This was sent to me yesterday and although it isn’t directly related to Israel, it is interesting what the writer has to say regarding security and the future bases for Islamic extremists. This blog was originally posted on http://bengalunderattack.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-dirty-bomb-meant-for-usa-uk-india.html, Enjoy!  

A couple of years back I was in Bangladesh on a business visit when the BNP government was in power. This party (BNP) is known for its anti-India and pro-Pakistan views and is very close to Jamaat and other religious bodies. Behind these are ex-Generals of Bangladesh Army that fought alongside Pakistan in the war of 1971. Tthey are extremely close to ISI and some of their MPs are known sympathizers.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Awami League party, which is essentially formed of ex-Mukti Bahini guirella soldiers who fought for the liberation of Bangladesh against Pakistan and earned their independence in 1971. India helped this group gain independence from Pakistan, hence supporters of Awami League are pro-India. (Bangladesh was part of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971 and was referred to as East Pakistan).

I had gone to a cocktail party arranged by one of my clients and in that party, a gentleman working in a very senior position in a private company in Dhaka came up and chatted with me. ( I DO NOT RECALL THE NAME OF THE GENTLEMAN OR THE COMPANY HE WORKED FOR - SO THOSE OF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BELIEVE THIS STORY - FINE). After initial introductions when we were suitably alone, he had something very interesting to state and it went like this:

“I am a supporter of Awami League and I do not want Bangladesh get into the Islamic morass. There is something very fishy going on and I thought of telling you this. My company’s work is near some remote granite mines and these are being excavated by the North Koreans. And I hear that some other “nationalities” to India’s west are there too. No one can go near the sites and something very wrong is going on there. The North Koreans are in the mines deep down doing something weird and not mining granite – which is just a front. I cannot do a thing about it, probably you should let your government know.”

I thought that this gentleman is perhaps testing me and thinks that I am an Indian agent and wanted to feed me “disinformation”. I did nothing with this information. I did have a bad experience with Indian embassy when I was in New York city as a student – that is for later in this blog. But I wanted to get this off my chest, however improbable this may sound.

But there are interesting things to tie the story down.

1. Right next to Bangladesh border, in North East India – there are uranium deposits. And there are enough and more stories that locals ferry this “yellow cake” illegally in local buses in jute bags and sell it to “dealers”. Where this ultimately goes, is anybody’s guess. My bet is that this is simply sent over the borders into Bangladesh. The border is open and porous in North East.

2. There are granite mines in Bangladesh and some in very remote places. And indeed there are North Korean companies working there.

3. The Chittagong port is a den of criminal activity and anything goes and lands there. “Smugglers were unloading the largest ever arms cache on the Karnaphuli coast in Chittagong on Friday with ‘help from local police’, a witness told journalists in a major twist to the seizure top intelligence officials credited to tip-off from their foreign counterparts.”

4. 2 (Two) Pakistani nuclear scientists close to Al Qaeda were sent to Burma (next to Bangladesh and shares open borders). In December 2001, the New York Times reported that while US authorities were investigating Mahmood and Majid, they found some links between al-Qaeda and two other Pakistani nuclear scientists, Suleiman Asad and Muhammed Ali Mukhtar. Both Asad and Mukhtar had long experience at two of Pakistan’s most secret nuclear-weapons-related installations. However, before US investigators could reach them, Pakistan sent the two scientists to Myanmar on an unspecified “research project“.

The New York Times also quoted Pakistani officials as saying that President General Pervez Musharraf personally telephoned one of Myanmar’s military rulers to ask him to provide temporary asylum for the two nuclear specialists. In January 2002, the Wall Street Journal reported that Asad and Mukhtar were possibly aiding Myanmar’s efforts to build a 10-megawatt nuclear “research reactor”. Asad and Mukhtar are still in Myanmar, well away from US reach. Read about their Taliban and Al_Qaeda links in this article: Pakistan’s forgotten al-Qaeda nuclear link.

Even though a blog is not a credible source, this is indeed interesting read.

If one were to piece together the points 1 though 4 above and add “North Koreans along with undesirable West Asian foreigners” doing “weird things in the pit of mines” - we need to be worried. Not to forget, ISI has home base advantage in Bangladesh.

