MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in the Philipines 5.1 and 5.2 in russia! 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.

• "The War On Christianity" - Hindu, Buddhist & Muslim Religious Leaders Invited to 9/11 Tribute Event — But No Evangelicals?(TheBlaze).The head of the Southern Baptist Convention is asking President Barack Obama to reconsider attending a September 11 commemorative event at Washington National Cathedral. Why, you ask?The planned observance of the 10th anniversary of America’s worst terror attack will include the Bishop of Washington, a Hindu priest, a Buddhist nun, the president of the Islamic Society of North America and a Muslim musician – but not an evangelical Christian. This exclusion has caused SBC President Frank Page to call upon the president to reconsider his presence at the event.Obama is slated to speak at a “secular” program on Sunday night. According to reports, five faith leaders are scheduled to deliver prayers, but these individuals have not yet been publicly identified.Considering evangelical Christianity’s influence in America, it’s interesting that the event, entitled “A Call to Compassion,” will exclude this large subset of the faith. According to Fox News, Page has voiced his frustrations:“It’s not surprising. There is a tragic intolerance toward Protestants and particularly toward evangelicals and I wish the president would refuse to speak unless it was more representative.I think it would send a very strong and very positive signal to the left wing extremists in our country that the president ought not show up.”Christian leader Tony Perkins (head of the Family Research Council) reiterated these statements, also claiming that the exclusion is unacceptable:

“Three quarters of the American people identify as Christian and nearly a third of them are evangelical Christian. And yet, there is not a single evangelical on the program.There’s no doubt that this is clearly politically correct. It is historically inaccurate that in times of need or mourning that Americans pray to the Hindu or Buddhist Gods or the God of Islam. America is overtly a Christian nation that prays to the Judeo-Christian God – and specifically to Jesus Christ.”But the Cathedral claims that there is nothing sinister in its exclusion of evangelicals. Richard Weinberg, the director of communications for the Cathedral, claims that the goal was to have interfaith representation and that the church’s own involvement balances the need for Christian representation:“The Cathedral itself is an Episcopal church and it stands to reason that our own clergy serve as Christian representatives.We certainly aim to appeal to as many in the country as possible and feel that our events are not any one slice that could ever represent the entire country — but that we are doing our best commemorate the events as it fits with our mission.”So far, no official response has come from the White House and all signs point to the president ignoring Page’s plea. Regardless of intentions, this could create — or further perpetuate — the perception that the president is not sympathetic to evangelical causes and concerns.That said, this event is private in nature and Obama has been invited as a guest. Considering that his administration doesn’t have control over the guest list, perhaps most will simply blame the Cathedral (and not the president) for refusing — at least until this point — to include evangelical Christians in the commemorative mix.Hmmmm....."Divide et impera". Let me guess that the representative for the Islamitic faith might be 'Imam Rauf'?Read the full story here.

• Up to 25 killed and scores injured in two suicide blasts in Quetta, Pakistan.(AlArabiya).Two suicide bombers targeting a senior security official struck near government offices in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people and injuring scores of others, Al Arabiya correspondent said.There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistan’s Taliban militants, who are close to al-Qaeda, often carry out such attacks as part of a campaign designed to topple the US-backed government.Quetta is the main town of Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, police said.Autonomy-seeking militants demanding a greater share of the profits from oil and other resources in the province of Baluchistan, of which Quetta is the capital, have also waged a low-level insurgency for decades.One of the suicide bombers blew himself up in a vehicle packed with explosives near the car of the deputy head of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, a police official told Reuters.Farrukh Shehzad said the other suicide bomber entered his house and blew himself up. The dead included his guards. The explosions brought down the walls of his house and nearby offices.Although al-Qaeda is reeling from the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US special forces, the Pakistani Taliban are still highly effective. They vowed to avenge bin Laden's death.Read the Full Story Here.

