Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, July 22, 2007

The effectiveness of a "goodwill gesture"

Minister of detainees' affairs, Ashraf Ajrami, has said that the release of 255 Palestinian prisoners, "is a very small step, and is not enough, especially when there are over 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails".

Can't you just feel the appreciation?

"The Elders" have done their first good deed

Looking at the pompous, self-righteous website of "The Elders" I at least got something good out of it:

A neat looking logo that I ripped off.

Unfortunately, I may be running afoul of their enlightened and progressive Terms and Conditions:

We own, or are the licensee of, the intellectual property rights in the content of our site, including text, photos, graphic designs, images, audio, video recordings and any data entered or submitted by you.

ELDERS and the Elders’ logo are trade marks owned by us and The Virgin Foundation, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 02155645 and whose registered address is at Hanover House, 14 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HP.

For styling themselves as Elders of a Global Village, this seems sort of petty. Real Elders elicit respect from their actions, fake Elders demand it from others.

Pure Jew-hatred from Hamas Russian website

As much as Hamas claims to not have any problems with Jews, only Zionists, the facts show otherwise.

The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel has looked at Hamas' websites in multiple languages, and noticed that the Russian Hamas site is filled with venomous Jew-hatred, much of it recycled from Iran.

The Russian version of Palestine-info, supported by Russian Internet companies, carries a large number of anti-Semitic (and anti-Western) cartoons which do not appear on the portal's other language sites. In our assessment that is because Hamas' propaganda policy is based on the assumption that the Russian-speaking target audiences (in Russia and the independent republics in Central Asia ) are ripe for anti-Semitic and anti-Western propaganda. It also stems from the expectation that such cartoons can promote the absorption and assimilation of other Hamas' messages of radical Islam, support for terrorism, hostility toward the United States.

Looking at the site itself indeed shows the anti-semitic cartoons taken from Iran's Holocaust cartoon collection. The "Israelis" portrayed almost invariably sport large noses, and the beards, payos and clothing of the European shtetl - exactly how Jews were portrayed in Nazi literature.

A glance at the autotranslated Russian site shows also that the word "Jews" is used interchangeably with "Zionists" and "Israelis", without the care that anti-semites normally use in trying to distinguish between the groups. There are three headlines on the main page saying "Jews demolished houses," for example.

Hamas, knowing of the latent anti-semitism endemic in Russia, is purposefully fanning the flames of Jew hatred there in order to score propaganda points.

(h/t EBoZ)

Some of the prisoners released were Hamas members

While Israel stated that none of the 255 prisoners released in a "goodwill gesture" were affiliated with Hamas, it turns out that many were.

YNet reports that 30 were members of Hamas, 2 more from Islamic Jihad, and as many as 38 from PFLP and DFLP. In addition:

According to the guidelines approved earlier in the week by a special Israeli governmental committee headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the prisoners release do not have any "blood on their hands".

Those released were jailed for lesser charges, including weapons trafficking, illegal possession of firearms, belonging to an illegal organization, attempted murder, attempted manslaughter and aiding and abetting fugitives.

While technically people who failed in their attempts to kill Jews may not have "blood on their hands," it is the height of folly to allow them to get another chance. In fact, their motivation to return to terror has increased, as their earlier failures can be seen as shameful that must be avenged.

Even though Hamas members were released, they are also being greeted personally by Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Israel's Justice Ministry admits that 17% of released prisoners end up resuming terror activities. This means that at least 42 of the released prisoners can be expected to terrorize again.

Since the intifada began, 179 Israelis have been killed by former prisoners released in earlier deals.

To the current Israeli government, a goodwill gesture is something that puts Israeli citizens at risk for their lives - all to prop up an impotent Abbas who allowed Hamas to win Gaza without a fight.

