Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Eugene Kaspersky, who first discovered the Flame virus, addressed a Tel Aviv conference on cyber security. After the initial hero’s welcome, he got uncomfortably serious. Time‘s Karl Vick was on hand:
The Russian said his concern is the vulnerability of civilian infrastructure that relies on computer operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, which cannot be hardened against attack. The only way to secure systems that deliver water, electricity and the economy is through a newly designed OS with security at its core. And until that new system is developed, he said, any country that launches a digital attack is running a terrific risk. “There are a lot of software engineers in Israel, I know,” he said. “But I don’t think there are enough to do it in three or five years.” In the meantime, he said, “I’m afraid that that cyber-boomerang may get back to you.”
Silence greeted the warning.
Arab Spring Winter
• Kofi Annan’s latest plan for Syria calls for the direct involvement of some key meddlers. Annan’s thinking is that Russian involvement in a post-Assad Syria would enable Moscow to maintain its profitable arms sales. But Washington Post Washington Post columnist David Ignatius comments on Annan’s carrot to Iran:
What’s intriguing about Annan’s new approach is that it could give Russia and Iran, the two key supporters of Assad’s survival, some motivation to remove him from power, and also some leverage to protect their interests in a post-Assad Syria. This would also make the plan controversial, with Israel and Saudi Arabia asking why the United Nations would give the mullahs in Tehran a share of the diplomatic action . . .
As for Tehran, the Iranians have been signaling recently through various channels that, as part of any diplomatic settlement of the nuclear issue, they may want a parallel process to deal with regional issues. Annan’s contact group would address this Iranian desire.
Of course, the “regional issues” Iran wants to address begin with the letter “I” and rhyme with “Fizrael.”
• Tim Marshall of Sky News takes the pulse of working class Christian Syrians.
But the Christians and Allawis fear that if the uprising results in a Sunni Muslim Brotherhood takeover they will be persecuted. It is true that the Sunni death squads are already operating.
Together the Christians and Allawis make up at least a fifth of the population. Add to that the Druze, and the sections of the majority Sunni population who just want a quiet life, and you begin to see that although a majority of the population may not support the president, that does not mean they want him toppled. “Better the devil . . .”
• Big Media buzzed with unconfirmed reports of yet another massacre in the Hama province. Activists tell the BBC at least 78 killed.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• The director of a Jewish community center in Krakow is furious with the BBC for sensationalizing Polish anti-Semitism. Panorama interviewed Jonathan Ornstein for Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate, which looked at racist violence and anti-Semitism in Polish and Ukrainian soccer. Ornstein told the Daily Mail:
But Mr Ornstein says he was ‘exploited’ during the hour-long interview with the corporation as it ‘completely disregarded anything positive said and aired only comments critical of Poland’.
Mr Ornstein, an American-born Jew who has lived in Poland for 11 years, says the images used were also selective and other contributors misrepresented.
He also alleges his suggestion that the broadcasters interviewed two Israeli footballers, who play for local team Wisla Krakow, about their positive experiences were rejected after being told ‘it didn’t fit their story’ . . .
‘The interview lasted approximately one hour during which I emphasized that the small number of football fans in Poland engaging in anti-Semitic and racist behaviour do not represent Polish society as a whole.
‘The organization used me and others to manipulate the serious subject of anti-Semitism for its own sensationalist agenda; in doing so, the BBC has insulted all Polish people and done a disservice to the growing, thriving Jewish community of Poland.’
• A YNet reporter posing as an African infiltrator spends a week in South Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Park:
I did not encounter any display of racism. Nobody swore at me or threatened me. Infiltrators I spoke with told me about spitting and curse words; some said that glass bottles were hurled at them while they were riding their bicycle. Personally, I did not encounter any of this. Yet one thing is certain: The State of Levinsky is a powder keg, and I’m not at all sure that the Border Guard police patrolling the streets here now would be able to prevent the next flare-up.
• Al-Qaida’s slumming for cannon fodder, judging from the Daily Mail:
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
(Image of Burg via Flickr/David Shankbone, Annan via UN/Violaine Martin)
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