Iranian Atomic Urgency
• According to NY Times bureau chief Ethan Bronner, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak together “own” the Iranian nuclear issue. And they’ve become politically close over the years:
Of the two men, he said: “One views himself as a savior, the other lives for a good operation. They’re a strange pair who have come to appreciate each other. Together they control this issue.”
Dan Williams of Reuters files a similar report on the dynamic duo.
Arab Spring Winter
• Over at the Gulf News, Sami Moubayed assesses the Syrian uprising’s toll on the national economy. A by the numbers look:
38.5% — the official unemployment rate
300,000 — “fresh university graduates in 2012 looking for work”
Young Syrians who managed to keep their jobs despite the massive layoffs are now complaining that their income has lost 50 per cent of its value, thanks to the devaluation of the Syrian pound, which hit 100 pounds to the dollar this month —its lowest point ever.
• In a BBC interview, UN Human Rights commissioner Navi Pillay accuses Syrian forces of deliberately targting children.
“They’ve gone for the children – for whatever purposes – in large numbers. Hundreds detained and tortured . . . it’s just horrendous.
“Children shot in the knees, held together with adults in really inhumane conditions, denied medical treatment for their injuries, either held as hostages or as sources of information.”
• Arab “spring” or “winter?” A Tunisian acid test:
Jewish leader will take Salafist preacher to court
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Shaul Mofaz beat Tzipi Livni in Kadima Party primaries. Everybody picked up on the changing of the guard. AP coverage suffices.
• Worth reading: While Tariq Alhomayed is grateful Al Jazeera didn’t air Mohammed Merah’s footage of the Toulouse massacre, he notes the network wasn’t always so ethically inclined.
The point is that when the media indulges terrorists, and all those who use violence, this can affect the security of people and nations. A television station, or any media outlet, cannot serve the goals of terrorism under any justification, because of the consequences. The clearest example here is the old tolerance that was shown towards suicide bombings in Palestine, until matters ended up with the arrival of suicide bombings in our Arab and Islamic cities . . . .
Therefore, we say thank you to Al-Jazeera, but what if this had been its policy for the last ten years?
• Big Chocolate joins the Axis of Evil:
(Image of lightbulb via Flickr/Satoru Kikuchi. Ehud Barak via Flickr/World Econic Forum, Syrian money via Wikimedia Commons/yuber)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
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