First Press Release Published

The Sponsoring of Terrorism

Terrorist groups often receive help from outside players in the form of money, arms, and training. These kind of small proxy wars where a good alternative from total war, for the USA and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Each side not wanting to confront each other directly found smaller states and organizations to oppose the differing governing system. The result was small conflicts all over the world that fought either in the name of capitalism or communism. This is how the CIA came to help Ban Laden, in order to push for a Russian humiliation and defeat in Afghanistan. The Soviets did the same when they helped the Fidel Castro and Che Guevara fight off American interests in South America.
The same proxy wars and founding of terrorists can be seen with clarity in the Middle East today, where Israel's adversaries have come to realize that confronting Israel in conventional war is much less effective then sponsoring terrorism. This is what the Syrian regime bargains with when negotiating for the return of the Golan Heights. They promise to stop aiding Hezbollah for the return of land concurred during the Yom Kippur War. Iran on the other hand funds Hezbollah in order to spread its Ideology and set the Middle East in turmoil by pushing Hezbollah to attack Israel. This acts as a deterrent especially when the US is threatening to bomb Iran’s nuclear program.

The Roots of Terrorism

Terrorism started to emerge in order to challenge the leaders and masters that were neglecting the needs of the people. Whether it was the starving people of France that strived for a better life without the monarchy or the African indigenous people that wanted to be more then just a colony of Europe, the time of the kings, dictators, and imperialism was coming to an end. As the old system collapsed, the stability tranquility that was to follow was not easily achieved. Only more reign of terror emerged as all sides tried to gain political power, and would reach for the sword rather then negotiate. A good modern day example would be the War in Iraq where Sunni’s and Shiat’s battle each other with all the tools of terror at hand, in order to gain as much territory and power as possible.

“In the war for Baghdad mosques serve as garrisons. Sunnis use religious sanctuaries as strongholds to fight for mixed neighborhoods. Shia extremists convert their mosques and prayer rooms, into execution chambers” (Ned Parker, The Times, 28/11/06)

Rapid decolonization saw the rise of national movements in diverse territories such as Algeria, South Africa, and Viet Nam. The rebels/terrorists in these countries often faced overwhelming odds and a far superior opponent. The solution that is best for such an entity is the implementation of gorilla and terrorist tactics. The Viet Cong were especially skilled in these ways while facing the for more superior US army. They never confronted their enemy in a frontal attack, only harassing and then retreating. The laying of booby traps in order to severely injure American soldiers rather then to kill was done in order to heighten aggravation and anger. This sometimes resulted in attacks against the local population by US troops, frustrated by an invisible enemy. An overreaction by the opponent is also something that is calculated by terrorists in order to gain the populations support, and fuel hate against the enemy. Another feature of terrorist tactics is the use of the media, which has a great impact on the home population of the adversary and can help shift the situation in favor of the terrorist entity as seen done in the Tet- offensive of 1968. The Tet-offensive was a total military disaster for the North Vietnamese forces, but the fact that images of hostile forces were able to reach the American embassy compound was enough proof for the American people that the war was lost. Very similar tactics are being used today by Iraqi insurgents that never miss an opportunity to film the killing of American troops and posting them on the internet. Another good example would be the insurgent attack that was broadcast live as the President of Iraq and the new UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon were speaking recently.
The US defeat by the left wing, communists in Viet Nam excited the imagination of revolutionaries across the globe. Proving that by will power and determination, strong regimes can be beaten or even toppled.

Terrorism

Terrorism has always been a hard word to define ever since the French revolution where it first emerged. What was true back then is still very true today when it comes to characterizing the word. Most of the debate around the word would come down to the simple idea that “once freedom fighter is another’s terrorist”. Never the less Western regimes have established some guidelines and characteristics that can be associated with terrorist activities in order to distinguish who are terrorists and who are not, again these definitions can be viewed as being subjective. One perception can be agreed upon by most and that is that it is always a struggle of the weak against the strong, the Have against the have-nots. If one follows the West’s agenda then terrorist targets are usually civilian, and that the main objective of this kind of attack is to generate change in Government policy, spread fear, intimidate, and set off an overreaction by the attacked entity. Terrorists and their supporters would claim that a bomb that goes astray killing innocent people, even if by accident is also terror. Still in this essay I will use the West’s more rational point of view. For the purpose of this discussion, therefore, terrorism is defined as:

“The threat or use of seemingly random violence against innocents for political ends by none –state actors” (R.G Fery & Christopher W. Morris, Vilonce, Terrorism an Justice pg.3)

