Report: Top Syrian officer killed in Damascus explosion.
London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper says senior military officer is among 17 fatalities of car bomb which rocked Syrian capital. Attack believed to be meant for city’s intelligence services building
Roee Nahmias, September 28, 2008, Israel News.
A high-ranking Syrian military officer was killed in the car bomb explosion which struck Damascus on Saturday, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Sunday.

Seventeen people were killed Saturday morning when a car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital. The blast, which Syria’s interior minister dubbed a “terror attack”, occurred at an intersection leading to the Sit Zeinab shrine, popular with Shiite pilgrims from Iran and Lebanon.

According to the al-Sharq al-Awsat report, the car bomb was meant to hit a Syrian intelligence services building, located near Damascus’ international airport, where Syria’s “Palestinian directorate” is believed to be located.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was quick to assign blame Saturday, saying Israel was the one which stood to gain the most from the attack.

“Unfortunately, in the years following the American war on terror, terror has managed to spread even further. Such incidents can take place anywhere and do not indicate that there was a security breach,” he said.

The terror attack in Syria was condemned by the US, Europe and the Arab world.

Opposition website: Syria blast may be ‘work accident.’
Syrian opposition website suggests Damascus explosion may be result of security forces’ mishap; Lebanon PM condemns attack as ‘terror crime’

The Damascus blast that left 17 people dead earlier Saturday may have been a result of a “work accident” by Syrian security forces, an opposition website reported. A local resident told a website reporter the car bomb that exploded in the Syrian capital may have been meant to explode in Iraq or Lebanon.

The opposition website reported that Syrian television images make it appear that the explosion took place in a building belonging to the security establishment. However, at this time the reports are mostly speculations and the cause of the blast remains unclear.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition figures told Ynet that the explosion may in fact be a staged incident aimed at heightening fears of a growing radical Islamic threat, thereby presenting the Syrians with a pretext to deploy troops in Lebanon.

Saturday evening, senior Lebanese figures, including Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, condemned the explosion. The Lebanese PM issued a statement saying that “this crime is despicable and unacceptable.”

Siniora referred to the blast as a “terror crime” and said such incidents must be rejected, particularly when they take place in an Arab capital.

According to television reports, the car that exploded in Damascus Saturday was rigged with at least 200 kg (440 pounds) of explosives, and also injured 14 people.

 The reports also said that “an investigation by the Syrian Counter-terrorism Unit was underway to identify the attackers.”

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Olmert to visit Russia next week: Shortly before leaving office, prime minister scheduled to leave for Moscow for meeting with Russian President Medvedev. Leaders expected to discuss Russia’s arms supply to Syria, Iranian nuclear threat and Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Roni Sofer, September 29, 2008,  Israel News.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to leave for Moscow next week for a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The outgoing prime minister’s trip is planned for next Monday and Tuesday, following an invitation extended to Olmert by Medvedev.

The two leaders are expected to discuss a number of issues, including Russia’s arms supply to Syria, Moscow’s objection to additional sanctions on Iran and Israel’s peace process with the Palestinians.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said the meeting had been planned for some time, after several phone conversations between Olmert and Medvedev after the latter took office.

The officials stressed the Russian president was aware of the political situation in Israel and of Olmert’s resignation, as well as the attempts to form a new government headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, but that he insisted on inviting the Israeli prime minister to Moscow nonetheless.

Israel and Russia disagree on a number of issues, including Syrian President Bashar Assad’s attempts to purchase advanced arm systems, including the S-300 – a land-air system which may threaten Israel Air Force planes in longer ranges. This system may also threaten Israeli aircraft flying over Lebanon.

Another issue on the agenda is Moscow’s objection to a fourth round of sanctions on Iran in response to the Islamic republic’s ongoing nuclear plan.

The Russians are also interested in helping advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, although their offer to host the negotiations as part of the Annapolis peace conference was rejected so far.

In light of the expected timetable for the establishment of a new government, this will likely be Olmert’s last visit abroad as prime minister.

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Military Aid: Syria-Russia naval cooperation grows: Russia says it is renovating Syrian port for use by its fleet; two countries’ naval chiefs meet, Associated Press.

    Russia announced Friday it was renovating a Syrian port for use by the Russian fleet in what could signal an effort for a better foothold in the Mediterranean amid the rift with the United States over Georgia.

***

Syria was Moscow’s strongest Mideast ally during the Cold War. The alliance largely waned after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, though Russia has continued some weapons sales to Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Assad has increasingly reached out to Russia recently, including Seeking weapons and offering broader military cooperation.

‘Great geopolitical significance’  - The two countries’ naval chiefs also met in Moscow on Friday and discussed “further strengthening mutual trust and mutual understanding between the two states’ fleets,” A Russian naval official, Igor Dygalo, told Itar-Tass. The Tartus renovations could signal an intention to have a long-term Russian naval presence there.

In late August, Russia’s ambassador to Damascus, Igor Belyev, said that Russian ships already patrol the area, but “a new development is that the Russian presence in the Mediterranean will become permanent.”

Syrian media made no mention of the Russian announcement Friday, and Syrian officials could not be reached for comment.

