Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

That'll go down well. Two ships, flagged by a nation whose leader thinks Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth, are going to run the blockade with a cargo of "toys". Doubtless manned by peace-loving revolutionary guards and Hizbollah operatives.

israel has certainly made a rod for its own back by the inept handling of the first incident ..... for sure the iranian vessels will be intercepted, and it'll be interesting to see if they "resist arrest" and if so, how ..... of course it's as provocative a move as could be contrived, and assuredly nothing whatsoever to do with relieving the plight of the general populace in gaza - for whom i have huge sympathy

Cynic,

Agreed.

But, the "handling" or "dealings" with Iran have been from the time of implanting of the "Shah" by the British and America prior to 1979 was cynical and inept.

If acceptance of the political change had been accepted, rather than obstructed and undermined, then probably a more moderate Iran would have evolved.

http://www.mideastweb.org/iranhistory.htm

Excerpt from ran: Iran Brief History


"By 1953, General Eisenhower had become president of the US. Anti-communist hysteria was reaching its peak. An Iranian general offered to help in overthrow Mosaddeq, and the British were able to persuade the American CIA to go ahead with the coup in August. With very scant resources and a shoe-string operational plan, the CIA set out to remove Mosaddeq. The plan almost failed, and the Shah, never very resolute, had fled to Baghdad and had to be enticed to continue playing his part from there. The army was loyal to the Shah and Mosaddeq was overthrown and arrested. This coup earned the USA and Britain the lasting hatred of large sectors of Iranian public opinion, uniting communists, nationalists and Shi'ite clericalists behind enmity to foreign meddling. Mosaddeq became a folk hero of Iranian nationalism.

In the context of regional turmoil and the Cold War, the Shah established himself as an indispensable ally of the West. In the Middle East, Iran stood out as one of the few friends of Israel, a friendship that allegedly extended to Israeli help in running the SAVAK, the hated Iranian secret service. Domestically, he advocated reform policies, culminating in the 1963 program known as the White Revolution, which included land reform, the extension of voting rights to women, and the elimination of illiteracy.
====================


With the recent orchestrated sanctioning against Iran by the Americans and stupidities of Israel, one could have expected some challenges from Iran.

I hope that it does not escalate into a full scale confrontation.

========

Looking at this present period, one can see many economic, political and religious (positioning) similarities with the 1930s. The "frictions" , which "allowed" the extremists and fanatics to gain power and led to WW2.

It seems a very dangerous period.

Hope I am wrong.

=======================

fred - please take immodium and lots of it

He loves being stuffed up you know where

Cynic.

Don't need it as much as you do.

I am not incontinent like you seem to be.

i take the piss and i travel from continent to continent, but unlike you (and a few others), i don't have verbal diarrhea

Cynic.

A little more insight and self evaluation may be helpful in your case.


Probably, that would require a little more ability than you show.


Have nice day.

thus spake the genius who has no idea who i am

I am happy not knowing who you are.

But your auto-biography seems fairly apt :-

"an opinionated pain who neverthless refuses to take himself too seriously and rarely gets upset by acid retort from those whose feathers he has ruffled. "

of course it's accurate - i wrote it you dummy!
how would you describe yourself?
thoughtful? balanced? impartial? measured? ..... or none of those?

Probably, having a normal distributions of human frailties and fortunately aware of some of them.

Jimmy Carter oferred champeine to Shah when he visited Iran. Shah made a big mistake and ended his kingdom by drinlking the champaine in fromt of TV.

Was it a plan? many beleive yes it was planned to remove Shah!!!!

I haven't got a chance then, I often drink in front of the TV.

0 0
..|..
uuu

Beware fred, alcohol and Thorazine are a lethal combo

I'm sorry to see haymaker coming out with his appalling statement saying he wants to donate money to buying rockets to kill Israelis with.
I had thought maybe he wasn't the rabid anti-semite I'd first supposed, but my first impression was correct. He would have made an excellent concentration camp killer/torturer, proclaiming some of his best friends were Jews as he herded them into the gas chambers and ovens.

have you been to a concentration camp?
and don't necessarily take what people write at face value .... the written word can be easily misunderstood

In The Land of the B

It is nothing to do with being anti-semetic. It is the Israeli governemt and illegal settlers that I am against. It is merely coincidental that they are Jewish. I would feel the same whatever their religion or race.

I have not been proclaiming that some fo my best friends are Jews. You are clearly inventing things. In fact none of my best friends are Jews. I have had a Jewish business partner, a Jewish accountant, Jewish employees, my children have Jewish friends, my best man was Jewish, but I couildn't really say any of my best friends were Jewish. Most of my best friends are Catholic or at any rate were at some time in their past.

Arab and foreign activists, including an aid ship operated by women from Lebanon, are scheduled to set sail to the Gaza Strip to break the siege on the enclave now blockaded for more than three years, despite Israel's request to the European Union to prevent all ships on missions to break the siege from European ports.

Preparatory committee coordinator for the Lebanese women's ship, "Mariam", Samar Hajj, said in a phone call with Agence France Presse today that the initiative for the ship started from very ordinary women, who are firm believers that the siege must be broken.

She noted that the Free Palestine movement represented by chairman, Yasser Qochloq, secured the ship and all logistic support. She indicated that the number of women on board has reached fifty, thirty of them Lebanese, and twenty foreigners.

The commercial cargo boat will transport drugs for Palestinians suffering from cancer, the rate of which has risen in Gaza, according to Hajj, after the war Israel launched against the Strip at the end of 2008.

The AFP also reported from sources from the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza that Freedom Flotilla II, which will include more vessels and carry more passengers than the first freedom flotilla, is expected to set sail following the conclusion of the World Cup. According to the campaign, the majority of those who signed up to participate on the aid mission ship are European citizens, noting that government officials from Europe have expressed strong interest in participating in missions to break the siege on the Gaza Strip.

However, according to Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot, Israeli authorities have been contacting the EU states and other international authorities, demanding that they do not allow Freedom Flotilla 2 or other aid ships headed for Gaza to depart from their ports. They also demand that European citizens are prevented from participating in the missions, claiming that they "seek to work against the interests of Israel."

The e-version of the newspaper reported that Israeli naval forces are preparing to block the arrival of ten new aid vessels in pursuit of breaking the siege on Gaza. A ship bearing the name Naji Al-Ali from Lebanon along with two other ships belonging to the Iranian Red Crescent are scheduled to arrive in Gaza in the coming days.

haymaker wrote,

"Of course the people on the ship would attack the Israelis and good luck to them. It is the same with firing rockets into Israel. They do it beacuse Israel has taken their land and also good luck to them. If I had any spare money I might give them some to buy some more rockets. "

So it is not just "illegal" settlers and current Israeli govt policy you are against and want to kill and maim with rockets, it's "legal" innocent men, women and children living in Israel proper on undisputed territory, IS'NT IT?
By your own words.....

Methinks he protesteth too much about having Jewish "friends" etc. He reminds me
of the people who gleefully betrayed their life long friends and neighbours to the Einsatzgruppen for torture and murder throughout Europe to seize the homes and property for themselves.
Amongst them were very many of my wife's family, and yes, I have been to concentration camps, cynic, including Belsen, Dachau and Auschwitz-Birkenau where many were slaughtered.

Such behaviour is, of course, not unique. Many villagers in Bosnia gave up their Muslim "friends" and neighbours to the Serb murderers.

So yes, I can easily see haymaker being exactly the same sort of person........simply by his own words, some of which include, "If I had any spare money I might give them some to buy some more rockets. "

He doesn't fool me, he disgusts me with his murderous intent.