Saudi "summer marriages": another form of legalized Muslim prostitution

From Arab News:

JEDDAH, 20 July 2007 — The summer season is known as a primetime for male Saudi tourists to marry women from other countries while on holiday abroad. These marriages are generally unplanned. Most men undergo such marriages with an intention of enjoying their vacation in the company of women who are “religiously” legal for them.
The marriages are ones of convenience. While men look for fun, the women are usually experiencing financial difficulties and see summer marriages as a way to be spoilt and have money spent on them. The real victims of such marriages are their children.
According to Abdullah Al-Hamoud, chairman of Awasser, a Saudi charity that looks after the welfare of Saudi families abroad, the Kingdom protects the rights of children from marriages between Saudi men and non-Saudi women. He added that such marriages are usually done without the prior-permission of the Interior Ministry. (Saudi law demands Saudis seek permission when marrying abroad).
“Such marriages are not only restricted to the summer season,” he said. “They happen throughout the year. Sometimes Saudi husbands don’t want to bring their foreign wives to the Kingdom. They prefer keeping them outside the Kingdom and frequently fly abroad to visit them,” he added.
The charity has offices abroad at Saudi embassies in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Morocco and Indonesia. The organization also runs awareness campaigns for Saudis, warning them against visiting unscrupulous matchmaking offices.
“Children from such marriages are entitled to come to the Kingdom and be registered in their fathers’ family cards. However, wives can’t come unless they’re accredited. They also can’t get listed in their husband’s family card until then,” said Al-Hamoud.
“In cases of fathers denying they are related to a child, we make them undergo DNA tests to prove their identity. However, we haven’t faced such a scenario as of yet,” he added.
Awasser has also found that 70 percent of Saudis living abroad are the children of cross-cultural marriages. The society has succeeded in bringing 32 poverty-stricken children of Saudi fathers into the Kingdom in the past 18 months.

This article is as notable for what it ignores as for what it says.

Notice that there is no interest in the welfare of these women - presumably Muslims who cannot legally marry unless they get divorced.

While the Saudis claim to take care of the children of these sham marriages, only 32 have managed to join their fathers - presumably their mothers are left high and dry.

It is also interesting that no one expects Saudi men to go on vacation abroad with their own Saudi wives!

And most stunning of all is the 70% statistic. The rest of the world would consider these children illegitimate. The fact that a vast majority of foreign Saudis effectively are fatherless and being brought up by women who rent themselves out to rich visitors is glossed over.

The misogyny displayed in this article is chilling.

Harry Potter will bring Jews to Arab bookshop on Shabbat

From the Jerusalem Post:

Want to get your hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Jerusalem only hours after the worldwide release at midnight on Friday? You won't find it in west Jerusalem, not even at Steimatsky's.
Instead you will have to take a trip down Jerusalem's Diagon Alley, otherwise known as Salah A-Din Street in the east of the city and visit Imad Muna, owner of Educational Books, who is opening his store four hours earlier than usual, at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, to sell the last installment in the series. And Muna is willing to take pre-orders for those who do not handle money on Shabbat.
In fact, according to a Jerusalem Orthodox rabbi who asked not to be named, if Harry is paid for before Shabbat, no Jews work in the store, and the store did not open specifically for Jews, then it is permissible to walk there on Shabbat and get the book.
"I expect a lot of people from west Jerusalem," Muna told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Usually, he gets few Jewish customers, but he hopes that his stock of 120 Deathly Hallows will attract them. If a customer purchases the book in advance, he or she will be given a receipt to present on Saturday morning.

There's a win/win!

Jews seem to feel a great affinity with Harry Potter. Soccer Dad managed to get an early copy (but remains mum on whether he will read it early); Gil at Hirhurim compared Dumbledore to Rabbi Akiva (check the many, many comments), and someone wrote an entire book on Harry Potter and the Torah.

My review of Book 6, written exactly two years ago today, is here.

UPDATE: Soccer Dad takes the high road. Impressive!

A Psychological History of Palestinian Arabs, part 10

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

In many ways, the story of Palestinian Arabs is a story of the selfishness of Arab leaders at the expense of the people they were pretending to care about. Almost without exception, these Arab leaders were not of Palestinian origin themselves.

The Arab League was created for the purposes of Arab unity but it found itself divided over every major decision, and invariably each member would act in ways that would be good for his nation (or his leader) and at the expense of the unity that they swore to uphold. The Palestinian issue was no exception.

Amin al-Husayni, the ex-Mufti and the League representative for Palestine who was born in Syria, remained ready to sacrifice all of the Palestinian Arab lives necessary to help his own sense of honor and to rid the land of Jews. His fanaticism andsingleminded Jew-hatred can be seen in his memoirs:

"Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world. I asked Hitler for an explicit undertaking to allow us to solve the Jewish problem in a manner befitting our national and racial aspirations and according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews. The answer I got was: 'The Jews are yours.'”

