ROGER L. SIMON: THE GALL!

One of the world's best bloggers Roger L. Simon "is in hospital" - (as the Brits say; WHY do they say it that way - without the "the"!?!) - for a "gall-bladder-ectomy."

I wish him well, and know and pray that HE WILL BE WELL SOON.

I had the operation a few years back - laparoscopically. I recovered in a few days.

I ate a bowl full of Vitenamese pork bellies last night - and slept wonderfully!

Roger - all the best to you, and I'm praying you have a speedy and calm and uncomplicated recovery. All the best to you and yours!

CAUSES OF EUROPE'S "DIATHESIS FOR DHIMMITUDE"

Mary Madigan "subbing" over at MICHAEL J. TOTTEN blogged on Bat Y'eor's recent visit to Columbia University where she opined on the Islamification of Europe. It's a FABULOUS post - go there and RTWT!

EXCERPTS:

According to Ms. Ye'or, this Arab/European alliance was motivated primarily by anti-Americanism, anti-Zionism and a desire to import oil and cheap labor. ... any Europeans agree with Said’s theories. Many don’t believe that their culture is worth preserving. ... The policies of the EU towards Israel mirror Arab policies. ... This multicultural 'alliance' is currently cemented by European fear of terrorism. ... Europe seems to accept its current dhimmi status, and does not seem to be willing to defend traditional Western, Judeo-Christian values.

I believe there are TWO root causes for Europe's DIATHESIS FOR DHIMMITUDE:

(1) EXHAUSTION - they are worn out by the bloody 20th Century.

(2) This exhaustion has led to flase rationalizions and self-defeating modalities which now permeate NOT only the European "Academe" and the elites, but Europe's masses:

(a) colonialism and imperialism were bad and their wealth is the result of pillaging the Third World - which would be wealthy if it weren't for European Hegemony. This has caused MASSIVE GUILT and SELF-LOATHING.

(b) nationalism and etnocentricity led to a lack of acceptance of neighbors and bloodshed; therefore we must blindly accept anything that another nation or culture does that is value-related or we risk more pointless bloodshed. This has led to Pan-Europeanism and to Cultural Relativism and to a "Neo/Quasi-Pacificism."

Weirdly, (a) and (b) have led them to embrace and adore Third World culture and immigrants even as they try to protect their culture from so-called "savagery of American Cultural Hegemony" - (which is a misconception of and misnomer for the world's freely evolving "Mass/Pop Culture" or the "free marketplace of ideas," which is free because it is unfettered by snobbery and elitism - and which I blogged about here).

As Seinfeld once humorously noted (paraphrasing): the French fought harder to keep out Disneyland than they did the NAZIS!"

Of course, the proper response to "cultural exhaustion" is picking oneself up by one's bootstraps, and not namby-pamby relativism. Continental Europe needs a Thatcher or a Reagan - who can foster a rebirth of cultural pride and free market/anti-socialist universalism, or it is DOOMED, I tell you DOOMED! Seriously. And sadly, except for Sarkozy, there are VERY FEW potential candidates around.

Perhaps - after the Pope crosses over, (may it not happen for a hundred years) - the Catholic Church (through the College of Cardinals) will use the opening to have some MAJOR POSITIVE input on the future of a Judeo-Christian Europe: if they select a European Pope with Charisma and an ability to make outreach and the courage to INNOVATE, then he could lead a resurgence NOT JUST OF FAITH AND THE CHURCH, but of pride within all of Europe, and for universalism and Judeo-Christian values. If they select, for instance, French Cardinal Jean Louis Tauron - and IF, REPEAT IF, he were to return the church to a married clergy THEN the church might have a resurgence in France, and through France all of Europe. (More on Papal succession HERE. And the failing priesthood in France HERE.)

IMHO, it will take something this bold to change the current dynamic; HERE'S AN ANALOGY: as crucial as Pope JPII was to Poland's rise to freedom and to the Polish people's ability to summon up the courage to stand up to the evil USSR (in spite of the fact that the intellectuals of Western Europe were playing footsy with the Kremlin), so too might a new robustly pro-Western Pope be for ALL post-9//11 Europe.

(Some argue an mega-terror-attack could wake-up Europe; but I feel that a neojihadist mega-attack using WMD's might actually SPLIT Europe: into a cowering/appeasing Zapaterista half and a brave Blairian half - with Old Europe leaning in Spain's direction becasue - as I commented above - Continental Europe has no Reagan of Thatcher, OR EVEN A BLAIR!)

So the prospects are BLEAK. Then again, if President G W BUSH defeats the neojihadists, then he will not only save the Islamic world and the Middle East from tyranny (and the ignorance an povery that tyranny foments), but also SAVE EUROPE!

And actually: This is EUROPE'S BEST CHANCE. Ironic, ain't it: Bush is doing more than anyone else EVER has to save Muslims and Europe form 12th Century totalitarianism, and yet they revile him!?!?!? Go figure!

