Marion Barry Stalking Arrest: When is Enough Enough?

Washington, D.C. Councilman Marion Barry has been arrested for stalking a woman in Anacostia Park.

Marion Barry

The woman flagged down a police officer, pointed out Barry's car, and she said he was stalking her. Barry and the woman knew each other. She has not been named.

The stalking charge is a misdemeanor. Here's the way things work for the powerful in Washington, D.C.:

The officer is a not a D.C. and was unaware who Barry was prior to making the arrest, said Park Police spokesperson Sgt. David Schlosser, according to the Washington City Paper.

Barry failed to file or pay income taxes for years. He is on probation for that offense through 2011. In the last year as Mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1990 an FBI sting caught him on tape smoking crack cocaine. Barry service six months in prison and returned to the Mayor's office for a fourth term in 1994.

How do these people get re-elected? Do the voters in D.C. see this man as a leader for them and their cause, or do they see him as a enabler?

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Boehner and Hoyer on Fox News Sunday: Boehner: Defending the Simulus (Video)

Listen to Boehner tell Hoyer that Republicans were not opposed to a stimulus, they were opposed to the Democrat's stimulus. Saying that jobs should have been created by small businesses as Republicans proposed, Obama and Hoyer bray about th teachers and firefighters who have not lost their jobs.

The fact is, few jobs have been created, basically no sustainable jobs have been created, but...well one job created by stimulus funds is...innovative??? The show opens with this video within the video, of how a town used their stimulus windfall.

Rep. John Boehner key quote: "Trust small business and the American people to invest their own money."

In response to Rep. Steny Hoyer's whine that the Democrats inherited this terrible economy, my hubby points out that the Democrats had been in power for two years before Barack Obama came to the Oval Office, and sat in the Senate those two years.

Boehner and Hoyer on Fox News Sunday

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U.S. Syria Relations Cozy: Neutralizing Israel

Syrian president Bashar Assad has invited President Obama to visit Damascus, in the wake of a U.S.-Saudi press for Syria to "demarcate" its border with Lebanon. By marking the Syrian border and giving up its claims to Shaba Farms, also known as Mount Dov, and placing Mount Dov inside Lebanon's borders, the reasoning is that Israel will have no rationale to claim the militarily strategic Mount Dov, and so Hizbullah will also have no reason to attack Israel. The move is on to neutralize Israel.

U.S. Syria Relations Cozy: Bashar Assad with U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi

It's a fantasy - it's not going to happen.

For those who have forgotten, Israel liberated Mount Dov from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Lebanon claims that Mount Dov belongs to it, and Hezbullah uses Israel's 'occupation' of Mount Dov as proof that Israel is 'occupying' 'Lebanese territory' thereby justifying its existence in Lebanon. The US claims that if Syria demarcates its border with Lebanon, and puts Mount Dov on the Lebanese side of the border, it will take away Hezbullah's raison d'etre (see map below).

It's a bit shocking to know that in 2009, there are countries without official borders.

Israel took over the area in 1967 and sees it as part of the Golan Heights. The UN accepted this position following the IDF's pullout from Lebanon in May 2000 but Hezbollah and Lebanon claim that this is Lebanese territory still under Israeli occupation.

From Israel's long-time point-of-view, Shaba Farms (Mount Dov) has been off the table for discussion.

What are the issues?

In the 1923 Anglo-French Demarcation Agreement, which set the borders between the British and French mandates in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, the area was included in Syria. The maps of the 1949 Israeli-Syrian Armistice Agreements similarly designated the area as Syrian.

In the 1967 Six Day War, the farms were occupied by the IDF as part of its conquest of the Golan Heights. Lebanon was not involved in that war, and Israel did not engage in any fighting against it.

At that time, no one - neither Syria nor Lebanon - claimed that the area was Lebanese.

IN THE negotiations leading to the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Lebanon for the first time raised its claim to the farms, but based on all previous historical documents and maps, the UN sided with the Israeli version, i.e. that this was Syrian territory and subject to future Israeli-Syrian negotiations. The Lebanese claim was used by Hizbullah to continue its resistance to "Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.

At the time of the 2000 Israeli withdrawal the UN asked Syria about its position on the issue. Damascus was in a quandary: On the one hand, this was obviously Syrian territory; on the other, if Syria conceded that the farms belong to Lebanon, there might be a chance of getting one more sliver of Arab territory out of Israeli hands.

Syria thus responded that whatever its former claims to the Shaba Farms, it now agreed to cede them to Lebanon.

But when the UN asked Damascus for a formal document stating that the area had indeed been legally transferred to Lebanon, Syria balked - and it has still not supplied such a document.