Yet the biggest conflicts in the Arab League came between King Abdullah of Jordan and everyone else, not only Husayni. Abdullah came from the Hashemite family that had traditionally controlled Mecca and Medina; his brother was installed by the British as King of Iraq at the same time he was designated Emir ofTransjordan. Abdullah enjoyed good relations with the British and he never hid his ambitions of becoming ruler of Greater Syria, which would include Transjordan , Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Both his Western friends and his territorial ambitions troubled his Arab neighbors, especially Syria, greatly.

Abdullah's biggest bargaining chip was the Arab Legion, the British-trained Transjordanian army that was by far the most effective Arab fighting force. The other Arab nations knew that they were unlikely to win the battle for Palestine without his army, but they were skeptical about his pro-British and pro-Western outlook.

The desires of the Palestinian Arab people themselves never entered the equation. While their erstwhile leaders would pontificate about the will of the people, everyone knew that the Palestinian Arabs were pawns in this entire exercise.

The combined Arab armies did not have their heart in the fight. With the exception of Transjordan's Arab Legion, they were filled with soldiers who did not care about their mission and had no battle experience. The last two Palestinian Arab army commanders were AbdulKader Husseini, who was killed in April of 1948, and Hasan Salameh , who fled Palestine in disgrace after a disagreement with his superiors in the same month. The rest of the 1948 war was led by Iraqis, Egyptians, and Jordanians - but no Palestinian Arabs.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arab refugees were causing great alarm in the neighboring Arab states. These nations for the most part were not that stable to begin with; the influx of refugees was regarded as a real threat to these regimes. This was one of the reasons that Egypt, Syria and Lebanon showed no interest in integrating their "brothers" into their borders. Beyond that, Egypt would take the fleeing male refugees and force them to turn around and fight the Jews. One can only imagine how little thesepeoplewanted to fight, while their families huddled in the refugee camps with little food and no political support at all.

The tug of war between Abdullah and Husayni continued as 1948 wore on, as Husayni wanted to build a provisional Palestinian Arab government. He had the backing of most of the Arab League, butTransjordan's ruler threatened to use his army against any such government. As a result Husayni decided to create it in Gaza in September, 1948.

It was a fiasco. The "government" unsurprisingly chose Amin al-Husayni himself to be their first President, as he arrived in Palestine for the first time since the British expelled him in 1937. There were immediate protests, not only in Amman but in other Arab capitals as well. One of the objections to this pseudo-state was that by declaring a government, the Palestinian Arabs had effectively accepted the hated partition formula.

The protests against this quasi-independence didn't only come from other Arab countries but from the West Bank itself, with protests in East Jerusalem,Nablus and Ramallah. Even in 1948, the differences between the Egypt-oriented Gazans and the Jordanian-oriented West Bankers were apparent.

Husayni kept his "government" going despite the opposition, and even received recognition from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iraq (formerly allied withTransjordan .) This was the only time in history that Palestinian Arabs sort of had a state that was recognized by other countries. Knowing his personality, it should come as no surprise that one of his first acts was to give himself absolute power.Abdullah acidly pointed out that Husayni needed Egyptian troop protection to move about his own Gaza "state."

In an interesting concurrent episode, Transjordan seized truckloads of supplies sent by Iraq for refugee relief as punishment for Iraq's support of Husayni. Even though Abdullah also claimed to be doing things for the sake of Palestinian Arabs, his actions showed otherwise.

This was only one of the hardships endured by the refugees. The Nablus mayor accused the Arab nations of extorting money from the Palestinian Arabs. The richer refugees that reached Lebanon were denied the right to drive while the poorer ones suffered from severe food shortages. There was no consensus on how to deal with the new refugee problem: in August, the Arab Higher Committee as well as Iraq and Syria opposed their return to Palestine whileAbdullah wanted their return to be a pre-condition to peace talks with Israel.

While the Zionists didn't actively work to push the Arabs out of Israel, they showed little interest in letting them back. Some were aghast at the site of their Arab friends and neighbors actively fighting them and the women ululating their support of the Arab armies trying to destroy the Jews.

By November there were an estimated 500,000 Arab refugees with the majority in Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and the non-Jewish Palestinian areas. Only a few thousand were in Egypt. (There were also about 7000 Jewish refugees as a result of the war, as well.)

