Friday, May 11, 2007

Are they back?

Apparently:


This photo was recently taken by a journalist during violent suppression of demonstration against Putin's regime in St. Petersburg organized by "Other Russia" organization. The photo was published by the Esquire magazine. So, what does Russian authorities intend to do about this?

They are concerned. They want to find out how it could happen that SS soldiers are suppressing freedom of speech and demonstration in Russia, more then half a century after being defeated in WWII. No, strike that last one. They want to find out how it could happen that the Esquire magazine publishes "obviously fake photographs", and if it could be punished for publishing Nazi symbol, which is prohibited by law!

Good thing there is that law.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Expert from Peres' answers to Winograd commission

Expert from answers of Peres to Winograd commission. Can't vouch for accuracy as this is translation from Russian, but if I have time and access I will bring more translations directly from Hebrew. Peres comes out here as a slime and a demagogue. Let me also remind you that when he heard that the protocols will be published he mentioned he wouldn't give the same answers if he knew. Read and "enjoy".

Peres:
I wouldn't start a war

Gabizon: Did you say anything to Olmert? You are a high ranking minister.

Peres: I said that there are different alternatives

Gabizon: I do not understand why you voted in favor

Peres: And if I were to abstain? There was a majority anyway

Gabizon: If you thought the war was a mistake, why didn't you left the government?

Peres: And loose all the influence?

Gabizon: And how did you influenced?

Peres: I conducted discussions

Einan: With whom? Sharon Stone? And why didn't you turned to press and said...

Peres: What? That I oppose? And damage the moral of our soldiers?

Gabizon: And why didn't you explained your position and left the government after the war?

Peres: Threats of Hizballah require a response. I had no choice.

Einan: You are contradicting yourself, and not answering the question again.

Peres: There is no contradiction. I wouldn't start a war.

Gabizon: But you voted in favor?

Dror: Maybe Mr. thinks he is from UN?

Peres: My friend, I voted because of... circumstances.

Gabizon: Voted in favor of war while being against it?

Peres: I had no other choice

Gabizon: Who didn't had a choice, you personally, or the State?

Peres: I don't deal with personal business. I meant the State.

Gabizon: Did anybody forced you to vote in favor? Could you abstain?

Peres: My dear, nobody promised me anything

Nadel: She didn't ask if anybody promised you anything

Peres: Oh, and I thought...

Gabizon: And despite your position, you voted in favor and supported the government all this time.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Please, stay


The people that call for Olmert's and Peretz's resignation are completely missing the point. Its not them who should be let go, it is their parties Avoda and Kadima. They are all responsible for the outcome of Second Lebanon War. That also includes Gil and Shas. Right now all the ex-friends of Olmert's and Peretz's are trying to shift all the blame just on those two. If people don't recognize this, new tricksters will arise from the same parties, and we will be back to square one. Olmert needs to stay as long as is needed for the coalition to rip itself apart from inside for the fear of association with him. Please, stay!

Monday, April 30, 2007

Guess which country this is

Prime Minister: "I am not going to resign. I am going to appoint commission that will implement conclusions of the other commission. That I appointed. To investigate me. No, I don't mean the State Controller, him I would fire if I could." (Polls: support: 15%, oppose: 69%)

Minister of Defense: "I didn't realize minister of defense has to understand something about the military. I wish I was minister of finance. Although he is now under criminal investigation..." (Polls: support: 12%, oppose: 74%)

Minister of External Affairs: "I didn't know we are going to war. I am not going to support Prime Minister though. I want his chair." (Polls: who cares?)

Friday, April 27, 2007

Stunning

This letter, from October 19, 2006, was sent by the Israeli Ministry of Justice to Russian bureau of Interpol. The content is simply astonishing.

About Gaydamak's accusations against some Israeli officials:
Wishing to avoid criminal responsibility, Gaydamak spreads in the mass media false information about the high-ranking officials of the country (including the State Attorney), insults them, accuses of committing offences, and making substantial damage to the interests of Israel and its nationals.