God Help and Bless George Bush, and speed the success of the Bush Doctrine, and God Bless our TROOPS!

MORE FROM BAT Y'EOR HERE and HERE, at FRONTPAGE.)

ABBAS BEGINS MOVE AGAINST HAMAS

(THE UK GUARDIAN & David Crouch):

Mahmoud Abbas is to demand today that militant leaders stop their attacks on Israelis, after the Palestinian president's Fatah movement declared a state of emergency for Palestinian security forces. Mr Abbas is to confront militant leaders in the Gaza Strip in a bid to curb the violence. He will tell militant leaders that "there is only one Palestinian Authority and one leadership, and [he] will not accept any measures that can subject our national project to danger," cabinet secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh said.Late last night, Fatah's central committee announced the state of emergency and accused the militant group Hamas of violating the fragile truce agreed on Tuesday between Mr Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

The crackdown on militancy follows a sustained rocket and mortar barrage on Jewish settlements yesterday that threatened to unravel the ceasefire just days after it was announced. "We are still committed to the language of dialogue, but at the same time, we warn against continuation of these irresponsible actions," Fatah's leadership said in a statement. "The Palestinian Authority will not tolerate any actions that will sabotage the agreement reached with Israelis on a mutual ceasefire," Mr Abu Libdeh said.

If these signals are followed by actions, then a settlement and peace will be possible. STAY TUNED...

ZARQAWI ALLEGEDLY SEEN IN KIRKUK

BAGHDAD, Feb 10 (KUNA) -- Eyewitnesses Thursday reported to the authorities and claimed terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was seen in Kirkuk this morning, Kirkuk Police Commander Sarhat Qader told reporters. The official said "still unconfirmed" information suggested Al-Zarqawi was seen in Kirkuk today in a white vehicle.

Closer... WE'RE GETTING CLOSER!!!

UPDATE: MUCH MORE HERE. AT JAWA REPORT, naturally!

KARTER, KLINTON AND KOREAN NUKES

GLENN wrote:

NORTH KOREA SAYS IT HAS NUKES. Bill Quick blames Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. I guess they deserve some of the blame, but honestly there hasn't been all that much we could do about North Korea, short of nuking them, anyway. The Clinton-Carter deal didn't help, but I don't think it really did a lot of harm, either.

I disagree with Glenn: failing to be ineffective is NOT benign; it is incompetence or malfeasance. Carter and Clinton and Albright and Perry and Cohen and Berger were as effective in dealing with North Korea as they were with Saddam and Al Qaeda and Somalia and the Sudan and Rwanda. And with Arafat! WHICH IS TO SAY THAT THEY WERE UTTER, TOTAL AND COMPLETE FAILURES. Failures whose net effect on our national security and foreign policy was BAD.

UPDATE: The BELMONT CLUB has an interesting short post on this. It reminded me of a BASIC TRUTH: any tyrant willing to kill his own people (and put them in concentration camps and starve them and abuse them of all their inalienable rights) WILL OF COURSE LIE; therefore, these kinds of tyrants are essentially UNTRUSTWORTHY.

That's why TREATIES with tryants like Kim are worth NOTHING. Only Leftwing boobs like Carter and Clinton think they mean something.

China is the tactical answer to the current problem; (they need to foment regime change or invade). To get them to do that, we need to ramp up the pressure on them. I think we can do that by encouraging north Koreans to start major domestic upheavals and mass demonstrations, and by attempting massive illegal immigration to China. This would turn the heat up on the Chinese and on Kim - without directly involving us or the south Koreans or Japan; therefore it gives the north Koreans no pretext for an attack.

STEWART CONVICTED!

Leftwing lawyer Lynn Stewart was CONVICTED OF AIDING AND ABETTING TERRORISTS! (Hat tip DRUDGE.)

GOOD.

Now... when can we start indicting Old Media journalists like Eason Jordan for doing the same thing!?!?!?!? After all, they are the CHIEF propagandists for ther terrorists: without their hyping of the attacks there'd less "TERROR" (which after all depends on the media to hype their attacks and thereby inflict a disproportionate fear on to the populace), and they're often tipped off before attacks, and they're HAPPY to broadcast the terrorists' charges, and always ignore the good news! If that ain't abetting the enemy then nothing is!

CHECK OUT POWERLINE ON THIS NOW! EVEN MORE AT Michele Malkin, (please use my blogroll link - the BLOGGER hyperlink system seems to be down.)

