MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Atlantic Ocean  6.0 , Vanuatu 5.7 and US (Atka) 5.1 ! More info here.

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

• Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

• Congressmen Ask White House for Documents on Solyndra’s Federal Loan.(Heritage).One day after solar company Solyndra closed its doors, two U.S. congressman are asking the White House for all documents related to the federal government’s $535 million loan guarantee. The probe also seeks correspondence between administration officials and the company’s investors, seeking to uncover if the White House engaged in cronyism to reward a major campaign donor.Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) was pursuing an investigation of the Department of Energy’s $535 million loan long before Solyndra announced plans to file for bankruptcy. Now, using his perch as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Stearns is turning up the heat. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of Energy and Commerce, also signed Thursday’s letter to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler. (Copy of the letter below.)The congressmen ask the White House to turn over all documents by Sept. 12. Previous attempts have been met with resistance, including the refusal by the administration to testify before Congress about the taxpayer-backed loan.“Solyndra represented the first step in the Obama Administration’s $60 billion loan guarantee program, which promised to create thousands of new jobs,” Stearns said. “Now with the collapse of Solyndra, we see 1,100 employees out of work and taxpayers out of $535 million, most likely.”Solyndra secured the loan from the Department of Energy under a stimulus program. It was hailed as a model example by President Obama, who even visited the plant in May 2010. Vice President Biden spoke via satellite at Solyndra’s groundbreaking ceremony in September 2009 and Energy Secretary Steven Chu was in Fremont, CA, to mark the occasion.Perhaps it wasn’t unusual to shower so much attention on the company. After all, Obama has close ties to one of Solyndra’s investors, Oklahoma oil billionaire George Kaiser. He was a “bundler” of campaign donations for Obama in 2008. In that role, Kaiser raised at least $50,000 for the campaign.Reps. Upton and Stearns Letter to White House on Solyndra.Read the full story here.

• White House: Obama’s Huge Jobs Speech Might Not Be So Huge After All, Say Entire Plan Won’t Be Released On Thursday.(Fox News) — In what could be a way of lowering expectations for next Thursday’s big economic speech, aides to President Obama are privately spreading word that he will not present his entire jobs plan in his address to a Joint Session of Congress.Aides say Thursday’s speech will be part of a bigger plan the White House will roll out throughout the fall with the president hitting the road for speeches and town hall appearances.(Campaigning?) Aides have already confirmed that Obama will be traveling to California, Colorado, and Washington state for one three-day swing later this month that will include economic events as well as some fundraising.The move could be a way to try and lower the stakes for Thursday’s Joint Session appearance, but it could also be an attempt by the administration to show the president is trying to stay all over the economy heading into what will likely be an uphill re-election battle.“There’s no question the president will want to keep returning to jobs,” one top aide told Fox News. “I don’t want to downplay the speech [next week] — it’s going to be substantial. But the idea that this is the be-all and end-all is wrong.”The president promised to release his plan to create jobs after returning from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation in late August and Friday’s report will put more pressure on him to deliver. But White House officials still say it’s unlikely the president will release the whole plan Thursday night.Hmmmmm.....Might it be that the (Election campaign) plan is to discredit Congress?Read the full story here.

• House Investigators Find Evidence Obama Officials Were Personally Involed In Helping Now-Bankrupt Solyndra Energy Receive Massive Federal Loan.(ABC News) — House investigators said they have uncovered evidence that White House officials became personally involved in an Energy Department review of a hot-button $535 million loan guarantee to the now-failed California solar company Solyndra.The allegation surfaced in a letter House Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent to the White House Thursday night, saying he planned to accelerate efforts to understand an investment deal that may have left taxpayers out half a billion dollars.“We have learned from our investigation that White House officials monitored Solyndra’s application and communicated with [Department of Energy] and Office of Management and Budget officials during the course of their review,” the letter says. Thursday’s letter, which calls on the White House to turn over correspondence between administration officials, Solyndra and its investors, presents the most pointed suggestion that the White House had direct involvement in the financing.“How did this company, without maybe the best economic plan, all of a sudden get to the head of the line?” Upton told ABC News in an interview this week. “We want to know who made this decision … and we’re not going to stop until we get those answers.”Hmmmm....... SolyndraGate?Read the full story here.

