World War III Watch

I'm no more, nor less paranoid than the next guy, but this worries the hell out of me:

Iran Test-Fires a New Missile With a 1,200-Mile Range

American officials and international inspectors are concerned that Iran seems to have made significant progress in the three technonologies necessary to field an effective nuclear weapon: enriching uranium to weapons grade;developing a missile capable of reaching Israel and parts of Western Europe; and designing a warhead that will fit on the missile.

The greatest mystery surrounds the warhead program, which intelligence agencies said in late 2007 had been halted at the end of 2003. Asked today whether he had seen additional evidence to indicate that the weaponization program had restarted, Mr. Saymore declined to comment.

The announcement was likely to reinforce Israeli concerns, voiced strongly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about Iran’s regional intentions as a military and political power. The reported launch also followed efforts by the Obama administration to seek a new relationship with Tehran to forestall a nuclear program that Western countries say is designed to build a nuclear bomb. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe Israel off the map. The Israelis don't take such threats lightly. In 1981 they launched a surprise aerial bombing attack and destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, for fear that Saddam was enriching uranium for weapons to be used against them. You have to think they would be willing to do the same thing to Iran. What happens if they do make a strike? What if Iran strikes back? What will the US do, if so? There are so many horrible scenarios one can think of, in a region not known for cool heads.

Galloway Ruling Feeding Conspiracies

As I have written, barring George Galloway from entering Canada is going to feed conspiracy theorists.

I said: "Next thing you know we are going to be hearing that the Free Masons secretly ordered [Galloway's speaking engagements] stopped."

Notorious leftist Linda McQuiag of the Toronto Star has stepped up: (No Free Masons though)

Indeed, it seems likely Israel had a hand in the decision to ban Galloway from Canada. In March 2008, the Harper government signed a broad-ranging security pact with Israel. The pact, which has received scant attention in Canada's Parliament or media, established close Canada-Israeli co-operation in "border management and security," under a management committee comprised of Canada's deputy minister of public safety and Israel's director general of public security.

So was the decision to ban Galloway not only absurd and anti-democratic, but also influenced by a foreign government?

Canadian government spokesperson Alykhan Velshi denied this yesterday. But what exactly does this secretive management committee do, and how might it affect Canada's Muslim and Arab populations?

via Jonathan Kay at the National Post

Report: Israeli Jets Made Strike Inside Sudan

CBS reported that the IAF carried out the attack on a convoy of trucks in Sudan carrying arms for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, 39 people riding in the 17-truck convoy were killed, while a number of civilians in the area were injured. (source Haaretz.com)

UPDATE: Israel hasn't confirmed it yet, but there is also reports that they attacked an Iranian ship as well

Following unconfirmed reports that Israel or the US attacked a convoy of trucks carrying weapons headed for the Gaza Strip in Sudan, a new report by Sudanese sources cited an additional strike on a ship possibly making its way to Sudan from Iran.

"There were indeed two strikes in Sudan, in January and February," Sudan's deputy transportation minister told Channel 10 on Thursday evening. "I cannot confirm that Israel or the US were behind the attack, but I know that the US controls the airspace there," he said.

"The second strike was against a ship at sea and it was completely destroyed," another Sudanese official said.

If this is true, this could really heat things up over there.

UPDATE II: I don't know why the western press haven't picked up on this yet.

UPDATE III: Finally something in the Guardian. Why did it take so long to report something that happened in January?

Insurgency Tactics

Protests erupted across the world in response to Israel's incursion into Gaza. There was one right here in Vancouver.

1980's pain-in-the-rear Annie Lennox is speaking out against the bombing of civilians:

Singer Annie Lennox and other celebrities are calling on Israel to stop its air attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Lennox said violence could never be a solution to conflict.

Do any of these western protestors even consider that maybe Hamas was provoking a response and that civilian casualties actually help their cause? That the protestors are the type of wind-up toy response they expected?