Intense consultations have been taken place between top Imperial representatives and Fatah thugs (the USA are, as pretty much everybody already knows, deeply involved in the anti-Hamas operations). Today, Imperial forces have made several deep incursions into the Gaza strip. According to at least one Palestinian news agency, this is actually an invasion of Gaza. I personally doubt this very much, but this could well be the first preparatory phase of a full-scale invasion.

In the meanwhile top US Neocon John Bolton has stated that sanctions and diplomacy have failed and it may be too late for internal opposition to oust the Islamist regime, leaving only military intervention to stop Iran’s drive to nuclear weapons. He added that he was “very worried” about the well-being of Israel. If he were in Israel’s predicament, he said, “I’d be pushing the US very hard. I am pushing the US [administration] very hard, from the outside, in Washington.”

(Bolton is, of course, quite correct about one thing: no “internal opposition” is going to “oust” anyone from power in Iran)

In the meantime, and on a lighter note, here is a small quiz: in which country in the Middle East does a religious radio station ban a male singer because his voice is “too feminine” and thus forbidden as pious man are forbideen to listen to female voices?

Taliban controlled Afghanistan? “Mullah” ruled Iran? Wahabi Saudi Arabia?

Nope.

Israel.

But in all fairness to the “only democratic state in the Middle-East” something like that could also have happened under the Talibans.