MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Egypt - Al Jazeera English - Live Streams From Egypt ! Here .

• HT:TheBiBiReport.By Douglas E. Schoen. Muslim Brotherhood will win election in Egypt .Douglas E. Schoen adviser to four former Israeli Prime Ministers over the last 30 years, including Prime Minister Menachem, beginning in the aftermath of the signing of the Camp David Accords, writes in Op-Ed on Fox News website."While the Brotherhood now says that they don't plan to contest the presidential elections directly, that can always change. And the data suggests strongly that any candidate they back directly or indirectly would have a potentially decisive advantage. Moreover, there is every reason to believe they would win a decisive, if not dominant role, in Parliament and would be the key actors in selecting the next prime minister as well as setting the legislative agenda. The bottom line: there is at least a 50 percent chance, if not more, that a candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood or a party with a generally similar approach and orientation will win the next presidential election.Egyptians also support a more expansive role for Islam in Egyptian life. In Pew polling conducted last year, almost half (48 percent) say that Islam plays a large role in politics in Egypt, and an overwhelming majority – 85 percent – say Islam’s influence in politics is positive. Egyptians also support the central elements of Shariah Law. For example, 84 percent say that apostates, or those who forsake Islam, should face the death penalty and 77 percent say thieves should have their hands cut off. A majority (54 percent) says men and women should be segregated in the workplace.Further, the Egyptian people clearly support a political agenda that can only be described as radical. More than 7 in 10 said they were positive toward Iran getting nuclear weapons in a July 2010 Zogby Poll and close to 80 percent favor abrogating the Camp David accords with Israel.What does this mean for the United States? Almost certainly the next Egyptian government will be hostile to the United States and will pursue policies that are inimical to our interests. In the Zogby poll, 85 percent called themselves unfavorable to the United States and 92 percent described America as one of the two greatest threats to Egyptian interests in the world. The Pew polling bears this point out.Given the short period of time between now and the scheduled September election, it is frankly unlikely that any group will be able to organize an alternative force to the Brotherhood and its philosophical allies. The prospective candidacy of Mohamed ElBaradei has generated little broad-based support in the country, and the explicit rejection of his candidacy by the Muslim Brotherhood could be its death knell.Make no mistake, the Obama administration needs to face up to the reality of what is most likely coming in Egypt and recognize the direct threat to U.S. interests and stability in the Middle East, that a fundamentalist victory will mean for Egypt".Hmmmmm......Unless that President wants exactly the downfall of America?"I will stand with my Muslim brothers".Read the full story here.

• Seize Mubarak's money: watchdog.Governments and international banks should seize Hosni Mubarak's assets and hold them in escrow to be returned to the people of Egypt, an international corruption watchdog said Friday."What is happening in Egypt today shows there is a major problem with a lack of transparency," said Huguette Labelle, the chair of Transparency International, an influential international corruption watchdog with ties to the UN.After 18 days of protests, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Friday, although his exact location remains unknown. His wife and sons are rumoured to have long since fled the North African nation.His financial assets are believed to be spread across the globe, and as the motions to replace him in a democratic Egypt lurch into action, so too has the international movement to retrieve any financial assets he may have absconded with."When there is a dictator who appears to have acquired much more wealth than he would warrant as a salary of a head of a corporation or country, they should investigate immediately because you don't know where those assets are parked," Labelle said.Labelle spent 19 years in deputy ministerial positions in the Canadian civil service across a variety of departments before chairing the international lobby group in 2005. She is also chancellor of the University of Ottawa and is a Companion to the Order of Canada.She spent seven years presiding over CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, and now calls for international governments and banking institutions to investigate Mubarak's assets and seize any illegitimate funds."If there is any evidence of illicit transfers, then you put this money in escrow," she told CBC News on Friday. "It's the people's money. It should return to the people assuming there is a government that will look after it."Reports this week estimated that Mubarak's family wealth could be in excess of $40 billion — a figure that would put him just behind Berkshire Hathaway head Warren Buffett, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Helu, the world's richest man.Those figures were based on numerous estimates, as finding an exact figure of how many funds the deposed leader could even theoretically have access to is as yet unknown. But it's estimated that 40 per cent of Egypt's 80 million people live on less than $2 a day.A report by think tank Global Financial Integrity released in January found that Egypt is losing more than $6 billion US a year — more than $57.2 billion US between 2000 and 2008 — to illicit financial activities and official government corruption.On Friday, Switzerland froze any assets belonging to Mubarak or his family. "I can confirm that Switzerland has frozen possible assets of the former Egyptian president with immediate effect," a spokesman for the Swiss finance ministry said.In recent months, the country — which is shedding its reputation as a haven for hiding assets — has also frozen assets belonging to Tunisia's former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, as well as those of Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo.Hmmmm......They had 18 days to transfer the money.Read the full story here.

