News for today's 2018

ISRAEL: BLUEPRINT FOR RESTRUCTURING THE ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES (IDF)

5:04 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><span style="mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYuKJ8AhigsU4qGq60s31ZGo-EdHRtBCtk0izksqLtE8Pl2HTL6iQyzDgN9bTZICBlJrNj8DZy5urRGrL-ueaJEAWJmGdLQq9wzQ4vfNU7nJ-uxS-4oPia9kxKEaXt3QOIrqJdg6ZKcbS/s1600/AIR_F-15_IDF_Kill_Lineup_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYuKJ8AhigsU4qGq60s31ZGo-EdHRtBCtk0izksqLtE8Pl2HTL6iQyzDgN9bTZICBlJrNj8DZy5urRGrL-ueaJEAWJmGdLQq9wzQ4vfNU7nJ-uxS-4oPia9kxKEaXt3QOIrqJdg6ZKcbS/s400/AIR_F-15_IDF_Kill_Lineup_lg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAELS <span style="font-size: large;">DEFENSE</span> MINISTER MOSHE YAALON PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE THE IDF AS SMALL, SELF-CONTAINED ARMIES</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Related topics by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring:</span></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"> </div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL’S DEFENSE STRATEGY OVERHAUL      (see links below)</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">LONG-RANGE,      LARGELY CLANDESTINE AND MULTI-SERVICE MISSIONS</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">IRAN      ALREADY HAS DEPLOYED NUCLEAR WEAPONS, A FACT KNOWN BY THE USA AND ISRAEL      SINCE 1991</span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></li></ul><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Via DEBKA<i>file </i><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i> </i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two top ministers in the new Netanyahu government both have big plans. While overlapping at some points, the two will certainly butt heads on others. Finance Minister Yair Lapid in particular has his eye on deep cuts in defense spending to reduce the budget deficit. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon plans to do away with such ambitious military programs as the Chariot Tank Mark 4 and the “Tiger” APC. But his blueprint for restructuring the IDF will definitely cost big shekels.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />Yaalon’s innovative blueprint is influenced by a pervasive new concept that the big ARAB armies which attacked ISRAEL in the past have been relegated to obsolescence by the ARAB Revolt and the decline of the EGYPTIAN and SYRIAN armies – the first crippled by economic calamity and the second, debilitated by more than two years of fighting a civil war. Ergo, according to this concept, ISRAEL is now for the first time in its 65 years no longer menaced by a large professional army capable of waging a full-blown war.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IS FULL-SCALE WAR REALLY OUTDATED?</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcXfj19Z9ZHiqlw4Lq-j4VYs36U3Ko_iABHpMa7zjOxLoSTGOqIeW7yO8zpD2DkkE9dgAHuY8kvis7DjtsLE-1hAEQQ49PnlSenOW_NxiCZJtgmgQ6q9TPCjh-XdV6_n43EzF_XzPDna42/s1600/ShowImage.ashx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcXfj19Z9ZHiqlw4Lq-j4VYs36U3Ko_iABHpMa7zjOxLoSTGOqIeW7yO8zpD2DkkE9dgAHuY8kvis7DjtsLE-1hAEQQ49PnlSenOW_NxiCZJtgmgQ6q9TPCjh-XdV6_n43EzF_XzPDna42/s320/ShowImage.ashx.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This concept is criticized by debkafile’s military sources as far from fail-safe and short-sighted.<br />It fails to take into account the threats of a nuclear-armed IRAN and its armed forces launching a war of extinction against ISRAEL in the course of 2013; and a LEBANESE Shiite Hizballah hugely expanded into a fully-fledged military force, armed with tens of thousands of missiles.<br />That the EGYPTIAN Muslim Brotherhood’s secret militia designed on the lines of IRAN’S Revolutionary Guards may link up with the still robust sections of the EGYPTIAN armed forces cannot be ruled out; or a mutiny in parts of the SYRIAN army for joining forces with radical Islamist rebel groups to wage jihad on ISRAEL.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As mentioned many times on this Blog, the chances of IRAN launching nuclear devices against ISRAEL are nothing more than war mongering propaganda which is suiting both sides politically, but will most probably never occur. After all IRAN, for some years, apparently possesses a small amount of purchased nuclear warheads, capable of striking ISRAEL. Thus the threat is not new and ISRAEL surely has been aware of this from the beginning. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See: </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISRAEL AND IRAN- AIRSTRIKE UNLIKELY</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chapter</span></i></b><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: IRAN ALREADY HAS DEPLOYED NUCLEAR WEAPONS, A FACT KNOWN BY THE USA AND ISRAEL SINCE 1991 at: </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/israel-and-iran-airstrike-unlikely.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/israel-and-iran-airstrike-unlikely.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Concerns regarding the SYRIAN civil war one should not forget that ISRAEL managed to outride a similar scenario with its northern neighbor LEBANON, which waged a 15 year civil war, which hardly threatened ISRAEL’S existence and security policies. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related topic: Read</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM: SABER RATTLING SINCE 1979 at</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/iran.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/iran.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The IDF is already being drawn into its first covert activity in Sinai and South SYRIA. In the current incendiary climate, full-scale combat could erupt on three of ISRAEL’S borders, EGYPTIAN Sinai, southern SYRIA and LEBANON.<br />And to the east, the sudden fall of the Hashemite throne (JORDAN) could drag ISRAEL into an unforeseen conflict on an unforeseen scale. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See:<span style="color: blue;"></span></span><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/israel-jordan-and-palestine.html"> http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/israel-jordan-and-palestine.html</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TAKING ADVICE FROM SPYMASTERS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QEEwKCtfYvCBorpObNHNdBN-utcbZaJITb2abap0vBuVuFpLk5nLQgvQIEnOQ87vqFvY9yfY2Y_qPEaIaQ0YL1thGjD-9RIEuG5syjugKtEle8N98SLkLXoqqeOUFawatJc54fjnX2rn/s1600/Idf_corps.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QEEwKCtfYvCBorpObNHNdBN-utcbZaJITb2abap0vBuVuFpLk5nLQgvQIEnOQ87vqFvY9yfY2Y_qPEaIaQ0YL1thGjD-9RIEuG5syjugKtEle8N98SLkLXoqqeOUFawatJc54fjnX2rn/s320/Idf_corps.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IDF Insignia </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 2008, when he was appointed Minister for Strategic Affairs in the former Netanyahu government, Yaalon, 63, carried over the work methods he cultivated as chief of staff. He gathered around him a brains trust of valued advisers, consisting mostly of senior players from Military Intelligence and the Mossad, rather than army generals like his predecessors. These spymasters and undercover mavens kept him up to the minute with input and insights for his policy decisions in the constantly shifting regional environment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ya’alon has also chosen to break with another of his predecessors’ practices by strictly delegating his department’s many tasks. Management of the armed forces is left to the incumbent chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, and his professional GHQ, and the running of ISRAEL’S sophisticated multibillion military industries to professional executives.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />This leaves the minister free to perform as policy-maker and find the right answers to the country’s core national security issues, which he sees as standing up to a prospective nuclear IRAN, attaining a budget matching his ministry’s program and the restructuring of ISRAEL’S military assets.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GET THE US ABOARD FOR AN IRAN STRIKE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yaalon’s perspective on IRAN is clear: ISRAEL must do its utmost to win AMERICA as partner before embarking on an attack on IRAN and its nuclear facilities.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But if Washington rules out any form of attack and IRAN is on the verge of acquiring an operational nuclear arsenal, it will be up to ISRAEL to embark on a unilateral offensive – even without American participation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Related article: <span style="color: red;">ISRAEL’S AND IRAN “WARMONGERING RHETORIC’S” ARE DECEIVING TACTICS FOR A GREATER CAUSE</span></span></b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/israel-azerbaijan-and-kazakhstan_6.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/israel-azerbaijan-and-kazakhstan_6.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A swelling stream of intelligence has reached the US and ISRAEL in the last few months attesting to the speed with which IRAN is amassing enriched uranium and developing nuclear-capable weapons.