HAMAS AND ISLAMIC JIHAD KICK BALL BACK INTO ABU MAZEN'S COURT

BBC:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have said they are not bound by the ceasefire agreed between Palestinian and Israeli leaders at a summit in Egypt on Tuesday. The two militant groups were at the forefront of attacks on Israel during the Palestinian uprising, but have been observing an unofficial truce. ... "The resistance is not committed to what has been agreed at the summit... since the Palestinian conditions were not achieved. "We consider that there is no truce and there is no deal to stop the resistance." An Islamic Jihad spokesman, Mohammed al-Hindi, said the summit had brought "nothing new". However, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said he was "fully content" that compliance with the ceasefire would be "complete and comprehensive". A senior Palestinian official has meanwhile been sent to Lebanon to urge the Hezbollah militia to back the peace moves, French news agency AFP reports, citing unnamed sources.

If and when there is another terrorist attack, Abbas must take ACTION. And that will be his first real test and it will determine if this new phase of the peace process has an likelihood of succeeding.

COMMON SENSE AND WONDER REPORTS HAMAS HAS ATTACKED ISRAEL WITH MORTARS. NOW, ABBAS MUST ACT. WE'RE WAITING... STAY TUNED...

POWERLINE noticed this, too - well POWERLINE notices EVERYTHING! Check'em out!

"KNIFE CONTROL" ANYONE!?

From the BBC - in the heart of TOTALLY GUN-CONTROLLED UK:
(these are BBC HEADLINES ONLY for the last month)

1 Knifeman grabs money in robbery - A robber wielding a knife threatens shop staff and grabs money from the till.

2 A man who murdered his partner in front of her two daughters has been jailed for life at Cardiff Crown Court. Paul Viner, 45, stabbed Donna Brough, 39, to death with a sheath knife at her home in Tylorstown, Rhondda, after she returned home late from a night out.

3 Fresh efforts to cut knife crime - Proposals aimed at helping Scottish police reduce knife crime are setout by ministers at Holyrood.

4 Men held after house knife raid - Police in Grimsby arrest two men in connection with an raid at a house in Nunsthorpe.

5 Knife held to customer's throat - A man holds a knife to a customer's throat during a robbery at a Tyneside petrol station.

6 Armed robbery at service station - Police hunt two men who robbed a petrol service station armed with a handgun and knife.

7 Armed robber holds up nightclub - A hooded robber armed with a knife holds up a nightclub in Derby.

8 Man has knife held to his throat - Two men hold a knife to a man's throat during an assault in a street in Cumbria.

9 Knife-crime battle is stepped up - Police patrols aim to crack down on knife crime in a north London borough.

10 Diamond robber photofit released - Police release an image of a suspected jewellery robber who threatened a couple with a knife.

11 Man with knife robs betting shop - Police are hunting a man armed with a knife who robbed a betting shop in County Durham.

12 Men's sex attack on woman in car - A woman was sexually assaulted by two men carrying a knife who got into her car in central London.

13 Knife gang assaults man in park - A man is punched and threatened by a gang of four as he walks home through a Northampton park.

14 Man still in custody over knifing - Police continue to question a 24-year-old Grimsby man over the stabbing of a New Year's Eve partygoer.

15 Knife attack on video shop staff - A member of staff at a video shop in Rushden is threatened with a knife during a robbery.

16 Man in court over knife rampage - A man appears in court charged with murder and five counts of attempted murder following knife attacks in London.

This PROVES that criminals will commit crimes with whatever weapon they can get their hands on - OFTEN GUNS, OFTEN KNIVES - and that GUN CONTROL does nothing to reduce violent crime, EXCEPT guarantee that potential victims - who are generally law-abiding citizens - will not have the means to defend themselves against vicious thugs.

Actually, GUN CRIME IS UP IN THE UK SINCE THEY ENACTED TOUGH ANTI-GUN LAWS. MORE FROM ALPHECCA, HERE.

An armed citizenry is a bulwark against thuggery.

As the song asks: "When will they ever learn when will they ever learn?"

WELCOME readers of THE AMERICAN THINKER; please check out a few other posts. (And if your not a regular reader of that fine blog, yet - YOU SHOULD BE, EVERYDAY! And check what T.A.T. editor Thomas Lifson has to say about gun control.)

FLASH!!!! UPDATE!!!!! THIS JUST IN: FOXNEWS reports that there's been another stabbing in London - at a stampede near a midnight grand opening for a new IKEA! FOX: "The stabbing victim, a man in his 20s, was attacked at around 1:30 a.m. near the IKEA store, a spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police said, adding that his condition did not appear life-threatening."

WELL,WELL... I guess the nanny-state Lefties will have to ban knives now - but remember: it's for our own good -- like the banning of our guns, and the banning of our right to smoke in public, and the bannng of hunting with packs of hounds.

After the knife ban goes into effect, I guess all the food in the UK will have to be PRE-CHEWED! Well, we'll just have to get used it: it's for our own good, after all - and THEY know better what's for our own good, DON'T THEY!?

WELCOME DUMMOCRAT READERS! Check out a few other posts. AND: if your not a regular DUMMOCRAT reader - you should be!

