WarSclerotic

The beautification of Bashar, the veneration of Rouhani | JPost | Israel News.

When he took power 13 years ago, Bashar Assad was considered the great white hope of the West.

When he took power 13 years ago, Bashar Assad was considered the great white hope of the West. Western analysts told us that Bashar (“Baby Assad”) was going to modernize and moderate-tize Syria. He was going to bring Syria into the civilized world, and make peace with Israel.

Now the same “experts” are working overtime to lionize and sanitize the new Iranian poster boy, President Hassan Rouhani.

Let’s remember: Most Western analysts told us that when he assumed power at age 34, Bashar was going to take an economically bankrupt, ethnically fractured, diplomatically isolated, militarily dominated, politically corrupt and inhumanely repressive state and make it an ally of freedom and democracy.

Faced with the choice between being feared, like his old man, Hafez, or being respected like, say, Bill Clinton, Bashar was sure to choose the latter, the pundits pontificated. In the Internet age, keeping an entire nation repressed and completely isolated was simply going to be impossible, they said. It was “unlikely” that the supposedly- urbane Bashar was capable of slaughtering tens of thousands of his own countrymen to maintain a totalitarian grip.

The usual cabal of Arabists was certain that Bashar was going to re-shape and downsize his military, throw out the Palestinian terrorists, and open a dialogue with Washington. He was going to get immediately rid of Mustafa Tlass, the notorious Syrian defense minister who liked to pen anti-Semitic screeds in his spare time, and of the dour, impudent foreign minister Farouk Shaara. He would appoint peace-loving spokesmen in their stead.

Bashar was supposed to banish from the circles of power his bad brothers, Rifaat (who carried out the 1982 Hama massacres); and Maher, commander of the regime’s Republican Guard and 4th Armored Division.

Bashar was going to leave Lebanon, disconnect from the Shi’ites, and abandon the Lebanese drug trade. He was going to make Turkey his main regional ally, instead of Iran, and bury the hatchet with his contemporary, the young King Abdullah of Jordan.

Remember the gushing magazine features about Bashar, the dashing British-trained ophthalmologist, who was going to shuck his father’s close-mindedness and hermit-like existence, and instead travel the world? How Bashar was going to bring democratic culture and values, and personal ties to Western counterparts, to a new generation of Syrian leadership? Remember how Bashar was going to make a surprise visit to give a lecture at Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center or Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center, and offer peace – just as Anwar Sadat did? Well, Bashar did none of these things. Instead, he cozied up more than ever to Iran, became the closest ally of Hezbollah, tried to build a military nuclear power plant with the North Koreans, served as the backdoor to Iraq for every jihadist and anti-American militia in the world, sought to undermine and destabilize Jordan, closed the door on reconciliation with Israel, and slaughtered more than 100,000 of his own countrymen with incredible brutality. He and brother Maher have even used chemical weapons against civilians in Damascus and elsewhere.

So much for the attempt at beautification of Bashar. The moral of the story: Take Western analysis of Mideast matters with a big grain of salt. So when the Obama administration and its ultra-liberal media backers take a liking to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (as they did until Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew the Brotherhood) – beware.

Similarly, when the administration and the Europeans pin great hopes on the new pretty face that the Iranians have put up for show, President Hassan Rouhani – beware. Rouhani will smile all the way to Iran’s nuclear bomb.

Rouhani is not going to take a diplomatically triumphant, Revolutionary Guard-dominated, politically corrupt, inhumanely repressive, and nuclear-weapons hell-bent state and make it an ally of freedom and democracy. He is not going to throw away two decades of massive Iranian investment, economic sacrifice and ideological commitment to the nuclear effort – mere moments before Tehran achieves its longsought- after goal. He is not really going to repent the Islamic Republic’s anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and anti-Western ways.

Rouhani doesn’t need to do any of these things. He has the “useful idiots” of the West, who once tried to pawn on us a smiling Bashar Assad, to venerate the “reformist Rouhani” and promote appeasement of Iran.

The shadow war against the Iranian-Hezbollah armament program | JPost | Israel News.

Israel faces a daily dilemma on when to intervene to stop Hezbollah’s armament program – a step that could trigger a wider conflict – and when to step back and allow the force buildup to continue.

Biden, Kerry urge Senate to hold off on new Iran sanctions – Israel News, Ynetnews.

( With Iran now able to breakout in 2 weeks, what relevance are sanctions anyway?  Obama is lobbying about sanctions, while Israel… – JW )

Vice president, secretary of state try to persuade lawmakers to hold off on any more sanctions, and let nuclear talks unfold as new round of negotiations in Geneva set to begin next week

Reuters

Vice President Joe Biden led a high-powered delegation to Capitol Hill on Thursday to try to persuade US lawmakers to hold off on any more sanctions against Iran and let delicate diplomatic talks over Tehran’s nuclear program unfold.

President Barack Obama is convinced that there is the potential for an international deal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon but worries that congressional pressure for additional sanctions could complicate negotiations.

Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew held a closed-door session with Senate Democratic leaders and Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee to update them on major power talks with Iran. A new round of negotiations is set for next week in Geneva.

An official in Biden’s office said the administration’s message was that there may come a point when more sanctions are needed, but now may not be the best time for Congress to act.