Russian military experts said Tartus would be a considerable boost for operations in the Mediterranean. “It is much more advantageous to have such a facility than to return ships patrolling the Mediterranean to their home bases,” Former Black Sea Fleet commander Adm. Eduard Baltin said, according to the Russian Interfax-AVN service. The former first deputy commander the Russian Navy, Adm. Igor Kasatonov, said Tartus “is of great geopolitical significance considering that it is the only such Russian facility abroad.”

***

Somali Pirates’ Unexpected Booty: Russian Tanks.
By Nick Wadhams / Nairobi Friday, Sep. 26, 2008

The pirates who seized a Ukrainian freighter on Friday may have netted one of their biggest prizes in more than 15 years of terrorizing the Somali coastline — the vessel was carrying 33 T-72 battle tanks to Kenya.

It appears almost certain that the pirates had no idea of the cargo aboard the Belize-flagged Faina, which Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuri Yekhanurov told the Interfax news agency was being sold to Kenya. He said the cargo included grenade launchers and ammunition. Hours after the hijacking, Russia announced it was sending a warship from its Baltic Fleet to patrol the Somali coast.

Attacks on cargo vessels along the Somali coast have spiked recently, with at least 14 ships and 300 crew members currently held by pirates in lawless Somalia, according to the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB). But the seizure of the tanks also raises questions about their ultimate destination and purpose: The Kenya office of the Seafarers Assistance Programme said the ship had picked up its cargo of military equipment in the Baltic Sea and was sailing to Mombasa. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said his government had purchased the hardware. “The cargo in the ship includes military hardware such as tanks and an assortment of spare parts for use by different branches of the Kenyan military,” he said in a statement.

A French intelligence official tells TIME that the hijackers probably had no clue about the Faina’s cargo, and might find they “might get more than they’d bargained for” — and would probably try to ransom the shipment back to the freighter’s owners. “They see a ship out there alone, consider the surrounding conditions favorable, and they move,” the official explained. France has been closely involved in trying to beef up patrols in the Gulf, even introducing a resolution to the U.N. Security Council.

Experts believe that the pirates may not have the capacity to offload the cargo — and there may not be much local interest in tanks, anyway. They’d be quickly noticed in Somalia, and their destination would reveal the identity of anyone financing the hijackers.

It wouldn’t be the first time that pirates in Somalia may have stumbled upon a cargo that was bigger than they could imagine. Last August, pirates seized the MV Iran Deyanat, a ship owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. Somali officials contend that the ship had been carrying weapons destined for Islamic insurgents, a claim denied by Tehran. Ironically, the activities of the pirates may be lifting the lid on the illicit trade in weapons around the Horn of Africa.

But for the pirates of Somalia, it was just another working day — the Faina was the third ship taken in the course of a week in an area about 200 miles off Mogadishu, suggesting an advanced detection capability on the part of the pirates. The Faina is a huge, well-protected vessel, underscoring both the audacity and capability of the buccaneers.

“It is an astonishing ship to take, and it defeats a number of the previously held conceptions that they’d go for slow-moving ships,” James Wilkes, managing director of the London-based Gray Page Limited, a maritime consulting group in London, told TIME. “This ship is built like a castle; how they managed to make it stop, I don’t know. I can imagine that they possibly laid quite a bit of weapon fire on the ship.”

Some reports have tied the pirates to the Islamic insurgents battling the Ethiopian- and U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, but experts say no concrete evidence has emerged to back this claim. Wilkes and others say the hijackers are more likely simply in the increasingly lucrative business of demanding — and receiving — ransom payments from shipowners.

“If there was another alternative, the owners would not pay, but right now there is no alternative,” says Cyrus Mody, a manager at the IMB. “Once the pirates are on board they are pretty much in control. The fact that the pirates are going to be paid a ransom obviously makes it that much more attractive and lucrative, especially in a country where there is no government, no law enforcement and no policing to address the situation.”

The brazen attack was a reminder of the limits of the protection offered by the U.S.-led coalition of warships patrolling the Somali coast. In a statement issued Friday from Bahrain, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, explained that the patrols don’t “have the resources to provide 24-hour protection” in waters between Somalia and Yemen. He urged private shipping companies to “take measures to defend their vessels and crews,” which could include hiring security for their vessels.

—With reporting by Bruce Crumley/Paris

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First permanent post for American G.I.s in Israel.
BY MATTHEW KALMAN, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.
Sunday, September 28th 2008,