Terrorism itself is as old as human history itself, and probably started together with basic human interaction. A good example of an ancient organization that spread fear, and changed policy through acts of total violence would be the Muslim sect of the Assassins, a militant religious sect that operated in the Middle East during the 8th to the 14th century. Its followers spread terror through assassination and murder, these acts intimidated local leaders into changing policy in favor of the Assassins. The same thing happened during the Madrid bombings of 2004, which totally changed the election results in favor of the Islamists agenda. Followers of the Sect where promised entry into Heaven after completing their mission. One can not ignore the similarities with modern day Islamic terror that promises similar rewards and tries to effect policy through the same tactics. Terror has come along way since the Assassins sect first understood its potential; still the motivations for acts of terror are very similar only the tools have become technologically more advanced. In this essay I will examine the different kinds of terrorist groups, there motivation and what drives them to kill and maim innocent civilians till this day.

“At its root terrorism is about justice, or at least someone’s perception of justice’ (Audrey Kurth Cornin, Grave New World pg.280)

Uncertain future

Since the Iranian revolution the country has chosen a very different path then the democratic, and so called civilized Western ways. This is because in Iran there is strict censorship of the Media, execution for homosexuality, execution for adultery, open sponsorship of terrorism, persecution of minorities, and denial of the Holocaust. All that should be enough reason to fear an Iranian regime with a nuclear bomb.

“Women sentenced to death by stoning are buried in the ground up to their necks. Iranian law regulates the size of the stones used by the executioner crowd; stones cannot be big enough to kill the sentenced woman too quickly, as the purpose of this barbaric ritual is to inflict as much pain as possible before death. On the other hand, stones cannot be too small, as each blow must be dramatically painful” (Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, 27/01/05)

The recent sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, is another punch to the Iranian economy, which could prove to be delaying the development the Iranian nuclear program. The result of the first limited sanctions imposed on Iran saw the lack of payment made to the Russians that are building the Busher nuclear complex. As a consequence of this non-payment the Russians withdrew some of their personal and indefinitely suspended work at the site, proving that sanctions can help delay the Iranian race to the bomb. Saddam Hussein regime survived years of sanctions, so can the Iranians, leaving the possibility that Iran which is already speculated of being close to the bomb actually achieving its final goal. The recent kidnapping of British troops by the Revolutionary Guard shows the Iranian willingness to be the aggressor in the region even without the bomb; this is only a small taste of what it would be with weapons of mass destruction. Sooner or later the West will have to choose between tolerating an Iranian bomb and face some of the worst scenarios in the future or embark on equally uncertain situation of war with Iran.

The War Scenario

That region of the Middle East has always seen tension and war that goes back to the days of the Prophet Muhammad. This is mainly due to the everlasting dispute between Muslims on who should have been the next Caliph after Muhammad, Ali or Abu Bakar. This difference in perception can be seen at its worst case scenario in Present day Iraq, where Shia and Sunni Muslims are playing out their differences with suicide bombers and violent executions. The same pattern emerged during the Iran Iraq war, were Saddam Hussein with his Sunni Bath Party felt threatened by the rising fundamentalist Shia regime in Iran. The result was one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century that even saw the use of chemical and biological weapons. This is not the only example of Muslims raising the sword on other Muslims in the region. The invasion of Kuwait is another good example of this feature. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, owed money to the Kuwaiti Government so the best thing to do, was not only not to pay them but also to invade the oil rich country. The wars for oil and dominance in this region go far back and can also be very much present in the future. If Iran does acquire the bomb this will threaten not only Israel in the Middle East but every Arab leader that is a dictator, a monarch, or Sunni because sooner or later they will all be considered enemies of the revolution. In addition to the ideological differences in the region, the dominance for oil is of highest importance. If Iran were to become desperate financially in the future, it could look into invading one of its neighbors like Saddam in 1991. After the Americans pull out of Iraq, Iran can always claim it is sending troops to protect the Shia population of Iraq like the Syrians did during the Lebanese civil war, where in reality it is expanding its oil reserve.

“In any case, the potential for significant regional instability exists. A collapsed Iraqi state creates opportunities for covert Iranian intervention in the north and south- the regions that control most of Iraq’s oil” (Timothy D. Hoyt, Grave New World)

An Iran with a bomb will hardly be beaten back like the Iraqis in the Gulf War, thus it will be able to do as it pleases even if confronted by the mighty US army.
This kind of scenario is very real in the eyes of the Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, which have already started stating that they would also be interested in WMD.