But the appeal to wait is a tough sell in Congress, which tends to take a harder line on Iran than the administration. Several lawmakers said after the meeting they had not been convinced, and that fresh sanctions are needed to discourage Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

“I’m not ready to commit” to further delay, Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Banking Committee, told reporters.

Republican Senator Mark Kirk, who strongly opposes any move to hold off on sanctions, said that if the banking committee delays its vote, he would seek to add more Iran sanctions to a defense authorization bill that could come to the Senate floor in November.

Others said they were more open to the appeal for a delay.

“I am mindful of the fact that maybe these discussions will bear fruit, and so we’ll see,” Republican Senator Mike Johanns said, although he added that any delay would not be long.

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, chairman of the Banking Committee, said he had not yet decided whether to put off the committee’s vote on new sanctions again. The banking panel, which has jurisdiction over sanctions bills, has delayed the measure from September at the administration’s request.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel addressed an Anti-Defamation League conference in New York and conveyed Washington’s determination to prevent a nuclear Iran. “We understand why this is so important to so many people. Because we’ve all been to Yad Vashem,” he said. “Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is a common security interest.”

He further added, “The United States is presently testing Iranian intentions for a diplomatic solution. As we engage Iran along with our partners, we are very clear-eyed about the reality in the Middle East. Iran is a state sponsor of terror, responsible for spreading hatred and extremism throughout the region.

“But foreign policy is not a zero-sum game. If we can find ways to resolve disputes peacefully, we are wise to explore them.”

Addressing critics of the Obama policy he said, “Engagement is not appeasement, nor is it containment. We know what those are, we know where they lead, and we will not pursue them. ”

No open-ended delay

Congress is weighing increasing sanctions to try to apply more pressure on Iran, which has uranium and plutonium programs that Western officials say are aimed at producing nuclear arms. Iran denies the accusations.

Administration officials argue that the current sanctions regime has had the desired effect, with new Iranian President Hassan Rohani, a presumed moderate, seeking a deal to ease them and fulfill a campaign promise to improve the Iranian economy.

Sanctions imposed last year by Washington and the European Union have combined to slash Iran’s oil exports by roughly 1 million barrels a day, depriving Tehran of billions of dollars of income and driving up inflation and unemployment.

The official in Biden’s office said existing sanctions have “gotten us to where we are today, to have the opportunity to test Iranian intentions to seek an enduring diplomatic solution.”

“No one is suggesting an open-ended delay for new sanctions, and there may come a point where additional sanctions are necessary,” the official said, but Congress should reserve its ability to legislate when it is most effective.

“The window for negotiation is limited, and if progress isn’t made, there may be a time when more sanctions are in fact necessary. We have always said that there would be no agreement overnight and we’ve been clear that this process is going to take some time,” the official said.

Yitzhak Benhorin contributed to this report

5 Israeli soldiers hurt, 4 Palestinian gunmen killed as IDF, Hamas clash on Gaza border | JPost | Israel News.

Terrorists detonate explosive device targeting IDF soldiers during operation to destroy tunnel previously uncovered leading from Gaza to Israel; IDF responds with artillery fire, air strike; 1 soldier in serious condition.

US reports Israeli air strike in Latakia. Other foreign sources: Israel also struck target in Damascus.

Russian-made SA-8 missiles stopped from reaching Hizballah

A US official source Thursday night, Oct. 31, confirmed reports run all day by Arab media, especially Al Arabiya TV, that shortly before Wednesday midnight, the Israeli Air Force attacked a missile consignment in Latakia in western Syria to prevent its reaching Hizballah hands.

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According to Arab sources, they were Russian-made SA-8 Gecko Dgreen mobile missiles. Other foreign sources said Israel had struck two targets in Syria – one in Latakia and the other in Damascus.

The first was a former agricultural school converted a year ago to a missile defense missile base. A small SA-8 shipment was transferred by the Syrians or Iranians to this base ready for transfer by sea to the Hizballah.
The same sources report that in Damascus, Israeli warplanes attacked Syrian military installations on the outskirts of the Jaramana neighborhood where another SA-8 consignment was held ready for transfer to Hizballah. This neighborhood is inhabited by pro-Assad Christian and Druze citizens.

Israeli spokesmen declined to comment on these attacks all day Thursday. However, debkafile’s military sources disclose that the US media reports of Israeli Air Force attacks in Syria that quoted US officials aroused indignation in government circles in Jerusalem and military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

They accused the Obama government of leaking this information in breach of the understandings and agreements reached between Israel and the White House on Syria. It was clearly understood that the two governments would cooperate in the effort to prevent advanced weapons reaching the Hizballah terrorist organization in Lebanon from Syria.
debkafile’s Washington sources explained that because the administration is immersed in a complicated joint diplomatic maneuver with Moscow on Syria, it can’t afford to leave the impression of US involvement in the Israeli attack or its approval..
A senior US official stressed that the leak was aimed at absolving the administration of such involvement. Washington also suspected Israel of timing its attacks to follow straight after the OPCW’s announcement earlier Thursday that Syria’s “declared equipment for producing, mixing and filling chemical weapons” had been entirely destroyed by the Nov. 1 deadline set by the two powers and the UN.