Friday December 6, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
Yesterday a Hamas court convicted and sentenced A.K. to death by hanging.
A.K. is the only name he is known by. His crime was helping the Israelis. Officially, in Hamas terms, the crime was collaborating with the Zionist occupation. It is a crime that is punishable by death.
Thus far, in 2013, Hamas has convicted and sentenced 12 people to death for helping Israel. Three have been executed. Since 2007, the year that Hamas took over Gaza, 17 people have been executed for collaboration with Israel.
Only two other crimes carry the death penalty according to Palestinian law - murder and drug trafficking.
Under Palestinian law the execution must be sanctioned by the President. In Gaza, Hamas does not recognize the authority of the president of the Palestinian Authority. They have not accepted Abbas since they took over Gaza.
Given that the punishment for helping Israel is death, it is very unlikely that any real peace can or will emerge between Israel and the Palestinians.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Thursday December 5, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
US Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Israel last night.
Many people are hoping that he will succeed. They are counting on him to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Palestinian leadership has announced that Kerry must come in a save the day. New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman says that Kerry needs to push the parties and that will force a deal.
But Kerry is not a miracle worker.
It is not certain that the parties, Israel and the Palestinians, really want a solution. The Israelis talk about peace but have not really made the right moves. The Palestinians have never really made the right gestures or moves.
Realistically speaking, there is little chance of any solution during this Kerry Middle East trip.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Wednesday December 4, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
Today OPEC is meeting and Iran is hoping to take charge.
The Iranians are attempting to change the daily output of OPEC and, once again, turn themselves into one of the most powerful forces in the world of oil export.
Of course, Saudi Arabia - the major OPEC member, will see this as a frontal assault. Saudi Arabia is currently the most powerful force around the OPEC table. Iran has been powerless since the Western sanctions were instituted. Now that the sanctions are being lifted, Iran wants to move into the position of power.
In addition to everything else they want, the Iranians are also proposing to place one of their people as the new chairman and head of OPEC. Exactly how the other OPEC members are going to receive the newly awakened arrogance of Iran is yet to be seen.
One thing is for sure, Saudi Arabia is not going to take this lightly. Expect real clash and a full blown battle.
We will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Tuesday December 3, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
London has announced that their new charge d'affairs will visit Iran today.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that Ajay Sharma will make his first trip to Iran with the intention of setting up new relations between the two countries.
Ajay Sharma tweeted that relations between the United Kingdom and Iran will improve one step at a time.
This is a huge step for any Western country. It is a real diplomatic normalization of ties. I am curious to see what the UK gains from this unprecedented change in diplomatic status.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Monday December 2, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
The Israeli army recently shot and killed three terrorists in the West Bank. The incident was unusual.
The first reason is that the West Bank had been pretty quiet, so a shoot out involving three terrorists was an out of the ordinary event. The second is that the group claiming that the three terrorists were their group members is a branch of al Qaeda.
The Palestinian Authority has maintained that there is no al Qaeda presence in the West Bank despite some serious signs showing evidence of the opposite. These three terrorists are the most recent and the most significant proof.
Al Qaeda influences come from the outside the West Bank by way of affiliated organizations trying to motivate locals to join their al Qaeda ranks.
There are two methods of recruitment. One is when organizers infiltrate into the West Bank. Another is by way of the internet. Online sermons and chat rooms and websites serve as gathering places from which the organizers garner support for their local objectives and global goals.
The PA responded to the shooting saying that these three terrorists were not al Qaeda members. They need to deny the affiliation because if they were, it would prove that another force is emerging which is outside the influence of the official PA.
The Palestinian Authority can deny as much as they want, but at this point it is pretty obvious to whom these three terrorists pledged their allegiance.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Sunday December 1, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
We often evaluate situations from our point of view, it's only natural. But in the case of the Iranian deal with the P5+1 power nations, it might be worthwhile to try to see things through the perspective of Iran.
Abbas Araqchi is the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister. On Sunday he was all over the Iranian press - on TV and in FARS, the official Iranian news agency. Araqchi provided a timetable. He said that this week he expects to hear from Helga Schmid, a senior EU diplomat, and that the group will probably convene again the following week in Geneva or Vienna.
Many questions arise, especially when, or even if, the agreement is in play. There is no mechanism at all for the agreement. There is no way for this agreement to be implemented. The Iranians know that, they probably maneuvered in such a way to make that happen.
And now the Iranians are expecting the West to violate the terms of the agreement which will, in turn, free them from the agreement.
Even if I am wrong and that was not the Iranian master plan, Iran does not feel that the agreement released last Saturday night is binding.
Here is what Araqchi said. Determine for yourself what it means:
"The moment we feel that the opposite side is not meeting its obligations or its actions fall short, we will revert to our previous position and cease the process."
"We are in no way optimistic about the other side - we are pessimistic - and we have told them that we cannot trust you."
No need to read between the lines.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Saturday November 30, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
"One hundred percent no."
That was the answer Iran's President Hassan Rouhani gave the Financial Times when asked if Iran was going to dismantle any nuclear technology.
This exclamatory statement is another in a long series of proofs that confirm for me that the agreement that the P5+1 signed with Iran came out in two very different versions.
Sitting on my desk is the copy of the agreement sent out by the White House. I re-read it several times a day when I write about or comment on the agreement.
But then I see, hear and read what Rouhani and others say and do and I have to ask what it going on here. Their words and actions are completely counter to what is written in and permitted by the agreement sitting in front of me.
At first I thought Iran was pushing the limits. But there are too many examples to cast aside. India says that they are now going to resume oil importing from Iran and that their insurance carriers will now cover them. Russia, too, says that they are now preparing to import Iranian oil.
The only way that this is possible is if there is another version of the agreement. Petrol chemicals are permitted in the pact according to my copy, oil is not.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com
Friday November 29, 2013
I've Been Thinking:
Hear ye, hear ye, read all about it. Two news items you could not have expected:
# 1: An Iran / US Chamber of Commerce has been created and will officially begin functioning with the next few weeks.
# 2: Direct flights between the United States and Iran will be instituted in the near future. The flights will arrive and depart only on the Island of Kish. Kish is an international tax free trading zone. As such, US citizens will not need Iranian visas.
This news was presented, in Iran, by Abdolfazl Hejazi of the Iran / US Chamber of Comerce. The announcements were made public in a press conference and publicized to the English language press yesterday in Iran.
The announcement went like this: "Iran / US Chamber of Commerce will be launched in less than one month," Abolfazl Hejazi, a member of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, told the English-language Iran Daily.
This process of normalization between the United States and Iran is moving ahead very quickly. While there are no official relations yet, at this rate I do not imagine that it will be too long before official diplomatic relations are established and there is an exchange of ambassadors.
Let us, however, not forget what happened in 1979. That is the year Iran took 52 US diplomats hostage - and kept them for 444 days.
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com