Watchman Newsletter

US Consulate car nearly runs over guard

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Yaakov Katz (December 25, 2009)

A dispute is rumbling between Israel and the US Consulate in Jerusalem after a US diplomatic car allegedly tried running over a Defense Ministry security guard recently at an IDF checkpoint in the West Bank. The car had been stopped after the occupants refused to present identification papers.

Israel is also furious that one of the consulate cars was found to have transported a Palestinian without permits between Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The identification of American diplomats from the consulate at IDF checkpoints has been a major sticking point for several years.

In January 2008, the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria filed complaints with the Foreign Ministry after both US Security Coordinator Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton and then-consul-general Jacob Walles refused to roll down their windows or open their car doors and show identification papers at a checkpoint.

However, Israel’s ire reached a new level after an incident on November 13 in which a five-car convoy of consulate vehicles with diplomatic plates arrived at the Gilboa crossing.

U.S. files charges in jet-terror incident

USA Today (Link) - AP (December 25, 2009)

Federal authorities on Saturday charged a Nigerian man with attempting to destroy an aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day, and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian national, boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Dec. 24 with a device fastened to his body, the Justice Department said in a late-afternoon news release.

After feigning illness under a blanket, he ignited a high explosive, investigators said.

Citing interviews with the passengers and crew of Flight 253, an affidavit in the case says the suspect “went to the bathroom for approximately 20 minutes.

“Upon returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab stated that his stomach was upset, and he pulled a blanket over himself. Passengers then heard popping noises similar to firecrackers, smelled an odor, and some observed Abdulmutallab’s pants leg and the wall of the airplane on fire.”

Passengers and crew then subdued Abdulmutallab and used blankets and fire extinguishers to put out the flames. Passengers reported that Abdulmutallab was calm and lucid throughout. One flight attendant asked him what he had had in his pocket, and he replied ‘explosive device.’”

Israeli company finds oil beneath Rosh Ha'ayin

Haaretz (Link) - Lior Zano (December 24, 2009)

An Israeli oil exploration company on Thursday announced that it had found a huge amount of oil and gas during drilling below the city of Rosh Ha'ayin this week.

Givot Olam Oil Exploration Limited Partnership said that more than 60 percent gas was measured in the drill, indicating the first such find in Israel.

The company said it was too soon to determine what significance the find would bring to Israel, but added that it would become clear over the next few months of drilling whether it could be used for commercial purposes.

Givat Olam began drilling at the Megged 5 well beneath Rosh Ha'ayin last June. Its shares rose 123 percent upon news of the find.

Senate health care vote: ‘defining’ moment or ‘abomination’?

Christian Science Monitor (Link) -  Peter Grier (December 24, 2009)

Senate Democrats passed sweeping healthcare reform legislation early Christmas Eve day, putting the United States on the brink of the largest expansion in medical coverage since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.

The 60-to-39 vote split along strict party lines, with 58 Democrats and two Independents voting for the bill, and all Republicans unanimously voting against it.

Both parties described the vote as historic, although for different reasons. To the victorious Democrats, it was a signal moment, the sort of thing that had brought many to Washington in the first place.

“Today I cast one of the defining votes of my Senate career,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D) of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

To Republicans, the vote portends a disastrous increase in government intervention in the private market that the nation will live to regret.

“This legislation is an abomination in process and substance,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R) of Alabama.

Seldom, if ever, in US history has the partisan split on such an important legislative step been so stark. The divide, plus lingering bitterness from a polarized and brutal debate over the issue, could make it far more difficult for the Senate to engage in the nation’s business in months and years ahead.

Critical Currents: The European connection

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Naomi Chazan (December 24, 2009)

The status of Israeli-Palestinian relations depends more on the fate of health reform in the United States than on any other factor - or so conventional wisdom here has it. This approach suits the present Netanyahu government’s strategy well: It allows for ongoing diversions in the hope of delaying - and perhaps ultimately obviating - any serious movement on a viable political settlement. But it completely disregards the changing international climate in general and the new currents emanating from Europe in particular.

The US without a doubt has played in the past and continues to play a lead role in determining the terms and the pace of progress toward resolution of the conflict. It is not, however, the only player. Increasingly Europe, for many years content to take a back seat to Washington, is becoming a more vocal political (as well as economic and security) actor. This is being done with American foreknowledge, if not actual encouragement.

