DLDD = Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought.

The high-level policy dialogue (the “Dialogue”) on the theme “Coping with today’s global challenges in the context of the Strategy of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification” (UNCCD), took place on Tuesday, 27 May 2008, in Bonn, Germany. The Dialogue was intended to facilitate a targeted exchange from a number of stakeholders on the ten-year strategic plan (“the Strategy”) and to foster awareness of and buy-in among relevant policy and decision makers. There were over 120 participants, including ambassadors, ministers, country representatives, intergovernmental organizations, UN agencies, NGOs and the private sector. The Dialogue consisted of three segments, each of which comprised presentations and discussion among participants.

Above as reported by IISD from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) -                UNCCD HIGH-LEVEL POLICY DIALOGUE in Linkages:  www.iisd.ca/vol04/enb04208e.html

Now We have a new PRESS RELEASE FROM A UNCCD Conference:
UN Desertification conference, Istanbul: “Without proper action, both in developing and developed countries, some 50 million people could be displaced by desertification and land degradation within the next ten years,” warns the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.

Istanbul, Turkey, 14 November 2008 - A major United Nations conference ended today with significant steps taken to combat desertification and land degradation as well as to mitigate the effects of drought, known as DLDD. Delegates from the 193 countries who are the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took significant actions to resolve  difficult scientific problems within the Convention process. By drawing in the scientific and technological community more intensively to create indicators that can be used at national levels and beyond, the Convention will win more confidence of the stakeholders. In addition, the reporting process from the Parties is to be mainstreamed so that both affected countries and development partners can see where the Convention reaps large benefits and retain them, while eliminating less effective ones.

“The delegates here in Istanbul took a big stride to guide the next year’s ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) [the decision making body of the Convention]. We are all on the same page. But it has to be remembered that without proper action by stakeholders, both in developing and developed countries, some 50 million people could be displaced by desertification and land degradation within the next ten years,” said Mr. Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.

The Seventh Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 7) and the first special session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST-S1) were held in Istanbul from 3 to 14 November.

At the first special session of the Committee for Science and Technology (CST-S1), the scientific advisory body of the Convention, delegates confirmed that promoting the participation of the national science and technology correspondents (STC) in the activities of the committee would enhance its work. The Committee, in consultation with STCs, is now moving forward to select a minimum set of indicators to measure the impact of the implementation of the Convention.

Mr. Gnacadja said that these indicators would be applicable to all countries so that a common standard can make analysis at the national, sub-regional, regional, and the global level feasible. It will also increase the effectiveness of the implementation of the Convention. The set of indicators will be finalized during regional scientific meetings next year towards the submission to COP9.

The ninth session of the CST (CST9) scientific conference will be held next year to ensure peer scientific review with which a Scientific Policy Dialogue is planned.

***

At the seventh session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 7), which followed the CST-S1, the delegates agreed on reporting principles which measures the Convention’s implementation progress. Through the reporting process, affected countries and development partners would understand “what works, what doesn’t” in implementing the Convention. Assessment of national capacity to implement the Convention will be conducted in all regions in order to design a comprehensive capacity building approach.

The new reporting format will provide opportunities for affected country Parties to address their success and constraints in implementing the Convention in its 10-year strategic plan. For developed country Parties, future reporting should focus on providing information about how the Convention has been mainstreamed into their development cooperation strategies.

Another significant step was the concrete proposal to strengthen the involvement of integration civil society organizations in the review process.

“Recommendations made at the conference have several significant implications. First, the reporting guidelines will increase credibility of the Convention. Secondly, by Parties agreeing to the establishment of the workprogramme, taking a result-based management approach, the Convention will increase accountability. Further, the cooperation among the Convention institutions will increase efficiency of the implementation process of the Convention.” commented Mr. Gnacadja.  “This is a certain step-forward for making the Convention a systemic and worldwide response to global environmental issues affecting land and its ecosystems.”
The 10-year strategic plan, adopted at the eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) in Madrid last year, is the response of the member Parties to change in the Convention’s environment. In response to the change, there is a need to restructure the UNCCD institutions for their institutional coherence; to strengthen the Committee on Science and Technology (CST); and to improve the review process of the implementation of the Convention with new and standardized reporting guidelines. Mr. Gnacadja hopes that, by taking these actions, Parties could agree and monitor qualitative and quantitative targets to be achieved towards the goals set out in the 10-year strategic plan. “Setting, achieving and monitoring targets on land improvement with incentive mechanisms could redefine the concept and the content of international development cooperation,” Mr. Gnacadja said, “that could be achieved from strong partnerships of all the stakeholders involved.”