By making such allegations Gaydamak seeks to destabilize political situation in the country, makes threats to "to lead people" to fight those who breach the interests of people and do not protect the nationals.
And what "situation" is that exactly? Is it the one in which leading the people and protecting their interests is illegal, and serves grounds for arrest and criminal prosecution?
Now Gaydamak has invited Mr. Zvi Magen, the former ambassador of Israel to Moscow, to take a position of political adviser.

According to information available Gaydamak alleges that Magen has friendly relationship with the Russian President, has wide connections in the Russian political and business elite which he (Gaydamak) intends to use in the further fight for political leadership in Israel.
Or more specifically, is this the "situation" in which fighting for political leadership is considered illegal? Is this Israel of 2006 we are talking about? Apparently yes. But there is more.
This information may be confirmed by Gaydamak's statements which sound as an appeal to overthrow the acting Israeli government.
With the help of the cunning team of Zvi Magen and the Russian President I presume, the Beitar Football team, and the dirty political exercises such as "hiring an adviser" and "leading the people".

Mr. Blum, who authored the letter, can rest assured, that Russian Federation, and specifically Russian President Putin have lots of experience in handing such "situations". Just ask Khodorkovsky.

Two steps forward

Surprisingly, I am now a Slithering Reptile in the TTLB ecosystem. Not sure what I did to deserve it, but my visitors skyrocketed recently (on my humble scale). In another surprising development, IsraellyCool now links to this blog. Thanks Dave!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The True Hero


It would appear that AP Photographer Oded Balilty won a prestigious Pulitzer prize for a photograph (above) taken during the infamous dismantling of Amona. While he should definitely be commended for making and publishing this photograph, I can't help but feel that the real hero of this story is not the photographer, but the brave woman on the photograph, on her own holding a fence against an entire division of armed to the teeth policemen.
Of course, she and many others like her won't be getting a prise. In fact, they wont be getting even the minimum, promised compensation for lost homes. But the photograph, the photograph will be cherished.
Once again Europeans prove that they prefer to see Jews doing something bad, or something bad being done to them. I can easily see how this photograph embodies both.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Virginia's Ax

Everybody heard by now about the tragedy in Virginia Tech. What some might not know is the fact that the murderer mentioned he was disappointed in his religion, which was Christianity. It gets more interesting. On his hand he wrote words Ismail Ax. Recall that Ismail, or Ishmael, was the other son of Abraham (born of a maid), the progenitor of Arabs. And so the prophesy in the scripts says this about him:
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and every one's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. (NIV, Genesis 16)
Note the bold. Do we have a convert to Islam ladies and gentlemen, swinging the Ax of Ishmael? If only Abraham could keep his pants zipped, none of this would have happened.

Monday, April 09, 2007

How Higgs Found Bisons

Times Online:
"The hope is that such collisions will generate exotic new particles — especially the so-called Higgs boson which, theorists predict, could help explain key properties of matter, such as how it acquires mass and, hence, weight."

Reader 1:
"Silly to get your multiple knickers in a twist over a simple typo - it's so obviously a BISON."
Sue, Pontypridd, Wales


Reader 2:
"Isn't a Boson a big hairy American cow? Or is that a Bison. "
Andy , Ellesmere Port,

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

How to save Israeli kidnapped soldiers

As you probably know, Iran has succumbed, and is ready to return the 15 kidnapped British soldiers. Of course, had Iran had it's way, it would have kept humiliating and torturing British public for years, promising small pieces of information about the well being of the soldiers in exchange for political concessions and release of thousands of terrorists from prisons in Britain and US. That is, just the way it works with Israel. The way it "ought" to be. Yet, USA freed exactly 1 Iranian prisoner to get all 15 soldiers back alive. What's going on here?

What is going on is that Iran got military threatened. "But wait a minute", you might say, "Israel not only threatened Hezballah, Israel started a war against it!". True. And pointless. As Bibi Netaniahu once correctly pointed out, there is no such thing as Hezbollah. There is arm of Iranian army that calls itself by this name. The only way to force their hand is to threaten Iran. Threatening Hezballah is as ridiculous as Britain threatening some "Iranian coast guard" would sound like.

