You sign a deal that carries a great deal of immediate danger for the entire Middle East, yet, you do not live here in the Middle East, and Israel and most of our neighbors are against the deal.
You then allow Kerry to threaten Israel that if Congress vetoes the deal, it will be Israel’s fault, and Israel will suffer. How, exactly, will it be Israel’s fault, and why should we suffer?
After that, Senators are put under pressure to support your decision, regardless of what they themselves think. MoveOn, a federal committee, cuts funding to those senators opposed to the deal.
You insist on threatening the very basis of democracy, by not allowing Congress to veto the Iran deal, and insisting, through force, on doing what you want to do – even if 6 out of 10 Americans oppose it.
You know, I thought that America was a democratic country, and a country that encouraged democracy. May I ask why the leader of a so-called democratic country is acting in a way that is explicitly against democracy?
And then you have the chutzpa to get angry at Bibi for “interfering in American issues,” when first of all, it is not an “American affair,” but a Middle East affair first, and a global affair only second. It is not an American affair at all; America is included with the rest of the globe. And second, you had the audacity to interfere in our elections.
And you say we are interfering in your affairs?
Obama-rama making a speech, you have a lot of chutzpa. I think maybe you should apologize to us, because your chatzuf actions and speeches are unacceptable, undemocratic, and unjust.
Oh, and that worry that if we don’t go through with the Iran deal, war will ensue? We’ll have to fight a war with or without the deal . . . don’t you think it’s better to fight a non-nuclear Iran, rather than a nuclear one?
What right do Obama, and the leaders of Europe have, to decide what happens in our neighborhood? We are the ones most directly affected; why shouldn’t we be the ones making the decisions?
It’s like this: Imagine if Israel suddenly decided that anyone living in New York who wanted to own a weapon had to pass Israeli security standards. No one else would be allowed to own weapons, not even police officers. Only people that Israel chose would have weapons, and only they would be allowed to make decisions on the subject. How would New Yorkers feel? How would America feel? What right does Israel have to decide who is allowed to bear arms in a country that isn’t theirs, and is so far away from them?
Yes, it’s true that guns in New York could possibly hurt Israel, or Israelis abroad. It’s also true that Iranian nuclear missiles can (and will, if Iran gets the chance) hurt Americans and Europeans. However, they are not the ones facing the greatest, and most immediate danger: a radical Muslim country, in their neighborhood, with nuclear weapons and no common sense or humanity to match.
Tell me, world: What right do you have to decide what goes on in our neighborhood, without consulting us, and against our wishes? Note that not one of the P5+1 is actually a Middle Eastern country. Not one.
What right do America and Europe have, to make our decisions for us?
I write about politics, yes. But I don’t usually mention the possibility of Iran turning nuclear. I try not to think about Iran, because it scares me. It would be called burying my head in the sand, except that Yitzchak makes very certain to keep up with any sort of news on the subject. So I told him a while ago to tell me ONLY what I need to know, and what affects my everyday life, and the rest of it to keep to himself. Which he does, kind of. I still have to tell him sometimes that, “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT,” but other times he just speaks to his Dad. That’s what Dads are for, right?
But at the moment, I feel like I can’t just ignore the topic. And so I turn the computer over to Yitzchak, who will write what he likes, without telling me about it.
What can I say? In the middle east, there is no such thing as negotiating in “good faith”. Mostly because there is no relevance between “faith” and “negotiations” (it’s rather equivalent to “military intelligence” in that both are a contradiction in terms). Iran is in this deal because they see it as an opportunity to get rid of sanctions, and no other reason; in this case “negotiations” are a means of removing sanctions, without giving up what they want. “Compromise” is not a goal here, it is a contest, the winner being the one who dupes the other into thinking that he won the deal. Hence, for all of our good secular liberal arts education, we’re probably at a worse vantage point for appreciating the cross cultural exchange than if we were, say, some ignorant redneck in Eastern Kentucky with a pickup truck on cinder blocks in his front yard, and a loaded shotgun resting on his door post.
