Figaro, August 22 - The Divan Orchestra Israeli-Arab agreement - The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, directed by Daniel Barenboïm is formed with 120 young people aged from 11 to 28. They come from Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and even Iran.
This unique of its kind orchestra is now playing in Paris.
OIL , OIL , OIL…..
Germany buys 35% of its gas from Russia. A pipeline linking both countries is being built.
RIA Novosti, August 23 - NATO sends more ships into Black Sea- Istanbul/Moscow- NATO has sent a Polish frigate and a U.S. destroyer through the Bosporus to boost its presence in the Black Sea, where it is delivering humanitarian cargoes to Georgia, a source in the Turkish navy said. …
The deputy head of Russia's General Staff said the Navy was aware that NATO was strengthening its presence in the sea. …
The Turkish navy source expected the NATO presence in the Black Sea to grow to about seven vessels.
Nogovitsyn on Friday expressed doubts that NATO vessels needed to be in the Black Sea, and he promised that Russia would respond swiftly to any provocations against its Black Sea Fleet.
Tensions between NATO and Russia are high following the recent conflict over Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Washington Times, August 13 - Russia and China Subverting Iran Sanctions - Editorial - Russia appears determined to expand its oil and gas investments in Iran. Between 2000 and 2007, the Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom invested $4 billion in Iran.
In February, Gazprom announced it would expand its involvement in developing Iran's South Pars natural-gas field in the Persian Gulf and would aid Tehran's oil-exploration efforts. Gazprom last month signed a multibillion-dollar agreement with the Iranian National Oil Co. to help Iran develop its oil and gas fields.
The Iranian government has also announced a $100 billion agreement with the Chinese oil giant Sinopec, in which the firm agreed to purchase Iranian natural gas and help develop one of Iran's largest oil fields.
AP - Iran, Turkey fail to reach deal on new pipeline - …Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said that "the negotiations will continue" on the pipeline project, which is aimed at ensuring reliable supply of Iranian natural gas to Turkey. Turkey already receives gas through an existing pipeline from Iran, but its flow often is sporadic during the winter.
Relations between Turkey and Iran improved since Turkey's Islamic-rooted governing party took power in 2002. Previous Turkish governments had accused Iran of trying to export radical Islam to secular Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union.
The United States also opposes plans for Turkish investment in Iran's South Pars gas fields and the possibility of the Islamic Republic selling its gas to European markets via an existing pipeline that carries gas to Europe through Turkey.
MISSILE SHIELDS
Ria Novosti, August 15 - Russia - U.S. missile shield in Europe targets Russia - Medvedev - Sochi - "The deployment of new missile-defence elements in Europe has the Russian Federation as its aim," Medvedev said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.
The United States and Poland signed an agreement on Thursday to deploy 10 U.S. interceptor missiles in the former Communist-bloc country.
Jerusalem Post, August 15 - 'Russian general threatens Poland with attack over US deal' - A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a US missile defence battery exposes the country to attack, pointing out that Russian military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons in such a situation, the Interfax news agency reported.
The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defence elements in former Soviet satellite nations.
Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile defence battery as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations but that Moscow claims is aimed at weakening Russia.
WAR
Jerusalem Post, August 13 - What Russia Gained and Lost in Georgia - Yitzhak M. Brudny - This is the beginning of a larger international effort to find a permanent resolution to the South Ossetian and Abkhazian problem.
The self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia seceded from Georgia in the early 1990s, with the Russian military providing crucial help. In practice, Russian policies amounted to de facto annexation: most residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were granted Russian citizenship, and both republics were given various forms of economic aid.
Moreover, Russian military contingents in both regions - officially the OSCE-sponsored peacekeeping force - provided shields against potential Georgian efforts to bring the seceding regions back under effective Georgian sovereignty.
By inflicting a military knock-out punch on Georgian President Saakashvili, perceived by Russia as a mere puppet of the U.S., Russia sent the message that it would neither tolerate hostile regimes in bordering states nor permit its economic hegemony in the region to be challenged.
