MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Papua New Guinea 5.9 ! More info here.

• Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

• Three rating agencies have already downgraded U.S. government debt.(Cato).Lost in all the concerns over how Moody’s and SandP will view any deal to raise the debt ceiling and whether such a deal addresses our country’s long term budget imbalances is the fact that at least three rating agencies have already downgraded U.S. government debt. One of these agencies, Weiss Ratings, treats U.S. government debt as barely better than “junk” or speculative grade.It would be easy to dismiss these agencies as irrelevant and attempting to simply grab attention, but at least one of these agencies, Egan-Jones, has a track record of correctly predicting problems at such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers that the major rating agencies missed until it was too late. Egan-Jones also employs a business model of having investors pay for its services, rather than the debt issuer.The simple truth is that the U.S. government has made more future promises than it will have the capacity to pay, under almost any circumstances. The fact that the major rating agencies downplay these long term imbalances is further testament to their entrenched monopoly status. But then when the government provides you with some regulatory protections, its only natural to assume the government will expect one to return the favor.Read the full story here.

• Obama Rejects Bi-Partisan Debt Plan.(BigGovernment).A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”If this is accurate the president is playing with fire.By halting a bipartisan deal he imperils the country’s finances and can rightly be accused of putting partisanship above all else. The ONLY reason to reject a short-term, two-step deal embraced by both the House and Senate is to avoid another approval-killing face-off for President Obama before the election. Next to pulling troops out of Afghanistan to fit the election calendar, this is the most irresponsible and shameful move of his presidency.Hmmmmm.........Impeachment sounds reasonable.Read the full story here.

• Steve King on default: Obama could be impeached.(Politico).Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Monday that President Barack Obama “would be impeached” if the nation falls into default.“STOP talking about default,” he wrote on Twitter. “The 1st dime of each $1 of revenue services debt. Obama would be impeached if he blocked debt payments. C C and B!”King is among the House Republicans who voted for the so-called “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan that would introduce a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. The Senate last week dismissed the House bill.King isn’t the first Republican to suggest that Obama should be impeached over the debt crisis.Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said earlier this month it would be “an impeachable offense” for Obama to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval. In April, former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein drafted articles of impeachment in hopes that House Republicans would introduce them. And Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in March said the air attacks on Libya are impeachable acts.Read the full story here.

• Obama: Immigration reform stalled by GOP.(Politico).President Barack Obama on Monday sought to mend a growing rift with Hispanics over the lack of progress on immigration reform and other key issues, telling a national Latino conference: “I will keep up this fight.” “This is a city where ‘compromise’ is becoming a dirty word, where there’s more political upside in doing what’s easier for reelection, what’s easier for an attack ad, than what’s best for the country,” Obama told the National Council of La Raza, a prominent Hispanic civil rights group, at its annual conference.Referencing the debt limit and deficit debate, Obama expressed frustration over Republicans’ unwillingness to join him on much at all, including immigration reform. “I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own,” Obama told La Raza conference attendees at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park. “Believe me, right now, dealing with Congress, the idea of doing this on my own is very tempting — not just on immigration reform.” Obama’s audience began chanting “Yes, you can, yes, you can,” a nod to his “Yes, we can” 2008 campaign slogan and tart rejoinder to his repeated claims that Republicans are to blame for the lack of progress on key Hispanic issues.Some Hispanic leaders have urged Obama to use his executive authority to slow deportation of illegal immigrants, something the president has been unwilling to do. He reiterated that discomfort on Monday, saying end-runs around Congress are “not how our system works.” “Change it!” came a call from the audience.Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Obama’s immigration reform plan amounts to an amnesty system that would “bury” the nation in debt by expanding the social safety net. He called on the president to enforce existing laws. “If millions of illegal immigrants are legalized, they will be eligible for a wide array of taxpayer-funded benefits, such as health care and education,” Smith said Monday. “They will also further deplete our entitlement programs, which are already on the verge of insolvency.” Obama’s attendance at La Raza came after he angered another prominent Hispanic organization, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, by repeatedly declining invitations to their annual conference after promising as a candidate to return.Hmmmm......Clearly this President doesn't give a damm about the November 2010 result.It's still 'my way or the highway'.Read the full story here.

