims They Wouldn't be Harmed, the Caucasian Women Were Shot".... [Zippers]
* Terrorists urge India to 'return stolen Muslim lands' [Carl]
* Who are the Deccan Mujahideen?

Previously:
* Progress in the world's most dangeous place
* US Forces Israel To Ground Cutting-Edge Spy Satellite
* Finger Pointing Begins: How Much Is India's Govt On The Hook For Mumbai Massacre?

The IAEA admits that the Syrian site - which Assad may or may not be rebuilding - certainly looked like a nuke facility. Only the dumbest anti-Israel media hacks deny that nuclear materials were involved. We would know even more except the IAEA's contacts keep dying and their potential evidence keep disappearing:

The chief UN nuclear inspector said Thursday that his agency's Syria probe has been hampered because key satellite images of an alleged nuclear reactor bombed by Israel are inexplicably unavailable on the market. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei did not point any fingers in the "baffling" failure of his agency's efforts to obtain the images of the Syrian site immediately after it was bombed by Israel last year.

So naturally:

The UN nuclear agency has approved technical aid for Syria despite suspicions that the country had a secret atomic program that could be used to make weapons. The decision appeared to be a defeat for the US and its allies. They called for rejection of the package meant to help Syria set up a power-producing reactor... The International Atomic Energy Agency is probing allegations that Syria had a covert program... Washington says the facility was almost completed and ready to produce plutonium, a fissile warhead component.

I was inclined to frame this as an IAEA vs. US diplomatic squabble, with maybe Syria getting in some of that UN retaliation that they've been looking for since the October raid. But I think Carl's explanation is probably closer to the truth.

References and previously after the jump...

That picture is a screenshot of an Israel-related email that I get every morning. I sure hope Israeli officials manage to convince Hamas to extend the ceasefire...

[Amos] Gilad is the Defense Ministry point man on relations with Egypt and was the architect of the current cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which is slated to expire on December 19. His visit to Egypt was used to discuss a wide-range of issues as well as explore the possibility of extending the cease-fire and renewing the negotiations for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit.

... lest Hamas do something crazy like firing rockets at Israel:

Two Qassam rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed near Sderot and in Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council territory on Thursday... Meanwhile, attacks on the western Negev from Gaza continue, and one rocket was fired Wednesday night and landed in an open field near the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was injured and no damage was caused.

As for Gilad's actual odds of getting Hamas to extend the ceasefire past Dec. 19: no. But at least Western foreign policy sophisticates are convinced that engagement will work because Hamas is divided. Neither of those are technically "true" as such. But wouldn't it be great if they were?

References:
* Secret meeting on 'calm' held in Egypt [JPost]
* 2 Qassams land in western Negev [YNet]
* Hamas not to renew ceasefire [YNet]
* In last meeting, PM, Bush sing praises [JPost]
* Hamas leaders abroad question group's iron grip on Gaza [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Hamas Now Threatening To Brutally Execute Shalit Unless Israel Releases 350 Ultra-Violent Terrorists (Plus: "Road Map Could Become Map Of Bloodshed")
* Gaza's Booming Economy - Underground Mall System, Hundreds Of Supermarkets, Latest Fashions (Plus: New Gaza Tunnel Wasn't For Smuggling)
* Hamas: Of Course We'll Never Stop Attacking "Zionist Enemies Of God"

I was listening to CNN IBN's coverage yesterday and they were playing a press conference with an "elite marine commando." He recounted the early minutes of storming one of the hotels when the NSG had pinned some of the terrorists:

[But] these terrorists were very well informed regarding the layout of the hotel. In no time they vanished... and went elsewhere.

He emphasized the terrorists' familiarity with the hotel layout - and contrasted it with what Indian soldiers had at hand - at least a couple of times. All of that puts a very fine point on what Israeli defense officials are saying:

Israeli defense officials have criticized the way Indian security forces initially handled the hostage situation in Mumbai, claiming on Thursday that the forces prematurely stormed the besieged areas... The Israeli officials said that Indian counter-terrorist forces were well trained but failed to gather sufficient intelligence before engaging the terrorists.

On the other hand JK Dutt, the Director General of the NSG, was on TV a while back claiming that the commandos suffered a grand total of zero casualties during the extended rescue operations.

CNN is reporting that the Indian government is pointing fingers at "elements in Pakistan" - hardly a surprise since they were already doing that yesterday and it's what you'd expect them to do. That doesn't mean it's not true but Lashkar-e-Taiba says it's not them and logistical fingerprints suggest homegrown terrorists. In the best case for Indian intel the terrorists came from Karachi - except there are reports that the army gave the NSG a head's up when the terrorist boats left Karachi and were ignored.