The author is the Jay and Leonie Darwin Chair in Russian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Infolive tv, Aug.16 - Russia Signs Ceasefire Agreement With Georgia But Continues Military Activities - A day after his Georgian counterpart, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a cease fire agreement on Saturday, but on the ground a very different scene was unfolding, with Russian troops blowing up a railway bridge outside of Tbilisi, and there were reports that Russian forces had taken over additional towns in Georgia. Reports claimed Russian troops were looting towns and villages.
New York Times, Aug.17 - Kremlin Signs Truce but Resists Quick Pullout - Moscow — Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, on Saturday signed a revised framework for a deal to halt the fighting in neighbouring Georgia, which has stirred some of the deepest divisions between world powers since the cold war. But the Kremlin then indicated that despite the accord’s approval, it would not immediately pull its troops from the country……
The Economist, Aug. 14 - Russia resurgent - The war in Georgia is a victory for Russia. The West’s options are limited, but it needs to pursue them firmly.
0n the night of August 7th, Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, embarked on an ill-judged assault on South Ossetia, one of his country’s two breakaway enclaves. Russian tanks, troops and aircraft poured across the border. Just five days later, after pulverising the Georgian armed forces, Russia announced that it was ending its operations…….
Russia has made perfunctory attempts to justify the invasion. It claimed that it was defending Russian citizens. This excuse, as Sweden’s foreign minister tartly noted, recalled Hitler’s justifications of Nazi invasions. ……
Similarly, Russian attempts to draw analogies with NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999 and its encouragement of Kosovo’s independence, or with the American-led invasion of Iraq, do not wash. The latest fighting in South Ossetia may have been triggered by the Georgians, but it was largely engineered by the Russians, who have, over the years, fanned the flames of the conflict. As for the Iraqi parallel, not even the Russians pretend that Mr Saakashvili has ever been a threat to his neighbours and to the world……
This new Russian imperialism is bad news for all its neighbours. Mr Saakashvili is an impetuous nationalist who has lately tarnished his democratic credentials. His venture into South Ossetia was foolish and possibly criminal. But, unlike Mr Putin, he has led his country in a broadly democratic direction, curbed corruption and presided over rapid economic growth that has not relied, as Russia’s mostly does, on high oil and gas prices. America’s George Bush was right, if rather slow, to declare on August 11th that it was unacceptable in the 21st century for Russia to have invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and to threaten a democratically elected government.
Yet the hard truth, for Georgians and others, is that pleas for military backing from the West in any confrontation with Russia are unlikely to be heeded. The Americans gave Mr Saakashvili token help when they transported Georgian troops home from Iraq (where 2,000 of them made up the third-largest allied contingent). And they have now sent in humanitarian aid in military aircraft and ships. But nobody is willing to risk a wider war with Russia over its claimed near-abroad. Among Russia’s immediate neighbours, only the Baltic States, which slipped into NATO when Russia was weak, can claim such protection……
Western leaders must make quite clear their outrage over the invasion and continued bombing of Georgia. Few have done that so far; the Italians and Germans in particular have been shamefully silent.
Above all, the West must make plain to Mr Putin that Russia’s invasion of Georgia means an end to business as usual…….Now would also be an appropriate time to strengthen the rich-country G7, which excludes Russia, at the expense of the G8, which includes it.
The European Union, which has too often split into camps of appeasers and tough-talkers over Russia, should drop negotiations on a new partnership and co-operation agreement……. and EU countries should stop striking bilateral deals with Russia.
In the short term, none of this is likely to deter Russia from reasserting itself in the Caucasus if it feels inclined to do so. …….
Most importantly, although Mr Saakashvili’s foolishness makes admitting Georgia harder, Russia’s incursion should not delay plans to let Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. Russia’s aggression will make these countries, and others, keener than ever on joining. The worst outcome of this war would be for the West to allow Russia a veto over any sovereign country’s membership of either NATO or the EU.