• Bad Obama Arisin’ Once Again.(Whitehousedossier).President Obama, avatar of hope and change, is back in real nasty mode, suggesting not too subtly that conservative Republican lawmakers are un-American.The frightening thing here is not that Obama has gone into a political mode similar to that which we saw just before Election Day 2010, when he resorted to calling Republicans enemies, suggested without proof that foreign money was funding the Chamber of Commerce’s political work, said Republicans don’t want black people to vote and that they had a master plan to keep the economy from improving in order to seize power, and so on.The frightening thing is that he believes this, in the idea that people with different philosophies than his are evil and un-American. It’s wrong when anyone – liberal or conservative – takes such a position. It’s scary when the president of all of us does.And how comforted are you by this?Believe me — believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. (Laughter.) I promise you. Not just on immigration reform.Now, he followed up emphatically with “That’s not how our democracy functions,” and was clearly trying to make the point that he needs Republicans to get things done, not that he wants to govern by fiat. But I’ve never heard a president joke around in such a careless manner. It contains an unappealing dose of egotism and disrespect for the system.Obama so easily slips into a deeply partisan, even contemptuous mode of speaking. Hmmmmm.......How close are we to a Dictator rising?Read the full story here.

• Obama Nominates Anti-gun Activist to Country’s Second Most Important Court.(USACarry).In case you were thinking that Barack Obama’s hatred of the Second Amendment was subsiding, Obama has now nominated — to the country’s second-highest court — an avid leader in the effort to destroy firearms manufacturers using frivolous litigation.The nomination of Caitlin Halligan — formerly the solicitor general of New York – to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals would put a rabid anti-gun activist in a position where she could do maximum damage to the Second Amendment.As New York’s solicitor general, Halligan was one of the chief lawyers responsible for New York’s baseless and politically motivated efforts to bankrupt gun manufacturers using frivolous litigation. In so doing, Halligan proved that she places liberal political activism above fealty to the law.Halligan’s public hatred for firearms was only matched by her zealotry inside the courtroom. In a speech on May 5, 2003, Halligan called for “handgun manufacturers [to be held] liable for criminal acts committed with handguns.”Certainly, no other manufacturer of another item — whether it be cars, baseball bats, or anything else — would be held liable for the criminal misuse of its product. And, as Halligan well knows, the application of that principle to firearms would surely eliminate the manufacture of firearms in America.It is also significant that a Washington-based anti-gun group openly took credit for coordinating anti-gun suits such as Halligan’s.After attempts of legal extortion of the firearms industry were repudiated by a bipartisan vote in Congress, Halligan’s office signed a brief calling for New York courts to declare the federal Gun Makers’ Protection Act “unconstitutional” because it supposedly overstepped Congress’ powers.This, at a time when Halligan would no doubt hold the anti-gun ObamaCare is constitutional because there are no effective limits on Congress’ powers.Finally, Halligan, in written testimony submitted to the Senate in connection with her nomination, attempted to conceal the extent of her anti-gun animus.Halligan’s failure to provide information that would clarify her statements, thus keeping her testimony from being misleading, constitutes “fraud” against the Senate. As such, the only role she should play in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the role of a defendant.We have to stop this Presidential court-packing scheme. But we don’t have much time — the Senate could be voting on this anti-gun nominee this week!ACTION: Contact your senators and urge them to vote against the Halligan nomination.Hmmmmm.....If he wanted to destroy America would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• Super Congress: Echoes of Tyranny Rising.