Richard Landes comments on the court’s decision in the Karsenty/Enderlin case.

Generally speaking, I think this is a devastating decision. The judges go out of their way to criticize everyone involved on the side of France2 (including some backhanded swipes at the lower court), but especially to point out the pervasive “incohérences” not only in Enderlin’s initial broadcast, but his subsequent explanations and actions. In particular, after emphasizing the sharpness of both Karsenty’s language and his accusations — which indeed are defamatory and strike at Enderlin’s and France2’s honor and reputation — the judges assert that, given the evidence he had every right to make these statements, in particular given the importance of the case, the damage it did worldwide, and the fact that Enderlin, as a professional of information with a high public profile has to expect to be subjected to this kind of criticism from co-citizens and colleagues.

(h/t Daled Amos)

In Context’s (in new digs) had a somewhat more limited feeling of vindication.

So the French court has vindicated (for the time being) the right of Karsenty and, presumably, anyone else to bring those facts to light. Nevertheless (and until the written opinion is released tomorrow it’s not entirely clear), it sounds as if the court did not base its ruling upon a finding that Karsenty was or likely was telling the truth. Rather, the court appears to have held that Karsenty had the right to voice his opinion, whether it was true or not, because and only because he was able to demonstrate that he had conducted a sufficiently thorough investigation and assembled sufficiently convincing evidence to establish that he thought he had a reasonable basis for making the claims he did.

(In Context was working off a summary of the verdict, not the whole verdict. So it’s possible that she’ll change her view. She did express what I thought. The seemed less a victory for Karsenty specifically and more for free speech in general. Thus - at least the preliminary summary of - the verdict didn’t seem to be the repudiation of Enderlin that I would have like to see.)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

I’ve been trying to figure out how not to drive to the Kennedy Center tonight. I was planning on, say, driving to Fredericksburg, leaving my car in the Park & Ride, and taking the train into DC and the Metro to the Kennedy Center. Well, that would be all well and good if I wanted to get to Sorena’s concert at 6 and leave about fifteen minutes later, because the last trains south out of Fredericksburg are at the wee hours of 8 p.m.

This is unbelievable. Not a single southbound or outbound train line gets me anywhere but to the outskirts of DC.

The New York City train and bus lines ALL have last trains out ranging from 11:30 to 1 a.m. to the surrounding states. And it’s not like Richmonders don’t work in DC, nor haven’t for years.

So instead of saving the gas (and carbon footprints) by not driving into the DC area, I’ll be heading to work for a 1:30 meeting after all, and taking the Metro from a northern VA suburb of DC.

If anyone has a better suggestion, I need to be at the Kennedy Center by 6 p.m. tonight, and I’d like to get back home afterwards. I don’t want to drive into metro DC. Did that a month or two ago, and it sucks.

From the NYT.

Soccer’s world governing body suspended Iraq’s national soccer association on Monday, leaving the players on Iraq’s national team who had united a divided country fearing that they will not be able to participate in the 2010 World Cup.The diverse national squad of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, which overcame daunting social and athletic odds to win the 2007 Asian Cup, came off the field after an exhibition match in Thailand to find itself caught up in political wrangling at home.

What’s the reason?

The suspension by soccer’s governing body had its roots in a decision last week by the Iraqi government to disband the Iraqi Olympic Committee. The cabinet determined that the committee was operating illegally, because it lacked a quorum and had failed to hold new elections, a government spokesman said.Government officials also accused some Olympic committee members of corruption and of reneging on a promise to hold new elections. The committee has been replaced by a temporary organization appointed by the Minister for Youth and Sports. Iraqi Olympic athletes were not the only ones affected by the decision.

The international governing body for soccer, which is known internationally as football, announced Monday that its executive committee had suspended the Iraqi Football Association because the Iraqi Olympic Committee and all other national sporting federations had been disbanded.

So an organization devoted to unifying the country of Iraq was suspended because the Iraqi government took steps to clean up corruption. Astounding.

It wouldn’t be the first time that the FIFA has acted politically.

Israel is used to being singled out for unjust criticism and subjected to startling double standards by the United Nations, the European Union, much of the Western media and numerous academic bodies. But now FIFA — the supposedly nonpolitical organization that governs the world’s most popular sport, soccer — is getting in on the act as well.FIFA has condemned Israel for an air strike on an empty soccer field in the Gaza Strip that was used for training exercises by Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. This strike did not cause any injuries. But at the same time FIFA has refused to condemn a Palestinian rocket attack on an Israeli soccer field last week which did cause injuries.

Just try and remember what Iraqi sports used to be like. (graphic descriptions of torture follow.)

In 1997 FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, sent two investigators to Baghdad to question members of the Iraqi national team who’d allegedly had their feet caned by Uday’s henchmen after losing a World Cup qualifying match to Kazakhstan. The investigators spoke only to people whom Uday had selected. The result: a report exonerating Uday.”Did the torture of those players happen?” asks Sharar Haydar, a longtime Iraqi soccer star who participated in 40 international matches for the national team and was a teammate of many of the victims. “Absolutely. But when you interview athletes who are under Uday’s control, what else do you expect them to say?

