US prevents launch of satellite to spy on Iran
I linked to this story in an earlier post, but I wanted to highlight it. An Indian newspaper reported on Monday that Israel's launch of the TecSar satellite (pictured, top left), which was meant to monitor Iran's nuclear activities, was canceled at the last minute in September at the insistence of the United States. It has since been postponed several times.The TecSar satellite - developed and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) - initially was supposed to be launched in September, on the heels of the June launch of the Ofek 7 spy satellite. It is the first Israeli satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) capabilities, a technology that allows the camera to take pictures of targets in all weather conditions.Note the irony here: With the Musharraf regime in neighboring Pakistan fighting for its life, and with no one really having control of its nukes, the Bush administration is worried that India might get some new military platforms.
Weighing just under 300 kilograms, the TecSar was developed by the IAI's Space Division MBT and has the ability to create images of objects on Earth even in cloudy weather conditions, a capability not available in Israel's Ofek satellite series.
The Ofek 7 is a camera-based satellite, while TecSar is capable of creating high-resolution images using advanced radar technology.
In an article published in Monday's Daily News and Analysis, the Indian paper quoted sources who said US government pressure was responsible for calling off the launch of the satellite, which already had been mounted on the space-bound missile launcher.
The paper hinted that the reason for the American pressure was to prevent India from obtaining powerful military platforms. Earlier this year, the paper said, the US curtailed Indian plans to develop missiles with a 5,000-kilometer range and advised it to only manufacture missiles with a range of 800 km.
Should it occur, it would be the first time Israel launches a satellite aboard an Indian missile.
Sorry folks, but after the release of that National Intelligence Estimate this week, I cannot accept this as being unconnected, accidental or having anywhere near as much to do with India as it does with Israel. Someone in the Bush administration has decided that not only are they not going to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but that they are also going to try to prevent Israel from stopping Iran.
Are there Muslims running the State Department? This is insane!
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:17 PM
6 Comments:
Carl,
I hate to say this, but I actually predicted all this long ago.
Please read this and this
When Robert Gates was nominated for the job of Secretary of Defense, I saw the writing on the wall. Please note the Caroline Glick words...
"In recent years, Gates made one notable foray into the world of international affairs. In 2004 he collaborated with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor in the Carter administration. Like former president Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski is one of Israel's greatest adversaries in US policymaking circles. It is hard to recall a problem, conflict, crisis or war in the Middle East over the past thirty years that Brzezinski has not managed to blame on Israel.
Gates and Brzezinski co-chaired a Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored Task Force charged with recommending a US policy for dealing with Iran. In July 2004 they published their recommendations. The Task Force called for the Bush administration to directly engage the mullahs and to use "fewer sticks and more carrots" to convince the regime in Teheran to stop enriching uranium, and to stop supporting al Qaida and the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an effort to convince the Iranians to cooperate, the two recommended that the US discard regime overthrow as a policy option and move more forcefully to establish a Palestinian state as quickly as possible. They also recommended that the US pressure Israel not to take any military action against the Iranian nuclear facilities arguing that such Israeli actions would undermine US national interests."
It is obvious who is being empowered in the Bush administration. It is not thsoe friendly to Israel. And I do not think Bush is strong enough (or, frankly, smart enough) to counter these forces.
This comment has been removed by the author.
The rapport that exists between President Bush and religious American Jews and his devotion to the anti-terrorist cause are outweighed by his personal and family ties to the Saudi elite.
Any thought that Jews can sway his actual policies vis-a-vis Israel by an appeal to his sympathies is missing this point.
Secretaries Gates and Rice are his employees, and, whatever minor disagreements may spring up from time to time, they are executing his policies.
I voted for him three times (once as Governor of Texas). On the whole, his opponents would have done even worse, but that does not make me feel much better now.
We may never know how many of PM Olmert's bad decisions have come from his own judgment and how many from US pressure through Secretary Rice and others. There were probably quite a few of each.
Carl, this isn't a muslim controlling-foggy-bottom issue.
Foggy-bottom is so virulently anti-jew and anti-Israel that it needs no one to push it over the edge.
The pentagon is infamous for its anti-Israel stances and general staff. Some took pride in never having worked with, spoken to, or dealt with Israelis.
The FBI and CIA fall all over themselves to prevent arabic speaking jews from being translators, preferring instead to allow the enemy to infiltrate them, and use them.
Israel must stand alone, apart from the US, and act in its best own interests. These interests do not, as far as I see, parallel the US interests in the region. They should, but the people responsible for formulating policy are so rabidly anti-Israel and anti-jew, that it is damn near impossible to separate their biases from the policy that is implemented.
So we in the US harm our friends, and enable our friends enemies to attack our friends.
Israel must be completely self sufficient in all aspects. Weapons/defense and so forth. Any other stance and you get Condi and her fellow Bakerian travelers dictating terms of national suicide to you.
Figure out a way to launch your own satellites. I wish it were otherwise, but my government seems to be taking the path of the dhimmi and screwing our friends.
Carl, be prepared for the biblical outcome. The Trans-National Kapitalist of the New World Order are out to destroy the independece and freedom of the US and need I say the very exsistance of the State of Israel. I stand with you till the end. But, it doesn't look good. Live Free and Die Well
PS; Your Google/Blooger ID is classic, remember, these clowns with Yahoo are turning over internet political disidents to the Red Chinese.
Are there Muslims running the State Department?
I can't answer that, but I certainly do smell James 'Efff the Jews' Baker.
Post a Comment
<< Home