MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Google Executive Emerges as Key Figure in Revolt.More than a week after his mysterious disappearance in Egypt, Google executive and political activist Wael Ghonim will be released from government detention on Monday, according to his family and a prominent businessman.During his disappearance, Mr. Ghonim, a father of two who is in his 30s, emerged as a central symbol of the antigovernment protests, cast as the face of a movement and hero in the cause of democracy. Protest organizers in Cairo's central Tahrir Square adopted him as a symbolic leader. Suspecting his arrest—but having no proof—they declared in speeches that they wouldn't leave the square until he was freed. Marchers carried homemade signs emblazoned with his name. At the same time, some local media suggested the political activities of Mr. Ghonim, who is Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, make him a traitor to his nation.On Sunday, Egyptian authorities broke the silence on Mr. Ghonim's fate, according to his brother, Hazem Ghonim. "They told us they'll probably bring him to us, and that he will likely be escorted by security," he said from Cairo.Last year, Mr. Ghonim was one of four administrators running the first of the major Facebook pages that became a virtual headquarters for the protest movement, according to a collaborator in the political opposition, and also according to an Internet activist familiar with the situation. Mr. Ghonim also set up the official campaign website for opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei and volunteered as a tech consultant for other opposition groups, according to Ziad Al-Alimi, a senior aide to Mr. ElBaradei.U.S. officials declined to say whether they raised the question of Mr. Ghonim's disappearance with Egyptian authorities. A Google official, asked whether Mr. Ghonim may have violated any company policies, declined to comment, saying someone would first have to talk to him.Online activists including Mr. Ghonim have played a central role in electronically sowing the seeds of the current protests. Mr. Ghonim joined Mr. ElBaradei's political campaign as a volunteer about a month before Mr. ElBaradei, winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and former head of the International Atomic Energy Commission, made a dramatic return to Egypt last February amid speculation he was seeking a wider political role.Mr. Ghonim went to work setting up Mr. ElBaradei's official web page, www.7amla.net, which in Arabic reads "hamla," or "campaign." Mr. Ghonim also set up a Facebook page for Mr. ElBaradei, according to Mr. al-Alimi, who helped oversee Mr. Ghonim and the project.On Mr. Ghonim's Facebook profile, a photo dated April 10 shows him smiling broadly next to Mr. ElBaradei. "My name is Wael Ghonim and I publicly support ElBaradei," the caption reads.Corrections Wael Ghonim is head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa for Google, whose offices in the region are in Cairo and Dubai. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Mr. Ghonim is Google's top executive in the region and that the Dubai office is the company's regional headquarters.Hmmmm.....ElBaradei is said to have received $7Million from Iran for his party and Google helps him?What else did they do for him?Read the full story here.

• US 'desertion' of Mubarak dismays Israel.JERUSALEM — The US "desertion" of its long-time ally President Hosni Mubarak in the face of protests shaking the Egyptian regime has angered Israel, with analysts warning of consequences for the turbulent Middle East.Until now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has held back from any public criticism of the US position, to avoid a row with US President Barack Obama.But Washington's change of heart towards the embattled Egyptian president has not passed unnoticed in Israel, where the dominant reaction has been one of criticism -- in government circles, among analysts and in the press."One gets the impression that Washington was pretty anxious to throw Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak overboard" once he became a cumbersome ally, a senior Israeli official told AFP, on condition of anonymity."Even if the American position has become more nuanced in the last few days, it doesn't make it any less of a desertion. That's what is most worrying," he said."Loyalty is priceless, especially in the Middle East," he said, warning that Washington's sudden apparent ditching of the Egyptian leader could undermine the credibility of American foreign policy.He also pointed to "confusion and incoherence of the American positions," referring to the declaration of support by an influential retired diplomat at the weekend, from which the Obama administration quickly distanced itself."And when the US does this to the Egyptian president, what should any other ally of the US think?" the paper asked, warning about the "treacherousness" of the Western world and that it "could also happen to us."For Eitan Gilboa, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, Washington "has stabbed its Egyptian ally in the back" when it could have criticised him in a more discrete fashion.Hmmmm.......Israel get ready for the same treatment only a hundred fold worse!Read the full story here.