If Kerry were culturally informed, he would forget about a “happy compromise” and stick to the cultural standard. However they are pursuing a “Legacy”. In my opinion, saying that the negotiations failed is not a problem. It is a courageous act, stating to the world “we tried, and it didn’t work”, and by no means does it not mean that we can’t order the SSBNs in the Persian Gulf to open fire when the “time limit” runs out (a deadline should mean something shouldn’t it? we’re the ones in power here).
In my opinion, seeking nuclear weapons should be punished by being a victim of the self same weapons. (And don’t bring me Israel, we had nuclear weapons before the NPT and gave them to France, itself a nuclear weapon power on the NPT; so if we go, so do the Frenchies, not that it bothers me that much.)
Did Neville Chamberlain do the right thing? If you can honestly say yes, then you agree that Obama is doing the right thing.
If you think that in retrospect, Chamberlain was absolutely wrong and inexcusably stupid, then I ask that you try to open your eyes and see that Obama is following in his footsteps, and ultimately, if we do not stop him, Obama will cause World War Three by giving Iran a free pass to do what Nazi Germany failed at.
Notice, please, two things:
1. Neither Obama nor Chamberlain directly sold their own country; instead, they sold their allies’.
2. In the first case, war was imminent and broke out the same year. If we do not prevent it, the second case, might G-d forbid turn out the same way.
We might also add that both believed in peace, despite clear warning signs that the people with whom they were signing treaties had done several things that clearly showed a lack of desire to actually achieve peace. Both of the other parties are extremists who believe that the entire world should be under their rule.
One difference:
We can forgive Chamberlain, because he had no one to learn from.
We cannot forgive Obama if he does not wake up and learn from Chamberlain’s example.
There are many, many other comparisons, but I think the point is made and therefore I will not cite them all.
I would add something else at the end but I am afraid of U.S. government trolls and do not want my citizenship revoked; therefore, I will just say that if we do not want another world war, we need to do something about Obama’s mindless race after a place in history, before he kills us all. Obama may get his place in history, but at the rate he’s going, it’s not going to be a very honorable one – IF there is a free world around to learn about him in the future.
This past Thursday was Holocaust Memorial Day. Outside of Israel, it falls on a different day (I don’t remember which anymore); in Israel, Holocaust Memorial Day is right after Pesach – on the day that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. Calendar-wise, it’s not the best day, but okay, it works.
At 10am, the Home Front Command (Pikud Ha’Oref) sounds the sirens all over Israel. It starts off like an air-raid siren, but keeps going “flat” instead of up and down. However, the first five seconds sound the same, and I have to admit, even though I was expecting the siren, my heart still dropped when it started. Obviously, we told Shlomo that the siren would sound, and thank G-d, Shlomo took it well. When he got back from gan, he told me, “In two days (holding up 2 fingers) there will be a siren, okay? I’m not scared, it’s not a woo-woo. In two days there will be a siren, Mama. Okay? In two days and I’m not scared of the siren, it’s not a woo-woo.”
The soldiers in charge of sounding the siren invited a Holocaust survivor to be their guest, and to be the one to activate the siren. It’s a very, very sweet video.
As a kid, and as a teenager, I read a lot about the Holocaust. Maybe because there was so much material, maybe because it was so recent, and maybe just because it is so, so, horrendous, it was the period of history that I learned most about. At some point, I grew up, and shortly after that, I found that I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. It’s just too awful. But what is most important, as one survivor told Netanyahu, is to prevent another Holocaust.
Unfortunately, the world hasn’t yet learned its lesson. To be honest, the world may never learn. But even more unfortunate is that we, as Jews, refuse to learn the lesson. The “rabbi” (more like principal) of our school gave a speech during the school Holocaust ceremony that I really didn’t like.