My guess is : This is the perfect place for manufacturing a Dirty Bomb. Whoever will think of Bangladesh? And stolen uranium, pliant port and “North Koreans” and “West Asians”. A heady cocktail indeed !

BANGLADESH & DIRTY BOMB: A TRYST IN 2003. While writing this blog, I came upon the article written by Indian supercop KPS GILL - which is linked above “they are close to ISI” which states: “There were grave concerns about the possibility of Islamist extremists in the country acquiring radioactive materials and the technical know-how to build a ‘dirty bomb’, when on May 30, 2003, Bangladeshi police arrested four suspected members of a Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, at a house in the northern village of Puiya. Officers also seized a football-size package with markings indicating it contained a crude form of uranium manufactured in Kazakhstan. Subsequent tests at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission in Dhaka confirmed that the 225-gram ball was uranium oxide—enough to make a weapon capable of dispersing radiation across a wide area if strapped to conventional explosives.”

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About my bad experience with Indian embassy as a student and why I kept quiet. I was in New York city on a full Presidential scholarship during graduate studies. One of my friends from India who was not on full scholarship, was working part time, illegally in a lawyer’s office downtown Manhattan. That lawyer specialized in getting green cards done for illegals - by cooking up stories on farming etc. But alarming thing was there were blank Indian passports in that office which came from “Sikhs” in Canada and USA. One senior Indian diplomat came to our University to talk about India and after his power point and Q&A, I took him aside and showed him the blank Indian passport. He did not bat an eyelid and told me to report this to FBI as this was outside his jurisdiction. I thought - excuse me - don’t you want to know where this is coming from, don’t you want to alert RAW. But he just walked away, not bothering to even ask my name. I was actually stunned at the callousness. I kept quiet for a couple of weeks and after my friend left the job at lawyers’ office, I rang up the FBI from a payphone and gave details. They raided the place in a matter of days and closed shop and arrested the errant “lawyer”. FBI did its job but my country did not.

Hey Hey everybody and a big Shabbat Shalom L’Kulam. I wanted to add some photos to this post thanks to the Jerusalem Post. Enjoy!

Shabbat Shalom

Hello and Shalom to all you wonderful readers of the Zionist persuasion. I just want to say that last night’s episode of South Park was amazing because it proved a point. All this irrational fear from the right and grandstanding from the left should subside quickly to its ebb so we may get back to reality. The election is over and Barack Obama won the presidency. Now we must endure the next two months and hope that the line of it can’t get worse will hold. This election was not a referendum on Bush’s legacy, which will be studied and evaluated thoroughly by historians in the future, rather an opportunity to change things. But like the Mishna says in Pikei Avot, ”Say A Little Do A Lot.” We heard the talk, now lets see the walk.

Anyway, this post is not about politics but rather about a theme encapsulated so well in a poem a colleague sent me. The poem is by Yehuda Amichai and it is directed at all the tourists who come to Israel and go through the ephemeral experience. I think that it should be required reading for all Birthright alumni because it embellishes on their experience with a perspective from the inhabitants of the land.

Tourists

Visits of condolence is all we get from them.

They Squat at the Holocaust Memorial,                                         

They put on grave faces at the Wailing Wall

And they laugh behind heavy curtains

In their hotels.

They have their pictures taken

Together with our famous dead

At Rachel’s Tomb and Herzl’s Tomb

And on Ammunition Hill.

They weep over our sweet boys

And lust after our tough girls

And hang up their underwear

To dry quickly

In cool, blue bathrooms.

Once I sat on the steps by a gate at David’s Tower, I placed my two heavy baskets at my side. A group of tourists was standing around their guide and I became their target marker. “You see that man with the baskets? Just right of his head there’s an arch from the Roman period. Just right of his head.”

“But he’s moving!” I said to myself: redemption will come only if their guide tells them,

“You see that arch from the Roman period? It’s not important: but next to it, left and down a bit, there sits a man who’s bought fruit and vegetables for his family.”