JERUSALEM - The United States has stationed 120 American troops and an early-warning radar system in Israel - marking the first permanent U.S. military presence there.
Soldiers and technicians from the U.S. European Command flew to the Nevatim military base in the Negev Desert last Sunday, bringing with them advanced radar systems designed to help protect Israel against a potential ballistic missile attack from Iran, according to the weekly Defense News.
Once operational, the system is expected to double or even triple the range at which Israel could detect, track and ultimately intercept Iranian missiles, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, told Defense News.
The Forward Based X-Band Transportable Radar will be linked to U.S. satellite tracking stations and Israel’s Arrow-2 defensive rocket system, enabling the Israelis to detect and destroy any incoming Iranian missile before it enters Israeli air space.
Japan deployed the same system two years ago to detect potential missiles launched from North Korea.
The U.S. European Command has deployed troops and Patriot air defenses for joint exercises and Iraq-related wartime planning, but has never before permanently deployed troops on Israeli soil, according to Defense News.
“This is a major upgrade in bilateral preparations for the threats facing Israel,” an Israeli defense official said.
A British newspaper reported Friday that President Bush refused to okay a preemptive strike by Israel against Iran’s fledgling nuclear facilities.
In Israel, the X-Band is seen as a consolation prize.
Iranian state TV has reported testing of its Shehab-3 long-range ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 1,242 miles - more than far enough to hit Tel Aviv.
At a recent military parade in Tehran, banners adorning six Shehab-3 missiles declared: “Israel must be wiped off the map,” and “We will crush America under our feet.”
The United Nations recently renewed economic sanctions against Iran designed to halt its nuclear program and stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Israeli leaders fear that a nuclear Iran, driven by its violently anti-Jewish leaders, will try to destroy Israel.

 The Columbia University World Leaders Forum, September 26, 2008, Became The Podium For Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark To Make Known A  Roadmap To The December 2009 Climate Change Meeting in Copenhagen. The Prime Minister Is Keenly Interested That The Copenhagen Event Becomes The Turnaround Point From Our Present Descent Towards Global Environmental Disaster, and He Negotiated This Week A Roadmap With The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and The Two Candidates For The US Presidency.  We Wished Him All The Luck He Needs; Nevertheless We Expressed Some Skepticism.

The Columbia Forum brings to campus, during all months of the academic year, leaders involved with all sorts of ongoing problems, and at the time of the September High Level meetings of the UN General Assembly, it picks up special speed, and manages to pick up speakers that may have fallen in between the cracks when organizations like the Asia Society and the Americas Society, or the Foreign Policy Association, or the Council on Foreign Affairs, set up their schedules. This time it was really not the case. Prime Minister Rasmussen came to Columbia University because he has high esteem for the work done at the Earth Institute that is the home for a large number of scientists that were involved in the readying of the IPCC reports. Having said that, we must also note that rather then having the people from The Earth Institute involved in the Forum, the University chose to go all out with Columbia University President, Lee C. Bollinger, and University Professor of Economics and Law, Jagdish Bhagwati, a specialist on globalization and development, being the official hosts.

The above august Columbia University reception caused Mr. Rasmussen to start by saying: “I congratulate you on your work. I am impressed by the contribution of The Earth Institute to both the development agenda and the Millennium Development Goal. Issues I had the opportunity to discuss yesterday with other world leaders. Today, I will be speaking about another major topic for The Earth Institute and for many leaders including myself: CLIMATE CHANGE. I will focus on three key elements: THE CHALLENGE, THE VISION, and THE DEAL.”

 The introduction said to us clearly - the Prime Minister does not want to see the reality of climate change being submerged under tons of other global problems. The task of his leadership towards a Copenhagen 2009 agreement is to lead to an agreed timetable for the decrease of CO2 emissions from human made causes - it is this, rather then the maze of other linked problems, that he intends to tackle. He laid bare the problem in his first two segments - but his aim is the third segment - THE DEAL.

We intend to post his whole presentation - but for this fast posting we want to go directly to the DEAL, point out questions that came up in follow up discussions, and the full information that was then provided to the very few members of the media present at a follow up press conference.

***

The Prime Minister wants to see in the December 2009 declaration a deal based on four key elements:

FIRSTLY: A Long Term Vision for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 1990 baseline by 2050.                    This in order to set out targets for businesses in planning their investments.

SECONDLY: An Ambitious Medium Term Goal for the industrialized countries modeled after the European commitment to 30% reduction by 2020. “A tall order, I know, but it meets the challenge and creates opportunities.”

But that is not enough. The Major Emerging Economies will also have to join this endeavour by taking actions. They must stabilise, and subsequently reduce, their emissions. This obviously taking in consideration the different levels of development of the individual countries. IN THIS PRESERVATION OF FORESTS WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE.

Without clear 10 to 15-year reduction commitments from the industrialized countries it will not be possible to develop cost effective measures.

THIRDLY: The Technology aspect requires the development and dissemination of low carbon technologies and INNOVATION within a global collaborative effort that promotes programs and policies that sustain economic development while ensuring decreased emissions. We must encourage investment and financing of low-carbon technologies.

FOURTHLY: Dealing with the special needs of the most vulnerable developing countries that contributed least to global warming and suffer the hardest consequences, they must be given a safety net which includes financial support for their efforts including adaptation.

The Prime Minister wants to see cost-effective, market-based instruments - efficiency standards and national, regional, and global carbon markets. He looked further at places that such moves were started already - the EU, China,  in many countries in Asia, other emerging economies.

“I believe the Chinese business sector and government have understood the prospects for low carbon technology. They can see a double benefit. Firstly their economy and, secondly, their participation in the global economy. They are already out there seeking to be part of the next generation of smart, low-carbon technologies” - he said.

