Posted on 01/01/2009 8:48:58 AM PST by elhombrelibre
Israel assassinated a Hamas strongman Thursday in its first assault on the top leadership of Gaza's rulers, escalating a crushing aerial offensive even as it declared it was ready to launch a ground invasion.
The airstrike targeted the eight-story apartment building in the Jebaliya refugee camp that was home to Nizar Rayan, 52, ranked among Hamas' top five decision-makers in Gaza. The attack killed 12 other people including two of Rayan's four wives and four of his 12 children, Palestinian health officials said. The Muslim faith allows men to have up to four wives.
While escalating its 6-day-old military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Israel also appeared to be sounding out a possible diplomatic exit from its campaign by demanding international monitors as a key term of any future truce.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
No goats in the apartment! They value their goats more than that—wouldn’t use THEM as shields.
A great way to start the new year off with a bang.
[singing] ka-boom, ka-boom, yadadadadada, yadadadadada...
Israel Ambassador Prosor: Hamas is the obstacle to Middle East peace
Telegraph | January 1, 2009 | Ron Prosor
Posted on 01/01/2009 12:18:44 PM PST by IsraelBeach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2157295/posts
thank God one country doesn’t give in to political correctness...
I am working on the mocking YouTube sing-along. :)
And in most instances the west does indeed do everything possible to minimize the threat to civilians. But once a person uses themselves as a human shield, they are no longer victims, but the enemy. In this case, unavoidable hazard of fighting terrorists.
And in most instances the west does indeed do everything possible to minimize the threat to civilians. But once a person uses themselves as a human shield, they are no longer victims, but the enemy. In this case, unavoidable hazard of fighting terrorists.
I’ve known it to be true, but now he knows that God has a sense of humor! :-)
“Headless”—him AND Hamas! Bwah!
Landshark!
December 18, 2008
Russia provides 10 MiG fighter jets to Lebanon for free
(Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian MIG-29 fighters
Tony Halpin in Moscow
Russia gave Lebanon ten MiG fighter jets yesterday in a deal to boost defence cooperation.
The MiG29 Fulcrum fighters would be provided free to Lebanon under an agreement on military-technical assistance, the head of Russias defence cooperation service said. Mikhail Dmitryev said that the jets would come from Russias existing stock.
He said that Moscow was also in talks to supply Beirut with heavy armour, adding that supplies of such weaponry were now possible after the situation in this nation has stabilised.
He said: We view the Lebanese army as the main guarantor of this nations stability, therefore the armed forces of this country must be strengthened. The deal followed a meeting in Moscow between Anatoly Serdyukov, the Defence Minister, and Elias Murrhis, his Lebanese counterpart. Mr Serdyukov said that Russia had received a detailed list of armaments sought by Lebanon.
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When details of the deal emerged on Tuesday it was suggested that the aircraft would be sold at a discount. Mr Dmitryev confirmed yesterday however that they would be free, with delivery paid by the Russian Defence Ministry. He said: Military-technical assistance, this means assistance in budgetary funds.
The MiG29s, one of Russias best fighter jets, will provide considerable additional firepower for the Lebanese air force, which currently has only five outdated Hawker Hunter jets and 16 helicopters.
The gift is certain to strengthen Russian influence in the Middle East as Moscow seeks to restore a position that was lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The agreement is likely to prompt concern in Israel and the United States, given the continuing power and influence of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ria-Novosti news agency reported that Lebanese officials were also seeking tanks, antitank rockets, air defence systems and helicopters.
Russia is already a major weapons supplier to neighbouring Syria, which is keen to acquire the latest MiG29s and was reported to be seeking the latest Sam S300 air defence missiles earlier this year.
Moscow denied that it would sell the systems to Syria.
The northern Syrian port of Tartus has also been identified as a possible base for the Russian navy to gain a permanent presence in the Mediterranean. Russian warships visited Cuba this week for the first time since the Cold War after taking part in their first war games with Venezuela.
Russia announced plans in September to sell antiaircraft systems to Iran despite American objections. It is already building a nuclear power plant for Iran that the West suspects is part of Tehrans plans to acquire an atomic bomb.
The Kremlin is rearming Russias military too. Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, head of the Strategic Missile Forces, told Russian news agencies yesterday that Russia would commission a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the RS24, next year with multiple warheads.
He said that Russias Strategic Missile Forces planned 13 practice launches in 2009, almost double the number this year. They would include five test launches of new missiles as part of plans to overhaul Russias Soviet-era nuclear arsenal by 2020 and counter American defence systems.
By 2015-2020 the Russian strategic rocket forces will have new complete missile systems with improved combat characteristics, General Solovtsov said. They will be capable of carrying out any tasks, including in conditions where an enemy uses antimissile defence measures.
That being said, I take this opportunity to continue my campaign to push the idea of buying these hapless, land hungry, Jew haters an Island of their own and put them on it. It really is the most humane solution, and the only solution that doesn't involve "dropping the bomb" and turning sandy Palestine into a massive glass sculpture, although I'm sure it would be rather quiet for many hundreds of years after that, and as the years pass with more and more innocent blood spilled the idea starts to grow on me a bit.
Rather than nuking them, why not help them have a nice little island, or small set of islands, somewhere balmy and quiet and outside rocket range of anything important to the world. They can develop ceremonies of doing a new Palestinian style hula dance and throwing the "ceremonial coconut" into the sea in the general direction of Israel once a year, kind of like throwing the rocks at the pillars that symbolize satan that they do in Mecca, and then they can get back to doing their little island business thing of making snappy little souvenirs and everybody is happy. (insert smirk here)
As a bonus, the Island(s) could be blockaded to allow ship searches for anything inbound or outbound for a few decades until the hate cools off and they learn to be happy little island people.
The Israelis are slipping;
they're only batting .333...
This is kind of like referring to infanticide as "Pro-Choice".
The liberal/socialists are being smart and savvy, and thats just scary as hell. Propaganda works. We just lost an election to massive propaganda. We have just elected a man that nobody knows. The few that do know him are largely busy with court cases, or making excuses for a radical past.
One thing we absolutely cannot do is to stop attacking Obama and his socialist friends and policies. They destroyed Bush... "death by a thousand cuts." They attacked him every day.
We need to fight back. We need to educate people on what has just happened and what to expect. One thing about this Blago thing... it drives home the point that was made during the campaign... Obama and his associates are corrupt beyond belief. That being said, Obama may yet be the best thing to happen to us, just like Clinton who left a "legacy" of a GOP controlled congress for the first time in 40 or more years. Obama may just be a windfall for conservatives, and I hope they will take full advantage of the opportunity the next time around and maintain control for decades. Its going to take some hard work to make that happen in an environment where people like to vote for "change" even if they don't know what the heck "change" means.
Actually this story does involve many rockets.
“The Muslim faith allows men to have up to four wives.”
Aah...that means 4 mother-in-laws? Oy Vey!
Hasta la vista baby.
Thanks, and Happy New Year to you too. I’ve been laying off of the net recently. Take care.
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