Iran upgrades T-55, Tosan tanks

Remember these Soviet built Arabian cruisers, the T-55's? Israel took a few of them out in the Six-Day War? Ring a bell? Tanks!?! Ok, well, just click here.

One of my favorite hangouts for Iran info is a little blog called Usknowi on Iran. Don't look so much for analysis or smartassery--like you might find at a place called www.bloggingthecasbah.com--instead, these dudes actually report news. About time we had a little bit of that around here, eh readership?

They had an interesting post today on Iran's attempts to upgrade their tanks. Iran's so-called "self-sufficiency unit" claims to have upgraded two of them. And as your favorite Guerrilla understands, here is how it breaks down:

1. T-55: Everything from a modern engine to anti-aircraft has been installed on these beasts of the desert. "Modernizing the engine and fire-control systems of Tank T55 have been completed successfully," Head of the self-sufficiency unit of the IRGC Ground Force, Colonel Nasser Arab Beigi told FNA.

2. Tosan: The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force is working to produce a "quick reaction" tank. These tanks seemed to be outfitted for much smaller wars, should a huge country like Iran ever need to fight one. Dubious? Of course. I think these tanks are more designed for "export"--if you catch my drift. (Last time I saw a tank like this I was in Beirut right after the Summer War in 2006. Lebanese Forces were using them for so-called "riot control" just in case some 2,000 plus Hezbollah supporters decided to get rowdy. Think Hezbollah will ever get tanks?)

A cool pic of the Tosan

LESLIE H. GELB makes the case

If you've been following this blog you know damn well that the Rooster and I have not supported sending more troops to Afghanistan. We have not been convinced that sending 17,000 more troops to this Central Asian country will pacify the swelling insurgency. If "more troops" were the answer then the Soviet bear would have handled this place with over a half-million troops. Remember?

Turns out that no empire in a thousand years has been able to conquer the Afghan slice of this Asian plateau. Big mountains? Yes. Rural villages? Um, Yeah. Violent Pashtuns? Most defiantly. So why do the politicals in the U.S. think they are different?

LESLIE H. GELB made a sensible case for a regional solution. Check out his NY Times article that has defiantly raised a few eyebrows in Washington. Seems like it's time to start thinking about attainable goals, not the same cheesy U.S. democracy that the neo-con's envisioned for Iraq.

But don't trust this haggard Guerrilla, read for yourself.

Isreali stripper attempts to occupy Arab lands! I mean, whats next?

Enough on Israelistine already!!! Right? Is that what you grumps are yelling at your computers? Ok. But just this quick story that I saw on Abu Muqawama this morning.

From Y net News:

A young Israeli woman who works as a stripper was found intoxicated in Ramallah Friday morning, and returned to Israel with the aid of the Palestinian security sources. She was handed over to the police.

Palestinians called the offices of the Civil Administration Friday morning and reported that an Israeli woman in her twenties was seen at the heart of town. "They said that she didn't quite understand what was going on," said Major Shadi Seif of the Ramallah District Coordination Office.

And in a salute to Abu Muqawama, I will insist that the Casbah Guerrillas' spread his request though the streets like contraband: "Please, readers, try to casually work the phrase "drunk Israeli stripper" into one of your office conversations today."

I thought it was funny too.

American from California Critically Injured by Israeli Forces

Apparently an American citizen from California has been critically injured after Israeli forces shot him square in the head with a tear-gas canister. He is in Israel with the International Solidarity Movement.

Israeli forces attacked a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the annexation wall (same wall I posted about earlier yesterday) through the village of Ni'lin's land.

Tristan Anderson from California is at the Israeli hospital Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv. Anderson is reportedly unconscious and has been bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth.

He sustained a "large hole in his forehead" where he was struck by the canister, the size of which can be seen in the photo above.

