[ShabelleMedia] The UN Security Council on Wednesday voted to begin a two-year withdrawal of its political mission in Somalia, which has been in the East African country for more than a decade.
UNSOM was established in 2013 by the UN Security Council to support Somali authorities in the transition to democracy and the rule of law after more than 20 years of conflict between militias, Islamist groups, and criminal gangs.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is still seeking to extricate Somalia from chronic instability.
In May, his government asked that the world body to end the assistance mission’s mandate when it expires in October, but later amended the request to suggest a two-year transition period.
In a resolution adopted unanimously on Wednesday, the Security Council agreed to follow through with a transition and plans for UNSOM to end its mission on October 31, 2026.
UNSOM will henceforth be called the UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia, or UNTMIS.
Now we know.
In the first year of the transition period, the mission will primarily focus on efforts to conduct free and fair elections and protection of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... . Some of its work will be handed over to Somali authorities at the end of year one.
[IsraelTimes] Sources say talks are focused on putting together a committee of non-aligned Palestinian figures to comply with Israel’s demand that neither group run the Strip after the war
Senior officials of the rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas have been meeting in Cairo to discuss forming a committee to manage Gaza’s postwar governance, an Egyptian security source was quoted as saying by Egypt’s Al Qahera News TV on Saturday.
The talks are part of Egypt’s broader mediation efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and terror group Hamas and to expand humanitarian access to the enclave.
Leaders from Hamas and the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Cairo last month to discuss forming the committee based on a proposal put forward by Egypt, but talks were adjourned for later discussion, sources close to the talks told Reuters.
The sources said the committee would be made up of independent Palestinian figures not aligned with a particular movement, addressing the question of who would run Gaza after the ongoing war is over.
Israel rejects any role by Hamas in Gaza after the war is ended and has said it does not trust the rival Palestinian Authority of Abbas to run the enclave.
Mediators, including Egypt and Qatar with backing from the United States, have so far failed to secure a truce that would end the war and facilitate a release of Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel for crimes that include terror offenses.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the war will continue until Hamas is dismantled. The terror group has demanded an end to the war and has rejected any hostage deal that doesn’t include an upfront commitment from Israel to end hostilities and withdraw its forces from the Strip, which Jerusalem says would leave Hamas free to plan a repeat of its October 7, 2023, onslaught that killed some 1,200 and resulted in the kidnapping of 251 hostages.
Hamas political official Izzat al-Risheq dismissed proposals of limited or temporary truces as “smokescreens.”
“We are positively open to any proposals or ideas that ensure the cessation of aggression and the withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza,” al-Risheq said in a statement.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 43,314 Palestinians have been killed and 102,019 injured in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
[IsraelTimes] Over 100 BBC employees have reportedly sent a letter to the British outlet’s director general accusing the corporation of favoring Israel in its coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza.
The letter to BBC director general Tim Davie, published in full by UK news site The Independent yesterday, charges that the broadcaster’s “journalistic tenets have been lacking when it comes to holding Israel to account for its actions.”
The BBC has also repeatedly been accused of bias against Israel since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre that sparked the war in Gaza.
Some 230 media figures who signed the letter call on the BBC, along with British channels ITV and Sky News, to reiterate to their readers that Israel doesn’t give foreign media access to Gaza, to bring skepticism to Israeli claims, and to provide “proportionate representation of experts in war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Israel blocked civilian access to Gaza on October 7 as the region was plunged into war by Hamas’s brutal attack. Since then only journalists already in the enclave, largely local Palestinian freelancers, or those escorted by the military under tightly controlled conditions have managed to report from inside the enclave.
The letter also calls on the outlets to “robustly challenge” Israeli government and military officials in interviews.
The Independent publishes a response from the BBC denying that it favors Israel in its coverage, insisting, “When we make mistakes or have made changes to the way we report, we are transparent. We are also very clear with our audiences on the limitations put on our reporting – including the lack of access into Gaza and restricted access to parts of Lebanon, and our continued efforts to get reporters into those areas.”
A British report released in September found that the BBC displayed a “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against Israel and had breached its own editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times in its reporting at the height of the Israel-Hamas war.
[IsraelTimes] Anti-woke politician becomes first Black woman to head a major UK political party, vows to work to bring Tories back to power in wake of July’s election defeat
Britannia’s Conservative Party on Saturday elected Kemi Badenoch as its new leader as it tries to rebound from a crushing election defeat that ended 14 years in power.