(NoisyRoom).By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton.I would remind people of the Enabling Act of 1933 in Germany. It is eerily similar to what is happening now. In short, with the Enabling Act, the parliament granted the German government additional powers and de facto legalized Hitler’s dictatorship.And let’s not forget the Communist Party of Soviet Russia and the Politburo. We are in a similar position. The “Super Congress,” however, is taking the power out of the people’s hands (as delegated to their “representatives”) and placing it into the hands of a few before giving it to an authoritarian. And there are more and more of the whispers speaking of a Super Congress. Starting Saturday evening, a story came forth from the New York Times that a Super Congress was being touted as a solution to the debt ceiling empasse. Hardly the most reliable source, nevertheless it is being repeated in the Huffington Post and has now been picked up by NewsMax. I pray this is wrong, because it is so unconstitutional as to bring fear into this American’s heart of another revolution and to reverberate the echoes of tyranny rising throughout America.I ask our politicians, where is the transparency? Since when do Americans get locked out of seeing your ‘plans?’ Plans that will effect each and every one of us in life changing ways. Why don’t you show us what you are proposing? Sunlight is the best disinfectant – bring these talks and plans into the open for all to see. A Super Congress is not the answer. It is a Progressive/Marxist solution to a problem of their own making and will allow an elite cabal to rule over America with a dictator at the helm. Is this what we have come to? From the Huffington Post:This “Super Congress,” composed of members of both chambers and both parties, isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, but would be granted extraordinary new powers. Under a plan put forth by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his counterpart Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation to lift the debt ceiling would be accompanied by the creation of a 12-member panel made up of 12 lawmakers — six from each chamber and six from each party.Legislation approved by the Super Congress — which some on Capitol Hill are calling the “super committee” — would then be fast-tracked through both chambers, where it couldn’t be amended by simple, regular lawmakers, who’d have the ability only to cast an up or down vote. With the weight of both leaderships behind it, a product originated by the Super Congress would have a strong chance of moving through the little Congress and quickly becoming law. A Super Congress would be less accountable than the system that exists today, and would find it easier to strip the public of popular benefits. Negotiators are currently considering cutting the mortgage deduction and tax credits for retirement savings, for instance, extremely popular policies that would be difficult to slice up using the traditional legislative process.The article goes on to claim that John Boehner is making the Super Congress a defining point in his new proposal to raise the debt ceiling. If true, shame on him and shame on McConnell. We’ve come to expect fascist maneuvering from the Progressives on the Left, but now it would seem the Progressives on the Right are rearing their unconstitutional heads.The Tea Party and American patriots want and demand that our leaders cut spending and not raise taxes. Do not raise the debt ceiling any more. We don’t want a Super Congress and we don’t want to be a party to your gleeful destruction of the Constitution. Stop floating these Marxist ideas or Americans will surely see you are removed from office for good. Americans will not become subservient to an elite ruling class. We will fight you, you can be sure of that.There is a good reason that Boehner has not pressed this plan publicly. He would be ripped to shreds by Conservatives over it and he knows it. If this story is true, we are indeed in real trouble folks. Why is this story not everywhere you look? And how much power and money was promised to those that would betray the Tea Party and Americans in general? Inquiring minds really need to know.Whether this piece of insanity comes to fruition is yet to be seen. I don’t think it will come to pass because it would mean a revolt of the people. However, I still believe there is a very strong chance that Obama will use his Executive Order power using the 14th Amendment as cover to raise the debt ceiling. Looks like this week will be one wild ride…If this effort to create a Super Congress to distill power into the hands of the few, the elite, the select succeeds, we will indeed have tyranny rising. Hmmmmm.......And so it has begun.Read the full story here.