Ulrika Jenson of Sweden, another member of the International Solidarity Movement, said "The Israeli soldiers were standing on the hill looking over us firing tear-gas canisters straight into the crowd. Tristan was hit and fell to the ground. He had a large hole in the front of his head and his brain was visable. I tried to stop the bleeding, but he was bleeding heavily from the head, nose and mouth."

Another witness, Teah Lunqvist, also of Sweden, said, "Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500m. I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed."

Another resident from Ni'lin was shot in the leg with live ammunition.

Narly.

The Green Line Swindle...Using Concrete to Steal Land.

Three weeks ago, Jayyus, an agricultural community of 3,500 inhabitants, located in the Qalqiliya district of the northern Palestinian West Bank, was invaded by Israeli soldiers using police dogs and backed by military helicopters. The village has been the scene of frequent clashes between local youths, their Israeli supporters and international sympathisers on the one hand, and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on the other. But that's only a small part of the larger story of a massive "land grab" move by Israel.

Mel Frykberg, a reporter inside Ramallah, noted in his story on the Land Grabbing by Israel that, "Israel started building a separation barrier (a combination of walls, ditches and fences), most of it on Palestinian land, in 2002 to separate the Jewish state from the West Bank. This followed a wave of suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian militants, some of them originating from the West Bank. While Israel has argued that the wall is primarily for security reasons, the Palestinians and human rights organisations accuse the Israelis of using security as a pretext for both a massive land grab for the benefit of illegal Israeli settlements, and continual human rights abuses."

The route of the barrier deviates significantly from the internationally recognised Green Line, veering off repeatedly into the West Bank where it has swallowed enormous swathes of fertile Palestinian land.The barrier's total length is 725 km, more than twice the length of the Armistice or Green Line. When completed, approximately 14 percent of the barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel, and 86 percent inside the West Bank.

The economy of Jayyus has been decimated. Most of the villagers are dependent on the tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, bell peppers, avocados, guavas, olives and citrus produce grown there for their livelihoods. The barrier near Jayyus deviates six kilometres from the Green Line. During its construction the Israelis uprooted 4,000 olive and citrus trees and expropriated 8,600 dunams of land (1 dunam = 0.1 hectares) belonging to Jayyus.

The village's farmers are separated from 50,000 fruit and olive trees, most of its greenhouses and six ground water wells used for irrigation, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 'Seventy-five percent of our farm land has been confiscated. Only 18 percent of farmers in Jayyus have been given permits to cross the barrier and reach their land near the Green Line. The others were denied permits,' Sharif Khalid, a farmers' representative, told IPS. 'Prior to the building of the barrier there were 136 greenhouses in the village. Today there are only 72. Millions of dollars have been lost and many farmers have been forced into bankruptcy,' said Khalid.

I remember my time spent inside the West Bank while backpacking through the Middle East in 2006. I recall traveling along the 50 foot concrete barriers that separate the Palestinians from the Israeli's, and subsequently the farmers from their crops. I recall my amazement at the sheer size and lenght of the barriers, it was overwhelming. After taking a bus from Jerusalem to the West Bank, which by the way had only 4 riders on it of which I was the only American, I entered the West Bank near a decimated row of buildings surrounded by the looming barriers. Every hundred or so yards was an Israeli soldier, occasionally on a cell phone, and numerous packs of stray dogs. (I snapped the above photo while walking in the West BAnk along the barrier) Apparently the dogs are a welcome accessory to the patrols as the rumor was that suicide bombers are less likely to attak near a pack of dogs. Someone told me that in Islam, if you die with a dog, you can't get into heaven...what a deterrent.

(I took this photo right when I jumped off the bus in the West Bank.)

After spending some time behind the huge slabs of concrete, I could relate to the sense of being "trapped" behind the Green Line. It's a daunting thing to feel cut off from something by a masive piece of cold concrete. But the arguments that they have been successful in stopping suicide bombers traveling to Israel proper are very compelling. Yet, it still makes me wonder if the walls that separate the two sides are a symbol of some deeper division that separates ideology, something cold and looming that weighs heavy on the land.