Badenoch (pronounced BADE-enock) defeated rival politicianRobert Jenrick in a vote of almost 100,000 members of the right-of-center party. She is the first Black woman to lead a major British political party.
Badenoch replaces former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, who in July led the Conservatives to their worst election result since 1832. The Conservatives lost more than 200 seats, taking their tally down to 121.
He promised to significantly cut illegal immigration, then let it increase… and continued all the woke stuff of previous governments.
The new leader’s daunting task is to try to restore the party’s reputation after years of division, scandal and economic tumult, hammer Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s policies on key issues including the economy and immigration, and return the Conservatives to power at the next election, due by 2029.
"The task that stands before us is tough but simple," Badenoch said in a victory speech to a roomful of Conservative politicians, staff and journalists in London.
"Our first responsibility as His Majesty’s loyal opposition is to hold this Labour government to account. Our second is no less important. It is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government, to ensure that by the time of the next election, we have not just a clear set of Conservative pledges that appeal to the British people, but a clear plan for how to implement them, a clear plan to change this country by changing the way that government works."
A business secretary in the previous Conservative government, Badenoch was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent much of her childhood in the West African country.
The 44-year-old former software engineer depicts herself as a disruptor, arguing for a low-tax, free-market economy and pledging to "rewire, reboot and reprogram" the British state.
ISRAEL’S ’MORAL CLARITY’
Badenoch is regarded as a firm supporter of Israel.
After Israel killed Hezbollah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> in September, Badenoch told Sky News that the strike was "extraordinary."
"Israel is showing moral clarity in dealing with its enemies and the enemies of the West as well," she said.
Regarding the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... massacre of October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, Badenoch said that "we can see that they cannot be complacent and they have to do what they need to do to defend themselves, and quite frankly to survive."
As the UK’s International Trade Secretary in December, Badenoch resisted massive pressure to suspend or revoke arms export licenses to Israel amid its offensive against Hamas.
Ahead of the election, she wrote a letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel organization, saying: "If I am leader of the Conservative Party, we will continue to strengthen our ties with Israel and root out the tragic resurgence of antisemitism in the UK. We will be true to our values."
She added, "We stand on the edge" of Labour "reversing" the UK’s strong relationship with Israel built by the previous Conservative government, according to the UK Jewish News.
A critic of multiculturalism and self-proclaimed enemy of wokeness, Badenoch has drawn criticism for saying recently that "not all cultures are equally valid," and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive.
In a race that has lasted more than three months, Conservative politicians reduced the field from six candidates in a series of votes before putting the final two to the wider party membership.
Jenrick, who is married to an Israeli-born lawyer and is raising his three daughters as Jewish, is considered even more vocally pro-Israel than Badenoch.
Both finalists came from the right of the party, and argued they can win voters back from Reform UK, the hard-right, anti-immigrant party led by populist politician Nigel Farage that has eaten away at Conservative support.
But the party also lost many voters to the winning party, Labour, and to the centrist Liberal Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... , and some Conservatives worry that tacking right will lead the party away from public opinion.
[KhaamaPress] The UK Home Office reported that 5,417 illegal migrants colonists entered Britannia through the English Channel in October, a record number over the past two years.
On Thursday, October 31, alone, 230 people entered Britannia illegally, marking a significant rise in unlawful crossings.
This brings the total number of migrants colonists crossing the Channel to the UK in 2023 to 30,661 individuals.
A UK Home Office spokesperson emphasized the goal to prevent dangerous journeys in small boats that endanger lives and compromise border security.
A recent study published on October 8 found that Britannia hosts the largest number of illegal migrants colonists among European countries.
The study, led by researchers at Oxford University, estimates that between 594,000 and 745,000 illegal migrants colonists currently reside in the UK, roughly 1% of the population.
The Home Office spokesperson accused human trafficking gangs of exploiting migrants colonists solely for profit, with no regard for their lives.
Reports indicate that traffickers charge migrants colonists thousands of euros per person for illegal passage from La Belle France to the UK in small boats.
The UK government remains determined to curb illegal migration, despite recent policy shifts.
Governments of both parties say that when in power and also when out of power seeking to depose the party in power. And yet the actions of both parties over the past generation has lead to increased illegal migration and increased mistreatment of that part of the native population that dares to object. It’s a conundrum.
The issue reflects a broader, growing global displacement crisis.
[BREITBART] The Starmer government has used fear to shut down public discussion and Parliamentary rules to silence politicians, Brexit leader Nigel Farage warned.
British Member of Parliament Nigel Farage said his written questions to the government to get facts about the Southport attack have gone unanswered, and attempts to ask spoken questions in the chamber have been shut down, amounting to what he calls "a near-blanket ban on discussing the case".
