In a mess that is now getting to be of biblical proportions, Israel is claiming Iran is behind the recent Hezbollah kidnappings which provoked the Israeli retaliations.
Ehud Olmert said that the cross-border raid in which the two soldiers were taken and eight others killed was co-ordinated with Tehran.So there we have it. Iran; Nukes; G8 getting distracted from Iran; maybe they're right.
About 30 people died in a seventh day of conflict, most of them in Lebanon.
US President George W Bush has meanwhile accused Syria of trying to use the crisis to return to Lebanon.
"Syria is trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks like to me," Mr Bush said in Washington.
"It's essential that the government of Lebanon survives this crisis. We've worked hard to free - and we meaning the international community - worked hard to free Lebanon from Syrian influence."
The US state department refused to confirm comments by an Israeli ambassador that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the region on Friday.
Israel launched its assault and blockade last Wednesday after the two soldiers were captured.
About 230 Lebanese people have been killed since then - the majority of them were civilians, but the toll includes about 30 soldiers. The number of Hezbollah militants killed is not known.
Twenty-five Israelis have died - 13 civilians and 12 members of the military.
Israel has frequently blamed Syria and Iran for arming and backing Hezbollah, but Mr Olmert's comments were the first explicit claim of Tehran's direct involvement in the capture of the soldiers, correspondents say.
Mr Olmert said the timing of the incident was not an accident, and the international community at the G8 summit in Russia had fallen for it - discussing Lebanon rather than Iran's nuclear programme.
The NYT has thiss article:
“The Iranians are gambling that there won’t be a military attack against them,” said one senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity, under diplomatic rules. “Iran is trying to say, ‘Nothing is possible without me.’ And for the moment, the nuclear issue is forgotten.”The irony? I'm thinking of one. How about this?
Indeed, action on a resolution at the United Nations Security Council critical of Iran for failing to suspend its uranium enrichment activities is essentially is on hold because of the crisis in the Middle East.
Iran’s language is no harsher than past statements by its leaders against Israel, and the approach may fail miserably if Israel crushes Hezbollah. But Iran’s unconditional defense of the militia has convinced the United States and many European and Arab governments that Iran is fueling the crisis to project power — whether or not Iran directly inspired or approved Hezbollah’s actions against Israel in the first place.
On Tuesday, Iran made new threats against Israel. At a government-sanctioned demonstration in Tehran, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, the speaker of Parliament, warned, “Israel’s northern cities are within the range of Hezbollah’s missiles, and no part of Israel will be safe.”
The crowd of nearly 2,000 demonstrators replied with chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
As part of the drama of the day, demonstrators read a statement asking the government to help them join Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, Iran’s state-run television reported.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual leader and the country’s most powerful figure, said in a speech on Sunday that Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories proved how “the presence of Zionists in the region is a satanic and cancerous presence and an infected tumor for the entire world of Islam.”
The Iraninas are Persians, who in turn are 'Aryan', unlike their Arab muslim counterparts. Having an 'Aryan' nation vehemently espousing the genocide of Jews isn't the first time it's happened in history, is it?
Team Kim Jong-Il
The North Koreans have mobilised for war. It's the first time they're taking these steps since March 1993 when they pulled out of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. They are taking these steps in response to the recent UN Security Council resolutions condemning the missile strikes.
Joys of Joys.
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