The new recommendations would entail a wider use of the information generated by countries and would achieve a higher level of accountability as desired by the Parties, according to the UNCCD Executive Secretary. These will be addressed at the next Conference of the Parties in autumn 2009.

“The pieces have fallen together here in Istanbul to fight DLDD. Now is the time to act,” concluded Mr. Gnacadja.

Media interested in more information about the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification can call Marcos Montoiro at +49-228-815-2806 or send an e-mail to  press at unccd.int

**********************
Developed as a result of the Rio Summit, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a unique instrument that has brought attention to land degradation to some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and people in the world. Twelve years after coming into force, the UNCCD benefits from the largest membership of the three Rio Conventions and is increasingly recognized as an instrument that can make an important contribution to the achievement of sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Top Muslims to meet pope: Groundbreaking Vatican talks to promote interfaith dialogue.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 3 - Leading Muslim scholars arrived in Rome on Monday ahead of groundbreaking talks with top Catholic officials. Nearly 60 delegates will gather in the Vatican on Tuesday morning for two days of meetings aimed at forging closer ties between the two faiths.

Led respectively by the Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mustafa Ceric, and the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the delegations will discuss ways to improve relations between the world’s two largest religions. The meeting is the fruit of an interfaith initiative by a broad coalition of influential Muslim clerics and scholars, the Common Word group.

***

Set up to bridge the growing gap between Islam and Christianity, in October 2007 the group sent an open letter to Pope Benedict, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and 25 other Christian leaders calling for interfaith collaboration.

Originally signed by 138 figures, the number of high-profile Sunni and Shiite Muslims adhering to the letter’s principles has since doubled and includes the religious heads of 43 countries, among which Saudi Arabia and Iran.

***

The Vatican meeting comes just two weeks after a similar round of talks in the UK with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

***

A precise agenda for the Vatican event has not been published although each side is expected to raise a range of initiatives aimed at promoting peace and mutual understanding.

Cardinal Tauran emphasized the importance of discussing religious freedom.

However, he said reciprocity was not a precondition for the talks, which he said offered ”real glimmers of hope”.

***

The discussions had to look at ways to convert such dialogue with the elite into a connection with the masses, he added.

The Secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Religious Dialogue, Pier Luigi Celata, said the talks should try to identify the real reason for continuing tension between Christianity and Islam.

”It would be interesting to see whether these tensions are shaped by social, economic, ideological, political and exploitative factors on both sides, rather than by actual religious differences,” he said.

Pope Benedict has made inter-religious dialogue a priority of his papacy and has worked hard to mend relations with Islam since he upset Muslims around the world with his comments on the prophet Mohammed in 2005.

The pontiff sparked anger after citing a medieval emperor who said Islam was a ‘violent’ religion at a lecture in Regensburg, Germany.

In an effort to demonstrate his commitment to fostering goodwill among religions he re-established the Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue in 2007 after having merged it with the Council for Culture at the start of his pontificate.

________________________________________________________________
This and all “other news” issues can be found at http://www.other-net.info/index.php

This WEEK in the European Union
VALENTINA POP

Still dated 31.10.2008 an EUOBSERVER / EU WEEKLY AGENDA (3-9 November) - Europe’s attention will be focused on the US elections this Wednesday, when senator Barack Obama is set to become America’s first black president if recent polls prove to be accurate.

Two days after the election of the new US president, EU leaders will hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday. Summoned by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the bloc’s rotating presidency, the heads of state and government are to formulate a common position ahead of the G20 summit scheduled a week later in Washington to address the financial crisis and its effects on the world economy.

Europeans will be watching the US presidential elections closely on Wednesday, with a clear preference for senator Barack Obama.

Also on Tuesday, the European Parliament begins its “Arab week”, which will see a number of Iraqi MPs and the secretary-general of the League of Arab States meeting European legislators.
Enlargement reports:

On Wednesday, enlargement is high on the agenda, with commissioner Olli Rehn presenting in the European Parliament an updated overview of the EU’s enlargement policy and a summary of the progress made over the past twelve months by each of the countries that want to join the EU.

