Jerusalem: U.S. Suspends Move of Embassy Again

The O Jays ~ Backstabbers

WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee met in Washington, U.S. President George Bush Wednesday suspended plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

The White House released a memo to the secretary of state ordering a six-month suspension in preparations for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv.


The order also coincided with a visit to the Oval Office by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"I hereby determine that it is necessary, in order to protect the national security interests of the United States, to suspend for a period of six months" plans to move the embassy, the president's memo said. "My administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem."

The issue of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has always been a sticking point in the Arab world and negotiations for establishing a Palestinian state have included demands the city be returned to Palestinian control.

Israel captured the Old City in the 1968 Arab-Israeli War.

[See also: "Abbas: Temple Mount "100% Islamic" at the Outraged Spleen of Zion.]

The State Department does not recognize Jerusalem, Israel as a place of birth for passports .....

because the U.S. government does not recognize all of Jerusalem as part of Israel.




"Those were the Days" - The Leningrad Cowboys

by Babba Zee
images: Outraged Spleen of Zion
Source: US suspends Move of Embassy--Again!

Venezuela's Military at "High Alert", Embassy Closed - Are They Just Moves to Distract Opponents?

Full Military Mobilization
Embassy with Columbia Closed



History's lessons aren't lost on Hugo Chavez.

Venezuelan strongman and president, Chavez formally ordered the country's armed forces to "high alert" status.

Chavez also ordered the closing of Venezuela's embassy in Colombia and the mobilization of the nation's armed forces to the Columbia border.

At various times when times are tough domestically, authoritarian rulers have distracted domestic opponents and rallied support of wavering populations with external threats--both real and imagined.

And what caused the Venezuelan president to call out the troops?

"We are at a state of alertness. I am putting Venezuela on alert and we will support Ecuador," Chavez told his regular Sunday broadcast Alo Presidente. "Defense minister: move 10 battalions to the Colombia-Venezuela border. Tank battalions, military aircraft: deploy!" he ordered.

So it wasn't trouble at home that caused all this military motion?

Well, whatever it is, it seems that there's been any military challenge from Ciolumbia, a country that is battling narco-lords, guerrillas and problems from the left and right.

But that's Chavez's story and he's sticking to it.

During the same broadcast, Chavez strongly condemned the killing of Luis Edgar Devia, better known by the alias Raul Reyes, who was the de facto foreign minister for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), that nation's largest armed rebel group.

The Colombian army killed Devia in Ecuadorian territory. Ecuador responded with a protest letter sent via diplomatic channels.

Maybe the military's mobilized out of sympathy?

Chavez told the broadcast audience that he had received a phone call from Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, in which Correa said he had recalled Ecuador's ambassador to Colombia and ordered the mobilization of troops to Ecuador's northern border with Colombia.

As was previously stated, Chavez has been battling opponents of his rollback of Venezuelan democracy. Street demonstrations are common.

But it's nothing a fully-mobilized military can't handle.

by Mondoreb
image: file
Source: Venezuela put military on high alert



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