FromEurope comments

I wonder if they come to play in Europe, too. I saw them 26 years ago when they gave the concert in Nice stadium. They were still young and played well, but many of us noticed that they never talked to each other, they didn't even looked at each other. They just came on stage, sang and gone. As it was the only concert in the region, there were Prince Albert II and Princess Stephanie as well.

Either you liked him or not, from now on, he will live as a legend in the history.

Maverts

I should have said "I don't think this is the correct total translation"

Even the BBC wrote :

"Just as the USSR disappeared, soon the Zionist regime will disappear," he said to the applause of the participants.

But I guess you knew this. Sorry for commenting on your post.

"Ahmadinejad has also called for Israel’s elimination, although his exact remarks have been disputed. Some translators say he has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Others say a better translation would be “vanish from the pages of time“—implying Israel would disappear on its own rather than be destroyed."

That's the first time I have actually seen this reported correctly. Well done JT.

I don't think this is the correct translation. You can find many right translations on the net. :

"But just as the USSR disappeared, soon the Zionist regime will disappear," he said.

Ahmadinejad went on to say that “when I said the Zionist regime must be wiped off, the Zionist media of course harshly blasted me, but everyone must know that just as the USSR disappeared, this will also be the fate of the Zionist regime, and humanity will be free.”

Tehran, Dec 13: Iran's hard-line president said Tuesday that the Zionist regime will one day be "wiped out" as the Soviet Union was.

makabi - What are you trying to explain ? Prison is still a prison whatever they can have. What you describe is in most of the prisons of the developped countries. Nothing special, but none of the prisoners wishes to stay if they don't have to. The prison is the place where they take your liberty, which is the most important thing in our life. ( do whatever you want, at any time you want, go anywhere you wish or to be with the beloved ones )

The problem is that nobody knows if those 11000 Palestinian prisoners were arrested with a good reason and if they were judged correctly.

Moderator: Keep the discussion focused on the pope's visit, please.

The biggest threat in the ME is Israel. Not the muslim countries. Israel is the invader and the occupier of the neigbour's territory since many many years, in spite of many UN resolutions.

"Iran seeking change in US policy Iran welcomes an offer of "a new beginning" in relations from Barack Obama, but says the US must change its behaviour. "

BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/default.stm

The title of this article is a complete mislead. When you read the article itself, Iran doesn’t dismiss Obama’s statement at all.

The UK and French news report that Teheran take Obama’s statement rather positively for the future good relationship , although they are saying that they will wait for the action, not only the words, to trust America.

"A survey of 2,228 Iraqis questioned nationwide last month for ABC News, BBC and Japan’s NHK, found that 85 percent believed the current situation was good or very good—up 23% from last year."

I think it all depends on what you compare. During the insurgents/US fight, more than half of the Iraqi people answered that Saddam's days were better, in the survey. Now after those massacre days caused by the invasion, they sure find the actual situation better than before.

Don't forget that the intrastructures are still not completely re-established. (especially the water & electricity supply)

The religious people (in any religion) are irrational thus very dangerous.

Bin Laden is not searched or wanted officially by the USA for 9/11 attacks, nor by the Interpol. So if he is still alive, he doesn’t need to hide. He can peacefully live anywhere in the world (maybe except in the USA :) Obama needs a reason to send more troops to Afghanistan, he wouldn’t dare to acknowledge that Bin Laden is already dead.

I agree with LIBERTAS

I don't benieve this report. Someone is using Bin Laden's name AGAIN for it's convenience. Many intelligence agencies think that Bin Laden is dead in the US military hospital in Pakistan in Dec 2001.

Well, I guess this is an Anglo-Saxon taste (it's so British!)... I don't think French or Italian magazine would agree with this choice !

I anyway, "War on terror" was just a "Catchphrase" of Bush's propaganda. He actually didn't fight the "War on terror". It was "the war for money".

A company is not a charity association. If they follow the law, it's fair enough. Because in most of the time, the companies try to avoid to pay if the employees don't work.

I don't know what his motivation is, and I don't really approuve what he did for the children, but at the same time, he should have the right to do what he wants, if America is really the land of liberty. (but obviously not)

They should establish the statistics of the US soldiers crime rate, like in Iraq, Japan or Phillipine etc... I think it would be record high as well.