• Egypt moves to reassure allies.Egypt military 'committed to treaties'. Egypt's military authorities have reaffirmed the country's commitment to all its international treaties.The announcement, which was read by a senior officer on state TV, implicitly confirms that the country's peace treaty with Israel will remain intact.The military also vowed to oversee a peaceful transition to civilian rule.The statement comes as thousands remain in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, celebrating the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak on Friday."The Arab Republic of Egypt is committed to all regional and international obligations and treaties," the military officer said.The military also said it had asked the current government to stay on until a new one was formed, which would "pave the way for an elected civil authority to build a free democratic state".Read the full story here.More here.

• Ex-Egypt envoy: Israel in trouble.Zvi Mazel, former ambassador to Cairo, says Israel facing 'hostile situation' following Mubarak's downfall. 'The army will rule Egypt for years. It's a whole new world, with no one left to lead the pragmatic states'. Israel's former ambassador to Egypt was particularly pessimistic Friday after hearing of President Hosni Mubarak's dramatic resignation. "It's over, Egypt is no longer a superpower," former Israeli Ambassador to Cairo Zvi Mazel told Ynet. "Egypt has completely lost its status in the area, while Turkey and Iran are on the way up. It's a different world.""As long as we had Mubarak, there was no void in our relations with the region. Now we're in big trouble," he said."General Tantawi has been appointed chairman of the Higher Military Council, making him the 'de facto' temporary president. He is a well known person who never even thought about running for president. In any event, there is no longer a familiar legitimate governmental framework in Egypt."He did say, however, that the Muslim Brotherhood movement has no foothold in the new reality. "At this stage the army is anti-Muslim Brotherhood. They did some screening to let in as few (Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers) as possible, and they won't let them rise." Mazel believes Egypt is only part of a domino effect."We may see a series of upheavals in the region now. Mubarak's downfall supports revolutionaries everywhere, from Yemen to Algeria. The question is whether such Middle East will be manageable. What if there are coups in Jordan, Morocco or Saudi Arabia? Only God knows who will take power."Hmmmm........I believe the greatest danger for Israel's existence in the short run is Iran and Turkey,don't under estimate the hatred Erdogan has for Israel!Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Egypt’s Khomeini?If the Muslim Brotherhood gains prominence in a future Egyptian government, Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a key spiritual guide, might return to his native land to help drive theological rule, writes Hudson Institute visiting fellow Lee Smith. Qaradawi, who now lives in Qatar, left Egypt and went into exile in 1961.While parallels between Iran’s 1979 revolution and Egypt’s in 2011 are sometimes overdone, they cannot be ignored. “Cairo doesn’t have to literally become a Sunni version of Tehran to do terrible damage to U.S. interests and prestige in the Middle East –and to the hopes and dreams of its own people,” Smith writes.There are a number of similarities between Qaradawi and Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini. Both operated as charismatic Islamists fighting against secular, autocratic regimes. Khomeini made broadcasts in exile from Paris; today, Qaradawi hosts a popular talk show on Al Jazeera called “Sharia and Life.” Like Khomeini, Qaradawi is a virulent anti-Semite. He has lauded Hitler for putting Jews in their place and expressed hope he would die a martyr trying to kill Jews.Qaradawi is “a media mogul who has risen to fame on the back of information technology” even though he holds views that are “essentially medieval” on subjects like wife-beating, which he supports, Smith observes.The prospect that Qaradawi and the Brotherhood could play significant roles in Egypt’s near-term future is an unhappy one for U.S. policymakers – torn between their support for democracy and the realization that in Egypt, the beneficiaries could well be enemies of liberal democracy and the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement. Washington needs to face the unpleasant reality that the more political power the Muslim Brotherhood wields, the more likely war becomes in the region, Smith writes.Hmmmm.....Welcome to A.D. 620 ....?Read the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.After Mubarak ! by Richard Fernandez.One way to tell whether a regime has lost power is when its major symbols are overrun and no gatekeepers remain to stop it. Then the Berlin Wall is smashed down, Saddam’s statue is toppled, or Marcos’ palace is swarmed by crowds. In the case of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, the singer is gone, but the song remains. The 82-year-old strongman is on the way out, but Egypt is still mostly under the control of the Army. This means that the story, far from having ended, is now moving into a second phase.What appears to be happening, as noted above, is that the head of the system is changing, but the system itself remains largely intact. Egypt is now in the post-Mubarak period. But whether it is in the post-Army period or moving there remains to be seen. Recent events may have convinced the Army officer corps that Mubarak had to go, but it probably still believes the Army has to remain in charge. The role of opposition groups in this context will be to take sides with factions in the Army. The BBC hypothesizes that this will change the ideology of the Army, but not the fact that the Army rules : It is still too soon to know for certain what made Mr Mubarak step down, but it seems a reasonable assumption that the army leadership could see the hairline cracks appearing among their own officer corps. The generals were inclined to side with the president, one of their own, and the more junior officers sympathised with the demonstrators.There was an historical echo