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ya’alon has therefore started coming around to the conclusion that, if in the course of 2013, Washington still holds back from military action to curb IRAN’S race for a nuclear weapon, ISRAEL may find it has no choice but to go it alone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring reiterates its comment above: </span></span></u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISRAEL AND IRAN- AIRSTRIKE UNLIKELY</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Read Chapter</span></i></b><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">: IRAN ALREADY HAS DEPLOYED NUCLEAR WEAPONS, A FACT KNOWN BY THE USA AND ISRAEL SINCE 1991 at: </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/israel-and-iran-airstrike-unlikely.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/israel-and-iran-airstrike-unlikely.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alongside the perils of a nuclear IRAN this year, the new minister perceives the unresolved war on ISRAEL’S doorsteps with the pro-IRANIAN Shiite Hizballah in LEBANON in 2006 and Hamas’s seizure of the Gaza Strip after ISRAEL’S 2005 disengagement as two dangerous pieces of unfinished business. He has long believed that both radical terrorist groups are crouched for the right moment to pounce and overrun ISRAEL’S borders. Ultimately, he believes, ISRAEL will be forced to settle these issues by military initiatives before they blow up in its face.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hizballah’s involvement in the SYRIAN war on behalf of the Assad regime, Yaalon believes, has boosted the radical Shiites’ confidence in its ability to vanquish ISRAEL. He is certain that the LEBANESE-ISRAEL border will never be peaceful until Hassan Nasrallahy’s Shiite army is decisively defeated and disarmed (as mandated by UN Security Council resolution 1731) and sections of southern LEBANON south and north of the Litani River are recaptured by ISRAELI forces as a buffer. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">THE IDF’S RADICAL OVERHAUL</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related articles:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">December 2012: ISRAEL’S DEFENSE STRATEGY OVERHAUL </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/israels-overhaul-of-its-current.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/israels-overhaul-of-its-current.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">May 2012: LONG-RANGE, LARGELY CLANDESTINE AND MULTI-SERVICE MISSIONS</span></b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/idf-israeli-defense-forces.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/idf-israeli-defense-forces.html</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yaalon’s planning for the revolutionary overhaul of the ISRAEL Defense Forces from the bottom up is in its final stages, <b>DEBKA-Net-Weekly’</b>s military sources first reported in March.<br />The crux of the proposed new structure is the substantial downsizing in stages of the IDF’s ground and armored forces, starting with the heavy Chariot 4 tank and large Tiger troop carrier units. He believes the time has come to do away with the classical divisions, brigades and professional corps, such as artillery and tanks, which characterize a conventional army, and replace them with small, self-contained armies capable of operating independently.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGr-JP35AAkzrp-_Ke0lCef-K8MwcZbnE03WnJc_QdQ9qDn0bJVFMDtuFaCrbzG2BG1KsU1RZ3SVCV8cd5VajRMtmoUttAHxjgYzyHbTPtCF9h-Ha7JmNillIuVR9ZJWBrsd7VISaMMu7/s1600/idf_apaches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGr-JP35AAkzrp-_Ke0lCef-K8MwcZbnE03WnJc_QdQ9qDn0bJVFMDtuFaCrbzG2BG1KsU1RZ3SVCV8cd5VajRMtmoUttAHxjgYzyHbTPtCF9h-Ha7JmNillIuVR9ZJWBrsd7VISaMMu7/s320/idf_apaches.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each such mini-army would be equipped with its own attack helicopter, tank, artillery and special-forces units and self-supply facilities. In contrast, the Defense Minister aims to expand the Navy, Air Force and Missile Arm for the key task of securing ISRAEL’S airspace and territorial waters. Special Forces units will additionally secure these strategic spaces. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He ascribes equal importance to the establishment of a new Cyber Warfare Command, our military sources say, and plans to earmark for this new unit a generous allocation in the next defense budget. The sum total of Moshe Yaalon’s redesign for the IDF will scarcely entail savings in ISRAEL’S defense spending. The reverse is more likely.</span><br /><br /><br />

