system

Hey, Ishmael Khaldi helped host the Traveling Geeks when we visited Israel, a coupla years ago. We even visited his family and village.

I recommend his A Shepherd's Journey: the story of Israel's first bedouin diplomat

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Iran would have a nuclear bomb in 1-3 years, but lacks a delivery system.

Why We Barely Know What's Going On

IN WAR AS IN POLITICS AND FINANCE, THE REAL "ACTION" IS NOW COVERT, HIDDEN FROM THE PUBLIC -- DECEPTIVE AND DISHONEST

By Danny Schechter
Author of The Crime Of Our Time

I first met Ibrahim Abdil-Mu'id Ramey after he delivered the plenary speech about Dr. Martin Luther King and the linkage between Dr. King's movement and the present work for nuclear abolition at Riverside Church in April. Ibrahim reminded us that Dr. King had focused on the three evils of racism, economic injustice, and war. I was raised by a mother who was devoted to King's message. One month later I caught up with Ibrahim in the lobby of the Millennium Hotel, across from the United Nations, where we had a chance to chat.

The Obama Administration's equivocation over Israel's outrageous deadly assault on humanitarian ships headed for Gaza ,while not surprising, is nevertheless unacceptable. Once again Israel's bad behavior has dug a deep hole for itself, and we're left debating whether or not to jump in with them. Responsible governments behave responsibly. In its dealings with Gaza over the past 43 years, Israel has been anything but responsible, and we need to clearly distance ourselves from their actions.

By Stephen P. Cohen
Author, "Beyond America's Grasp: A Century of Failed Diplomacy in the Middle East."

Until the tragic and reckless Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla, three recent developments dominated the current environment in the Middle East and offered President Obama opportunities for successful Arab-Israeli peacemaking:
• Proximity talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis finally began, creating a slim hope of breaking the impasse on that front.
• A very wide international consensus emerged on further sanctions against Iran.

Zionism didn't begin as a unitary ideology. There was Herzl's liberal Zionism; Ahad Ha'am's and Yehuda Magnes' cultural Zionism. Socialist Zionism first carried the day and dominated Israeli politics for the first three decades. In the last decades Revisionist Zionism took over, and fused with the Messianic Zionism that gave religious significance to Land and none to human rights. But discussion among Zionist ideals was possible until a few decades ago.

IDF to test SMS warning system, distribute protective kits.

Beneath the recent public embrace, a genuine crisis is emerging in U.S.-Israeli relations. Increasingly, the two countries have fundamentally different strategic priorities. In the past, high-level political understandings narrowed such differences; today, such understandings seem elusive. The trend lines are not encouraging. If left unmanaged, tensions could drive the two sides farther apart, making Israeli behavior more unpredictable and U.S. management of the Middle East more difficult.

It's fortunate for President Obama that domestic events swamp international concerns because most voters don't care about what happens in countries other than Iraq and Afghanistan. For those of us who do, Obama's foreign policy stances often bewilder both the left and right - they are the international equivalent of the Third Way domestic policies of the Clinton Administration.