War could break out involving Israel, at any time (I am writing this Oct 2012)
One distinguishing feature of the world before both WWI and WWII, was that the major powers were alligned into opposing blocs. The major blocs today are:
IN THE GREEN TRUNKS:
Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas
IN THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE TRUNKS:
NATO (including Turkey) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia & friends)
The current Israeli leadership is very closely aligned with the "Red White & Blues".
If that sounds like an unequal match, one might allow that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia and China, have considerable military links with the "Green Trunks" folks.
I have seen many, here and elsewhere, who have argued that war will not break out in the Middle East because Israel is unlikely to attack Iran. This is wrong thinking because,
1. The war doesn't have to start with Israel attacking Iran. The Green Trunks folks have said that they will attack Israel, if any one of them is attacked -- by Israel or anyone else.
2. War has already begun. Turkey and Syria have been shelling each other for five days now, and Israel and Hamas have just finished an artillery exchange -- along with intrusion over one another's airspace by drone aircraft. Hizbullah is reported to have tens of thousands of advanced missiles, ready to be used against Israel on a moment's notice; and Israel, Turkey and Iran alike have sent reinforcements to the front lines. Israelis are buying gas masks, and expecting war at any time.
3. Israel may attack Iran after all. The Israelis are not in the habit of announcing beforehand that they will take out an enemy's nuclear capabilities. They did it before to Iraq and Syria, without so much as a whisper beforehand. In fact, the main reason for believing that Israel will NOT attack Iran, is that they've crowed about doing it for so long. The Iranians are certainly not acting as though Israel will not attack; they are engaged in feverish military preparations.
Eshkol region hit by 55 missiles and mortars from Gaza
DEBKAfile October 8, 2012, 9:40 AM (GMT+02:00) No Israeli casualties only heavy damage in the Israeli district from the pounding carried out by Palestinians early Monday in reprisal for the Israeli strike in Rafah Sunday which critically injured two terrorists, members of al Qaeda-linked groups. The Palestinians claimed 11 people were wounded in the air strike. Eshkol dwellers ordered to stay indoors and under cover.
The "Q & A" bit was just to see if anyone's awake here. This is presumably a Christian blog -- Christian, as in "Christ", as in "Jesus, the Jew, who lived in Israel". I was amazed that I even had to start this thread, rather than seeing half the board filled with such threads. Anyway, thanks for posting.
Blayz,
Thank you for posting too. I see that you're an atheist, and you seem to have more interest in Israel than the Christians here. As for our "last ten years" comment, you're wrong -- it's been TWELVE years, since Jews have been able to travel wherever they've wished in their own country without fear of being attacked. My daughter visited the place in the Spring of 2000, just before the Oslo War broke out. Some people from her group went to Gaza to visit Arafat, but she went to Jerusalem with a Jew in the group, who would have been risking his life in Gaza. Even so, they did take the back roads to Hevron and even got into Egypt without being molested. An Arab offered to buy my daughter for several head of livestock, but that's as close as it came. Just a few months later, two Jews who got lost in Ramallah were eviscerated alive by the Arabs.
I check news from Israel every day, because the situation there hasn't been so volatile since 1973; and if you know the area at all, you should know that nobody considers Hamas and Hizbullah as anything other than Mediterranean beachheads of Iran. They get their training, equipment and marching orders from Tehran.
Who said anything about Iran being a world power, by the way? The Middle East doesn't have any world powers. The United States is PLEDGED to support Turkey if attacked, but since Obama got into office, none of our pledges and promises to allies have been worth the paper they were written on. Iran sees a power vacuum, and is trying to fill it -- at Israel's expense.
Forgive me for not knowing who you are. Perhaps you have been misdirected. This is, as Expat pointed out, the Current Events thread. You may have been looking for something in "Fashion" or "Gas Lighting".
Meanwhile, back at truly Current events, this is just in:
Iran Halts Gas Exports to Turkey after Explosion Damages Turkish Side of Pipeline
Iran Halts Gas Exports to Turkey after Explosion Damages Turkish Side of
Pipeline
News number: 9107111434 18:22 | 2012-10-08 Fars News Agency :: Iran Halts Gas Exports to Turkey after Explosion Damages Turkish Side of Pipeline
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran halted gas exports to Turkey after a blast damaged the
pipeline in the Turkish territories, an Iranian official announced on
Monday.