If it turns out to be Indian Mujahedin then India's government will be getting blamed for a staggering intel failure and an incompetent followup. If it turns out that the terrorists had significant ties to Pakistan then Indian's government will be getting blamed for a staggering intel failure and an incompetent followup and will have a nationalist-approved scapegoat to attack. What an awful clusterfuck.

References:
* 'India mishandled hostage situation' [JPost]
* Indian officials blame Lashkar-e-Taiba [FP Passport]
* Witnesses describe Mumbai attackers' arrival by sea [Guardian]
* Jamat-ud-Dawa (LET Political Wing) on Mumbai Attacks: "Not a Legitimate Tactic" [CT Blog]
* Mystery still shrouds Mumbai terrorists [National Post]

Previously:
* Great News - Nuclear Armed Islamic Country With Notoriously Unreliable Safeguards Now Going Bankrupt
* US Takes Break From Highly Effective Drone Campaign, Kills Al Qaeda Terrorists With Big Flying Jet Thing Instead
* Watcher's Council Results: Obama's Afghanistan Is Going To Be A Disaster But No One Knows It. Or Anything Else.

Thanksgiving nominations are up. JoshuaPundit focuses this week's big foreign policy story - that Iran has enough material for a bomb - while my own post deals with how the incoming Obama team is more inclined to blame Israel for Middle East instability.

Turning to domestic issues and picking up a libertarian lens, The Provocateur continues his series on the corruption of past bailouts and the all-but-certain corruption of future ones and the Bookworm Room launches a defense of socially conservative candidates.

The media critiques the media on their Obama worship over at Soccer Dad, on their climate reporting over at Cheat Seeking Missiles, and on their understanding of Asian history over at The Glittering Eye. Don't worry: the critiques aren't really too harsh, with the possible exception of certain misgivings in certain quarters about Obama hagiography. The bloggers' observations, on the other hand, tend to have a little more vitriol.

And wow has the self-esteem movement ruined generations of students - The Colossus of Rhodey has news from the front line.

References:
* Thanksgiving Watch [Watcher's Council]
* Zero Hour...Iran Now Has Material For First Nuclear Bomb [JoshuaPundit]
* Obama's Top NSA And CIA Picks: Harsh On Israel, Sympathetic To Iran And Hezbollah [MR]
* Some Perspective on PNC, Fraud, and the Bailout [The Provocateur]
* Halting the schism [Bookworm Room]
* Well, duh [Soccer Dad]
* Sunday Scan - 11/23/08 [Cheat Seeking Missiles]
* Official History [The Glittering Eye]
* Culture of Whine (a rant) [Colossus Of Rhodey]

Previously:
* Watcher's Council Results: So, About This Democracy Thing
* Watcher's Council Nominations: Tension In The American Street, Seething Resentment In The Arab Street
* Watcher's Council Results: Obama's Afghanistan Is Going To Be A Disaster But No One Knows It. Or Anything Else.

In addition to being an "often-ridiculous" pro-Syrian hack who writes grandiously about how Ahmadinejad is questioning "the West’s taboos on questioning the Holocaust," LAT staff writer Borzou Daragahi is also something of a shameless mouthpiece for Assad's propaganda machine:

An investigation into a remote Syrian site bombed by Israel 14 months ago has provided no conclusive answers so far, but sparked speculation about the source of trace amounts of radioactive material found at the site...

But no one could explain the presence of a "significant number" of uranium particles "produced as a result of chemical processing," the report said. Diplomats first reported the existence of the uranium last week. Syrian officials have said that not even U.S. officials claim that they were already operating a plutonium plant. "The only explanation for the presence of these modified uranium particles is that they were contained in the missiles dropped from the Israeli planes," the report said. But officials close to the IAEA said the uranium samples found were not the depleted type used in some weapons and have few practical applications. Nor do they match any Syrian uranium samples previously declared to the IAEA. Nor are they compatible with the reactor suspected of being planned for the site. The agency plans to press Israel to release information about the weapons used.

Get that? That bottom block is the last five paragraphs of the article: the IAEA's report said that the uranium came from Israel, IAEA sources say it could not have come from Syria, and further IAEA investigations will focus on Israel. Which seems odd because all of the other reports I've seen indicated that the report as brutal as an "inconclusive" report can be. The only people I've seen blaming Israel in those terms are the desperate conspiracy mongers from the Syrian regime who were called upon to account to the IAEA.

It turns out Daragahi's quote isn't an IAEA conclusion at all. It comes from the background chronology where the report is quoting - not coincidentally - the letter from the Syrian regime where they were called upon to account to the IAEA:

Guilty on all 108 counts:

On their second try, federal prosecutors won sweeping convictions Monday against five leaders of a Muslim charity in a retrial of the largest terrorism-financing case in the United States since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The five defendants, all leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, based in Richardson, a Dallas suburb, were convicted on all 108 criminal counts against them, including support of terrorism, money laundering and tax fraud. The group was accused of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an Islamist organization the government declared to be a terrorist group in 1995.