Birthright projected numbers for 2008 were close to 42,000 participants from across the world, mostly from the United States. This new type of tourism has become widespread bringing various Jewish groups (and non-Jewish groups) from across the globe. Instead of making “condolence” visits they should be seen as opportunities in building international bridges and relationships. These will be opportunities in meeting future brothers-in-arms, future business partners and future Olim who will carry the weight like the rest of the Israeli population. Instead of being out of sight and in mind, tourists who visit Israel should be fully acknowledged for their support and approached with friendship and a smile by all the locals. Another great saying in the Mishna goes that, “It is always best to greet with a smile even if you are poor, as opossed to being rich and greeting your guests with a snobbish attitude. 

If your interested I attached a link to a profile of the poem’s author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yehuda_Amichai    

So, I hope all you out there are relaxing after the tense evening last night. However, I must say that I expected it to last longet but John McCain put up a good fight, and bowed out gracefully with his concession speech. But this post has nothing to do with the state of politics. I want to give a long overdue thanks and dedication to that which is most sacred to all men, WOMEN.

Due to the nature of this blog I want to single out Israeli women and the many thanks we owe them all. I recently came across a series of photos by the artist Rachel Papo who captures the lives of women in the Israeli army. It shows the rough gruff affairs of being a woman in a society where most are drafted to the army. It isn’t so much the hardships but rather the beauty of their truth that is overwhelming in her photos. These women are very tangible, breaking preconceived notions of being an Israeli soldier as well as being an Israeli woman. I highly recommend you look through the photos on her website: http://www.serialno3817131.com/index.html and take a gander at the unadulterated truth. They are citizens who are equal yet they are not in certain spheres and I recently read in the Jerusalem Post that upward mobility in the army is rather precarious for women. However, this is a dimension worth exploring for the sake of truth but also for the sake of good art.

These women are a segment of Israel who actively help their country anyway possible. Each Israeli woman has her own unique story to tell. Like my mother for example. Alison Cipriani made Aliyah with her husband and son in 1979. Her husband, Gene, worked with the Tel Aviv Orchestra so he traveled a lot leaving his wife and son for small durations of time. She became pregnant again a few years later and managed to raise all her three children while also working for a rape crisis center in Tel Aviv and running child birth classes out of their home at nights. When the marriage dissolved she took their three kids and brought them to the US, sending them all to school and working two jobs at times to make ends meat. I think she is a spectacular example, but the Israel experince both hardened her resolve and also broadened her horizons.

When I recently went on a Birthright trip our group had the luck of being blessed with wonderful tour guides, one being a woman who’s name is Ya’ara. Ya’ara was interesting because right off the bat I realized that she wore a prosthesis for her left hand. On our first stop in the City of David (Ir David) she sat us all down and spoke to the group about her hand. She said that contrary to popular belief she didn’t lose it during a terrorist attack rather she was born with an abnormality. Being very upbeat, and carrying her cheery demeaner through out the trip, she managed to use her handicap as an advantage teaching yoga and being a tour guide, and a very good one at that. She not only worked she also decided to volunteer for the IDF because originally she was exempt from army duty. She told me that after the trip she was going to relax, move into a modern post-kibbutz complex in the north and of course to look her up anytime I’m in the neighborhood. Amazing, these women are not only physically and spiritually beautiful, they also ooze lovingkindness out of their pores like it’s second nature. Poetry and the utterance of words could not describe the strength and beauty that these women possess.

All us men should pay our utmost respect to the women of the world, but for me I think we should give a big hand and more to the precious women of Israel. Thank you and of course this one’s for the ladies.

Hello Hello everyone.

Let’s not use euphemisms because today is the day where the future will be paved and history books will have to be recalled for new modifications. No matter who wins, this year’s election campaign has been very invigorating and all four people running are very interesting in their own right. The pundits are spewing their last amounts of vicious bile against the candidate of their choice and of course the media is soaking it all up like daytime vampires. We will expect each news channel to incessantly cover the events from morning until the final results are tallied, but remember that their projections will abound. Regardless of the poetry I’m spitting I want to vent on a group of people who boggle my mind to no end.

