22 November 2012, under the guise of helping West Bank officials put down Palestinian demonstrators, the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Central Command has sent in Israeli troops!
The IDF and Shin Bet (Sherut haBitachon haKlali, Israel Security Agency) say that 55 people have been arrested and accused of being terrorists.
“We offer all Muslims technological aid to stand up against arrogant powers and we offer them our experiences to defend their people.”-Major General Mohammad-Ali Jafari, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
What the IRCG general is saying is that Iran is helping the Gazans, but not by giving them the actual Fajr-5 MLRS (Multiple Launching Rocket System, Iranian news media incorrectly calls them ‘missiles’), but giving them the technological data to allow the Palestinians to build it for themselves.
The Fajr-5 launches an artillery rocket which supposedly has a range of 75 kilo-meters (47 miles).
Interesting, the Iranians are giving away their military technology (or selling it cheap with easy financing), while the U.S. and other western countries demand top dollar for theirs. If this war was rated by how economically efficient the combatants are then clearly the Palestinians are the victors.
Hamas Political Bureau Chief, Khaled Meshaal, thanked Iran for not only the technological help, but for the financing as well.
21 November 2012, Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamel Amir, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have issued a ceasefire declaration to become effective at 9pm Egypt time.
Clinton told reporters that she is looking forward to working with Egyptian officials to “push forward” the ceasefire agreement.
Clinton and Amir claim that officials from Hamas and Israel agreed to the ceasefire deal.
“The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages….”-Eli Yishai, Israeli Interior Minister commenting on Operation Pillar of Defense
“We need to flatten all of Gaza……There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing….”-Gild Sharon, the son of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
“There are no innocents in Gaza….mow them down!”-Michael Ben-Ari, member of the Knesset and National Unity Party
“…Gaza to be bombed so hard the population has to flee into Egypt.”-Israel Katz, Israel’s Transportation Minister
“….to slaughter the enemy.”-Yaakov Yosef, prominent Israeli rabbi
“They don’t deserve to live, they need to die”, “May your children die” and “Now we want to go back there and kick out all the Arabs”.-slogans used by pro-war demonstrators in Tel Aviv on 15 November 2012
19 November 2012, Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has sent letters to the United Nations Security Council, and to Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (UNASUR).
To the UN: “…urgently call for the Council to convene in order to put an end to this round of violence that strengthens those who wish to impede the creation of a Palestine state…”
To the South American union: “UNASUR is required to act in defense of human life…”
The government of Brazil, acting as representative of MERCOSUR (Mercado Comum do Sul/Mercado Común del Sur/Southern Common Market), called: “…for an immediate end to violence and to the UN Security Council to fully assume its responsibilities….”
Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay recognized the State of Palestine in December 2011, and signed a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
On 17 November 2012, it was reported in some South American news sources, that Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi contacted Argentina’s President for help in ending the Israeli hostilities. President de Kirchner responded by saying South America, not the United States, will: “…work with the leaders in the region to urge the parties involved in the conflict to cease the violence.”
Even while U.S. President Barack Obama was warning against any “ramping up” of military action between Israel and Gaza, he ordered three assault ships to reverse course and head back to the Mediterranean.
Amphibious assault ships United States Ship Iwo Jima, USS New York and USS Gunston Hall were halfway home when Obama made the order this past weekend. There are an estimated 2,400 Marines and 2,000 sailors aboard the ships.
The ships were at the end of a six month deployment. It’s assumed they are to be used to evacuate U.S. citizens in Gaza or Israel.
On 07 November 2012, Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, revealed that U.S. led NATO is deploying Patriot missiles in Turkey, for use against Syria.
Last month Turkey, a member of NATO, began artillery shelling of Syria, and increased ground and air forces near the border with Syria.
The Patriot missiles will be used to enforce an unannounced “no fly zone” over northern Syria, in order to support insurgents inside Syria!
Also, recently it was revealed that insurgents are using Turkish ambulances as military transports (a violation of international law), to get U.S./Israeli/Saudi backed troops in and out of Syria!
“We’ve learned a lot about Democracy in Latin America, and they have made a lot of progress….The elections in Venezuela, although some people have criticized the result….there’s no doubt in our mind….that he [Hugo Chavez] won fairly and squarely…As a matter a fact, of the 92 elections we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world!…..Mexico had their first honest election and the Carter Center was the only monitor invited in….all the other countries in Latin America, except for one [Venezuela]….and another one in North America [United States]….has public financing of all the election process. If you qualify to run for public office you get public financing, and outside money does not affect the outcome of the election……The United States election process is shot through now with, I’d say, financial corruption. We have one of the worst election processes in the world.“-Former U.S. President, true Christian and international election observer Jimmy Carter, 11 September 2012 annual Carter Center “Conversation”, in response to question about election monitoring in Latin America
The former president was talking about the more than 90 countries that his organization, The Carter Center, has worked to observe elections, to make sure they are fair.
The month after Carter made his statements about U.S. democracy, the U.S. states of Texas and Iowa announced they would arrest international election observers that entered polling places.
Carter says the main problem is private financing of campaigns for public office. He explained there was a time when candidates used only public financing to run for office: “You know how much [privately sourced] money I raised when I ran against Gerald Ford [1976 U.S. Presidential elections]? Zero!…. You know how much [privately sourced] money I raised to run against Ronald Reagan [1980 U.S. Presidential elections]? Zero! We got public financing for the elections. You know how much [privately sourced] money’s gonna be raised this year in the United States for the President, and the Senate and House elections? Six billion dollars!…..And that money comes from people who, now under the Supreme Court ruling, don’t have to be identified….and a lot of it can come from corporations partially owned by foreigners.”
Carter said the only way the election process can begin to be fixed is if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its “stupid decision”, and there is a return to public financing of national campaigns.
“There could be at least three explanations. One is the public discourse about a possible Israeli or American operation deterred them from trying to come closer. It could probably be a diplomatic gambit that they have launched in order to avoid this issue culminating before the American election, just to gain some time. It could be a way of telling the IAEA ‘oh we comply with our commitments’.”-Ehud Barak, Defense Minister of Israel
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, a top Israeli official said they believe Iran has at least delayed any attempts to build a nuclear weapon.
Israeli officials still say Iran will eventually build a nuclear weapon, so maybe this is actually a delaying tactic on the part of Israel, until after the U.S. Presidential elections (if they happen at all)?
“If you continue to add to the sanctions we will cut our oil exports to the world…..The dearth of Iranian oil on the market will increase the price drastically.”-Rostam Qasemi, Iran’s Minister of Petroleum
On 23 October 2012, Iranian officials quietly announced that Iran is prepared to stop all its oil sales to the world, if the United States and Europe continue economic sanctions.
On 15 October, the European Union voted for more sanctions against Iran.
Iranian officials say they are ready for “Plan B”, which means halting all petroleum sales and running their country without oil revenues. This is possible because Iran’s non-oil exports are now high enough to offset the huge loss of oil money.
Even Iran’s domestic industries are becoming more self sufficient. Example: According to the World Steel Association, Iran’s steel industry is now the 16th largest in the world: “Despite the intensified sanctions during the last two years, the capacity of Iran’s steel production has increased 5 million tons and we will be completely self-sufficient in the steel industry in the next three years.”-Hamidreza Taherizadeh, Vice-President of Iran’s Steel Association
The announcement was made at a OPEC meeting in Dubai.