All Posts Tagged With: "Ahmadinejad"
Splinter Christian Coalition To Honor Ahmadinejad Amid Protest
Democrat give Ahmadinejad a huge gift by sabotaging a major bipartisan anti-Iran rally.
The American Friends Service Committee; Mennonite Central Committee; Quaker United Nations Office; Religions for Peace, and World Council of Churches - United Nations Liaison Office joined together Thursday night to “honor” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in what they bill as “bridge building.”
Opponents of the honoring and the dinner itself include: Women United/Code Red, 911 Families, ACT for America, Alliance of Iranian Women, AMCHA, American Center for Law and Justice, American Coptic Union, American Maronite Union, Americans for a Safe Israel, Arabs for Israel, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Center for Security Policy, Christian Solidarity, Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights, Committee on the Present Danger, Concerned Women for America, Council for a Democratic Iran, Family Security Matters, Foundation for Defense of Democracy, Glenn Richter, Founder Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, Guardian Angels, Institute for Freedom and Democracy, International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, International Christian Union, Aryeh Eldad, Israeli Knesset, Jewish Action Alliance, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Log Cabin Republicans of New York City, Open Doors USA,
Phyllis Chesler, author, Rabbi Zev Friedman, Rambam Mesivta high school, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, StandWithUs, Stop Shariah Now, Sudan Freedom Walk, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Traditional Values Coalition, and Women’s Freedom Movement of Pakistan.
They will protest the event. An article in the Jerusalem Post Thursday said Democrat activists this week gave Ahmadinejad a huge gift by sabotaging a major bipartisan anti-Iran rally in New York City this past week disinviting GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin.
Earlier this week speaking to the UN in New York City, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked the U.S. again declaring the “American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road.” And accused “a few bullying powers” of trying to stop his country’s nuclear programs.
Also, as FOX News reported: “With major world leaders watching and just eight hours after President Bush’s final speech before the general assembly, Ahmadinejad used the U.N. platform to decry a “zionist regime” for what he called a persecution on Arab peoples around the globe.”
Ahmadinejad At U. N. More Bluster
Iranian President Blames U. S. Military Intervention for Banking Imbroglio
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued his routine anti-American tirade during his visit to the United Nations in New York City Tuesday adding to his usual lecture his opinion of high finance and ranting about the current U. S. banking imbroglio blaming it on U. S. foreign military exploits.
Hundreds protested Ahmadinejad’s appearance and speech, and the U. S. delegation walked out as he prepared to speak. Before his address he told National Public Radio Iran did not wish confrontation with the U. S. or anyone but that it has to defend itself. Hanging over his visit is Iran’s continued nuclear weapon’s development program; Iran’s threats to destroy Israel, and Israel’s promise to prevent a nuclear armed Iran. Looming over the entire region and world is Iran’s effort at coercion by warning it will strangle oil supplies by blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
On June 29, 2008, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Ali Mohammed Jafari, stated that if Iran were attacked by Israel or the United States, it would seal off the Strait of Hormuz, thereby wreaking havoc in oil markets.
On July 8, 2008, Ali Shirazi, a mid-level clerical aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted by the student news agency ISNA as saying to Revolutionary Guards, “The Zionist regime is pressuring White House officials to attack Iran. If they commit such a stupidity, Tel Aviv and U.S. shipping in the Persian Gulf will be Iran’s first targets and they will be burned.”
In July dozens of US and foreign navys’ ships conducted Operation Brimstone practicing in littoral operations to keep the Strait open. The U. S. and allies would keep the Strait open.
On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter decreed that any effort to close the Persian Gulf would be an attack on America’s vital national interest and repelled by all means including military force. Practically that means any effort to close the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is the only sea route for Persian Gulf oil at its narrowest is 21 miles (34 km) wide bounded on the north by Iran and south by Oman Sea traffic move along two 3 mile wide lanes. There was a series of naval stand-offs between Iranian speedboats and US warships in the Strait of Hormuz occurred in December 2007 and January 2008.
The most serious incident was on 18 April 1988, the U.S. Navy waged a one-day battle against Iranian forces in and around the strait. The battle, dubbed Operation Praying Mantis by the U.S. side, was launched in retaliation for the 14 April mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58). U.S. forces sank two Iranian warships, Joshan and as many as six armed speedboats in the engagement.
Israel Election Consequence Clear As Mud
Livni Must Form Coalition Government Or Call National Elections
Tzipy Livni has evidently has just become head of Israel’s Kadima party (pending finalization of the most narrow election results as voter refuted polling results) and has a chance, at least, to form a moderate government that will pursue the Palestinian peace process.
Tzipy Livni - Tzipora Malka “Tzipi” Livni (Hebrew: ציפורה מלכּה “ציפי” לבני) was born July 8,1958 in Tel Aviv, Israel. She served as a lieutenant in the IDF and worked for the Mossad intelligence organization for almost two years, acting as a “house sitter” for a safe house in Paris. She resigned in August 1983 to marry and finish her law studies. She graduated from the Bar Ilan University Faculty of Law, and practiced public and commercial law for ten years. She lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and their two children.
She was elected to the Knesset in 1999. After the Likud assumed power in 2001, Livni was appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation, and then was Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Housing and Construction. On October 1, 2005, she was appointed Minister of Justice after several months acting in that position and then served as Foreign Minister. On 4 May 2006, Livni became Deputy Prime Minister and retained the position of Foreign Minister, while resigning her post as Minister of Justice.
Livni escaped virtually unscathed from the massive wave of public criticism that followed the Second Lebanon War, She had led the quest for a diplomatic solution, though UN Secuirty Council Resolution 1701, obtained about a month of fighting, was not much different from the offer made by the Lebanese in the first week of the war. Critics of the resolution, which has allowed massive rearming of the Hezbollah blame Livni for that.
Pre-election opinion surveys predicted that Livni enjoyed a safe lead over rival Transportation Minister and former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff, Shaul Mofaz, and exit polls seemed to confirm a decisive victory. All those polls were wrong and Livni won by less than 1%. If Livni succeeds in forming a new government, she will be Israel’s second female Prime Minister, after Golda Meir (1898-1983).
Livni faces two choices: a.) try to form a coalition government or b.) go to national elections. She’ll likely at least try the former but it is uncertain she can accomplish it in a meaningful way. Embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he’ll resign if Livni can form a new government, and only if - Israeli’s are tired of Olmert’s legal troubles and that give Livni an edge. If an election is held the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu and its potential right-wing coalition partners would likely win a majority based on opinion surveys.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Persian: محمود احمدینژاد, mæhmu-d-e æhmædi-neʒɑd threw sand in the gears again saying that Israel would not survive. Next week Ahmadinejad will speak at the United Nation’s General Assembly in New York City while pro-Jewish forces protest. About the only thing Israeli’s agree on is that Iran can not be allowed to build nuclear bombs that it appears closer than ever to doing.
Last week it was revealed that Iran was modifying missiles to carry nuclear warheads. Those missiles are known to be able to reach Israel.