JERUSALEM: Israel and Syria announced on Wednesday that they were engaged in negotiations for a comprehensive peace treaty through Turkish mediators, a sign that Israel is hoping to halt the growing influence of Iran, Syria's most important ally, which sponsors the anti-Israel groups Hezbollah and Hamas. Senior Israeli officials from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office and their Syrian counterparts were in Istanbul on Wednesday, where both groups had been staying separately, at undisclosed locations, since Monday. The mediators shuttled between the two. Syria and Israel have not negotiated this seriously in eight years. Syria's motives are clear: it wants to regain the Golan Heights captured by Israel in the 1967 war and to re-establish a relationship with the United States, something it figures it can do through talks with Jerusalem. For Israel -- which has watched the Palestinian group Hamas take over Gaza and gain ground in the West Bank, and the Lebanese group Hezbollah display raw power in Beirut -- an effort to pull Syria away from Iran could produce enormous benefits. An announcement on Wednesday of a peace deal that gives Hezbollah the upper hand in Lebanon's government probably added to Israel's sense of urgency.
JERUSALEM: Israel and Syria announced on Wednesday that they were engaged in negotiations for a comprehensive peace treaty through Turkish mediators, a sign that Israel is hoping to halt the growing influence of Iran, Syria's most important ally, which sponsors the anti-Israel groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
Senior Israeli officials from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office and their Syrian counterparts were in Istanbul on Wednesday, where both groups had been staying separately, at undisclosed locations, since Monday. The mediators shuttled between the two. Syria and Israel have not negotiated this seriously in eight years.
Syria's motives are clear: it wants to regain the Golan Heights captured by Israel in the 1967 war and to re-establish a relationship with the United States, something it figures it can do through talks with Jerusalem.
For Israel -- which has watched the Palestinian group Hamas take over Gaza and gain ground in the West Bank, and the Lebanese group Hezbollah display raw power in Beirut -- an effort to pull Syria away from Iran could produce enormous benefits. An announcement on Wednesday of a peace deal that gives Hezbollah the upper hand in Lebanon's government probably added to Israel's sense of urgency.
As long as they are just talking, Olmert will remain one of the Good Guys. But in the very unlikely event that they actually reach an agreement, there will be a major division in Israel, and U.S. politicians may have to take sides. This should be easy for Obama, but maybe not as easy for McCain.
If they solved the latter, all other issues would self-resolve. Without fixing it, all other treaties are so many cubic metres of hot air.
As this article hinted at;-
Independent - Adrian Hamilton - Any change from Bush's fundamentalism will do
Anybody taken in by this nonsense should read the two major speeches by President Bush on his Middle East "peace tour" over the past week. The first was his address to the Israeli Knesset on the occasion of the state's 60th anniversary last Thursday. The second was to the World Economic Forum meeting in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt last Sunday............. An American president, with probably more influence than any American leader since Israel's inception because of his total commitment to their cause, arrives in the country supposedly to pursue a peace plan and, in his most important public address, does not mention the peace and does not ask the Israeli government to make a single concession to further it. Not a reference or request or hint in the entire address, just a paean of praise for a country which has "forged a free and modern society based on the love of liberty, a passion for justice, and a respect for human dignity". Compare that to to Bush's speech to the Arabs in Egypt three days later. It is a long list of demands on them. They must, he lectured, institute "economic reform" if they are to take their "place in the centre of progress". "Economic reform must be accompanied by political reform". "Property rights" must be "protected and risk-taking encouraged". Primary schools must teach "basic skills, such as reading and math, rather than indoctrinating children with ideologies of hatred". And so the liturgy of requirements on these backward people goes on.
An American president, with probably more influence than any American leader since Israel's inception because of his total commitment to their cause, arrives in the country supposedly to pursue a peace plan and, in his most important public address, does not mention the peace and does not ask the Israeli government to make a single concession to further it. Not a reference or request or hint in the entire address, just a paean of praise for a country which has "forged a free and modern society based on the love of liberty, a passion for justice, and a respect for human dignity".
Compare that to to Bush's speech to the Arabs in Egypt three days later. It is a long list of demands on them. They must, he lectured, institute "economic reform" if they are to take their "place in the centre of progress". "Economic reform must be accompanied by political reform". "Property rights" must be "protected and risk-taking encouraged". Primary schools must teach "basic skills, such as reading and math, rather than indoctrinating children with ideologies of hatred". And so the liturgy of requirements on these backward people goes on.
Barack Obama has begun to edge away from his offer to pursue talks with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after being hammered by Republicans as an "appeaser".Now on the cusp of securing the Democratic nomination, Obama yesterday continued to attack John McCain, his likely Republican opponent in November, over his hawkish foreign policy."He has spent his last week describing his foreign policy as who he won't talk to," Obama told a rally in Florida yesterday.After Tuesday's primaries, in which Obama lost badly to Hillary Clinton in Kentucky but won well in Oregon, he is now just 65 delegates away from the Democratic nomination.
