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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:50 am Post subject: From Gaza and S. Lebanon, Iran closes the vise on Israel |
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Iran's Beast in Gaza
Israel is in deep, deep trouble.
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Israel�s attack on Gaza is, in effect, an attack on Iran�s empire, the first since its offensive on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in 2006. That attack failed for a number of reasons, not least of which was Israel�s poor intelligence on Hezbollah: historically, its intelligence on the Palestinians has been much better. Moreover, this attack seems more deliberately planned, with narrower, publicly stated aims � all in all, a more professional job. But there is a fundamental problem with what Israel is doing that goes to the heart of the postmodern beast that the Iranian empire represents.
To start with, Hamas does not have to win this war. It can lose and still win. As long as no other political group can replace it in power, even as some of its diehards can continue to lob missiles, however ineffectually, into Israel, it achieves a moral victory of sorts. Moreover, if Mahmoud Abbas�s Fatah movement tries to replace Hamas in power, Fatah will forever be tagged with the label of Israeli stooge, and in the eyes of Palestinians will have little moral legitimacy. Israel�s dilemma is that it is not fighting a state but an ideology, the postmodern glue that holds together Greater Iran.
Whether it is the sub-state entities of Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or the Mahdi movement in Shiite southern Iraq; or the hopes, dreams, and delusions of millions of Sunni Arabs, principally in Egypt, who feel a closer psychological identity with radical Shiite mullahs than with their own Pharaonic Sunni autocracy, Iran has built its dominion on a combination of anti-western ideas and the dynamic wiliness of its intelligence operations (which, in turn, are a reflection of a civilization more developed and urbanized than that of the Arabs). Iran�s message of anti-Semitism and hatred toward the United States plays well across sectarian lines in the Sunni Arab world, which identifies its own fatigued, uninspiring, and detested rulers with the side of the U.S. and Israel. Sunni Arabs hate their own rulers, but despairing of changing their own lot, they channel that hatred toward us: thus the potency of the Iranian message. A nuclear weapon will only supply Iran with more prestige among the Arab lumpen faithful. |
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agentX
Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Location: Jeolla province
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| Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:32 am Post subject: |
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| It's a good, well detailed analysis, but it's lacking on what Israel could do to achieve a 'moral victory'. Or on the odds of a victory either or the terms of one. It's merely wishful thinking that Israel can stop Hamas or even win such a victory. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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Israel probably cannot acheive victory in any untortured sense of the word.
Lest anyone doubt the Iran-Hamas connection:
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* In March 2007, Khaled Mashal, the leader of the Hamas political bureau based in Damascus, visited Iran and stated that Iran had been providing financial support for Hamas since it took office in 2006. Mashal indicated that funding from Iran would continue, although he did not provide any specific amount
* Iran engages in a variety of deceptive financial practices to conceal the nature of its sponsorship of terrorist groups. Iran has used Bank Saderat as a preferred means of transferring funds to terrorist organizations such as Hizballah, Hamas, PIJ, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine�General Command. The Treasury Department revealed one case in which Iran sent $50 million to a Hizballah-controlled organization between 2001 and 2006.
* In March 2008, the Treasury Department followed up one of the FATF warnings noted above by issuing a broad alert to the financial sector about the problems with Iran�s anti�money laundering efforts, noting that Iran �disguises its involvement in proliferation and terrorism activities through an array of deceptive practices specifically designed to evade detection.�
* A particularly effective method Iran has used to hide illicit transactions under the cover of legitimate business is by engaging in money laundering through trade. A prominent example of suspected trade-based money laundering reportedly involves the Committee for Palestinian Welfare and Aid (CBSP), a French charity designated as a Hamas front organization by the United States. Officials suspect Iran provided the funding for these transactions�funding that was passed either directly or indirectly along to terrorists through a trade-based money laundering scheme. Abu Aker has been involved in a number of other suspicious transactions in which foodstuffs or money either reached or was intercepted en route to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) through the El Ehssan Charitable Association, one of the PIJ�s charities. In one case, Israel blocked the passage of five containers of vegetable oil paid for by European charities and sent to the Palestinian territories by a Turkish firm. According to Israeli officials, Iran leveraged a connection between an Iranian company and its European partners to initiate the scheme, while Abu Aker was reportedly in direct contact with PIJ officials in Damascus who pointed him to these same companies.
* In addition to providing financial support, Iran has been training members of the Hamas military wing in sniping and other technical capabilities. Iranian trainers reportedly have taught Hamas bomb makers how to use household items and everyday materials to fashion explosives for its homemade mortars and Qassam rockets. Additionally, Grad-type Katushya rockets bearing Iranian serial numbers, Farsi lettering, and Iranian paint have been spotted in the Gaza Strip. Iranian engineers reportedly have designed and manufactured a version of the Grad rocket that disassembles into several pieces so that it is easier to transport through the underground system of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.