to that.In 1952 many of the senior officers here preferred the monarchy, while the younger ones, including a young colonel called Gamal Abdel Nasser, favoured a successful coup against the old system.There have only been two presidents since Nasser: Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, who took over when Sadat was murdered.What has happened today is that the old Nasserite system, a vaguely socialist, military dictatorship, heavily dependent on an unpleasant secret police, has collapsed.What the next days and weeks will show is what the factions look like. If the Army has split, even so slightly, then that fact should manifest itself in the appearance of a number of blocs. Which way the civilian opposition groups are drawn will serve as an indicator, in the way that dust is drawn to some giant unseen gravitational source, of what is going on beneath. Some opposition groups will tailor their programs to capture some of the “aid” money the Obama administration is putting together, but the fundamental character of these blocs may already be determined by prior events — where they fall within the new constellation.Lastly, the U.S. is not the only country which is probably preparing an “aid package” to the opposition. Iran, Saudi Arabia and maybe even Israel must be considering whom and what to support. One hopes the president knows what the shape of coming events in Egypt are likely to assume before announcing his satisfaction or dissatisfaction with them in public over the next few days.Hmmmmm......February 11 is the day that the Shah's regime fell in 1979 and Nelson Mandela walked free in 1990 on Februari 11 now Mubarak stepped down on February 11Th.....Weird or what?Read the full story here.

• Algeria: Thousands turn out for pro-reform protest.Organizers say 10,000 people chant 'No to the police state' in downtown Algiers, where they clashed with riot police; number of protestors, including four MPS, arrested.Thousands of people defied a government ban on demonstrations and poured into the Algerian capital for a pro-democracy rally Saturday, a day after weeks of mass protests toppled Egypt's authoritarian leader. Some 10,000 people flooded into downtown Algiers, organizers estimated, where they skirmished with riot police attempting to block off streets and disperse the crowd. According to reports, a number of people, including four members of parliament, were arrested.Protesters chanted slogans including "No to the police state" and "Bouteflika out," a reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power in this sprawling North African nation since 1999. Under Algeria's long-standing state of emergency - in place since 1992 - protests are banned in Algiers but the government's repeated warnings for people to stay out of the streets apparently fell on deaf ears.Saturday's march aimed to press for reforms to push Algeria toward democracy and did not include a specific call to oust Bouteflika. It was organized by the Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, an umbrella group for human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others. Police beefed up their presence in Algiers ahead of Saturday's march. Buses and vans filled with armed police were posted at strategic points along the march route and around Algiers, including at the "Maison de la Presse," where newspapers have their headquarters. Friday's El Watan daily said roads leading into Algiers were barricaded, apparently to stop busloads of demonstrators from reaching the capital.Hmmmmm.........Obama ......"Let my people go"?Read the full story here.

• "Life or death in Iran's prisons".Iranian Students Issue Statements in Support of Calls for Demonstrations on February 14th.Iranian university students, activists, and political prisoners have issued statements in support for call to public demonstrations by opposition leaders on February 14th in solidarity with the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.Green Students of the Azad University of Qazvin (Central Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited the people to participate in this demonstration.Green Students of the Azad University of Khorramabaad (west of Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited the people of the city of Khorramabaad to participate in this demonstration.Green Students of the Azad University of Rodehen (Central Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited the people to participate in this demonstration.Islamic Association of Students of ShahreKord University (West of Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited people to participate in this demonstration.Green students of Azad University of Karaj (Central Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited people to participate in this demonstration.Green Students of the Azad and Mehregan Universities of Mahallat (Central Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited the people to participate in this demonstration.Green students of Ashrafi-Esfehani University (Tehran), Azad University (Tehran-East) and the RASA group in a statement supported the call by Mousavi and Karroubi to hold public demonstration on Feb 14 in solidarity with democratic uprisings in region and called Feb 14 “the day of people’s voice”. They invited their companions of the Green Movement to “call out their common pain” the nights before from rooftops.Green student organizations in Tehran, Garmsaar (Central Iran) and Shiraz (South of Iran) also announced their support for this call and invited their fellow companions to participate in this public demonstration.Green students and activists of the city of Mashhad (East of Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited the people to participate in this demonstration.Green activists of Babol (North Iran) issued a statement in support for this call and invited the people to participate in this demonstration.Political prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison published an open letter in support of February 14th demonstrations in solidarity with uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.Hmmmm.......Lets see if the great peacemaker Obama will say something now?Read and see the full story here.Solidarity video for February 14th protest: here.