WHICH SIDE REALLY TARGETS JOURNALISTS: PART III

From the BBC:

A BBC producer has died after being shot while making a series of reports in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Kate Peyton, 39, and reporter Peter Greste had just arrived in the capital Mogadishu when she was hit. Mr Greste was not injured. Ms Peyton was taken to hospital, where she had an operation on a bullet wound to her back, but died later of internal bleeding, the BBC said. ... A spokesman for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said Ms Peyton's death was "extremely shocking and extremely tragic", the Associated Press reported. Yusuf Ismail spoke to the news agency from Kenya where the exiled government is currently based.

Now, Mr Eason: WHICH SIDE REALLY TARGETS JOURNALISTS?!?!?!?!?!

More HERE, at SOXBLOG; (hat tip ROGER L. Simon).

US WARNS SYRIAN AMBASSADOR

HAARETZ/("Reuters"):

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department called in Syria's ambassador this week and warned him Damascus must stop insurgents from crossing into Iraq and end support for Palestinian militants or risk fresh U.S. sanctions, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. The warning to Ambassador Emad Moustapha appeared to signal Washington is edging closer to imposing new sanctions on Syria, which Washington accuses of supporting Palestinian militants and of allowing money and arms to flow to insurgents in Iraq. ... In one sign of U.S. frustration with Damascus, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized Syria for what she said was its policy of exporting terror and attempting to wreck Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts."It is just not acceptable that Syria would continue to be a place from which terrorists are funded and helped to destroy the very fragile peace process in the Middle East or to change the dynamic of events in Lebanon," Rice said on Tuesday.

And the HEAT goes on... STAY TUNED... (More HERE and HERE and HERE.)

WAS THE U.N. WEATHER SCAM FINANCING AL QAEDA?

From the brilliant JUDITH MILLER of the NYTIMES:

The tempest inside the World Meteorological Organization began with a single check. An accountant working late one night in July 2003 at the United Nations-affiliated weather agency in Geneva spotted a check that he had signed, but noticed that someone had endorsed it to an unknown third party, one L. Khalil. The accountant's curiosity was piqued, and he began nosing around. "Within half an hour I had found about 25 checks worth about $400,000 that had not gone to where they were supposed to go," said the accountant, Luckson Ngwira. That led to a formal audit and a continuing criminal investigation by Swiss authorities at the sleepy agency, focusing on allegations of embezzlement of training funds by Muhammad Hassan, a Sudanese employee who controlled that money. Investigators allege in documents and interviews that Mr. Hassan stole as much as $3 million over three or four years.

Was it simply grand theft and fraud - (sadly so typical of the immoral bureaucrats of the UN), OR WAS IT A SCHEME TO FINANCE NEOJIHADIST TERROR? After all, Sudan is a hotbed of neojhihadism and genocide, and the perp was a Sudanese Muslim. This possible connection MUST be investigated.

It's a great short article (but one that fails to even ask this question); RTWT.

WHO'S THE UN AMBASSADOR FROM THE USA?

NO ONE.

Don't you think it'd be a good idea if Bush appointed on BEFORE we go to the mats with Iran and the IAEE at the UNSC?!?!?!?

And who is our National Director of Intelligence!?!?!?

NO ONE, yet. Bush hasn't appointed anyone for that key job, either.

Bush should get a move on, no!? What's he waiting for!?

RICE: NO DEADLINE FOR IRAN

(MSNBC/AP) :

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that Iran cannot delay indefinitely accountability for a suspected nuclear weapons program, but said the United States has set “no deadline, no timeline” for Tehran to act. ... “I’m quite clear and I believe everybody is telling the Iranians that they are going to have to live up to their international obligations,” she said. “It is obvious that if Iran cannot be brought to live up to its international obligations, in fact, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) statute would indicate that Iran would have to be referred to the U.N. Security Council” for possible sanctions. “I think the message is there,” Rice said. “The Iranians need to get that message,” she said, adding that Tehran should know that “there are other steps” the international community can take.

Like the withdrawal of troops from Iraq - there is no artifical timetable. Instead CONDITIONS will dictate responses and actions. This is FINE; all timetables do is tip-off the enemy. What's ABSOLUTELY clear to me is that a UNSCR is next and it's coming sooner rather than later. And that it'll be followed by military actions if Iran balks at REAL cooperation - including ending ALL TIES to anti-Zionist terror groups.

I think military counter-actions against Iran are INEVITABLE and that they will be more like Clinton's 1998 attacks against Saddam (links to Clinton's speech) - called OPERATION DESERT FOX (links to CNN news story about the operation) than like either the Afghan or the Iraq wars; IOW, it will be a series of devastating cruise missile attacks which will destroy Iran's nuclear program and their military, and much of the economic infrastructure. If it doesn't lead to a collapse of the Iranian mullahs' tyranny, at least it will buy us a decade free of Iranian nuclear blackmail.

