Basically, the British need to give Iran what they want and take their sailors back home, leave Iraq along with the USA, return to Afghanistan to fight the 'real' war and leave peace in the Middle East to Russia.
Perhaps some will recognize this map. It's the Caspian Sea. To the south is Iran. In the northwest corner is Russia. Anyone besides Walker Bush actually believe Russia is going to allow an invasion into Iran? I don't.
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: April 4, 2007
BAGHDAD, April 3 — An Iranian diplomat kidnapped by armed men wearing uniforms of the Iraqi security forces was freed here on Tuesday, Iraq’s foreign minister said, adding that he continued to work to free five Iranians held separately by American military forces and was optimistic that they would be released soon.
I thought Georgie stated there would be exchange for the hostage sailors. Well. That doesn't seem to be a realistic statement, now does it?
Russia is the only country left on the planet that can negotiate a Middle East peace.
A senior Russian politician has proposed changes to the constitution that would enable President Vladimir Putin to remain in power for longer than currently expected.
Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, called for the two-term limit on holding the presidency to be extended to thee terms – a move that would allow Mr Putin to stay on past the 2008 deadline to which he is bound by the current rules of the constitution.
Mr Mironov also suggested that each tenure should be extended from four to at least five years, Russian news agencies reported.
The Kremlin responded immediately to the proposals, insisting that the President had no plans to stay on after his term came to an end.
I agree. Vladimir is needed to maintain a perspective that will interpret into a global peace. Now that the USA is coming to terms with an illegal war and an Executive Branch completely out of control, the advances in Global Peace and prosperity can take huge leaps. President Putin should consider the offer. The 'thing is' he probably won't. I am confident he has other plans by now. Pity. He's still needed in a world too unstable to sustain a change in Russia at this time. But, time marches on.
While the Arab League has never been a particularly effective group, this year, at least when it comes to the Palestinian issue, many feel the League has managed to place the ball firmly in Israel's court.
However this is of little solace to Palestinians, who know the ball can stay there indefinitely if Israel decides not to play. The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, relaunched at the Riyadh summit, has one major flaw visible to everyone from Marrakech to Muscat: It depends on an Israeli response.
The Arabs cannot push anything forward alone. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas wants a committee to follow up on the proposal, and for it to work with the international Quartet, a group with more teeth than the League.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did indeed break five years of Israeli silence on the matter, declaring there were positive aspects to the initiative. However, Israel says the right of return clause makes the proposal problematic.
Prime Minister Olmert is correct. There are issues of the Palestinian Right to Return that creates violence and not peace. Israel has to be reassured of it's sovereignty and not an attempt to infiltrate Israel proper to undermine it's Right to Exist. Otherwise, the reintroduced proposal is very attractive and is a viable solution for Israel. But, the elements of Palestine are gathering in a way that lends itself to violence rather than peace.
JERUSALEM, March 31 — Hamas, the dominant faction in the Palestinian government, is building its military capacity in the Gaza Strip, constructing tunnels and underground bunkers and smuggling in ground-to-air missiles and military-grade explosives, senior Israeli officials say.
The officials, including a top military commander who spoke in an interview on Friday, said that Hamas had learned tactics from Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, which brought in and stored thousands of rockets in bunkers near the northern Israeli border before its war with Israel last summer.
In Gaza, the Israeli commander said, Hamas has now recruited 10,000 fighters to its so-called Executive Force, a parallel police force intended to counter the control its rival Fatah exercises over the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. The Executive Force is now divided into five “so-called brigades, with battalion leaders” and is receiving more military training and sharing a common headquarters, he said, with the Qassam brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
Basically, what is occuring in Iraq is a crime. The death tolls are rising and the USA and Britain are overstepping their bounds at every turn. The Brits are planning an exit except for a skeleton crew of troops, approximately 5000, that will be able to act as protection for diplomats. The USA's Bush can't come to terms with his illegality both domestically and in his warring strategies in Iraq. He needs to be impeached along with his Vice President for the USA to get on with it's business and facilitate peace while REDEFINING it's purpose to defeat terrorist networks rather than sovereign nations such as Iran and Russia. It might be noted that Speaker of the House Pelosi was well received in the Middle East.
From the Jordan Times :
Editorial:
Constructive visitContrary to US President George Bush’s opinion, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and other high-ranking Syrian officials can make a dent in Syrian policies on Lebanon and Iraq, and contribute to their solution.
Pelosi said so in statements in Beirut Tuesday: “Our visit to Damascus is very important for us.” Such visit was also deemed important by the study group on Iraq headed by former US Secretary of State James Baker, whose findings “encourage this diplomacy and this dialogue with Syria”.