* According to a December 2000 Palestinian intelligence report confiscated by Israeli authorities, Iran had transferred $400,000 directly to Hamas�s Qassam Brigades specifically to support �the
Hamas military arm in Israel and [encourage] suicide operations,� and another $700,000 to Islamic organizations opposed to the PA. A confiscated Palestinian document describes a May 19, 2000, meeting between the Iranian ambassador and Hamas, PIJ, and Hizballah at the Iranian embassy in Damascus. According to the report, �During the meeting the Iranian ambassador demanded that the abovementioned persons carry out military operations in Palestine without taking responsibility for these operations.�
* While estimates of Iran�s financial assistance to Hamas vary, there is consensus that the sum is significant. According to Israeli estimates, Iran contributes around $3 million a year in direct aid to Hamas. Canadian intelligence cites Canadian Secret Intelligence Service (CSIS) assessments that Iran transfers somewhere between $3 million to $18 million a year to Hamas. According to the CSIS report, �in February 1999, it was reported that Palestinian police had discovered documents that attest to the transfer of $35 million to Hamas from the Iranian Intelligence Service (MOIS), money reportedly meant to finance terrorist activities against Israeli targets.� Palestinian sources estimate Iranian assistance to Hamas �at tens of millions of dollars.� According to experts testifying in the case of Diana Campuzano et al v. The Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian financial support to Hamas in 1995 totaled $30 million and ranged from $20 million to $50 million annually between 1990 and 2000. According to expert testimony in another case involving a Hamas attack and Iranian support for Hamas, Susan Weinstein et al v. The Islamic Republic of Iran et al, �the Islamic Republic of Iran gave the organization at least $25-50 million in 1995 and 1996, and also provided other groups with tens of millions of dollars to engage in terrorist activities. In total, Iran gave terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, between $100 and $200 million per year during this period.�
In short, as I stated in the interview, Iranian support for Hamas is extremely significant � to the point that Hamas could not function as it does today were it not for Iranian financial and material support. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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| And I see this war doing nothing more than playing right into the hands of Iran, as did the war on Lebanon. The anger of ordinary Arabs, watching this sickening bloodbath taking place in Gaza, will make it that much more difficult for the leaders of those Arab nations previously inclined to co-operate with the US and Israel with regard to Iran. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| And I see this war doing nothing more than playing right into the hands of Iran, as did the war on Lebanon. The anger of ordinary Arabs, watching this sickening bloodbath taking place in Gaza, will make it that much more difficult for the leaders of those Arab nations previously inclined to co-operate with the US and Israel with regard to Iran. |
Right, except the Hezbollah Summer War couldn't 'play into Iran's hands' because Iran clearly instigated it. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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You think this current war is a good thing for Israel.
Myself, I have a feeling they will come to greatly regret it, as they did the last war.
I suspect that in the end they will lose much more from this than they will gain. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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| I have a feeling that the ordinary Palestinian civilians are going to be the ones who regret it most of all. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| You think this current war is a good thing for Israel. |
No.
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| Israel is in deep, deep trouble. |
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| Israel probably cannot acheive victory in any untortured sense of the word. |
How do you get from these to this?:
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| You think this current war is a good thing for Israel. |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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It would be interesting if an (Sunni) Arab v. (SHiite) Persian identity
could be infused into the Palestinian question.
Obviously Fatah still holds some standing and should be viewed as the
Secular politico Hams obviously represents Persia who are the true Arab
leaders in Palestine?
Maybe pitting the fated Fatah against the foreign Hamas is not the answer.
A true Sunni leader with Arab Palestinian values seeking true peace and
wearing sandals.
One can hope.
Last edited by Jandar on Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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Israel is damned if they act and damned if they don't.
In the end Israel does not act to benefit anyone else.
However when faced with the choice to act against their
detriment they act to prevent the detriment.
It's always a lose lose situation for Israel.
I think in the end they choose the loss situation
that is less detrimental to Israel. |
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blade
Joined: 30 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:35 pm Post subject: Re: From Gaza and S. Lebanon, Iran closes the vise on Israel |
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[quote="Kuros"]Iran's Beast in Gaza
Israel is in deep, deep trouble.
| Quote: |
| Israel�s attack on Gaza is, in effect, an attack on Iran�s empire, |
So should we assume by this logic an attack on Israel or Iraq is effect an attack on the US empire? |
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