The Southport attack earlier this year saw young children killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party and was followed by days of protests and riots. Suspect Axel Rudakubana is facing trial for charges of murder, attempted murder, a terrorism offence for possession of an al-Qaeda publication, and a bio-weapons offence, but little has been revealed about the man or his motives, and this has led to accusations of a government-engineered "information vacuum".
The situation, as laid out by Mr Farage, is particularly concerning. In normal times, Parliamentarians actually have more freedom-of-speech rights than ordinary Britons, given they have the privilege to speak inside the chamber without fear of prosecution. While Parliament traditionally self-regulates to not endanger live cases by prejudicing court proceedings, the Brexit leader alleges present changes go far beyond what has been considered proper in the past.
As expressed, what now counts as contempt of court is much lower than in the past, Farage said, claiming: "The Contempt of Court Act appears to have been deployed as a tool of suppression".
Launching a major attack on the present climate of "fear" surrounding even discussing the Southport attack, what it means, and what the government knew and when engendered by the crackdown on the use of social media through custodial sentences for incautious members of the public, Mr Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Friday that: "I understand the importance of not prejudicing a future trial, but in the current climate, there appears to be no room to separate the ongoing legal process from the questions I posed over the summer. This is deeply troubling."
The situation now fundamentally challenges Farage’s duty as an elected Parliamentarian representing the interests of his constituents, which he said includes "asking difficult questions in order to get to the truth about national issues".
Describing the events of the past week, when news broke of the Southport attack suspect being charged under biological weapon and terror charges while the attack itself was not said to be thought of by officials as terrorism itself, Mr Farage wrote:
This week, I asked the Home Secretary two written questions on this subject. The first asked if the suspect had ever been referred to the anti-terrorist Prevent programme; the second asked when she became aware of the discovery of ricin in the accused’s home. The questions will not be answered."
... [of Wednesday this week when his party college Richard Tice was granted a spoken question to the Prime Minister in Parliament] That morning, he received three panicked emails from the Commons authorities asking what the content of his question might be.
Then, an hour before PMQs began, he received a telephone call in which he was told not to ask anything about the man accused of the Southport attacks. This point was reinforced strenuously by the Speaker in the Commons just before PMQs began. Parliamentary Privilege was effectively withdrawn.
Mr Tice did get a question in, but evidently worded it carefully to elicit some response without breaking the orders handed down by the office of the Speaker, and open himself up to administrative action by Parliamentary authorities. The Prime Minister declined to respond meaningfully, instead issuing a veiled warning to those who he said "undermined" the police by speaking out.
[NYPost] Members of the Moslem and Arab American community endorsed former President Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... during an event in The Bronx on Thursday morning.
About 20 community leaders and Imams — joined by former Long Island Congressman and 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, a Trump campaign surrogate — backed the GOP presidential hopeful in the "little Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... " section of the Bronx.
"Our communities are fed up with the woke ideology. They are fed up with the indoctrination of their kids," said Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, said after the campaign event for voters with Middle East ties.
"They are making this shift to the Republican Party. This is where their natural place should be and is now," he told The Post.
Boulos, a Lebanese-born businessman, said the Biden-Harris administration has failed to put an end to the wars in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... or help secure the return of all the hostages taken by Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... following the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel.
"This time around this voice will be heard. They will have a major say in who is the 47th president of the United States," Boulos said following the get out the vote rally held in a Yemeni restaurant called "Alwaha" on White Plains Road.
"We are lucky to have most of them support President Trump," he added.
"The endorsements and the support we’ve seen both from the Christian communities and the Moslem communities of the Middle East is just unprecedented."
Arab and Moslem Americans are key voting blocs in the battleground state of Michigan, where Boulos has appeared with Trump.
"President Trump is honored to receive, accept the endorsement from the Arab American community here in New York City," Zeldin told the group of supporters in The Bronx.
Karim Elsammak, an airline pilot who was born in Egypt, said at the event that it was "time" to veer away from the Democratic Party.
"It is time to turn the page on the Democratic party that only shows up when they need our vote," he said.
"It is time to take our rightful place in the party that most aligns with our values and our beliefs. It is time to join the Republican Party."
[NYPost] A man berated a Jewish customer trying to enjoy breakfast with his young child inside a kosher cafe in Brooklyn — with disturbing video showing the unhinged man describing all Jewish people as "evil" and claiming Adolf Hitler ...late Fuehrer of Germany, founder of the Third Reich, currently communing with his pals Himmler and Heydrich. He is reincarnated every few days, sometimes every few hour if it's an election year, as a politician somebody doesn't like... "was onto something."
