Iran to hold 10-day Naval exercise in Persian Gulf
Iran will hold a 10-day Naval exercise in the Persian Gulf beginning Saturday in what is apparently an attempt to
put on a show of force.
Admiral Amir-Habibollah Sayari said that the exercise, dubbed "Velayat-90," would be launched on Saturday and will span a 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) stretch of sea off the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula and into the Gulf of Aden, near the entrance to the Red Sea.
"The maneuvers will be carried out with the intention of displaying the determination, defensive and deterrent power of the Iranian armed forces as well as relaying a message of peace and friendship in the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the free waters of the Indian Ocean," Sayari said.
Somehow, the 'peace and friendship' part seems likely to be lost in the shuffle. I'm sure Oman and the Saudis will be thrilled about this.
Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, naval blockade, Persian Gulf
'Palestinians': Israel fired on Gaza patrol boat
The 'Palestinian' agency Maan is reporting that Israeli forces
fired upon a 'third party international monitor' ship off the coast of Gaza. No one was hurt, This story has not been reported in Israel and the IDF told Maan it knows nothing about it.
Israeli naval forces attacked an international third party monitor on Wednesday in Gazan territorial waters.
Civil Peace Service Gaza works as part of a non-violent initiative to monitor human rights abuses in Gaza.
Israeli forces fired at the CPS Gaza monitoring boat, the Oliva, with water cannons on Wednesday at 12.05 p.m local time, a statement by the organization said.
There were four people aboard at the time, two CPS Gaza members, the captain and a journalist.
"We were fewer than two miles away from the Gaza coast when they fired at us. We saw them firing water at some fishing boats so we headed to the area. When we got close, the warships left the fishing boats, and turned on us.
"They attacked us for about ten minutes, following us as we tried to head to shore and eventually lagged when we reached about one mile off the Gaza coast," British human rights worker Ruqaya Al-Samarrai said.
A fishing boat was also fired at and damaged with live rounds.
An Israeli army spokesman said he was unaware of the incident.
I'm not aware of any 'third party international monitor' that is authorized to patrol off the coast of Gaza. There's a naval blockade of Gaza. The United Nations has officially concluded that blockade is legal (the announcement is to be made later Thursday). I can't say whether this story really happened, but if it did, the people on this boat brought it on themselves.
Labels: Gaza, naval blockade
Who is trying to kill whom?
I follow Josh Trevino on Twitter. I have never met him in person. I know almost nothing about him other than the fact that a couple of friends (Soccer Dad and Noah Pollak) also follow him and I think Noah actually knows him. I just thought some of his tweets that I saw looked interesting, so I followed him. While writing this post, I looked up
this biography. Perhaps in response to this post, he'll send me a resume.
When I saw the tweet above, I thought it was a bit tongue in cheek. At least until
this evening, I thought this flotilla would result in less violence than the last one. I retweeted the tweet.
Trevino's tweet has apparently caused some
controversy around the blogosphere (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum). And some of that controversy needs to be set straight.
As boatloads of American humanitarianofascists, including Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, and the Obamishly hued novelist/poet Alice Walker, steam toward Gaza, one proud GOP operative, Josh Trevino, assures Israel:
Dear IDF: If you end up shooting any Americans on the new Gaza flotilla -- well, most Americans are cool with that. Including me.
That's what I call thinking out of the box. I mean, hey, when American citizens get all uppity about human rights--ask a foreign power to murder them.
...
But then, I guess Mr. Trevino doesn't deserve all the credit for giving Israel's Likud government the go ahead to slaughter American citizens. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and I assume her boss, is giving the IDF a wink as well:
There will be construction materials entering Gaza and we think that it’s not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.
So there you go, IDF. You have the right to shoot 86-year-old Heda Epstein in order to defend your borders from uppity humanitarianofascists bearing food, medicine, and embarrassment.
Let's get a few things straight. A Holocaust survivor is someone who lived through the Holocaust in an affected country. It's not just someone who was alive when the Holocaust happened. Hedy Epstein - who loves to
promote herself as a Holocaust survivor - is not one. She is no more a Holocaust survivor than my 83-year old father who lived through the Holocaust in Boston, Massachusetts. She
left Germany in May 1939 - before the war or the Holocaust started - on the
Kindertransport, and spent the war in England. When you hear "Holocaust survivor," you envision those gaunt kids who were in the concentration camps at the end of the war. She's not one of them. There were 10,000 kids just like her. They are not Holocaust survivors any more than the thousands of Jews who fled Germany and other affected countries during the 1930's. That makes her a much less sympathetic figure, doesn't it?
The people on those boats are committing an act of war. Yes, including Hedy Epstein and Alice Walker and that moron Medea Benjamin. They're not wearing uniforms, they're not part of an army, but by trying to run a legal naval blockade (and
even the UN now says it's legal), they are committing an act of war. They are military combatants, and they may be treated accordingly.
This is what Secretary of State Clinton - who knows and understands the rules - keeps having the State Department tell them. If they are combatants who are attacking a US ally, there is nothing the US can or will do to protect them. Nor should it.
Josh Trevino's tweet was probably tongue in cheek. This post is not. It doesn't matter what they're carrying on those boats because what those boats seek to do is to open up a shipping lane to Gaza through which large scale weaponry - which could not or would not be shipped over land from Israel or Egypt - can be imported in the future. The point of these boats isn't the cargo - it's for the boats to get through. And Israel will not allow that to happen at any cost. Including at the cost of a bunch of American citizens (30% Jewish unfortunately) who have turned themselves into hostile combatants.
Labels: flotilla of fools, Gaza plenty, Hedy Epstein, Josh Trevino, naval blockade
Iran will hold a 10-day Naval exercise in the Persian Gulf beginning Saturday in what is apparently an attempt to put on a show of force. 