You educated the girls!?! Sentence? Death!!!

Last week I walked down the street to my local coffee shop. It's a calm place: comfy chairs, soft music, you know, the kind of place where you really get into the back pages of The Times. So sitting there, I overheard two loud, ignorant men debating the tenets of Islam. Oh, the comedy.

Dumbass 1: "They're trying to bring us all under the Sharia. MUSLIM LAW!!!"

Dumbass 2: "Well yeah, we go around the world trying to solve problems and what do we get? Airplanes in our towers!"

Dumbass 1: "No kiddin'. If those damn-nab A-rabs actually read the Koran they would learn that their religion is one of peace. So why the hell are they fighting us?!?"

There were a few things that provoked me from the start. First off, we're already under Muslim law. (Sorry bad joke.)

But really, haven't you heard a conversation like this before? I hear people (by 'people' I mean Yanks) constantly bringing up how we saved the Jews in WWII. And the list of good deeds goes on. But my point here is that many American's seem to be a little fast in judgment vis-à-vis the Muslim world. Or are they?

If you have ever read the Casbah before, you would know that The Rooster, Abu Danger and Abu Guerrilla (me) are all fans of Middle Eastern/Islamic culture. We're fascinated by the mysticism of Islam, the politics of the Orient and the thrill of traveling through it all. (Now that I think of it, is it possible to be a connoisseur of the Orient? Sound off in the comments. By the way, I think The Rooster has a soft spot for Jewish Kabbalah too.)

So now that our love has been professed, my favorite Afghan blog, The Ghosts of Alexander, just put up a post about an Afghan journalist who was sentenced to death. The crime? I can assure the readership that it was hanus beyond belief:

"An online article from Iran that discusses the rights of women in Islam. As part of his plot to destroy Islam he sent copies of it to some of his friends at university. Thanks be to God he was stopped by the brave judiciary of Afghanistan. He was initially sentenced to death before nefarious foreign forces objected."

Honestly guys, take a look at this story. It's rather embarrassing, don’t you think? In modern Afghanistan, where theres cut-your-head-off for whatever Islamic banditos are terrorizing the civilian population… And this is what the Afghan judiciary is focusing on?

Not only is this Islamic fundamentalism "a foreign growth on Afghan culture," but it is not helping the ignorant folk at my local coffee shop. Come'on Afghan Judiciary, we're all rootin' for you, but you cannot behead a young Pashtun for citing the Koranic rights of women, that is simply barbaric.

Sandstorm...

And no, I am not talking about that crazed techno beat from B018. Oh, the insanity. Perhaps I will start to surface some more "derelictical" stories from the Middle East. (Funny for me, most of them are about Abu Danger and the nude beach in Tel Aviv. And you say... "There's a nude beach in Tel Aviv?" Later my friends, later...)

In the meantime, I was browsing Haaretz today and stumbled across something that I have always wanted to see: an Arabian sandstorm. I guess one of these little devils just hit the capital of Saudi Arabia yesterday, making for a hell of a photo opp.
Does anyone know the reprocussions of an Arabian sandstorm? Does it clog car air filters ETC...? Take a look, it's really cool.

Talking to Hezbollah: history shows that it's better if you're drunk

Two years ago I went to the number “8” ranked nightclub in the world in Beirut, Lebanon. BO18, so it is called, could be described as a huge underground dance spot of mortal sin and hedonism. In fact, the Lebanese guy who told me about the place said that it doesn’t even get going until 2AM! This den of electric dance holds the suavest in Lebanon. The flashy urban elite have no problem dropping hundreds in front of friends and wannabe scenesters.

As the sun started to show, the roof of this militaryesque bunker opened as to let in the rising, summer sun. I suppose that this is the Lebanese way of saying, "the party is over." So, with my two friends, we decided to leave this insanity and go get some breakfast in downtown Beirut--after all, we had been hanging at this place since 2AM!