Mr. Rasmussen did not mince words: “Following the last oil crisis Toyota started to build smaller and more fuel-efficient cars. General Motors did not. Today Toyota is the most sold car in America.”

“In China, cars are produced according to strict fuel efficiency standards. At the same time, US manufacturers are struggling with old fashioned fuel intensive models” - he said. “DO I NEED TO SAY MORE?”

From here Mr. Rasmussen pointed out that much did actually happen in many US individual States that have also established regional carbon markets and energy efficiency standards - so - he wants to see America lead again by example, by entrepreneurship - politically as well as economically.

“I know,” he said, “that many people fear competition from China, especially in energy intensive sectors. And Yes, no deal can address climate change without both China and the United States being part of it. But do not deceive yourself: with emissions at 24 tons per capita the USA has a long way to go and cannot afford to wait for others. There are huge gains to be won by moving rapidly and with determination.”

The choices that will be made in 2009 are not short of shaping actually the future of planet earth for the next century - but Mr. Rasmussen does not think that his goals are unattainable - they are not impossible and they are not unaffordable - they are actually absolutely vital for our survival - he said - and he offered also that they are vital for our economic recovery and growth.

“We could continue to wring our hands, watching helplessly as the oil price rises and falls. Watch weather systems spreading havoc. Continue to transfer huge amounts of wealth to autocratic regimes and rely on unstable supplies of oil and gas. Watch our planet grow more unlivable every day. But that is not an option. We are not going to do that.”

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Professor Bhagawati, in his remarks mentioned, in reference to the present calamity of the US financial sector, also with application to the issues here at hand, that we were once used to the image of a ship captain standing in a position of salute when his ship was going down, this after putting his passengers into the lifeboats. Now we see the captains leaving in the lifeboats and leaving the passengers behind to go down instead.

He also suggested that from Kyoto I we will probably not go to Kyoto II, but rather to Copenhagen I. He wants to have in Poznan, Poland, in December 2008, already the agreement to go to 50% reduction of emissions, and during 2009 the negotiations for the intermediary steps with the consideration of different responsibilities for different stages of development, taken in full account.

***

We brought up the question about the timetable from now to December 2009, with the intermediary stop at Poznan in December 2008.

We explained that the US elections in November 2008 will have produced a new President-elect, but no practical change in the US representation -  what-so-ever - at the Poznan meeting. Simply - the US has only one President at one time. This will make it impossible to deal with the US in order to come up with the Poznan  decision, that is needed in order to reach an agreement that Mr.Rasmussen expects at the Copenhagen meeting in 2009.

Mr. Rasmussen answered that he is already in contact with both US Presidential campaigns, and both said that they will be ready with their plans when they take over on January 20, 2009. But this is also no solution - this because of the fact that a US negotiator will have to be approved by Congress - and it is hardly possible of having such an approval before March to the earliest. Really, as cabinet positions will have to be approved first - let me say that this will not happen before April.

With Poznan having become a dud, negotiations April - November 2009, can hardly be expected at turning Copenhagen of being more then a Poznan II, rather then a Kyoto II or Copenhagen I.

***

The Prime Minister is optimistic nevertheless and expects the EU to push for renewable energy and energy savings, and lead by example. He also puts his hope for Europe’s energy in the construction of pipelines from Central Asia that bypass Russia.

Furthermore, as it is true that climate change is with us for a long time - and it only got worse in the last two century because of the man-caused emissions, nevertheless, it is the confluence of that reason, with the present political reason, the fact that huge amounts of money are transferred to unstable regimes in payment for the energy, is strengthening our resolve to take action now. We must now brake our addiction to oil.

The Prime Minister also told us of a “Troica meeting” with the UN Secretary-General: Indonesia, Poland, Denmark - or the organizers of the Bali (2007), Poznan (2008) , and Copenhagen (2009) meetings, which just happened, a day earlier, at this reunion at the UN.

So, there was already a promise of 50% by 2050 / as per 1990, that was put on the table in Bali, and then backed by the G8 meeting in Japan.These answers to questions from the floor got then further amplified in the meeting with the four members of the Press that participated at the follow up session. And this is what I call now the Roadmap:

The year 2009 will involve Heads of State.

(a) In February - March 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will hold a Heads-of-State Meeting at the UN in order to start the process rolling.

(b) In July 2009, probably in Rome, there will be a meeting of the G8 ++ - that is the major evolving countries - probably 5 of them if not more. This to reach an agreement that can then be brought to all Heads-of-State in a September Session of the UN.

(c) thus an energy/climate change UN High-Level September meeting at the UN headquarters in New York City.

(d) The December 2009 Copenhagen meeting.

Further, we wanted to know what the Prime Minister thinks about a US that will be spending now $1.5 trillion on the Wall Street Bailout - so where will the money come for doing the right things needed in regard to climate change? But the fighting optimist believes that really this is not a question of money, but political will.

Again, I felt compelled to wish good luck and to mention that we are all with him and hope he can pull it through.