• HT:Challah Hu Akbar.Venezuela & Hezbollah Starting Valentine's Day Early.Tarek Al-Aissami, the Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice, one of the key figures of the Chavez's government, is accused by the media of having used this position to issue passports to members of Hamas and Hezbollah.Born in Lebanon of Syrian descent in 1980; his father, Carlos Al-Aissami, was the head of the Venezuelan branch of the Iraqi Baath political party. According to reports, before the invasion of Iraq his father held a press conference in which he described himself as a Taliban and called Osama Bin Laden, "the great Mujahedeen, Sheik Osama bin Laden." The Minister's great-uncle Shibli Al-Aissami was a prominent ideologist and assistant to the secretary general of the Baath party in Baghdad during the Saddam Hussein regime.Al-Aissami started his political career as a student leader at the University of the Andes (ULA). He apparently had political control of the university dorms, which were allegedly used to hide stolen vehicles, make drug deals and smuggle in members of the guerrillas. He then headed Onidex, the Venezuelan passport and naturalization agency inside the Interior Ministry.Al-Aissami was appointed Minister in 2009, and designated to head Onidex by his close friend, Dante Rivas Quijada. The two attended the same university and is also reported to have ties to the Shiite movement Hezbollah.There are also allegations that Al-Aissami is one of the people responsible for recruiting young Venezuelan Arabs to be trained in Hezbollah camps in Southern Lebanon. Al-Aissami additionally seems to have helped establishing training caps inside Venezuela, complete with ammunition and explosives. Reports claim that he was working directly with most-wanted terrorist Ghazi Nasr-Din, a Venezuelan diplomat also born in Lebanon.Hmmmmm........Anyone wanted South American jihad?Read the full story here.

• US: NASA rocket to bear name of Egyptian woman killed in anti-govt protests. Cairo, 10 Feb. (AKI) - The United States space agency NASA has okayed the naming of one of its spaceships after a young Egyptian woman killed in late January during an anti-goverment protest, according to Egyptian daily Al-Masry-al-Youm.The paper quoted Essam Mohamed Haji, a young researcher at NASA as saying on Thursday he had received approval to put the young woman Sally Zahran's name on a spaceship heading for Mars.Zahran, a 23 English graduated and translator died after she was beaten about the head on 28 January with a truncheons during clashes with security forces in in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag. Anti-government protesters claim her killers were thugs in the pay of police.“This is the least we could provide to Egyptian youth and revolutionaries. This step represents transferring the dreams of Egyptian youth from a small stretch of earth to the enormous expanse of space,” said Haji was cited as telling Al-Masri Al-Youm by phone from California.Egypt on Thursday entered it 17th day of unrest, with many thousands of people taking to the streets in the capital, Cairo and filling its central Tahrir Square. Doctors, bus drivers, lawyers and textile workers were on strike in Cairo on Thursday, with trade unions reporting walkouts and protests across the country.The protesters have vowed to keep up their revolt against authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, who they want to leave office immediately. Around 300 people have been killed in clashes with security forces and over 1,400 have been injured since the unrest began on 25 January against Mubarak, who took power in 1981 and whom they blame for widespread poverty, corruption and police brutality.Hmmmm......."I will stand with my Muslim Brothers"?Read the full story here.HT:BNI.

