IHT: Data from Iraqi defectors often didn't prove true

I'm not surprised to read that data from Iraqi defectors has proved unreliable.

In addition, several Iraqi defectors introduced to U.S. intelligence agents by the exile organization and its leader, Ahmad Chalabi, invented or exaggerated their credentials as people with direct knowledge of the Iraqi government and its suspected unconventional weapons program, the officials said.

Tony Blair

The Labour Party conference in the UK starts soon. Tony Blair will have to work hard to regain the popularity he had last year. It's not just the war, it's education and taxation as well.

He's done it before and will do it again I suspect but how he replies to his critics will be interesting.

Back home in Israel, Ha'Artez has splashed a study on how much the settlements cost in money terms. They conclude it's around 2.5 billion NIS a year , that's around 600 million dollars. Don't forget the human cost as well.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my readers. This link explains why.

Jezblog French flash mob

Jez in France went to a French flash mob. There are pictures as well. Nice one.

Bluetooth Headset

I saw oneof these today. It's a bluetooth equipped headset that talks to a mobile phone without wires. Still technically illegal in Israel until October but I expect this to sell well here. Israelis fell in love with mobile phones some years ago and the romance blossoms. This will become ubiquitous and I suspect some people will wear them all day long. It will even dial for you when you speak a name in the phone book.

Principle of least astonishment

I shall humbly endeavour to follow this principle in all my software from now on.

Straw widower

'She Who Must be Obeyed' has finally left on the long awaited trip to Hungary in search of her roots. I wish her well finding the forest her Father hid out in during World War II and her Mother's old childhood house and school.

I could point out that she's left with another man (sniff) but it is her cousin.

I shall try to keep up with the posts but duty calls. How do you use this thing that washes clothes? What's the brush next to the toilet for anyway?

Happy Birthday Shimon

In a surprise announcement today at Shimon Peres's 80th birthday party a number of awards were announced. The Fund for Israel, a private think tank awarded the following.

Prize for enhancing Jewish sexuality

Awarded to President Bill Clinton. "You got a Jewish girl to do what?"

Lifetime achievement award

Given to the former head of the Soviet Union , Mikhael Gorbachev.
Staying alive during and after a coup

International "Say I sorry" award

F.W. de Klerk from South Africa. "Hey, so blacks can vote after all. Easy mistake, anyone could have made it."

Best Acting award

Kathleen Turner. Actress."Shimon Peres is the sexiest man alive.

Lifetime award for modesty

Henry A. Kissinger.

A consolation prize was given to David Trimble , from Northern Island who got on the wrong flight.

Yasir Arafat sent his best wishs to the winners and invited everyone round to his place after the party. Shin Bet bodyguards not needed.

Flash Mob

I would like to introduce you all to Cathy Andrews, my guest blogger from the UK who will be posting here from now on.



Cathy lives in London, originates from the USA and has lived in Israel. I look forward to her insights. Here's a post on a London flash mob. She points out that my spelling is mid atlantic which I hadn't noticed before. Blame the blogger spell checker that used to know UK English but seems to have forgotten.

I arrived at the at the appointed time of 1810 at the designated venue for "Cancer and Scorpio": the trendy Soho bar The Edge. Mobsters with other starsigns congregated in other designated hostelries nearby, A dry and warm evening meant many of us mobsters didn't have to wait inside a smoky crowded room.

What could have been an ordinary Thursday evening scene (so to speak) in Soho Square started looking a bit not so ordinary by the time a larger crowd had gathered, many holding books and not holding drinks and looking like they were waiting for something. Passer-by: 'what's all this then?'.

The arrival of a film crew - flash mobs are still making news or have they gone too well-known?.

At 1824 one of the crowd started handing out business card-sized papers with instructions for the mob: "Helluo librorum" a bookswap mob in Soho Square from 1830-1845 precisely..

