I have to say that after helping with this site for a week,the workload is of unprecedented Scale,We should all take are hats off to J W,it puts a huge strain on his life,He has managed this site on his own for three years,Thank you “Joseph wouk” for your dedication and time,Enjoy your vacation in full, Cheers and a million loves to you ,N G  J FI

Beware: Obama’s Iran War Talk is Israel’s Suicide Walk – Op-Eds – Israel National News.

Op-Ed: Beware: Obama’s Iran War Talk is Israel’s Suicide Walk

Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 7:08 AM

Obama has created for himself a perfect PR stunt to blame Israel for Iran getting nukes.

Mark Langfan

The writer, has created an original educational 3d Topographic Map System of Israel to facilitate clear understanding of the dangers facing Israel and its water supply. It has been studied by US lawmakers and can be seen at http://www.marklangfan.com.

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The Sunday Times recently, I believe, likely correctly framed Obama’s general plan for his upcoming Israel visit, when it wrote: “[US President] Barack Obama will visit Israel next month for the first time as US president armed with the outline of a deal balancing the promise of tougher American action against Iran with fresh Israeli overtures to the Palestinians.”

But unfortunately, Obama’s March 2013 game is exactly Obama’s May 2009 game when the new President Obama stated:
“[I]f there is a linkage between Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, I personally believe it actually runs the other way. To the extent that we can make peace with the Palestinians – between the Palestinians and the Israelis – then I actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in dealing with a potential Iranian threat.”

In essence, Obama wants to trade Obama’s empty “Iranian ‘war’ talk” for Israel’s “suicide ‘peace’ walk.” Obama will only making explicit what has been his implicit policy since 2009. Obama’s ‘West Bank for a US Iran attack’ “trade” is insane on its face, and should be rejected outright. Further, Obama’s very “linkage” of the Iran’s nukes with Israel coughing up a Palestinian State only means Obama intends to allow Iran to get nukes, and wants Israel to be the his “scapegoat” cover for the failure of Obama’s own catastrophic Iranian nuclear appeasement.

Obama’s Iran nuclear policy can be summed up as “Speak softly, and carry no stick.”

First, why is Obama’s “”talk” for “walk”” scam insane for Israel?

Simple, been there done that! The exact reason Bibi caved in 2009 to Obama and agreed to a settlement freeze on November 25, 2009 was that Bibi had, very likely, under-the-table agreed to Obama’s Iran-West Bank linkage. And where did that get Israel? Iran exponentially accelerated its U235 enrichment and Abbas infinitely escalated the Palestinian’s demands. So, Obama is doubling down on a lose-lose policy for Israel and a win-win for him.

Obama is doubling down on a lose-lose policy for Israel and a win-win for him.
In 2009, Obama made Bibi look like a ‘Booby’ and enabled Iran to enrich 1000s of kilograms of UF6 gas containing enriched U235 Uranium. In 2013, Bibi’s caving to Obama will give Iran just the window it needs to breakout with a nuke. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, Iran gets a nuke.

Next, in short, Israel will be forced to immediately give up the concrete ‘West Bank Palestinian Arab State’, so Obama can jabber on with Iran for another 4 years with Iran. Great! So now, Iran only has to have Hamas lob chemical-tipped katyushas from Judea and Samaria into Tel Aviv in order to annihilate Israel, in addition to Iran having and delivering a nuke!

Net-net, Obama is really offering Israel “immediate suicide for bupkis.” (“Bupkis” mean “absolutely nothing” in Yiddish.) For even if Obama actually physically attacked Iran in return for a “Palestinian Arab West Bank state”, that state would still steal all of Israel’s water, and would still fire ball-bearing war-headed rockets into Ben Gurion airport.

So, it’s still Israeli suicide.

Third, Iran is the world’s problem, not Israel’s. Everyone in the Middle East but Middle East pundits knows that Iran’s nukes represent a greater immediate totally existential threat to Saudi Arabia.