• HT:InfidelBloggers.Why Is Virginia Military Institute Filled With Muslim Faculty? believe Muslims are tremendously under-represented in our troops, so why do they seem to be over-represented on the faculty of one of our top military schools?From Her Royal Whyness : Looking for news on this event I happened upon the following report :  February 03, 2011 WDBJ7 Chris Hurst reports: Local professor weighs in on more protests in Egypt .Visiting professor, Heba El-Shazli is a native Egyptian and teaches at VMI .Made me go hmmmm. . .which led to further exploration of the faculty listing at VMI . . .scan the list of VMI faculty in the "Modern Cultures and Languages" listing http://tinyurl.com/4zftc6k . . .(here's just a few of the more 'modern' names listed) . . .:

Khadija Bentouhami, Ms. - Instructor in Modern Languages & Cultures

Heba F. El-Shazli, Ms. - Visiting Professor of Modern Languages

Ivelise Faundez-Reitsma, Doctor - Instructor of Modern Languages & Cultures

Abdeljalil Naoui-Khir, Doctor - Associate Professor of Modern Languages & Cultures

Mohamed Taifi, Doctor - Professor of Modern Languages & Cultures

Soufia Ezzaki, Ms. - Arabic Tutor in Modern Languages.Hmmmm.......Creeping Sharia anyone?Read the full story here. And more about the VMI - Islam cooperation here.And here the program of the meeting .Towards a Dialogue of Civilizations and an Interfaith Communication - Towards a Free and Responsible Media:Setting the Stage for Cultural Development -  Media Diversity and Media Discourse - Democratic Media Governance: Rethinking the Democratic and Cultural Role of the Mass Media - Unification, Problematization, Criminalization: Media Coverage of Minorities.Sounds real democratic, one can not help but wonder what the Virginia Military Institute has lost there?

• George Bush issued travel warning by human rights organisations.Former president vulnerable to 'torture' prosecution, says US group after Swiss trip cancelled amid protest and arrest threats.Human rights groups have vowed to track George W Bush round the world after their success in forcing him to cancel a trip to Switzerland amid concerns over protests and a threatened arrest warrant.Katherine Gallagher, a lawyer with the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, said: "The reach of the convention against torture is wide. This case is prepared and will be waiting for him wherever he travels next."Torturers, even if they are former presidents of the United States, must be held to account and prosecuted."Although Bush has travelled freely round the world since leaving the White House in January 2009, human rights groups believe he is vulnerable to prosecution after admitting in his autobiography last November that he authorised waterboarding and other interrogation techniques."Waterboarding is torture, and Bush has admitted, without any sign of remorse, that he approved its use," said Gallagher, who is also vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights.Hmmmm.....On the other hand executing people with the use of predators without any form of due process is OK?Read the full story here.

• Moderate NY Muslim Convicted of Beheading Wife…The jury in the Muzzammil Hassan trial has reached a verdict.Muzzammil Hassan is guilty of 2nd degree murder in the death of his wife, Aasiya Hassan.The jury deliberated for a little over an hour before reaching their verdict.The judge has scheduled Hassan’s sentencing for March 9, 2011, where he faces a sentence of up to 25-years-to life behind bars.Hassan was led away in handcuffs.Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita, Jr. called Hassan a “vicious murderer” during a press conference after the verdict.The jury declined to speak to the media about the trial or their decision.Earlier, Hassan delivered his closing arguments, followed by the prosecution.“Ladies and gentlemen this is not a divorce case, this is a murder case,” said Colleen Curtin Gable, prosecutor.The prosecutor told jurors Hassan was efficient and deliberate in killing his wife in just "thirty-seven seconds." While describing the murder, Curtin Gable described how Aasiya was stabbed in the head and from the mouth to her ear. "How is that self defense, stabbing an unarmed woman from behind," she asked jurors."He was in control," she told jurors. "Cool, calm, collected and calculating every step of the way."Hassan claimed he was a battered spouse, but Curtin Gable told jurors that should not even enter into their deliberations, "battered spouse he was not," she said.Jurors were told that Aasiya Hassan may have been conscious when the defendant started to behead her on February 12, 2009.Hmmm.........Next he's going to claim he's a victim of Islamophobia ...mark my words!Read the full story here.