This left many of the Palestinian Arabs in limbo. They left Palestine with the expectation of either coming back with the victorious Arab armies, or of resettling in those same countries that preached so much about Arab unity. But now, the majority were homeless. And, in 1948, most of them blamed the Arab nations for their predicament (and some blamed the British for allowing outside Arab armies to roam freely in the months before they quit Palestine.) The West, however, looked to the Jewish state to solve the problem.

By and large, Palestinian Arabs were more ambitious, more educated and more pragmatic than their Arab brethren. Many had moved to Palestine in only the previous generation or two in order to find a better life for their families. While they had more than their share of anti-semitism, the majority was able to live peacefully with the Jews. It is indeed ironic that these people, who should have been in the vanguard of an Arab nation, ended up being used by opportunistic and selfish so-called "leaders" who led them to disaster. It is doubly ironic that the very people who felt they could move easily within the Arab world - who trusted the Arab nation to always be there for them, no matter what - were the ones who have become pariahs in that same world.

By December, a large rally and conference in Jericho showed that the Palestinian Arabs of the West Bank seemed to favor the idea of being ruled by Transjordan's Abdullah as opposed to the discredited and much despised ex-Mufti. The idea of Palestinian Arab self-governance had been extinguished.

Iraq is a proxy war for Iran (Omedia)

Great analysis that is sorely lacking in the West:

On July 9, 2007 it was reported that the Iraqi government of Dr. Nouri Kamal al-Maliki had failed to meet many of the benchmarks set for it.[1] Although there are mixed reports about the success of the “surge”—significant successes in bringing Sunnis to battle against al-Qaéda[2]versus horrific daily casualty rates from suicide car-bombings[3]—it should not come as a major surprise that the current Iraqi government is not fulfilling its duty to produce a greater success rate and to foster reconciliation among the three major Iraqi ethnic/religious groups.
Why? Why shouldn’t we be surprised at al-Maliki’s failure to meet fully even one US benchmark?

First, let’s review a little bit of background information. Iraq’s multi-party political system seems to be difficult for many Westerners to understand. It is essential to overcome this failure of comprehension and come to a realization that within Iraq’s three major ethnic/religious communities there are many, many different political parties and groups.[4] However, one major dividing line within Iraqi society is not that between ethnic/religious communities (Shi‘ite, Sunni, and Kurd) but rather between fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist interpretations of the Islam that is the common religion of the bulk of Iraqis.

Although the political groupings and coalitions remain complicated, one basically may say that the non-fundamentalists are willing to build a united independent Iraq; the radical fundamentalists desire to resurrect the Muslim caliphate. As such, these fundamentalists[5]—be they Sunnis tied to al-Qaéda, Kurdish members of Ansar al- Islam/Ansar al-Sunna, or Shi‘ites supporters of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim’s SCIRI/SIIC (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, aka Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council) or Moqtada al-Sadr’s Jaish al-Mahdi (the al-Mahdi Army, which is the militia of the al-Daawa Party, and not coincidently also Nouri al-Maliki’s political party)—these Iraqi radical fundamentalists are supported by[6] and beholden to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Put simply: al-Maliki is not independent; he receives support and is subservient to the mullahs of Tehran. As long as al-Maliki and his radical fundamentalist Shi‘ite coalition lead the Iraqi government, Tehran will be calling the shots.[7] It doesn’t matter that Dr al-Maliki and his colleagues wear ties and western suits—they are still Islamist radicals nonetheless and allies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[8]

Given the overwhelming evidence of Iranian support[9] for both the extremist militias of the Sunni al-Qaéda and the Shi‘ite Badr and Wolf Brigades and al-Mahdi Army[10] that have caused so much chaos and destruction to Iraqi society[11], it should be a clear sign that Iran is in control when both Iraqi President Jalal Talabani[12] and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki[13] make frequent visits to Tehran to consult with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It should not come as a great surprise that the al-Maliki government is not meeting its commitments to the US. Ayatollah Khamenei doesn’t want to see America help create a real democracy in Iraq,[14] and al-Maliki is following Khamenei’s orders to prevent the rise of an independent, secular Iraq.[15] Although subservient to Iran, al-Maliki’s radical Shi‘ite government currently holds the reins of power and is content with such an arrangement in which the Sunnis remain odd-man out. No wonder that there has not yet been any success in enacting a law for equitable distribution of the oil wealth among the three ethnic/religious communities.