Last comment for this first report is that I watched in amazement how the Prime Minister was accosted at the Columbia Forum reception by an Iranian young lady student, who for perhaps 15 minutes was trying him out on those famous cartoons, and how he tried to explain to her the workings of a democracy and the fact that freedom of speech, the press, religion, mean that one religion cannot be imposed on others, and that the government has no right to intervene in a  democracy, even though this student seemed not to want to accept this reality. Columbia University must really have succeeded in bringing on board all sorts of students - and we wish the school luck also, in the attempt to forge well behaved citizens even with hard to reach individuals that surely must come from the leading families of political strata of some of the most repulsive regimes. Finally, another student, waiting in line to talk to the Prime Minister, felt compelled to say - “let’s go back to energy questions.”  A different student, without offering a question,  thanked the Prime Minister for his strong stands.

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Some of the Jewish American Community will be having a vigil outside the UN building in New York, Monday, September 22, 2008, to protest the fact that the UN will be allowing Iran’s prime Minister Ahmedi-Nejad (Ahmedinejad), a self declared enemy of the Jewish people of Israel, and Holocaust denier, to come again to New York, this for the third time, in order to spew his venom and be feted by some that probably are like-minded, even though less expressive.

By coincidence, September 18th, the Center for Jewish History in New York City and the Yeshiva University Museum (YUM), had the unveiling reception of several exhibits that tie into one larger scope that deals with the resilience of the Jewish people.

Though having had to move around, persecuted in many places, the Jews enriched every place where they landed. In effect they graced every host, and Germany and Austria of today are not afraid to recognize the fact that the Jews were a very strong component of their culture, and are trying to make amends for what their country-people did to the Jews during the Holocaust years, and well ahead in historic times.

One of the exhibits deals with the German town Erfurt. In 1349, because of the Plague - The Black Death - the ignorant locals, that had no inkling about needs of hygiene, accused the Jews living among them as the cause for the Plague - this is clearly not much different from Ahmedi-Nejad’s hammering on the Jews of Israel as a reason for the backwardness of Muslim populations in the Middle East - that got stuck in a Medieval frame of mind and made not much real progress since. One of the local rich Jews hid a treasure that was found recently and these unique objects of art have been brought for display in New York before getting a permanent home in a new Museum in Erfurt.

Such museums exist in many old towns in Germany, and I was privileged visiting the city of Emden where the city library displays an important collection of works by Jewish philosopher Rabbi Jacob Ben-Zwi (Emden) - who originated the Jawetz family name, and brought fame to the city of Embden. It is the Germans of today in Emden, who care for that collection and are proud of that heritage, similarly with the Erfurt of today.

The opening of the shows on September 18th had many speakers. Considering the mix of artists and the Medieval artifacts from Erfurt, the speakers also represented Germany, Austria, Israel, and the New York museum. Obviously, there were cultural representatives from the various nationalities. But most interesting, and to the point, I found Dr. Andreas Stadler, the new Director of the Austrian Cultural Institute in New York, who said that what makes him feel most at home in New York is the Jewish culture that he was familiar with back in his home in Vienna. Mind you, Andreas, to the best of my knowledge is not of Jewish heritage, but he was brought up seemingly with the understanding that it is hard to see Viennese culture without its Jewish elements. So Hitler did not succeed after all.

Andreas Stadler came because of the painter Soshana and explained her life as a struggle of her position of a woman painter. 50 years of painting she fought for this recognition, and her son, Amos Schueller pointed out that she does this still, even though she cannot travel anymore. Sylvia Herschkowitz, the Director of the Museum said about Soshana that she wandered the World searching for her Jewish soul.

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Another exhibit Was “The Suitcase Man” - Sculptures by Uri Dushi. He lives in Israel and his family are Holocaust survivors. He is now a very interesting exponent of creative Israel, and having looked over his career - I was glad seeing that among the many places he exhibited also in Graz - Austria, Bad Kissingen - Germany, Lodz - Poland,  Hag - The Netherlands. and at my favorite place in Moscow - at the Helicon Opera.

Uri Dushi’s initial entrance into the world of plastic art was with his photomontage works. About 15 years ago Dushy, who was up until then engaged in the field of music, began creating sizable, brightly colored paintings into which he incorporated dozens of personal photographs’ fragments. The works were overwhelming in their direct, forceful and dynamic execution, as well as the straightforward naivete that seemed to burst from the heart of the artist.

Dushy was imbued with the artistic courage to combine photographs of industrial sites that remained vacant and mute prior to their demolition, which he decided to document in his drawings, with dozens of apocalyptic industrial landscapes photographed by him. He then sank the photos in reservoirs of oil paint, combining and assimilating the one into the other, finally forming one artistic entity, amazing in its visual effect. His work has somewhat baffled the viewers, leading to more than one vague response from professionals in the field, who could not precisely categorize this new art.