My Generation, Gen-X, Generation Next, etc. Whatever the pundits, media and cultural scientists call us in this age group is my victim today. Our age group ranging from 18-35 years old has been too lazy when it comes to exercising our political rights as citizens of the United States. Our age is an age of apathy that should be blamed on us and our parents. Our parents have lived in the ideal times of the counter-culture in the 1960’s, and protested to points making the 1968 Democratic Convention end up looking like an out of control circus. These were passionate times, however the break from idealism into the dark age of apathy was the election of 1972 and the ensuing events.

I think we have to thank Richard Nixon for this because his actions forever tainted our ideals of American politics and our politicians. The Watergate scandal set the mood for our parent’s generation to distrust politicians, and we followed suit. The apathy reached it’s lowest ebb in the 1990’s and persisted until this election season. I think that John McCain is an outstanding Senator who should stay in the senate, if he looses, because he is a bi-partison politician. However, Barack Obama has stirred the masses and our generation will hopefully vote in greater numbers. John Kerry mobilized us, but we spoke too soon because young voters turned out for him but potential voters decided to stay home. We have so much potential that will be squandered once we reach our parent’s demographic. I think we are apathetic but we also take our freedom for granted.

In other countries where oppression is the norm a small taste of democracy will water the mouths of its proponets. We have been born and raised in a safety net and we feel that our votes either don’t count or don’t matter. Wake up people because not only has this become a norm, other societies are picking this trend up as well. Western Europeans feel disillusioned with their systems due to the economy (Italy, Germany and Ireland) or to overall stagnation (Great Britain and France), or due to the rise of oligarchs as some Israeli adults told me. So, let us lead by example and show that if we invade countries so all the citizens can vote, all American citizens of voting age should GO VOTE.

So, get up off your fat rear, peak out of your window and realize that being American is both a duty and an honor, just like being an Israeli citizen.      

PS: I just want to add that people have been arguing which candidate would be “better” for Israel. I strongly believe that the candidate who will strengthen America, both internally (economy, housing crisis, jobs, immigration) and externally (Foreign Affairs, image of USA abroad, terrorism, global warming). Instead of easily falling into the rhetoric of each side Jews should do some research about each candidate. Just because someone’s middle name in Hussein doesn’t mean he’s a Muslim and just because the other is a Republican doesn’t mean he’s a carbon copy of the last Republican President. Enjoy the politics…….

Hey Hey to the Zionist Hip Hop heads out there. I hate jumping on other’s coat tails but these guys deserve props because props are due. I have been posting about Hip Hop Jews via the Shemspeed website and constant updates on the collective massive.

Jews in Hip Hop have been a presence in the game for quite some time begining with the breakthrough of the Beastie Boys in 1986. Being the only white (Jewish) guys on the Def Jam roster brought them to the fore as another version of Hip Hop with a white face. At first their stage shows were bloated with exploitation, but they later changed the tone and became serious musicians. The Beasties matured with every album and branched to other venues besides Hip Hop, but that is their true calling. Many Jewish MC’s were influenced both by the Beasties and later incarnations of the Judaic MC such as Third Bass’s MC Serch, The Wu Tang Clan extended family’s Remedy, the indie sensation Edan the Humble Magnificent, one of my favorites who is the founder of the formidable indie label Definitive Jux, El-P and a few more.

That’s why you can’t stop and will never stop us from branching into all mediums of pop culture in all walks of life. We’re all Zelig’s (big ups Woody Allen) living in an a strange universe. 

Check out the Shemspeed update below:

Shemspeed Fam, After a lot of research and digging, “The Beat Guide to Yiddish” is finally finished! The mix blends some of Diwon’s own music into forgotten sounds from Eastern Europe. Hear Yiddish in a way you would have never thought possible. Included on the mix are sounds from; Gershon Kingsley, Jewdyssee, Sam Medoff, Lipa, Seymour Rechtzeit and a few other gems. And you could download it for free from www.shemspeed.com/diwon. Also, It has been brought to our attention that the downloading website we used for the last free song plays host to some inappropriate advertisements. We are sorry that you were exposed to that! We have deleted the link so no one will find any of that material again and have created a new safe link, http://www.mediafire.com/?wnvgjzyjzoy. all the best,Erez p.s. Enjoy and please pass the Beat Guide to all your friends and fiends! - www.shemspeed.com/diwon p.p.s. check out an interview about “The Beat Guide” with the JTA here and write ups in Sweden and Russia * The Beat Guide To Yiddish Diwon has produced countless electro and hip hop mixes. His use of traditional Yemenite and Sephardic music, however, sets him apart from other artists in the genre. Influenced heavily by his family’s roots in Yemen, Ethiopia and Israel, the multicultural maestro is always full of suprises and his latest release, The Beat Guide to Yiddish, is no exception. Diwon’s Beat Guide mixes some of his own music into forgotten sounds from Eastern Europe. Download the mix for free and hear Yiddish in a way you would have never thought possible. Included on the mix are sounds from; Gershon Kingsley, Jewdyssee, Sam Medoff, Lipa, Seymour Rechtzeit and a few other gems. DOWNLOAD NOW FREE FROM WWW.SHEMSPEED.COM/DIWON