According to a draft version seen by EUobserver, Croatia could conclude accession negotiations with the EU by the end of next year, if it fulfills the remaining conditions, while Serbia could become an official EU candidate. Macedonia will still not be offered a date to open membership talks with the bloc, while Bosnia-Herzegovina is to be criticised for its “inflammatory rhetoric” that “adversely affected the functioning of institutions and slowed down reform”.

Turkey still has a long way to go before concluding accession talks, the draft report reads, but the EU hails Ankara’s role as promoter of regional stability after the Georgian crisis.

Lobby for Nabucco after the Georgian crisis:

The August war between Russia and Georgia also highlighted Turkey’s “strategic significance for the EU energy security, particularly by diversifying supply routes”, the draft report reads, mentioning the importance to go ahead with the planned Nabucco gas pipeline, which will connect Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria through Turkey to the gas-rich Caspian countries.

Promoting Nabucco will be also the aim of energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs next week, when he starts a five-day tour on Wednesday to the Caspian countries, Georgia and Turkey. He is scheduled to hold high-level talks on the issue for the first time since Georgian crisis, a development that made Caspian countries weary about their relationship with the West.

An EU-China energy conference will take place Thursday and Friday in Brussels, gathering industry and administration officials from the two sides, with discussions focusing on renewable energy, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage.

EU foreign ministers and those of the 12 southern Mediterranean countries involved in the Euromed partnership will also be meeting in Marseille on Monday to decide on, amongst other subjects, a headquarters for the organisation.

Following the incident at the Syrian - Iraqi border,  and the Iraqi position rejecting that incident, with seeming backing from other Arab Governments and the Iranian Government also, now Syria feels encouraged to clamp further down on whatever flowers of wisdom appear in that country. From the press - it seems that Canadian and Dutch diplomats follow closely these developments. What will all of this bode for the Middle East? Remember please that the UN will have to extend or not to extend - the US involvement in Iraq by the end of December.

Syria Sentences 12 for Political Crimes
A Syrian court sentenced 12 dissidents to 2 1/2 years each in prison on Wednesday for political crimes after they had called for democratic reforms. The 11 men and a woman were arrested after holding a meeting to revive a movement calling for freedom of expression and a democratic constitution in Syria. The charges included “weakening national morale.” (Reuters)

Syria Comes Down on Dissidents - Stephen Starr
The 12 Syrian dissidents were held behind a cage in a court room packed with family members and well-wishers. After the sentences were read out, several of the detained shouted cries of defiance and locked hands together. About a dozen diplomats from various embassies, including Canadian and Dutch representatives, attended the proceedings.

Several Internet cafes dotted around Damascus have recently seen new regulations posted whereby every computer user must provide an identity card before being assigned a computer. The computer number and time spent on the Internet is then recorded. (Asia Times-Hong Kong)

Will Syria Dump Its Old Friends? - David Blair
When you lead a poor country with hardly any oil, only 19 million people and a pitifully weak army, you cannot afford to burn your bridges with anybody. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s foreign policy is to reach in all directions at once, play in every game and explore every possible alliance. In a country that calls itself a republic, Assad inherited the presidency from his father, Hafez, who died in 2000. This makes him the world’s only example of an absolute monarch, with no throne, ruling a hereditary republic. When it comes to lacking any shred of popular legitimacy, no one can compete with Assad. He cannot even claim the dubious standing that comes from having led a successful coup, as his dad did 38 years ago.
The West and Israel both want Syria to shake off Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran. At present, Syria forms the crucial supply route linking Hizbullah with its chief paymaster and arms dealer, Iran. Assad’s goodwill also saves Iran from near total diplomatic isolation in the Middle East. (Telegraph-UK)

———————–

Reaction to the US Raid into Syria: Only Muted Outrage.

