DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

ElBaradei: Iran on Way to Atomic Bomb Capability (Reuters)
    Iran is on its way to mastering technology that would enable it to build atomic bombs, International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei said in remarks published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily on Friday.
    "They have the cookbook.... (But) right now they don't yet have the ingredients - enough nuclear material to make a bomb overnight," ElBaradei said.

Israel to UN: Settlements Not the Principal Issue (AP/Jerusalem Post)
    During a Friday UN Security Council meeting called at the request of Arab states to discuss Israeli settlement-building, Israeli UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev noted that a stranger visiting the UN might suppose from the debate that Hamas violence, missile attacks fired over Israel's border, the buildup of Hizbullah forces in Lebanon, and Iran's nuclear ambitions posed no problem to the Mideast peace process.
    "While settlements remain a delicate issue, they are not the principal one," she said.

Hizbullah: Palestine Is Arab "From the Sea to the River" (Jerusalem Post)
    "Palestine, from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river, is the property of Arabs and Palestinians and no one has the right to give up even a single grain of earth or one stone, because every grain of the land is holy. The entire land must be returned to its rightful owners," Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday in honor of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day.
    He said Israel and the "Jewish lobby" ruled the world and influenced the U.S. and its allies, and that jihad was the only way for Muslims to achieve results.
    "Our lands will be liberated, not by begging the U.S. or the West, but with will, determination, resistance and sacrifices," Nasrallah said.

Iran Launches Book Mocking Holocaust Victims - Thomas Erdbrink (Washington Post)
    Iranian students released a book containing cartoons of the Holocaust on Friday in the presence of Education Minister Ali Reza Ali-Ahmadi, during annual demonstrations calling for the retreat of "Zionists" from "occupied Palestine."
    The cartoons show caricatured Jews with large, hooked noses trying to fabricate evidence for the Holocaust, while the text states that the Nazi massacre has been highly exaggerated, makes fun of testimonials from survivors and accuses present-day Jews of trying to make money from the Holocaust.
    See also Hamas Urges Suicide Attacks as Thousands March in Gaza (AFP)
    Hamas parliamentarian Ahmed Abu Helbiya called on Friday for more suicide attacks against Israel as thousands of Palestinians marched through Gaza in honor of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, an Iranian-declared observance.

U.S. Says Five Iranian Proxy Insurgents Held in Iraq (AFP)
    American troops in Baghdad on Saturday arrested five insurgents from Kata'ib Hizbullah, a group acting as proxies of Iran, the U.S. military said in a statement.
    "Kata'ib Hizbullah funnels weapons and material into Iraq from Iran, which is then used to conduct attacks against Iraqi security and coalition forces," the U.S. said.
    At least 30 Hizbullah members have been arrested in Iraq in the past two months.

Iran Food Prices Surge Nearly 50 Percent in September (AFP)
    Food prices in Iran were up 48% in September over the previous year, Kargozaran newspaper reported Sunday, citing central bank figures.
    Analysts say the government has injected so much oil money into the economy for local infrastructure projects that inflation will remain high for months and years to come.

Egyptian Journalist Gets Jail for Reports on Mubarak's Health - Sarah El Deeb (AP)
    An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday upheld a guilty verdict against Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily al-Dustor who wrote stories questioning President Mubarak's health, and sentenced him to two months imprisonment.
    "Jail sentences for journalists have now become normal," Eissa said. "The verdict... says it is prohibited to speak about the president. It says political reform is an illusion."

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Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

Iran Is a Bigger Threat than Wall Street - Greg Sheridan (The Australian)

• At some stage during the next presidency, Iran will blow up into a full-scale crisis that will dominate global politics and that may be more important than the Wall Street financial crisis, the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan's internal crisis, and the relentless military build-up of China.
• A bipartisan report commissioned by two former U.S. senators and written primarily by Middle East expert Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute begins: "A nuclear weapons capable Islamic Republic of Iran is strategically untenable."
• "A nuclear ready or nuclear-armed Islamic Republic ruled by the clerical regime could threaten the Persian Gulf region and its vast energy resources, spark nuclear proliferation throughout the Middle East, inject additional volatility into global energy markets, embolden extremists in the region and destabilize states such as Saudi Arabia and others in the region, provide nuclear technology to other radical regimes and terrorists (although Iran might hesitate to share traceable nuclear technology), and seek to make good on its threats to eradicate Israel."
• "The threat posed by the Islamic Republic is not only direct Iranian action but also aggression committed by proxy. Iran remains the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, proving its reach from Buenos Aires to Baghdad."