ISRAEL: BLUEPRINT FOR RESTRUCTURING THE ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES (IDF)

ISRAELS DEFENSE MINISTER MOSHE YAALON PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE THE IDF AS SMALL, SELF-CONTAINED ARMIES Related topics by Geopolitical Analysis...

Fat n' fluffy

1:05 PM Tukiyooo 0

A few weeks ago I blogged about making pancakes and how I was disappointed that they were not fluffy enough.  On this blog I was given advice not to over mix and that lumps were good.<br /><br />Today I made pancakes and rather then using an electric mixer I used a hand whisk.  The result was lumpy batter and fabulous aerated fat n' fluffy pancakes! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjksuwsvfA1tPcG7MCMQ9yvBLFdLXxx53PK-AcDjV16wJWFEtTG_gkIPR3hxxXeLLh5ivsFpt3RtEWIqk0rBq_CqAJ7YlWwTr511lEHDBy4RoDjUEdVDoKvNzRRL7eaiY2XK6Jtz3st4uOB/s640/blogger-image-572949694.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjksuwsvfA1tPcG7MCMQ9yvBLFdLXxx53PK-AcDjV16wJWFEtTG_gkIPR3hxxXeLLh5ivsFpt3RtEWIqk0rBq_CqAJ7YlWwTr511lEHDBy4RoDjUEdVDoKvNzRRL7eaiY2XK6Jtz3st4uOB/s640/blogger-image-572949694.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_iyJZmTP6U7nDIFH-DL_7DrTpPhRrCn99qDtCIq3NBbBRnBZNOTzDznsOh5RXF3buFiYrkFJicYT-42MCWWyQpszAyVNva3Ci0VhluDJxbe9OTLeAX6c6ERxJ4kV5weZRRhxdB-6PzunU/s640/blogger-image--1398037950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_iyJZmTP6U7nDIFH-DL_7DrTpPhRrCn99qDtCIq3NBbBRnBZNOTzDznsOh5RXF3buFiYrkFJicYT-42MCWWyQpszAyVNva3Ci0VhluDJxbe9OTLeAX6c6ERxJ4kV5weZRRhxdB-6PzunU/s640/blogger-image--1398037950.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0JJoBZY2o9tFCWw3nHkkIZZN4bSMh44_lVTZdTczYiJf4vfxnbr2mnuzI9uvCUvj2sp2nJfy5Jw4LeAXhhEEmegL3bJR2QSC76n5Da1wyJn9z4tjkathtuapWpVNEiOhTFf-zmqFJeKlC/s640/blogger-image--1268545842.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0JJoBZY2o9tFCWw3nHkkIZZN4bSMh44_lVTZdTczYiJf4vfxnbr2mnuzI9uvCUvj2sp2nJfy5Jw4LeAXhhEEmegL3bJR2QSC76n5Da1wyJn9z4tjkathtuapWpVNEiOhTFf-zmqFJeKlC/s640/blogger-image--1268545842.jpg" /></a></div>

Fat n' fluffy

A few weeks ago I blogged about making pancakes and how I was disappointed that they were not fluffy enough. On this blog I was given advic...

Chi Cheng Dead: Deftones Bassist Dies At 42

11:20 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Chi Cheng Dead" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1085885/thumbs/r-CHI-CHENG-DEAD-large570.jpg?7" /><br /><br /><div class="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Deftones bassist Chi Cheng died early Saturday morning, his family confirms. He was 42.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.oneloveforchi.com/" style="border: none; color: #7c1417; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">According to a statement released on his website OneLoveForChi.com</a>, the musician, who has been in a semi-conscious state since a 2008 car accident, was taken to the emergency room where he died at 3 a.m. on April 13.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">"Our dearest Family, This is the hardest thing to write to you. Your love and heart and devotion to Chi was unconditional and amazing," <a href="http://www.oneloveforchi.com/" style="border: none; color: #7c1417; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">the statement reads</a>. "I know that you will always remember him as a giant of a man on stage with a heart for every one of you. He was taken to the eme[r]gency room and at 3 am today his heart just suddenly stopped. He left this world with me singing songs he liked in his ear. He fought the good fight. You stood by him sending love daily. He knew that he was very loved and never alone."</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.nme.com/news/deftones/69724" style="border: none; color: #7c1417; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Cheng suffered major injuries and was left in a coma</a> following a November 2008 car crash in Santa Clara, Calif. He was driving with his sister when they collided with another car, sending his vehicle to roll out of control. The bassist was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the car -- his sister was wearing hers, and only sustained minor injuries.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">In the years since the crash, <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1557423/deftones-bassist-chi-cheng-dead-at-42" style="border: none; color: #7c1417; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Cheng has been making slow but steady improvements in his recovery</a>, according to Billboard.com. In 2009, it was reported that he was no longer in a coma but in a semi-conscious state. A year later, doctors said he was<a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1599078/deftones-bassist-chi-cheng-recovering-after-car-crash.jhtml" style="border: none; color: #7c1417; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">"showing signs of improved neuro function"</a> and more recently he regained limited ability to move his legs on command.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151540395013617&id=311849293616" style="border: none; color: #7c1417; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">took to his Facebook page to confirm Cheng's death</a>, writing, "Rest in peace Chi Cheng." The Grammy-winning group has yet to release an official statement.</div><div class="clear" style="border: none; clear: both; font-size: 1px; height: 1px !important; line-height: 1px !important; list-style: none; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="video_box_title" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: none none solid; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">ALSO ON HUFFPOST:</div><div class="promo_holder clearfix" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><div class="" data-beacon="{"p":{"slideshow_id":"276453"}}" id="hp-slideshow-wrapper-276453" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="hp-ss-wrapper" data-beacon="{"p":{"slide_id":"2223229","slide_position":0}}" data-id="276453" data-title="In Memoriam: Celebrities We Lost In 2013" id="hp-ss-wrapper-276453" style="border: none; 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Lindsey Vonn's ex-husband jokes about Tiger Woods