• South Sudan votes 98.83 percent to secede.Southern Sudan was well on track to become the world's newest state on Monday after final results of its historic independence referendum showed that 98.83 percent had voted for secession.The results -- displayed at a ceremony in Khartoum -- revealed that out of 3,837,406 valid ballots cast, only 44,888 votes, or 1.17 percent, favoured the status quo of unity with the north."The referendum was correct, accurate and transparent and we have no objection to the results," said Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission's chairman.The definitive outcome of the January 9-15 referendum emerged soon after Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said that Khartoum accepted the south's widely anticipated landslide vote for sovereignty."We respect the people of south Sudan's choice and we accept the result of the referendum according to what the commission announces," the Sudanese leadership said in a statement broadcast on state television."South Sudan has chosen secession. But we are committed to the links between the north and the south, and we are committed to good relations based on cooperation," Bashir himself said earlier in Khartoum.Hmmmm.....The countdown is on for the next war?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Hamas Member Escapes Egyptian Prison, Arrives Home To Gaza.Hamas announced on February 6 that Ayman Noufel, a prominent member of its military wing, had escaped from the Egyptian prison where he had been held for three years and had arrived safely home in Gaza on February 5.Noufel was one of eight Palestinians who managed to escape from Abu Za'abel prison; six of them have returned to Gaza.Hmmm......Thank you Muslim Brotherhood?Read and see the full story here.

• HT:JihadWatch.Pakistan: 20,000 rally over Kashmir, call for jihad, nuclear war against India."The only solution to the Kashmir issue is jihad," said Saeed. And oddly enough, it is virtually certain that all 20,000 people in attendance understood him to mean war, not an interior spiritual struggle. Misunderstanding of Islam rampant in Lahore: "JuD leaders chant 'jihad', would not mind Indo-Pak N-war," from PTI, February 6:Extremist leaders, including Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, have stepped up calls for jihad against India, even advocating the use of nuclear weapons if needed in the "war for Kashmir".The vicious comments at a massive rally organised by Jamaat-ud-Dawah to mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day, have come at a time when India and Pakistan are trying to find ways to revive the peace process.At the rally, speaker after speaker espoused the use of jihad or holy war to settle the Kashmir issue and Saeed said this approach should be adopted even if even leads to a "nuclear war" with India.Hmmmmm......Remember last weeks post on how Pakistan doubled it's nuclear weapons in recent years?Read the full story here.

• Army Chief Ashkenazi: Prepare for all-out war.In his final days on the job, Chief of Staff Ashkenazi warns about growing radicalization in region.Given recent changes across Middle East, Israel must prepare for a battle in several theaters, he says.The radical camp in the Middle East is gaining strength, Ashkenazi warned, adding that "the moderate camp among the traditional Arab leadership is weakening." He also made note of what he characterized as the "fascinating phenomenon" whereby power is shifting to the people of the region thanks to online social networks.Read the full story here.

• HT:RightTruth.Emergency Alerts from Obama.His Lordship Barack Obama is afraid you are not getting enough of him, so he's planning FCC Emergency Alerts for you... "THIS is a test...this is ONLY a test..., your dear leader needs to indoctrinate you..." Everybody has heard the national Emergency Alert System (EAS).Those familiar "duck calls" that reassure listeners "THIS is a test...this is ONLY a test..."The FCC is planning an upgrade to the tests by including presidential announcements in the system.Lisa Fowlkes, deputy chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC, explained to the Federal Drive the Presidential Alert isn't new."The primary goal is to provide the President with a mechanism to communicate with the American public during times of national emergency," said Fowlkes. The change, she said, is that prior to last week's order there was no rule in place to call for or allow a test from top to bottom.Fowlkes said, "There's never been a test from top to bottom where it's issued by FEMA and it goes straight down to all the different levels of EAS to the American public. So this is a way for us to glean, okay, if there were an actual emergency and the federal government needed to activate the Presidential EAS, making sure that it actually works the way it's designed to."Hmmmm.....This is a test ......like we did in 1939 - 1945?Read the full story here.

• HT:DutchNews.Geert Wilders' inciting hatred trial resumes.The trial of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders on discrimination and inciting hatred charges resumed in Amsterdam on Monday with both defence and prosecution saying the entire case should be heard again.Last October the trial was abandoned after senior court officials ruled several irregularities in the proceedings could be deemed prejudicial. New judges have now been appointed.During Monday's procedural hearings, Wilders' lawyer Bram Moszkowicz said he wanted to start the whole process from scratch. The public prosecution department said it is not in favour of going right back to the beginning but would agree to the defence's wishes.Moszkowicz said on Monday he would again press for all the witnesses to be heard. At the first trial, only a handful were approved.Wilders took the stand at the end of Monday's hearing and said the trial is about a 'much bigger' issue than him alone. 'Freedom is being sacrificed because a totalitarian ideology wants to turn it into a sin,' Wilders said. 'It is the duty of free people to resist this.'Hmmm.........Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights also guarantees the right to shock, offend or insult others through public expression. Governments are only allowed to prohibit this type of expression if specific laws exist to govern it and as long as the restriction is "necessary for a democratic society" to function. The context of an expression as well as the proportionality of censorship are important considerations in this respect. Read the full story here.