"The pipeline was damaged in an explosion 50km deep into the Turkish
territory at 5:00 am (local time) on Monday," Deputy Oil Minister for Gas
Affairs Javad Oji said.
He also underlined the Iranian side's readiness to help the Turkish company,
Botas, with repairing the damaged pipeline.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.
The pipeline has so far been hit by repeated bomb attacks by the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) who are fighting against the Ankara government for
autonomy.
The Monday blast took place after Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi
announced last week that Ankara is willing to boost crude and gas imports
from Iran...
Two items are mentioned here, which the casual reader might want to be appraised of:
1. Turkey is a NATO ally of the US, presumably on our side in the effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear technology through sanctions. You may wonder what it has been doing, therefore, importing banned items such as petroleum products from Iran. The reason is that President Obama has exempted Turkey, Japan and Iran's other major trade partners from these sanctions -- making a farce of the "sanctions" regime. Without effective sanctions, military action against Iran will become the world's only option in halting Iran's nuclear weapons drive.
2. The "PKK" is a faction of Kurdish freedom fighters, trying to liberate Kurdish-speaking Southeastern Turkey from Turkish domination. Having been labelled as "terrorists" by the Obama Administration, they are supported by the Assad government of Syria and, by extension, by Iran; but they continue to have a mind of their own.
Here is yet another example of the curious "love triangles" going on in the Middle East: US ally Turkey is flirting with our enemy Iran (with permission from the US President), and being opposed in his affair by Iran's indirect ally, the PKK. This "current" event is bound to become important in the weeks and months ahead, when other current events have become history.
Shalom shalom :-)
Last edited by BlandOatmeal; 9th October 2012 at 05:07 AM.
We are mostly Americans here. Can you come back and let us know when war is about to break out involving AMERICA any day? We have been busy fighting senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for quite some time now. We would have been fighting in Libya but our military is already tired invading practically every Muslim country in the region. I really don't care about what war some other country wants to embroil themselves in right now.
Maybe Israel could help us get out of Iraq and Afghanistan? We're allies, right? Thanks!
The "Q & A" bit was just to see if anyone's awake here. This is presumably a Christian blog -- Christian, as in "Christ", as in "Jesus, the Jew, who lived in Israel". I was amazed that I even had to start this thread, rather than seeing half the board filled with such threads. Anyway, thanks for posting.
Blayz,
Thank you for posting too. I see that you're an atheist, and you seem to have more interest in Israel than the Christians here. As for our "last ten years" comment, you're wrong -- it's been TWELVE years, since Jews have been able to travel wherever they've wished in their own country without fear of being attacked. My daughter visited the place in the Spring of 2000, just before the Oslo War broke out. Some people from her group went to Gaza to visit Arafat, but she went to Jerusalem with a Jew in the group, who would have been risking his life in Gaza. Even so, they did take the back roads to Hevron and even got into Egypt without being molested. An Arab offered to buy my daughter for several head of livestock, but that's as close as it came. Just a few months later, two Jews who got lost in Ramallah were eviscerated alive by the Arabs.
I check news from Israel every day, because the situation there hasn't been so volatile since 1973; and if you know the area at all, you should know that nobody considers Hamas and Hizbullah as anything other than Mediterranean beachheads of Iran. They get their training, equipment and marching orders from Tehran.
Who said anything about Iran being a world power, by the way? The Middle East doesn't have any world powers. The United States is PLEDGED to support Turkey if attacked, but since Obama got into office, none of our pledges and promises to allies have been worth the paper they were written on. Iran sees a power vacuum, and is trying to fill it -- at Israel's expense.
I also missed the link, it is in the third post. I didn't realize you had the first three posts until the link question came up.
I think Israel will see increased attacks if Obama is not re-elected, if he is re-elected they will take their time attacking Israel, because Obama won't do much more then a token response to violence against Israel, he does not support them. (family bias, not religious bias)
__________________ If you haven't had enough, vote for Obama, I'm pretty sure we haven't hit Bar-rock bottom...yet. 6 trillion more debt, What would it have been if the Congress of "NO" was alittle more agreeable?
is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced.(but) in my hometown of Chicago, there’s an awful lot of violence, and they’re not using AK-47s, they’re using cheap handguns.” Obama makes it known, he will work to ban assault weapons and handguns.
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