   Shabbt Shalom L’Kulam

Being a Jew in New York City is quite a feat, being pushed into the saturated market of Jewish social events. It is Jew-stuff galore and you realize how each is catered to that niche audience, whether environmentalists in the Golan or love for the kids of Sderot or Russian Jews for education and recognition, they all have an outlet. And then there are the “Unafiliated.” These are the apathetic types who have grown so accustomed to their world, yet they also consider themselves rebels because they aren’t conforming by joining a “group.”

These “rebel” Jews don’t like being lectured about what they should care about and why. These are mostly people who grew up in smaller towns with small to moderate sized Jewish populations. They probably revolved around their house, their school, friends’s houses, girlfriend’s house and back home - ready to do it all again the next day. They have all or mostly been Bar or Bat Mitzvah’d and went through Hebrew school in their local Shuls to get to that day at the age of 13 (or 12 for the ladies). The Hebrew school was the focus of their Jewish upbringing and from what I’ve seen it’s doing a poor job teaching appreciation for Israel as well as traditional Judaism. 

All American Hebrew schools (Conservative, Reform and Orthodox) must revamp and change their Jewish education curriculum. The present materials are strictly Liturgical with some history and Holocaust studies. One big missing componant is Israel. Israel plays an integral part in our every day lives. Not only as the reincarnation of the modern State but also as a link to our past and a reminder of the hard times of the diaspora. They should teach this connection through the Torah as well as through historical Zionist texts. This will be important because college campuses are mostly liberal and people who are seen as “Pro-Israel” are chastised by the local hardcore liberal contingency. If these Jewish students from small towns can address issues like why Israel is a beacon of democracy in the Middle East etc. They could argue with ease and be able to cite old and new texts.

Hebrew is also an important element of Judaism that American Jews should learn and understand. They only learn the liturgical language and at an introductory level. They pound these words that the kids regurgitate during services in their Hebrew schools, but they never teach them the true essence of each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is said that G-d created the world and the universe with a single letter. If one letter has that power than think of the posibility of being proficient in the entire language. All American Hebrew day schools should teach Hebrew as a second language and as young an age as possible, because the younger the age the more the child will retain after maturing to adulthood.

You all know the old saying that if it isn’t broke, don’t try to fix it. Well this system is broken and instead of the usual band-aid approach or even ignoring the facts we must fix this mess. If we initiate a fix then the usual Birthright alumni would have been more in tune with his/her religion, history and culture.    

Hello V’Shabbat Shalom to all of our faithful readers.

Jews through out the centuries have traveled to Eretz Yisrael for many reasons and with some sort of financial assistance. In the last two decades Birthright has managed to bring Jews from all across the world, mostly Americans, to visit Israel and soak in the true experiences beyond the lens of the media. Most of the participants who go on these trips have never been to Israel as well as their parents, and if they have it was for a time specific family vacation. There is a population of people taking advantage of the free trip who is both interesting and worth engaging. They are the expatriates or the sons and daughters of expatriates, and of course I should know because I’m one of them.

Many of these ex-pats are reconnecting with Israel because they’re Israeli or their parents are Israeli by birth or Aliyah. They are not only reconnecting but rather making their own rules when it comes to identity of being an American and an Israeli. A few months ago I overheard a kid, from a Birthright program, in Ben-Gurion Airport claiming that he’s been to Israel over 20 times since he was a baby. This population of kids isn’t as big as the Americans Jews who never went, but it’s large and growing. The numbers project that there are about one million Israelis living in the U.S. with half living in New York City. We need to nourish this population because they are key in projecting a new relationship between Israelis and Jews in the diaspora, especially American Jews.