Israel needs to go after the villain, not it's arm. And the guys will be back home. Together with Ron Arad. If he is still alive.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

One step closer

Ministry of Offense hereby wants to extend it's congratulations to the new member of the cabinet, the Minister of Information, Rumors and Hearsay. The only thing now standing between us and total world domination is noticeable absence of Minister of Occupation. People, somebody needs to handle the executions! Any volunteers?

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

This is the right time

Last summer, after Hezbolah kidnapped 3 Israeli soldiers Israel went to war. Sure it didn't end that well, but that was the right thing to do at the time. Now we got Iran kidnapping 15 British soldiers. Just like Hezbolah they are too arrogant to expect a military response. This is the time to strike back. Can it end badly? Sure. But that depends on execution. I am sure nobody in the US/British command is as incompetent as Olmert+Peretz couple. This is the time to dismantle their nuclear plants.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Iraq. Day ***9

Fighting the good fight.

Undercover

In this documentary photo Hamas terrorists show of their superior camouflage skills. Notice anything strange?


Why is he wearing green uniform, magically covered with leaves, in the middle of light-brown desert? And what's with the fake beard? Maybe it is for making us believe he is just an intimidating local phalah, crawling through the desert with his shotgun, in search for a job?

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Thousand nations of muslim empire descend upon you

Two developments not really mentioned in the mainstream press that should make you nervously giggle:

1. The Iran has taken over the smuggling over the Suez channel, and not even Egyptians (according to their own admission and facts) have the resources to deal with that development

2. The King of Jordan Abdullah, and his father before him, supported and keep supporting Hamas. Such is the conclusion of a two year long intelligence gathering process undertaken in Israel.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

This man is innocent. He killed no one this morning!

Recently Internet journal Linux-Watch accused a research group Yankee Group of biased comparisons between Windows and Linux that favor the former. Yankee Group responded. Here is a condensed, self-sufficient version of their hilarious exchange in pleasantries:

LW: Yankee Group lies!
YG: This is absolutely and utterly untrue. Sometimes we tell the truth!

LW: Yankee Group is polling a self selected group of people.
YG: Not true! We do this only sometimes! Also, we use other sources, which... we will neglect to mention here.

LW: And the group is also biased!
YG: False! They say nice things too.

LW: Yankee Group collaborated with a Microsoft subsidiary Sunbelt to create the report!
YG: Which subsidiaries? Where? We see nothin'.

LW: We caught Yankee Group lying before.
YG: We weren't hiding it... that well.

LW: So, why promote biased surveys? Maybe Microsoft's products can't win in honest ones?
YG: We are a very honest company.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

From Sudan... on Boing 747

Remember the Sudanese "olim" I talked about in my previous post? Turns out they also arrive through Ben Gurion airport. The money for the high-tech travel comes from United Nations. Hey, maybe after we finish building the Palestinian state we can grant sovereignty to freedom loving people of Sudan. Somewhere in Ramat Gan.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Secret War

Did you know that Iraq is the only country were more journalists die in a year then in Russia? Did you know that French Constitutional Council just passed a law prohibiting anyone without journalist accreditation filming or broadcasting violence, in essence criminalizing citizen's journalism? See any common trends?

Friday, February 23, 2007

Slightly shortsighted ?











Amir Peretz in a photo from today and George W. Bush in an old photo. They say Ariel Sharon did the same thing once.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

From Sudan with Love


Apparently, even while sitting in Israeli prison one can discover (even more) corruption of the current Israeli government. "What's that" you say?

Shmuel Zatam, a recent immigrant from USA, is sitting in Israeli prison on charges of "intention to kill Arabs". Not only did he bring the family hunting rifle on his way to Israel from North Carolina last March, but what's more, answering an inquiry of authorities on his future place of living he said that he intends to live in the Kfar Tapuah, the ideological center of Kach movement. Too bad he didn't know that in Israel those two facts, when put together, are considered "an attempted murder" and are sufficient for imprisonment until trial.

After spending the past 9 months in Ashkelon prison Shikma, awaiting his trial, Shmuel uncovered the following fascinating scheme. Turns out there are Sudanese prisoners sitting in Shikma prison. They are not prisoners of war that never happened. They are sitting there by agreement with Israeli government. Sudanese cross the Egyptian border where they allow themselves to be captured by the border patrol. They are shipped to Shikma where they spend the next 3 months, working. By the end of this time period they are given money they made over the 3 months, an Israeli citizenship, and are set free inside Israel to seek further employment.