If - in the next one or two months - there is a democratic revolution in Iran, then ALL BETS ARE OFF - because a democratic Iran might actually quickly become an ally. But IMHO: a democratic revolution in Iran is unlikely to occur in a time-frame that would effect the need for a military strike - that's one reason the mullahs have been rushing to get the bomb: they need to get it before there is a revolution.

SEVERAL ZARQAWI AIDES CAPTURED. IS ZARQAWI NEXT?

The Kuwaiti News Agency reports (2/8/05):

Iraqi security forces arrested several assistants to Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi after storming hideouts in Al-Ramadi, said the Iraqi government in a statement Tuesday. The statement said the Iraqi forces arrested in Al-Ramadi a group of terrorists including Adnaan Al-Delimi, 34, who is also known as Abu Abdulrahman.It added, forces arrested another assistant to Al-Zarqawi in the city named Abbas Al-Obaidi, 39, who is also known as Abu Ali. They also detained Adnan Al-Saadawi, 38, known as Abu Ahmad, who is a suspect of planning and financing several terrorist attacks within Al-Zarqawi network. The Iraqi government also announced the arrest of Abu Waleed, the military advisor of Al-Zarqawi, also known as Enaad Al-Qaisi. A statement issued by the Iraqi cabinet said, Abu Waleed, a 41 years old Jordanian, "provided facilities for Al-Zarqawi network which is tied to Al-Qaida terrorist network".Spokesman for Iraqi Premier Thaaer Al-Naqeeb said in a statement that the Iraqi security arrested Basheer Al-Takriti near Mousel.

The noose is tightening. The end for Zarqawi is near.

MORE HERE at POWERLINE. Welcome MY PET JAWA readers. (And if your NOT ONE YET - GO THERE NOW!)

Israel and the P.A. BOTH accuse Iran and Syria

YAHOO ("REUTERS"):

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas are trying to recruit Palestinian militants for attacks on Israelis in order to sabotage Middle East peace efforts, senior Palestinian officials said on Wednesday. ... "We know that Hizbollah has been trying to recruit suicide bombers in the name of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to carry out attacks which would sabotage the truce," said one official, referring to a militant group inside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. ... Another official said intercepted email communications and bank transactions suggested Hizbollah had raised its cash offers to militants, but it was unclear if this reflected a heightened desire to see violence flare up or a dearth of recruits. "Now they are willing to pay $100,000 for a whole operation (suicide bombing) whereas in the past they paid $20,000, then raised it to $50,000," the second official told Reuters. ... Israel has long accused Hizbollah, whose attacks helped end its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000, of bankrolling a Palestinian revolt that erupted later that year.

This leak - coming on the heels of warnings from Blair and Rice - is designed to prepare Iran and Syria for UNSCR's which would lead to severe sanctions and/or military reprisals if they are caught interfering with the Israeli/Arab Peace Process by continuing to aid neojihadist groups in Israel or the occupied territories. STAY TUNED...

WHAT EASON JORDAN AND DAVOS TELL US ABOUT A FREE PRESS

Glenn linked to Jim Geraghty:

If the Davos organizers refuse to release it, and CNN refuses to call for its release, and the BBC refuses to call for its release, and every other news agency refuses to call for its release... ...then remember this, the next time the media gets up on a high horse about the public's right to know. Remember this the next time Dick Cheney has a meeting with energy executives. Remember this the next time reporters complain about Bush not holding enough press conferences, and not doing enough interviews. Remember this the next time they talk about the importance of a free press, and an informed citizenry. Because it's all conditional. None of this applies when the situation includes a media executive says something in a big forum that he later realizes he doesn't want the public to hear. Then all of a sudden, none of this matters, because it's bad form for other news agencies to look into the story if he wants it to go away. "Bad manners, old chap. We journalists have to stick together."

Then Glenn commented:

You don't need TV for those ideas to spread. And when they do -- and they are -- getting rid of Eason Jordan doesn't matter so much. Because neither does Eason Jordan. On the other hand, if the Eason Jordans of the world are all untrustworthy, self-interested boobs, and seen as such, it's going to be hard to sustain public support for press freedom. Unless, perhaps, enough people are blogging that the public sees its own face on "press freedom" and not the likes of Eason Jordan's.

I think that Glenn and Jim have this EXACTLY RIGHT.

The only thing I can add is that if hypocritical boobs like Jordan and his Left-wing cohorts continue to run the Old Media this way IT WILL (BECAUSE OF TALK-RADIO AND THE BLOGOSPHERE) CONTINUE TO DISCREDIT ITSELF AND LOSE MORE AND MORE OF ITS AUDIENCE AND MORE AND MORE OF ITS MARKET SHARE. Until they disappear. Good riddance.

At the core of the boobish hypocrisy of the Left (and the Old Media they dominate) is their unwillingness to admit that they've been wrong about most things since Vietnam, (which I posted on HERE and HERE).