• Danon to Clinton: Declare Turkey a terror-supporting state.(JPost).Following a Turkish ultimatum warning Israel to apologize for the raid of the Mavi Marmara or face snactions, Likud MK Danny Danon on Thursday sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling on Washington to declare Turkey a "terror-supporting state.""Turkey has gotten closer to Iran and constitutes a direct continuation of the axis of evil. The government in Washington must answer the Turkish problem before it is too late," Danon wrote.Danon called for economic and diplomatic sanctions against Turkey until Ankara changes its ways and abandons the way of terror."The Turks have crossed the line. They supported the flotilla, they support terror and they dare to ask Israel to apologize to them," Danon stated in response to the ultimatum.Hmmmm.......How else did Iran survive and flourished with the economic sanctions? Read the full story here.

• The Imminent Failure Of The Eurozone.(ZeroHedge).Our planet has a problem. Its leading economies, the U.S., Japan, and the E.U. are declining. That is, about one-sixth of the world's population is losing ground. These big economies are the ones that lead the rest of the world, including China. Countries like China, India, and Brazil, depend on the health of the big economies to keep buying their products and commodities so they can grow and generate wealth for their citizens. What is especially concerning is the blow-up that is about to happen in Europe. It is not something that is happening "over there." In a world that is so interconnected financially and by trade, a sinking Europe is everyone's concern.Their problems are much the same as ours with a twist. Their governments and central banks have also pursued reckless monetary and fiscal policies and now, effect is following cause. They have more or less followed the same policies as has the U.S., much to the same end. They spent large, engaged in Keynesian fiscal stimulus in a bailout attempt, ran up huge debts and deficits, and their economies are in decline.They have hit the wall: Greece will soon default on their sovereign debt. On Tuesday, yields on one year Greek bills reached 60%. It is a sign that investors have no faith in the Greek government's ability to repay their debt. The EU, ECB, and the IMF are trying to establish a European Financial Stability Facility (EFSB) in order to further bail Greece out. They have already pledged €110 billion and they are trying to put another package together of €109 billion. But Finland insists that Greece puts up additional collateral, which is not possible. Since the collateral would be part of the bailout money, it would be, in essence, Germany and France guaranteeing Finland's contribution.Greece has missed every fiscal target it or its saviors has had. They are trying to get their deficit down to 7.6% of GDP through more austerity measures, but it looks like they will miss again (est. 8.5+%). Basically they are asking the Greeks to do something they don't want to do, and they will no doubt take to the streets again in protest.The EU faces an insolvable problem, but it is one they created. You can't have a monetary union without a fiscal union. At least when no nation is obligated to play fair. They either terminate the EMU or paper it over. There is no other practical fix, at least when economies of member states are declining. They are the poster child for the failure of Keynesian-Monetarist economics.Read the full story here.

• UK - Imam killed after morning prayer in Finsbury Park.(BBC).A imam who died in suspicious circumstances at a mosque in north London was killed after taking morning prayers, it has emerged.The religious leader, understood to be Sheikh Maymoun Zarzour, was found at the Muslim Welfare House in Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, on Friday.A man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder. A post-mortem examination is being arranged.The Metropolitan Police said it was not believed to be a faith hate crime.Officers believe the suspect attended the mosque.A statement on the Muslim Welfare House Trust's website read: "Our imam has passed away after he led prayer."The police is investigating the case but it is thought that he was killed inside his office."We would like to send our condolences to all the Muslims in north London and the UK."It continued: "The sheikh was very friendly and never had an argument with anyone in the community during his career in this mosque."The imam was blind after a childhood accident.Local MP Jeremy Corbyn knew Sheikh Zarzour well, holding regular surgeries at the Muslim Welfare House. He had helped him to his seat at a supper just last week.Mr Corbyn said: "He was a very good man. He was quite quiet, a good listener and good at supporting the community."He was exactly the kind of person Finsbury Park needs and I'm very sad he's gone.Hmmmm.....Be reminded that the Finsbury mosque is a well known hub for Salafist radicals .Read the full story here.

