In the decades following the Cold War, of which 1973′s Yom Kippur War was a seminal moment, the Arab Middle East has coalesced into two opposing camps: the “radical” and the “pragmatic.”

Iran leads the radical camp, with Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria as its satellites. Egypt has been thrust, albeit unwillingly, into leading the pragmatic camp, while Saudi Arabia operates behind the scenes.

For Cairo and Riyadh, the Iranian threat is not just one of nuclear weapons; it is over the leadership of the Islamic world, over the direction Islam is taking, over radicalization and extremism versus moderation. Continue reading →

Israel’s push for tough sanctions on Iran took two steps forward and one step back Thursday.

The long-awaited signal that Moscow was starting to cooperate with Washington’s push for sanctions on Iran came from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who said the world should offer incentives to help Iran make the “right decision” on nuclear weapons. That was the first step forward. “Our task is to maintain a system of incentives allowing Iran to use peaceful nuclear energy but (we) will not allow the creation of nuclear weapons,” Medvedev said. Second step forward. What does Russia want to go that extra step?
Russia wants America to repeal Bush-era policies. They want an end to Cold War terms of missile shields and NATO expansion. The missile shield nuisance they already got rid of. Moscow really hates the idea of NATO expansion, and they want it reversed. Russia also wants progress on reduction of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMS). In compensation for cooperating on Iran sanctions, Russia wants alternate markets for its nuclear and gas energy products, as well as its military industries. This is a tall order, but there are opportunities for the West to tempt Moscow with. According to AP, the worldwide economic downturn has hit Russia’s oil and gas exports; the Kremlin is looking at foreign investors to help with its huge untapped resources. Continue reading →

I got a message late last night that Jack Cafferty quoted my Obama story on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.

The story has really been making the rounds, and I wonder why.

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

“Everybody is saying no to the American president these days”… that’s the start of a pretty scathing piece in the Jerusalem Post about where President Obama stands on the international stage — just as he addresses the UN and meets with world leaders.

Amir Mizroch has plenty of examples… like the Saudis twice saying no to the president’s request for normalizing relations with Israel; or the North Koreans saying no to repeated attempts at talks by firing off test long-range missiles; to Russia and China continuing to say no to tougher sanctions against Iran; to Iran itself saying no — by agreeing to talks about everything except stopping its uranium enrichment.

Mizroch suggests the reason all these nations are saying no to President Obama is because the U.S. economy has made him a weak president. If the president manages to turn around the economy in the next two years — and then manages to get re-elected — at that point he might be able to focus on international trouble spots with more success. That’s if Iran hasn’t managed to blow up half the world by then.

Along the same lines, a piece in the British newspaper The Guardian titled “Obama the impotent” says many in the U.S. and abroad are impatient with the pace of progress under this president.

It points out Mr. Obama hasn’t even been able to get health care reform passed in his own country and questions his ability to lead internationally on issues like climate change and regulating international financial systems:

“It appears that the wheels may be coming off the world’s post-war leader, and not even Barack Obama can stop it happening.”

Everybody is saying no to the American President these days. And it’s not just that they’re saying no, it’s the way they’re saying no, too. The Saudis twice said no to his request for normalization gestures towards Israel [Obama's meeting with the Saudi King in Saudi Arabia, and in Washington DC at meetings with Hilary Clinton]. Who says no to the American President twice? What must they think of Obama in the desert Kingdom?

The North Koreans said no to repeated attempts at talks by test-launching long-range missiles in April; Russia and China keep on saying no to tougher sanctions on Iran; the Iranians keep saying no to offers of talks by saying they’re willing to talk about everything except a halt to uranium enrichment; Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority is saying no by refusing to meet with Netanyahu until Israel freezes all settlement construction; the Israelis said no by refusing to agree to a settlement freeze, or even a settlement moratorium until and unless the Arabs ante up their normalization gestures. Which brings us back to the original Saudi no.

The only thing Obama did manage to get Bibi and Abbas to say yes to is a photo op at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NY. Mazeltov.