• Damn the American economy: full speed ahead for the public sector unions!(DougRoss).On Friday, right after his Democrat colleagues in the Senate used a procedural maneuver to kill the Cut, Cap and Balance Act without a real vote, President Obama held a town hall meeting at the University of Maryland before a carefully screened, very supportive audience. He said a few interesting things in this relaxed and comfortable environment.Obama blamed divided government for the debt ceiling crisis. “I’m sympathetic to your view that this would be easier if I could do this entirely on my own,” he told a questioner who brought up the theory, fashionable in some liberal circles, that the 14th Amendment gives the President power to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally. The President went on to remark, with a chuckle, that this would give him more time to spend with his daughters. In addition to recoiling in horror at the thought of America’s chief executive being arrogant enough to even speculate about the joys of dictatorship out loud, a thoughtful town hall attendee might ask why the Democrats didn’t balance the budget when they had total control of Washington from 2009 to 2010, and point out that they have controlled both houses of Congress since 2006. But you’re not supposed to ask questions like that.Obama also told his audience that “it’s hard to keep up with all the different plans” for handling the debt crisis. No, it isn’t. There’s are only two real plans: the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, which enjoys the support of a huge majority of Americans, or leaving the debt ceiling where it is. There are no other plans. There are only vague outlines… absolutely none of which have come from President Obama, who has made no concrete proposals at all.Hayward has a memorable phrase that may truly become Obama's nom de guerre: "Architect of the new Depression":[Obama says that] “we’ve made good choices so far.” (I am not making this up. He really said that.) He also declared, “The United States of America doesn’t run out without paying the tab. We pay our bills. We meet our obligations.” Um… Mr. President? Running a huge deficit means, by definition, that you are not “paying your bills,” and you are the one who keeps threatening that your government will not “meet its obligations,” by shutting off Social Security checks, veterans benefits, and other essential services.Do you recall what George Bush’s final deficit was? It was loudly decried as a “record-breaking” figure in the mainstream press, and it was indeed far too high. The amount was about $458 billion. Barack Obama racks up that much debt in three months... The angry President who railed against oil companies and corporate jet owners one more time on Friday is a man lost in delusions the rest of us should refuse to entertain. He’s treating an existential fiscal crisis as a political opportunity to grab some more tax money, and goose his re-election numbers a bit.Actually, he's trying to keep the public sector unions -- which funnel money directly into Obama's campaign coffers -- fully employed and engaged in the 2012 fight. Damn the American economy: full speed ahead for the public sector unions!That is what this fight is all about. Obama wants to continue borrowing trillions to keep the public sector unions fueled and ready; members' dues will then go washing back into his 2012 campaign.This power-mad man is dooming America's fiscal future in order to retain his white-knuckled grip on power.Read the full story here.

• Release of Palmer report postponed.(Ynet).UN report probing raid on first Gaza flotilla deferred in hopes Israel, Turkey reach compromise by new release date.Jerusalem sources told Ynet Sunday that the Release of the UN's Palmer report, probing the raid on the first Gaza flotilla, has been postponed to mid-august. The move is said to be in an effort to allow Israel and Turkey more time to reach a compromise as to its phrasing.The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said Sunday that the Palmer report on last year's Gaza-bound flotilla is expected to be released this week. The United Nations inquiry into the deadly events which took place aboard Turkey's Marmara is led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, who is assisted by two deputies – an Israeli one and a Turkish one. Earlier Sunday, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported that Palmer report has ruled that IDF soldiers boarded the ship with "the intent to kill.' According to the report, Israel is considering compensating the families of the nine people killed aboard the ship, and intends to issue a statement regretting the loss of life - regardless of Turkey's demand for an official apology. Hmmmmm......Let me guess the 'release' of the report will coincide with the Palestinian statehood vote?read the full story here.