It's about a fifteen-minute walk from BO18 to the newly-built downtown. And little did we know, over 2,000 Hezbollah supporters were camped out in front of parliament in protest of the pro-Western government.

We soon passed the morning light that beautifully beamed on the famous blue mosque--It was then that we saw the makeshift tents. "Na," I said, "they're probably just cheep workers from the Beqaa Valley who are here to rebuild after the war." Duh, right?

Not out of control, but certainly loose on drinks, we started to walk through tent city in hopes of finding breakfast. It was about 6AM, the place was still asleep.

About half-way through our stumble, we started to hear the chattering of camping’s stoves and the smell of roasting Arabic coffee. We waved to a man who peered at us from his tent. He, rather confusingly, waved back.
We soon rounded the corner, still not really understanding what we were walking through, only to see a propaganda poster of Condoleezza Rice. Apparently, she was tutoring the Lebanese Prime Minister in computer-doctored school cloths. "HOLLY SHIT' said my buddy, "WE'RE IN THE THE HEZBOLLAH PROTEST CAMP IN DOWNTOWN BEIRUT... DRUNK!!!"

The reason I'm telling you this drunken' tale of my dumnassness is because all the kids seemed to be abuzzed by the British news this week. Did you hear? The Brit's want to establish contacts with "Hezbollah's political wing."

"Whatever the hell that means," was my first reaction. Did they mean the Hezbollah parliamentarians, or...? Why not just go through the parliament in Beirut if Hezbollah already has its reps there? The whole thing is a little confusing...

Generally, however, I support the notion of talking to Hezbollah. First off, if this were the '80's, I most likely would have been kidnapped for my derelict act of stupidity. Hezbollah used to hold Americans for ransom, remember?

The Party of God (Hezbollah) has significantly changed and morphed into not only a mean band of anti-Israeli guerrillas, but also a legitimate (and certainty illegitimate) political force in Lebanon.

If my drunkin' stumble can show anything, it is that these Hezbollah protesters will let a few lost Americans pass through--waving back, may I add.

If you ask me, this is the "political wing" that the Brit's should try to make to contacts with. I mean, they'd probably even serve them tea...

Israel calls for ALL Jews to emmigrate to Israel...

In an apparent response to "growing anti-semitism" in Europe, Israel's largest daily newspaper has published an article calling for all Jews to emmigrate to Israel as they claim, "we in Israel need you".

The rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Europe and elsewhere following Israel's war in Gaza has gotten the nation's papers to respond. Guy Bechor, a columnist for Ynetnews, compares the current atmosphere in Europe to that of the 1930s and urges European Jews to immigrate en masse to Israel, saying it will be good for them and good for Zionism.

"Leave the continent that fondly recalls its anti-Semitism; we in Israel need you. The addition of hundreds of thousands of wealthy Jews will boost Israel, end the illusions of any Israeli Arabs who dream about a demographic victory, and make Israel's economic supremacy absolute. You, who will be arriving in Israel now, will turn it not into one of the world's 20 wealthiest countries—this has already been achieved—but rather, one of the 10 richest countries on the globe."

he continues..

"The Jewish community in Israel always grew during periods of persecution against Jews—after all, this is the objective of Zionism, and this way we revert to the simplest ideological basis of the national Jewish movement: Serving as a home for Jews who are persecuted around the world."

he finished with...

"As opposed to what you have become accustomed to hearing from the global media, for you, the Jews of Europe, Israel is not the problem – rather, it's the solution."

SO, will this call for more immigrants, and their money, be enough to spurr an exodus from Europe?

Has A History of Jewish Persecution Amplified the Iranian Nuclear Threat?

Whenever I visit my parents in Santa Barbara, I make sure to take a walk on the beach. It is often sunny and warm. And, there is often a crew of regulars who like to hangout on the steps and watch the sunset. One of these men, is an older, retired, Sephardic Jew from Turkey. We often shoot the shit: going back and fourth from everything from Israeli politics, the regional situation in the Middle East, even the discrimination he faced as a young soldier in the mostly Muslim, Turkish Army.