By ANDREW LEE BUTTERS/BAGHDAD Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, www.time.com

Syrian villagers shout anti-U.S. slogans as they gather near the coffins of relatives who died a day before when U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack inside the Syrian border, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008.
Hussein Malla / AP

On the face of it, last weekend’s raid by U.S. Special Forces on Iraqi insurgents sheltering just over the border in Syria was a risky roll of the dice. After all, the political and diplomatic balances in the region are in a state of flux, anticipating possible changes resulting from forthcoming elections in America, Israel, Iran and Iraq, and also peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and possibly Syria. And then there are the troubled negotiations over a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that would allow U.S. forces to continue operating in Iraq next year, in which the Iraqis are particularly concerned to avoid their country being used as a platform from which the U.S. can attack their neighbors.

More Related

• What’s Behind the US Military Raid on Syria?
• Maliki Goes to Syria
• Fears of a Tet Offensive in Iraq

Still, the attack on al-Qaeda weapons smuggler Abu Ghadiya may not have been quite as risky as it may appear. Sure it embarrassed the Iraqi government, which loudly condemned the action. And it was grist to the mill for Iran, which has strongly opposed the SOFA deal because of its own fears about the presence of U.S. troops on its doorstep, and which remains influential within the Iraqi ruling coalition. Syria, obviously, felt compelled to ritually denounce what it called “terrorist aggression.” But unable to either prevent the Americans entering its territory or to retaliate directly, the Assad regime was left to demand that the U.N. ban such cross-border raids, and to shut down the American Community school and an American cultural center in the Syrian capital.

But the Syria attack is unlikely to have any real impact on the prospects for reaching agreement on SOFA — those were looking grim even before the raid, largely because Iraq’s leaders, who face regional and national elections over the next year, are mindful of the fact that most Iraqis want foreign troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, and that in the ballot booth, they might not look favorably on politicians who had invited the American forces to stay. At the same time, Iraqi public opinion is hardly opposed to the U.S. killing jihadis and smugglers who have wrought terrible carnage in this country. Iraqis have been more inclined to ask why Syria seems to still be harboring the kind of terrorists who have killed so many innocent civilians here.

And even Syria may not be as angry with the American actions as the vitriol out of Damascus would suggest. Although reading the goings-on in the opaque authoritarian regime is never easy, it’s certainly clear that Syria faces its own jihadi problem, which may have festered as a result of its own policies: After the U.S. invaded Iraq and began talking about regime-change in Damascus as well, the Syrian government began turning a blind eye toward — even possibly supporting — Ba’athist Iraq insurgents and foreign jihadis who used the Euphrates River valley (where last weekend’s attack occurred) as a kind of a Ho Chi Minh trail into Iraq. But in the last year or so, the Syrians had begun clamping down on the jihadis, in part because they feared the danger of being dragged into a chaotic conflict if Iraq falls apart. And the secular regime in Damascus has long been a target of a homegrown Sunni insugency. But Syria may be having more trouble reining in the jihadis than it expected. Earlier this month, a car bomb exploded in Damascus, an attack that many interpreted as a retaliation from jihadi groups. If so, the Syrians may not be all that sad to see the last of Abu Ghadiya and his ilk.

Damascus has much to fear from allowing a robust jihadi insurgent underground to grow roots on Syrian soil, and much to gain from U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel, which Syria says its wants so badly. Allowing American incursions now to pass without response may give the Syrians more leverage when they finally get to the bargaining table.

But that’s not to say that these cross-border incursions wont have consequences. The Bush administration is claiming the right to go after terrorist groups even if that means violating the sovereignty of other countries. But others may be inclined to make use of the precedent in a manner less welcome to Washington. Already, Turkey has been launching strikes against the PKK, a militant group of Turkish Kurds hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq. The Turks say this is self-defense, but Iraq’s Kurds worry this is just the beginning of a move to crush Kurdish aspirations for autonomy. And one day Iran could decide that it, too, has a right to attack militant groups — some of them allegedly receiving covert U.S. backing — that are launching attacks on Iran from the mountains of northern Iraq. And to the extent that Iran fears cross-border raids from U.S. forces in Iraq, it has plenty of incentive to do whatever it can to dissuade its Iraqi allies, who include key players in the current government, from agreeing to extend the American presence.

—————–

TV Station: Syria Pulls Troops Off of Iraqi Border.