“Iraq and Libya were stopped on the road, a failure to contain North Korea and Iran could have dangerous domino effects in East Asia and the Middle East”(Dr. Hans Blix)

Clip explaning the split in Islam. A must see for better understanding the difference between Sunnis and Shias

The Terrorist Scenario

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 started in Iran but the plan was for it to spread all over the Middle East and to topple one dictator or monarch after another. This of course never did happen, for various reasons. Considering that Iran was occupied for 8 long years in the bloody Iran Iraq war that killed over a million people from both sides. Even during the long war the Iranian state still found time to sponsor terrorism, which took the form of international plane hijacking, hostage taking, and terrorist bombing. From the bombing of the US barracks in Beirut that killed 250 US marines to the attack on Jewish community of Argentina that killed more then 80 civilians, Iran was sponsoring terrorism directly. Today Ayatollah Khomeini is long gone but his vision of destruction is alive and kicking with the currant President of Iran. In the last Lebanon war Hizbollah gorillas (the same organization that attacked the US barracks in the 80s) bombarded Israeli cities with Iranian short, medium, and long range missiles. Considering that such a pattern could continue then a nuclear Iran could commit to arming terrorist organizations with unconventional weapons if the situation became fitting. Afterwards Iran can state like it did in the last war that they have never supplied anything to Hizbollah or any other terrorist group.

“Terrorist development was helped along greatly by the covert sponsorship of states such as Iran, Libiya, and North Korea” (Audrey Kurth Cronin, Grave New World pg.284)

“above all, the main target of these terrorists remains American power and the American-led global system” (Audrey Kurth Cronin, Grave New World pg.284)

Furthermore a nuclear Iran could step up its traditional support for terrorism knowing that it can never be invaded or taken into account once it has the security of a nuclear deterrent.

The End of Days Scenario

Ahmadinejad has stated on Al-Jazeera that “As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map”. Some would argue that he is trying to indicate what a nuclear Iran’s intentions would be. When looking at such a scenario, some factors need to be taken into consideration. Israel is said to have had the bomb for more then 30 years with a stockpile of 100 to 200 warheads, some of which could already be pointed at Tehran. Even if Iran succeeded in launching a preemptive strike against Israeli land and air bases, there is still Israel's rumored 2nd strike capability from its German Dolphin class submarine force that needs to be taken into account. In addition to the possibility that Iran would face total destruction by the Israeli retaliation, its goal of liberating the Palestinians from Israel is absurd. This is due to the fact that geographically Israel is right next to Palestine, and a nuclear strike would have a devastating effect on both the Israeli and Palestinian population. Only a cornered, desperate, and insane leader would follow an Armageddon style scenario such as this, then again we are taking about a regime that sent children to clear minefields during the Iran-Iraq War.

Israeli Submarine movie

This is a movie i did for the Israeli Submarine School where i served my last year of my service.



Israeli Submarine Website

Sgt. Steven Kenigsberg

Steven Kenigsberg fell in combat on the 3rd of March 2002 he was 19 years old. Stevens close friend Tomer and I held a short memorial for Steven here in London. Tomer read Kaddish and we drunk JD in his name. Steven is deeply missed by his family and friends.

Branding is everything

So why did I choose cars as a topic while looking into the impact of branding. Because it is a perfect example on how branding truly effects our choice when buying a car. Lets face it cars are there to bring us from point A to B. Yes some cars are better then others when it comes to fuel consumption, safety, and speed, but these characteristics are not usually what drives people to spend lots of money on cars. The main factor is not the functional one as mentioned above but the emotional one. Functional and comparative are statistics and facts that can be measured and proven. Still the emotional factor, which is so important, is the hard one to calculate. For example how can a company like Mercedes determine what feelings runs through a persons head when he/she sees the clip shown at my previous post? Each person can interpret the image in a different way because it is hard to measure the emotion involved does not mean that it does not exists. Why would companies bother to bombard us with advertisements, PR campaigns, branding. A big company like Mercedes sends out messages that ‘yes a car can bring you form A to B, but you will feel much more successful, cool, and luxuries if you drive there product’. Renault might want the costumer to associate sitting in there car with the speed and technology of a Formula 1 car, while others might invest in making their image greener to satisfy a consumers conscience.
In Davies Gray’s book one can find a simple exercise to further understand how branding can be evaluated.