The first part was about the fact that we need to realize that this is not in the past, and that not only can the Holocaust happen again, we are seeing the warning signs right now, and that if we don’t do something, it WILL happen again. He quoted what Netanyahu said about Iran’s goal being to wipe Israel off the map. Yeah, duh.
I wonder if these cute kids survived . . .
He said that one day, our great-grandchildren will say, “Wow, you actually saw Holocaust survivors? You heard them speak, in person?” and that what we are seeing and hearing is not just for ourselves but for all future generations. Okay, fine.
The next part was not so fine – in an attempt to make everyone feel better, he said that no one will ever be able to annihilate us – they always try, and always fail, and then they try again. The only thing we can do is add light to the world, and strengthen our connection to Torah. We must pray, we must become stronger, and only through this will our nation survive. We need to make sure that the life we live is true life, that we make the most of it, and the way to to make sure that we live to the fullest, and to make sure that we preserve our nation’s legacy, is by keeping Torah and strengthening ourselves spiritually.
Now, I am a religious person. I agree that we need to keep the Torah, and that we need to add light to the world; I agree that we cannot lose faith and that the core of our nation’s existence is our belief in G-d. BUT, first of all:
a. His first part and second part are complete non sequiturs. There is no connection between them – he jumped from one topic to another with no bridge between them.
b. The people who believed in G-d, strengthened their connection to Judaism, and did nothing else – DIED. Yes, they all died. Entire communities, who chose to play Ostrich, died. Those who saw the warning signs, including great rabbis, and decided, in addition to their learning, praying, and belief, to pick up and leave – and aid anyone else who would agree to leave – they all survived. Because G-d doesn’t want us to sit and do nothing but pray and keep Torah. G-d wants us to do what we can to save our own skins.
Now, I don’t believe that leaving Israel will help – after all, if Iran gets a nuke, the entire world is at risk of being nuked. Even Antarctica will suffer the consequences. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do – and saying that there is nothing to do but pray does two undesirable things: It causes hopelessness and helplessness by tying everyone’s hands behind their backs, and it says that there is nothing that can be done. Both are harmful. People who feel trapped become trapped, and depressed Plus, there is lots that can be done:
We can fight propaganda with propaganda.
We can get the other 2 senators to override Obama’s veto (turns out not to be necessary, but still).
We can write on the Facebook pages of Israel’s leaders, American leaders, and others, pressuring them to fight Iran.
We can push politicians to give Israel the green light to nuke Iran before they can become dangerous.
There are lots of things to do – but no one will do anything if they feel trapped and useless.
Last Thursday, as I was walking out of the classroom with some of my tenth graders, two of the students asked me, “Teacher, what happened to your family in the Holocaust?”
I smiled and said, “My father’s parents are from Russia. My mother’s father was put on a boat of orphans (even though he wasn’t an orphan) and came to Israel; later, by some miracle, his entire family came to join him. My mother’s mother’s family immigrated to Israel at the start of the war.”
And they said, “Wow. That’s a real miracle.” And I said, “Yes, it was definitely a big miracle.” And it was. Still is. That’s not to say that my grandparents didn’t have aunts and uncles that died in the Holocaust – of course they did. But they and their immediate families were spared – because they saw what was coming and left.
If we are ever going to be able to prevent another Holocaust from happening, we will have to look it in the face before it hits full-on. Unfortunately, there are many countries in the world who would like for Iran to do their dirty work for them, and there are many countries who don’t really care either way.
The problem is, Islam is Islam, and the idea is to take over the world. First they want to kill the Jews; then they will go after the Christians, and then the other “heathens”. Anyone who is left will either convert or die. Those who convert will live the oppressed life that many Muslims already live. Gone will be feminism, gone will be freedom of speech, and gone will be democracy. Islam isn’t a fun religion, and living under Muslim extremists is not what any of the Western world really wants to be doing.
But, if the world doesn’t wake up, that is what will happen – and while it’s true that the Jews will probably be first, it’s also true that the Christians will be second.
