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28 Jan 2011 14:40

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World: U.S. thinking of cutting back or killing its Egyptian financial aid

  • An Obama administration official says the U.S. will review its $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt based on events unfolding in the country, where the authoritarian government is struggling to extinguish huge and growing street protests.
  • An AP story • Reporting on Obama’s plans to possibly keep, cut back on or kill Egyptian aid. It’s not so far as cutting it off entirely, but still … this could prove to be a turning point in U.S.-Egyptian relations. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2011 13:16

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World: U.S. aid money helps prop up Egyptian government

  • $1.3
    billion     the amount that Egypt has gotten from the U.S. government on average each year – second to Israel
  • $30
    billion     the amount that Egypt has gotten from the U.S. since 1975, according to the State Department source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 10:13

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World: Palestine: Al-Jazeera’s “Palestine Papers” full of lies

  • We don’t have anything to hide. [The papers have been] taken out of context and contain lies … Al-Jazeera’s information is full of distortions and fraud.
  • PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat • Denying the claims of al-Jazeera and The Guardian, which published the Palestine Papers, which reportedly show that Palestinians were ready to give Israel a huge concession without getting much of anything from Israel. Hamas officials, on the other hand, is quite angry about the report, saying it shows “this leadership is not honest.” FYI: More stuff is coming this week. Keep an eye out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2011 11:23

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World: Israeli independent study: Flotilla raid “regrettable” but legal

  • issue Back in May, an Israeli raid of a humanitarian flotilla, headed towards the until-then heavily-sanctioned Gaza, angered many who felt that Israeli military actions in the situation broke international law and led to unnecessary deaths. Israel defended its actions.
  • findings While the entire incident was “regrettable,” according to an Israeli-commissioned study, it was legal under international law – with the independent study saying soldiers “acted professionally and in a measured manner in the face of unanticipated violence.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 20:36

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World: Hotel Shepherd demolished – along with the Israeli peace process?

Thought of the day – tearing down a hotel in Jerusalem with any sort of sentimental value to Palestinians is probably a very bad idea that might hurt the ongoing peace process. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Dec 2010 10:08

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World: Number of former Israeli presidents convicted of rape? One.

It’s good to note that Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of raping two former employees and harassing another, backed out of a plea deal to fight this in court. Bad idea. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Dec 2010 22:39

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World: The U.S. decides to let Israeli settlement deal fall through

  • That sound you hear is that of the U.S. dragging its tail between its legs. After attempting to making an offer to Israel to give them some fighter jets in exchange for a temporary delay of their building ambitions, the deal fell apart. The hope was that the delay would encourage Israel and Palestine to create firm borders, but in the end, the U.S. wouldn’t offer anything up to Israel in writing, and Palestine wouldn’t rekindle peace talks over a temporary settlement-building halt. The U.S. is playing down the diplomatic failure (which was kind of a bum deal anyway) and instead moving on to diplomatic talks between Israel and Palestine next week in the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, by the way, will be making a speech about the Middle East on Friday. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Nov 2010 12:01

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World: U.S. bribes Israel so they’ll stop building West Bank settlements

  • $3 billion the amount the U.S. will offer Israel – mostly in the form of security incentives and fighter jets
  • 90 days the amount of time Benny Netanyahu will enforce a freeze on most new construction in the West Bank source
  • » Clarification: There is some contingency going on here. The U.S. will dangle this carrot over Israel’s head to get them to stop the settlements for now, but it could still fall through if Israel doesn’t sign a peace agreement. So it’s kind of a raw deal, but it’s not that raw.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2010 21:08

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World: Israel PM to Obama: You don’t own me! I do what I want!

  • Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is the capital of the state of Israel. Israel sees no connection between the diplomatic process and the planning and building policy in Jerusalem.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu • Explaining why Israel will continue to build settlements in disputed areas of Jerusalem and the West Bank despite rebukes from the U.S. for its latest settlement-building schemes. Just hours before, Obama criticized Israel for its actions like so: “This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations, and I’m concerned that we’re not seeing each side make that extra effort involved to get a breakthrough. Each of these incremental steps end up breaking trust.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2010 10:19

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World: Israel approves more West Bank settlements, plays with fire

  • 1,200 number of homes Israel approved for building in East Jerusalem
  • 800 more homes were then approved for building in the West Bank
  • yes both Palestinians and the U.S. are extremely angry about all this source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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