“I know what they went through,” adds Haydar, who escaped from Iraq in 1998 and now lives in London. “I was tortured four times after matches. One time, after a friendly [match] against Jordan in Amman that we lost 2-0, Uday had me and three teammates taken to the prison. When we arrived, they took off our shirts, tied our feet together and pulled our knees over a bar as we lay on our backs. Then they dragged us over pavement and concrete, pulling the skin off our backs. Then they pulled us through a sandpit to get sand in our backs. Finally, they made us climb a ladder and jump into a vat of raw sewage. They wanted to get our wounds infected. The next day, and for every day we were there, they beat our feet. My punishment, because I was a star player, was 20 [lashings] per day. I asked the guard how he could ever forgive himself. He laughed and told me if he didn’t do this, Uday would do it to him. Uday made us athletes an example. He believed that if people saw he was not afraid to beat a hero, that they would live in greater fear.”

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Syria has no intention of giving up ties with Iran, no intention of giving up support of terrorist groups in and out of the Palestinian terrortories[sic], and therefore, no intention of the much-touted “land for peace” solution to the Golan Heights. Olmert is grasping at straws, trying to keep his miserable, corrupt political carcass in office just a little while longer for the most mystifying of reasons. Except, of course, selfish ones. Power. Money. Ego.

Syrian Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani said on Tuesday that his country was prepared to increase its military cooperation with Iran.

[...] “Iran and Syria share the same viewpoint regarding regional issues and efforts will be made to strengthen our shared interests and bilateral relations,” said Turkmani, who was dispatched to Tehran to reassure the outraged Iranian leadership following the resumption of negotiations with Israel.

The defense minister confirmed the statement released by the Iranian defense ministry regarding Syria’s intent to increase military cooperation with its chief ally.

The Iranian strategy of surrounding Israel with thousands of rockets continues unabated.

Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin said during the weekly government meeting on Sunday that since the breaching of the Philadelphi Route Hamas has succeeded in smuggling very advanced weapons into the Gaza Strip, and that there are certain indications that the organization now has rockets able to surpass Ashkelon, and possibly even to hit Ashdod and Kiryat Gat.

“There has been cooperation between Hamas and Iran, and the Shin Bet has already recognized Iranian-made rockets that have a range far greater than the Gaza Strip. Time favors Hamas and the rest of the terror organizations, and the threat on the State of Israel is steadily rising,” Diskin warned.

Some in Israel’s Military Intelligence thinks that Syria wants to move forward on the “peace process.”

The head of the research division of Military Intelligence, Brigadier-General Yossi Baidatz, attended the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on Monday, and said that Syria was interested in advancing the peace process with Israel.

“It is our understanding that the Syrians are interested and want to see the diplomatic process move forward,” he told the committee members.

Baidatz noted, however, that Damascus was simultaneously working on bolstering the Hizbullah terror organization in Lebanon.

I’m sorry, but what? You do not want peace if you are simultaneously supplying Hizbullah with weapons to harm Israel. You only want to get your land back.

Ahmadinejad is predicting continued good relations with Syria, and the continued encirclement of Israel.

The FARS news agency reported that Ahmadinejad told Turkmani that he is “confident the Syrian leadership will handle the arena wisely and not desert the front line of the struggle until all the threats of the Zionist regime are completely removed.”

Iran is also promising to keep up its support of Hamas even if Syria were to stop as a result of the truce. (And by the way, how is it that Jimmy Carter can’t acknowledge that Hamas has no intention of ever living in peace with Israel, but he can give away classified information and betray an American ally?

Really, reading these, and all the other articles available, how can anyone pretend that Syria is willing to come to a peace agreement with Israel? There will be no peace, only another piece in the encirclement strategy. Once again, Israel will be fighting an all-front war, only this time, the civilian population will be under as much threat as it was in 1948. No, more. The rockets will make every inch of Israel unsafe.

And meantime, Olmert fiddles while Israel’s enemies build up their weapons.

The NYT citing a Reuters report doesn’t seem to feel that this is any big deal.

Former President Jimmy Carter said Israel held at least 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a current or former American president had publicly acknowledged the Jewish state’s nuclear arsenal.

Eldoer of Ziyon points out that it’s a big deal from Carter’s standpoint:

This is not some investigative reporter coming up with these numbers, this is an ex-president. As such, they appear to have more inside information behind them.If a former Israeli prime minister would tell a public venue about US spies found in Israel, or perhaps about US military capabilities and weaknesses discovered during joint exercises, what would be the US reaction? If Tony Blair announced the exact location of US submarines when he was prime minister, what kind of an uproar would that cause? Because this is exactly what Jimmy Carter just did to Israel.

He just gave priceless information to Iran about Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

Heads of state are privy to many state secrets. Perhaps Carter’s betrayal of that trust ought to lead to the drafting of laws specifically criminalizing such betrayals and making them subject to enforceable penalties. Carter is not and should not be above the law.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.