RIA Novosti, Aug.17 - South Ossetians must decide their fate themselves - OSCE - Vladikavkaz- The political fate of Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia must be decided by South Ossetians themselves, Europe's main security and human rights watchdog said on Sunday.
Georgia launched a major ground and air offensive to seize control of South Ossetia on August 8, prompting Russia to send in tanks and thousands of troops. Russia say at least 1,600 civilians were killed in the Georgian onslaught and 34,000 Ossetians were forced to cross the Russian border.
Guardian, Aug.14 - Amid promise of peace, Georgians live in terror:
· Russian militia accused of orgies of looting and rape
· Fleeing villagers accuse Medvedev of betrayal
GEORGIA’S JEWS
Jerusalem Post, Aug.16th - Georgia’s Jews face wartime dilemma - The aid organizations have relied on the closeness of the Jewish community in Gori to account for its members in the aftermath of the conflict. Cell phone numbers and word of mouth are like manna to a community that was once so close and is now scattered about.
More than 40 refugees have made aliya on flights packed with Israeli citizens fleeing Gori. El Al Israel Airlines is one of the few companies flying to Tbilisi. The most recent flight left on Friday afternoon for Tel Aviv with a mix of Georgians and Israelis.
At the Jewish Agency office on Friday afternoon, staff members rushed between rooms with stacks of passports and spreadsheets full of names in a mad dash to get ready for the plane. …..
Yedioth Aharonot, Israel Absorbs 75 New Immigrants from Georgia - Yael Branovsky - A total of 75 new immigrants arrived in Israel last week from Georgia, with most of them settling in Bat Yam and Ashdod. According to the Jewish Agency, some 120 additional Georgians are preparing to immigrate in the coming months.
IRAN
Guardian-UK - Israel is the country most at risk from a nuclear Iran. Israelis see a nuclear Iran as an existential threat, due to the possibility of nuclear terrorism, the potential for miscalculation in a crisis, or the prospect that an irresponsible or fanatical Iranian leader might be tempted to use Iran's nuclear arsenal to expunge Israel from the region…. - Besides its key role in the European-led diplomacy, Britain could do much on its own to reinforce the actions of its European partners to press Iran until it agrees to compromise.
The City of London's importance as a hub for international finance means that warnings from the British government regarding the risks of doing business with Iranian institutions could appreciably increase the pressure on Tehran.
If Iran were in effect locked out of the world's two largest financial centres, New York and London, even hard-line Iranian leaders might reflect on the high cost of their refusal to compromise. British authorities need not take formal action; they have long been skilled in the art of passing quiet messages to business leaders.
ISRAEL
Telegraph-UK, Aug. 20 - Activists' Boats Headed for Gaza to Be Treated as "Pirates" - The organizers of two boats carrying protesters campaigning against Israel's economic sanctions on Gaza have been warned that any attempt to approach Gaza coastal waters would be interpreted as assistance to a terrorist regime. …..
Gaza has been subject to economic sanctions since Hamas violently wrested control there in June 2007. Hamas has refused to recognize Israel and renounce violence. Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel retained military control of Gaza's territorial waters.
TERRORISM
Washington Post, Aug.13 - While the U.S. emphasizes the need to halt investment in Iran's energy sector, Russia and China continue to forge ahead with billions of dollars in new investments that will enable Iran to finance its military build up and fund terrorist groups.
AFGHANISTAN
Le Monde, Aug.22 - Al-Qaida is held responsible for dozens of killings in Algeria.
Sunday Times, Aug.23 - Ten French soldiers have been killed - Army deaths put Sarkozy in line of fire. President Sarkozy faces one of the biggest crises of his career as he comes under attack for supporting Nato against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Figaro, Aug.23 - The majority of the assailants were not Afghans.
TIKKUN OLAM
Jerusalem Post, Aug 6 - Israel helps Africa combat AID Doctors in Swaziland trained by an Israeli medical delegation have circumcised over 800 men since January to help prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS throughout the epidemic-ridden country - Due to Israelis' experience with the procedure, delegates from the Jerusalem AIDS Project (JAIP) partnered with the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), both of which are non-governmental organizations, to train doctors to perform circumcisions.