"Choose a location from the map.[Science fiction, romance, fiction, non-fiction and, drolly, a Harry Potter area just opposite publisher Bloomsbury's offices]. Swap a book with a stranger and as you swap, sustain a smile for 3 seconds. As you see a book swapping taking place, applaud their kindness. If you hear applause, applaud...Leave at 1845 and please pay a compliment to two complete strangers. Return to your life and wait for mob no 4." .

At 1829 people surged into the square and shortly afterwards the first rounds of applause signaled the flashmob had begun..

The organizers were a little optimistic as the flashmob did not fill the entire square, but concentrated in the southwest corner. Swapping took place across genres (fortunately!). The fun was that most swapping was indiscriminate eg you didn't look at the title and ask to swap you just went up to someone and swapped. Mobsters were busy swapping and taking pictures of each other swapping.Journalists interviewed mobsters (me included). Film crews filmed. Fun and just a little self-consciousness abounded..

Waves and waves of smiling, cheers and applause continued. Within the flashmob were tourists and passers-by who were asking what it was all about. One know-all said insistently to his companion that it was a book launch. Outside the square people looked on with various expressions of interest, puzzlement or in true London style simply went about their business ignoring what was going on. Action started flagging by 1840 (perhaps 15 minutes was a bit too long for a flashmob!) and at 1845 the flashmob quickly left the square and dispersed. The air filled with interesting compliments such as 'nice bag' 'I love your shoes' 'that's a great suit' 'you have a wonderful smile'..

Some books were left behind on the benches, bookcrossing style..

Some say that flashmobs are becoming passe. Next thing may be emobs. Check this out.I hope this will not involve anything badeg spamming or denial of service attacks..

Demo

Peace Now will be holding a rally tonight in Tel Aviv. We shall be there of course. I must say goodbye to Jerrold Kessel of CNN assuming they bother to turn up.

UN redux

It is odd to read a news item about the UN General Assembly. A read of the 56th Session that ended this year shows nothing that would have generated such a headline. As it's not binding Israel can ignore it but I wonder why all the fuss and bother.

My history books tell me people danced in the street when the UN General Assembly voted to establish the State of Israel, a useful tool to those who question our right to exist.


Either way, it was stupid for the Israeli Government to announce this in advance. That had more to do with Likud infighting than reality. It is easier to ask for forgiveness then permission. This has advanced Arafat to the world centre stage yet again just when he should have been seen but not heard.

My fellow Israelis will no doubt react with anger over this decison, cursing the UN and all it's works. Natural enough I suppose but I rather fancy that we should drop this one firmly on the shoulders of the present Government who are good at talking but little else.

Waterless odourless toilet system

We spent an interesting morning at the Israeli building centre near Netanya. One of the things we thinking of is building our own house. Here's the proposed toilet.

Toilets account of 40% of water consumption in Israel. Dry toilets work just as well.

Saudis consider nuclear bomb

The Saudis are considering obtaining nuclear bombs. This doesn't make me feel good. The Middle East is getting worse, not better , and the UK/USA presence in the region does not seem to be helping.

Arab world condemns US Arafat veto

BBCArab world condemns US Arafat veto. This may come as a surprise to my regular readers but I completely agree with the position of the USA on this Security council vote. I hope one day to see the Security Council turns its attention to the large selection of trouble spots around the world such as Burma, Zimbabwe, Western and central Africa, Columbia, Laos, the list is endless.


Update: Having checked the UN Web site, so far this year, the UN Security Council have passed resolutions on:

Democratic Republic of the Congo (seven times)

Iraq/Kuwait

Liberia

Middle East (twice) Disengagement Observer force renewed again and UNIFIL renewed

Western Sahara(three times)

Timor-Leste

Afghanistan

Georgia

Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (whatever that is)

Côte d’Ivoire

Sierra Leone

Terrorism (twice)

Number of resolutions on the ICT in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia



What good they all do I cannot say but I was wrong in my original post. Nothing about Burma or Zimbabwe though.

