Iran’s state radio said Wednesday the country’s military had warned US forces that their helicopters in Iraq were flying too close to the Iranian border.

Full Article

The powers-that-be in Iran also congratulated Obama, but mark my words, this issue will lay relatively dormant until sometime after January 20th, and then the guy who wanted to talk with Iran will have to decide what to do with them as an aggressor.

There you have it; my first prediction for President Obama’s first 100 days.

For months, President Bush has been saying a peace deal is possible before he leaves office in January.

But now, his comments are more measured. With a transition of power underway in Israel and time running out for major concessions, Mr. Bush is saying only that he is hopeful.

Full Article

You set out to be the President that brings peace in the Middle East by forcing Israel to give away large chunks of land, you end up being the guy in charge when the U.S. economy tanks.  Who says there’s no justice in the world?

Report: Israel persuaded not to include Shalit in truce deal
By Ali Waked

Arab media reports Egyptian intelligence chief succeeds in securing Israeli compromise over demand conditioning ceasefire agreement on release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas delegation heads to Cairo later on Saturday to hear Jerusalem’s response through mediators

Article Continues… (Yediot Ahronot)

As much as I’d like to think a release will happen, I suspect Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev will face the same fate as Ron Arad.

See also: Arabs shocked by Obama speech (Al Jazeera)

Obama has an astonishingly empty paper trail. He’s going around issuing promissory notes on the future that he can’t possibly redeem. Promises to heal the world with negotiations with the likes of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Promises to transcend the conundrums of entitlement reform that require real and painful trade-offs. Promises to fund his other promises by a rapid withdrawal from an unpopular war — with the hope, I suppose, that the (presumed) resulting increase in American prestige would compensate for the chaos to follow.

Full Article (Chicago Tribune)

I’m absolutely astounded at the number of people that think terrorist states are up for negotiations. The U.S. is the “Great Satan,” Israel is the “Little Satan,” why would they want to work things out with either of us?

Do they still take write-in candidates in Presidential elections?

US President George W. Bush, on his first visit to this oil-rich kingdom, delivered a major arms sale Monday to a key ally in a region where the US casts neighboring Iran as a menace to stability.

Full Article (Jerusalem Post)

Why do I think this will bite him in the rear?

By Spengler

The state of Israel embodies the last, best chance for the Islamic world to come to terms with the modern world. Received wisdom in the foreign ministries of the West holds that relations with Muslims would be ever so much easier without the annoying presence of the Jewish state, which humiliates the Muslim world. Just the opposite is true. The Israeli presence in the territory of the ancient Jewish commonwealth, on land that once belonged to the Dar al’Islam, offers the single, slender hope for the future of the Muslim world, precisely because it constitutes a humiliation.

Full Article (Asia Times)

This article is 100% correct, but sadly, it falls on deaf ears.

HT: Israpundit

By Mohamed Elshinnawi

An independent group of Palestinian and Israeli religious leaders, meeting in Washington, has launched an initiative to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group says it hopes to counter extremism by facilitating dialogue among the region’s moderate voices. Speaking Wednesday at a Washington news conference, members of the group, called the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, said they are working closely with the political leaders of Israel and the Palestinian authority to support current peace initiatives.

Full Article (VOA)

I always get a kick out of these groups that think they can solve the world’s problems. Unfortunately, the very vocal and powerful radical Islamists don’t want the Jews in the Middle East. That will never change.

“Now is not the time to discuss a permanent agreement with the Palestinians,” Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said Saturday at the opening of an international terror conference at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

“After the (Hamas takeover) in Gaza, it’s inappropriate to talk of a permanent agreement. The basic precondition for talks on a permanent agreement is a partner in these talks whom we know is solidly grounded,” he explained to reporters at the conference.

Full Article (ynet)

Has there ever really been a good time to pursue peace with the Palestinians?