Barack Obama has begun to edge away from his offer to pursue talks with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after being hammered by Republicans as an "appeaser".
Now on the cusp of securing the Democratic nomination, Obama yesterday continued to attack John McCain, his likely Republican opponent in November, over his hawkish foreign policy.
"He has spent his last week describing his foreign policy as who he won't talk to," Obama told a rally in Florida yesterday.
After Tuesday's primaries, in which Obama lost badly to Hillary Clinton in Kentucky but won well in Oregon, he is now just 65 delegates away from the Democratic nomination.
being hammered by Republicans as an "appeaser".
And how is giving in to Republican pressure not being an "appeaser"?
Following Good Guys is just leadership in action - also called 'the end of history.' In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Stupidity compounded by ignorance married to arrogance and a pitiful sense of grandiose entitlement. keep to the Fen Causeway
Now the story's out that McCain doesn't even know the difference between the president and the supreme leader in terms of responsibilities in Iran's government structure. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on steps to end the political deadlock that has led to the country's worst violence since the 1975-90 civil war. The Western-backed government and the pro-Syrian opposition arrived at the deal after days of talks in Qatar. Under the deal, the opposition - led by the Hezbollah political and militant group - will have the power of veto in a new cabinet of national unity. It also paves the way for parliament to elect a new president. The post has been empty since November. Correspondents say the agreement is a major triumph for Hezbollah, whose key demands have been met.
Rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on steps to end the political deadlock that has led to the country's worst violence since the 1975-90 civil war.
The Western-backed government and the pro-Syrian opposition arrived at the deal after days of talks in Qatar.
Under the deal, the opposition - led by the Hezbollah political and militant group - will have the power of veto in a new cabinet of national unity.
It also paves the way for parliament to elect a new president.
The post has been empty since November.
Correspondents say the agreement is a major triumph for Hezbollah, whose key demands have been met.
agreement is a major triumph for Hezbollah
Another success for the Bush doctrine. Is Bush secretly a member of the Saudi rogyal family working to destroy the US economy by wrecking every US initiative in the Middle East. keep to the Fen Causeway
I thought he was meant to be against Gay Marriage. Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed in talks with a U.S. congressional leader that a naval blockade be imposed on Iran to try to curb its nuclear program, an Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday. The Haaretz daily quoted Olmert as telling Nancy Pelosi that "the present economic sanctions have exhausted themselves" and the international community needed to take more drastic steps to stop Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. A spokesman for Olmert declined to comment on the Israeli leader's talks on Monday with Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Jerusalem. "It was a confidential discussion," said the spokesman, Mark Regev. Pelosi's office had no immediate comment. On her return to Washington, Pelosi said she and the congressional delegation she led to Israel had discussed with its leaders "the threat posed by Iran."
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed in talks with a U.S. congressional leader that a naval blockade be imposed on Iran to try to curb its nuclear program, an Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Haaretz daily quoted Olmert as telling Nancy Pelosi that "the present economic sanctions have exhausted themselves" and the international community needed to take more drastic steps to stop Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
A spokesman for Olmert declined to comment on the Israeli leader's talks on Monday with Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Jerusalem.
"It was a confidential discussion," said the spokesman, Mark Regev.
Pelosi's office had no immediate comment. On her return to Washington, Pelosi said she and the congressional delegation she led to Israel had discussed with its leaders "the threat posed by Iran."
Methinks the Chinese might be concerned about the US interfering with its trade relationships keep to the Fen Causeway
A group of up to 300 young men killed 11 people who were accused of being witches and wizards in western Kenya, in some cases slitting their throats or clubbing them to death before burning their bodies, officials said.The gang moved home to home through two villages, using a list of suspected witches and wizards and the kind of spells they were believed to have cast on the community, said Ben Makori, a local councilor."The villagers are complaining that the (suspected) wizards and witches are making the bright children in the community dumb ... These (suspected) witches are not doing good things to us," Makori told The Associated Press.
A group of up to 300 young men killed 11 people who were accused of being witches and wizards in western Kenya, in some cases slitting their throats or clubbing them to death before burning their bodies, officials said.
The gang moved home to home through two villages, using a list of suspected witches and wizards and the kind of spells they were believed to have cast on the community, said Ben Makori, a local councilor.
"The villagers are complaining that the (suspected) wizards and witches are making the bright children in the community dumb ... These (suspected) witches are not doing good things to us," Makori told The Associated Press.
The villagers are complaining that the (suspected) wizards and witches are making the bright children in the community dumb
Well, they certainly seem to have succeeded with 300 of them. keep to the Fen Causeway