Read the whole thing, including what can be done to fix this.

The Elders of Zion-haters

Amateurs:

Combining serious statesmanship and a large measure of audacity, former South African President Nelson Mandela and a clutch of world-famous figures plan to announce Wednesday a private alliance to launch diplomatic assaults on the globe's most intractable problems.

The alliance, to be unveiled Wednesday during events marking Mandela's 89th birthday, is to be called The Elders. Among others, it includes retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, retired UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Mary Robinson, the human-rights activist and former president of Ireland.

Many, including Mandela, have been harsh critics of President Bush and U.S. foreign policy, particularly toward Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group's members and backers insisted in interviews, however, that they are guided neither by ideology nor by geopolitical bent.

Mandela states in remarks prepared for Wednesday that the fact that none of The Elders holds public office allows them to work for the common good, not for outside interests.

"This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken," the stateement says. "Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair."

How many weeks before their first "bold" pronouncement that Israel is an evil apartheid state? Because, obviously, they have been too intimidated by the worldwide Jewish conspiracy to hold that position publicly before they joined forces.

They'll first have a pronouncement that AIDS or poverty in Africa is bad, to establish their Elderliness, and then they'll be empowered to do what they really want to do - go after that intractable problem that is all the fault of those pesky Zionists who just love oppressing Arabs.

Meryl Yourish has already detailed the amazing coincidence of their "non-partisan" opinions:

Mary Robinson, who led the UN Human Rights Commission during the infamous Durban conference: Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel.
Jimmy Carter, whose latest anti-Israel screed is a best-seller: Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel.

Nelson Mandela, who never met a Palestinian terrorist he didn’t like: Anti-Israel. Anti-American.

Desmond Tutu, who thinks all the world’s problems can be traced to the U.S. and Israel: Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel. Anti-Semitic?

July Qassam calendar

While Qassam rockets have slowed down, they are still fired often enough to terrorize Israeli citizens in Sderot, not to mention that they sometimes still hit buildings and injure citizens.

This calendar does not count mortars.

Earlier calendars:
June
May
April
March
February

Freedom of the press, PalArab style (V): Fatah gets in the game

It is not only Hamas that is harassing and threatening journalists. Yes, even the "moderates" from Fatah and the PA seem to do the same thing:

Palestinian security services personnel on Wednesday dispersed a rally organised by Hamas women. They arrested five people, including journalists. The rally was being held to support the families of political prisoners from Nablus. The families took also part in a meeting before the rally.

Photojournalist Nasser Shtayya told Ma'an that members of the security forces attacked him, and his colleague Samir Khweira, while they were covering the rally, staged in front of the Nablus police department. Shtayya's camera was destroyed in the process.

Eyewitnesses stated that Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Ahmad Al-Haj delivered a speech in which he heavily criticised the Palestinian Authority. This incited his audience, who demanded he apologise for his words.

In order to control the situation, Palestinian security services decided to intervene and disperse the angry crowd. Three Hamas loyalists, Mu'ath Sarkaji, Imad Tanbour and Rami Nasser who were near the rally, were arrested.

Members of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades from the nearby Balata refugee camp protected the PLC member, who is connected to Hamas.

Notice how the neat divisions between Fatah and Hamas that the MSM want everyone to believe breaks down with only a little research: The pro-Hamas PLC gets protected by the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa. At a Hamas rally in the West Bank.

More context from PCHR, including that the speaker was also arrested. Which is directly related to Natan Sharansky's definition of a fear society vs. a free society:

If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a "fear society" has finally won their freedom.

The BBC's Hezbollah lovefest

Jeremy Bowen, the infamous BBC editor who blames all of the Middle East problems squarely on Israel, has written another piece that glorifies terrorists, this time Hezbollah:

The mighty Israeli army, one of the most technologically advanced forces in the world, had been unable to stop Lebanese guerrilla fighters from Hezbollah firing low-tech missiles into the north of their country.

In more than a month in 2006 Israel's enormous firepower did what the UN estimated was $3.6bn of damage to Lebanon, including the destruction of 80 bridges, 600km of roads and 900 factories, markets, farms and other commercial buildings.

It killed 1,187 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and wounded 4,092.

But it could not stop Hezbollah firing its rockets, and it could not rescue the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked off the fighting in the first place.