Library Girl : an information super-hero

A library sort of blog. I've always had secret fantasies about librarians ever since I dated one. In my dream, I will meet one, slowly remove her glasses, let down her hair , kiss her then say "You're beautiful".

Sigh....

The rest of this dream is available only by email to adults.

People and jobs and communication

We were moaning about the job this morning. It’s the little things that annoy most although I highly recommend a read of this site to put things in perspective. It’s also a truism that plenty of people don’t have jobs here in Israel and we’re lucky to have one. All true as far as it goes but moaning helps.

We have a sister company that handles integration and the hardware that goes with our product. They are strange people. We had a service call yesterday , or rather it went the normal route of.

Them: This product is crap! It doesn’t work

Them: Rings Boss. Repeats above.

Them Boss: Rings Us Boss

Us Boss: Speaks to nearest warm body and complains

Nearest Warm body: Finds someone who cares and passes complaint on.

Someone who cares: Finds me and complains.

Me: Try to find someone who knows what it going on and what the real problem is.

I will not weary you with the extremely involved details , suffice it to say the solution was ‘Connect the PDA to the printer using the cable provided before printing’.

They’re right about one thing though. If you don’t connect the printer it doesn’t print. I have added a more explicit warning. In Hebrew. This tends to leave a bad impression in the mind of 'Them Boss' though. I need to route the solution back along the same route it came from.

East Jerusalem Arabs find fence will literally cut their lives in half

East Jerusalem Arabs find fence will literally cut their lives in half

When the fence is built, some 60,000 to 70,000
West Bank residents will be added to the
230,000 recognized East Jerusalem residents
inside the fence.

As I understand the rationale for the fence, it is supposed to separate Israelis from terrorists in the West Bank. Am I the only one saying the Emperor has no clothes? This is not just stupid and expensive and a waste of time, it does not fulfil it's original purpose.

One Wall, One Man, One Vote

One Wall, One Man, One Vote. I do hope Freidman isn't right about this.

Rather than create the outlines of a two-state solution, this wall will kill that idea for Palestinians, and drive them, over time, to demand instead a one-state solution — where they and the Jews would have equal rights in one state. And since by 2010 there will be more Palestinian Arabs than Jews living in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza combined, this transformation of the Palestinian cause will be very problematic for Israel. If American Jews think it's hard to defend Israel today on college campuses, imagine what it will be like when their kids have to argue against the principle of one man, one vote.

One of the reasons the present Government wants to get rid of Arafat is that it will also bury the remnants of Oslo. When that happens, the PA will end and so will any chance of a Palestinian State. It's time for Israel to pull back to the very poor borders we had in 1967 and defend them against all comers. Yes, I do mean pull out of Ariel as well.

Announcing Several New Features for Free Users of Blogger

OK, all you blogger users. Now you get everything I've had for a while so go to your settings page, click on the publishing tab and select 'Ping Weblogs.com' Yes. Well done. Now when your blog changes, linking list such as blogrolling will show that your blog has been updated. More people will read it, honest Guv.

NASA talks of building Arthur C Clarke's dream

NASA talks of building Arthur C Clarke's dream. I'm amazed. This will be a serious piece of engineering and a good way to get into Earth Orbit that doesn't involve large amounts of Lox to make it happen.


I shall try and find another link.


Update: Here's one that's more bloglike.

Here's the NASA page.

Ararfart

If the Israeli Government wants to kick Arafat out, why did they have to announce it to the whole world in advance?

Now if they do, they get damned, and if they don't they look silly and innefectual.

Ex teenager

The first of the offspring makes it safely out of the teenager years today. The party last night was:

Orderly

Relatively quiet

They cleaned up at the end



Around 90 showed up at the peak of the party before they all went . They even brought the stereo system back inside and packed all the rubbish in bags. Hooray for the Israeli youth of today.

