Author Archives: Soccerdad

About Soccerdad

I'm a government bureaucrat with delusions of literacy.

Go, go, go; no, no, no

A while back the New York Times reported on Saudi efforts to “rehab” jihadis. Jilani frowned slightly and wrote Ali’s answer up on the white board behind him. He read it out to the class before turning back to Ali. … Continue reading

Posted in Saudi Arabia, Terrorism | Tagged | 3 Comments

The very model of a modern UN bureaucrat

I’ve never heard of Jean-Marie Guéhenno before but the editors of the New York Times like him to become the next UN ambassador to Afghanistan: Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, is currently considering three candidates: Staffan de Mistura … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, United Nations | Tagged | 2 Comments

Day 4 – 1 year ago

Some interesting tidbits again from the JCPA’s Daily Alert of December 31, 2008. Alan Dershowitz got to the point in the Christian Science Monitor: The most dangerous of the three responses is not the Iranian-Hamas absurdity, which is largely ignored … Continue reading

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Some ‘splainin’

Last week Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai was killed in an ambush. Following the attack, Israel tracked down an killed three suspects in the murder. At the funerals for the murderers, protesters objected to the PA’s cooperation with Israel, leading JoshuaPundit … Continue reading

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Day 3 – 1 year ago

Taken from Daily Alert of December 30, 2008. Reports of “targeted killings” by Hamas start to emerge. On Monday, Dr. Ashour was not the only official in charge. Armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes roamed the halls. Asked their function, … Continue reading

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Day 2 – 1 year ago

According to JCPA’s Daily Alert last December 29th was an admission by Hamas that many of those killed were police officers. Hamas TV acknowledged this morning that the vast majority of those killed are from the Hamas military (Elder of … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Day 1 – 1 year ago

The first day of Israel’s war against Hamas brought this comment from a Jerusalem Post editorial: At this newspaper, we wonder how an international community that can’t bring itself to explicitly support Israel’s operation against the most intransigent of Muslim … Continue reading

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What’s there to debate?

The headline and tone of this “news analysis,” Tough Military Stance Stirs Little Debate in Israel the New York Times is baffling. What is there to debate? If the doctrine is effective it’s working. The idea that an idea must … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | 2 Comments

T minus one day – one year ago

Israel Completes Preparations for Gaza Offensive Amid Continuing Rocket Fire – Mark LavieIsrael wrapped up preparations for a broad offensive in the Gaza Strip Thursday after Palestinians fired about 100 rockets and mortar shells across the border in two days. … Continue reading

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A Palestinian state: when?

As I noted yesterday, Barry Rubin published a timely essay recalling how the Palestinian blew a chance to prevent Israel from ever existing – 70 years ago. I didn’t think it required any further comment. But then I read something, … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, palestinian politics | Tagged | 2 Comments

Iran’s cat’s paw

When I first read this analysis of Lebanese President Sa’ad Hariri’s trip to Syria, Lebanon Drama Adds Act With Leader’s Trip to Syria , I was astonished by its anodyne language. After all what was being described was the capitulation … Continue reading

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Prince Saud’s fraud

As his tenure as Saudi’s foreign minister winds down, Saudi Prince Saud al Faisal admits regrets, he’s had a few. The New York Times starts off with some fun irrelevance: The year that Prince Saud al-Faisal was appointed foreign minister … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Juvenile Scorn | Tagged | 2 Comments

Constants and variables in the Middle East

Ethan Bronner writes about Israeli PM Netanyahu: After a long career supporting Israeli settlements in occupied land and rejecting Palestinian statehood, Mr. Netanyahu said last June that he accepted the two-state idea. Three weeks ago, he imposed a 10-month freeze … Continue reading

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Goldstone’s innumeracy

Martin Kramer recently wrote a devastating post about one aspect of the Goldstone report. The most important sentence in this section of the Goldstone Report is this one: “Mr. Amr Hamad indicated that 324 factories had been destroyed during the … Continue reading

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The last refuge of terrorists

Mary Anastasia O’Grady on FARC’s NGO friends: The 5th Front’s territory includes a town called San José de Apartadó, which was designated as a peace community in the mid-1990s under a plan proposed by the local Catholic diocese. The idea … Continue reading

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 2 Comments