Abbas will guarantee Israel's security if he is given $$$!

Rebuilding Gaza | TheHill

"...This requires purposeful aid that meets Palestinians’ needs in Gaza, denies Hamas and its sponsors political credit for reconstruction, reinvigorates Palestinian reform and supports the US policy objectives in the region, including the realization of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Such a framework needs to safeguard Israel’s and Egypt’s security concerns, by ensuring not only that Hamas is denied an opportunity to rearm,..."

Crocker: "... even if that means some coordination with Assad!"

"... Crocker, on the other hand, has long argued that the Assad regime may be bad, but it doesn't pose nearly the same threat compared with the Islamic State, which previously called itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS....Crocker also thinks the U.S. needs to launch airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria as well as Iraq — even if that means some coordination with Assad..."

"Assad recognizes that the Western opening will be in secret, and via security channels and not diplomacy"

"... Assad is not expecting the West to perform a policy U-turn soon, the sources said. But having secured territory seen as vital for his survival, time is on Assad's side as he takes the long view in the struggle for Syria."The regime recognizes that the Western opening will be in secret, and via security channels and not diplomacy. The political-diplomatic opening needs longer," said Salem Zahran, a Lebanese journalist with close ties to the Syrian government. "But the regime believes that the whole world will come to coordinate with it under the slogan 'fighting terrorism'."

"Last year, Assad was the enemy. This year? We’re making friends with Syria"

"... Fast forward a year, and authoritative word has winged its way across the Atlantic from the Pentagon – in the shape of a joint press conference by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the defence secretary, no less – that the only way to halt the advance of Islamic State (Isis) in northern Iraq is to bomb ... Syria. But this time not the forces – official and unofficial – of Assad, but the Syria of his enemies. Because, hey, we have revised our view of the lesser evil..."

U.S. Providing Intelligence For Syrian Air-Force Bombings

This is precisely what Sy Hersh told me and a group of friends back in June! And to be more precise, it is the Special Forces (USSOCOM) who are doing it!

"... The U.S. is again fully at war in Iraq. But bombing in Syria, it seems to me, will be left to the Syrian air-force. For some days now it has attacked IS targets in Raqqa with precise ammunition, not with the usual "barrel bombs". Precise weapons need precise intelligence to designate precise targets. Two knowledgeable journalist from the region have suggested that the U.S. is providing such targeting data to the Syrian government ..."

Terrorists-lover Brazil have done what even Egypt & Jordan refrained from doing'

".. It added that Brazil was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations — something that not even Arab countries such as Egypt or Jordan have done at the time of this writing...."

"Time is not on Israel's side"

"... Time is not on Israel's side. At some point, something will likely happen to weaken its position, while it is unlikely that anything will happen to strengthen its position. That normally would be an argument for entering negotiations, but the Palestinians will not negotiate a deal that would leave them weak and divided, and any deal that Israel could live with would do just that.
What we are seeing in Gaza is merely housekeeping, that is, each side trying to maintain its position. The Palestinians need to maintain solidarity for the long haul. The Israelis need to hold their strategic superiority as long as they can. But nothing lasts forever, and over time, the relative strength of Israel will decline. Meanwhile, the relative strength of the Palestinians may increase, though this isn't certain...."

NSA provides the Saudis with “internal security” tech support! (Aka. tools for crackdown on dissent!)

"... The National Security Agency last year significantly expanded its cooperative relationship with the Saudi Ministry of Interior, one of the world’s most repressive and abusive government agencies. An April 2013 top secret memo provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden details the agency’s plans “to provide direct analytic and technical support” to the Saudis on “internal security” matters.The Saudi Ministry of Interior—referred to in the document as MOI— has been condemned for years as one of the most brutal human rights violators in the world. In 2013, the U.S. State Department reported that “Ministry of Interior officials sometimes subjected prisoners and detainees to torture and other physical abuse,” specifically mentioning a 2011 episode in which MOI agents allegedly “poured an antiseptic cleaning liquid down [the] throat” of one human rights activist. The report also notes the MOI’s use of invasive surveillance targeted at political and religious dissidents...."

The Saudi purge!