'We Expected Eternal Paradise For This,' Say Suicide Bombers

I shall remember 9/11 with this excellent Onion piece and the hope that the murderers who blew themselves up in Israel also:

"Eventually, we'll settle on an eternal and unending task for them," said Lord Androalphus, High Praetor of Excruciations. "But for now, everyone down here wants a crack at them. The legions of fang-wombed hags will take their pleasure on their shattered carcasses for most of this afternoon. Tomorrow, their flesh will be melted from their bones like wax in the burning embrace of the Mother of Cowards. The day after that, they'll be sodomized by the Fallen and their bowels shredded by a demonic ejaculate of burning sand. Then, on Sunday, Satan gets them all day. I can't even imagine what he's got cooked up for them."

When is spam not spam

Got this in my suespammers inbox today.

The publication of Salam Pax: The Baghdad Blog
http://www.thebaghdadblog.com


'MY MAN SALAM. I'M A TOTAL FAN.
TELLS IT LIKE HE SEES IT,
AND SEES IT LIKE I CAN'T.'
William Gibson

Salam Pax's extraordinary account of everyday life in Baghdad has just been
published by Guardian Books.

Accompanying the book is a powerful online promo, produced by Screenbase
and directed by Mat Cook (best known for his work with bands such as Primal
Scream) - with audio provided by Aphex Twin.

View the promo
http://www.thebaghdadblog.com/promo/


About the book:
http://www.thebaghdadblog.com/book/

This came from:

To subscribe for more book promos, sign up here:
http://www.screenbase.com/list/
To unsubscribe reply to this email with 'unsubscribe'
in the subject line. We are against spam and will not pass on your details.

Sorry, I never subscribed, I knew all about it and regretfully, this one gets larted. Hey Salam Pax, don't let them spam. People will be taking the Boulder Pledge.

What Israelis think about it all

According to this poll, try more force.


It's clear that we are back to the pre Oslo days with the added disadvantage of having the 'Tunis crowd' along to make things even more difficult. I will remind my gentle listeners over the next few days why Rabin, no dove, felt it necessary to embark on the now truly failed and discredited Oslo accords.

When I asked Yossi Beilin if Oslo was dead, he mentioned the end date of 1999 when it would (has) become inactive without final status talks.

The chain linking these predominantly
"right-wing" views is the increasing
exasperation with Arafat. This year will mark
the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo
Accords which were meant to turn over a new
leaf in Israeli-Palestinian relations. It
seems, however, that in the eyes of the average
Israeli, Arafat has regained the demonic image
he had on the eve of the Oslo signing.

What Israelis think about it all

According to this poll, try more force.


It's clear that we are back to the pre Oslo days with the added disadvantage of having the 'Tunis crowd' along to make things even more difficult. I will remind my gentle listeners over the next few days why Rabin, no dove, felt it necessary to embarke on the now truly failed and discredited Oslo accords.

When I asked Yossi Beilin if Oslo was dead, he mentioned the end date of 1999 when it would (has) become inactive without final status talks.

Edward Teller Is Dead at 95; Fierce Architect of H-Bomb

Edward Teller Is Dead at 95. He thought dropping the A bomb on Japan was a mistake. A demonstration would have been better.

I was unaware that the first hydogen bomb wieghed 65 tons.

More bombs and dead

14 dead in two bombs. Don't forget the injured as well.

What can anyone say.

Barry Rubin

Barry Rubin is rewriting history a bit on the early side.

The US attacked Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein and prevent him from obtaining weapons of mass destruction. This has been accomplished. Saddam will not be making a comeback and the terrorists who are now attacking American troops will not take over Iraq.

That's not what George Bush said:

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people.

US Republican Party denies it's outsourcing to India

A correction to a previous post of mine. See the title.