He gets this close to calling the scrappy Hezbollah terrorists "heroic" in the face of the unfeeling Zionist army machine mowing down only civilian infrastructure.

Also, the "mainly civilians" part, stated as fact, is not clear at all. Israel released the names and addresses of 440 Hezbollah terrorists killed during the war, and it estimates about 600 were killed altogether. Lebanon, on the other hand, counts all Hezbollah members as "civilians" in its counts of the casualties. At best, Bowen is being misleading, at worst he is a liar, and at any rate without his citing his sources we will never know where he gets his numbers from.
(h/t: Backspin)

Saudi vice cops kill man for selling alcohol

Another lovely story from our favorite "moderate" kingdom:

RIYADH, 18 July 2007 — The father of the Saudi young man who was allegedly beaten to death when members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stormed his house in late May in the capital on the suspicion of his son selling alcohol has demanded execution of the persons responsible for his death.
“I want execution. And I do not want just one person executed, but the three persons I saw beating up my son in the commission center that day,” Muhammad Al-Huraisi, 73, told Arab News. “This is what I officially signed when members of the General Investigation and Prosecution Authority (GIPA) asked me what I sought when I was held up there.”
The father described how the commission members swooped into his house commando style. “Two separate teams had arrived,” he said. “They entered the house from the roof after they jumped from the two adjacent buildings.”
“’Allahu Akbar… We have overcome the deviants!’ was what they yelled out when they got into the house,” he added.
He said that he had replaced five of the doors the commission members broke down to enter the rooms in the house.
Abu Ali said that had authorities simply showed up with a warrant for the arrest of his son, he would have turned him over immediately and peacefully. “Instead, they raided the place, never showed a piece of paper,” he said, adding that the commission members also destroyed the bottles inside the house instead of collecting them as evidence.
A brother of the deceased said he knew that Salman was dealing in liquor.
“Salman kept telling me that he was fed up of being poor and wanted to get more money,” he said. “He would constantly complain about the SR1,500 he got from working as a security guard.”

Saudis can rest well knowing that they have morality police, ready to kill in defense of their whims.

3000!

This is my 3000th post on this blog.

It took about 11 months for the last 1000 posts, so I've been pretty consistent in posting (my third year blogversary is coming up in August.) I've seen lots of bloggers go through dry spells and I can't believe that I manage to find multiple topics to post about almost every day.

Thanks once again for visiting and participating!

UPDATE: I didn't notice that Blogger counts drafts, and I had a few half-written posts over the years. So while this may be the 3000th post I've written, it isn't quite the 3000th post published yet.

But we'll pretend it is, even if its only 2986.

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 17 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad officially began his second seven-year term Tuesday.

Assad, who in May won 97 percent of the vote as the sole candidate, was sworn in Tuesday in Damascus, Alalam Satellite News reported.

This brings up a host of questions.

Al-Alam is an Iranian "news" channel. Why would Iran have the news before Syria?

And who was in second place?

And when will that #2 candidate's unfortunate accident and funeral take place?

UPDATE: Soccer Dad finds an old Charles Krauthammer article that discusses a Tyranny Index related to the margin of victory in an "election:"

Copyright Chicago Sun Times Jan 12, 1987

In 1982, Albania held an election which Communist Party chief Enver Hoxha won by 1,627,959 votes to 1. A decisive victory. It suggested to me at the time a key to what political philosophers had long been seeking: a reliable tyranny index.

The Tirana Index (named after Albania's capital) holds that repressiveness correlates with electoral success. The higher the score by the ruling party in elections, the more tyrannous the regime.

At one end of the spectrum are places like Albania, the Soviet Union and Syria, where 99 percent of the vote is the norm. At the other end are freewheeling semi-anarchies, like Italy, where the ruling party never gets half the vote.

In between lie orderly democracies like the United States (winning margins of 60 percent, tops) and moderate autocracies like Mexico, which will broach 70 but not much more for fear of embarrassment to all concerned.

A few weeks ago, the Tirana Index met yet another challenge. In the midst of a severe food and energy shortage, Romania held a referendum. The result: 17,699,772 Romanians voted yes, no one voted no. A shutout. A perennial contender for the honor of most repressive regime on Earth (in Romania, typewriters must be registered with the police) had conducted what may be the most perfect election yet.