• IAEA worries over Iran military nuclear work.(Ynet).The International Atomic Energy Agency is "increasingly concerned" about possible activity in Iran to develop a nuclear payload for a missile, the IAEA said in a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Friday. The UN nuclear agency's report said it continued to receive new information adding to such worries.The IAEA's information had come from many states and also through its own efforts, and was "broadly consistent and credible in terms of technical detail, the time frame in which the activities were conducted and the people and organizations involved". The developments highlighted in the IAEA's latest quarterly inspection report are likely to fan Western suspicions about the underlying nature of Iran's nuclear activity, which Western powers suspect is aimed at developing atom bombs. It could provide additional arguments for the United States and its European allies to further tighten sanctions pressure on Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers. The IAEA used "stark language" to show its concerns about possible military links to Iran's nuclear program, a US-based think-tank, the Institute for Science and International Security, said in a commentary. Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, dismissed what he called "baseless allegations" about Iran's program. But he nevertheless described the report as a step in the right direction, saying it showed that Iran had fully cooperated with the IAEA by allowing a senior nuclear inspector full access to atomic sites during a five-day visit last month.In addition to addressing the issue of alleged military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program, the UN agency said Tehran had begun installing machines for higher-grade uranium enrichment in an underground bunker near the holy city of Qom. Shifting enrichment activity to such a subterranean site could offer greater protection against any attacks by Israel or the United States, which have both said they do not rule out pre-emptive strikes to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons. At a separate research and development site, the Vienna-based IAEA said, Iran had started enriching uranium experimentally with a more advanced model of centrifuge than the erratic, 1970s vintage machine it has been using for years."Iran has made progress on the enrichment side," a diplomat familiar with the IAEA's investigation said, adding the Islamic state was making a "lot of effort" to get the underground Fordow site up and running. Read the full story here.

• Libyan rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhaj negotiating with West claims "CIA agents tortured me and then sent me to Gaddafi prison hell".(DailyMail).Despite allegations, he insists: 'Revenge doesn't motivate me'. A Libyan rebel military commander negotiating over the future of his country today claimed he was tortured by CIA agents who suspected him of being an Al Qaeda terrorist.Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the former leader of an Islamic militant group that sent fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan, said he spent seven years in jail, where he was even denied a shower for three years.He claims that he was arrested in at an airport in Malaysia in 2004 before U.S. agents took him to Thailand as part of the rendition process of transferring prisoners to countries that use torture.The 45-year-old says he was tortured by American agents at a facility in the South East Asian state before he was returned to Libya, where he remained incarcerated until the end of 2010.His allegations highlight the apparent closeness between the U.S. and Colonel Moammar Gaddafi’s regime, which collapsed last week following a six-month insurgency.Mr Belhaj, who fought against the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s, declared that ‘if I ever have the chance I will take legal action’ against those responsible. However, the former commander of now dissolved Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, who in 2009 publicly repudiated violent jihad, insists he does not hold a grudge against the West.Mr Belhaj, who commands troops in Tripoli and has travelled abroad and met several foreign politicians since the uprising began, said: ‘Revenge doesn't motivate me personally.’He said he hopes any future Libya will shun extremism.‘Libya is a moderate Muslim country,’ he said. ‘We are a simple people with a simple cultural makeup and we have never had extremist ideas. And if there ever were any they were an exception.‘The Libyan people have different views and those views will be respected.’After his alleged stint in the hands of the CIA, Mr Belhaj was kept in the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, where 1,200 inmates were massacred in 1999 after complaining about their conditions.He told The Independent: ‘I was in prison for seven years during which I was subjected to torture as well as solitary confinement. I was even denied a shower for three years.’He did not reveal any other details of his allegations.Other Islamist inmates, who were often stripped naked and attacked by dogs as a routine punishment, have claims they were sometimes taken from Abu Salim to be questioned by U.S. officials in Tripoli.Released from prison in 2010, Mr Belhaj became one of the most effective rebel military commanders and is said by diplomats to have played a crucial role in the capture of Tripoli.He is highly regarded by the chairman of the Transitional National Council (TNC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil. Ironically, given his claims of previous mistreatment at US hands, Mr Belhaj has emerged as one of Nato's most important allies during their air campaign in support of the rebels over the last six months. He lauded the West for supporting the rebels, saying that ‘the UN Security Council and the whole world stood by us in the cause and have helped us to get rid of Gaddafi.’Although Mr Belhaj admits sending troops to Afghanistan, he claims it was not to help Al Qaeda bit rather to train insurgents in the fight against Gaddafi.‘We never had any link to Al Qaeda,’ said Mr Belhaj.‘We never took part in global jihad. The fact that we were in the same country, Afghanistan, [as al-Qa'ida] does not mean we had the same goal.‘We never have and never will support… terrorism.’It was in Abu Salim prison that Mr Belhaj helped write a 419-page document, published in 2009, which repudiated the Jihadi doctrine of holy war and the use of violence to change regimes. And it was there, in February, that the uprising began after lawyers protested against the appalling conditions.Hmmmm........Wow look there a Unicorn!Ah it's gone now the CIA came and took it.Read the full story here.