• Erdogan's 'Plan B': Downgrading Israel ties.(Ynet). Turkish newspaper reports prime minister considering options if Israel refuses to apologize for 2010 flotilla raid.Turkish newspaper Hurriyet on Monday reported that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considering moving to a "Plan B" which will see relations with Israel suffer further by downgrading the level of Turkey's diplomatic staff in Israel.   On Sunday, Erdogan said that he still expects an apology from Jerusalem. "We will wait for the Israelis' decision a certain period. If they don't apologize by this time we shall move to plan b," he said.According to Hurriyet, "Plan B" means cooling down relations with Israel. One of the most significant steps will be downgrading the level of Turkey's embassy staff in Israel. Ankara recalled its ambassador following last year's flotilla event. It is also possible Turkey will not approve an Israeli ambassador to replace Gaby Levy.Hmmmm.....Welcome to Turkey ......Ahmadinejad style?Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Another two women killed by their husbands over the weekend.(TodaysZaman).Two more women were murdered by their husband this weekend, adding to the alarming headcount of women killed in cases of domestic abuse. Despite the drafting of new legislation, efforts of women’s rights organizations and the dedication of leaders to the cause, violence against women continues to persist in Turkey.A man allegedly shot and killed his wife and father-in-law in Konya on Saturday night when she refused to accept his second wife. Polygamy is illegal in Turkey, but the practice still does occur in some regional areas.When Ramazan K. brought home a second wife, his first wife, Dilek K., objected and they argued. Upset, Dilek K. left and went to the home of her father, Muzaffer Karataş. Ramazan K. later met with his wife briefly at her father’s home but failed to convince her to return home. Outraged that his first wife refused to return with him, he shot at them through an open kitchen window, hitting and killing both Dilek K. and her father. Ramazan K. fled the scene but was later detained in the town of Altınekin.In another instance of domestic violence, a man shot and killed his wife in front of their two children and then committed suicide in Ankara early Sunday morning.Salih Ekinci and his wife, Naile Ekinci, were in the process of obtaining a divorce and had been separated for quite some time. Early on Sunday Salih Ekinci went to his wife’s home where she lived with their two children. When she refused to open the door, he entered through the balcony. While arguing, Salih Ekinci shot and killed his wife in front of their children. He then went out onto the balcony and shot himself.Read the full story here.

• Saudi scholar urges for an Islamic fatwa to stop Libya fighting.(Emirates24/7).A Saudi Moslem scholar appeared on state-run Libyan satellite television on Monday to call for a fatwa (religious ruling) by key scholars in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries urging the rebels in Libya to put their arms down and talk peace with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.Hamoud bin Nafei Al Anzi, a mosque preacher in the central Saudi town of Alasiah, said several prominent Moslem scholars in the Arab region made a hasty decision when they sanctioned the fight against Gaddafi in the first days after fighting broke out in the north African Arab country five months ago.Anzi, the first Arab Moslem scholar to publicly and boldly support Gaddafi, said he had been taken by Libyan officials and scholars to sites bombed by NATO warplanes in Tripoli, Misrata and other towns.Anzi, who is visiting Tripoli, Gaddafi’s stronghold, said he was in Libya on a personal mission and that he does not represent Saudi government views.“I have been to many places bombed by the crusaders (NATO) in Libya….these crusaders are only killing the Libyan people without discrimination and destroying the country,” he said in a seminar broadcast by Libyan television.“I appeal for all our Moslem scholars and intellects to issue a fatwa for those who are fighting the government and their own people to put their arms down and join their brothers on the negotiating table…if you (rebels) have any demands, then sit at the negotiating table and discuss them…please do not resort to weapons to resolve your disputes…I acknowledge there are mistakes but mistakes must not be tackled by bigger mistakes…for God’s sake, stop the bloodshed.”“I saw people who had their legs and hands severed, eyes blinded and bodies mutilated by the bombs of the blasphemous…and I now wonder who is benefiting from all this destruction…even if there are mistakes by the rulers, this does not justify bringing the foreigners into the country…Islam forbids this…I appeal for all Libyans to stop fighting, talk to each other and discard those crusaders,” Alanzi said in rare comments by a Saudi scholar.“I just urge my brothers in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries to issue a fatwa now forbidding fighting and bloodshed….what is wrong with issuing a fatwa telling all parties in Libya to case aside their weapons and sit together…they should listen to the voice of reason and their religion and unite against this blasphemous enemy (NATO) whose sole purpose is to destroy Libya.”Hmmmmm........Clearly for him the Crusader enemy is NATO and Gadaffi is a peace loving believer?Read the full story here.