Why is this being done? Because they are dirt-cheap labor, and the government can't let Palestinians in because they keep blowing themselves up in the cities, and Jews want decent pay. But why is Israeli government breaking the law and destroying the future of the state, by filling it with yet more Muslims? Because they can save a buck or two!

Back to you,
Reporting from the land of twisted mirrors, where the unjustly imprisoned are fighting to save the country from the lawfully elected.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Russia + Syria + Iran + Lebanon + Hezbollah = Love

Yes. Apparently, on January 31 2007 a Russian plain, coming from Syria, full with 600 containers of anti-tank Cornet rockets landed in Lebanon. The weapons are for Hezbollah, and were accepted by Hezbollah representative who also happens to represent Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Of course neither Russia nor Syria nor Iran nor Lebanon (of all countries) never heard of UN resolution 1701 prohibiting supplying Hezbollah with arms, but the cooperation, the cooperation is so touching.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Global what?

Maybe old news, but apparently some scientists confirming my own old suspicion: that human effect on planet's climate is minuscule compared to the forces that make it tick. This particular study puts must of the blame on cosmic rays and solar activity. For some reason it seems like those two dwarf human contribution whichever way you look at it. And surprise, the prediction is for global cooling. And soon.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Ivan's Legacy

Today Russia is very rich and arrogant. So arrogant in fact that assassination on another country's sovereign territory is no longer a taboo. It feels like after Litvinenko anyone is a fair game. How did it come to this? Here is a short story of Russian "secret police", organization that changed tens of official names, but is most widely known as the KGB.

Today KGB is in best shape it has ever been, but things started humbly when the "Iron" Felix Dzerzhinsky created organization charged with keeping the Bolsheviks in power. The organization drew from the human resources and mind set of Tzar's secret police which goes back to Ivan the Terrible and his loyal Maluta. The revolutionary circumstances changed quickly, and the organization had to adapt. Hardened criminals were drafted to help fight the powerful organized crime, as no one knew better the ins and outs of that world. Some were eventually exterminated, but some grew within the organization, further criminalizing mentality passed down through generations of secret police breeding. As they rose in ranks they brought in like-minded people taking the organization on a downward spiral.

Lenin and even Stalin knew very well what power lies within the walls of the Lubianka complex. That is why they took every precaution to keep KGB from real power. To aid in this goal a competing organization, the GRU, was created. KGB and GRU were supposed to keep each other in check and prevent the scenario of either one coming to power. After Stalin came Hruschov, and after he got deposed Brezhnev. Brezhnev was a consensus figure and very weak leader. It was during his reign that KGB started to get out of it's borders and like a cancer, infiltrate everything in sight. By the time of his death KGB was powerful enough to put their own man in power, Yuri Andropov. He turned out to be unfit, and was soon replaced by Chernenko, not a KGB person. He died after only seven moths, poisoned. The next one was a KGB man again, Gorbachov. He however also turned out to be a mistake as well, as is easy to guess, since under his rule the entire USSR broke apart.

In the early 90's KGB started an operation to "cover tracks", as they were afraid of a backslash being the least favorite part of USSR which started to get the dog's treatment. Over several years KGB went through series of reorganizations, splits, renaming, and carefully staged PR campaigns intended to clean wash the old image. The plan worked, and KGB's main part emerged as what we now know as FSB. At the same time in early 90's secret division called URPO was formed within KGB, numbering about 150 members. It's task was to infiltrate organized crime and, when asked to, assassinate specified individuals. Of course, it wasn't the court that decided who needs to be taken out, and the division started to resemble Hire An Assassin organization. Eventually it was publicly exposed in 98' by five high ranking FSB officers, one of which was Alexandr Litvinenko.

The URPO was only the beginning. By that time, although technically Yeltzin was in power, KGB was preparing to replace this accidental man with one of their own. It is notable that all the possible replacements for himself Yeltzin went through, changing them one by one as prime ministers, were KGB people. Putin was the last, and final choice. As Putin himself joked once, "operation of infiltrating our man to the post of the President is accomplished successfully". Indeed it was.

