Israel - Follow The Money

1.Obama sends $205 million for Iron Dome

President Obama is to send Israel $205 million to fund additional Iron Dome batteries in the south, “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) reported this morning. The decision comes after the missile defense system successfully intercepted nine Grad and Kassam missiles from Gaza over the weekend, and today the government is expected to approve the deployment of more Iron Dome batteries in the south.

COMMENT: Excuse the cynicism, but Israel has $70 billion in foreign currency reserves. This looks like a VERY good investment for the US and a smart election ploy. How about Obama making a statement like "Israel is not an Apartheid state. This is a complete fabrication by the far left and its muslim allies". 

2.Israeli defense industry substitutes Brazil for Turkey

Ten months after Israeli-Turkish relations ran aground in the wake of the flotilla to Gaza, Israel's defense industry seems to have found an alternative to Turkey in Latin America. At the LAAD Defense and Security 2011 exposition, which opens in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow, Israeli companies will display their wares for the battlefield and protection of sensitive facilities.  Elbit's Brazilian subsidiary AEL Sistemas SA has won a $85 million follow-on contract from Embraer SA (Bovespa: EMBR3; NYSE: ERJ) to upgrade eleven Brazilian Air Force F-5 fighter-bomber jets.

COMMENT:Everybody, it appears wants to buy Israeli......Even Obama.  

3.Elbit Systems expands Brazilian Embraer collaboration to UAVs

Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) is expanding its collaboration with Brazilian aerospace company Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ; Bovespa: BR3) to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The companies signed the agreement at the LAAD 2011 Latin American Aerospace & Defense Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro.

4.Israel Corp. unit reports biomass fuel breakthrough

Primus Green Energy Ltd., a US subsidiary of Israel Corporation's (TASE: ILCO) renewable energy unit IC Green Energy Ltd., reports that it has developed a process to

convert agricultural biomass into standard automotive fuels at a competitive production cost compared with the price of oil. Primus GE uses agricultural residues that do not compete with food crops.

5.Israeli-Palestinian duo opens West Bank VC fund 

A Harvard-educated Israeli businessman is teaming with some of the world's leading business technology companies in what they say is the first investment fund for Palestinian high-tech startups. Harvard-educated businessman Yadin Kaufmann, Palestinian software entrepreneur Saed Nashef recruit initial $28.7 million from companies like Google, Cisco Systems, say they aim to build robust economy for eventual independent state.

 COMMENT: Dont you just love it when businessmen say they are doing it for love of country?...whatever.....

6.Better Place teams with China Southern Power Grid

Electric car venture Better Place has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with one of the two major national power companies in China, China Southern Power Grid Company Limited. The Chinese company, based in Guangzhou, ranks 156th in the Fortune 500 list of the world's biggest companies. It had revenue last year of $57 billion. The company provides power to an area of a million square kilometers which is home to some 250 million people.

COMMENT: Class is Permanent

The world in general doesn't know what to make of originality; It is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger - W. Somerset Maughm