About a month ago, we were going through the usual routine when I asked, “do you think Israel is going to bomb Iran.” It seems like a simple question, right? I mean, my Sephardic friend could have answered in a simple “Yes” or “No.” But he didn’t; Rather, he launched into a spiel about the history of the Jewish people and how their psychology has been transformed as a result.

I was reminded by this conversation a few days ago when I read an article on the Independent (UK) website by a leading Jewish thinker who said virtually the same thing. He said, “Until Jews shake off their persecution complex, there can never be peace in the Middle East.” A most provocative read.

And this brings me to the issue of the week: Israeli Military Intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin, said on Sunday that Iran had crossed a “technological threshold.” He continued to lecture,

"Iran is accumulating hundreds of kilograms of enriched uranium at a low level and hopes to utilize the dialogue with the West in order to gain time, which is required in order to achieve the capability to manufacture a nuclear bomb.”

So for all you non-Middle East junkies out there who somehow stumbled into this Casbah, THIS IS HUGE! Mr. Yadlin is a very serious voice in the Israeli intelligence establishment and when he suggests action--sooner rather than later--people listen.

With Benjamin Netanyahu as the next Prime Minister, and “deport-the-Arabs” Avigdor Lieberman looking to become the next Foreign Minister, a strike on Iran seems all the more likely.

So what is going on here? I think that this whole thing can be broken down into two basic categories:

Explanation A: Israel is facing a legitimate threat from the Iranian regime and it is taking a traditionally hard-line stance on its security.

Explanation B: Israel is facing a legitimate threat, but the deafening alarm that we have been hearing out of Israel is being seriously amplified by a complex of persecution.

What do you think? Is Israel overreacting?

Switzerland of the Middle East: A Bedouin Neutrality

The Sinai Peninsula has offered passage for prophets and pilgrams, traders, and tourists from before the days of Muhammad and Moses. For centuries it has been the focus of war and religion: from the pharaohs, the Persians, the Greeks to the Romans, the Turks and the British...all have at one time set foot on the sands of the Sinai for conquest and power.

The latest groups to fight for these sacred sands were the Egyptians and Israelis. For decades a truce of tension has existed between these neighbors after a bloody battle for the peninusla erupted some 30 years ago. Caught in the middle of this war, and for the most part all of the hostilities before, are the Bedouin of Sinai.

Considered by the Egyptians as collaborators with the enemy, the desert herdsmen, who make up more than half of the 360, 000 people who inhabit the Sinai peninsula, acheived this title by showing no loyalty to any government, Egyptian or other.


This is the plight of the Bedouin of Sinai. In exhange for their neutrality, they have recieved labels of "treacherous", and "sub-human", by the Egyptians who have failed to embrace the desert-dwelling tribes. The Egyptian government has been slowly destroying the Bedouin of the Sinai by pushing them out of their land in a process termed "Cairo-fication". The Egyptian government has dismantled the Bedouin program and replaced it with the Tourism Development Authority, staking claim to centuries old Bedouin lands.

Currently the Sinai Peninsula is under massive development. Bedouin grazing grounds have given way to international hotels, clubs, shops and bars as businessmen from the Nile Delta have feverishly developed the coastlines and inwards. Bedouin campsites, centuries old, have been bulldozed to make way for Sharm el Sheikh's investors. And what have the Bedouin gained in return...discrimination and mistrust. They are still poor, rummaging through trash heaps for food, roaming the outskirts of developments for usuable discards.

The Egyptian government, now applying sheer government might in the region, has been less than equitable to the peaceful Bedouin. They have embraced development over culture, and disregarded Muhammad's oath of protection for all peoples of the Sinai sands. I would like to remind the Egyptian government of an ancient Bedouin proverb: "If you muzzle a hawk, you must feed him".

The Bedouin of the Sinai peninsula, a people of peace and neutrality, are a people who have been muzzled but not fed.