These ex-pats have many advantages when they went on the trip and I’ll give some persoanl first hand accounts. It’s easier to create a rapport if you can speak the language and the more fluent, and Sephardi, you sound the more Israeli you seem. There are also cultural norms and slang words that could effuse the warmth between the Israelis and the ex-pats. There are plenty more qualities that combine, but the bigger issue is that they are key to our future. Israeli-Americans/American-Israelis have the advantage of having one foot in each culture and also able to sway from side to side without slipping. Now the question is where would they be most helpful?

There are many sectors where Israelis who lived in the US for most of their lives, and the opposite, can share each other’s resources. The brain power of Jews across the planet is astounding so we need to spread and share the wealth. We need to have these American-Israelis who lived in Israel most of their lives come back and teach American Jews about Israeli popular culture and visa versa. The same could be said about any other realm whether it be economic, medical, political, hysterical, etc. I think this cross divide cooperation is key because this population will only grow with the rising numbers of American Jews making Aliyah and marrying into Israeli families. Before we know it almost all of the Israeli population will have duo-citizenship. Sounds a bit schizoid, but what did you expect from a nomadic clan who have been around for a few centuries? 

Shabbat Shalom  

I hope we are all well rested after the month of Chagim. We rejoiced, were judged, atoned for our sins, sealed our fate in the book on high, commemorated our forefathers by living in “booths” or Sukkot and we both finished and began the Torah, reviewing the death of Moshe and the birth of the Universe.

This might sound like a lot going on in the spiritual realm but we managed to handle it, now for the hard part; Politics. Both the elections in the United States and the impending formation of an Israeli government are looming close. In the US the next fourteen days will be full of talking heads on news shows calling in all their armies of so-called “experts.” There will be so much spin and chatter that November 4th seems like a century away. So the closer we get to election day the uglier the attacks will get from both sides (Although mostly from the right). Also, there was a lot said this past week from both sides and commentators on the wayside. Being a Zionist blog I want to cover the words of one my favorite psycho babblers, Jesse Jackson.

You all might know this but last week the New York Post reported that Jesse Jackson predicted a dramatic break from US Middle Eastern policy if Barak Obama became the next US President. A recent article in the Post by Amir Taheri claims that Jesse Jackson said that the next American Administration, under Obama, will break the Zionist hold on American foreign policy. He predicted that the next administration will change the course of American history and reverse a deep seeded agreement. A week later the truth has come out that the author of the article was not present when Jesse Jackson allegedly said those statements. It’s yellow journalism at its worst and it also has another underlying problem, Republicans are using his alleged words to attack Barak Obama.

First and foremost US policy is not Zionist influenced, logically there are just more pro-Israel Americans then pro-Palestinian Americans. Americans will, and always have, been exposed to Jews through out the history of the United States of America. Muslims always considered us the “others” so that population hadn’t immigrated in large numbers until the last three decades or so. Jews have been the fabric of American society since the founding of the Jamestown colony. There are also other trends to explain this bond, which has always pitted ideology, religion and culture as prime factors.

Jackson’s alleged assertion may seem preposterous yet anything is possible, but I doubt that an American President can afford to kill the status quo. Neither candidate is anti-Israel or preaches this type of rhetoric, with both stressing the issue of security and peace for Israel as the imperative. Neither will want to sever these strategic ties with our only real allies in the Middle East. Neither candidate will do what Jackson claims and some naysayers on the right are also dead wrong about Obama’s languid support of Israel. 

Jesse Jackson has been off his rocker for some time and I don’t believe that he said what was written in the Post, but anything is possible nowadays. If Colin Powel and William Buckley’s son support Obama including other prominant conservatives who are predicting an Obama win, then my friends anything is possible. I think we should all cut the bull and shed the rhetoric, and if your not sure then fact check. The big problem is not that these words can be uttered in public, but that there is an audience waiting to bite. An audience that not only believes but is also prescribed to those ignorant and arrogant claims.