As extensively exposed in this article (Russian), during the 90's a directive was born within KGB of which the URPO was but one practical realization. The directive talked about establishing illegal (this is how it is in the text) spy networks that are to infiltrate commercial organizations, banks, judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government. This was justified as measure against organized crime that already infiltrated all those institutions. As a special measure the directive allowed for physical termination of leaders or members of those criminal organizations. Since it was assumed that any legal organization could be infiltrated by a criminal one, this meant that any person could be considered a subject of physical termination. 007s indeed.

In order to carry out this activity, and properly shelter the KGB from possible exposure, directive instructed how to created separate "teams" comprised from "ex"-KGB members, "ex"-criminals, and ex-special forces officers. Over the last decade there were numerous cases were groups of this type with clear and direct ties to KGB were exposed in connection to assassinations by police investigators. To the most part either the people involved mysteriously died or the cases were closed or both. Almost or all acts of terrorism in the past decade (details are beyond the scope of this post) that occurred (or nearly occurred) in Russia also tie back directly to KGB. Reasons for such less targeted killings are usually political which speaks volumes about how far up the chain of command the decisions might have came down from.

Over the past fifteen years Russia is transitioning to a new era. The mentality of people behind Putin, and Putin himself was forged in best traditions of KGB, which in turn inherited many traits of organized crime. In fact, it is the most dangerous and powerful criminal organization I ever heard of. They have their own state, bigger in size then some continents. They are bent on extending their power to the west, through infiltrations, assassinations, coercion, economic expansion, and fueling of military conflicts. Sit tight. The Russians are coming.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Does Islam really exists?

This is something I just realized, watching on CNN how Suni and Shia Muslims masacre each other. It comes down to two separate hospital systems in the same capital city, one Shia and one Suni, one supported by government and one not. To get to the wrong hospital might be signing your death warrant. Yes.

Remember, all monoteistic religions are unanimouse in that there is exactly one God, and naming him differently doesn't makes him different. So we have Shia and Suni that both believe in god named Allah, but if we leave the name alone, there is probably more in common between Buddists and Hindus then between Shia and Suni.

Of course, lets not forget that Shia and Suni are not the only ones. There are many other different "Muslims" in the world. For example Pushtun Muslims still keep millenia old Jewish traditions. Sufi "Muslims" came before Islam, and are very different from both Shia or Suni in their beliefs (although Suni consider them as their own). Then there are the Ahmadiyya "Muslims", who are still very different from other "Muslims", and remind more the Bahai sect then anything else, who are not considered Muslim at all, although were initially formed as an extension of Islam.

Of course, this list is far from complete, but you get the picture. Who can be considered true Muslim? I can say from personal expirience that Muslims themselves cannot agree on this. So is there such a religion?

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Doing Good and Evil: still ahead by the numbers?

I want to point your attention to a very disturbing fact. Enter Ebocha, our today's example, a Nigerian city. It's soil is reach with oil and gas, and oil extraction facilities. The oil is extracted by Italian company Eni. Demand is always high, but supply is tightly controlled, to keep the prices high. Decision is executive, not a technology related. But there is no way to really control how much oil or gas is extracted. Storing it for future is highly difficult and expensive endeavour. What to do? They burn it. Result? Natural resources waisted, oil and gas prices kept artificially high, and people of Ebocha get health problems.

So far so good, nothing particularly new. The everyday garden variety of evil, countered by the good will of charitable organizations that invest in the health of people of Ebocha. For example, Gates Foundation (founded by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates) invested 218$ million dollars in research and immunization, of related health problems. Including in this region. The official website lists more then 7.7 billion dollars in grants for health related causes since inception. However, the website fails to list investment activity of the foundation. According to Los Angeles Times, the foundation "has invested $423 million in Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Total of France". The very companies responsible for health issues the foundation is fighting.

This strange alliance is not unique to Gates Foundation, and is in fact common among other charitable foundations. I guess making just enough good to make up for the evil sounds OK for some people. If nothing else, it is a sound business strategy, isn't it?