AWACS and geo politics

It seems that Pakistan is interested in purchasing some AWACS. This is no doubt as a result of worries about India's growing capabilites in this area. Remember that Israel wasn't allowed to sell it's own Phalcon version to China but is allowed to sell these systems to India. No Arrows for India just yet though.

Defence sales is still big business though.

'I became the profane pervert Arab blogger'

Salam Pax tells it all in the Grauaniad. There's a book as well.

One of the first people to link to the blog said, "It is all about a guy who risked his nuts to tell us he's a pervert and his friend likes to watch". I still don't really understand how it became what it is now. The blog for me will always be a wonderful personal reminder of the times I, my friends and family have been through in the past year.

Shalom! Ariel Sharon - The Times of India

The Times of India says nice things about Israel as well as the usual suspects being nasty. Par for the course I suppose.

Happy Birthday Google

One of the most useful tools around is five years old yesterday.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Google etc...

The twists and turns of Israel's wall of fear

An excellent article on the wall.

In other words, the Israeli left wants the wall to be built in a way that makes it safe for Israel to leave the West Bank and the right wants the wall built in a way that makes it safe for Israel to stay in the West Bank.

Most Israelis just want security. This won't bring it.

WHAT-O!

WHAT-O! is a new Israeli blog. I got this from Imshin who is back at work and being Buddhist.

A failed Israeli society is collapsing

'A failed Israeli society is collapsing' says Avraham Berg. An doom laden article. Zionism is dying, Israeli society is corrupt and there is no solution. Just what I needed for the start of another week.

Palestinian prime minister resigns

Guardian Palestinian prime minister resigns. No surprise there then. I'm amazed
he lasted so long. Looks like the road map has come to an end as well.

This war on terrorism is bogus

Here's the original Meacher mumbles.

'US bent on world domination'

Michael Meacher goes slightly mad in asserting the US Government knew after 9/11 before the event. I wonder about PNAC as well but as usal with conspiracy theorists, he utterly fails to provide any evidence.

Shame really, he was a good environment Minister.

The bit about 'no fighter planes' is a French canard I believe.

lets build even more houses in the West Bank

102 new housing units in the settlement of Efrat. These are Ok it appears as they're inside the existing settlements. No they're not.

The Wall

Ok, all you fence supporters. Can anyone give me a rational explanation of why the wall should include Baqa al-Sharqia and it's 4,000 Palestinians on
the Israeli side?


I don't expect any. They don't exist.

Newsday.com - Man Charged With Stealing Tracking Device

I am always happy to read news:comp.risks ,a newsgroup dedicated to highlighting those fascinating stories involving computers and hair raising stories.

This one had me chortling. Of all the things to steal, a home detention device would not be high on my list of 'Things to Steal'.

Merkava tanks again

According to the Jerusalem post, the IDF is thinking of eliminating all tanks except the home built Merkava. As the IDF has around 4000 tanks in inventory and one quarter are Merkavas, that's quite a cut.


A lot of the older ones are a variant of the venerable M60, a lot of captured Russian T54s and T55s and a few old British Centurions (now retired). Here's a good site with some more information on IDF tanks. A lot of these have been upgunned with new electronics and fire control or converted to engineering tanks.

Muppets and responsibility

Politicians of all hues have disliked the power that the Bank of Israel Governer possesses. It also hates not having positions to reward supporters. Hence the move to have a board of Governers having the power instead which will not be popular with the major financial institutions.

There is an advisory council with no power and little interest that hasn't be re-appointed for a while.

Not just warmer: it's the hottest for 2,000 years

It is getting warmer. It is not a cyclic change. Erik the Red and his crew headed from Iceland to Greenland, but it wasn't for the good weather. Erik had been kicked out of Iceland for murder. There were indeed vineyards in Britain in the 10th and 11th centuries, but only 50 to 60. There are now more than 350 in this country, with some as far north as Leeds.

In spite of a great deal of wishful thinking by the 'No Kyoto' crowd, we can't put our head in the sand any longer.