• Gül to visit Iran, nuke row not on agenda.President Abdullah Gül is to have talks with Iranian leaders during a state visit that will begin on Sunday, but he is not expected to discuss the country’s contentious nuclear program. Gül’s visit is rather ceremonial, meant to reciprocate a similar visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he is not expected to go into difficult issues such as Tehran’s nuclear program, a Turkish official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said this week.Ankara says it is against nuclear weapons in the Middle East, but insists every country has the right to pursue a nuclear program for peaceful purposes and calls for a negotiated settlement to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. It also opposes sanctions backed by the West, saying they will further radicalize Iran.Gül, meanwhile, will be accompanied by a large delegation of businessmen, who will have talks with their Iranian counterparts not only in Tehran but also in Tabriz and Esfahan during his visit on Feb. 13-17. More than 100 businessmen will join Gül, according to a statement from the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) released on Thursday.Turkish-Iranian business ties are in their golden age because of sanctions imposed by the UN as well as unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union, Rıza Amuzgar, a member of DEİK’s Turkey-Iran Business Council was quoted as saying in the statement. “This could open the way to resolving problems that hinder the expansion of trade ties between the two countries,” Amuzgar said.The trade of goods not subject to the UN embargo continues between Iran and Turkey, according to Amuzgar, who also said about 150 Iranian companies facing increasing obstruction in Dubai are now planning to transfer their investments to Turkey. Similarly, Europe-based companies willing to do business with Iran but which face difficulties in doing so because of European sanctions against the country are also opening offices in Turkey to maintain their business ties with Iran.Turkey voted against UN sanctions on Iran last year but says it will implement them as they were approved by the UN Security Council despite its vote. Ankara refuses, however, to implement other sanctions imposed unilaterally by the US and the European Union.Hmmmm.....Erdogan ....Ahmadinejad's hencheman,Sanction that bite.....yeah whatever.Get Turkey out of NATO NOW !Before they nuke us with our own weapons!Read the full story here.

• Ankara, Brussels brace for showdown over Cyprus.Turkey's hardly moving European Union membership process may well come to a breaking point this year over the Cyprus dispute, according to both Turkish and European officials. As Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders appear to be nowhere near achieving progress in reuniting the island despite holding dozens of rounds of talks since 2008, policymakers in both Ankara and Brussels are coming to terms with the idea that the end of the road may now be in sight.The Cyprus dispute has been inextricably linked with Turkey's EU accession bid since Greek Cyprus was admitted into the union in 2004 as a representative of the whole island. In 2006, the EU suspended accession talks on eight of 35 chapters because of Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. Ankara, for its part, resents that the EU has not kept its promise to the Turkish Cypriots to allow them to trade with member states, a promise the EU made after the Turkish Cypriots approved a UN plan to reunite the island in 2004.“A showdown is inevitable,” said one senior diplomat, speaking to a group of journalists in İstanbul this week. “We are now looking to see how this showdown will take place and what results will come out of it.”According to the official, what is at stake is the political dialogue between Turkey and the EU at a time when Turkey is becoming an increasingly key player not only in the volatile Middle East but also in the global arena. Defense cooperation between NATO and the EU, currently blocked because Turkey blocks Greek Cypriot access to NATO and Greek Cyprus blocks Turkish access to European defense apparatus, is also likely to be one of the victims of the Turkey-EU stalemate over Cyprus.A draft European Parliament report on Turkey, approved by the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, said Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus continues to affect the negotiation process and urged Ankara to agree to concessions to “facilitate a suitable climate for negotiations by immediately starting to withdraw its forces from Cyprus.”Speaking to Today’s Zaman in an interview, Andrew Duff, a British member of the European Parliament, went further and said accession will no longer be a topic to discuss for the European Parliament this time next year if there is no “dramatic change” on Cyprus this year. If Turkey does not bring a solution, he said, “there is no chance of a settlement in this generation and there is no chance that Turkey can continue the formal accession process.”“The reason why I am so outspoken on this is that I’m getting tired of pretending that everything is fine, while we all know privately that it is not,” said Duff, who has been a strong supporter of Turkish accession.And as if the situation is not hopeless enough, a dispute growing between Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots on the island is casting further shadow on hopes to find a way out of the current stalemate. Many in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) are complaining now that appointment of an economy technocrat as the new Turkish ambassador in Lefkoşa amounts to the appointment of a “governor” as in colonial times.Ambassador Kaya Türkmen was replaced with Halil İbrahim Akça, who was responsible for monitoring Turkey’s financial aid to the KKTC, after Jan. 28 protests in the KKTC against the government’s austerity measures and Turkey created a diplomatic rift between Ankara and Lefkoşa. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the protesters, who told Ankara to “take its troops and money back,” reminding them in non-diplomatic language that they rely on Turkey for their salaries.Hmmmm.....Turkey has chosen the side of Iran,one of the most repressive and bloodthirsty regimes in the world they executed already 143 people in Iran this year and Turkey has been recognised as the worst human rights violator this year !Europe does not need anything from these kind of people don't allow them in the EU and get them out of NATO !Read the full story here.