BLAIR AND RICE ISSUE SERIOUS WARNINGS TO IRAN AND SYRIA

As Abbas and Sharon get closer and closer to ending violence and negotiating a final settlement the greatest risks to peace are IRAN AND SYRIA. Without the support of Iran and Syria, Hamas and Hizb'allah - and the rest of the neojihadist gangs - are obsolete meaningless fangless thugs who present no real threat.

That's why the recent CONCERTED warnings coming from Blair and Rice against Iran (and against Syria here) are so VERY important - and herald the next front in the GWOT.

I predict that if Syria and Iran don't play ball - if they and their surrogates interfere with the Israeli Peace Process (or in a major attack in Iraq), then they are going to get WHACKED - and I don't mean with more sanctions. Stay tuned...

ANOTHER NEW SIGN OF HOPE

Herb Keinon of the JPOST points out this:

Israeli flags flew inside a cluster of Jordanian, Egyptian and Palestinian flags on the route from the Sharm e-Sheikh airport to the resort hotel where the four-way summit was being held Tuesday morning, already a marked improvement from the last time Israeli and Palestinian leaders met here in 2000. At the ill-fated summit in 2000, Jordanian, Egyptian, Palestinian and American flags flew, but the Israeli banner was nowhere to be seen. The Israeli flag was also noticeably absent from the streets of Aqaba during the summit there in June 2003. Yigal Palmor, one of a handful of Israeli spokesmen who traveled to the meeting to present Israel's position to the mass of journalists who converged on the scene, said that the very fact that the Israeli flag is flying already indicates a change of attitude toward the Israelis.

A two-state solution is predicated on Arab acceptance of the state of Israel (followed by the Palestinian Arabs behaving as a transparently responsible democratic state).

This symbolic touch signals that part in - acceptance - is becoming a reality. Now if the Arabs could get the neojihadists in Hamas and Hizb'allah and PFPL and DFLP and alAksa (et al!) to recognize Israel we could really be on the verge of something wonderful. It's a great article; RTWT.

More at ROGER L. SIMON. (There's ALWAYS MORE at Roger L. SImon!)

AND WELCOME ROGER SIMON READERS. Please check out a few other recent posts.

ANOTHER GOOD SIGN FROM ABBAS AND SHARON

ABC - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -

Israel and the Palestinians will announce a cease-fire at Tuesday's summit in Egypt to halt more than four years of violence, officials from both sides said. The deal was reached ahead of the landmark meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Both sides have said they hoped the highest-level meeting since 2000 would mean a halt to violence. It also signals a step toward reviving a U.S.-backed "road map" for a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. "We have agreed to declare a mutual cease-fire," said Mohammad Dahlan, a close Abbas aide who has been in pre-summit talks with the Israelis. "This cease-fire means a halt to all actions against Palestinians and Israelis in accordance with the road map," he told reporters. An Israeli official confirmed the agreement but said the text had yet to be finalized. Signaling new U.S. commitment after Yasser Arafat's death to ending decades of conflict, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Lt. Gen. William Ward as security coordinator to protect the budding Middle East peace moves. Both Sharon and Abbas had also accepted invitations to the White House in the Spring for talks with President Bush.

Good article - RTWT. And keep your fingers crossed - and pray - AND STAY TUNED!

And - to all my Leftie Dove friends: be prepared to admit that the Bush Doctrine IS WORKING! MORE HERE.

ABBAS TAKES ANOTHER GOOD STEP

WASH TIMES - (Inigo Gilmore/ London Sunday Telegraph) - JERUSALEM:

Abbas demands TV shed violent visuals - Newly elected President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered Palestinian television to cleanse its screens of bloody imagery to conform with a new mood of conciliation in the region.

This move is good. NOW... if he can get the anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism out of the the school textbooks and the genocidal mania out of the mosques... we'll have peace. Fingers crossed... STAY TUNED! (And RTWT!)

MORE PROOF THAT GLOBAL JIHAD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSH OR ISRAEL - and what denial of this FACT says about the Left

FOX (AP):

MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of armed followers of a jailed former Muslim rebel leader [NUR MISUARI] attacked government troops and occupied at least one army detachment on violent southern Jolo island (search) on Monday, sparking clashes that killed at least 12 soldiers, officials said. Misuari formerly headed the Moro National Liberation Front, a large Muslim separatist group that accepted limited autonomy and signed a peace deal with the government in 1996 [before the Second Intifada, before Bush - reliapundit]. A week before elections were to be held in November 2001 to elect his successor as governor, hundreds of his followers attacked an army camp in Jolo in an assault officials alleged was aimed at derailing the ballot. More than 100 people, mostly Misuari's followers, were killed. Misuari was arrested and jailed on rebellion charges. He is still being tried on those charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. ... They have periodically been accused by military officials of supporting Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. The Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for mass kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, has been loosely linked to Al Qaeda.

