Mid-East Madness?

Ashton announces suspension of Iran nuclear talks

High-level nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers fizzled Tuesday, creating increased opportunity for Israel to use the setback to argue military force is the only way to stop Tehran from developing atomic arms.
As she announced the indefinite pause in negotiations, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said they could be resumed — but only if a low-level July 3 meeting of technical experts in Istanbul finds enough common ground to warrant such a step.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/talks-with-iran-are-being-suspended-downgraded/

Meanwhile, according to CCN:

Time is running out for a diplomatic solution to Western concerns about Iran's nuclear program, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday in an interview with CNN.
He said Iran continues to flout the United Nations and world leaders by pushing forward with work on its nuclear program - including, he said, work on a nuclear weapon. But he said Iranian leaders would be making a costly mistake in believing the threat of military action is an empty one.

And:

Terror Rocket Barrage: Four Hurt, One Seriously
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis under siege by Gaza terrorists, 44 rockets counted since midnight.
Four people were hurt, one of them seriously, in a terror rocket strike on the Hof Ashkelon Local Authority Tuesday night. The Maariv website says the injured Israelis are Border Policemen, and that the seriously injured man is an officer.
Forty-four terrorist rockets slammed into southern Israel between midnight and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Most rockets were of the short range Kassam type but three Grad Katyushas were fired at Netivot.
No casualties were reported but the incessant rocket fire has placed hundreds of thousands of Israeli under siege since yesterday.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157032#.T-EjKY48HmY

And about Syria;

 Obama failed to secure the support of Putin for regime change in Syria. The US president had been seeking Putin's help in trying to persuade Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power and leave the country. A joint statement issued after their meeting said simply that the Syrian people should independently and democratically be allowed to decide their own future, but there was no joint call for Assad to stand down, as the White House has been urging.  

And on Debca News:

Middle East military tensions around Syria shot up again Monday, June 18, with the news reported by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars that a joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian exercise is to take place in Syria.
It was described as “the biggest of its kind ever staged in the Middle East” with 90,000 personnel, 400 air planes and 900 tanks taking part.
As part of its preparations, Beijing is reported to have asked Egyptian authorities to permit the passage through the Suez Canal in late June of 12 naval ships heading for the Syrian port of Tartus, where Moscow maintains a naval and marine base.

But:

MOSCOW, June 19 (Reuters) - Russia and Syria on Tuesday denied an Iranian media report that Syria would host Russian, Chinese and Iranian military forces for joint exercises.
Iranian news agency Fars said 90,000 troops and hundreds of ships, tanks and warplanes from the four countries would take part in the war games on land and sea in Syria soon.
The Russian Defence Ministry called such reports "disinformation" and the Russian news agency Interfax quoted an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying it was not true.

And more:

The IDF has deployed Armored forces near the Israel-Egypt border, moving tanks closer to the fence, Ynet has learned. The unusual move followed Monday's terror attack on defense contractor crews building the new security fence. The attack claimed the life of Said Phashpashe, 36, from Haifa. Golani soldiers who were scrambled to the area killed two terrorists.  

With so many things going on, somebody is going to make a boo-boo...

Are you ready?

'Avant, black-browes'.

 'Avant, black-browes'.

This phrase originates in Cervantes' Don Quixote, or at least in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation - Cervantes Saavedra's History of Don Quixote:

"You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."

The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some fruits of solitude, 1693:

For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality, an Atheist against Idolatry, a Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer against Forgery, and a Drunkard against Intemperance, is for the Pot to call the Kettle black.

In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to William Penn to satisfy a debt the king owed to Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn immediately sailed to America and his first step on American soil took place in New Castle in 1682.

Penn was a Quaker, and he founded Pennsylvania. Among Penn's legacies was the unwillingness to force a Quaker majority upon Pennsylvania, allowing his state to develop into a successful “melting pot”. In addition, Thomas Jefferson and the founding Fathers adapted Penn’s theory of an amendable constitution and his vision that “all men are equal under God” in forming the federal government following the American Revolution.

But what of this “Pot calling the Kettle black”? 

Well, the USA and the Russia government are both customers of Russia arms trafficker Rosoboronexport to buy attack helicopters for Syria and Afghanistan, respectively. The circumstances are decidedly different. 

I don’t see anything wrong with our Secretary of State calling Russia to account in its dealings with Syria and Rosoboronexport, but Russia has always been an ally and suppler to Syria, so that is no surprise. 

And the US is doing the same in Afghanistan and this is no surprise, either.

If memory serves, the US backed the for-runners of the Taliban in what some called a proxy war against the USSR and the Afghan government in years gone passed. Now regimes have changed, and the US is friends with the Afghan government and Russia, and the Taliban is the enemy. But things could change in a matter of days, seemingly on the whim of a fickle politico. 

But it’s not actually whimsical at all. The Apostle Paul explains better than I could:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole amour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6-12)   

Are you ready?