The footage, shot inside the Almah cafe, along Utica Avenue, shows the moment a man dressed in a pink hoodie confronts a customer on Thursday morning, demanding he give his opinion on the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... .
"You guys are killing babies," the man tells the frustrated father, adding that "something bad is going to happen" to Jewish people.
"Jewish people are evil," he repeatedly yells at the people inside the restaurant. "I think Hitler was onto something."
Along with the veiled threat, the man also claimed Jewish people were behind the liquidation of John F. Kennedy and attempted liquidations of Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... Almah cafe owner Shira Asias, 34, said she was shocked and embarrassed to see such hateful rhetoric spewed inside her own establishment.
Asias opened the cafe in 2020 with her husband, and she said the two of them have never witnessed anything like this before in their diverse neighborhood.
"This is the first time seeing something like this inside our own place," she told The Post. "I feel so ashamed and embarrassed.
"It’s one thing to be against the war, but it’s another to just openly harass Jewish people and say such things," Asias added. "This is just antisemitism against Jewish people in New York."
Liora Rez, founder of the StopAntisemitism advocacy group, slammed the now-viral video as yet another indication of how rampant anti-Jewish hate has spread across the Big Apple and the country.
"Rising hate crime statistics are not just numbers — they reflect a terrifying reality where everyday outings are shadowed by racism and violent mostly peaceful antisemitism," Rez told The Post.
"No family should endure blood libel and genocidal threats while simply trying to enjoy their morning coffee."
In the year since Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... carried out the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the US, a 200% increase from the previous year and the most ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League.
Dining was disrupted at the Almah Café in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY, on Thursday morning when a man began harassing customers.
This incident is the third recorded this week in Crown Heights, following a slashing attack on a Jewish man and another case of a Jewish individual being aggressively knocked down. All three incidents involved black male perpetrators.
Eric Dinowitz, City Council Member and Chair of the Jewish Caucus in the City Council, wrote on X about the incident: “These disgusting interactions happen every day – this one happens to be caught on camera. Antisemitism is running rampant, and people feel more and more comfortable proudly expressing their hate publicly.”
Endless need, finite resources — and the jihadis that own Lebanon started the war.
[AnNahar] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... has warned its flash appeal for humanitarian aid in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... was so far only 17 percent funded, urging donor countries to turn pledges into cash.
Goodness. They all gave generously to UNRWA — several times — and to the Palestinian Authority, but now their spirit might be willing, but their treasuries are weak.
"We are facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation," said Jens Laerke, front man for the U.N.'s humanitarian agency OCHA.
"The needs are rising by the minute, and the pledge does not buy food, medicine or shelter. So we're hoping for a rapid disbursement." "Our five-star buffets await!"
He told a presser that only 17 percent of the $426 million sought in the flash appeal had been received.
The largest contributors to the $73 million received so far are Italia with $17 million, the United States with $11.7 million, Sweden with $9.3 million, La Belle France with $7.2 million, Britannia with $6.4 million and Germany with $5.5 million.
La Belle France hosted a donor conference last month at which countries pledged $800 million for humanitarian aid in Lebanon.
Laerke reminded donors of the urgency of "turning these pledges into money that can work on the front line," because OCHA cannot deliver aid "unless the money flows fast."
After nearly a year of cross-border fire with Hezbollah, Israel ramped up strikes on the group's strongholds in September and then sent ground forces across the border.
Since fighting in Lebanon escalated on September 23, the war has killed at least 1,829 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.
Citing figures from the U.N. refugee agency and the Syrian Red Islamic Thingy, Laerke said that more than 460,000 people have fled Lebanon for neighboring Syria, while 25,000 have gone on to Iraq.
The U.N. migration agency warned the number of people still within Lebanon but who are displaced from their homes stood at 842,648 on Wednesday.
"In the past week, there have been 18,525 new displacements," the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration said.
"These individuals might be experiencing displacement for the first time or undergoing secondary movement," it added.
[DW] Many Iranians have an eye on the upcoming US election amid a budding conflict between Iran and Israel. To them, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris represent vastly different futures for the Middle East.
In the shadow of the conflict between Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and Israel, many Iranians are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the US presidential election.
In both confidential and recorded conversations, as seen most recently in a CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... report from Tehran two weeks ago, many Iranians have said they would prefer to see Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... return to the White House.