Currently 26 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 49 in Swaziland live with HIV, according to the Swaziland Demographic and Heath Survey conducted in 2006 and 2007 - the highest percentage in the world.
According to a study published by the Public Library of Science in 2006, researchers estimate that male circumcision procedures in Sub-Saharan Africa could prevent two million cases and 300,000 deaths over a 10-year period.
ISRAEL AND CHINA
Jerusalem Post - Peres: China can be key to stopping Iran - China can be a key player in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons as well as in the war on terror, President Shimon Peres told his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing on Friday morning, pointing to China's involvement in resolving the North Korean nuclear standoff.
Earlier, Peres met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the Chinese capital.
Peres wished the team well and told them that the Olympics were the most non-racist event in the world.
Haaretz - Israel and China - The China of 2008 is a superpower. The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is digging the Carmel Tunnel, a 4.7-km. underground road below Haifa's city centre. Some 550 Chinese are currently residing in Haifa while they work on the project.
The firm is also involved in Tel Aviv's light-rail project. Chinese manufacturer ZPMC this week won the tender to supply seven bridge cranes to Haifa port. Prof. Marvin Samuels, an adviser to the Chinese Ministry of Communications and a lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, says, "In the past year, Israel has received an amazing positive spin in China," as reflected in news reports in both the governmental and semi-independent media.
"If Chinese companies have begun to do business in Israel, it is very probable that senior officials in the Chinese politburo gave them the green light to do so."
Zhou Hui, the commercial attaché at China's Embassy in Tel Aviv, says trade between the two countries has increased from $50 million in 1992 to about $4.5 billion in 2007. China exports goods and services worth $3.5 billion to Israel, and imports $1 billion-worth from Israel.
Sunday Times, Aug.23 - Millions forfeit water to Games - Thousands of Chinese farmers face ruin because their water has been cut off to guarantee supplies to the Olympics in Beijing
CULTURE
August 11, Communicated by the Hebrew University Spokesperson - Hebrew University archaeological excavations uncover Roman temple in Zippori (Sepphoris) - The discovery of the temple indicates that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population which built a temple in the heart of the city center. The building of the church on the foundation of the temple testifies to the preservation of the sacred section of the city over time.
Infolive .tv, Aug.19 - Haifa's Majestic Bahai Gardens - A UNESCO World Heritage Site - The Bahai Gardens – one of Israel’s most beautiful and defining landmarks located in the northern city of Haifa was recently included in the prestigious list of World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The declaration, which took place in Quebec, Canada and included 26 other sites around the world, was welcomed in Israel where many hope it would help promote tourism and raise awareness about the Bahai religion throughout the world.
About the Synagogue in Sofia - Thursday, August 7, 2008 - The synagogue in Sofia is situated in the very heart of the Bulgarian capital. It is the third largest in Europe, next to the synagogues in Budapest and Amsterdam. Designed by Austrian architect Grunanger in a Spanish-Moresque style, the temple resembles the Vienna synagogue destroyed by the Nazis. It was opened on 9 September 1909, and the ceremony was attended by tzar Ferdinand and tzaritza Eleonora.
One of the most beautiful architectural monuments in Sofia, the synagogue accommodates 1300 worshippers. Its central lustre weighs two tons and is the largest in Bulgaria. For already several years the synagogue has been under restoration - because of the complexity of the work and the shortage of funds. Its restoration is soon to be finished, and now the synagogue is shining in all its splendour. The project has been financed by the Bulgarian state and Israel, by private entrepreneurs and individual donations.
In spite of the enormous size of the building, public worships in it are attended by not more 50-60 persons. This is due, on the one hand, to the thinner Jewish community, and, on the other, to the relatively lower religiousness of the local Jewish population. Nevertheless, as a result of a renewed interest in the past and faith of their ancestors, an increasing number of young people now attend the divine services. Certainly, on great festive days, hundreds of people gather here, including high officials of non-Jewish origin.