After all of his talks, promises, sanctions, and deals;
after Obama has agreed to let a dangerous nation possess and develop nukes, and has given them the green light to forge ahead and go for a zero breakout time;
after everyone has told him that he is crazy; after he has insisted that he is not;
after it has become known that the Senate is planning to force Obama into cooperating and consulting with them;
after he has told us one version of the agreements, Iran has told us another version, and he still insists on making this deal –
after all of this, what does Obama do?
He admits to the whole world that he has allowed Iran to nuke the entire free world, by reopening the Cheyenne Mountain. And then, we also realize that North Korea is capable of nuking the United States, as well.
Obama, we congratulate you on your failed second term, and on making history as the president who not only ordered Israel to allowed itself to be completely obliterated and its citizens brutally murdered by Islamic murderers, terrorists, and extremists, but also gave these same Islamic extremist terrorist murderers the go-ahead to obliterate the United States and the entire western world.
Obama bin Laden, we congratulate you on aiding your brother’s mission.
Seriously, Mr. President? Grow up. You’re acting like an elementary school kid. I should know, I’ve taught them. What was your point in letting the world’s worst-kept secret out of the bag?
Israel is not a nuclear power. We have no nuclear reactors, no nuclear bombs. We never always have. What’s your point?
I mean, of course we don’t have a reactor. Well, duh. Why would we?
Why would we? Because, if you will recall, we are the only democratic, free, state in the entire area. We are surrounded by hostile nations, and we need to keep them in fear of us, for survival’s sake. That’s something that you seem to like to forget, with your two-state solution garbage and refusal to let us kill terrorist murderers.
Yay, so you proved that Israel does have nukes. Wowee. We are all impressed, Mr. Obama Bin Laden (or, as Grunt likes to call you, OBozo).
Obama, I believe that you are worse than McCain, by far. I would’ve loved McCain for president, and I voted for him, despite Palin. I believed that you were better than Romney, though I didn’t get to vote in those elections. But now, I’m not sure. Because however bad Romney may be, he’s not a ten-year-old out to get revenge on Netanyahu, and all of Israel, simply because we didn’t vote the way he wanted. Boo-hoo, Obama. A democratic state didn’t vote the way you wanted. Would you be taking revenge on Romney if he had won the elections? Would you be taking revenge on America?
Get over it. And leave Israel alone. It’s enough that you tried to interfere with our democratic elections. We beat you, because we don’t believe, justly, that the “Palestinians” want a two-state solution. If they did, we would sign a deal with them. They don’t. All they want is to push us into the sea. In their words, not mine.
Now, please explain: What was your point in declassifying only the section on Israel, in this report from 1987?
By the way: We have a Fisher-Price plane that comes with a luggage thing, a skateboard, and two people: a white kid with a helmet, and a black captain. The luggage thing is used as a podium. The black captain stands on the podium, and Shlomo says, “I’m Obama-rama making a speech. Pchhh,” and pops “Obama” off the podium. He learned this from us, with our warped sense of political humor, obviously. I think I started doing it because I was frustrated with his kvetching and wanted to distract him. But right now, I feel like it’s really appropriate. Obama-rama, stop making speeches; get off the podium and stop trying to run Israel. You’re president of America. Not prime minister of Israel.
But I promise, if anyone pushes you off the podium, we will make sure that they go sit in the corner. Pushing isn’t okay, and it counts as violence. We just ask you to step down, of your own accord.
I know that 11 countries have already been contacted. I also don’t really have a lot of time at the moment, because, well, it IS morning and we’re running late.
But in short – 11 countries have already been contacted. However, we do not know that they have not doctored their data before handing it over, and we do not know that they handed everything over. In other words, we can think what we want, and we can ask who we want, but not necessarily will we get straight, honest answers.