Those asked said they see him as a strong leader who would be able to tackle problems. A victory for Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris once a marijuana-busting Caliphornia DA , on the other hand, would mean a continuation of the status quo in US politics, in their view.
"Under the enormous pressure of a worsening economic crisis, many Iranians want fundamental change," Iranian political journalist Fariba Pajooh told DW. "Quite a few of them see Donald Trump as someone who could end the political system of the Islamic Theocratic Republic in Iran."
"Trump's statements are perceived selectively not only in the US but also in Iran," Pajooh said. "Many Iranians believe he could topple the regime in Iran. Yet Trump repeatedly emphasizes that preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb is his top priority."
SHADOW OF WAR
One month after Iran launched missile attacks on Israel, Israel counterattacked on October 25 and destroyed military targets in Iran, particularly missile production facilities, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The attacks were aimed at damaging Iran's air defenses and impairing the long-term development of ballistic missiles.
"It's impossible to predict what will happen next," Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, told DW. Not impossible to predict. Just hard to accurately predict, especially about the future
Vatanka said the US government had made it clear that it would not support any attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities shortly before the election.
"However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Israel's counterattack was not a symbolic act," Vatanka said. "Twenty military sites in Iran were attacked. Israel has shown Iran what military capabilities it has, which is exactly what the US wanted to see. Israel clearly communicated its message and capabilities, and hopefully Iran got the message to avoid further escalation."
The fact that Iran portrayed Israel's attack as small and causing limited damage could indicate that Tehran considers this round of escalation to be over, Vatanka said.
IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
As president in 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the Pt5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran, which had been put in place at the end of 2015 after several years of international engagement. Trump said he would be able to negotiate a "better deal" than his predecessor, Barack Obama If you like your coverage you can keep it... His policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran was ultimately unsuccessful: One year after he pulled the United States out, Iran gradually began to withdraw from its obligations under the agreement. Now, Iran is believed to be closer than ever to building a nuclear bomb.
In September, Trump told news hounds that the United States must reach an agreement with Iran to stop its nuclear program. In the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, however, Trump has spoken out in favor of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
"Biden's answer should have been: Target the nuclear facilities first and worry about the rest later," he said at an election event in early October — directly contradicting the official line of his successor.
Israel considers Iran's nuclear program to be an existential threat. Iran has warned that an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities would elicit a severe response.
"For a successful attack on all Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel would need the support of the US," Sina Azodi, lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, told DW.
Azodi said Iran's nuclear facilities were spread over several sites, some with built-in underground bunkers, making it more difficult to destroy them completely.
"Shortly before the elections, however, the US government wants to avoid getting involved in a war," Azodi said.
When asked whether he was in favor of a system change in Iran, Trump told the Iranian-American podcaster Patrick Bet David on October 17: "We can't totally interfere. Let's face it, we can't even govern ourselves."
"I would like to see Iran be very successful," Trump said. "The only problem is that they can't have nuclear weapons."
MIDDLE EAST PEACE?
What will happen after the US presidential election remains to be seen. "If Kamala Harris wins the election, her government will probably try to reach temporary agreements with Iran," Azodi said.
In the past, Harris defended the nuclear agreement with Iran and considered it a significant achievement of the Obama presidency.
In her role as vice president, she has supported efforts to revive the agreement over the past four years. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... these attempts have been unsuccessful.
"If Donald Trump wins the election, he can achieve fundamental changes in US-Iranian relations," Azodi said.
"He has the potential to unite all Iran critics in the Republican Party behind him to bring about a different agreement with Iran," he added.
In an interview last week with Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, Trump said that if elected, he would include Iran in the Abraham Accords, along with at least a dozen other countries.
"The Abraham Accords were concluded during my presidency," he said. "Nobody thought that was possible."
The agreements signed at the White House in September 2020 normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — and later, Morocco.
#2
One year after he [Trump] pulled the United States out, Iran gradually began to withdraw from its obligations under the agreement. Now, Iran is believed to be closer than ever to building a nuclear bomb.
Still two months away, CIA?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/03/2024 6:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
...many Iranians are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the US presidential election.
So why don't they vote in the election? Half of Latin America is.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli strikes against Hezbollah have killed at least 2,897 people and injured 13,150 in Lebanon, with 30 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, Lebanon’s health ministry says, without differentiating between civilians and combatants.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...late Fuehrer of Germany, founder of the Third Reich, currently communing with his pals Himmler and Heydrich. He is reincarnated every few days, sometimes every few hour if it's an election year, as a politician somebody doesn't like...
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
