EU BACKS DOWN ON IRAN STANDOFF

Looks like the Europeans have decided not to press the issue on Iran for now. They've decided to delay referring the mullahs to the UN Security Council.

Iran Gets Reprieve in Nuclear Standoff - Yahoo! News

Obviously Russia, who's actually building the stuff for the Iranians, and the Chinese, who need the oil are leery and would provide a veto in the UN if push came to shove.

The real chuckle is the mullah's continued brandishing of uranium enrichment as a threat..as though they weren't intent on it already! Do they know their Euroweenies or what!

Actually, the North Korean track (as reported on Joshua pundit earlier) is the most promising way of immediately lessening the threat of Iran's nukes. We'll see how that develops...

More worrisome, of course, is Iran's threat to share its nukes with other Muslim nations. Hopefully, the cork isn't out of that bottle just yet....

EXCLUSIVE! Sharon to retire??

This is qualified as a strong rumour at this point, but several excellent sources in Israel have told me that Sharon has decided to retire when his term is up and not seek the Likud leadership. This is big news if true, because it means that Sharon has decided that he has no chance for leadership of the party and will not contest moving the party leadership primary up to December instead of April, 2006. It's also pretty much a given that early elections will result. It remains to be seen whether Uzi Landau or Bibi Netanyahu will end up as party leader and candidate for PM if Sharon follows through.

My sources also tell me that he's going to retire to his ranch and will not seek to create a new political party, and that President Bush has been informed of this decision.

QUOTE O' THE DAY.....

“You are stuck on stupid, I’m not going to answer that question”

- General Honore to reporter during today's briefing in N'awlins.

See the video - http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/09/20/stuckonstupid/

Thanks to the Political Teen!
http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/09/20/stuckonstupid/

Able/Danger Miltary witness forbidden to testify!

Many of us were awaiting the advent of hearings about the Able/Danger military intel unit which identified Mohammed Atta and other hijackers more than a year before 9/11.

The Pentagon refused to permit testimony by Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, who went public with the news that Able/ Danger had outed hijacker Atta and four others but was prohibited from sharing this information with the CIA and the FBI..by none other than Jamie Gorelick, Janet Reno's assistant AG in the Clinton Administration! Aparently, after Waco, The Clinton Administartion was `concerned' about violating's the privacy and prejudicing possible court cases of terrorists who weren't even citizens. BREITBART.COM - Just The News

Oddly enough, Ms. Gorelick played a prominent part in the witchhunting 9/11 Commission and was responsible for dissallowing a number of pieces of evidence to come before that committee...gee, I wonder wonder why!

Makes you wonder exactly what classified docs Sandy Berger did stick in his underwear.

SHIN BET head says PA in disarray, crumbling...

According to Israeli Shin Bet head Yuval Dishkin, the Palestinian Authority is crumbling and dissolving, and Hamas, Islamic Jihad and hardliners in Fatah are taking over.Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

According to Dishkin, Abbas is no longer controlling even Fatah.
This ties in with calls from hardline elements in the Palestinian Legislative Council for a vote of `no confidence'. Diskin spoke to reporters at a briefing at his headquarters in Ramat Aviv. "(Abbas) has no apparatus that control Fatah (sic). He is a general without soldiers. Giving him more weapons won't give Fatah strength."

Diskin also mentioned the huge buildup in Palestinian armaments following Israel's retreat from Gaza and the Egyptians' total failure to deliver on their security committments. While some news agencies are reporting that the traffic is `under control' the actual fact is that anyone wanting to take arms and fighters across the Gaza/Egypt border is still readily able to do so. Instead of guarding a small border with Gaza, Israel is now faced with guarding the entire Sinai border between Egypt, Gaza and Israel. giving the lie to what was told to us about `consolidating the areas Israel must defend'. The IDF's task is more difficult,not easier. According to Dishkin, the smuggling of rockets and other weapons has proceeded apace to the Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria (The West Bank).

As reported here, the EU continues to fund the Palestinian Authority to the tune of over $800M per year..and that doesn't include the $50M from USAID or funds from Muslim countries, or UNRWA.

Gaza is set to become Hamasastan, a staging point not only for terrorist assaults into Israel but also into Europe. Hezbollah has a strong presence in Gaza, which means that Iran does as well. I predict a level of `quiet' on this front(meaning low level terrorism), as Hamas rebuilds its infrastructure, largely destroyed by the Israeli Army in the past three years and puts in a seaport, allowing the importation of heavier weapons. And a major increase in terrorist operations emanating from Palestinian controlled areas of Judea and Samaria

War against militant Islam or war against tyranny?