• More deaths reported as Syrian forces storm Homs, block telecommunications.(AlArabiya).Syrian security forces stormed the city of Homs and cut off telecommunications as heavy shooting was heard while troops raided homes, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday. Syrian activists told Al Arabiya that more deaths have been reported as the security forces swept through Homs and fired at the Khaled bin Walid Mosque. According to AFP, seven people have been shot dead by the fire of security forces in Homs.“Most land and cell phone lines and the Internet have been cut off. Tanks moved in at dawn and began firing heavy machineguns randomly at houses in Bab Tadmur, Warsha district and Bab Dreib,” Syrian activists told Reuters.“Troops also deployed in Bab Sbaa, two explosions were heard in al-Khader neighborhood and they sealed off the city center,” said a statement by Homs City Neighborhoods Union sent to Reuters.The operation comes after Syria asked Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi to postpone a visit to the Arab country for talks on the violent crackdown on protests that broke out mid-March.President Bashar al-Assad faces the biggest challenge to his rule since inheriting power from his father 11 years ago, with increased international condemnation of the violence. The European Union on September 3 added four people and three companies to an asset freeze and travel ban on Syria, where the unrest began in mid- March. A day earlier, the EU banned imports of Syrian oil. More than 2,450 civilians and 700 members of the security forces have been killed during the crackdown, while 15,000 people have been injured and at least 20,000 are in prison, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. The UN puts the death toll at more than 2,200.Security forces have failed to halt the protests, which were inspired by unrest across the Middle East and North Africa that unseated Tunisian President Zine Elabidine Ben Ali in January and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the following month. Muammar Qaddafi is in hiding after an uprising ended his control over most of Libya.Tanks and troops, largely from Syria’s minority Alawite sect, moved into Homs four months ago and occupied the main square in the city to try to end protests demanding the removal of President Assad.The Alawite sect dominates Syria’s security forces and core army units that have besieged numerous towns and cities across the country to crush the six month uprising.Homs, 165 km (100 miles north of Damascus) is mostly Sunni Muslim, like the rest of Syria. The hundreds of casualties reported in the city since the army deployment has been caused by assaults on Sunni areas. Activists have also reported the death of several Alawite residents in apparent revenge killings.Residents said an Alawite militia loyal to Assad, known as shabbiha, has played a leading role in the raids and are responsible for some of the killings, raising tension between the two sects.Activists and residents have reported an increasing number of defections among the mostly Sunni rank and file military in Homs and its surrounding countryside.Residents of Rastan, a town near Homs, published footage purportedly showing defecting soldiers on a balcony greeting a crowd of several thousand people at a pro-democracy rally in the town last week.Syrian authorities, which have not allowed independent media in the country since the uprising began in March, say there have been no defections in the military.They say the troops were deployed in Syrian cities in response to appeals by inhabitants frightened by “armed terrorist gangs.”Hmmmmm.........Big noise Turkey........silent.Read the full story here.

• Beware: Emperor Obama’s executive fiat,White House plans to circumvent Congress to spend more.(WashingtonTimes).It’s official: President Obama is presiding over the worst era of unemployment in U.S. history since this nation was embroiled in World War II. On Friday, it was announced zero net jobs were created nationwide in the whole month of August. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis stammered, “I do believe that we’re going in the right direction, but we need cooperation and it begins with members of the House and the Senate agreeing to do something now.” Going in the right direction? It’s a perfect admission of the cluelessness of this White House that the head of the Labor Department thinks zero new jobs and a permanent unemployment rate above 9 percent mean the country is headed the right way.In White House talking points leaked to The Washington Times by an executive-branch employee, administration officials are told what to say to the press and the public about Mr. Obama’s Sept. 8 speech to a Joint Session of Congress. The document is devoid of specifics, which will be proclaimed from the podium on Thursday, but it does say that ideas announced to “provide economic security for the middle class … will be both legislative and executive actions.” The key words are the last two: executive actions. This is a tacit acknowledgment that the president is planning to take unilateral action to force through what he cannot get a divided Congress to do.Mr. Obama has a profound resistance to the Constitution’s separation of powers, whereby the legislature is the lawmaking body and the executive branch implements the laws passed on the other side of Pennsylvania Ave. He’s overstepped his bounds on numerous issues already, ignoring the law to further his liberal agenda through federal agencies. Oppressive environmental regulations against businesses and property owners jump to mind.“We need to lock arms, reach across the aisle and start acting as one community,” the kumbaya White House marching orders say. Propaganda aside, a panicking Obama administration will be less collaborative than ever in the days ahead.Hmmmm......Congress must act and stop this walking,talking Doomsday machine, It's clear that the American people had enough........impeachment is needed.Read the full story here.

• Is the Obama Administration about to endanger American troops for political gains?(Aina).Obama Administration to Drop Troop Levels in Iraq to 3,000.The Obama administration has decided to drop the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of the year down to 3,000, marking a major downgrade in force strength, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings and decisions on U.S. troop movements in Iraq told Fox News.Senior commanders are said to be livid at the decision, which has already been signed off by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.The generals on the ground had requested that the number of troops remaining in Iraq at the end of the year reach about 27,000. But, there was major pushback about "the cost and the political optics" of that decision that the number was then reduced to 10,000.Commanders said they could possibly make that work "in extremis," in other words, meaning they would be pushing it to make that number work security-wise and manpower-wise.Now, sources confirm that the administration has pushed the Pentagon to cut the number even lower, and commanders are concerned for the safety of the U.S. troops who would remain there."We can't secure everybody with only 3,000 on the ground nor can we do what we need to with the Iraqis," one source said.A senior military official said by reducing the number of troops to 3,000, the White House has effectively reduced the mission to training only."There is almost no room for security operations in that number; it will be almost purely a training mission," this official said. The official added that a very small number of troops within that 3,000 will be dedicated to counter-terrorism efforts, but that's not nearly what Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, wanted.This shift is seen by various people as a cost-saving measure and a political measure. The only administration official fighting for at least 10,000 forces to stay in Iraq at the end of the year was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sources said. But she has lost the battle.Responding to the news, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who has traveled to Iraq many times, said that in all the conversations he has had on force strength, he has "never heard a number as low as 3,000 troops to secure the gains Iraqis have won over the years."Lieberman said his first question for the administration is whether the number is one Iraqis had requested or if it was chosen according to other criteria.Any of the plans will require Iraqi approval, and on that front, the Pentagon recently secured a commitment from the Iraqis to start negotiations, but they have not agreed to any number."Discussions with the Iraqis on our post-2011 strategic relationship are ongoing, and no decisions on troop levels have been made," said Panetta spokesman George Little. "We continue to proceed with troop withdrawals as directed by the president."On Tuesday, the head of the three-province Kurdish autonomous region in the north of Iraq, warned that if American troops leave sectarian violence might resurface. Massoud Barzani urged the central Iraqi government to sign an agreement with the U.S. to keep forces in the country.Hmmmmm......."The Commander In chief decided?"Read the full story here.