BOTTOM-LINE: The neojihadists have a proactive plan which is independent of our foreign policies; their plan is to use terror in order to reestablish the Caliphate under Wahhabist Sharia. Since 9/11, Bush is merely counter-attacking and spreading liberty and democracy because he has faith that most people want to be free and will choose freedom - if given the chance, and NOT choose to be shackled to a fanatically sadistic brand of 12th Century totalitarianism. These neojihadists cannot be negotiated with; they must be defeated, and the people they've been trying to terrorize - into submitting to tyranny - must be given a chance at democratic self-rule.

How the Left can continue to deny the nobility of this effort, and fail to admire the courage with which it has been applied IS BEYOND ME?!?!?

My best explanation for the current state of the "denialists": The Left is just incapacitated by BDS - which they reflexively employ to prop up an ideology (socialism) which has failed - ABJECTLY - everywhere and every time it ever been employed. In other words: Bush Derangement Syndrome is a reaction-formation response to Reagan and Thatcher; the collapse of the USSR; NAFTA; and the opening up of China and India to free market capitalism. As their old false Gods have withered, the Left has turned to irrational anger to prop up their failed Leftist ideology. BDS is what fuels their total denial. Without BDS, the Left would have to admit that they were WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING - Vietnam; Reagan; low/flat tax rates; welfare; quotas; gun control; etc.. And that's a pretty tough thing to do - I know: I was part of the Left once. But I urge my old Leftie friends to try to abandon their old shibboleths - admit they were wrong, as I did - and join me and Bush in the good fight! IT'S VERY LIBERATING! (Pun intended!)

SALUTE

Here's a link to the Busch ad saluting the people who serve in the military. God Bless them ALL! (HAT TIP THE SPOONS EXPERIENCE.)

GOODS NEWS: US DEVELOPING NEW NUKES

I think the Bush Doctrine is correct - the USA should maintain an absolute military advantage over over any and all potential adversaries. So I greet this news (FROM THE NYTIMES / William Broad) happily:

U.S. Redesigning Atomic Weapons

Worried that the nation's aging nuclear arsenal is increasingly fragile, American scientists have begun designing a new generation of nuclear arms meant to be sturdier and more reliable and to have longer lives, federal officials and private experts say.

The officials say the program could help shrink the arsenal and the high cost of its maintenance. But critics say it could needlessly resuscitate the complex of factories and laboratories that make nuclear weapons and could possibly ignite a new arms race.

So far, the quiet effort involves only $9 million for warhead designers at the nation's three nuclear weapon laboratories, Los Alamos, Livermore and Sandia. Federal bomb experts at these heavily guarded facilities are now scrutinizing secret arms data gathered over a half century for clues about how to achieve the new reliability goals.

The relatively small initial program, involving fewer than 100 people, is expected to grow and produce finished designs in the next 5 to 10 years, culminating, if approval is sought and won, in prototype warheads. Most important, officials say, the effort marks a fundamental shift in design philosophy.

I think it is safe to say that the critics of the program will ALL be on the Left. As Zell Miller said so perfectly when he nominated GW Bush: the Left seems to think we can deter and kill bad guys with spitballs! It's a good article. RTWT.

IRAN COUNTER-ATTACKS IN WAR OF WORDS... for now

BBC:

Iran's top nuclear negotiator says Iran will retaliate and accelerate its efforts to develop nuclear technology if attacked by the US or Israel. Hassan Rohani told Reuters news agency there was nothing the West could do that would persuade Tehran to scrap its nuclear programme. Both the US and Israel have said it would be unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme will be used to generate electricity. The US has refused to rule out a military strike on Iran, but has said it will try to resolve the dispute by diplomatic means.

SO... let's see where we stand now: Iran - a nation that's sponsors international and genocidal terror denies that it is seeking nukes; the EU - who, along with Russia is selling Iran what it needs to makes nukes, says the US is incapable of using a military option to prevent Iran from getting nukes; and the USA says it wants a multi-lateral diplomatic solution but is taking nothing off the table.

At some point, - as soon as Iran crosses the line - it must be dealt with one way or another; if at that point multilateral diplomatic efforts have failed, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOPSED TO DO... NOTHING!?

The clearer we make it NOW that we will use military counter-measures - meaning that we will destroy all of Iran's nuclear related sites AND all of their military infra-structure AND most of their economic infra-structure - the MORE likely they will play ball. IOW: we must make it clear that the COSTS of crossing the nuke line are worse than the BENEFITS. And the clearer we make it now, the less carping we will hear then - IOW: "WE TOLD YOU! WE WARNED YOU, FAIR AND SQUARE!"

This is consistent with the Bush Doctrine; (click HERE.)

This means that we must get the UNSC to pass a resolution NOW which demands that Iran fully and completely cooperate with invasive inspections NOW! Or, as soon as Condi gets back.