If our theory in the previous post is right (and I certainly pray that we are wrong, but it sounds too straight-up logical to be our invention) then the terrorists (official pilots possibly included) need a place to land – both to refuel (and possibly refurbish/repaint) and to load the weapon. Also, there has to be a way to get the weapon to the plane, if the plane isn’t brought to the weapon. The evidence indicates that plane diverted significantly off course intentionally, and there are few, if any, reasons for such an action without a prior flight plan. That would further indicate that the terrorists landed the plane, which encourages us to consider possible sympathetic landing fields and countries for an interim destination.
Yitzchak looked at the map, examined the arcs, and announced last night that the plane had quite possibly landed in Sudan or Iran. Sudan is lawless enough – and its government is pro-extremist enough – that they will happily help such a plot. A civilian-labeled flight from Iran to Sudan can easily give them the ability to import the materials they need (not a hijacking; just a civilian plane). Hiding the plane in a regular hangar, or other facility is not difficult if one is working with governmental aid. And the arc presented is really only one part of a larger circle of distance from the satellite. In other words, there is a large circle to be explored, and we are exploring only part of it – the part that is thought to be the most likely part. However, there is no reason to believe that the plane stayed in that arc – because it’s no the shortest distance to anywhere – and Sudan is part of the other side of the circle, the side that isn’t being considered or explored. Why isn’t it being explored? Put simply, because no one wants to think about the consequences of that option.
Again, we’re not on the case, we’re not experts, and this is just a theory. But, it’s a theory that no one seems to be suggesting, but that has dire consequences if it turns out to be true. So, we are writing it on the internet, putting the suggestion out there, because chances are that the plane has already landed and theories will stay theories – what hasn’t happened already won’t happen right now. It might, G-d forbid, happen to another flight, but flight 370 is where it is, and we have only to find it before it’s too late. And therefore, we are writing this, in hope that some involved government trolling the subject will see these posts and take the suggestion seriously.
Here’s another, very, very, scary option, that Yitzchak brought up. One that I don’t want to write because I don’t want to give anyone ideas, but because it’s so dangerous, I think governments should know. This plane has an identity – flight 370. If it flies again, it will be spotted. However, you can’t fly into someone’s airspace without an identity. So, hijack another plane, get them to the same spot but at different altitudes. Down the second plane goes and up the first plane goes, assuming the second’s identity and explaining the few minutes’ absences as a radar blip. The first plane – that was originally flight 370 – continues to wherever the second plane was going (or to wherever they want, maybe), and is allowed into the airspace as a civilian plane that was expected, except that instead of landing passengers they drop a bomb, hopefully (but not likely) not a nuclear one. Or, in other words, all civilian planes are suspect.
– The fact that the Iranians had clean records is obvious. Al Qaeda has learned their lesson and takes pains to ensure that their hijackers and jihadists used for important projects have clean records.
– Al Qaeda isn’t the smartest terror organization. They can only really cause harm if the world is stupider than they are, which, obviously, has already happened a few times. However, on the whole, anyone with some intelligence who is willing to look at the facts can easily uncover their schemes and defeat them – so don’t be scared, just don’t be stupid.
– Here’s another interesting theory that I came across while looking for a satellite circle map. And here’s another blogger who seems to be thinking along the same lines as we are.
Sometimes I love being married to such a smart guy. And sometimes I really wish for innocence, and wish I was married to someone a little less sharp than Yitzchak.
I’ll say it bluntly: This hijacking – and that’s what both of us knew it was from pretty much the beginning – has scared both of us. At first, before all the details started coming out, I was scared because such a sudden, unexplained malfunction is really, truly, scary. All I hoped was that we would find that little black box that would tell us everything we needed to know.
Then we started seeing the route that it took, what the radar (which had been our first question) had shown, and other information (or lack thereof). And we started being scared because this is just really, really, bad news. We usually fly El Al, simply because I feel like only Israelis know what they are doing security-wise. But Yitzchak’s family is either a plane ride or a long car trip away from the nearest El Al flight. And between his family and mine is either a 2-day car trip or a three hour plane ride; because it’s not connecting to Israel, El Al doesn’t cover it. So yes, we still have reason to be freaked out over flying.