The most commonly used metaphor in branding is that of a brad as a person. We
pretend that the company is a person and draw parallels from our better
understanding of people, including here that an organization, like a person, can
have a personality. (Gray Davies)

A good example on how aware a company is of Image and Branding is Ford automobiles. Over the years Ford has bought and took over other car manufacturers such as Volvo, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, and Land Rover. The heads at Ford realize that the Jaguar customer is looking for a different product then that sought by a Ford customer. A Jaguar customer is also expecting a different experience and service then a Ford customer. That is why Ford has separated the companies in order to convey different messages and emotion, rather then uniting all there products under one umbrella image.

With this i conclude my trip to Paris and my short insight into automobile branding, hope you enjoyed it and see you next posting.

Regards & Shalom YD.

Honda F1 Green Car

I just got back from roaming the streets of Paris. I plan to return tomorrow for some more windows shopping, for now that is the only kind of shopping I can afford. Sticking with the automobile theme, on French TV news they just showed the unveiling of the new Honda F1 racer in London. From what I understand is that it is getting more publicity then usual because instead of being marked by oil and alcohol brands, it’s got an image of the earth on it. This means that Honda is wiling to give up on millions of dollars in sponsorship in order to green wash us. The head of the Honda F1 team claims that by pulling off this stunt they are trying to raise awareness towards environmental issues. I think that all Honda is doing is using CSR tactics in order to make us think they whole company is more green. If Honda really wanted set an example they would have to modify the inside of the car where the real environmental threat exists.

"Climate change is probably the single biggest issue facing the global
community and F1 is not immune from it," team boss Nick Fry said in a statement
today.

The Trailor of the Honda F1 car

Peugeot and Renault

The two French car manufacturers Peugeot and Renault had a totally different approach and message for the thousands of visitors that day. Renault designed its showroom like a F1 racing Track. Featuring two authentic F1 racing cars together with a pit-box and a cheering crowd made up of dummies. The room also included computers, games, and gadgets. The whole idea was to convey how innovative a bit more exciting Renault has become while being associated with F1 racing. It seemed like a very attractive place for the whole family and so where the automobiles on display. The message Peugeot was displaying was equally attractive for the whole family, only its showroom and cars exhibited where all about corporate social responsibility. Everywhere you looked you everything seemed environmentally friendly. The automobiles on display not only had a very no conventional shape put ran on revolutionary fuel cells and electricity (making sure everybody visiting understood that they where the first in the country to use green technology). Both showrooms where built to attract families with its bright colors and many attractions hinting what its target audience is.

Unveiling of the Renault F1 car (note the complexity of the event and the amount of press photographers)

Mercedes Benz

Mercedes was all about its own product. Even though they where presenting there normal car models, its still was a big attraction. The architecture of the showroom seemed to have been designed to be consistent with the automobile. The showroom also included a merchandise store that had everything from teddy bears, to mountain bikes. It was clearly visible that the designers did not include any other attractions in the store. The message therefore was clear; the product is the main attraction, independent of everything else. It seemed that the merchandise exhibited in the store bearing the Mercedes symbol automatically inherited all the emotion associated with the car which many would say is a product of total perfection. The theme of the whole room seemed to spell out luxury, precision, and excellence. Exactly the kind of emotion Mercedes wants you to feel while watching their ads, entering their showroom and most important driving their car.

Mercedes cars have a unique reputation. They are classy, expensive, well
made, reliable, and somewhat sporting in their overall feel

(Olins, Wally)

This video displays the messages mentioned above about Mercedes conveying luxury, precision, and excellence.

Automobile showrooms

On the Champs-Elysées apart from the large amount of cloth and fashion stores there are car showrooms. I visited Mercedes Benz, Peugeot and Renault showrooms in order to see if there were any different characteristics. Large amount of people flooded all three automobile stores, making it a perfect scene to brand and advertise the company name. As expected each store had a total different way of branding itself in order to attract a different target audience and to convey a specific message.

Is there any value in a corporate brand

In today’s market environment companies have to invest large sums of money in order to make their products known and standout above the rest. Brands today are recognized simply by glancing at their logo, furthermore emotional and factual connotations can emerge being associated with that specific logo. These associations include vast amounts of characteristics such as reliable, fashionable, sexy, luxury, environmentally friendly, rare and many more. The way a company markets itself can determine its success or even its downfall. So does branding have enough power to make us walk into a store and buy one product over another? or is there no real power behind it.

Currently i am visiting Paris and in order to really understand the power of a brand i will visit one of the most famous streets in Europe, the Champs-Elysées . I will visit the Champs-Elysées tomorrow to search for some branding attractions that might give me something interesting to report . I will also try to include some photos of the places i will visit.