I have always—always wondered what the hell “reading them the riot act” meant. I knew there was a Riot Act, but I never got it. But then I found this nifty website, which explains what that prhase means.

In English law the control of unruly citizens has usually been the responsibility of local magistrates. Any group of twelve or more that the authorities didn’t like the look of could be deemed a ‘riotous and tumultuous assembly’ and arrested if they didn’t disperse within an hour of the Riot Act being read to them by a magistrate.

Ohhhhhhh. Now I get it.

The man behind Defense Tech, Noah Schachtman, is now defenseblogging for Wired in the Danger Room. (As an X-Men fan, I love the name, of course.)

If you’re a milblogger or someone interested in defense, this is the place to bookmark.

The Prime Minister of Britain is a fool, an idiot, or hopelessly naive.

The UK has indicated it could be prepared to do business with the Islamic group Hamas, in comments that underlined the growing difference in approach between Europe and the US on how best to pursue peace in the Middle East.

Speaking in London on Thursday ahead of a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, Tony Blair, British prime minister, welcomed the agreement earlier this month to form a Palestinian government of national unity. He even anticipated working with officials from Hamas, which agreed during talks in Mecca to set up the government with Mr Abbas’s Fatah party.

“It’s far easier to deal with the situation in Palestine if there is a national unity government,” he said. “I hope we can make progress, including even with the more sensible elements of Hamas.”

Thus proving that Tony Blair hasn’t got the foggiest notion of what Hamas is all about. Read the charter, Tony. There are no “sensible” elements in Hamas. All of them want the destruction of Israel and an Islamic caliphate in her place.

If Britain deals with Hamas, all of the dominoes will fall. The rest of the world is just itching to try to force Israel into peace negotiations with the PA, regardless of the fact that Hamas—the organization devoted to the destruction of Israel—is now the government of Israel. Israel needs to continue boycotting any government that includes Hamas, and screw the morons who think that they should deal with a group of genocidal terrorists.

Article Six:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine [...].

Yes, absolutely, go find the more “sensible” elements who believe in this.

By contrast, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, said earlier this month that her efforts to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian agreement had “been made more complicated by the unity government”.

“We want to see this [unity] government in operation. We’re not interested in the rhetoric, we’re interested in its actions,” said a British government official last night. “We have to find a way forward here, and if we find people we can do business with we have to work with that.”

Uh-huh. Let’s try to work with the people who wrote this:

We should not forget to remind every Moslem that when the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that “Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.”

Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”

And this:

The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.

These words were not written by people who intend to deal with Israel and create long-lasting peace.

As were these:

The Islamic Resistance Movement views seriously the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of Salah ed-Din al-Ayyubi and the rescuing of Palestine from their hands, as well as the defeat of the Tatars at Ein Galot, breaking their power at the hands of Qataz and Al-Dhaher Bivers and saving the Arab world from the Tatar onslaught which aimed at the destruction of every meaning of human civilization. The Movement draws lessons and examples from all this. The present Zionist onslaught has also been preceded by Crusading raids from the West and other Tatar raids from the East. Just as the Moslems faced those raids and planned fighting and defeating them, they should be able to confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it. This is indeed no problem for the Almighty Allah, provided that the intentions are pure, the determination is true and that Moslems have benefited from past experiences, rid themselves of the effects of ideological invasion and followed the customs of their ancestors.

There is no dealing with Hamas. None. They do not want peace. They want the land of Israel to become this mythical country of Palestine, in which Mohammed never set foot, but which they insist is Islamic:

The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day.

There is no “sensible” member of Hamas. By definition, they’re insane. They believe that the Masons are keeping Muslims from their land. They cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a guidebook, rather than the anti-Semitic hoax that it was. And they firmly believe in jihad.

If Tony Blair continues on this course, watch for the rest of the dominoes to fall. Israel must keep to her stance and not deal with any government that includes Hamas.

The Quartet released a statement that can apparently be read in Humpty Dumpty-ese:

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. “It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master - that’s all.”

Who is to be master? Well, for the majority of the press, it is to be Hamas.

Hamas said Thursday it was encouraged by what it called a “wait and see” approach by the Quartet of Middle East mediators towards a new Palestinian unity government.

But the unity government deal between the ruling Hamas movement and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction widened divisions within the Quartet.

The United States wants to continue to shun the government if it does not meet the three conditions, whereas Russia and other European governments favor a softer line.

“They (the Quartet) have decided to wait and see until the new government is formed and they have not rushed to reiterate the continuation of the siege and sanctions,” Hamas cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad said. “They have left the door open for the possibility of opening a dialogue.”

That, of course, is Reuters’ take. The JPost:

The Quartet issued a statement following its talks in Berlin Wednesday night reiterating the need for the Palestinian Authority to accepts its three principles, but also adding that there was a discussion about “possible further steps by the international community in the context of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”

Ynet, via the AP:

The revived Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators - the US, UN, EU and Russia - underscored its demand that any Palestinian government recognize Israel, and vowed to hold another meeting in an Arab country.

The meeting Wednesday of Quartet representatives in Berlin offered no breakthroughs in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a statement. But officials pointed to their commitment to keep the effort going. “We know that this process of drawing closer together is difficult, and for that reason we want to support it,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, stressing the need to seize a “window of opportunity.”

Gee. When have they held a meeting in Israel, I wonder?

As an aside, you can hardly find the news of this meeting in Google News. Funny, the AP isn’t giving it as much of a push as they give, say, news of the IDF killing a terrorist, or worse, accidentally killing palestinian civilians. One might suspect the reason they’re not pushing the news is because it’s not filling the anti-Israel agenda. But of course, then one would be assuming bias in the news media.

For the record, this is the statement the Quartet released. Read in it what you will:

The Quartet reaffirmed its statements regarding its support for a Palestinian Government committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Road Map, and encouraged progress in this direction.

The Quartet discussed efforts under way for a Palestinian national unity Government, pursuant to the agreement reached in Mecca on 8 February. The Quartet expressed its appreciation for the role of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the cessation of violence among Palestinians.

The Quartet concluded with a discussion of possible further steps by the international community in the context of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

It welcomed preliminary ideas put forward by the European Commission to meet the needs to better coordinate and mobilize international assistance in support of the political process and to meet the needs of the Palestinian people.

The Quartet reaffirmed its commitment to meet regularly and asked envoys to monitor developments and actions taken by the parties and to discuss the way ahead. It was agreed to schedule a meeting in the region soon.

Yes, it’s a Rorschach statement. (No, it really isn’t. But the media pretends that it is.)