So, Obama’s deal is a super lose-lose for Israel. Israel will get blamed by everybody for any deaths of American soldiers or pilots who “got killed for saving Israel’s butt.” Even though a US attack on Iran saved Saudi Arabia and the world. The pundits will scream, “Israel pushed America into an Iranian war it didn’t need.” And for what, hasn’t US defense secretary and Chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff for years told us and sworn under oath to the US Congress that “at best a US attack on Iran will only delay, NOT eliminate Iran’s nukes.”

So, Israel will get hysterically blamed in the American media, for American body bags from an American attack on Iran and get, at best, a two year delay. And for a two year delay, Israel gives Iran an immediate “West Bank” beachhead from which it can easily genocidally murder 70 percent of Israel’s population, and lay waste to 80 percent of her industrial base.

Finally, by Obama’s suggestion of US -Iran-attack-for-Palestinian-Arab-state deal, he knows no Israel Prime Minister can be that totally stupid, and take it. Consequently, Obama has created for himself a perfect PR stunt to blame Israel for Iran getting nukes. What’s more, Obama gets a perfect shield to dodge Israel’s demands for an attack on Iran.

Just imagine Obama complaining to his American Jewish donors (who will eat it up like the liberal sycophants they are), “I tried my best to help Israel with Iran, but I needed their help with the Arabs, and Israel outright rejected my help. So, my hands were tied. Israel didn’t know what’s best for itself.” To the world-at-large Obama’s blame will be a harsher, “Israel’s rejection of Peace caused the Iranian nuclear bomb.” So, Obama will lie and claim Israel caused an Iran’s bomb, not his insane nuclear appeasement of a new Islamo-Nazi world threatening menace.

In conclusion, Israel must publicly, but politely, expose Obama’s Orwellian linkage of a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria for a US Iranian war talk or even for a US Iranian attack for the perverse scam it truly is.

The Iran Nuke/PA state linkage must be publicly denuded as a policy hoax before President Obama lands on the Ben Gurion Tarmac. In fact, the more such nuke linkage Obama creates, the more Iran has an actual incentive, and cover, to accelerate its nuclear bomb program. Iran will have the perfect “Obama-approved” excuse for building a nuclear bomb: “Israel made me do it.” The Europeans and Obama’s left-wing Jewish donors will swallow it whole.

For more information about Mark Langfan’s 3-Dimensional Topographic Map System of Israel, please go to Http://www.marklangfan.com

Report: Morsi to Send Security Delegation to Israel

For the first time since Morsi took office, Egypt will be sending a security delegation to Israel, reports Channel 10.

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By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/19/2013, 5:43 AM

Mohammed Morsi

Mohammed Morsi

Israel news photo: Flash 90

For the first time since Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi took office, Egypt will be sending a security delegation to Israel.

Channel 10 News reported on Monday that the Egyptian delegation will discuss issues such as the situation in Gaza and other matters of mutual interest with Israeli officials. The delegation is scheduled to arrive in Israel in the near future, the report said, but no exact date was given.

While Morsi has repeatedly said he would continue to maintain the peace with Israel and uphold international documents signed by prior Cairo administrations, he has mostly given Israel the cold shoulder since taking office.

In November, Morsi recalled the Egyptian ambassador to Israel in protest of Israel’s counterterrorism Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza.

Last October, Egypt rejected an Israeli request to upgrade the relations between the countries, after the Jewish State expressed interest in expanding the cooperation between the two countries and raising it to a level of ministerial talks between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his Egyptian counterpart.

Last week, a four-man Israeli security delegation reportedly arrived in Cairo to take part in talks about the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Some reports indicated the Israeli delegation had come to hold indirect talks with Hamas about understandings reached after the ceasefire which ended Pillar of Defense.

Sending a security delegation to Israel would be the first time that Morsi’s regime publicly acknowledges the relations and cooperation between the two countries, noted Channel 10.

Shortly after he took office, Morsi decided to order the retirement of Egypt’s top generals, including Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, with whom Israel had enjoyed close ties during the Mubarak regime.