• HT:TheNationalReview.Texas Senate Praises Islamist Cult Leader.According to Today’s Zaman, a newspaper owned by followers of the Islamist cult leader Fethullah Gulen, the Texas Senate passed a resolution praising Gulen after Gulen and his followers sponsored several educational centers in Texas. Gulen lives in a militia compound in the Poconos in Pennsylvania and has a history of inciting violence. His organization also repeatedly publishes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Good job, Texas. Hope your dignity was worth the cash.Hmmmm......."The Turkish Rose of Texas"?read the full story here.

• Three high school district parents contend textbook ‘romanticizes’ history of Islam.Three North County residents contend a textbook used to teach seventh-graders about the Islamic religion in the San Dieguito Union High School District “romanticizes” the history of the religion, and they want the district to use supplemental information to provide what they say would be a more balanced view.Michael Hayutin and Linda Sax, both of Carmel Valley, and James Freedman of Rancho Peñasquitos presented their findings in a 21-page report to the school district’s board of trustees at a meeting last Thursday, Feb. 3. They have also met with school administrators and teachers, including  Rick Schmitt, associate superintendent of educational services.Hayutin, whose daughter is a senior at Torrey Pines High School and son is a college student who also attended district schools, said he, Sax and Freedman take issue with two chapters about Islam in a textbook called “World History: Medieval to Early Modern Times.” The chapters are used for a two-week unit of study about Islam.In a summary heading the report, the trio wrote: “The text romanticizes Islamic history with respect to religion, government, conquest and culture. The positive aspects or achievements attributable to Islam are exaggerated and the negative downplayed or ignored. The errors are of both inclusion and omission. Critical facts that demonstrate the less admirable religious and cultural episodes and practices in Islamic history are absent or understated.”“If we teach them a glossed over, pretty version of history that isn’t accurate, they won’t be able to evaluate what’s going on today,” Hayutin said after the meeting.As examples, the report cites references to the Prophet Mohammed, slavery, the spread of Islam, polygamy and other subjects contained in the two textbook chapters.Under the heading “The ‘Spread of Islam,’” the report cites numerous places in the text where the phrases “Islam spread” or “spread Islam” are used. “More accurate words to describe what occurred might include ‘conquer,’ ‘defeat,’ ‘invade,’ ‘capture,’ or ‘destroy,’” said the report.Tehseen Lazzouni, a parent in the San Dieguito district, member of the Muslim Community Center of Greater San Diego and director of the Islamic Speakers Bureau of San Diego, said the references in the report are taken out of context and “inflammatory.”“The sources that they used here are anti-Islamic books. It’s no surprise they came up with so much material against Islam. The authors of these books have made it their mission to defame Islam,” Lazzouni said.Hayutin said he, Sax and Freedman are Jewish, but their religion has no bearing on the findings of their report. The three did not conduct a similar analysis of the chapters on Christianity and Judaism, he said, because they didn’t find errors in those chapters. He said the negative aspects of Christianity such as the Crusades are treated in “clear and brutal terms.”Hayutin said it is important for students to have a balanced picture of the origins of Islam to understand the dynamics of today’s world, including acts of terrorism committed by Muslim extremists such as the Sept. 11 attacks.“They (the hijackers) were praising Allah as they vaporized themselves and 3,000 people. The vast majority of Muslims would never do anything like that or aren’t like that, but there is a cancer that is metastasizing in Islam. If Muslims don’t recognize that, it will consume them,” Hayutin said.Hmmmmm......And so History has been changed!Give it another 200 year or less and 9/11 will have been peace loving freedom fighters against the empire of Satan?Read the full scandal story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.No Coal, No Power, No Gas !Let's see if I get this straight. During the early February cold spell in the southern plains, when wind chills in Dallas dipped to minus twenty degrees, Texans were going without power to heat their homes and businesses even as the state was sitting on massive surpluses of natural gas. Even hospitals were having to switch to emergency generating systems. And this in the state with the largest energy production capacity in the continental US.How was it that Texas suffered an extended period of rolling blackouts at a time when there's a glut of coal and natural gas waiting to be used?The answer may be quite simple. It seems that a great deal of natural gas got "stuck in the pipes" because there was not enough electricity to operate the pumps to move it along. And there was not enough electricity to operate the pumps because environmentalists had seen to it that plans for new coal-powered generating plants had been shuttered back in 2007. So without the coal, there was no electricity, and without the electricity, there was no natural gas. And since much of the natural gas was intended to supply electrical power generating plants, there was even less electricity to supply the pumps and everything else.It is ironic, considering the freezing temperatures that Texans endured during the first week of February, that an agreement to discontinue construction of coal-powered plants was predicated on the now discredited theory of man-made global warming. In order to lower global temperatures, as they imagined, environmentalists pressured TXU to accept a plan that made it impossible for the citizens of Texas to heat their homes.Ironically, the US is in danger of power blackouts at a time when it is exporting greater and greater amount of coal to China and other countries. Already, America is sending 80 million tons of coal overseas, but plans are underway to increase exports by 10% in 2011. Countries overseas understand that coal is the cheapest and most reliable form of energy available for producing electrical power. At a time when America is curtailing its coal generating capacity, China and India are building one new coal generating plant every week. And America is shipping its vital resources overseas even as its citizens are left, quite literally, out in the cold.Hmmmm.....Once in China this coal no longer creates a carbon footprint on the Planet?Read the full story here.