The short story is that Syria has refused to recognize Lebanon as a sovereign state. Not until this year did Syria appoint it's first ever ambassador to Beirut. At the same time, Lebanon sent its first ambassador to Syria.

Damascus still has powerful allies in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shi'ite party with a powerful guerrilla army.

The U.S. has pressured Israel to withdraw from Mount Dov for years.

The area is a 100 square mile parcel of land located at the foot of Mount Hermon where the Syrian, Lebanese and Israeli borders meet. Israel took control of the area after the Six Day War in 1967, and since then has built up a number of military outposts on the strategic hills.

Israel's indefensible borders on all sides have led to the necessary land-grabs gained in the 1967 war. How can you defend your people when your enemies refuse to respect your border towns? This 2006 report describes the importance of not letting your enemy bite at your heels:

The drive up to the top of Mt. Dov on Wednesday is done along a narrow and winding road, accessible only in armored vehicles, a memory of Hizbullah's incessant shelling of IDF outposts there not so long ago.

The Gladiola outpost is situated just over the Lebanese village of Shuba with a clear view of Ghajar, as well. Soldiers man heavily-fortified positions along the ridge, keeping an eye on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) patrols below.

Strangely enough, during the war this summer, the Mt. Dov area was quiet, and saw nearly no fighting. According to the officer, the explanation is simple - Hizbullah does not attack military bases, since they know that in such a situation they will lose.

The importance of the area to Israel is clear:

Since the war in Lebanon, the IDF has invested millions of shekels in fixing the infrastructure along the mountain - from repaving the winding road to installing new antennas and surveillance equipment.

The officer said the soldiers stationed in the series of outposts along the mountain play a key role in assisting the IDF to form accurate assessments of Hizbullah's plans.

The purpose of the powerful Hizbullah in Lebanon is to protest the Mount Dov possession by Israel, claiming that the land belongs to Lebanon.

Hizbullah's attempt to claim sovereignty of Mt. Dov is because the group needs an excuse for its existence," he said. "Otherwise, they are worthless."

Israel Matzav questions any notion of Syria's abandonment of Hizbullah and says this:

Engagement' is one thing and giving up real assets (even if the asset is only a claim) is something else. Mount Dov is a very strategic point that is used for military purposes by Israel.

Why would the Syrians want to let Lebanon have it?

What is Lebanon giving them in return?

...even if Israel were to hand Mount Dov over to Lebanon tomorrow, Hezbullah would continue to exist and would continue to charge Israel with 'occupying Lebanese territory.'

So what is the U.S. doing? Should Syria mark their border and place Mount Dov in Lebanon's hands, and Israel acknowledge that border and abandon the area, how can Israel be rightly convinced that the position would not once again be used against the people of Israel? Could a treaty between Israel and Syria be achieved? Would such a treaty mean safety for Israel? There is no way for Israel to be rightly convinced. This has been a U.S. endeavor through the Bush years. The U.S. should not ask Israel to enter into such an agreement. Afterall, had Israel's neighbors respected their sovereignty, the 1967 War would not have happened.

I believe that if the U.S. and the free world would wholeheartedly and very publicly back Israel, Hamas and Hizbullah would be defeated by the very notion that the west would assist Israel's defense of its own borders. It's very simple. Actively support the right of the Israeli people to exist...but rather than follow such a justifiable position, we quake at the wrath of the Muslim world. The thing we seem to ignore is that living inside that Muslim world is a sovereign non-Muslim nation. Where is the justification for the Muslim rejection of these people?

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Saudia Arabia Fly-Over: Saudia Allowing Israeli Plane Fly-Over to Iran

The Times Online is reporting from Tel Aviv that Saudi Arabia will allow Israel to fly-over their country to get to Iran "during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites."

Israeli Plane Fly-Over - Iranian Nuclear Reactor

The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more than the Israelis,” said a former head of research in Israeli intelligence.

The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz in the centre of the country and other locations for four years.

Saudis to let Israel flyover to attack Iran?
by Carl in Jerusalem at Israel Matzav:

Before we start this story, let me inform you that one of its authors is Uzi Mahnaimi, who has been known to exaggerate in the past.

The Sunday Times of London is reporting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that it will look the other way if the IAF overflies its country on a mission to remove Iran's nuclear capability. Traversing Saudi Arabia would considerably shorten the route to Iran.

The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.

The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.

“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week.

Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.

Two things make this report credible. One is that the Israeli press has carried reports of meetings with Saudi officials, which the Saudis have dutifully denied. Second, Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter cite John Bolton, who calls this development 'logical.'

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.

Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”

Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said.

They quote Bolton as going on to note that to this day, Israel has not admitted any of the specifics of the 2007 raid on Syria's nuclear reactor.