• 'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat': Seif Al-Islam is Working to Establish a Country Within Libya.(Memri).The London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat has reported that its Libyan correspondents discovered a mass grave near Sirte, which contains the bodies of 45 people murdered by Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi's men.According to the daily, Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi's son, Seif Al-Islam, is working to establish a tribal front in the Fazan area that would protect his father, and would become a de facto country within Libya.Read the full story here.

• The Internet and Iran - 'Is It Possible to Pull the Plug?'(Spiegel).The regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to completely cut Iran off from the Internet. But activists in the country are well-versed in circumventing official censorship. In a conversation with SPIEGEL, Internet expert Philip Howard explains how they do it and says that complete digital isolation is virtually impossible.

SPIEGEL: Iran has announced its intention to completely cut itself off from the Internet. Is such a thing realistic?

Howard: The government in Tehran has already shown itself to be capable of such a thing. Following the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009, the country was cut off for about 24 hours. But when a regime shuts down the Internet, it is usually also a last, desperate measure.

SPIEGEL: Even in 2009, the country wasn't completely offline.

Howard: The Iranian government asked the three largest Internet service providers to shut down, but they didn't bother with the smaller ones. What many states don't understand is that digital networks are essentially networks. When you remove two or three important nodes, other nodes pick up the traffic. And there are always a few activists who are prepared and have their satellite phones ready. They set up connections to Internet service providers in Europe and they work out other ways of getting out a little bit of information.

SPIEGEL: Instead of using landlines, some Iranian bloggers have taken to using satellite dishes to access the Internet.

Howard: That, though, is relatively difficult from a technical point of view. It's not easy to adapt the satellite dishes...

SPIEGEL: ... which are increasingly being destroyed by special police units...Read the full story here.

• Hamas official: Palmer Report 'biased'.(Ynet).Hamas official in Gaza Mahmoud Zahar called the UN's Palmer Report a 'biased' document, in an interview to a Lebanese newspaper on Saturday. In his interview Zahar said that "when the report ruled that the blockade on Gaza is legal, it means that it justifies Israel's attempt to prevent any side from breaking the siege imposed on a million and a half Palestinians in Gaza."Zahar added that the report clearly takes a stand against Turkey and the Palestinian people, claiming it's the result of Israeli-American pressure. The Hamas official justified Turkey's diplomatic actions taken Friday, including the expulsion of Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy from Ankara. "A country that accepts the fact that its citizens are being killed, as the Turks were killed onboard the Marmara in international waters along the Gaza coast, and then leaves its relationship with the killer unchanged – is a country that risks it's credibility amongst its people," said Zahar. He concluded that therefore the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador is a reasonable move on Ankara's behalf.Zahar also criticized Turkey for insisting on receiving a formal apology from Israel in regards to the flotilla events. "An apology will not bring the dead back to life," he remarked.Meanwhile, another Hamas official was quick to congratulate Turkey on Friday for its diplomatic actions against Israel. "We welcome this decision and see it as a fit response to the crimes against the international flotilla that tried to breach the siege," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Hamas also slammed the Palmer Report as "unfair and unjust."The Islamic Jihad issued a statement Friday saying the latest Turkish step is an important one on the way to isolate Israel. The organization also called Arab and Islamic countries across the world to cut all ties with Israel.Read the full story here.