While the generals were not replaced with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the replacements were certainly approved by the movement, said the Channel 10 report.

via Morsi to Send Security Delegation to Israel – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Israel’s infrastructure exposed to cyber-risk | The Times of Israel.

The Syrian Electronic Army (Screenshot)

Israelis are — with good reason — concerned about the possibility that Iran will attain nuclear weapons. But perhaps they should be more worried that Iran will be able to take over the country’s basic infrastructure, wreaking havoc with the gas, water, and electricity systems, as well as the banking system.

“If nuclear weapons were the ‘judgment day’ weapon of the 20^th century, computer infrastructure hacking is the 21^st century equivalent,” said Tal Pavel, an expert on Internet usage and crimes in the Middle East.

“In some ways, the threat of hacking major infrastructure systems is even worse than the nuclear threat,” he told The Times of Israel. “Only governments can afford to purchase and deploy nuclear weapons, so you know who is attacking you and how to deal with them. But anyone can develop or buy their own super-virus, potentially capable of a cyber-attack that could shut down a country for days, create panics or riots, or release dangerous substances, such as gas and sewage, that can kill people in the victim country.”

This is a problem for Israel, too, he said, as the country’s enemies become more cyber-capable. In fact, Arab or Iranian hackers may have already gone after Israeli infrastructure systems.

Pavel was speaking in the wake of a major exposé Monday that showed how groups of Chinese hackers — almost certainly working on behalf of China’s military forces — have been systematically invading major corporations and infrastructure systems in the United States. Among the companies attacked by the Chinese hackers, according to US security firm Mandiant, were several with access to information about gas, oil, and electrical infrastructure throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere.

One company, Telvent Canada, had blueprint designs for more than half of the oil and gas pipelines in North and South America; it was only some quick thinking by an employee that prevented the hackers from swiping the documents.

China, of course, has denied that it was involved in any attacks on the US, and unfortunately for Washington, there is no way to prove that the Chinese government was behind the attack – although, an expert told The New York Times, which broke the story Monday, “the totality of the evidence” leaves the Chinese army as the sole suspect.

Cyber-attacks against infrastructure are nothing new, said Pavel. “Just because we haven’t heard about something doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” he said. “Such attacks take place on a regular basis, but unless you are privy to the real-time events, you can’t know if an infrastructure failure is due to a hack attack or some other reason.”

A good example of this was the recent outage at Israel’s Pelephone cellphone service provider, with service shut down for millions of customers for the better part of a day. “I don’t know if this was due to a hacking attack,” Pavel said. “Only the company knows, and of course they won’t tell. But it certainly could have been, just like the Stuxnet attack on Iran’s computers several years ago could have been conducted by Israeli and US hackers, as rumor has it. But for the vast majority of us, that will always remain an open question, just like the question of whether it was hackers who attacked Pelephone will remain open.”

Fortunately for Israel, said Pavel, the countries most likely to attack in a major cyberwar are unlikely to be able to take on Israel’s electrical, gas, and water infrastructure. “Iran, Syria, and the other likely cyber-attackers are not China, which has billions of people and high levels of computer sophistication. Nevertheless, it’s certainly possible for Iran to get top-flight training for its hackers, raising their skills to the point where they can successfully attack Israel’s considerable cyber defenses.” Or, he said, they could hire hackers who do have the capability to write viruses and Trojans that can worm their way into Israel’s infrastructure.

And even without the money, computer resources, and talent of Chinese hackers, Arab and Iranian hackers can inflict plenty of damage on Israel, said Pavel. “Just a few weeks ago, we saw how Syrian hackers were able to compromise the email system of Haaretz.” The attack, by a group called the Syrian Electronic Army, was very simple (using a password to get into Haaretz employee mailboxes), but caused plenty of inconvenience for the paper and its employees.

Dr. Tal Pavel (Photo credit: Courtesy)

“With all the fighting in Syria they barely have an Internet infrastructure in place these days, but despite the unrest there these hackers were able to pull off an attack,” said Pavel. It’s just a matter of time before Iranian or Arab hackers will be able to reach secure Israeli infrastructure systems, as they grow in sophistication and capabilities, Pavel said.

How were the hackers able to get access to Haaretz employee accounts? The same way Mandiant said that Chinese hackers were able to gain access to American infrastructure systems — by “phishing” for victims, using a convincing-looking email and getting the victim to click on a link or open an infected document. In the case of Haaretz, victims received an email with an ostensible link to an article in The British Guardian newspaper about the peace process. But the link instead led to a hacker site, which, when connected to the victims computer, required their username and password for access. Once they typed that in, the connection was broken; the hackers had what they needed, so there was no reason to continue the pretense.

The Chinese hackers did something similar, sending an email to an employee of Telvent with a link to a document. The document, in perfect English, bore the email address of the employee’s manager. It’s only because the employee remembered the company’s policy on email links — i.e., not to click on them — that the Chinese hackers did not gain access to the company’s servers. “Phishing is a form of social engineering,” said Pavel. “The hackers search for the ‘weakest link,’ matching a message with a potential victim, using threats, rewards, fear or other psychological tactics to get the victim to click on a link or open a document that will install a virus or Trojan, giving them access to servers.”

Phishing messages, said Mandiant, are among hackers’ most successful tactics; the only way to avoid these attacks is to set policies regarding document attachments and links in emails and on non-secure websites, and to ensure that employees and their family members follow those policies, said Pavel. “Israelis in general need to be more aware of this,” he said.

Iran: Nuclear talks are an ‘opportunity’ for West

Foreign Ministry spokesman says Iran would be willing to ease concerns over its nuclear program if West recognizes its right to enrich uranium.

By The Associated Press and DPA | Feb.19, 2013 | 11:04 AM

Ashton and Jalili meet in Moscow for Iran nuclear talks – AFP – June 18, 2012

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili meet in Moscow, on June 18, 2012. Photo by AFP

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Biden: U.S. prepared to hold direct talks with Iran only if regime ‘is serious’

By The Associated Press | Feb.19,2013 | 11:04 AM | 11

Iran rejects U.S. offer for direct talks, says won’t be frightened by ‘gun threats’

By Reuters | Feb.19,2013 | 11:04 AM | 51

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By Reuters | Feb.19,2013 | 11:04 AM | 15

Hagel: Window is closing on Iran and possibility of diplomacy

By The Associated Press | Feb.19,2013 | 11:04 AM | 16

Iran says it is willing to ease Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for pledges from the Unites States and others about its ability to enrich uranium.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says an “opportunity” awaits at the nuclear talks next week between Iran and world powers in Kazakhstan.

Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday that Iran seeks a “show of goodwill” by the U.S. and its allies to recognize Iran’s nuclear “rights,” which include enriching uranium.

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany are to restart nuclear negotiations with Iran in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26.

“There would be a swift solution if the 5+1 group came up at the next nuclear meeting with goodwill as well as suitable and balanced initiatives, such as acknowledgment of Iran’s nuclear rights,” Mehmanparast said.

“Just as we are committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we also want to maintain our rights according to the same treaty. Therefore any threats or pressures in the talks would be irrelevant and definitely not work,” he added.

Mehmanparast says Iran would respond with proposals to address Western concerns.

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said Washington was prepared to talk directly to Iran. Tehran rejected the offer.

The West suspects Iran’s enrichment program could eventually produce material for a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies.

via Iran: Nuclear talks are an ‘opportunity’ for West – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

U.S. think tank: Iran nuke unlikely to start Mideast arms race – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives a speech in a mosque inside the leader’s housing compound, in Tehran, Iran in February, 2013. Photo by AP

Fears that an Iranian nuclear weapon might trigger an atomic arms race across the Middle East are overplayed, a U.S. security think tank said on Tuesday, arguing that countries like Saudi Arabia face big disincentives against getting the bomb.

Western powers believe Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon under cover of a civilian atomic electricity program, a charge Tehran denies.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is engaged in a fierce rivalry with Shi’ite power Iran and is seen in Western countries as the most likely Middle Eastern state to seek an atomic weapon if Iran did the same.

Analysts have also said an Iranian nuclear weapons capability might persuade Egypt and Turkey to seek a bomb too.

Israel, which has never declared its atomic weapons capability, is thought to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power now although Iran’s eastern neighbor Pakistan has atomic weapons.

In December 2011, former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal said that if Tehran did gain nuclear weapons capability, Saudi Arabia should consider matching it.

Riyadh has also announced plans to build 17 gigawatts of atomic energy by 2032 as it moves to reduce domestic oil consumption, freeing up more crude for export.

However, a report by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) says that although there is some risk that Saudi Arabia would seek an atomic bomb, it would more likely rely on its ally, the United States, to protect it.

“The conventional wisdom is probably wrong,” the report said.

Even if Saudi Arabia wished to acquire a bomb, “significant disincentives would weigh against a mad rush by Riyadh to develop nuclear weapons”.

CNAS, based in Washington, was set up in 2007 as a non-partisan think tank aiming to develop U.S. security policy.

The report’s authors include Colin Kahl, a former deputy assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, and Melissa Dalton, a foreign affairs specialist with the secretary.

The difficulty and expense of embarking on a nuclear arms programme in defiance of international law and the wishes of the kingdom’s most important ally, Washington, would be a powerful argument against such an undertaking, it said.

Riyadh is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Some analysts have aruged that instead of attempting to build its own atomic weapon, Riyadh might try to buy a fully developed nuclear bomb from ally Pakistan.

However, the report said this was also unlikely.

“Instead, Saudi Arabia would likely pursue a more aggressive version of its current conventional defense and civilian nuclear hedging strategy while seeking out an external nuclear security guarantee,” they said.

The report said Egypt did not see Iran’s nuclear ambitions as an existential threat and that Turkey already has a nuclear deterrent in the form of its NATO security guarantees.

‘Two-year conflict leading to mutual destruction,’ Russia warns Syria.

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Elaraby leave a news conference following a meeting of the Russia-Arab cooperation forum in Moscow February 20, 2013. (Reuters)

Russia on Wednesday urged the regime and rebels in Syria to swiftly halt their almost two-year conflict, warning that seeking a military settlement risked leading to mutual destruction.

“It’s time to end this two-year conflict,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and other top Arab diplomats.

“Neither side can allow itself to bet on a military settlement as this is a path to nowhere, a path to mutual destruction,” he said.

Lavrov, who on Monday is due to host Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem for crucial talks, said Moscow was working to encourage dialogue between the rebels and regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“There are signs of positive tendencies, signs of tendencies for dialogue both from the side of the government and the opposition,” he said.

But he said it was up to the two sides to decide what kind of dialogue might take place and at what level.

“It is important that they do not come out with any conditions for each other and say that I am going to talk to this person but not that one.”

Moscow, unlike other world powers, still keeps close ties with the regime of Assad and has infuriated the West and some Arab states by refusing to halt military cooperation with Damascus.

Lavrov confirmed that Russia was working on agreeing a trip to Moscow by the head of the Syrian opposition National Coalition Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib who has previously been unwilling to visit Russia over its past support for the regime.

“We are agreeing a date of a visit here by Mr Khatib, which will probably happen at the start of March,” said Lavrov.

He said the diplomacy was aimed at “creating the conditions for the start of direct dialogue” between the regime and opposition.

“What is needed is that the sides sit at the negotiating table,” said Lavrov.

He said there were signs of a new readiness on the part of the Syrian opposition for dialogue and it was vital that this was met by similar moves on the part the Syrian government.

“The government has long talked about this but now has come the time when words have to be put into concrete deeds,” said Lavrov.

“We count on this happening and we will work to make sure it does happen.”

Lavrov was speaking after a meeting of the formal session of the so-called Russian-Arab Forum that was founded in December 2009 but failed to meet as tensions rose between Moscow and regional states over the Arab Spring uprisings.

As well as Arabi, the talks included the foreign ministers of Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt. However the top diplomats of Qatar and Saudi Arabia — who have been strongly supportive of the Syrian opposition and critical of Moscow — were conspicuously absent.

Russia on Tuesday sent two planes to Syria to pick up Russians wanting to leave the conflict-torn country as the navy despatched four warships to the Mediterranean reportedly for a possible larger evacuation.

Two emergencies ministry planes carrying humanitarian aid for Syria took off from Moscow for the port city of Latakia and would take any Russians wanting to leave on their flight back, the ministry said.

The Russian emergencies ministry Ilyushin-62 and Ilyushin-76 planes were carrying over 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid and would be ready to evacuate any Russians wanting to leave the country, a ministry statement said.

The aid consists of electrical equipment, bedding, tents as well as foodstuffs like fish and milk conserves as well as sugar.

On Tuesday, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos warned that aid operations are largely unable to reach the opposition-held north of Syria, despite the U.N. saying it has stepped up its operations elsewhere in the country.

“We are watching a humanitarian tragedy unfold before our eyes,” Amos told a news briefing late Tuesday. “We must do all we can to reassure the people that we care and that we will not let them down.”

“Cross-line operations are difficult but they are do-able.

“We are crossing conflict lines, negotiating with armed groups on the ground to reach more in need. But we are not reaching enough of those who require our help. Limited access in the north is a problem that can only solved using alternative methods of aid delivery,” Amos said, quoted by Reuters news agency.

Some 70,000 people have been killed in the nearly two-year-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad that has also sent 860,000 refugees fleeing abroad, according to the world body.

In the last few weeks, the U.N. refugee agency reached the northern opposition-held Azaz with aid for the first time. The World Health Organization has delivered vaccines in many opposition-held areas, Amos said.

Syrian opposition representatives told the United Nations this week that some three million people living throughout rebel-held territory require international assistance, she said.

The Syrian government still refuses to allow U.N. convoys to cross from Turkey into northern Syria, as most border crossings are controlled by the Free Syrian Army, she said.

Kerry heading to Europe, Mideast; no Israel stop.

( In a word, ” Yay !” – JW )

15 hr ago By Bradley Klapper

Despite Silence on Upcoming Talks, Israel’s Position on Iran is Clear | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com.

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during a bilateral meeting. Photo: White House.

Iran is expected to meet with world powers on February 26th in Kazakhstan to discuss its nuclear program, discussions Israel has little hope will be successful. Considering the gloomy outlook, what will Israel want out of the talks? According to Al-Monitor, despite Israel’s silence at the moment, its demands will be clear: The Jewish state will want the Obama administration and the European Union “to cast responsibility on [the] Iranians by blaming them for the talks’ failure in the clearest way possible.”

Al-monitor also reports that Israel will want the countries to make  “it perfectly clear that slogans such as ‘negotiations can’t go on forever,’ while the Iranians continue to arm themselves, are not mere rhetoric. They want them to act once the talks have failed, and in a way so severe that the Iranians themselves realize that they have gone too far, and that they face a greater threat than just Israeli military action. As far as the Israelis are concerned, the message should be that this time the entire West is threatening military action.”

Israel is maintaining its stance that  “a credible American military option”  is the ” only way that [President Obama] will be able to curb the uranium-enrichment program and prevent war.” One recent development that Israel can point to is North Korea’s third nuclear test — a test which proved that the West’s vacillation can have dire consequences. Israel, however, unlike North Korea’s enemies South Korea and Japan, will be unwilling to accept a threat so close at hand. As Al-Monitor notes, “The Israelis will not live in constant fear of an enemy they perceive as committed to radicalism, nor will they allow for international condemnations to replace real measures.”