Any Israeli government which really cares about ending the occupation and bringing about the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel would greet this development as an opportunity and not a threat. It’s a shame (albeit predictable) that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his key advisers see it otherwise.

Although the European Union was the first Western body to formally endorse the two-state solution in its groundbreaking Venice declaration some 30 years ago, since the Madrid Conference and the launching of the Oslo process its involvement has been more economic than substantive. The creation of the Quartet only solidified the informal division of labor between its members, with the US coordinating the diplomatic effort and overseeing security matters jointly with the other partners and Europe bankrolling these activities. But 2009 may prove to be a significant turning point in these arrangements.

Columbian Official Bans Christianity; Arrests 28 Believers

The Christian Post (Link) - Ethan Cole (December 24, 2009)

A Columbian governor banned Christianity on a reservation for indigenous people and has imprisoned 28 of the natives for refusing to renounce their Christian faith.

Among those detained are two infants, both less than a year old, reported International Christian Concern last week. ICC said it has learned that the indigenous Christians have been imprisoned since October, and among those detained is a six-month-old infant.

The local governor, Jose de los Santos Sauna Limaco, had announced that Christianity was banned and called a meeting with the Kogui Christians on the Kogui reservation in northern Colombia on Oct. 27.

After the Christians were gathered, he reportedly trapped them and imprisoned 16 individuals, including children, for refusing to renounce their faith. Since then, the number of Kogui Christians in prison has grown to 28.

Implications of Lisbon Treaty on EU-US Relationship

Real Clear World (Link) - Sally McNamara (December 23, 2009)

After eight years of popular rejection, political cajoling, and endless hand-wringing, the EU has finally ratified the Lisbon Treaty without a shred of democratic legitimacy or public support.

The Treaty contains all the essential components of an EU superstate, including a single legal personality, a permanent EU presidency, an EU-wide public prosecutor, and the position of foreign minister in all but name. The Lisbon Treaty shifts power away from nation-states to Brussels in critical areas of policymaking -- such as defense, security, foreign affairs, criminal justice, judicial cooperation, and energy -- where the United States finds more traction on a bilateral basis. It restricts the sovereign right of EU member states to independently determine foreign policy and poses a unique threat to the Anglo-American Special Relationship. Above all, it is a treaty that underscores the EU’s ambition to become a global power and challenge American leadership on the world stage.

Budget Office Rebuts Democratic Claims on Medicare

Bloomberg (Link) - James Rowley and Nicole Gaouette (December 23, 2009)

The Congressional Budget Office challenged claims by health-care overhaul proponents that Medicare savings in Senate legislation would help finance expanded coverage and postpone the bankruptcy of the medical program for the elderly.

The nonpartisan agency said the $246 billion it projected the legislation would save Medicare can’t both finance new programs and help pay future expenses for elderly covered under the federal program.

Nor could those savings be used to extend the solvency of Medicare, set to run out of money in 2017, the budget office said in a letter to Senate Republicans.

“What we’ve seen is a colossal manipulation” by Democrats “of the accounting scores of CBO” and the independent actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, said Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the Republican who requested the analysis from CBO. He called the letter “a potential game-changer.”

The estimated Medicare savings in the legislation overstate “the improvement in the government’s fiscal position,” the CBO said in the letter.

“The true increase in the ability to pay for future Medicare benefits or other programs would be a good deal smaller,” the budget office said.

Small-business bankruptcies rise 81% in California

LA Times (Link) - Nathan Olivarez-Giles  (December 22, 2009)

The Obama administration's new plan to give a boost to small businesses reflects continued trouble in that sector, which is facing new failures even as much of the nation's economy is stabilizing.

As credit lines have shrunk and consumers have cut back on spending, thousands of small businesses have closed their doors over the last year. The plight of struggling firms has been aggravated by the reluctance of banks to lend money, said Brian Headd, an economist at the Small Business Administration's office of advocacy.

"While bankruptcies are up, overall, small-business closures are up even more," Headd said.

California has been particularly hard hit. The latest data show small-business bankruptcies up 81% in the state for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, compared with the previous year. Filings nationwide were up 44%, according to the credit analysis firm Equifax Inc.

The actual number of small businesses in trouble is probably higher, experts said, because many owners file for personal bankruptcy rather than seek protection for the business.

