Arms Seizure Backfires, Wounds Israel

STRATFOR ^ | 2120 GMT, 020108 | Staff

[mvonfr]

W.T.F. are u talking about?! The "flippin" captain of the ship even admits it was arms destined for arafats' lads

I think Stratfor is trying to say that the captain was an Israeli agent.

[Richard Axtell]

Could it be, that STRATFOR is doing analysis for the world, on the other side of the looking glass? How else could they be so symmetrically and uniformly wrong?

[yikes]

All I can say is where's the beef?

[Recovering_Democrat]

Horsecrap. Fox News carried an interview with the CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP...I believe he ADMITTED the weapons were bound for Arafat and his buddies, AND didn't he also say they came from IRAN??

[Ronin]

It's amazing though. Their articles always sound so logical and well-written, but their batting average is so bad it's laughable.

[Ken H]

"and now Arafat is promising to punish those responsible..."

Pretty damn pathetic for Stratfor when Arafat himself refutes their claims.

[sam]

Have you ever read a more incompetent analysis than this ? Could it ? have been ? Nah, that would be too rich. Did Pat Buchanan write this ?

Granted this article is trash (the reasons cited are very weak, at best), but why take a swipe at Pat? His stands on middleast issues are very reasoned, logical and nationalist.

[M. Thatcher]

This is a rather bizarre article.

Not bizarre at all for Stratfor. Par for the course tripe, and not worth the electrons to respond.

[dighton]

Had the Israelis seized twice as many weapons, they'd have been twice as badly wounded.

I'm practicing to be a red-hot STRATFOR analyst. How'd I do?

[Pete53]

Even the Clinton spin masters would look in awe of this one.

[tet68]

Quite well! The Israelies cannot survive another faked incident,like the pizza parlour or disco bombing.Arafat denies those too.And we all know Arafat is an honorabe man. (/sarcasm)

[Poohbah]

STRATFOR used to know what they were talking about. Did they subcontract out to DEBKA recently?

[Orual]

I'm practicing to be a red-hot STRATFOR analyst. How'd I do?

You are individually intelligent so I guess you'll fit right in. You done good.

[a_witness]

Granted this article is trash (the reasons cited are very weak, at best), but why take a swipe at Pat? His stands on middleast issues are very reasoned, logical and nationalist.

He would manage to get us in WWIII and lose it. The only sense I heard from him was when he said he would forgo politics and return to journalism because the American people had spoken (ie., rejected him). No, his stands on Middle East issues, not to mention WWII, are not reasoned, logical, and nationalist, unless of course you mean national socialist. He ran a close race with Ralph Nader as the most dangerous candidate for America. the both won.

[a_witness]

Had the Israelis seized twice as many weapons, they'd have been twice as badly wounded. I'm practicing to be a red-hot STRATFOR analyst. How'd I do?

LOL
Why does this remind me of the Black Knight in Monty Python ?

[mvonfr]

STRATFOR used to know what they were talking about. Did they subcontract out to DEBKA recently?

Debka's posts on the subject make full sense, and raise some interesting questions about the Egyptian role. You may want to take a look.

[Poohbah]

That's what gets me. Normally, STRATFOR is the authoritative one, and DEBKA is the fruitcake brigade--now it's just the opposite.

[gcruse]

 The presence of Palestinian naval officers aboard
the vessel, including one who later directly fingered
two of Arafat's top lieutenants, limits plausible deniability.

But has no effect on Stratfor's insanity.
One also ponders the size of the Palestinian
Navy.

[Poohbah]

C'mon, the Palestinian Navy does six-month deployments in the Dead Sea with their ZBGs (Zodiac Battlegroups).

[Toddsterpatriot]

It would be either extremely stupid or sheerly lunatic for the Palestinians to think that a weapons-laden ship might transit the Red Sea and the Suez Canal undetected at a time when both are under heightened surveillance.

Yeah those brilliant Palestians couldn't be behind this.