Andrew Cochran over at CT Blog is wondering why this isn't the final word about the US government's association with de facto convicted unindicted co-conspirators like CAIR:

After all, the naming of an unindicted co-conspirator is no small matter; it's actively discouraged by the Justice Department. The U.S. Attorneys Manual at DOJ advises federal prosecutors to avoid naming them. A prosecutor can't just throw a list out there... CAIR, ISNA, and NAIT asked the judge in the second trial to delete their organizations from that list, but he has refused thus far, apparently validating the list... it is a conflict of interest for any federal or state government agency to have a business relationship with any of the unindicted co-conspirators in the HLF case. It's especially preposterous for the FBI to continue in a business relationship with CAIR.

Yeah, I dunno. CAIR officials were treated to repeated meetings with multiple Obama officials throughout the campaign and ran illegal mosque-driven GOTV efforts. And while Obama hasn't exactly displayed stellar loyalty to friends, colleagues, and family members - he can't be eager to throw US Muslims under the bus because of a story that will be dead by Inauguration Day.

Plus: Democrats have taken to condescendingly instructing American Jews to "reach out to" to CAIR. If you take that away from them what will they really have left? Except the US federal government that they're running despite their obvious inability to not recommend and defend terrorist financiers, I mean.

References:
* Five Convicted in Terrorism Financing Trial [NYT]
* HLF Guilty Verdict Should Terminate Government & Business Relationships With UICCs [CT Blog]
* Video: Obama Outreach Coordinator Meets With CAIR Reps, Terrorist-Endorsing Preachers (Plus: FBI Testimony Links CAIR To Terrorists) [MR]
* UN-INDICTED CO-CONSPIRATOR CAIR URGES MUSLIMS TO REGISTER AT MOSQUES, VOTE OBAMA [Atlas]
* Democratic Recommendations For Israeli and American Jews [MR]

Previously:
* New EU Court Rulings Mean That Obama's "Strong Carrots, Strong Sticks" Iran Strategy Now Only Carrots
* American Libraries Refusing To Remove Banned Book On Jihad Financing (Plus: The WSJ's Fight Against Libel Tourism)
* Vast Financial War On Terrorism Going Kind Of OK, Actually

As a matter of disclosed public record, Iran has enough nuclear material for a bomb. All signs indicate that they will massively increase their capabilities in 2009 even if the Bushehr reactor doesn't go online - which it will. They've been smuggling high tech missile parts from rogue regimes, they've been building up their conventional arsenal, and they may very well be developing other weapons of mass destruction:

U.S. intelligence agencies, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations just can't shake the suspicion that Iran may be trying to assemble other weapons of mass destruction, too: an arsenal of chemical and biological arms... U.S. observers still have a nagging feeling that Iran has been up to something... [They've] backed off of earlier claims in 2003 that Iran is definitely developing and stockpiling CB weapons to more conservative statements in this year that Iran has the capability to do so, and is suspected of engaging in CB weapons research and development.

Meanwhile the most recent round of new sanctions were a total bust. So obvious is the Iranian menace that Britain's FM took a break from his groveling apologias to radical Muslims in order to acknowledge that Iran is an immediate threat. As in right now:

Britain's foreign policy chief says Iran's nuclear program presents an immediate threat to the Middle East and the rest of the world. The comments Monday by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband come a few days after a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said its investigation into Iran's nuclear program was "deadlocked."

Luckily the IAF seems to think that it can degrade Iran's nuclear facitilies - so maybe there's a slight chance that somone can stop nukes from falling into the hands of the apocalyptic Iranian regime. Oh - except for one thing:

Apartheid-era blacks regularly launched rockets at the schools and hospitals of the "enemies of God" whom promised never to stop trying to wipe out, right? Because as long as that's true then - yeah - this is just like that:

United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann on Monday likened Israel's policies toward the Palestinians to South Africa's treatment of blacks under apartheid. Israel's actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were like "the apartheid of an earlier era," said Brockmann, of Nicaragua, speaking at the annual debate marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. He added: "We must not be afraid to call something what it is." Brockmann stressed that it was important for the United Nations to use the heavily-charged term since it was the institution itself that had passed the International Convention against the crime of apartheid.

He also called for "concrete action" - boycotts, divestment, sanctions, etc - until Israel is fundamentally dismantled. You'll remember this hatemonger from when he hugged Ahmadinejad right after Ahmadinejad called for the elimination of Israel. That might be awkward behavior for the UNGA President who is supposed to represent all UN member states - but it's exactly what you'd expect from an anti-Western Marxist hack on the Iranian payroll.

While UN officials compete to see who can tell the most vicious libel about the Jewish State on one side, they've been working for a long time to ban even the most legitimate criticism of Islamic radicalism on the other: