WarSclerotic

Israel Hayom | The stage is set, let the propaganda begin.

Dan Margalit

Since the U.N.’s founding toward the end of the Second World War, its General Assembly has followed the famous Shakespearean adage: “All the World’s a Stage.” This will hold true when the General Assembly opens its latest session on Tuesday.

Interested parties have traditionally used this platform to wage a non-stop campaign to win the hearts and minds of the global community. It’s not that the U.N. has no influence-wielding bodies. The Security Council is the most important body in that organization. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], which is one of the worst agencies, is important when it comes to cultural matters. But the GA, which is supposedly the U.N.’s crown jewel, has become a venue for PR and propaganda.

This was underscored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Iran when the assembly convened last year, when he drew the famous red line in that speech, warning against the danger posed by the Islamic republic; his intended audience was not present. The U.N. delegates were either already familiar with the topic or just too disinterested. In any event, he knew that a small diagram would not suffice if he were to change the policy of the various U.N. member states.

His target audience was those watching him on TV or following the event through the internet. He wanted to appeal to those who were not present in the hall, spanning the entire globe.

This will be the case in September 2013 as well, although the prevailing sentiment in the annual gathering can change like a diplomatic chameleon. Last year the annual gathering took place on the eve of the U.S. presidential elections. When President Barack Obama rose to the podium he used strong rhetoric against Iran’s nuclear program. He sounded almost like Netanyahu. But he only talked the talk.

Now things are different and the questions preoccupying the media gurus are different too. Will Obama shake hands with newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani? Will a skeptical Netanyahu grit his teeth as he watches those two meet? This has dominated the news cycles because the public always wants more drama and a creative twist to the story line. This is all the more true this year because the Iranian protagonist changed his script and may have also donned a mask. It was easy to hate Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But now the world wants to have him portrayed favorably, even though he is not as good as what people were made to believe.

Netanyahu will have to be reach deep into his creative mind as he tries to make Israel’s case again.

Not only will he not draw the red line again, the changes in the region will force him to adapt the substance and maybe even his pyrotechnics to this new atmosphere. His warning against Iran will undoubtably be wrapped with a sliver of hope, a wish that the U.S. effort to check Iran’s nuclearization would be successful even without firing Tomahawk missiles on Iranian cities.

Even Russia is not the Russia of 2012. It has seen a steady increase in its world’s standing in recent years. It has come a long way since its low point more than 20 years ago, just after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

President Vladimir Putin has gained stature at the expense of his U.S. rival. He has signaled to the rest of the U.N. delegates that he is the man with whom they should seek strong ties. Had the U.N. been founded in 2013, it would not have its headquarters in New York.

The longest PR campaign humanity has ever known will be showcased on Tuesday.

The curse of progressive feminism – Pat Condell – YouTube.

(As always, Pat Condell speaks the truth about the barbarism of Islam, this time focusing on its treatment of women. – JW)

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Russian official warns talks with U.S. on Syria not going ‘smoothly’ – Middle East Israel News | Haaretz.

UN chemical weapons inspectors will return to Syria on Wednesday, Russian deputy foreign minister says.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Geneva to discuss a plan to disarm Syria’s nuclear arsenal. Photo by Reuters

Talks between Russia and the United States on the conflict in Syria are not going very smoothly and Moscow is concerned a chemical weapons deal may have only delayed U.S. military action, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately it’s necessary to note that in contacts with the Americans, things are not going so smoothly…they are not quite going in the direction they should,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in parliament.

He said U.S. officials “always mention that plans to punish Damascus remain in force. We draw certain conclusions from that and assume that the threat of aggression in violation of international law is so far only delayed, not dismissed fully.”

UN chemical weapons inspectors will return to Syria on Wednesday to investigate alleged attacks using poison gas, Ryabkov was quoted as saying Tuesday by Russia media.

“We are satisfied that our insistence that the UN experts return was answered,” he said.

The inspectors have determined that chemical weapons were used in an attack near Damascus on August 21 that killed hundreds and which the United States and its allies blame on the Syrian government.

The inspectors want to investigate other instances of alleged chemical weapons use, including a March attack on the town of Khan al-Assal, in the northern Aleppo province.

The August attack prompted the United States to threaten military strikes against the regime of President Bashar Assad, whose forces are fighting rebels seeking his overthrow.

A US-Russian deal this month to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal by mid-2014 averted the strikes.

Under the deal, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will verify Syria’s information on location and support the country in securing the weapons and facilities until their destruction. A more exact schedule was not yet known.

Syria is officially to become the 190th member state of the organization on October 14, 2013. The OPCW is the responsible body for the implementation and supervision of the international Chemical Weapons Convention.

The United States, France and Britain have submitted a draft resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council, where members Russia and China are opposed to evoking Chapter VII, which would allow the use of force if Syria doesn’t fulfill its commitments.

Israeli minister warns West: Don’t be fooled by Iran’s shifted rhetoric – Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz.

Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz likens Iran’s nuclear program to Syria, where it took threats of a U.S. attack to convince the regime to give up chemical weapons.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani shakes hands with his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad June 18, 2013. Photo by AP

The world must not let up pressure on Iran’s nuclear program simply because President Hassan Rohani has shifted the Islamic Republic’s rhetoric toward the West, Israeli Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said Tuesday.

“We’re seeing an attack of smiles, moderation and pleasantry from the new president, Rohani,” Steinitz, who is responsible for Israel’s international relations, told Army Radio. “As of now, we’re not seeing any change in substance.”

Steinitz said that despite the reconciliatory words, Iran has yet to honor UN Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to stop enriching uranium, dismantle the installation in Qom and stop construction of the heavy-water reactor.

The current talks on Iranian nuclear program could turn out to be like “Munich Agreement,” Steinitz said, alluding to the deal among European powers before World War II now seen as an act of appeasement toward Nazi Germany.

“We definitely prefer a diplomatic solution to a military solution, but we can reach it only through a great deal of [economic and military] pressure,” he said.

The lesson from the crisis over chemical weapons use in Syria is applicable to Iran, Steinitz said.

“The moment the United States announced it was going to attack – when the military threat was real – the Syrians announced that they were willing to give up their chemical weapons,” he said. “Without a doubt, Syria’s policy underwent a dramatic change the moment there was an actual military threat.”

Steinitz also warned Western powers not to repeat the mistake made during attempts to contain North Korea’s nuclear program. He said that though a deal was signed and “everyone applauded,” and within a few years they manufactured nuclear weapons.

“Rohani is out to fool us, and part of the world wants to be fooled,” Steinitz said. “It’s tiny Israel’s job to open their eyes. It’s a long struggle, and it won’t be over in a day.”

Gunfire continues even as Kenyan forces say they control mall | The Times of Israel.

Government claims to have freed hostages, but source says at least 10 people still being held by attackers at besieged Nairobi shopping center

A plume of black smoke billows rising over the Westgate Mall, following large explosions and heavy gunfire, in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. ( photo credit: AP Photo/Riccardo Gangale)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan security forces battled al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in an upscale mall for a fourth day Tuesday in what they said was a final push to rescue the last few hostages in a siege that has left at least 62 people dead.

Despite Kenyan government assurances of success on Twitter, another explosion and more gunfire could be heard coming from the mall at around 6:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Associated Press reporters at the scene said. Security forces carried a body out of the mall, which remained on fire, with flames and smoke visible.

While the government announced Sunday that “most” hostages had been released, a security expert with contacts inside the mall said at least 10 were still being held by a band of attackers described as “a multinational collection from all over the world.”

Kenay’s Citizen TV said that six of the remaining attackers had been killed, Reuters reported. The TV report was unsourced and gave no further information.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said “two or three Americans” and “one Brit” were among those who attacked the mall.

She said in an interview with the PBS “NewsHour” program that the Americans were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin and lived “in Minnesota and one other place” in the US. The attacker from Britain was a woman who has “done this many times before,” Mohamed said.

US officials said they were looking into whether any Americans were involved. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that the department had “no definitive evidence of the nationalities or the identities” of the attackers.

The security expert, who insisted on anonymity to talk freely about the situation, said many hostages had been freed or escaped in the previous 24-36 hours, including some who were in hiding.

However, there were at least 30 hostages when the assault by al-Shabab militants began Saturday, he said, and “it’s clear” that Kenyan security officials “haven’t cleared the building fully.”

Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked rebel group, al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said the hostage-takers were well-armed and ready to take on the Kenyan forces.

Flames and dark plumes of smoke rose Monday above the Westgate shopping complex for more than an hour after four large explosions rocked the surrounding neighborhood. The smoke was pouring through a large skylight inside the mall’s main department and grocery store, where mattresses and other flammable goods appeared to have been set on fire, a person with knowledge of the rescue operation told The Associated Press.

The explosions were followed by volleys of gunfire as police helicopters and a military jet circled overhead, giving the neighborhood the feel of a war zone.

By Monday evening, Kenyan security officials claimed the upper hand.

“Taken control of all the floors. We’re not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them,” Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo said on Twitter.

Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the evacuation of hostages had gone “very, very well” and that Kenyan officials were “very certain” that few if any hostages were left in the building.

But with the mall cordoned off and under heavy security it was not possible to independently verify the assertions. Similar claims of a quick resolution were made by Kenyan officials on Sunday and the siege continued. Authorities have also not provided any details on how many hostages were freed or how many still remain captive.

Three attackers were killed in the fighting Monday, Kenyan authorities said, and more than 10 suspects arrested. Eleven Kenyan soldiers were wounded in the running gun battles.

An al-Shabab spokesman, Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, said in an audio file posted on a militant website that the attackers had been ordered to “take punitive action against the hostages” if force was used to try to rescue them.

The attackers have lots of ammunition, the militant group said in a Twitter feed, adding that Kenya’s government would be responsible for any loss of hostages’ lives.

A Western security official in Nairobi who insisted on not being named to share information about the rescue operation said the only reason the siege hadn’t yet ended would be because hostages were still inside.

Westgate mall, a vast complex with multiple banks that have secure vaults and bulletproof glass partitions, as well as a casino, is difficult to take, the official said. “They are not made for storming,” he said of the labyrinth of shops, restaurants and offices. “They’re made to be unstormable.”

At least 62 people were killed in the assault Saturday by some 12 to 15 al-Shabab militants wielding grenades and firing on civilians inside the mall, which includes shops for such retail giants as Nike, Adidas and Bose and is popular with foreigners and wealthy Kenyans.

The militants specifically targeted non-Muslims, and at least 18 foreigners were among the dead, including six Britons, as well as citizens from France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, India, Ghana, South Africa and China. Nearly 200 people were wounded, including five Americans.

Fighters from an array of nations participated in the assault, according to Kenya’s Chief of Defense forces Gen. Julius Karangi. “We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world,” he said.

Al-Shabab, whose name means “The Youth” in Arabic, said the mall attack was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighboring Somalia. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 al-Qaeda truck bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, which killed more than 200 people.

An extremist Islamic terrorist force that grew out of the anarchy that crippled Somalia after warlords ousted a longtime dictator in 1991, al-Shabab is estimated to have several thousand fighters, including a few hundred foreigners, among them militants from the Middle East with experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Others are young, raw recruits from Somali communities in the United States and Europe.

For years Minnesota has been the center of a federal investigation into the recruiting of fighters for al-Shabab. Authorities say about two dozen young men have left Minnesota since 2007 to join the group. Minnesota’s Somali community is the largest in the U.S.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the attack showed that al-Shabab was a threat not just to Somalia but to the international community.

Mohamed, the Kenyan foreign minister, said her country needs to work with other governments to fight the increasing terrorist threat and “much more with the US and the UK, because both the victims and the perpetrators came from Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“That just goes to underline the global nature of this war that we are fighting,” she said.

Reports that some of the attackers may have been Somalis who lived in the United States illustrate the global nature of the militant group, the Somali leader said in a speech at Ohio State University. “Today, there are clear evidences that Shabab is not a threat to Somalia and Somali people only,” he said. “They are a threat to the continent of Africa, and the world at large.”

As the crisis passed the 48-hour mark, a video emerged that was taken by someone inside the mall’s main department store when the assault began. It showed frightened and unsure shoppers crouching as long, loud volleys of gunfire could be heard.

Kenyans in many parts of the country stood in long lines Monday to donate blood to aid the nearly 200 people injured in the attack. Fundraisers raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, though government officials warned of scam artists taking advantage of the tragedy.

Israelis to boycott Rohani’s UN address – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Minister Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s current most senior representative to General Assembly, tells Ynet he and Ambassador Ron Prosor will not listen to Iranian president’s speech Tuesday. Officials waiting for PM’s instructions on whether to walk out of auditorium when address begins or just stay away

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – Israel‘s official representatives will boycott Iranian President Hassan Rohani‘s address at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is currently Israel’s most senior representative to the General Assembly and Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor have confirmed that they will not sit in the auditorium during the speech.

The two officials are now waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s instructions on whether to leave the auditorium when Rohani starts speaking, or just stay away altogether.

The Iranian president is expected to deliver a moderate address and not to reiterate the statements made by his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which included threats to wipe Israel off the map, Holocaust denials and a variety of accusations against the United States and the West.

Steinitz told Ynet that his meetings with European foreign ministers in recent weeks, in Europe and at the UN, have revealed that they are also expecting actions and not just talk from Rohani.

“British Foreign Secretary Hague has also stated that he is not impressed by Rohani’s rhetoric,” the minister noted. He said the European diplomats “are waiting for Rohani’s address to see if he is just declaring his desire for a dialogue, or is actually willing to implement the Security Council resolutions.”

Western reps to remain in their seats

The Israeli delegation will likely be alone in its decision to leave the auditorium or boycott the speech. In recent years, when former Iranian President Ahmadinejad addressed the UN, dozens of Western representatives had walked out of the auditorium during his speeches, but this is not expected to repeat itself this time.

Rohani will deliver his first address in New York on Tuesday evening, several hours after US President Barack Obama. On Thursday, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, the foreign ministers of the six world powers – including US Secretary of State John Kerry – are expected to hold a historical meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif.

Zarif, who served as Iran‘s ambassador to the UN last decade, began his first day in New York on Monday with meeting with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands, and with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Zarif conveyed to the Europeans that his country was interested in entering serious negotiations and quickly solving the nuclear crisis. After the meeting, Ashton told reporters that she was impressed by his “energy and determination.”

Terra Incognita: It’s time to define Islamism as a crime against humanity | JPost | Israel News.

( This article is so true and so important that I implore you to read it. –  JW )

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Between US and Iran, a long-sought breakthrough | JPost | Israel News.

Washington and Europe rush headlong towards accepting a nuclear Iran.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani lands in New York

The Iranian delegation arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York this week to an enthusiastic Western welcome led by the Obama administration, without having rescinded one iota of its aggressive policies or nuclear ambitions.

“We welcome an Iran ready to engage seriously through that (diplomatic) process given that it represents the international community’s commitment to hold Iran accountable, but also being open to a diplomatic resolution.”

This convoluted message was how Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Adviser, referred Monday, Sept. 23, to the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s get-together with Iranian Mohammad Javad Zarif Thursday, along with foreign ministers of the five world powers.