• Iran draws the line with Turkey on Syria.(AsiaTimesOnline).In a sign of growing Iranian misgiving about Turkey's role in Middle Eastern affairs, Tehran has decided to throw its weight behind the embattled Syrian regime, even if that translates into a setback in relations between Tehran and Ankara. Iran's move is bound to represent a new thorn in ties, with multiple potential side-effects, since it comes at a delicate time when Turkey is pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government to adopt meaningful reforms and to give legitimacy to the Syrian opposition, which has repeatedly held meetings in Turkey. Over the weekend, Tehran hosted Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Alaw for the signing of a major trilateral Iran-Iraq-Syria gas deal worth.billions of dollars, while showering the Assad regime with unconditional praise as the "vanguard of resistance" that was subjected to psychological warfare and Western-Zionist conspiracy. Articulating Iran's steadfast support for its key Arab ally, Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi used his meeting with Alaw to expel the slightest doubt about Iran's stance on Syria, by stating that "Iran and Syria are two inseparable countries and allies, and Iran will stand by its friend and Muslim [neighboring] country, Syria, under all circumstances". In sharp contrast to Turkey's support for the Syrian opposition, Rahimi dismissed the current unrest in Syria as "guided by arrogant powers and the meddling of enemies".A clue to the "new Iranian thinking" on the crisis in Syria and its regional implications emerged in a recent issue of Sobhe Sadegh, the weekly publication of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), written by Reza Garmabehry, that in unmistakable language warned that if Iran had to choose between Turkey and Syria, it would choose Syria. Titled "Iran's serious position vis-a-vis the events in Syria", the article implicitly criticized Turkey for serving Western and Zionist interests by siding with the opposition and thus weakening the regime in Syria. Simultaneously, the IRGC has demonstrated Iran's hard power by conducting a successful counter-insurgency military campaign resulting in its incursion inside Iraqi territory in hot pursuit of a Kurdish armed group known as PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan). This is a fresh reminder to Turkey of Iran's stability role with respect to the Kurdish problem besetting Ankara, in light of Iran's considerable clout in Iraq. This coincides with a new Iranian naval strategy that focuses on "out of area" missions for the navy in "open waters" and with access to foreign ports such as in Syria.Playing hardball with Ankara, Tehran's new determination to stand behind Damascus no matter what in effect confronts Ankara with tough choices: ie, either continue with the current position tilted in favor of the Syrian opposition, and thus earn a substantial setback in relations with Iran, or emulate Iran and refrain from the hard push for reform inside Syria, and thus avoid a broadening of the arc of crisis engulfing Turkey's regional context. According to Bahram Amirahmadian, a Tehran analyst who says Ankara has been exploiting "weak Iranian diplomacy", a more robust Iranian diplomacy is called for to avoid lagging behind Turkey in Middle East affairs. Apparently, the above-mentioned IRGC initiative is intended to address this issue, through a combination of soft and hard power that includes the carrot of economic (energy) incentives in league with Baghdad. Thus, it is not simply Iran but rather the triumvirate of Iran-Iraq-Syria that Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member, has to reckon with.Hmmmm......All this thanks to a weak US President.Read the full story here.

• Iranian Student Leader: We Will Play Soccer With The Heads Of American Soldiers.(Memri).In response to potential U.S. presidential candidate John Bolton's support of an attack on Iran, Mohammad Sang Tarash, the head of the 'Zulfiqar Research Center on Soft War" Iranian student organization said that Iranian students are eagerly awaiting an American attack so they "can play soccer in Tehran with the heads of American soldiers."He called on students in the Muslim countries where there have been uprisings to expel the ambassadors for the U.S., U.K., and Israel.Read the full story here.

• What is Islamist Turkey planning with the Kurds?Zeytinburnu, Kurds and the Nightmare Scenario!(Hevallo). It has been actually hard to understand, what exactly has been going on in Zeytinburnu, West Istanbul, but for the last 3 nights there have been gangs of ultra nationalist gangs roaming the streets with bats and machetes attacking Kurdish shops, businesses and BDP buildings. If, like me, you have trawled through all the videos and photos you will of been struck by a number of points in relation to these racist attacks.