• HT:RightTruth.Crescent of Betrayal Groundbreaking.Ground broken for Terrorist memorial mosque groundbreaking.The desecration has begun. A ground-breaking ceremony was held at the Shanksville crash site on Saturday. Bulldozers will start reshaping the land this week. Never mind that the only rule for the Flight 93 memorial’s design competition was that the landscape had to be left as it was. In order to complete the full arc of the Crescent of Embrace (now called a broken circle, but still a giant Islamic-shaped crescent), an earthen causeway will have to be built across the wetlands that lie about 50 vertical feet below the crash site.A contractor posted recently about his decision to turn down work on the memorial, despite economic hard times. Our friend Jeff just could not stomach the idea of helping to build a tribute to the enemy, a sentiment that is easy to understand and much appreciated. To anyone else who might find themselves in this situation, just be aware that there are other options. Someone is going to do the work, and if the pay is lucrative, it could be better for our cause to have that money go to someone who is on our side.Blogburst author Alec Rawls has succeeded in driving driving quite a bit of Western Pennsylvania news coverage through the purchase of a half-dozen half-page full-color ads in the local Somerset paper. If anybody wants to fund another, Alec will gladly put the ad together. Call it anti-dhimmi jiu-jitsu. We can use the Park Service’s own money against them.If we don’t succeed, then you have to live with knowing that you helped to build an abomination. There is no simple answer.Hmmmm.......What are you waiting for?Sign the Petition here!Read the full story here.

• Hosni Mubarak resigns: how and when will the country transition to democracy?Even as tens of thousands of protesters in Egypt are celebrating their triumph over the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, hard questions have begun to surface about just how – and when – the country will make a transition to democracy.The Brotherhood has said it will not put up a candidate in future presidential elections, but it could emerge as the largest single political block. From having just one MP out of 444 in Egypt's national assembly in 1995, the Brotherhood won 17 seats in 2000 and 88 in 2005. It was humbled in the 2010 elections because of election rigging – one of the causes of the Tahrir Square protests. Experts say the Brotherhood's organisational resources give it an edge over secular parties. "The Wafd, Tagammu, and Arab Nasserist parties," Samer Shehata at Georgetown University observed, "lack large constituencies and the ability to build popular support. Unlike the banned Muslim Brotherhood, these parties lack the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of Egyptians." Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they believe in parliamentary democracy and democratic institutions – much to the ire of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists, who had their roots in the organisation. But some fear the Brotherhood will use its influence to force Egypt's new president to adopt a hawkish line on Israel and implement religion-based laws that could erode civil liberties within the country. The organisation's draft 2007 platform calls for women and non-Muslims to be barred from running for president, the institution of a religion-based constitutional order, and the re-examination of the peace treaty with Israel. Muhammad Badi, the Brotherhood's leader in Egypt, has also voiced extreme anti-semitic views. Last year, he declared in a sermon that a day was approaching "when the stones or the trees will say: 'Oh Muslim! Oh servant of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him'."Hmmmm......And these are the people Obama embraces as "partners"? Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Indonesia: Rights Watchdog Says Man Who Filmed Ahmadiyah Attack Under Protection.The Ahmadi who captured on film the deadly attack on an Ahmadiyah community in Banten is currently under protection because of fears his life may be in danger, the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Friday.One of the commissioners, Ridha Saleh, said in a press conference that the man, identified only as A, is both under the protection of the commission known as Komnas HAM and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK)."He was one of the victims, because he is an Ahmadi. That is why we put him under protection. We also ask the media to blur his face in future documentations because we believe he is going to be targeted,” Ridha said.A is also being questioned by the National Police's crime unit as a witness.Yoseph Adi Suryo, another commission member, told the Jakarta Globe that A managed to save himself from being attacked by claiming to be a contributor for a media organization as he documented the event.Nurkholis Hidayat, chairman of Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), said that A came to their office seeking protection two days ago."He provided us with the video evidence and his testimony of the incident. We believe his life is in danger and so we took him to Komnas HAM," he said.In the 30-minute video, only about 30 police officers can be seen guarding the home of Ahmadiyah cleric Ismail Suparman. They offer little resistance to a mob of about 1,500 people carrying bamboo planks and machetes, and are quickly overwhelmed.The video shows police attempting to persuade the Ahmadi to leave the house, with one plain-clothed officer filmed warning the group that a mob was headed for the village.The mob subsequently stormed the village. There were no police barricades erected to prevent clashes.