A view of the US embassy in Damascus on Wednesday two days after the embassy notified its community in Syria that it could close its door for public after a US military raid on a Syrian village eastern Syria which killed eight people. Syrian government ordered Tuesday that the US cultural center and Damascus community schools be closed in response to the raid. (Bassem Tellawi - AP)

The Associated Press
Thursday, October 30, 2008; 12:28 PM

DAMASCUS, Syria — A Syrian television station is reporting that the country is reducing the number of troops on its border with Iraq in response to a deadly U.S. cross-border raid.

Syrian and Iraqi officials did not immediately confirm the report.

The private station, Dunia, showed footage Thursday of Syrian troops dismantling positions on the border and leaving the area. The report says the act was a Syrian response to the “American aggression.”

On Sunday, the U.S. military launched a deadly raid into Syria.

Washington hasn’t formally acknowledged the raid. But U.S. officials say the target was a top al-Qaida in Iraq figure who operated a network that smuggled fighters into Iraq.

From: Jerusalem Center-ICA / Jerusalem Viewpoints <briefmail@list-jcpa.org>
Date: Sun, Oct 26, 2008
Subject: Energy as an Element of Israel’s National Security - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Binyamin Ben-Eliezer - Vol. 8, No. 13
Received from <bel21mar@gmail.com>

Jerusalem Issue Brief - Institute for Contemporary Affairs - founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation.

Vol. 8, No. 13     26 October 2008

Energy as an Element of Israel’s National Security

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
Minister of National Infrastructures

Israel today is at the height of a revolution whose main focus is the integration of natural gas into the electricity and industrial sectors. The desalination plant in Ashkelon, which is one of the largest in the world, is using natural gas, as is the paper mill in Hadera.

Israel is in contact with the government of Turkey regarding the construction of an infrastructure corridor called the Med Stream, which is planned to contain three pipelines. One is for crude oil, meaning that what arrives through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline or the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline will continue on to Israel. The second pipeline will be for natural gas. The third pipeline could be used for water, electricity, or even fiber optic communications.

Israel is one of the leading countries in the world in developing technologies to produce electricity through renewable energy, mostly in the solar field. The National Infrastructures Ministry envisions a plan up to the year 2020 that will guarantee energy in the coming decades based on 40 percent natural gas, 40 percent coal, and up to 20 percent renewable energy.
Ahmadinejad with nuclear weaponry means a different Middle East, and the first victim is not going to be Israel. The first victims are going to be Arab countries, the Sunni countries in the Gulf area, Egypt and Jordan. Some of them are the West’s best allies, but the West is keeping quiet. The answer to this threat is very clear: cooperation and coordination between all countries, because all of us are going to be targets.

If Europe and America want to guarantee their security, then they have to respond to Iran. It doesn’t have to be a military response. It’s enough that a decision be taken to totally isolate Iran - no import, no export. If this is done, then it will be enough.

A Shift from Oil to Natural Gas:

Energy security is a component of national security. In the world, energy consumption is still based on fossil resources whose reserves are diminishing, which means crude oil and natural gas prices will keep going up.

In the current geo-political situation, Israel is like an island. In a world with irrational leaders such as Hugo Chavez and Mohammed Ahmadinejad, Israel must do its utmost to secure its energy supply in order to preserve its security and way of life. The Ministry of National Infrastructures is acting in a number of arenas in parallel to assure Israel’s long-term energy security.

• Israel today is at the height of a revolution whose main focus is the integration of natural gas into the electricity and industrial sectors. The desalination plant in Ashkelon, which is one of the largest in the world, is using natural gas, as is the paper mill in Hadera.
  
  For the past three years the ministry has been in contact with the government of Turkey regarding the construction of an infrastructure corridor called the Med Stream, in parallel with establishing a dialog with natural gas-producing countries. We are talking about building an infrastructure corridor that connects Ceyhan in Turkey to Haifa and Ashkelon. Ceyhan is the last point of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude oil pipeline that starts in Baku and runs through Georgia to Turkey.
• The Med Stream corridor is planned to contain three pipelines. One is for crude oil, meaning that what arrives through the BTC or Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline will continue on to Israel. The second pipeline will be for natural gas. The third pipeline could be used for water, electricity, or even fiber optic communications.
• All this is in addition to natural gas coming from Egypt through a pipeline from El Arish to Ashkelon. This pipeline, built by EMG, one of the leading companies in Egypt, has been operational since May 2008 and it is to operate under a twenty-year contract. I believe that it’s not enough to sign papers for peace. Peace has to be cemented by economic projects. In May 2005 I signed a memorandum of understanding in Egypt for the import of Egyptian natural gas, and now it’s a reality.
• At the same time, Israel is conducting talks with British Gas about natural gas production under the sea opposite Gaza. Hopefully, this will result in a long-term agreement as well.
• Renewable Energy:
  