1. It of course the 'nightmare' scenario that Turkey will polarise into sectarian conflict based on ethnicity! Surprisingly, though the Turkish government has hardly said anything on the events in Zeytinburnu.
2. The police have been aiding the fascist gangs by holding back, being very limp in controlling (or attempting to look like they are controlling) and have been, on occasion, actively helping in some cases by going into cafes and shops to identify which ones are Kurdish!
3. On many occasions I have heard on the videos the crowds chanting "Allah O Akkbar!" God is Great! suggesting religous/political motivation.
4. Also you see obvious ringleaders, men organising the crowds with radios and mobile phones!
5. The Mayor of Zeytinburnu has reported that these crowds are being organised on Facebook and Twitter with many messages being sent to try to inflame the situation.

Yesterday, when the fascist hordes were roaming the streets and attacking the BDP offices, tweets were being sent of an inflammatory nature claiming pro PKK had killed 5 people and calling on people join them!Hmmmm......What is the Obama administration their position on this situation?Read and see(Videos) the full story here.

• Eyewitnesses: Iranian Artillery Heavily Shelling Areas Near Erbil.(Memri).Eyewitnesses in the area of Sidkan in the province of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Regional Government, said that heavy Iranian artillery shelled the area all day yesterday, and that residents had fled to nearby caves or mountaintops. Sidkan is located on the triangle formed by the Iraq-Turkey-Iran borders, and comprises 254 villages and a population of 10,000. Three hundred families, primarily cattle herders, were forced out of their homes, and fields have been damaged.Hmmmm......Are we witnessing a systematic extermination of the Kurdish people,something that will have an end result like the Armenian Genocide?Read the full story here.

• Egypt to Release Sayyed Imam former leader and ideologue of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and a founding member of Al-Qaeda.(Memri).Egyptian authorities have decided to release Sayyed Imam, former leader and ideologue of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and a founding member of Al-Qaeda, in accordance with the decree of a medical committee in Al-Aqrab prison, according to sources from Islamist movements in the prison.Hmmmm......The Muslim Brotherhood might make him responsible for the Funds received from the Obama Administration? Read the full story here.

• Saudi Arabia to set minimum marriage age.(Emirates24/7).Saudi Arabia intends to set a minimum age for girls allowed to marry under a new law intended to curb child marriages following a surge in such a phenomenon in the conservative Gulf Kingdom.The ministry of justice is working on a regulation banning the marriage of female minors, most of which are forced by their fathers to marry much older men for dowry or other personal purposes, newspapers said.Ministry sources, quoted by Almadina and other local newspapers, said the law would be issued soon despite what they described as stiff opposition by some scholars who believe such a ruling violates Islamic law.“The law to set a minimum age for marriage is being drafted and will be issued soon,” one source said, without elaborating on that age.Officials in the world’s oil powerhouse said the law, the first in the region, would have to be endorsed by the country’s appointed parliament (Shura) and King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz before it is enforced.Newspapers said early this year that Shura had already given the green light to the ministry of justice to draft legislation restricting child marriage.Shura gave no details of the proposed curbs but the law follows growing international criticism and recurrent calls by the local media to enforce tough rules against child marriage in the Moslem country.“These acts should be stopped,” the Arabic language daily Shams said last month in response to recent reports about the marriage of a 55-year-old man to a 12-year-old girl. “This marriage is a new tragedy.”Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed Al Issa said early this year that the Kingdom, is planning to enact a law to regulate the marriage of teenage girls following a surge in such weddings and growing criticism by local human rights groups. He said the new regulations are needed to put an end to what he described as widespread controversy and confusion about such marriages."The Ministry is studying a draft law to regulate the marriage of teenage girls…the marriage of under-age girls in the country is not a phenomenon yet as some claim... those who say this are wrong. We are considering regulations in line with the Islamic Shariah to govern this kind of marriage."Okaz newspaper recently quoted a statement by the Saudi Human Rights Commission as saying this marriage violates the girl’s rights.Read the full story here.