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It’s a grand occasion when a new Israeli prime minister makes an inaugural visit to Washington. He typically meets with the president, addresses a joint meeting of Congress, appears on plum television shows, talks to influential audiences, and consults privately with a range of leading figures. Personality, pomp, and substance mix together as the two heads of government establish a working relationship, the U.S.-Israel bond is reconfirmed, and issues relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict are reviewed. When Ehud Olmert arrives in a few days, the key policy issue will concern what he refers to as the “convergence plan,” a follow-up...

May. 16, 2006 12:19 | Updated May. 17, 2006 5:51 US to Israel: Don't request funds for convergence By ETGAR LEFKOVITS Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks at Independence Day. Photo: AP A day after US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said President George Bush will not discuss the details of the convergence plan when he meets Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week, but would rather prefer to allow him to outline his vision, officials said the US has also informed Israel not to ask for funding for the withdrawal plan. This message was conveyed to the prime minister by the...

'Farewell to the land of our forefathers' Olmert's 'convergence' coalition made new government of Israel By Stan Goodenough May 4th, 2006 With its eyes wide open, Israel took a step closer to catastrophe Thursday as the Knesset (Parliament) gave its approval for Ehud Olmert’s convergence coalition to govern the Jewish state. Now installed, the Kadima-led government plans to voluntarily – and apparently willingly – relinquish forever all claims to territory Israel as a nation has for 4,000 years held to be its everlasting, God-given land. Before the Knesset vote, in what The Jerusalem Post described as a major policy speech,...

'You have been warned' Veteran Christian Zionist leader says 'convergence' plan will explode By Stan Goodenough May 4th, 2006 A long-standing leader in the international Christian Zionist movement Thursday sent a strongly-worded warning to the brand new Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Jan Willem van der Hoeven, a Dutch Christian and 40-year resident of Israel, who in 1981 founded the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and today directs the International Christian Zionist Center, said the “convergence” plan will “explode in [the] faces” of Olmert “and those who have chosen, often out of personal ambition, to sit with you in...

IDF commanders are to hold a disciplinary hearing Thursday morning for a soldier commended for excellence, who refused to shake hands with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz on Wednesday, in protest over what he called the "expulsion" of the Gaza settlers, Army Radio said. Sergeant Hananel Dayan, who serves in the armored corps, was one of 120 soldiers who received commendations at Wednesday's traditional Independence Day ceremony at the President's Residence.

Apr. 4, 2006 0:50 | Updated Apr. 4, 2006 11:16 'Europe may consider convergence plan' By HERB KEINON If Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert consults the international community before implementing his "convergence" plan, one suggestion he is likely to hear is that Israel should lease the settlement blocs from the Palestinian Authority rather than annex them outright, a senior European diplomat said Monday. Olmert has said a number of times, including in his victory speech last week, that he hoped to reach a negotiated settlement with the PA, but that if this proved impossible he would - after holding consultations...

Mar. 30, 2006 13:12 | Updated Mar. 30, 2006 13:18 Q&A with David Horovitz Susan Blatt, Portland, Oregon: Did Israelis vote Kadima because of what it is, or what it isn't? Can Kadima lead an effective government with less than a quarter of the seats? David Horovitz: It seems that many people voted for the party or leader they least disliked, rather than most admired. With Kadima, they certainly knew what they were voting for more clearly than they would have done had Sharon led the party into the elections. Sharon was insisting he had no plans for further disengagement,...

The United States is in need of its own dose of perestroika, or restructuring, Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who brought such reforms to the Soviet Union, said Tuesday. The former Soviet leader said he had suggested the idea to a group of Americans at a speech last year and they agreed. Gorbachev, who has been critical of the Iraq war and what he has called a Western "superiority complex," did not specify what he believed needed changing in America. Speaking at a gathering of political and business leaders, Gorbachev said a global lack of leadership was to blame for many...

CHICAGO, June 25 (UPI) -- A hacker sits on a bench at Grand Central Station in New York City and, with his mobile phone and a Wireless Fidelity connection, deviously places a virus on the cell phones of unsuspecting commuters as they walk nearby, on their way to work. Within a few hours, the virus multiplies, infecting several hundred thousand phones, causing them to dial long distance numbers and run up millions of dollars in fraudulent telecom charges. Fantasy? No -- the coming reality. Viruses and worms on mobile phones are now considered by computer gurus to be a legitimate...

Hug Your Teddy Bear By Donnel Jones, November 9, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Now you've heard everything. Drop what you're doing and read. Did you know that world peace is coming our way? It's true. Because the stars said so. No, not Barbra Streisand or Richard Gere. I mean those luminous bodies out of which you and I are formed. They have a message for us and we should listen. Are you listening? Because if you're not, you'll miss the boat big time. Take our friend, Learning Tree, which is a sort of name you get when you believe last night's...

What's With The Adam Smith Tie-Dye? Sept 5, 2003 Us on the Right are accustomed to saying that the Left just doesn’t understand us. It’s easy to laugh at their talking heads, especially if you’re hip to a few things. Such as this: remember the slogan “you just don’t get it?” Why it was so jarring to the naïve mind? Television networks prefer people with a reactionary personality on the screen: it makes for more exciting debates. The patient man, or woman, doesn’t bring the kind of excitement that takes the typical viewer away from the football channel, so he...

Orwell Would Be Proud By Nick Nichols They travel around the country in tie-dyed T-shirts banging homemade drums and singing ear-crunching songs. They set up websites to organize themselves as they tour from city to city. Wherever they go, local police must mobilize to prevent rioting. If you guessed the fans of Ozzy Osbourne, you're way off. No, this is the new anti-corporate protest movement, one that has become so zealous, so diffuse and so devoted to full-time rabble-rousing they could make even Ozzy's fans blush. And soon they could be coming to a town near you. That's because this...