• Lieberman: Radical Islam taking over.Speaking to European diplomats, foreign minister says Israeli-Palestinian conflict holds minor significance; Lieberman also criticizes West, wonders why it doesn't question Saudi ban on synagogues, churches.Radical Islam is taking over the Middle East, with no major force facing it at this time, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday in a convention attended by European diplomats who support Israel. Referring to the fatwa issued against author Salman Rushdie, Lieberman said "there is no spiritual or political leader today who stands up and condemns this, and this is a great problem for the whole of society.""Today we see that the Arab world is weakening," the foreign minister added, noting that the three major Mideastern players at this time – Iran, Turkey and Israel – are not Arab. He added that domestic problems in Arab states are prompting many clashes within Islamic society. Referring to what he views as the minor significance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the region, Lieberman said: "I'm monitoring events in Tunisia and Algeria and asking myself what's their connection to the conflict, or what's the connection between our problems with the Palestinians and the tension in Lebanon or current situation in Egypt." "The conflict with the Palestinians is less than 1% of the problems in the Middle East," he said. Lieberman noted that the Iran-Iraq war alone claimed more than a million lives, also making note of the civil wars in Lebanon, Yemen and Algeria. Those who claimed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the heart of the problem are merely aiming to evade reality, the minister said. Lieberman also argued that the world at this time is divided into a moderate and radical camp. "At the end of the day, both Abbas and Salam Fayyad know that the great threat is not Israel and Zionism, but rather Hamas and Jihad," he said.In conclusion, Lieberman said he was sorry to see many states adopting a foreign policy based on economic rather than moral values, pointing to Saudi Arabia as an example and wondering why the West doesn't question the Saudi ban on building synagogues and churches in the country."Why aren't they asking basic questions regarding human rights? The European Union, US and the Free World must answer these questions; this is the only way to prevent the next crisis." Hmmmm........Why indeed did things get so much worse since Obama became President?Outreach to Muslims?Read the full story here.

• Hundreds attend funeral of Guantanamo Bay detainee. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hundreds of mourners, some chanting anti-American slogans, turned out Monday for the funeral of an Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo Bay who collapsed and died while exercising at the U.S. detention center last week.The mourners ran alongside a vehicle carrying the body of 48-year-old Awal Gul - the seventh detainee to die at the detention center in Cuba since it was opened in January 2002. Gul's body was wrapped in white cloth, but his face and long, black beard were visible inside the coffin, which was buried in Jalalabad, east of Kabul.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.In Bahrain, 'Day Of Rage' Organized On Facebook.Bahrain activists posted on February 2, on their Facebook page "14th February 2011 Revolution Day in Bahrain," a call for a "day of rage" on February 14 against the royal house, as happened in Egypt and Tunisia. The demonstrations are to protest against corruption and despotism in Bahrain. The activists' demands include: a new constitution, to be written by the people; a body to investigate regime corruption and punish those who violated the political rights of the people and embezzled public funds. The activists have instructed their supporters to circulate word of the demonstrations on online social networks, and to prepare to hold it in central places in the capital.Read the full story here.

• UN Calls for End to Female Genital Mutilation Practice in Africa.Top U.N. officials are calling for an end to female genital mutilation, saying it violates fundamental human rights and endangers the health of 3 million girls who undergo the practice annually.Anthony Lake, chief of the U.N. Children's Fund, and Babatunde Osotimehin, head of the U.N. Population Fund, called Monday on countries and organizations worldwide to help end the practice.The officials say more than 6,000 communities in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Senegal have dropped the practice because of a three-year-old U.N. program.Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, is the removal of external genitalia to limit sexual activity. It can cause prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility and death.Read the full story here.

• Republicans out Front of Obama on Regulations. When President Barack Obama asked businesses for advice on creating jobs, he might have anticipated that more than 200 responses would quickly be headed his way courtesy of Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican who once called him corrupt.A month before Obama reached out to businesses, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent 171 letters to various businesses and their trade associations. He asked for help in "identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth."This Thursday, Issa is giving business representatives an opportunity at a hearing by his committee to vent their frustration with government requirements issued by unelected bureaucrats. He wants Obama to include their responses in a review of government regulations the president ordered last month in the administration's effort to find rules that cost Americans jobs.Read the full story here.