The first exhibit was displayed in a commercial industrial space in southern Tel Aviv. Mobile bulbs positioned on lighting poles illuminated the works. The event itself, this ‘other’ and different gallery marked a breakthrough in a career that was predefined by ‘other’ criteria, directed towards the attention of the widest range of audiences possible, seeking to bedisplayed to all people, not solely for those who are ‘professionally qualified’ to understand art. Hanna Arendt, in Herbert Reed’s ‘The History of Modern Painting’ comments on this matter in the above mentioned book: ‘The artist’s substantial worldliness might not change even if “objectless art” replaces the description of things. The artist, be he a painter, a poet or a musician, creates worldly objects and this realization has nothing in common with the expressionistic activity, which is dubious and at any rate certainly isn’t art. The term “expressionist art” consists of two contradicting words, which can not be said regarding the term “abstract art”.’ This may be the place to note the liberty that Uri Dushy has taken upon himself to individually represent the meaning of his art, to invent the genres in which he desires to create, and through his creative eyeglasses to project outwards to us the viewers his impression, created anew in the process of building his works.

Curator Doron Polak writes: “Few are the practicing artists possessing the broad and varied talents, ranging over manifold fields both different and complementary, such as Uri Dushy. It is difficult to find artists having such a command of painting and photography, music and composition, video art and massive industrial sculpturing. His unreserved mastery of these art forms, and moreover, his original capability of integrating them into a complete unit – result in a creative path that is both different and unique.

Uri Dushy’s work does not confine itself to the limits of his private studio, but rather exits into the public realm – into open sites frequented by bypassers, and members of the community, who are not necessarily familiar with museums and galleries. His art is favorably accepted both in official art institutes such as galleries and art centers in which he is active, as well as in business and industrial sites, through dozens of public locations where his works are permanently displayed. The combination of styles which characterize his works, usually merging and thus naturally constructing his work process, mark his exceptional course in the labyrinth of his highly personal art.”

As we have a particular idea in mind for this article, we will not delve further - but please look up - http://www.du-art.com/about.html

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SOSHANA is the artist’ name of Susanne Schuller-Afroyim. Born August 25, 1927 in Vienna, to a solid middle-class Jewish family, Susanne Schuller had all the traumatic experiences of the Vienna of the 1930s. After the Nazi “Anschluss, her family escaped to London where she started to study painting, then in 1941 the family ended up in new York - a direct and somewhat fortunate example of the Suit-Case People. Eventually she went to study with the Jewish painter Beys Afroim (the name meaning in Jidish “the house of Ephraim) in Chicago and they married in 1945. Her only son, called Amos Shueller, was born in Chicago and he is the one who takes care now of her rich oeuvre.

Amos Schueller was the one to chaperone her collection of paintings to the New York exhibition, and spoke at the opening, as Soshana, who lives now in Vienna, does not travel anymore.

The artists name Soshana is the Hebrew form of Susanne, and it means the flower lily-of-the-valley which from Hebrew is usually transliterated as Shoshana - so her spelling is actually a transliteration from Jidish - the language closer to her native German. Soshana says about her work that “it is suffering that helps you grow and develop, the struggle and conflict in life. Even the plants seem to struggle for light and space …I believe in a greater spirit of nature, from which each person is a part, here to play his role in life.”

Shoshana, rather then Susanne, pushed her personality through life by going many places - and all this reflects in her paintings. After her first major exhibition in 1948 in Havana, she moved to Paris, the avant-garde art center at that time. She and Beys Afroim lived in Israel at the beginning of the 50s, in India and places in Japan and China later 50s -  where she studied abstract art and calligraphy as well as Eastern philosophy and religion.

She then traveled to South America and Africa in 1958-59, where among others she met and painted Dr. Albert Schweitzer. She and Afroim painted many well known personalities including Arnold Schoenberg, Thomas Mann, Franz Werfel, Leon Feuchtwanger, Hans Eisler, Otto Klamperer, Pablo Picasso. Also, she was painted by Picasso and Giacometti - Picasso actually made her the special compliment that she had unusual talent. She used in Paris the old studio where Gauguin used to work. Others in whose company they were in Paris included Brancusi, Chagall, and Sartre - then in 1953 she exhibited in the well known gallery of Max Bollag in Zurich.

When the modern art scene relocated from Paris to New York, they went first to Mexico, back to Israel, and eventually back to New York in 1974. She was called the “Cassandra of the Canvas.” A Melancholic introvert that created a large body of work that reflects her reaction to traumatic events she experienced. Her paintings, among othr things, deal with subjects of war - the 9/11 event in New York, the two wars in Iraq, the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, Gandhi’s death, and the Holocaust.

Soshana returned to Vienna in 1985 and she was honored by the Austrian Government with a Special Postal Stamp.

Workers in a New York Sweatshop (1944), Oil on Canvas, 40 cm X 48 cm, 15.79″ X 16.72″

The Burning Bush.

Mauthausen (1988) - (A Nazi Labor and Extermination Camp in Austria) - Oil on Canvas, 70cm X 90 cm, 27.30″ X 35.10″

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Stern was born in Essen, in the industrial Ruhr Region, Germany, in 1956 and attended schools in Dortmund and Dusseldorf. He started out as a painter of outdoor signs and advertisements, and when turning to art started to refer to himself as an “action painter” in the legacy of New York School painters Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. When he arrived in New York he was fascinated by the disorientation of the New York streetscape and its skyscrapers. He painted the movement of people in the streets and scenes in subways. After 9/11 he focused his attention on a series he titled “The Gatherings” which reflect on the collective mourning of the city following that tragedy.