So is this going to happen? It's plausible. It's also something that no one here or in Riyadh would discuss openly (and you can expect a Saudi denial - and maybe even an Israeli one - before the morning is over). And I highly doubt anyone told Mahnaimi about it. He may have just guessed it.

Putting this together with the Suez Canal story from Friday (which was half-denied by Egypt), one can conclude that something is in the works with or without American cooperation (which won't happen so long as Obama is President). What and when remain to be seen. But I would bet on it happening sometime within the next six months. With his obsession with 'engaging' with Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, Obama has managed to scare the Egyptians and the Saudis even more than the Israelis and has brought an attack on Iran's nuclear capability much closer than it was six months ago.

End Israel Matzav

I hope you will visit Israel Matzav for some of the most insightful reporting and commentary available on Israel and the Middle East.

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Zelaya Returns to Honduras: Micheletti Government to Block Zelaya Plane

Outsted former Honduran President, Manuel Zelaya says he will return to Honduras today, but the BBC is reporting that the interim Micheletti government will not allow Zelaya's plane to land should he try to enter the country. Updates below.

Honduran Flag

Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez said that any plane carrying Mr Zelaya would not be allowed to land.

Mr Zelaya says he will fly back to the country from Washington, arriving between 1300 and 1400 local time (1900 - 2000GMT).

While the Zelaya family awaits the return of their husband and father, they are residing in the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras.

The Organization of American States (OAS) has suspended Honduran membership, following the seemingly everlasting suspension of Cuba in 1962, and the 1990 suspension of Haiti. OAS gave the new government a 72-hour deadline to reseat Zelaya as president. Violence in the streets is expected from Zelaya supporters. It's important to note that many of the protesters against the new government were the Honduran poor and union members who appreciated the 60% increase in minimum wage that Zelaya bestowed upon them. In the short six months or so since the implementation of the increase, business leaders say 150,000 jobs have been lost.

People are afraid. The immense majority of people don't want problems, they just want peace. But there is so much risk of violence when he comes," says Roger Marin, a columnist for the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo. "If he does not come today, he will come tomorrow. He is going to arrive. … That is the kind of man he is, stubborn.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez appeared on state television imploring Zelaya to stay abroad. Daily protests have grown in size in the capital, and while most Hondurans say they want peace, tensions are running high. Leading to the presidential palace, fast-food chain restaurants have been shattered, their walls splashed with graffiti calling Micheletti a fascist and coup leader. "We think that a return to the country at the moment could provoke a bloodbath," Cardinal Rodriguez said.

In the meantime, unless there is something the world doesn't know, the new Honduran government is trying to keep democracy and the Republic of Honduras from joining the bevy of non-democratic constitutional republics who are republics-in-name-only.

In fact, it is the shadow of Mr. Chávez that scared so many here. Fear – real or perceived – of Venezuelan airplanes full of arms landing in the country, of guerillas coming from El Salvador and Nicaragua, and even the coming of communism is whispered about in any conversation with those who say Zelaya's ouster is justified.

And so, while the international community condemns a coup, many Hondurans say his ouster, although perhaps not entirely legal, was the better of two evils. After all, Zelaya was breaking the law by pushing for a nonbinding referendum to survey voters on their support to call a constituent assembly. Many say that was the first step toward dissolving term limits for presidents. "If he had not been kicked out, we would have had Al Capone as president indefinitely," says Jesus Simon, an engineer attending a recent protest march against Zelaya.

Many, such as Mr. Simon, have expressed frustration that the world seemed unaware of the threat to democracy before June 28.

Roberto Micheletti, the new president installed by the Honduran Congress has said he is open to early elections - earlier than the slated November 2009, but a warning sign for those supporting Zelaya's outster: Micheletti is reported to willing to hold a "referendum asking citizens if Zelaya should return to carry out his final few months in office."

A senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution's Latin America Initiative says he will not be surprised if the Micheletti government backs down under global pressure:

Honduras is too small, too poor, and too vulnerable to pull it off," he says

Update 7-5-09 1:40 p.m. CDT:
Confirmation that the military will or has refused to allow Zelaya to land in Honduras

The interim government said it ordered the military to prevent the landing of a plane carrying Zelaya or any unidentified plane.

The government of President (Roberto) Micheletti has order the armed forces and the police not to allow the entrance of any plane bringing the former leader," the foreign minister of the interim government, Enrique Ortez, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

At the main Tegucigalpa airport, soldiers outnumbered travelers and commercial flights were canceled after a final morning departure. Access roads were cut off by police checkpoints, with soldiers standing guard alongside.

Update 7-5-09 4:20 p.m. CDT:
Zelayas' flight was diverted to El Salvador

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