11:19 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/F1HBtGT.jpg" /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">What compelled an attentive, probably lonely television viewer to narc on Tiger Woods for taking an <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2013/04/13/masters-tiger-woods-drop-on-15th-hole/2079679/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2013/04/13/masters-tiger-woods-drop-on-15th-hole/2079679/">illegal drop during the second round</a> of the Masters?</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">If the ex-husband of Tiger's girlfriend, Lindsey Vonn, can be believed, it was good ol' fashioned jealousy.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Here's what Thomas Vonn tweeted on Saturday, hours after his ex's new beau was assessed a two-stroke penalty that was first spotted by an alert golf fan watching on television:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"No problem Masters tournament happy to call in and help. You always have to keep an eye on those cheaters ;)"</div><div class="clearfix" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The winking, smiley face lets you know he's joking.<i> OR IS HE?</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Well, he's obviously joking, but that's still a great line.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Lindsey and Thomas Vonn were married in 2007. With her husband serving as her coach and advisor, Lindsey became an Olympic and World Cup champion before the partnership dissolved in 2011. A divorce was finalized earlier this year.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I honestly can't discuss anything," Thomas said when news of the divorce became public. "It's just a sad, sad situation. Out of respect for each other, we're not going to discuss it publicly."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Thankfully, amid the humorless hand-wringing about Tiger's penalty and the ethics of his decision to remain in the tournament, Thomas Vonn has given us a moment of levity.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Elin Nordegren has yet to comment on her outgoing call log from Friday.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>PHOTOS: Lindsey Vonn and Tiger Woods</b></div></div>

Tiger Woods Lindsey Vonn's ex-husband jokes about Tiger Woods

What compelled an attentive, probably lonely television viewer to narc on Tiger Woods for taking an illegal drop during the second round o...