  Israel is one of the leading countries in the world in developing technologies to produce electricity through renewable energy, mostly in the solar field. In the next two decades, we hope to become almost fully energy independent through the construction of new solar energy stations, mainly in the southern part of Israel between Beersheba and Eilat. We have already issued three tenders and seven large companies from all over the world entered bids, including companies from Israel. We are going to do everything possible to enter this channel of renewable and alternative energy.
• But that is not enough. We must deal aggressively with managing demand as well and improve energy efficiency. In addition, we have now issued some tenders for wind power stations in the Golan Heights and near Eilat. Adopting an aggressive renewable energy policy and implementing demand side management will hopefully bring Israel closer to energy security.
• Our ministry envisions a plan up to the year 2020 that will guarantee energy in the coming decades based on 40 percent natural gas, 40 percent coal, and up to 20 percent renewable energy.

• The World’s Double Game Over Iran
• The show made by Ahmadinejad at the United Nations indicates how the world is playing a double game. During the day we hear resolutions and statements condemning Iran and during the night the story is different. There are more than 1,200 companies all over Europe working directly with Iran.
• Whether we like it or not, Ahmadinejad is moving very fast toward producing nonconventional weaponry. The world should be very worried. Israel will overcome, but I feel sorry for those who do not comprehend exactly what is going to happen the day after.
  
  Ahmadinejad with nuclear weaponry means a different Middle East, and the first victim is not going to be Israel. The first victims are going to be Arab countries, the Sunni countries in the Gulf area, Egypt and Jordan. Some of them are the West’s best allies, but the West is keeping quiet. The answer to this threat is very clear: cooperation and coordination between all countries, because all of us are going to be targets.
• I hope that when the world wakes up one day, it will not be too late. I know that many countries have nuclear capabilities, but with all of those countries we are speaking the same language. The Islamists speak a different language. I couldn’t understand the Palestinians who used to be suicide bombers. I used to go to the prisons to meet those who had been captured on suicide operations, to ask them one question: “Why?” They would respond with speeches of half an hour or an hour, and I couldn’t understand one word, though I speak, write, and read the Arabic language. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about.
  
  With regard to Iran, let me put this very clearly. I think Israel should be ready to defend itself. History has shown that we must do everything to guarantee our security. However, I don’t think that Israel should be in the first row with regard to Iran. Iran is very rapidly pursuing the enrichment of uranium and within two or three years they will produce, with great fanfare, their first nuclear weapon. This should be a worry first of all to the free world. This should be a case where America should ask a lot of questions. Who is going to guarantee security when we are talking with people that today have no basis for mutual understanding with the West? Those people are talking in the name of God. I think America should be worried and, once and for all, Europe should be very worried, too.
• Europe and America, the Western world, have to decide. If they want to guarantee their security, then they have to respond. It doesn’t have to be a military response. It’s enough that a decision be taken to totally isolate Iran - no import, no export. If this is done, then it will be enough. Then they will understand that nobody is going to play games with them. Israel should not stop for one second trying to explain to the world the consequences of a nuclear Iran. And the world has to decide whether to live with that.
• I’m expecting the Western world to respond. I’m expecting America to respond. I’m expecting a part of the Arab world, whom I respect very much, to raise its voice - because otherwise they’re going to be eaten.
  *     *     *
• Brig.-Gen. (res.) Binyamin Ben-Eliezer retired from the IDF in 1984 after serving as first Commanding Officer in Southern Lebanon, operating as army liaison between the Lebanese Christian militias and Israel. He was Military Governor of Judea and Samaria and later Government Coordinator of Activities in the Administered Areas. Elected to the Knesset in 1984, Ben-Eliezer has served as Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Communications, Minister of Defense, and as Deputy Prime Minister. He now serves as Minister of National Infrastructures and is a long-standing member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. This Jerusalem Issue Brief is based on his presentation at the Institute for Contemporary Affairs on September 24, 2008.