So why is everyone saying no to Obama? Continue reading →

This is a Channel Ten video of Assaf Ramon, who died Sunday in a training mission crash, getting his pilot’s wings after completing the grueling IAF pilot’s training course.

Continue reading →

Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, is confident the US administration will stick to its September deadline for tougher sanctions on Iran if Teheran refuses to substantively engage the international community on its nuclear program. He thinks there is no other choice, since Iran is rapidly moving towards nuclear weapons capability.

The evidence of Iran’s nuclear weapons program is “overwhelming,” says Rogers, whose committee oversees the work of some 16 US intelligence agencies and organizations.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, spoke with The Jerusalem Post this week, on the sidelines of the 9th Annual International Institute of Counter-Terrorism (ICT) Conference at IDC Herzliya.

The Jerusalem Post: Can America live with a nuclear Iran?

Mike Rogers: “I think it is dangerous for people to find it acceptable that Iran will have a nuclear bomb. Continue reading →

The US administration needs to stick to its stated September deadline for stricter sanctions against Iran if it fails to offer a substantive response on engagement over its nuclear program, Congressman Mike Rogers from Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, made it clear throughout the interview, which took place on the sidelines of the 9th Annual International Institute of Counter-Terrorism (ICT) Conference at IDC Herzliya, that he was not speaking for the Obama administration, but was giving his views only.

“The new administration will find its sea legs and show more consistency. They’ve set a September timeline and I’m eager for them to hold to this September timeline. Continue reading →

Continue reading →

IDF marching band to perform in Moscow’s Red Square for the first time in history

MOSCOW – If it all goes off without a hitch it will be one of the most meticulously planned and executed larger-scale IDF missions beyond Israel’s borders ever. If performed well it will receive thunderous applause, but if it fails, could ignite a diplomatic scandal with a resurgent superpower.

It involves flying dozens of specialist IDF soldiers thousands of miles away from Israel’s borders, together with their unique equipment and sensitive instruments, where they will face-off against not one, but dozens of similar elite units in a mission that spans an entire week. For the first time in its existence, the IDF marching band is to parade and perform in Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday night in front tens of thousands of people as part of the Russian capital’s annual Moscow Day Celebration. Continue reading →

Natan Sharansky returns to Russia, this time as Jewish Agency chief, to galvanize local Jewish leadership into taking responsibility for sustaining their own communities

MOSCOW – Natan Sharansky’s Hebrew teacher, back in the Cold War days when learning Hebrew and exploring one’s Jewish identity were forbidden, used to charge his students 3 rubles per lesson. He would also demand of his students to prepare homework, and those who didn’t perform the required assignments had to buy the teacher a bottle of wine, which in those days also cost 3 rubles. In the days when he was earning 120 rubles a month, the regular Hebrew lesson – and occasional bottle of wine – were not a paltry sum for Sharansky to fork out. The Hebrew teacher’s philosophy was simple: one values something one pays for much more than if one gets it for free. Sharansky, and his fellow dissidents, loved and valued their Hebrew so much that they found ingenious ways of talking to each other in Hebrew under the most impossible of conditions in Soviet prisons, including shouting into the toilet bowl in between flushes when the sound would carry through their prison cell walls. It is this truism that Sharansky, making his first foray into the world of Jewish and Zionist education in the Former Soviet Union since taking over the chairmanship of the Jewish Agency in June, is banking on. The message, delivered to local lay community members as well as super-wealthy Jewish tycoons over a lightning 48- hour visit to Moscow this week, was twofold: that the Agency was back and would not abandon them despite its financial difficulties, and more importantly, that they themselves had to start taking financial responsibility for sustaining Jewish life in the FSU. The days of rich American Jews giving money to the Jewish Agency, who in turns doles it out to poor Russian Jews enrolled in programs cooked up in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moriah [where the Agency's education department is based] are well and truly over. JAFI is shifting its focus from aliyah to strengthening Jewish identity, and for this it needs local partners. Continue reading →