Frederick Turner has an interesting take on the so-called `war on terror' in this piece. Your thoughts?

Worth a read: TCS: Tech Central Station - Velvet Revolutions and the Logic of Terrorism

MUSLIM INSURGENTS THREATEN NIGERIAN OIL FIELDS - 9/21/05

Nigerian Muslim rebels are threatening to destroy the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt today after their leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokuro Asari was` brought in for questioning' after he threatened to destroy the Nigerian state. Port Harcourt is the center of the Nigerian oil industry.
Nigerian rebels threaten oil wells after warlord detained - Yahoo! News


This is a significant development because of the danger of further decreasing oil production and raising prices. Nigeria is the eighth largest oil producer in the world and the fifth largest suplier to the US. Riots by this same group, the NDPVF and other Muslim insurgents briefly shut down Nigeria's oil production last year, causing a spike in prices.

The story behind the story here is that this is another chapter in the ongoing Muslim insurgency in Nigeria(and indeed, sub Saharan Africa), and another little covered front in the global jihad. Nigerian Muslims have been agitating against the Federal Government for some time...you might rememebr the `Miss Universe riots' that took place last year, involving the murder of many Christians and the burning of over a dozen churches. In some provinces, particularly in the predominantly Muslim north, Sharia(Muslim religious law) has either already been instituted or is being agitated for by the local jihadists.

WHOOPSIE!! Iraqis caught with fingers in the till

Looks like the Iraqi defense establishment has stolen almost their entire military procurement! To the tune of $1.27B!!! Kind of makes you wonder how this bold experiment in democracy is going...or if it's going to revert to a kleptocracy, all too typical for the Arab world. We'll see...

World Tribune.com -- Iraqi defense officials have embezzled $1.27 billion

TODAY'S NEWS & COMMENTARY 9/20/05

ABBAS VISITS GAZA...SURROUNDED BY BODY GUARDS

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas finally made it to the Gaza strip today, making a brief visit to the former Israeli town of Elei Sinai in Northern Gaza Monday. Abbas was surrounded by bodyguards and made a quick `in and out' foray in a 20 car convoy..while Hamas is openly parading its armed full strength all over Gaza.

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SHIITE MILITIAS SECURE KARBALA PASSAGE AFTER SUNNI/AL QAEDA MASSACRE -

Today, thousands of Shiite pilgrims will converge on Karbala to celebrate the birthday anniversary of the Imam Mahdi. After last week's massacre, the Shiites are guarding these pilgrims with the Badr and the `wolves' brigade(President Jaafari's Dawa party militia) and even some of al-Sadr's Mehdi army have joined forces to safeguard the passages top the city and the site of the festivities rather than rely on Iraqi national forces.

Last week al Qaeda declared all out war on Iraq's Shiites.

This show of sectarian muscle is unprecedented in Iraq, especially as these forces are operating under a unified command..one step closer to a Shiite army on a par with the Kurd's Persh Merga Army.

Interestingly enough, the American and Iraqi forces are leaving the Shiites a clear field, signalling tacit acceptance of this sectarian army. Should Zarqawi and the Sunni `insurgents' attack the pilgrims, the Shiite militas are poised to exact revenge from the Sunnis...bringing Iraq a step closer to sectarian civil war .

joshuapundit

joshuapundit

JIHAD JOHNNY SEZ: "Fight the unbelievers who do not believe in Allah and his Messenger, even the people of the Book until they pay the Jirzya with willing submision and feel themselves subdued" - Q'uran, 9:29

Joshua notes: People of the Book, to Muslims, are Christians and Jews.The `Jirzya' is an onerous tax paid by non-Muslims living under Muslim rule.

TODAYS NEWS AND COMMENTARY, 9/19/05

North Korea says it will give up nukes and dismantle its current weapons

In a surprise move today, North Korea announced that it will give up its nuclear weapons programs and dismantle its current nukes in exchange for aid from theWest. Drudge has a good overview: linkurl>

This is signicant, though as President Bush said, while the news is good, the West needs a way to verify compliance. The talks withNorth Korea proceeded along the lines of Kaddafi's decision to exchange Libya's WMD's for access to the West.and it apears that North Korea has made a similar decision.

This isolates Iran as nuclear transgressor on the day that the IAEA meets in Vienna to consider referring Iran to the UN security Council for sanctions..and Syrian and Iranian scientists working in North Korea will have to return home. Iran will lose a fellow rougue naton's assistance in getting the bugs out that continue to dog it's nuclear weapons program, and Moscow will also have to limit its nuclear contacts with Teheran as one of the six signatories to the deal.