This Jerusalem Issue Brief is available online at:
 http://www.jcpa.org

Dore Gold, Publisher; Yaacov Amidror, ICA Chairman; Dan Diker, ICA Director; Mark Ami-El, Managing Editor. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (Registered Amuta), 13 Tel-Hai St., Jerusalem, Israel; Tel. 972-2-561-9281, Fax. 972-2-561-9112, Email:  jcpa at netvision.net.il. In U.S.A.: Center for Jewish Community Studies, 5800 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore, MD 21215; Tel. 410-664-5222; Fax 410-664-1228. Website: www.jcpa.org

————

After we published the above, we got from Marvin Belsky a better copy of General Binjamin Ben- Eliezer’s paper and we decided to attach it to our previous posting.

Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008, The Japan Times nline.

Moving from Christian to Muslim democracy.

By JAN-WERNER MUELLER
BUDAPEST — This past summer, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) narrowly escaped being banned by the country’s constitutional court. State prosecutors alleged that the party was trying to “Islamicize” the country and ultimately introduce theocracy. After the decision, not only did AKP supporters celebrate but those in the West who view as a prototype “Muslim Democratic” party also breathed a sigh of relief.

The clear model for a moderately religious party — one committed to the rules of the democratic game — are the Christian Democratic parties of Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, Latin America. Yet opponents of the idea of “Muslim democracy” argue that European Catholics only turned to democracy under orders from the Vatican, and that since Muslims do not have anything like a Church hierarchy, Christian democracy is an irrelevant example.

But history shows that political entrepreneurs and liberalizing Catholic intellectuals were crucial to the creation of Christian democracy. This suggests that Muslim reformers, given the right circumstances, might be similarly capable of bringing about Muslim democracy.

***

Christian Democratic parties first emerged in Belgium and Germany toward the end of the 19th century as narrowly focused Catholic interest groups. The Vatican initially regarded them with suspicion, perceiving their participation in elections and parliamentary horse-trading as signs of “modernism.”

A breakthrough came with the Italian Popular Party’s founding in 1919. Its leader, Don Luigi Sturzo, wanted it to appeal to tutti i liberi e forti — all free and strong men. The Vatican, having prohibited Italian Catholics from participating in the political life of newly united Italy for almost 60 years, lifted its ban. Mussolini soon outlawed the Popolari, and in any event, the Vatican had had a strained relationship with the party, appearing more comfortable supporting pro-Catholic authoritarian regimes in countries like Austria and Portugal.

While Christian democracy got nowhere politically between the world wars, momentous changes were initiated in Catholic thought. In particular, the French Catholic thinker Jacques Maritain developed arguments as to why Christians should embrace democracy and human rights.

During the 1920s, Maritain was close to the far-right Action Francaise, but the pope condemned the movement in 1926 for essentially being a group of faithless Catholics more interested in authoritarian nationalism than Christianity. Maritain accepted the pope’s verdict and began a remarkable ideological journey toward democracy.

He criticized France’s attempts to appear as a modern crusader, incurring the wrath of Catholics in the United States in particular. More importantly, he began to recast some of Aristotle’s teachings and medieval natural law doctrines to arrive at a conception of human rights. He also drew on the philosophy of “personalism” — which was highly fashionable in the 1930s as it sought a middle way between individualist liberalism and communitarian socialism — and insisted that people had a spiritual dimension that materialistic liberalism supposedly failed to acknowledge.

After the fall of France, Maritain decided to remain in the U.S., where he happened to find himself after a lecture tour (the Gestapo searched his house outside Paris in vain). He authored pamphlets on the reconciliation of Christianity and democracy, which Allied bombers dropped over Europe, and he never tired of stressing that the Christian origins of America’s flourishing democracy had influenced him.

Maritain also insisted that Christians, while they should take into account religious precepts, had to act as citizens first. Acceptance of pluralism and tolerance were central to his vision and he forbade one-to-one translation of religion into political life. He was rather skeptical of exclusively Christian parties.

Maritain participated in the drafting of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, and the Second Vatican Council eventually approved many of the ideas that he had been propounding since the 1930s. He also influenced the Christian Democratic parties that governed after 1945 in Germany, Italy, the Benelux countries and, to a lesser extent, France, and which consolidated not only democracy but also built strong welfare states in line with Catholic social doctrine. By the 1970s, the parties even began to stress that one didn’t have to be a believer to join.