• Turkey to host NATO early warning radar.(Ynet).Turkey is set to host a NATO early-warning radar system as part of improved defenses for the Western military alliance, the foreign ministry said on Friday. Turkey, with NATO's second biggest military, has a geo-strategic importance to the alliance dating back to its role as a front-line state in the Cold War era. But its value to NATO has risen as Middle East states with anti-Western policies, like Iran, have developed their missile capabilities.Last November, NATO leaders approved a new mission statement for the Western military alliance, committing among other things to missile defense. NATO's Strategic Concept for the coming decade, approved at a summit in Lisbon, confirmed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's core task of defending its territory and its commitment to collective defense of its 28 members. The foreign ministry spokesman said the alliance decided to develop a new defense system against a ballistic missile threat and that work on the project was reaching its final stages. "It is anticipated that the early warning radar system allocated by the United States for NATO will be deployed in our country," a ministry spokesman said in a statement. "Turkey's hosting of this element will constitute our country's contribution to the defense system being developed in the framework of NATO's new strategic concept. It will strengthen NATO's defense capacity and our national defense system." No further details were immediately available. In recent years, Turkey has sought stronger ties with former Soviet bloc members, as well as fellow Muslim states in the Middle East, including Iran, to re-balance a foreign policy that had previously leaned heavily toward the West. Russia's NATO envoy said a radar system in Turkey would not threaten Russian security, but reiterated accusations that the United States is pushing ahead with their plans for a missile shield despite vows to cooperate with Moscow. Moscow says a NATO missile defence system could threaten its security if it develops the capability to down Russian nuclear missiles. The Kremlin is demanding a role in a joint system or binding guarantees that Russia would not be targeted.Hmmmmm......Does Turkey want the shield to use against Israel?Read the full story here.

• ‘Israel’s bullying in eastern Med is over’(HurriyetDaily).The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their “bullying” practices against civilian vessels, a Turkish official said Friday.The official said this would be the outcome of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement earlier in the day that “Turkey would take every precaution it deems necessary for the safety of maritime navigation in the eastern Mediterranean.”Davutoğlu’s statement about providing maritime safety in the eastern Mediterranean grabbed the most attention among the various sanctions against Israel the foreign minister announced Friday. He did not further elaborate, however, on what he meant by taking “every precaution.”The Turkish foreign minister’s statement will likely spark a new faceoff between Turkey and Israel, the region’s strongest armies, in the eastern Mediterranean. A potential confrontation between the two countries’ navies would have serious negative consequences for regional stability.Turkish diplomats told the Hürriyet Daily News that the Turkish Navy will be more visible in the eastern Mediterranean through regular patrolling in international waters. “A more aggressive strategy will be pursued. Israel will no longer be able to exercise its bullying practices freely,” one said.Using Turkish naval vessels to escort ships carrying aid to Palestine and observing free navigation in the zone between the island of Cyprus and Israel are among the plans set to be implemented, sources said, adding that Turkish war ships would be more frequently seen in the area.The zone described by Turkish sources has been the subject of a recent diplomatic struggle between Turkey and Greek Cyprus over the latter’s project to start drilling natural gas reserves. Greek Cyprus and Israel recently agreed to jointly initiate the drilling with the participation of some American companies.Turkey sees the gas-exploration deal as an agreement between two hostile countries against Turkey and has urged both parties not to get involved in such a project before a solution is found to the Cyprus issue in order to preserve the stability of the eastern Mediterranean.In an interview with daily Zaman on Friday, EU Minister Egemen Bağış hinted that Turkish Navy could intervene if Greek Cyprus does not call off the project. “That’s what a navy is for,” he said.As part of Turkey’s more aggressive strategy against Israel, sources told the Daily News that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning to visit Hamas-controlled Gaza in the coming weeks, an intention he voiced in late July.“Our prime minister has already instructed the Foreign Ministry to set a date for the visit. We are looking for the best timing for the visit,” a diplomatic source said. “Our primary purpose is to draw the world’s attention to what is going on in Gaza and to push the international community to end the unfair embargo imposed by Israel.”Hmmmm......What are the Chances Turkey starts an all out war with Israel over Cyprus or Gaza?Turkey the new 'Bully' in the Mediterranean?Read the full story here.

• Is Turkey preparing to drag Nato and the US in a conflict against Israel?(AstuteBlogger).Hmmm....I completely agree with his point of view, i only wanted to add"What's Obama's role in all this , why the weekly phonecalls between Obama and Erdogan?The one thing they have in common is their 'love' for Israel."Read the full story here.