MORE HERE at Common Sense and Wonder.

POP QUIZ ON HUMAN RIGHTS

What do Cuba and Zimabawe and Saudi Arabia all have in common?

If you guessed that they systematically deny their citizens basic universal Human Rights you are right - BUT THAT'S NOT THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR.

The correct answer is: they are 3 of the 5 members of the UN Human Rights Commission's "Working Group on Situations!"

Sickening, isn't it!? I mean IF you believe in Hman Rights it is simply sickening.

MORE HERE. (HAT TIP The Corner.)

UPDATE: I see that the GREAT ROGER L. SIMON has posted on this item - in virtually the same way that I have, and AT VIRTUALLY THE SAME TIME; (actually he beat me by exactly 18 minutes!). But I beat him on a LINK!!!!!

FOUR MORE HOSTAGES TAKEN IN IRAQ ... REAL HOSTAGES!

By Mussab al-Khairalla BAGHDAD (Reuters):

Gunmen abducted four Egyptian telecoms engineers in Baghdad Sunday, underlining the danger haunting Iraq's streets despite its faltering steps toward democracy. The men were seized as they left their house in the west of the capital for work. All are employed by a unit of the Egyptian firm Orascom, which has several contracts in Iraq including one to run Iraqi mobile phone operator Iraqna. "We don't have any more details at this stage," said Shamal Hanafi, an Iraqna spokesman. "It's not clear who was behind it."

The abduction appeared to be part of an attempt by militants to disrupt the rebuilding of Iraq and came two days after the brazen kidnapping of an Italian journalist.

The GI Joe incident was a hoax - perpetrated by ???? we know NOT who. But these kidnappings are real. And come on the heels of the hoax - the jokes about the hoax - and the savage murders of 232 other civilian contractors.

That's why I think kidnapping in Iraq is no laughing matter. Not ever.

POPE WAS 10 MINUTES FROM DEATH

According to THE HERALD SUN (AU):

THE Pope was just 10 minutes from death when he was rushed to hospital last week, a report has revealed.The Pope's condition was far graver than his spokesman let on, according to the US magazine Inside the Vatican due out this week. ... Inside the Vatican says the Pope was taken to the hospital's intensive care unit until his breathing spasms subsided - an action that also contradicted the account given by Vatican officials. "We got him by a breath," one medico tells the magazine. Another says: "If he had come in 10 minutes later he would have been gone."

According to TIME:

Pope John Paul II appears to be recovering after being hospitalized last week with a respiratory infection, the result of a bout with the flu. But his latest health scare has revived a heavy question hovering over St. Peter's Square: Who is really running the show? Despite his physical frailties brought on by Parkinson's disease, his collaborators say John Paul, 84, is mentally alert and capable of making big calls on the direction of the Roman Catholic Church. But even the most steadfast Vatican loyalists concede that a substantial chunk of his workload has been delegated to top subordinates in Rome. A senior Vatican official told TIME, "Things that the Pope would have handled personally in the past are more and more being entrusted to aides." Some duties, such as signing major encyclicals and apostolic letters, cannot be handed off to others. But Vatican insiders say the Pope has now given the green light to the heads of dicasteries to handle their own business virtually without oversight. "He is still the head of the church," said a priest based in Rome. "But he's more of a figurehead. He's not making the day-to-day decisions anymore."

So... these other day-to-day DECISIONS are not made by the "infallible" leader of the Church!? No wonder so many things the Church does are so AWFUL - like ignoring the root cause of the sex scandals, for decades, while paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to protect sinful evil priests! If the Pope cannot carry out his duties... then... maybe... he SHOULD retire!? It seems to me - an OUTSIDE OBSERVER - that the Church and the next Pope should take up these issues and come up with a more effective way of handling them.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...

BBC:

[Javier Solana is the EU's "foreign policy chief." According to the BBC,] Solana said that a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be "a mistake", the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has warned. "That will complicate enormously the situation," he told Britain's ITV television network.

Asked if he agreed with UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that a US military action against Iran was "inconceivable", Mr Solana replied: "I think at this point in time military action... is very difficult to conceive. "I don't think that the United States has at this point of time the wish or the will or the capability to do that," Mr Solana said.

Great: the chief of EU foreign policy preemptively takes an important option or lever off the table (something you should NEVER do); what is more, IT'S A US OPTION - and... (AND AS IF THAT WASN'T DAMAGE ENOUGH!!!) he states that he believes the US DOESN'T HAVE THE WILL OR CAPABILITY to do it!

With allies like these, who needs enemies! Or as the wise man once said: "They're not for peace; they're on the other side!" (YES: I MEAN IT - THE EU IS ON THE OTHER SIDE! AFTER ALL IT'S THE EU AND RUSSIA WHO'RE SELLING IRAN WHAT THEY NEED TO MAKE NUKES!)