China’s strategic alliance with Iran is off most radar screens

World Tribune (Link) - Fariborz Saremi (December 22, 2009)

Since the 1990s China has successfully been expanding its influence in the Middle East and Iran in particular without attracting the attention of the global community.

China views Iran as a significant potential ally in its attempts to counter-balance western power. Clearly Iran serves as a major source of oil. In addition, it is a leading geopolitical player in the region, capable of heavily affecting the political balance in the Middle East.

In addition to energy, China is extensively involved in many areas of Iran’s economic development. To help develop Iran’s economy, empower it, and open up consumer markets for Chinese-made goods as well as investment opportunities have become China policy priorities. More than 100 Chinese state companies are working in Iran to help build infrastructure projects-highways, ports, shipyards, airports, dams, steel complex and more.

One becomes impressed by the supply of inexpensive Chinese products in the supermarkets and department stores of Tehran and other large Iranian cities like Esfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz and Mashhad. Two-way trade reached $ 11 billion in 2008.

China, Russia and Iran have all become major players in the Asian Energy Security Grid, which was established to counter perceived Western hegemony over the World’s energy resources. Furthermore Iran is a passive member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which sets out to promote Beijing’s interests. Established in June of 2001, the SCO is an expansion of the “Shanghai Five,” a regional grouping begun in 1996. China appears to be receptive to Iranian efforts to expand its role in this grouping.

Tiny nano-electromagnets turn a cloak of invisibility into a possibility

Physorg (Link) (December 22, 2009)

A team of researchers at the FOM institute AMOLF (The Netherlands) has succeeded for the first time in powering an energy transfer between nano-electromagnets with the magnetic field of light.

This breakthrough is of major importance in the quest for magnetic ‘meta-materials’ with which light rays can be deflected in every possible direction. This could make it possible to produce perfect lenses and, in the fullness of time, even ‘invisibility cloaks.’ 

The AMOLF researchers - Ivana Sersic, Martin Frimmer, Ewold Verhagen and Vidi laureate and group leader Femius Koenderink - published their results in the authoritative journal Physical Review Letters.

The artificial ‘meta-materials’ studied by the researchers consist of very small U-shaped metal ‘nano-rings.’  The electromagnetic field of light drives charges back and forth, thereby inducing an alternating current in each U shape. The tiny opening at the top of the ring makes sure that the current zooms around at the frequencies of light. In this way, each ring becomes a small but strong electromagnet, with its north and south poles alternating 500 billion times per second.

Report: Netanyahu has agreed to U.S. terms for a Palestinian state

World Tribune (Link) (December 21, 2009)

Israel and the United States have unofficially reached agreement on the terms of negotiations for a Palestinian state in the entire West Bank, a report said.

The report by the Middle East Forum asserted that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. envoy George Mitchell have reached agreement on the terms of reference for final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. The report, authored by veteran policy analyst Steven Rosen, said Netanyahu has become committed to a U.S. plan for a Palestinian state throughout the West Bank, Middle East Newsline reported.

“But Netanyahu has accepted a solution based on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s formulation: ‘an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements,’” the report, titled “The Mideast Peace Deal You Haven’t Heard About,” said.

Rosen has been regarded as one of the most authoritative U.S. analysts on Israel. For 23 years, Rosen served as foreign policy director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the chief lobbying group for Israel, and was recently appointed director of the Washington Project at the Middle East Forum. Over the last year, Rosen and another former AIPAC staffer were prosecuted and cleared of charges of espionage for Israel.

Hariri, Assad hold second meeting

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (December 20, 2009)

One day into his first official visit to Damascus, Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri described his talks on Sunday with Syrian President Bashar Assad as “positive,” according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

At a press conference at the Lebanese Embassy, Hariri told reporters he was optimistic about the growing diplomatic ties between Syria and Lebanon.

“We want to have good relations with Syria based on openness and honesty,” the Lebanese premier was quoted as saying, conveying hope that the two neighboring countries would come to a fresh start after decades of war, strife and suspicion. He added that Assad shared his vision for friendly relations.

“We positively touched upon all the topics,” Hariri said. “Assad was very positive in dealing with all issues pertaining to the Lebanese people.” According to the SANA report, Hariri said the two leaders agreed on “practical steps” aimed at furthering economic and diplomatic cooperation between their respective countries.