Two News Stories I Hope You Didn't Miss This Week...

I hate to put a damper on everyone's jolly Turkey weekend, but considering the Thanksgiving "feast" I went to included no cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes (or, as my adorably naive French mom calls them, "smashed potatoes"), or pies, I feel the need to vent/educate.

Check out these two news stories that hopefully did not slip under your radars...

First, from the "Glad the U.N. is Doing Its Job" file...




Iran and Syria Helping Hizballah Rearm
Time Magazine
Friday, Nov. 24, 2006

Iran is smuggling weapons through Syria to re-arm Lebanese allies Hizballah, despite renewed efforts by United Nations peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to seal off the mountain borders with Syria in the wake of last summer's war between the Shi'ite militia and Israel, according to reports by Saudi and Israeli intelligence sources that have been confirmed by western diplomats in Beirut.

Israeli military officials in Tel Aviv say that Hizballah replenished nearly half of its pre-war stockpiles of short-range missiles and small arms. But western diplomats in Beirut say these calculations under-estimate the weapons flow and that Hizballah has now filled its war chest with over 20,000 short-range missiles—a similar amount to what they had at the start of the conflict, during which the group is believed to have fired over 3,000 rockets at Israel.



"The Iranian pipeline through Syria was already working during the war," despite constant Israeli bombing raids on the roads into Lebanon from Syria, this Beirut source said. Officially, Syria and Iran deny that they're supplying weapons to Hizballah.

As for the Shi'ite group itself, when asked about receiving a new shipment of arms from Syria and Iran, a spokesman told TIME, without elaborating, "We have more than enough weapons if Israel tries to attack us again."

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And now...from Paris, the city that brought us Ilan Halimi's sadistic torture and brutal murder(http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=684462&contrassID=19! I love when the French point the finger at how "racist" America is...then stuff like this happens in the City of Light:

PARIS, Nov 24, 2006 (AFP) - A French police officer — a black man in plain clothes — shot dead a Paris-Saint Germain football fan after being turned on by a mob during racist violence that followed the team’s defeat by Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Antoine Granomort, who was in custody Friday morning, fired his handgun into a threatening crowd near the Parc des Princes stadium late Thursday after seeking to defend a French fan of the Israeli club from attack, police and witnesses said.

A 24-year-old man was killed and a 26-year-old who was wounded is in serious condition in hospital, police said. Five fans were in police custody Friday morning and face possible charges for 'racist and anti-Semitic insults', police said.

"Four young people presumably from the Jewish community were rounded on by a group of supporters of PSG. They decided to separate, and one of them Yanniv Hazout was chased by attackers ... The mob grew to some 100 people," said state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin.

"A plain clothes officer from the transport police, Antoine Granomort, told Monsieur Hazout to stand behind him and then tried to keep the crowd away using his tear-gas canister.

"The crowd hurled insults — dirty Jew, dirty n_____ — and monkey cries and raised Nazi salutes. Some shouted ‘Le Pen for president’," he said.

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I sure hope this stuff pisses you off...maybe to the point that you actually do something about it?

-E