Their acclaimed purpose is to test Tehran’s willingness for progress in nuclear negotiations. But before this test, the Obama administration agreed to the highest-level face-to-face contact between the US and Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Rhodes did not shut the door on a meeting, even a brief one, between President Barack Obama and President Hassan Rouhani at this week’s annual gathering of world leaders in New York.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and European Union Foreign Executive Catherine Ashton had already met the new Iranian foreign minister Monday, after which Ashton commented that she had found him resolved to go forward with talks (on Iran’s nuclear program) and “many things flow from that.”

How to account for this burst of eagerness in Washington and Europe for a rapprochement with the Revolutionary Republic of Iran?
Has Tehran agreed to give up its nuclear weapon program? The new president and even supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei say their government will never develop a nuclear bomb. So what if they said so? Have their words caused Iran’s nuclear facilities, open and concealed, to suddenly vanish like a desert mirage?

Has Iran announced itself ready to open up all its nuclear facilities to international watchdog inspections? Will Rouhani make this offer when he addresses the UN Assembly Wednesday?
Has Iran promised to stop developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads?
And what about the Islamic Republic’s long sponsorship of state terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets across the world? Have those death-dealing networks been recalled home?

And has Tehran started pulling its troops out of Syria and terminated its partnership in butchery with Bashar Assad, given up its control of Lebanon or stopped sending rockets to Hizballah?

Has anyone noticed that Iran is building a Red Sea Naval base at Port Sudan facing the coast of Saudi Arabia? Or that a large-scale munitions production and distribution center for supplying Iran’s Middle East allies is going up in Sudan?

And finally, has Iran abandoned its ambition to wipe Israel off the map, or stopped denying the Nazi Holocaust?

The slick new president easily ducked the second question by saying: “I’m not a historian.”
He and members of his regime have suddenly been given free license to fill the op-ed pages of important Western media with smooth propaganda for Western audiences.
But while polishing his civilized aspect towards the West, Rouhani made sure the day before he flew to New York to display Iran’s steel teeth with its largest display ever of missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers. The 30 weapons on show included 12 Sejil and 18 Ghadr missiles which can reach Israel and US Gulf bases – although Rouhani stated with a straight face that they were “for defensive purposes only.”

The turbaned Iranian president has an obvious motive for gulling the West into accepting the Islamic Republic’s conversion from a regime bent on “exporting the Islamic revolution” to a lover of peace: He was elected to end the sanctions crippling the country, without giving up the regime’s objectives.
It is less clear what moves President Obama to swallow the Iranian bait and go for a historic US rapprochement with the revolutionary republic. On every occasion, he protests that Israel’s security is his overriding concern. Yet he is rushing to accept a nuclear Iran whose avowed ambition is to destroy Israel.

Under their slick new façade, the ayatollahs have not changed their spots. Washington has.
Sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu say he is determined to tear the false veil off Iran’s face – even if he is a lone voice, when he addresses the UN later this month.

Last Thursday, Netanyahu tried throwing water on Rouhani’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program was peaceful, calling them fraudulent. He dismissed Iran’s offer to engage in diplomacy as false “media spin,” which should not fool anyone.
But no one in the West was listening. And at home, people were asking what happened to Netanyahu’s solemn pre-election pledge to stop Iran attaining a nuclear bomb.

Quran Translation Banned By Russian Court; Top Islamic Cleric Ravil Gainutdin Protests ‘Outrageous’ Order.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and Russia’s top Muslim Cleric Ravil Gainutdin meet in a central mosque in Moscow, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010. | AP

MOSCOW — Russia’s top Islamic cleric has protested a provincial court order to declare a translation of the Quran as extremist and to destroy it.

Ravil Gainutdin, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, said in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin released Monday that the ruling was “illiterate” and “provocative.”

The Quran is available in Russian translation, but the court last week ruled that the translation by Elmir Kuliyev published in Saudi Arabia in 2002 violated federal law banning extremist materials.

Gainutdin said that the “Russian Muslims were appalled by the neglect of law shown by the court” in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and demanded that the verdict be revoked. He said the court’s order to destroy the Muslim holy book was particularly outrageous.