Maritain’s example disproves the claim that the analogy between Christian and Muslim democracy fails. It wasn’t the Vatican that took the lead in creating Christian democracy; it was innovative philosophers like Maritain (who never served in the Church hierarchy, though he was briefly French ambassador to the Vatican) and political entrepreneurs like Sturzo (a simple Sicilian priest).

Of course, Muslim democracy will not be brought about by intellectuals alone. After all, Christian democracy’s success is also explained by its strongly anti-communist stance during the Cold War.

Some of the philosophies used in the European Catholic transition to democracy — such as personalism — were rather nebulous, although it was probably their vagueness that helped to bring as many believers as possible on board. But the point remains that ideas matter. So the creation of a liberalized Islam by self-consciously moderate and democratic Muslim intellectuals is crucial.

Jan-Werner Mueller, a professor of politics at Princeton and currently an Open Society fellow at Central European University, Budapest, is the author of “Constitutional Patriotism.”

Monday, October 13th - Columbus Day 2008 - In Financial Markets The Chefs Of Europe Came To Washington to Save the Old World - The Week Will End With The Europeans Fighting Among Themselves For Positions at the UN.

The good news are that this Monday is much better then the Monday of last week. This because after serious tutoring by the Chefs of Europe, the US was softened to accept what George Soros and a few others said for quite a while - you do not just bailout those that undermined the economy because of their greed, that was allowed to grow thanks to a wrong headed concept of “Less Government Is Best Government.” You re-capitalize the banks and take equity position in them, so you can re-establish rule of ethics in those institutions. The Europeans started by Nationalizing their weak institutions rather then let them fail (like the Lehman case in the US) or bail them out (like the Goldman-Sachs case in the US). As George Soros said, by letting the system in the hands of Goldman-Sachs graduates, you really do not signal that you want to see change indeed. (We add to this that it would be like seating McCain in the Oval Office when the need is to create deep change in Washington.)

Further - just look at The Financial Times of today - for example at page 11 - “Goldman Connection Raises Questions Over Conflict of Interest’ and Page 24 - “Key Lehman Figures Stay On In Europe” - this after Japan’s Nomura bought the European and Middle East operations of Lehman Brothers. Then see page 24 - “Is Nationalization the answer to banks behaving badly?” and look for what went on in Iceland where the whole banking system was Nationalized. Look at the argument - “shareholders win - taxpayers lose” and the question “why not resolve it by making the two groups identical?” That is neither socialism nor demagoguery. It is not Corporate Socialism but plain “Country First” argumentation that has nothing to do with “me interrupt the campaign and go to Washington to pass the Paulson three page non-plan.”

OK, President Bush listened to the G7 on Friday - and magic - after he declared that the US will now buy into banks - not just the “toxic assets” of those banks, the New York Stock market this morning, followed the example of global markets over the week-end, and started returning value to the share-holders. While I write this, Monday at noon, the New York Stock Market DOW is up 520 points. Clearly, not because they trust now Messrs. Paulson & Bernanke more then they did a week ago - it did happen because they trust more the Gordon Brown, Nicholas Sarkozy, Angela Markel consortium of individuals.

But, do not jump yet at conclusions - this article is not exactly an ode to old Europe. You can conclude that I trust more The Financial Times then the Wall Street Journal, but I will also point out the show of hands that will happen at the end of this week at the UN, and that will bring to the limelight also shadier aspects of Europe 2008.

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The event will happen on Friday, October 17, 2008, when the UN General Assembly elects five non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Outgoing council members are Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, South Africa.

Uganda is the sole candidate for Africa and will replace South Africa. Mexico is the sole candidate for Latin America and will replace Panama. But for Asia there are two candidates and Japan has the definite advantage over Iran as replacement of Indonesia.

The only real fight will be for the European two seats where Austria, Iceland and Turkey will be fighting for the two seats vacated by Belgium and Italy.

Conventional wisdom at the UN says that Turkey will be a shoo-in with the 192 States voting, but Austria and Iceland will be in a tough fight for the second seat. And this is the reason for my bringing up now these elections.

The last months was very hard on Austria and Iceland. Think of the complete melt-down of the Iceland fi