His paintings hang in many museums around the world, including the Metropolitan museum of Art in New York. Interestingly - also in the US Embassy in Vienna. He returned many times to Germany to show his work.

In 2010, Essen will be the EU cultural capital, in recognition of the tremendous changes of the region from its original industrial, steel and coal, nature. and David Stern will surely be represented there as well.

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The Yeshiva University Museum was started 35 years ago. The Center in its location on West 16th Street in Manhattan, is a later creation.

Further works by Soshana - our selection here deals with horrors of war - New York 9/11, Iraq (the first Gulf War), Kosovo and Vietnam:

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Israeli city first to aim for water independence.
By Michael Green
September 16, 2008

 http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?enDi…;

Israel may be in a severe water crisis, but in the city of Rishon LeZion the drought isn’t causing any alarm. Summer temperatures regularly soar to the upper 80s and 90s, there’s no rain for six months of the year, and the country’s key source of drinking water, the Sea of Galilee reached the critical “Red Line” in July, but still city residents remain relaxed.

That’s because Rishon LeZion, 20 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, is well on its way to becoming the “first independent municipal water economy in Israel.” It’s a groundbreaking initiative that is attracting interest from countries all over the world searching for solutions to their own water problems.

Currently, Rishon LeZion provides 70 percent of its own water from local sources such as wells, with the remainder being supplied by Mekorot, Israel’s national water company. But the city’s municipal water company, Meniv Rishon, has set itself an ambitious goal: to turn Rishon LeZion into the first city in the country to be 100% water self-sufficient.

“We want to supply all of our water needs ourselves, for industry, agriculture and for households too,” says Daniel Low, general manager of Meniv Rishon, a corporation owned by the Rishon LeZion Municipality.

A pioneer in water conservation:

Saving water may have become a hot topic in 2008, but Rishon has been pioneering water conservation since 2001 when the city’s mayor, Meir Nitzan, announced his bold new vision for the city’s water policy.

So how does one company plan to turn such an unprecedented scheme into reality? Over the coming years, Meniv intends to phase out the rest of its supply from Mekorot and replace it with a combination of locally harvested water, primarily rainwater collection and building a new desalination plant, as well as replenishing the aquifer’s underground water resources.

Since it began collecting rainwater in 1999 in a lake located between the Rishon’s western city limits and the beach, 11 million cubic meters have been filtered into the aquifer below, helping to reverse the pollution and depletion it has suffered over the years.

Thanks to a newly built 16km pipe, water collected in the lake is also being used in the northwest of the city for sprinklers and irrigation in public gardens and other open spaces, providing a vital breath of fresh air in Israel’s highly urbanized coastal plain.

Low says that this has already saved over 1 million cubic meters of water in the last year, not to mention the tidy sum of NIS 4.5 million, a figure which will rise significantly when plans for two more reservoirs in the east of the city come to fruition in the next four or five years. “But we are still losing millions of cubic meters each year from run-off,” explains Low. “We want to collect water across the entire city, not just in the northwest.”

Transforming salty water into sweet:

The next major stage is to build a desalination plant to transform salty water from four wells near the Mediterranean Sea into water for drinking or agriculture. Construction is due to get underway in the next year and once completed in 2010, it is anticipated the plant will supply 3.7 million cubic meters of water a year.

Such an ambitious scheme comes with a price tag: nearly $23 million for the desalination plant, as well as $11 to 14 million for the two new reservoirs. But Low is confident that the consumer will be the winner in the end, as the price of water in Israel, like many other countries, is due to rise sharply in the future.

“The cost of water in Rishon LeZion will go down. That’s one of the principal targets in the long-run: to make water cheaper for people,” he says, adding that water will cost between 40 to 45 cents per cubic meter when the desalination plant is operational, compared to the current cost of around 80 cents per cubic meter for water from Mekorot, a price which is predicted to rise even further in 2009.

Now the vision of Rishon LeZion is catching the imagination of other parts of Israel, such as the Arab city of Nazareth, as well as countries elsewhere around the world keen to learn a thing-or-two about water conservation, including Italy, the Ukraine and Australia, which are all coping with water crises of their own.

Even tropical Brazil, where rain is hardly in short supply, has been seeking advice from Meniv Rishon to explore innovative new systems of making additional sources of water available for the country’s citizens.

 From:    ipsun at aol.com
Subject: IPS Terra Viva UN Journal - 19 September 2008
Date: September 19, 2008
Iranians Hope for Temperate President at the U.N.
By Omid Memarian

BERKELEY, California, Sep18 (IPS) - When Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attends the 63rd session of the General Assembly next week in New York, many Iranian academics and political activists hope he will avoid the kinds of controversial statements that have hurt Iran’s international image since he was elected to the office in 2005.

In his third visit to U.N. headquarters in the United States, Ahmadinejad will address heads of state from around the world amid objections from human rights organisations and at least one pro-Israel rally that is scheduled to take place in front of the U.N. building.