Blackwater guys will now face better postings. Maybe Columbia or something like that.

Who is going to pay the bill? Bush & Co. are no longer in White House.

Elections or not, i reckon the country is heading for a big civil war as soon as teh Yanks go.

It was predicted by many ME specialists of all over the world, before the US-UK invasion started. Bush should have known better...

Since 2001, 8600 rockets were fired and they killed 28 Israelis. It’s difficult to say that Hamas wanted to kill specifically these people. Because they never know where their rockets land. They didn’t target these people on purpose. (But I agree that they had the intention to destroy or kill something or somebody in Israel)

On the other hand, Israel knows that there are innocent civilians but she fires them all the same, intentionally. Those civilians were not killed by accident. They were targeted on purpose. So Israel is guilty of murder and war crime.

northlondon : They already did ;)

I think we are all familiar with the situation of a gangster takes a hostage and uses it as a « human shield » surrounded by the heavily armed police. But I never heard about a case that the police fired on both of them to get the gangster. Because the humanitarian ideology refuses this kind of tactic. (To kill the gangster and the hostage)

So if Israel knows that there are innocent civilians including children, in spite of the presence of Hamas members, it should not fire. You can blame Hamas to use the human shields, but you should also blame Israel to kill the innocents, knowing that they are there.

I'm hoping that Barack looks at the $30Billion promised to Israel and cuts it immediately. < :-)

Unfortunately, I don't think that Obama will change the US ME policy, as he was endorsed by the Jewish lobby to be elected...

YuriOtani :

If they were able to take over and create their "Palestinian" state, their first action would be to kill all of the Jews. Perhaps the UN can help setting up camps. They can sub contract to specialists in Europe. They can then do what the rest of the Arab world has already done and kill Jews.

You rerally don't know anything about Jews, Arabs or Europeans etc... What makes you think this stupidity about Palestinians? I'm sure you never traveled in Arab countries. I travelled many Islamic countries ( Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Lybia, Turkey, Kenya) and they all have the Jewish, Christian communities living together in their society. It's really not a problem for them to live together peacefully. Only the extremists cause the problem, like in Algeria. Even if they don't have the same custom as you, it doesn't mean that they are evil. Actually the ordinary arab people are quite nice and they laugh, cry and get angry like anyone in the world. Don't forget that they ar the humans as well.

You have a very simplistic vision of the world.

USARonin :

Just be realistic. UN is useless. While they are debating about the cease-fire, the conflict is getting worse. UN couldn't stop the US Iraq invasion.

YuriOtani :

I can see that you are not familier with European geography. What you call "Intelligent Europeans" are in fact the poor ex-east countries. (Bulgaria, Tchch, Hangary etc.) They don't have any othe alternative than to depend on the good old USSR time relationship. They don't have the money and technology to get the alternative energy. Have you ever been to Europe???

I noticed that you have a very simple vision of the world. For you, "Europeans" are all the same as well as "Arabs". You need to learn more if you want to make a credible comment.

YangYong gave us a good link, we all should read to see the reality. Many of us knew already, but most of the posters ignore those facts.

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe

Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state's legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine

Moderator: The purpose of the discussion board is for readers to post their opinions on the story, not post links to sites carrying other people's opinions.

I just watched on CNN that there were 3 Schools bombed by Israel.

Madverts :

« This is the exact reason I sit mostly on the fence on the Israeli/Palestinian issue, less I find myself in your position, defending one monster over another. »

It’s like you are watching a fight, a huge muscled wicked adults beating a naughty small children until all their bones are broken in blood.

It’s not the question of “Who is right and who is wrong”. It’s a question of humanity. Even if both of them should be blamed, someone must stop the fight, instead of watching it sitting on the fence. Especially the strong adults beat even the children who are not concerned in the fight.

I don’t really blame you, as we individually can’t do anything. Big power like Russia, China and EU should intervene by force just to stop the fight. Political solution may come later, but just stop the fight. (Forget about the USA, they are always with Israel, even under Obama I guess. And we all know that UN is just useless.)

The problem is that in this issue, everybody is watching on the fence and no one tries to move a small finger a bit. (What Sarkozy is doing is useless as well. It’s his stage performance.)

Moonbeams :

« Let's take a step back here people. »

You need to step back at least till 1948. You are scratchin g the surface of the history.

Moderator: No history lessons please.