Exclusive: Doctor who performed Kobe Bryant's surgery is optimistic

11:17 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Kobe Bryant" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-5168ffee/turbine/la-sp-lakers-kobe-5-20130412/600" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">Kobe Bryant goes up for a layup during the Lakers' 118-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors.</span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">(<span class="photographer">Michael Nelson / EPA </span>/ <span class="dateMonth">April </span><span class="dateDay">12</span><span class="dateYear">, 2013</span>)</span><br /><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="toolSet" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"></span></span><br /><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block;">By Sam Farmer</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">April 14, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">9:31 a.m.</span></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><div id="story-body-text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The doctor who performed surgery on <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/basketball/kobe-bryant-PESPT000948.topic" id="PESPT000948" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Kobe Bryant">Kobe Bryant</a>’s ruptured Achilles’ tendon said he expects the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/basketball/los-angeles-lakers-ORSPT000104.topic" id="ORSPT000104" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Los Angeles Lakers">Lakers</a> star to be back playing at some point next season.</div><div class="p402_premium" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Speaking exclusively to The Times, Dr. Neal ElAttrache said Sunday that Bryant’s competitive drive and mental toughness will give him an edge in recovering from an injury that figures to sideline him at least six to nine months.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">“I can point to all of the scientific aspects of the repair, but just as important if not more important is, who is that Achilles attached to?” said ElAttrache, who performed the hour-long surgery Saturday.  “In this situation, it’s attached to Kobe Bryant, who has figured out a way to get through some injuries that would ordinarily be career-threatening. Some of the things he’s had go on with him have ended guys’ careers in the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/basketball/national-basketball-association-15008001.topic" id="15008001" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-kobe-bryant-career-pictures-pg,0,7379579.photogallery" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;"><strong>PHOTOS: Kobe Bryant through the years</strong></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">“He’s figured out a way to get through it and be one of the best players in the NBA.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">ElAttrache, director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship program at <a href="http://www.kerlanjobe.com/Home/Default.aspx" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic</a> in Los Angeles, said Bryant’s Grade 3 rupture was typical of hundreds he has repaired over the last 23 years.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">“When they tear, they usually tear in a little bit of a shredded fashion, like two ends of a mop,” said ElAttrache, who declined to detail Bryant’s surgery specifically. “Some of the stitching has to be a little meticulous because usually the tendon ends are shredded, so you have to do a little bit of darning, sort of like darning a sock.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">ElAttrache, who in 2008 repaired the shredded knee of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, said elite athletes such as Bryant and Brady have similar reactions to these types of major injuries.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"> “Generally speaking, these elite athletes go through an initial period of anger, and usually that’s pretty quick,” he  said. “They don’t dwell on that long. Then they get resolved to, what’s my best way to get back? Once that switch flips, they generally speaking do not want to waste any time. At that point, they want it done now. Rarely will you see anybody delay.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">“They’re already into comeback mode. Kobe was very typical for that.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The first few months of recovery are essential in making sure the tendon stays intact and doesn’t stretch, ElAttrache said, so it’s important that Bryant isn’t too aggressive in his rehabilitation. The rest is conditioning.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">“You want to get them weight-bearing as soon as possible, to some degree, but it’s got to be in a protected way,” he said. “Early on, the tendon is malleable and stretchable, so you want to get them using the muscle and getting on their leg and weight bearing for all the other reasons, even the remote reasons like the hip and the back and all the muscles in the lower leg. All that without stretching the tendon.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">“The problem is, the longer you’re off of it, you develop this limp that’s very difficult to break. And the limp is detrimental to the tendon. Because as the foot goes down, you’re a little bit reluctant to get up on the ball of your foot to push off in time. That’s counterproductive, because the longer the heel stays on the ground as you’re going through your gait cycle, the more tension on the Achilles.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">ElAttrache said elite athletes regain their neuromuscular pattern and timing “better than the rest of us” but cautioned: “Some things you can’t speed up. The biology of the healing tendon is paramount for the first three months. If you try to exceed that and you hurt that healing tendon and stretch it out, it’s not something that you can reverse.”</div></div></div></div>

Exclusive Exclusive: Doctor who performed Kobe Bryant's surgery is optimistic

Kobe Bryant goes up for a layup during the Lakers' 118-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors. ( Michael Nelson / EPA / April 12 ...

NASCAR fan dies following ‘self-inflicted injury’ at Texas Motor Speedway Sprint Cup race

11:16 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Dale Earnhardt Jr. captures the pole for the 53rd running of the Daytona 500." src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.136253.1313981721!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/alg-nascar-jpg.jpg" /><br /><br /><div class="story-img" itemid="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.136253!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/alg-nascar-jpg.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An unidentified man died of a “self-inflicted injury” following a verbal altercation during a NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night.</div></h4></div><div class="story-rail p402_hide" style="border: 0px; clear: both; float: right; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;"></div><div class="story-body p402_premium" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A man died of a “self-inflicted injury” following a verbal altercation in the infield during a NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, police said.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight didn’t specify how the man died, and said he was believed to be in his late 30s or early 40s.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She said alcohol may have been a factor in the incident, which occurred late in the Sprint Cup race.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knight did not identify the man and wasn’t sure of the man’s relationship with others involved in the altercation. Several people witnessed the incident, but nobody was in danger, Knight said. The death occurred “in or around a pickup truck” in part of the infield near the middle of the backstretch, track spokesman Mike Zizzo said.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police blocked off the area around the incident, and investigators could be seen looking into a truck.</div></div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /></span></div>

NASCAR NASCAR fan dies following ‘self-inflicted injury’ at Texas Motor Speedway Sprint Cup race

An unidentified man died of a “self-inflicted injury” following a verbal altercation during a NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday n...