Ahmadinejad’s controversial remarks about Israel and description of the Holocaust by Nazi Germany as a “myth” have provoked a tremendous backlash by the international community during the past three years.

Asked what Iranians expect their president to say, and not to say, at the United Nations, Sadegh Zibakalam, a political science professor at the University of Tehran, told IPS in a telephone interview that he should avoid discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict and especially the Holocaust.


“He mustn’t discuss the Holocaust issue. He must refrain from discussing Israel’s annihilation and its leaders’ demise,” Zibakalam said.

“He should not discuss Iran’s eventual victory over the United States and its attempts to teach humanity a lesson — he must seriously stay away from this type of rhetoric,” said Zibakalam.

“He must move towards language through which he can demonstrate the Iranian people’s respect for Americans and their elected leaders, respecting whomever will be the elected president of the U.S., whether Democrat or Republican, demonstrating [Iran’s] willingness to seriously negotiate about Iran’s regional and nuclear issues with the next president,” he added.
Pres. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said that he is willing to talk to the United States and other nations. However, his aggressive tone and Iran’s dismissal of a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions against its nuclear programme, coupled with Washington’s repeated accusations of meddling in Iraq, have sent a somewhat different message.

“He has announced on numerous occasions his desire to negotiate or to reach a resolution through negotiations,” Ali Mazroui, a former member of Iran’s Parliament, told IPS. “His rhetoric and his actions, however, have fallen short of providing assurances [to those countries], enlisting their response.”

“There is a kind of contradiction between Mr. Ahmadinejad’s verbal and actual policies. I have no hope for any kind of change regarding new avenues for Iran during this trip,” added Mazroui.

Regarding plans by human rights and Jewish groups to stage news conferences to protest the situation of human rights in Iran and Ahmadinejad’s speeches against Israel, Dr. Elaheh Koulaee, also a former parliamentarian and now a professor at the University of Tehran, told IPS that the determining factor in international politics has always been the consensus among powerful countries of the world.

“Street protests and civil society activities have not been terribly influential in Iran-U.S. relations,” she said. “Therefore if Iran and the U.S. use opportunities available to them to discuss their needs within the framework of their interests, I doubt these types of protests will affect those dialogues.”

Last month, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, Iran’s vice president, said that Iran is “friends of all people in the world — even Israelis.” His remarks were widely denounced by Iran’s hardliner establishment. Mashaie later claimed that his comments were misrepresented and clarified that that no one inside Iran recognises the Zionist regime. Surprisingly, the president has resisted intense pressure from the Parliament and some of the hardliner Ayatollahs and has not yet commented on the controversy.

The Islamic Republic has never recognised the state of Israel, and it remains unclear whether Mashaie’s remarks and Ahmadinejad’s silence denote a policy shift, or whether it was simply a gaffe.

“[Ahmadinejad] has said things in international circles which have led those countries to assume a negative position vis-a-vis Iran, as opposed to improving our relations with them. For example, what he said about Israel and Holocaust and the tensions he created on international and regional political levels,” said Mazroui. “I think none of these discussions can help Iran.”

*****

Hooshang Amirahmadi, president of the American Iranian Council and a professor at Rutgers University, told IPS that the Iranian people are wary of war and have been badly hurt by years of sanctions.

“They want nothing more than peace and are yearning for prosperity. U.S.-Iran relations have been their key concern for years and at present over 90 percent of Iranians, including those in the government, want the relations normalised and quickly.”

Amirahmadi, who is going to meet the Iranian delegation during their time in New York, has traveled to Iran several times during the past six months and has visited with President Ahmadinejad. He believes that the majority of the Iranian people want their president use the opportunity of his presence on U.S. soil to build goodwill with the U.S. people and government.

“This means that they do not want Pres. Ahmadinejad to use words and terminologies that will be annoying to his host,” said Amirahmadi. “More importantly, they want the president speak of the Americans very highly and with utmost respect.”

“I think Mr. Ahmadinejad should also use the opportunity to mend relations with a key player in U.S.-Iran relations, namely Israel,” he added. “Here is an opportunity for him to reinforce the view expressed by one of his VPs that Iran is a friend of the Israeli people and that Iran consider the Jewish people as friends of Iran, though there are those in that community who are inimical toward the Islamic Republic.”

However, it appears unlikely that this will come to pass. At a press conference in Tehran this week, Ahmadinejad repeated his assertion that the Holocaust was a “fake” and said the Jewish state would not survive in any form.

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Professor Amirahmadi is a nice man. We know him for years and he is a sworn optimist. He is right about the majority of the Iranian people, but the problem is with the rulling minority and the Gordian knot could be broken by a President Obama who will be ready to accept the invitation to negotiate with those in power, in order to show to the others, in concrete terms, what they are losing by hanging on to the civil leaders chosen with the help of extreme clerics.

There can be no progress with a Sarah Palin that just has no information about the problems, and is under the influence of advisors that have no interest in lessening the confrontation. Have they ever spoken to Ahmiramdi or with the academics and clerics in Tehran who actually are looking forward to the day that Iran will start doing something for its own people?

Roberto Savio, and the IPS organization, are a second potential conduit for exchanges with Iranians.