JN-1059

Jerusalem News (13 July, 2014, 15 Tammuz, 5774)

Contents:
 1. An Overview of Some Other Problems in the Middle East
Death Throes and Other Middle Eastern Phenomena by Norman Bailey
2. U.S.: Assad's 'Machinery of Death' Worst Since the Nazis
3. U.S. Dollar Collapse: Where is Germany's Gold?
By Peter Schiff
4. Do You Pass the Israel Test?
5. The Founding Charter of Hamas, not just a state but a conscious deliberate agent of evil.
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 1. An Overview of Some Other Problems in the Middle East
Death Throes and Other Middle Eastern Phenomena by Norman Bailey
Extracts:

The leader of the "Islamic State" (IS), the territory of which for the time being encompasses northern and western Iraq and parts of eastern Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (a "nom de guerre") head of IS, proclaimed himself Caliph of Islam.  The Sunni Muslim Arab Caliphate existed from the seventh century c.e. to less than a hundred years ago, when it was abolished by the Turkish National Assembly and the last Caliph sent into exile.  The first Caliph was named Abu Bakr, which is undoubtedly why the head of IS adopted the name.  The Caliph, the spiritual leader of the Arab Sunnis, always claimed authority over all Muslims, but was never recognized by Muslims east of Iran or by Sh'ia Muslim.  Some other Jihadi organizations have recognized IS and Abu Bakr, but it is a sure bet that the great majority will not.

In an unlikely alliance of convenience the U.S., Russia and especially Iran are trying to help the Maliki government in Baghdad to stage a counterattack against IS, and chances of success are quite good, especially since they have an air force and IS does not.  But fighting will likely be prolonged, and the great attraction for many Sunni Arabs of the restoration of the Caliphate should not be underestimated.

For Israel, which has no dog in that fight, the greatest danger would come from an IS attack on the fragile Hashemite regime in Jordan.  A takeover of Jordan by the extremists or even a civil war Syrian-style would vastly complicate the task of the Israeli security and defense forces, already severely stretched.

Farther east and north, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of the Iraqi Kurds is in limbo, making deals with Turkey to transport its oil and greatly increasing its reserves of oil by seizing the Kirkuk fields.  The KRG itself appears uncertain about whether it should declare independence or not, encouraged to do so by Israel and discouraged from doing so by the United States.

On the Kurdish front, the overlooked Kurds of Iran, a sizable minority, are growing restless and beginning to demonstrate in favor of ethnic autonomy.  The Iranian security forces are predictably reacting with disproportionate violence.

The al-Sisi government in Egypt has taken an extremely significant step towards economic rationality by removing energy subsidies, which has increased prices by about seventy percent. ... It now remains to be seen whether the courage of the regime stretches to eliminating or reducing the bread subsidy, a measure that should be taken along with many positive steps, such as consolidation and modernization of Egyptian agriculture, for millennia the breadbasket of the Mediterranean world but now barely able to cover half of requirements.  Needless to say, what happens in Egypt is as important to Israel as what happens in Jordan.

In short, there is much more going on in the neighborhood than rocket attacks from Gaza.
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2. U.S.: Assad's 'Machinery of Death' Worst Since the Nazis

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/07/u-s-assad-s-machinery-of-death-worst-since-the-nazis.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
Extracts:

Tens of thousands of photographs showing the Syrian government's torture, murder, and mass starvation are evidence of the kind of systematic atrocities not seen Hitler's Nazi regime exterminated millions during World War II, according to the State Department's top war crimes official.

Stephen Rapp, the State Department's ambassador-at-large for War Crimes and director of the Office of Global Criminal Justice, has reviewed large sections of a huge collection of photos and written records of Syrian government atrocities smuggled out of the country by a former military photographer known as 'Caesar.' Rapp spoke about the evidence at a July 3 event at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

'This is solid evidence of the kind of machinery of cruel death that we haven't seen frankly since the Nazis,' he said. 'If it is as it appears thus far, we're talking about more than 10,000 individuals being killed in custody over the period from 2011 to 2013, including largely men but also some very, very young men and boys and women! It's shocking to me, as a prosecutor, I'm used to evidence not being so strong.'

Another former war crimes prosecutor who has reviewed some of the evidence tells The Daily Beast that he believes the photos indicate at least indirect 'Russian government responsibility' for the atrocities.

The report was written by noted international war crimes prosecutors David Crane, Desmond de Silva, and Geoffrey Nice, and was partially funded by the Qatari government. At the time the report was issued, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov publicly cast doubt on its findings and called for independent verification of the allegations.

Rapp said the U.S. government is nearly finished with its own forensic analysis of 28,000 of the photos and they not only appear to be genuine, but they also show a level of systematic atrocities that implicate Syrian officials including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in crimes against humanity.

Assad himself is implicated in the crimes for the purposes of future prosecutions, Rapp said, because as head of the Syrian government and military he holds command responsibility and is therefore responsible for what the photos show is a policy of torture and murder of civilians. Assad also granted amnesty for crimes committed by his forces; it's another action that indicates his responsibility.

International war crimes scholar Cherif Bassiouni - who led the U.N. investigations into war crimes in Yugoslavia, Bahrain, and Libya, and helped create the International Criminal Court, also saw many of the photos of atrocities brought out of Syria by Caesar. He spoke with The Daily Beast exclusively about the evidence.

Bassiouni said that top officials from countries directly aiding the Syrian army could also be implicated in the crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the Assad regime. In particular, he said the torture and killing was done in a systematic way he recognized from his time studying the Soviet Union.

