Son of Hamas on Islamic fanaticism

Another interview with Son of Hamas, the son of a founder who was a Shin Bet spy for years before immigrating to the US.

He clears up the falsehood that the so-called Second Intifada was provoked by Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount"this was simply the pretext Arafat was waiting for after planning the uprising for months before.

He clears up the falsehood that Islam is a "religion of peace" by the following. His words are uncompromising. If they had been spoken by an American, he or she would be tarred as "islamophobic," "racist," or "extreme right-wing." But Son of Hamas knows what he's talking about, as does Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose ideas he shares. They lived and breathed Islam before breaking free. The pompous "dissidents" of the West prating endlessly about "speaking truth to power" are shamed by the real thing. That's probably why the media declines to report on Son of Hamas's story, as compelling as it is.

clipped from online.wsj.com At the end of the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic, fundamentalist, terrorist God. I know this is harsh to say. Most governments avoid this subject. They don't want to admit this is an ideological war. "The problem is not in Muslims," he continues. "The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to."

Amazing new voice on the Israel/Palestine conflict

This is the exception that proves the rule about the thanklessness of the security forces' jobs: nobody ever knows how they saved lives; the only time anyone knows what they're doing is when they screw up somehow.

If an Israeli, or an evil neocon, had been quoted as below, he would be discounted as a racist or whatever. Of course, leftists won't ever consider his ideas. They'll just ignore them.

clipped from www.haaretz.com The son of a leading Hamas figure, who famously converted to Christianity, served for over a decade as the Shin Bet security service's most valuable source in the militant organization's leadership, Haaretz has learned. "Hamas cannot make peace with the Israelis. That is against what their God tells them. It is impossible to make peace with infidels, only a cease-fire, and no one knows that better than I. The Hamas leadership is responsible for the killing of Palestinians, not Israelis," he said. "Palestinians! They do not hesitate to massacre people in a mosque or to throw people from the 15th or 17th floor of a building, as they did during the coup in Gaza. The Israelis would never do such things. I tell you with certainty that the Israelis care about the Palestinians far more than the Hamas or Fatah leadership does."

Operation Moshtared Underway

Must see video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBy0y2jAHpI&feature=player_embedded of the Assault Breacher. Nobody doubts that we will take over Marjah, not even the Taliban, many of whose commanders have already escaped. But nobody is so sanguine on what comes next: establishing the government of Afghanistan and reconstruction.

I wouldn't doubt our success their either but for one fact: the area's economy is based on opium production. The drug war could end up poisoning the entire operation. It's one thing to replace the Taliban with rulers who are not our enemies. It's another, more difficult, thing to attack people's livelihoods.

The only way out is for us to buy their opium crops, all of it. The government could sell it to someone who can make narcotics for hospitals. Or just throw it in the ocean. Whatever. It's a small price to pay for stabilizing a nation with Afghanistan's history.

clipped from www.theweeklystandard.com The BBC is reporting that Operation Moshtarek has finally launched in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The principle objective will be to seize Marjah, the fortress city owned by the Taliban. Marjah is a key node for Taliban operations and resourcing, so expect the good guys to sweep it, clear it, and hold it ... permanently. The mission appears to have kicked off during the early morning hours, when NATO forces have a decisive advantage in night fighting. Marines will also be unveiling a wicked looking new infiltration vehicle, unsubtly dubbed the Assault Breacher.

Tip of the iceberg

It will take an Arab/Palestinian/Muslim defeat by Israel for this to be revealed in the mainstream, just as similar tactics were used as part of the Soviet Union's attacks on the West.

clipped from www.commentarymagazine.com SLUSH FUND by Ben-Dror Yemini, Ma’ariv, 2.2.10 The New Israel Fund is part of the global deception campaign. It does not deal with human rights but with denying one people’s right to self-determination. The New Israel Fund is angry. It thinks that it is correct to spread false testimony about the State of Israel. It thinks that it is OK to participate in the demonization campaign of groups whose goal is to eliminate Israel. It thinks that it is OK to cooperate with the Goldstone Commission There is something wrong with those who clearly aspire to deny the Jews’ right to exist in the only place where they have sovereignty, in order to turn Israel into a “state of all its citizens,” in which the majority will be Hamas supporters. there is something else that is also legitimate: Expose the truth about the Fund and the groups that falsely carry the description “human rights.”

Obama the post-partisan, post-racial demagogue

The conclusion of this piece makes so much sense that it’s no wonder that Obama doesn’t get it. It doesn’t take a Harvard PhD to understand it or even to formulate it in the first place:

There is a simple way to get corporate money out of politics: get the government out of our lives and economic affairs. If government has no favors to sell, no one will spend money trying to win them.

A Blow for Free Speech

Riots in Iran

If the last paragraph I excerpted pans out into more than "scattered reports," then the theocracy will be on its last legs. Fraternization of the forces of order with the people they're supposed to be putting in order has been the death-knell of regimes from that of Louis XV to Czar Nicholas II to East Germany (1989).

clipped from www.nytimes.com Death Toll Rises to 10 as Clashes in Iran Intensify BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iranian police opened fire into crowds of protesters on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and setting off a day of chaotic street battles that seemed poised to deepen the country’s civil unrest, as demonstrators flooded the streets in cities across Iran and fiercely fought back against security forces, witnesses and opposition Web sites said. There were scattered reports of police officers surrendering, or refusing to fight. Several videos posted to the Internet show officers holding up their helmets and walking away from the melee, as protesters pat them on the back in appreciation. In one photograph, several police officers can be seen holding their arms up, and one of them wears a bright green headband, the signature color of the opposition movement.

Why did Obama get the Nobel Peace Prize?

It's because Europeans love him. Not "Europeans" because people in Eastern Europeans and Russians do not love him. The Brits are not so sure. But Western Europeans do love him. Friedman explains why:

clipped from www.stratfor.com In the European mind, the Americans prior to 1945 were liberators. After 1945 they were protectors, but protectors who could not be trusted to avoid triggering another war through recklessness or carelessness. The theme dominating European thinking about the United States was that the Americans were too immature, too mercurial and too powerful to really be trusted. they love Obama because he took office promising to consult with them. They understood this promise in two ways. One was that in consulting the Europeans, Obama would give them veto power. Second, they understood him as being a president like Kennedy, namely, as one unwilling to take imprudent risks.