Aware that solutions to some problems in the region follow the Damascus route, powerful Democrat Pelosi dismissed criticism of her visit, expressing her delegation’s “clear intention to make our stances very clearly to the Syrian leadership”.
The US congressional delegation will not have come all the way to Syria to congratulate Assad for his policies vis-à-vis the two neighbouring countries, but rather to prod him to change course, most likely to stop meddling in Lebanon’s political scene and to contribute more convincingly to the stability and security of Iraq.
The Baker-Hamilton recommendations did mention that talks with Damascus are indispensable for finding a solution to the Iraqi conflict, in view of Syria’s geographic proximity and of allegations that terrorists cross the Syrian-Iraqi border to wreak havoc on the lives of innocent Iraqis.
I especially liked the detailed account in The Jordan Times of the House Speaker's interests while in Syria.
...Pelosi, a California Democrat, is scheduled to meet Assad and other Syrian officials on Wednesday. She made no comment on arrival and headed for the old city of Damascus where she toured the 8th century Omayyad Mosque.
Pelosi draped a scarf over her head as she entered the historic mosque and stopped at a tomb inside the mosque said to contain the head of St. John the Baptist. She made the sign of the cross in front of the tomb. About 10 per cent of Syria's 18 million people are Christian. In the nearby outdoor Bazouriyeh market, she chatted with Syrians, who offered her dates, in front of shops selling olive oil soaps, spices and herbs. At one point, she bought some coconut sweets and eyed Syrian carpets.
In Washington, Bush said visits to Syria by US officials were "counterproductive". "A lot of people have gone to see President Assad... and yet we haven't seen action. He hasn't responded," he told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference.
He said Assad had not reined in violent elements of Hamas and Hizbollah as requested by the international community and had acted to destabilise the democratically elected government of Lebanon.
"Sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply been counterproductive," Bush said.
Pelosi has shrugged off the criticism, pointing out that Republican members of Congress have also visited Syria.
During a visit to neighbouring Lebanon Monday, she said she considers the visits to be an "excellent idea" and was hopeful of rebuilding lost confidence between Washington and Damascus.
"We have no illusions but we have great hope," she said.
Syria treated the visit as a diplomatic victory. State-run newspapers published news of Pelosi's trip on their front pages, with one daily publishing a photograph of Pelosi next to the headline: "Welcome Dialogue". But there were some warnings against high expectations....
Sounds as though she was more than welcome to enjoy her circumstances and shown a great deal of hospitality.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS THIS.
President Putin isn't about to have a war at the Russian border, now or in the future. If Bush and Blair actually think they can raise enough international eire to invade Iran they aren't going to be able to 'go it alone' for long, because Russia and China in it's 2000 Friendship Pact won't put up with them for very long. Bush's military ain't up to it and if he tries to turn it into a nuclear war then why not just hand over nukes to Iran and get it over with.
Russia is not about to hand nukes to Iran or any other sovereign authority while an international war is eminent. Besides that, Russia has made it perfectly clear in recent weeks how it intends to 'handle' Iran and it's nuclear plant. It ain't going to happen so long as Iran has a bad attiude.
The British were within two miles as the crow flies of Iranian waters. That may be legal but it wasn't prudent with the tense climate that exists between the countries involved. The British were wrong to pursue such close encounters and they need to admit it to themselves. Their sailors should never be allowed to stand trial in Iran. It would simply continue to escalate the circumstances in the region. The Brits need to bring their sailors home.
In acting in such a casual manner and allowing such close contact between entities in the region, Britain has compromised the initatives of the UN and the IAEA as well as the British military.
It is my guess, if Britain asks Russian diplomats for assistance in extracating their sailors they might find cooperation.
The circumstances in the Middle East have gotten out of hand because the USA has an incompetent Executive Branch. The Brits fell into peril as there is little prudency in proving safeguards to diplomacy as the Bush adminisration doesn't believe in it. At this point, diplomats are the only why to conduct a conclusion to this and it has to include Russia to remove the tensions that now exit.
The conflict the world needs to address is that or disarming terrorists and NOT pointing guns at each other. The UN and IAEA as well as Russian diplomats need to readdress this issue to a peaceful resolve without compromising the UN Security Council's resolution to inhibit the nuclear capacity of Iran. Iran cannot be allowed to accumulate nuclear capacity and the deescalation of tensions will allow the people of Iran to move away from war and extremism while the Democrats under the leadership of Pelosi provide a diplomatic solution of their own where the Executive Branch can't fight it's way out of a diplomatic paper bag.
