Countdown

The Nuclear Jig is Up…

Vol. 7, 43
Posted on Tuesday December 12, 2006

The Nuclear Jig is Up…

While incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates received bipartisan praise for his candor during last week’s confirmation hearings, Gates’ testimony garnered a lukewarm response among some in Israel. According to Reuters, “Gates mentioned why Iran might be seeking the means to build an atomic bomb: ‘They are surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons: Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf.’” The new Sec Def’s statement calls into question Israel’s longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the issue of possessing nuclear weapons. But on a tour this week urging EU countries to toughen their stance on Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s own Prime Minister included his country on a list of nuclear powers. In an interview with German television, Ehud Olmert said, “Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?” Reuters also reports that “by not declaring itself to be nuclear armed, Israel also skirts a US ban on funding countries that proliferate weapons of mass destruction. It can thus enjoy more than $2 billion in annual military and other aid from Washington.” So, who is going to address the nuclear elephant in the room?

Hatfields and McCoys?

According to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, “If you know both yourself and your enemy, you will come out of one hundred battles with one hundred victories.” So, how many can you expect to win if you don’t know your enemy at all? That is the question Congressional Quarterly’s Jeff Stein has been asking members of Congress and the intelligence community. “At the end of a long interview, I asked Willie Hulon, chief of the [FBI]’s new national security branch, whether he thought that it was important for a man in his position to know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. ‘Yes, sure, it’s right to know the difference,’ he said. ‘It’s important to know who your targets are.’…So next I asked him if he could tell me the difference. He was flummoxed. ‘The basics goes back to their beliefs and who they were following,’ he said. ‘And the conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shia and the difference between who they were following.’ O.K., I asked, trying to help, what about today? Which one is Iran—Sunni or Shiite? He thought for a second. ‘Iran and Hezbollah,’ I prompted. ‘Which are they?’ He took a stab: ‘Sunni.’ Wrong. Al Qaeda? ‘Sunni.’ Right.” Beyond scary.

A Decent Proposal

Avi Shaked, an Israeli businessman who made his money on internet gambling sites, has placed his biggest wager yet. Shaked is offering $1 billion if Palestinian and Israelis can reach a settlement, with the first 10% delivered as soon as negotiations begin. “Shaked wants the money to bring the Palestinian economy up to the standards of the Israelis, putting the sides on a level footing and doing away with the poverty that helps fuel the conflict. ‘We are almost the same people, we are cousins, why can’t we start to talk,’” he told Reuters. At least he’s putting his money where his mouth is.

We Could All Use a Good Laugh…

“Little Mosque on the Prairie,” a new series set to premier January 9 on Canada’s CBC will explore “the funny side of being a Muslim and adapting to life in post 9/11 North America.” The New York Times interviews the show’s creator, Zarqa Nawaz, whose personal experiences are the show’s base. “It rests on my shoulders to get the balance right between entertainment and representing the community in a reasonable way,” she said. The sitcom explores some of the compromises immigrant parents make as their children assimilate, such as turning Halloween into “Halal-oween.” “The struggle over what constitutes modest dress is central to the show. When a Muslim girl flounces into her immigrant father’s presence with her navel showing, he recoils in horror, saying, ‘You look like a Protestant.’ She counters, ‘Dad, you mean a prostitute?’ He responds, ‘No, I meant a Protestant.’”