"... The Saudi response (as outlined in an opinion-piece by a top Saudi establishment commentator, Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, who heads Al-Arabiya television) is that the ISIS threat needs to be understood properly – since there is a “genuine [Sunni] revolution against a sectarian repugnant rule” in both Syria and Iraq. ISIS tapped into this ‘Sunni anger’ to become “the star at the box office” for Sunnis all over the world … However, “were it not for Assad and Maliki, ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front would not have existed.”  (This Saudi meme is the ‘narrative’ that has almost universally been taken up by the mainstream western media.)Saudi Arabia is prepared, Abdulrahman suggests to confront ISIS, but only – and only if  - “a political solution [is] imposed in Syria and Iraq” — a regime change that leads to wider Sunni mobilization. The sectarian policies of Assad and Maliki “triggered this chaos. Therefore, the solution lies in strong central governments in both Baghdad and Damascus with American, Western and regional support.”But let us be clear: When Abdulrahman insists that Nouri al-Maliki must be ousted, he is not proposing that another Shi’i simply take his place – as would occur under the present political dispensation in which the Shi’i amount to 60 – 65% of the electorate.  He is calling for the overthrow of the system – with a Sunni (or a Riyadh approved Iyad Alawi) ‘strongman’ placed in power (à la Sisi).  Ditto for Syria.  It is a call for the purging of the Middle East..."

Leveretts on International Law and the Gaza Crisis ...

Gaza Crisis—and U.S. Policy Toward Russia, Ukraine, & the Iran Nuclear Talks

"... That is what Israel has brought on itself.  The two-state solution is, at this point, in my view, effectively dead, and we are on what is going to turn out, I think, to be a very, very slow, very, very bloody, very painful but ultimately inevitable trajectory toward a one-state solution.”

Israel's 'Iron Dome'

"... In the absence of Israeli data backing claims of Iron Dome efficiency, and based on the unambiguous evidence I have reviewed, a conclusion seems clear: The Israeli government is not telling the truth about Iron Dome to its own population, or to the United States, which has provided the Israeli government with the bulk of the funding needed to design and build the much-heralded but apparently ineffective rocket-defense system."

Hypocrite!

... need we remind him what we are doing in SYRIA, IRAQ, Yemen ...etc?

"... WASHINGTON — In presenting the most detailed case yet alleging Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Russia had funneled large quantities of heavy weapons to Ukrainian separatists and trained them how to operate SA-11 antiaircraft missiles, the type of system that is believed to have been used to shoot down the Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine..."

Arabs stand (not) with Palestine!

'Smugglers' Turkish official says ...

"... Two Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with smugglers near Turkey's border with Syria, a Turkish official said July 22, as Turkey's struggle to control illicit movements across its porous frontier with Syria becomes more difficult...."

Iran complying with nuclear deal: UN watchdog (funny; no trace of this in MSM!)

UN watchdog

"... Tehran: Iran has diluted its entire stock of medium-enriched uranium as required under a November deal with world powers, the UN atomic agency said in its latest report seen by AFP Monday.  Even as talks to reach a nuclear deal with Iran were extended beyond an initial July 20 deadline, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tehran was standing by its international commitments.  As agreed under a so-called Joint Plan of Action reached in November, the Islamic Republic has cut half of its stock of 20-percent enriched uranium down to five-percent purity. .."

Egypt's faltering mediation in Gaza?

Al Jazeera English

"... Most analysts believe that any kind of ceasefire is inevitably going to require Egypt to ease its pressure on Gaza to some extent; whether they officially open the border at Rafah or decide to quietly allow the tunnel network to function again..."

About that Israeli 'Iron Dome'

"... Hamas, though, continued to fire dozens of rockets into Israel throughout the night and Friday, 87 of which hit Israeli soil, the military said. About 40 were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Residents in southern Israel were hunkered inside their homes or in bomb shelters, as the military advised them to stay within 30 seconds’ travel time to protected areas..."

'Hundreds of fatigued Syrian rebels give up the fight'

"... By his estimate, nearly half the fighters in Aleppo have left over the last year, most of them from small rebel groups. In the last six months the attrition has picked up as an emboldened Assad government retakes territory throughout the country: in Damascus and Homs, in central Syria, as well as in Aleppo, in the north...."

"UAE ridicules Qatari lies on Abdullah meeting Israeli minister"

Khaleej Times

"... Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, has refrained from replying to the fabricated news aired by Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV Channel on meeting with his Israeli counterpart.In his official account on Twitter, he said “I had opted between answering and not answering.”
“I was content not to reply seeking reward from Allah and mitigate the sins in these days.”
Meanwhile, Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, demanded an apology from Al Jazeera for fabricating news about the meeting of Shaikh Abdullah and Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman..."

'The Great Iranian Nuclear Swindle'

"... The Gulf of Tonkin incident, which misleadingly sold the US on a full-scale war in Vietnam, and the claim of “mobile biological weapons labs” by the “Curveball” informant that helped selling the world on the Iraq War, are but two examples of falsehoods willfully interpreted as truth by a supine press and a public conditioned to believe the worst.The West cannot allow a similar travesty to unfold in Iran. Its leaders should accept that the case against Iran is political, not technical, and work to end this long and burdensome affair."