Happy December! As Christmas is coming, the malls in the United States are sure to be filled to the brim with people who wish to fulfill each other’s commercial dreams. In all honesty, why would you go out and spend several hundreds of dollars on a lucky guess of what the person you are buying the present for might actually want. Just go ask they person what they would like or even better go shopping with them! You are so much more likely to buy the right present and it will be less stressful than worrying about what someone might want. Now that I got my Grinch out for the night let me tell you about this weeks topics. First I am going to focus on Iran and it’s claims that it shot down a US drone and second I am going to give a little update on the elections that took place in Egypt last week. Finals week is taking its toll slowly but surely. I’ve already written so many pages today so please do not expect this blog to be high quality.
Where is that drone?
Iran has claimed that it shot down a US drone on its eastern border after it briefly violated its airspace. This is the third time that Iran has claimed to have shot down US drones.
The drone that was apparently shot down is a RQ170, the most modern of the drones used by the United States. The drone uses technologies similar to the B2 bomber to decrease its radar detect ability.
I wouldn’t put it beyond Iran to lie about shooting down a United States drown just to make itself appear stronger during a time where its diplomatic ties with Europe are becoming rocky. Yet, let’s assume that they actually shot it down. If they really have this drone which was apparently barely scratched by its forces in the process of bringing it down and if they have the other four drones that they have shot down since January, it would be possible for Iran to reengineer a drone like the RQ170. Would Israel be ready to defend itself against drones like the ones the United States has? Time will tell.
No, Islamists are not necessarily bad
Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak is very disturbed about the first results from Monday’s elections in Egypt. The moderate Islamist Muslim Brotherhood took a third of the vote, the conservative Islamist Nour Party took a fourth of the votes, and the liberal Egyptian party took about twenty percent in the first round of elections. Fears are now high that the Muslim Brotherhood will combine forces in a coalition with the Nour party to form an Islamist government that would push a conservative Islamist agenda which would try to implement Shari’a law.
While the fears seem to be legitimate, I think that Israel worries for no reason. Yes, the Muslim Brotherhood does have ties to Hamas, but that is only because they support the struggle of the Palestinians actively, not because they have any sort of terrorist intentions. If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over parliament, which it most likely will, Egypt will be more proactive in pushing for Palestinian rights within the region. And that is certainly not a bad thing in my opinion! Nothing is set in stone as elections will conclude with the election of the upper house in March of next year.
Other Links
Hillary Clinton 'concerned over Israeli democracy'
The fate of Saif Gaddafi
Syria given 24 hours to sign Arab League deal or face sanctions
Still rich but no longer so calm
Two mullahs went into a bar...
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