Right now, though, flying isn’t the scariest part of this whole saga. The scariest part is this:
There is a Boeing777 at large, in the hands of terrorists. It’s true that in order to refuel on their way to America, they will [probably] have to out themselves. But if they didn’t use up all the fuel that they had, then they still have enough for an hour or two, or possibly more – enough to reach Europe, and yes, Israel. And now, apparently, we know that they flew low to avoid primary radar detection. I’ll leave you to figure out what that means. (I will say, though, that with this bit of information we can probably find the plane pretty soon; we just have to analyze the AWAC data, which we have but rarely use.)
Yitzchak, of course, being the brilliant worrier that he is, wanted to look something up. I guessed, correctly, that he wanted to look at the 777 information on Wikipedia. He looked at its holding capacity, at its weight capacity for takeoff and landing. Then he typed “Ivy Mike” into the search box. I didn’t know what Ive Mike was, so I was confused. Until, that is, the page loaded. One glance at the picture of the mushroom cloud adorning the page and I had my answer. Ivy Mike is some kind of nuke. It weighs 85 tons, and is therefore basically undeliverable unless you have a jumbo jet. The 777 can carry up to 150 tons.
What I’m wondering now is what happened to the people on the plane. Are they dead, shot like the Nazis killed people, one by one, and buried in a pit? Are they being sold on the black market as slaves? Will they be released quietly, one by one? Will they be released on condition that they give up their passports? On condition that they never talk about what they saw? Are they being starved? Indoctrinated?
I’d like to remind everyone that the nations who we’re talking about – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, etc. – are not known for their appreciation or respect of human rights, or their straightforwardness and honesty. They are also not known for their adherence to the Geneva Conventions, so if war breaks out – well, you can just imagine what these prisoners will suffer, if they’re even alive. And I wouldn’t put it past these dogs to kill them point-blank.
Israel, meanwhile, is stepping up its air security. They’re not telling us much, but one thing that we do know is that Israeli air space is going to be more protected and anyone entering it will have to identify themselves earlier on. Because this is a civilian plane, it can obviously identify itself as such and claim to be carrying civilians; I therefore assume – and feel safe assuming, since we’re speaking about smart Jewish Israelis and not a stupid European or American government (in all fairness, Israeli/Jewish intelligence comes in large part from being persecuted for millenia*) – that there will be much more coordination so that only flights who take off bound for Israel will be allowed in. In other words – you didn’t tell us when you took off from your specific airport at a specific time – down you go, high enough up and far enough out that it won’t hurt any of our citizens.
Yes, Israel will shoot down a plane. Especially if it is suspected of carrying chemical weapons or nukes.
Yes, I believe Israel is alert enough to catch it in time.
No, I do not believe any other country is.
Of course, the United States will realize too slow, too late, and then will try to solve the world’s problems. Please – solve your own problems first and give Israel a free hand to do as we please. That’s the best help you can give us – unconditional support and backing to do what we believe we need to do. 9/11, the predecessor to this hijacking, was engineered by the same people as this one – Al Qaeda, and run by Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
Just like then, the world is not prepared.
Just like then, people are in denial that it is possible.
And just like then, the terrorists have a head start.
The first thing I thought when I saw the news and that it wasn’t an obvious mechanical problem was that it was being used for a 9/11 type attack; my only question was why they only took one plane.
Right now they only have one plane. It could be that that’s all they need. And it could be that they are doing this one by one, and all future flights (except El Al :)) are in danger.
In the meantime, it pays to be wary.
And it pays to be aware.
Semi-nuclear Iran + hijacked planes + terrorists + an unaware world = stuff that no one wants to think about but that needs to be dealt with – and FAST.
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*Intelligence – both the regular kind and the military kind. Comes from being persecuted – both because we learned from our mistakes and are extremely wary and because of the law of “survival of the fittest”.
Little Duckies 