This is disturbing news to me ...
Full-scale terrorist attacks against Israel will resume Jan. 1 unless Abbas surrenders to terms laid down by Jihad Islami, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah-al Aqsa BrigadesDecember 26, 2005, 10:32 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile reports: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to withdrawthe 200 Palestinian security personnel posted in the northern Gaza Strip, sofrustrating the Sharon government’s no-go tactic in this region and effortsto curb Qassam attacks. This Palestinian force therefore provides the Qassam missile crews with a protective umbrella against Israeli artillery, which isforced to confine its shelling to vacant land.Taking part in the Qassam offensive now are the Jihad Islami and factions ofthe Al Aqsa Brigades backed and paid by the Fatah old guard, led by prime minister Ahmed Qureia, which is now at war with Mahmoud Abbas. If Abbas refuses to postpone the January 25 election - in obedience to their diktat -these groups plus the PRC will re-ignite full-scale attacks on Israel. Thisis designed to prompt large-scale Israeli retaliation and generate a crisis that precludes voting - and so deprive Hamas of its predicted victory. Their deadline for this ultimatum is Jan. 1. Israel has thus become a hostage to the Palestinian factional war. Earlier Monday, a Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades spokesman revealed the acquisitionof new missiles of 25km range, the first able to reach to points north ofAshkelon. He spoke of creating a Palestinian buffer belt on Israeli territory north of the Gaza Strip.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
I can't sleep so I'm posting.
I've been on movie watching binge while on vacation this week.
Walk the Line - great movie! Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do their own singing. My screenwriting seminar leader told the group that Hollywood stars are looking for scripts where they can show the world that they can sing, so expect more biopics of famous singers. Perhaps the LA Times review was right when the reviewer said that the stars sing better than the original, that's sad huh? Gotta love June Carter Cash because she stood by her man through thick and thin.
Munich - again, I have to agree with what the LA Times have been saying about this movie. You'll have to read it to find out. It's definitely worth seeing, but the message is mixed. Superb acting by a wonderful cast, especially Ciaran Hinds who was Captain Wentworth in Persuasion and in Oscar and Lucinda. Eric Bana was also quite good, playing again the reluctant warrior that he so skillfully portrayed in Troy and Blackhawk Down. It is Speilberg's most mature and most ambitious movie of his career and it makes you think. At least it did me.
Aeon Flux - yes, I had to see the movie even though it got bad reviews. If you're a Charlize Theron fan then you have to see it because there be lots of pratically nekkid shots of her. Love her nightgown by the way. The movie had amazing special effects, and I really liked the story. It's a great scifi story with a love story thrown in. I would definitely see this again.
Syriana - a very good but complicated movie value wise. All the critics are putting it on their top ten list. The movie was written and directed by the guy who wrote Traffic. If you liked how Traffic looked at the drug trade, you'll like how this guy dealt with the oil situation. Sadly, it is that complicated and morally ambigious. There are no easy answers to the problems in that part of the country, despite what the war protestors tell you. And if you're driving a gas guzzling car and not living off the grid then you, like everyone else is very dependent on oil.
And may I remind you that the policy to protect America's oil interests at all costs was set forth by former democratic president Jimmy Carter during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970's, and that every american president including Clinton has followed that policy.
What I admired was how the writer brought in the Chinese question. Once China gets a hold of the oil and that country is doing all it can to do it, expect gas and oil prices and the price of everything connected to oil to rise including heating, electricity and food because foods has to get trucked in from somewhere to rise. Once the Chinese get the oil they need, their financial markets will make the US financial markets seem like a medieval village trading show. And when that happens, and it's when not if, then well, we will all be in a mess of trouble.
I've been on movie watching binge while on vacation this week.
Walk the Line - great movie! Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do their own singing. My screenwriting seminar leader told the group that Hollywood stars are looking for scripts where they can show the world that they can sing, so expect more biopics of famous singers. Perhaps the LA Times review was right when the reviewer said that the stars sing better than the original, that's sad huh? Gotta love June Carter Cash because she stood by her man through thick and thin.
Munich - again, I have to agree with what the LA Times have been saying about this movie. You'll have to read it to find out. It's definitely worth seeing, but the message is mixed. Superb acting by a wonderful cast, especially Ciaran Hinds who was Captain Wentworth in Persuasion and in Oscar and Lucinda. Eric Bana was also quite good, playing again the reluctant warrior that he so skillfully portrayed in Troy and Blackhawk Down. It is Speilberg's most mature and most ambitious movie of his career and it makes you think. At least it did me.
Aeon Flux - yes, I had to see the movie even though it got bad reviews. If you're a Charlize Theron fan then you have to see it because there be lots of pratically nekkid shots of her. Love her nightgown by the way. The movie had amazing special effects, and I really liked the story. It's a great scifi story with a love story thrown in. I would definitely see this again.
Syriana - a very good but complicated movie value wise. All the critics are putting it on their top ten list. The movie was written and directed by the guy who wrote Traffic. If you liked how Traffic looked at the drug trade, you'll like how this guy dealt with the oil situation. Sadly, it is that complicated and morally ambigious. There are no easy answers to the problems in that part of the country, despite what the war protestors tell you. And if you're driving a gas guzzling car and not living off the grid then you, like everyone else is very dependent on oil.
And may I remind you that the policy to protect America's oil interests at all costs was set forth by former democratic president Jimmy Carter during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970's, and that every american president including Clinton has followed that policy.
What I admired was how the writer brought in the Chinese question. Once China gets a hold of the oil and that country is doing all it can to do it, expect gas and oil prices and the price of everything connected to oil to rise including heating, electricity and food because foods has to get trucked in from somewhere to rise. Once the Chinese get the oil they need, their financial markets will make the US financial markets seem like a medieval village trading show. And when that happens, and it's when not if, then well, we will all be in a mess of trouble.
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