'What I see in the pictures is to a large extent an anomaly to the culture of the Syrian army. The way these pictures were taken show a great deal of systematicity, reflecting a culture that is systematic in its approach. This culture, in my opinion, is more reflected in Russia,' he said. 'What you see in Russian bureaucracy today, particularly in the successor to the KGB and military, is really no different than what existed in the USSR. The people haven't changed and their methods haven't changed.'

'We see a pattern of systematicity and discipline in the taking of the pictures, the numbering of the persons, etc., which has never occurred before in the history of Syria. It has occurred in Russia,' he said. 'If I compare the cultural practices of the Syrian military in the past, their practice has always been to torture, kill, get rid of the bodies, get rid of the evidence. When you look at the practices of the USSR and the eastern European countries, everything is documented.'
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3. U.S. Dollar Collapse: Where is Germany's Gold?
By Peter Schiff
Global Research, January 20, 2014
http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-dollar-collapse-where-is-germanys-gold/5321894

This Article was first published in February 2013
Extracts:

The financial world was shocked this month by a demand from Germany's Bundesbank to repatriate a large portion of its gold reserves held abroad. By 2020, Germany wants 50% of its total gold reserves back in Frankfurt - including 300 tons from the Federal Reserve. The Bundesbank's announcement comes just three months after the Fed refused to submit to an audit of its holdings on Germany's behalf. One cannot help but wonder if the refusal triggered the demand.

Either way, Germany appears to be waking up to a reality for which central banks around the world have been preparing: the dollar is no longer the world's safe-haven asset and the US government is no longer a trustworthy banker for foreign nations. It looks like their fears are well-grounded, given the Fed's seeming inability to return what is legally Germany's gold in a timely manner. Germany is a developed and powerful nation with the second largest gold reserves in the world. If they can't rely on Washington to keep its promises, who can?

Where is Germany's Gold?

The impact of Germany's repatriation on the dollar revolves around an unanswered question: why will it take seven years to complete the transfer?

The popular explanation is that the Fed has already rehypothecated all of its gold holdings in the name of other countries. That is, the same mound of bullion is earmarked as collateral for a host of different lenders. Since the Fed depends on a fractional-reserve banking system for its very existence, it would not come as a surprise that it has become a fractional-reserve bank itself. If so, then perhaps Germany politely asked for a seven-year timeline in order to allow the Fed to save face, and to prevent other depositors from clamoring for their own gold back - a 'run' on the Fed.

Now, the Fed can always print more dollars and buy gold on the open market to make up for any shortfall, but such a move could substantially increase the price of gold. The last thing the Fed needs is another gold price spike reminding the world of the dollar's decline.

Perhaps the entire international community is thinking back to the '60s, because Germany isn't the only country maneuvering away from the dollar today. The Netherlands and Azerbaijan are also discussing repatriating their foreign gold holdings. And every month, we hear about central banks increasing gold reserves. The latest are Russia and Kazakhstan, but in the last year, countries from Brazil to Turkey have been adding to their gold holdings in order to diversify away from fiat currency reserves.

And don't forget China. Once the biggest purchaser of US bonds, it is now a net seller of Treasuries, while simultaneously gobbling up gold. Some sources even claim that China has unofficially surpassed Germany as the second largest holder of gold in the world.
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4. Do You Pass the Israel Test?
http://prageruniversity.com/Political-Science/Do-You-Pass-the-Israel-Test.html#.U8F-Vre_kdW

Short, interesting, and recommended video clip.

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5. The Founding Charter of Hamas, not just a state but a conscious deliberate agent of evil.

Hamas Covenant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_Covenant
Extracts:
Article 6 Hamas is uniquely Palestinian,[19] and "strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine"[12][16]
Article 11 Palestine is sacred (waqf) for all Muslims for all time, and it cannot be relinquished by anyone.[16]
Article 12 affirms that "Nationalism, from the point of view of the Islamic Resistance Movement, is part of the religious creed" .[16]
Article 13 There is no negotiated settlement possible. Jihad is the only answer.[16]
Article 14 The liberation of Palestine is the personal duty of every Palestinian.[16]
Article 15 "The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim". It states the history of crusades into Muslim lands and says the "Palestinian problem is a religious problem".[16]
Article 20 Calls for action "by the people as a single body" against "a vicious enemy which acts in a way similar to Nazism, making no differentiation between man and woman, between children and old people".
Article 22 Makes sweeping claims about Jewish influence and power. [16][20]
Article 28 Conspiracy indictment against "Israel, Judaism and Jews".[16][20]
Article 32 Hamas condemns as co-plotters the 'imperialistic powers'.[20] References The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[16][21]

Statements about Israel
The preamble states: Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it

Anti-Semitism claims
....According to the charter, Jewish people "have only negative traits and are presented as planning to take over the world."[22] The charter claims that the Jews deserve God's/Allah's enmity and wrath because they received the Scriptures but violated its sacred texts, disbelieved the signs of Allah, and slew their own prophets.[23] "The Day of Judgement will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews"(related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).[24] The charter contains references to antisemitic canards, such as the assertion that through shrewd manipulation of imperial countries and secret societies, Jews were behind a wide range of events and disasters going as far back in history as the French Revolution. The document also quotes Islamic religious texts to provide justification for fighting against and killing the Jews, without distinction of whether they are in Israel or elsewhere.[25] It presents the Arab-Israeli conflict as an inherently irreconcilable struggle between Jews and Muslims, and Judaism and Islam, adding that the only way to engage in this struggle between "truth and falsehood" is through Islam and by means of jihad, until victory or martyrdom.