“Police get out. Burn these Ahmadiyah people!” one man shouted.The mob immediately attacked the house with rocks and the people inside were forced to flee.The footage also shows the mob swarming around two lifeless bodies covered in mud. The Ahmadiyah man said the pair were chased to a nearby rice field where they were killed with bamboo and stone strikes to their heads.The crowd then dragged the bodies along the road. Others were filmed attacking the corpses.Edited excerpts of the video have begun airing on local TV stations, but the most graphic violence has been left off the air, perhaps to avoid stirring up further religious hatred.Choirul Anam, deputy chairman of the Human Rights Working Group, said the video showed how the police were inadequately equipped to face the lynch mob."There were two trucks [of police officers] but they all ran away when the mob came. Furthermore, the video also showed that it was not the 17 Ahmadis who caused the conflict, as several media reported,” he said.Hmmmm.......Obama "Indonesia is an example of religious tolerance".Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Religious Affairs Minister Defends Govt Decree vs Ahmadiyah.The 2008 joint ministerial decree forbidding Ahmadiyah followers from promoting their activities is not to blame for the discrimination suffered by the minority sect's followers, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on Wednesday evening."The decree was not made to discriminate against a certain group, it was aimed at maintaining religious harmony, including to protect Ahmadiyah," he said in a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VIII, which oversees religious affairs.The minister, along with National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, were summoned by lawmakers in response to the deadly attack on the Ahmadiyah community in Banten on Sunday, as well as to the violent rampage on Tuesday in Temanggung, Central Java, that left several buildings, including two churches, vandalized.Mainstream Muslim groups accuse Ahmadiyah members of heresy, saying that they profess their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be the final prophet of Islam — a tenet that runs directly against Islamic beliefs that reserve that claim for Muhammad.The accusation is disputed by the Ahmadiyah community, but this claim is largely behind the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah members from spreading its faith.Activists say this decree gave cover for extremists to act out their hatred.Suryadharma added that the government has exerted a lot of effort to prevent religious clashes, including establishing the interfaith religious forum (FKUB) in 33 provinces and 421 districts.He said the ministry has tried to promote the joint decree, but he admitted that not all FKUB were familiar with it.Imran Muchtar, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party, said he agreed with the solution offered by the minister. "First, Ahmadiyah members should repent, recognize their mistake and come back to the mainstream Islam," he said."The second option they have is to leave Islam and declare a new religion. Otherwise the conflict will never end."Hazrul Azwar, a lawmaker from the Islam-based United Development Party (PPP), called for stronger action."The Ahmadiyah should be disbanded permanently, as long as the government is not strict enough the conflict is never going to end," he said. "The fake prophet is a disgrace to my religion. Clerics in the whole world have banned Ahmadiyah, why is the government not doing the same thing?"In response, the minister said it would be considered."The government hasn't made any decision on what to do with the Ahmadiyah yet, all options are being discussed. But the suggestion to disband the Ahmadiyah will be a very valuable input for us," Suryadharma said.Hmmmm.....Obama "Indonesia is an example of religious tolerance".Yup sounds very tolerant and freedom like?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Jordan - Jordanian King Abdallah's Office Threatens To Sue AFP Over Article Containing False Claims About Queen Rania. A communiqué from the office of Jordan's King Abdallah rejects claims by tribes in Jordan that Queen Rania is helping 78,000 Palestinians obtain Jordanian citizenship and that she transferred lands belonging to the Jordanian people to her family. The communiqué stated that these statements published by the AFP are absolutely false, and that the 36 individuals who signed the tribes' announcement do not represent the tribes. The king's office sent the news agency a condemnation and threatened to sue it.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Al-Quds Brigades In Large-Scale Military Maneuvers In Gaza.The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, has conducted a large-scale military maneuver in the southern Gaza Strip. The maneuvers included use of RPGs, explosive devices, 107mm rockets, as well as sniper training and attacks on fortified targets.Source.