All in all, a significant development if all goes well...we'll see...
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Blast hits UK Embassy in Zagheb

A letter bomb exploded inthe mail room of the British Embassy in Zaghreb today, injuring one worker there. One of my M15 contacts says there is reason to believe that the attack originated in Kossovo and was a dry run for a larger and more destructive attack in the future.

Teheran has significant ifluence in the Muslim communities in the Balkans. And according to the current UNDP report. Kossovo is armed to the teeth with illegal weaponry:

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Hamas holds `victory parade' in Gaza


Over 10,000 armed Hamas terrorists staged a victory parade today in Gaza City Sunday with rockets, assault rifles and anti-tank missles, defying the PA's ban on public displays of weaponry. It was the most open display by Hamas in years and a direct challenge to Abbas' feeble efforts.

Israel has said that it will not make further concessions or resume peace talks until Hamas is disarmed.

Hamas leaders vowed to continue jihad against Israel.

"We will not rest and we will not abandon jihad and martyrdom as long as one inch of our land remains inthe hands of the Jews" said Raed Saed, Senior Hamas leader in Gaza City.

"We are celebrating our victory in Gaza and now we are headed to Jerusalem, Akko, Haifa, the Galilee and all of Palestine."

Doesn't sound like disengagement=peace to me!

GAZA REVERTS TO TERRORIST ANARCHY

Neither the Israel or American proponents of the Gaza withdrawal or those who claimed it was a step forward for the so-called peace process had any idea what they were bargaining for.

The following analysis was culled from Y'ediot, The Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz and my own correspondents' observations on the scene.

Every painstaking agreement hammered out between the USA, Israel,Egypt and the Palestinians essentially melted away into the ozone. The Palestinian `security' and the Egyptian border police stood by while tens of thousands of Palestinians hurled themselves into an orgy of looting, burning and arms smuggling and hurtling across the Gaza-Egyptian border unchecked.

IDF intelligence estimates that on September 13th at least 20,000 Palestinians crossed over into Egyptian Sinai and about 3,000 men,mostly armed terorists and some from as far away as Lebanon crossed into their new base in Gaza. Not a single Palestinian `security officer' was visable, and the Egyptian border police meekly stood aside when Hamas gunmen ordered them to as they blew a hole in the concrete barrier seperating Egyptian Sinai from Gaza to permit a greater flow of people and materials. Local Hamas cheif Abu Atiya warned the Egyptians not to seal the border: "If you close this hole, we'll open ten others."

According to one of my IDF sources on the ground, this `spontaneous' flow of people was exploited if not generated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to cover the transfer of hundreds of terrorists bearing fresh arms, Qassam missles and anti-tank weapons...many from Hezbollah's stores in Lebanon.

Most disturbing, particularly to American proponents of Palestinian economic development was the Palestinians' looting and ravaging of their own economic infrastructure. Looters destroyed the famous greenhouses purchased at a cost of $14M by the Peres Peace Center and international coordinator James Wolfenson and made off with the irrigation pumps, the tubing and in some cases the buildings themselves. Virtually every public building left by the Israelis was destroyed by the mobs; the Erez industrial center was totally dismantled, with even the electrical wires ripped out of the walls.

Israeli Defense minister Mofaz made a number of futile calls: to Mohammed Dahlan, Palestinian strongman in Gaza, to Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman and finally to retiring US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer. They went completely unheeded. The new military protocol between Jerusalem and Cairo was swept away overnight-not just by the Palestinians, but by the Egyptians.

Though the failure of Egypt and the Palestinians has not gone unnoticed in Wshington and Jerusalem, there are no plans to counteract the situation at this time..partly because of the high profile addreses by President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon at the UN.

Far from jumpstarting the peace process, Gaza is in the process of becoming exactly what foes of Israel's `disengagement' said it would: a terrorist enclave capable of both menacing Israel and acting as a base fro terrorist operations inEurope and the Meditteranean.

FROM THE BEGINNING

Welcome to Joshuapundit.

This blog takes it's name from the ancient Hebrew general and prophet, Joshua. And it will seek to provide a unique perspective on both the so-called `War on Terror' and it's implications here in America.

In many ways, the West now stands at the crossroads of a 1500 year struggle against jihad. I will explore this based on my unique perspective and sources. In may ways, we inthe West have no idea what we're facing.

We will also comment on domestic politics here in America and elsewhere as they relate to this theme.