San Antonio Express-News
A leopard doesn't change its spots. And Moammar Gadhafi, who has incredibly bought and connived his way back into the good graces of the international community, cannot change his brutal and unpredictable ways.
The latest display of his brutality and unpredictability was his release from death row of foreign health workers who had been tortured into confessions of intentionally spreading HIV at a Libyan pediatric hospital. There was good reason to suspect the dictator's clemency had been purchased. Now we know some of the terms of the deal.  
The French corporation Areva has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a nuclear reactor for Gadhafi. And the French government confirmed that the European aerospace company EADS, of which France is the largest public owner, has inked a major arms deal with Gadhafi for the purchase of anti-tank missiles and a radio communications system.
These are the most disturbing examples of Western governments and businesses rushing in to do business with a violent regime that is untrustworthy. It calls to mind the long train of diplomats and arms dealers who shook hands with Saddam Hussein, despite his deplorable human rights record and support for terrorism.
Express-News columnist ...   more »

by Hillel Fendel
As the US, Jordan, the PA and others prepare for a high-level Middle East summit in November, a squeeze on Israel to agree to a Palestinian state just kilometers from Tel Aviv is feared.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has met in recent days with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with Jordan's King Abdullah, reportedly discussing plans for the upcoming Middle East summit.  The summit is the brainchild of U.S. President George Bush, and is scheduled to be held three months from now.  Some Israelis fear that it will mark the climax of a heavy series of pressures upon Israel to agree formally to the formation of a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. 
"With a quiet and densely-packed timetable," writes IDF Col. (res.) Moti Yogev, "the US Administration is cooking up, together with Prime Minister Olmert and Abu Mazen, very fateful plans for the State of Israel.  The US will apply very heavy pressure on Israel to agree to understandings that will form the basis of the declaration of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria within just two months."
Yogev explains that the Bush Administration is working under the pressure of the 2008 ...   more »

Israeli military sources say Syria is nearing the end of an accelerated deployment of a large rocket arsenal of Katyusha and Scud missiles that could damage entire blocks of buildings in Tel Aviv.
The Jerusalem Post reported that missile launchers in Syria could potentially unleash a barrage of missiles numbering in the hundreds within an hour.
Also, according to Israeli military officials, Syria accelerated training periods for its troops, who are known to be stationed along the length of its border with Israel.
However, the Post said, a military intelligence assessment said these forces remain in a defensive position, and that Syria did not attend to initiate an all-out war with Israel.
  Even so, Damascus does not believe Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's public statements of reassurance that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria, and is genuinely concerned about an Israeli preemptive attack, according to official Israeli assessments.
Original Source
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By Stan Goodenough
Right-wing Israeli politicians have reacted in shock and anger to the news that Defense Minister and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak will not order gas masks distributed to Israelis for fear of provoking the Syrians into a war.
The development was the top story on The Jerusalem Post website Monday.
According to the report, Barak made his decision despite accumulated Israeli intelligence warnings that Syrian president Bashar el-Assad has non-conventional-capable missiles that can hit any population center in the Jewish state.
Syria has long been known to have, along with biological weapons, weaponized VX Gas that can cause excruciating death.
The Post says that military assessments show Syria to be nearing the end of "an accelerated deployment of a large rocket arsenal of Katyusha and Scud missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and causing thousands of civilian casualties."
Nonetheless, Israelis are not to be protected against such attacks.
Likud Knesset member Yuval Steinitz, slammed Barak's decision.
"The decision not to hand out masks so as not to upset the Syrians reminds me of Moshe Dayan's unfortunate decision not to call up the reserves so as not to upset the Syrians and the Egyptians on the eve of ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
Syrian dictator Bashar el-Assad does not believe Israeli officials when they say they do not want a war with their north-eastern neighbor.
This is the IDF's official assessment of Damascus' response to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's repeated assertions that Israel does not want war.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post Monday, Olmert's attempts over the last few weeks "to calm Syrian jitters have not been overly successful," and Assad still believes Israel plans to attack.
Israeli military officials have warned that Syria is in a position to bombard Israeli cities with hundreds of missiles in an hour. The conventional warheads of some of these missiles are powerful enough to damage blocks of buildings.
The Post said officials have warned off the record that the Israel Air Force would have a problem thwarting such a bombardment. IDF ground forces would have to be moved deep into Syria in order to stop the rocket firing at its sources, they said.
Israel's surface-to-surface missile capability was not mentioned in the report.
There is wide-spread speculation among Middle East watchers that, in the event of conflict, Assad could bring his non-conventional weaponry into play against Israel, forcing Israel ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
Likud Party members will vote Tuesday for the leader they want to take them into the next general elections, whenever those may be held.
Contending for the post is current Likud Chairman and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the leader of the "Jewish Leadership" faction of the Likud, Moshe Feiglin, and the former head of the World Likud organization, Danny Danon.
Netanyahu - affectionately and/or derisively known as "Bibi" - is widely expected to score a comfortable win.
Danon, a new and relatively unknown entity, is expected to lose.
Uncertainty hangs in the air over how Feiglin will do. Unlike his opponents, he is a religious Jew who refers to God in his speeches and campaigning - something alien to almost every other Israeli politician.
Religious leaders have hitherto been considered unelectable to the highest office in Israel, and there is little evidence on the ground that this has changed.
Feiglin earned his reputation by orchestrating some of the most effective civil disobedience campaigns in Israel's history against the disastrous and immoral Oslo Accords. So angry did he make the Israeli left that they got him tried for treason.
He was found "guilty" of the lesser charge ...   more »