• GM aka Government Motors (Obama administration) about to hire workers?(CarAndDriver).Joe Biden : GM is on schedule. They’ve paid back a significant portion. We still hold 33.3 percent of GM common equity, but the point is that 33.3 percent is worth something. So taxpayers have an asset. But the best news is GM is talking about hiring back essentially the last of the laid-off workers by  year’s end. No one ever thought we’d get there.Hmmmm......Another Big Government expantion with taxpayer money.Read the full story here.

• Good news: President spending your tax dollars wisely transporting anti-taxpayer union bosses to Detroit on Air Force One.(DougRoss).Reuters' Caren Bohan alerts us to another judicious use of taxpayer dollars: employing Air Force One to fly a bunch of overfed union bosses to a Labor Day rally in Detroit. These are the same lugs who feed at the troth of the taxpayer and then declare all-out-war on us "sons-of-bitches".If I didn't know better, I'd think the unions were actually calling the shots at the White House.Hmmmm......Thugocracy.Read the full story here.

• Obama - Messiah of Hate.By Daniel Greenfield.(CFP).The time when the Obama brand still seemed like it might have something to offer the American people is long past. There will still be voters who go to the polls and pull the wrong lever, but they won’t do it because they seriously believe that another term will make America a better place. Rather they will do it for reasons of identity. Political identity, racial identity and because ‘anything is better than voting GOP’ is also an identity.The emotion that Obama stirred in the hearts of millions, that illusory sense of history created by so many hours of media manipulation, the expectation that now things would be better, is gone. And it isn’t coming back. No one will ever look up dewy eyed at a giant projected image of the Beloved Leader and see the second coming of JFK. All they will see is the politician they’re stuck with.Glamor is all that Obama ever had. With the greasepaint off, there’s nothing there but a surly kid with greying hair. An obnoxious posturing preening brat parading down the runways of the world with his media entourage in tow. Some actors can change from one costume to another, but he is the costume. Worse yet, he isn’t even the costume. He’s the lights, the stirring music, the hours of anchor commentary, the deliberate pauses, the photographic halos, the teleprompter and the building expectation. Take those things away and there isn’t even an empty suit. There’s nothing at all.The Democrats have come to feel that hollowness deep inside. That set of unfulfilled expectations that lies like a hole at the heart of their campaign. An emptiness that can only be filled with hate.As Obama’s popularity has slipped, he has become more openly hateful. The vindictiveness that was hidden away has been put up for display in the store window. What Clinton might scribble on a memo or tell an aide—he delivers in a speech. And the worse his numbers have fallen, the uglier his words have become.Obama was never graceful, but the spitefulness is no longer camouflaged. The petty insults have become common as his persona has grown charmless. The scowl hides less deeply behind the practiced smile. Often it no longer hides at all. The small bag of tricks which he used to get this far has been exhausted. There’s nothing left now but the angry manipulative child underneath.Having failed as the Messiah of Hope and Change, he is swiftly becoming the Messiah of Hate. With a country in a state of severe economic decline and his own popularity further down the toilet than a burning Koran, there is no other choice left to him. And it’s an approach that suits his temperament.  Unlike 2008, he can’t expect to coast to victory on Hope and Change. This time it’s his opponents who are running on that. The halo is gone, but the hate campaign is his best option. No one around him thinks he can sell himself as a better alternative to a generic Republican candidate. But if he can make the Republican candidate look like a completely unpalatable choice to most voters, then he can still win.2012 is set to be half his 2008 campaign .The dark half. All the smears and demonization without any of the hope. There are an uncounted number of Democratic voters who pulled the lever for him, even though they had second thoughts. Voters who might have naturally gone for McCain, if the media had not done such an excellent job of making the McCain\Palin ticket look like the worst thing since the plague. The goal in 2012 is to retain those voters by doing the same thing all over again.Read the full story here.

• Clinton Talks to Palestine’s Abbas Over UN Bid.(AFP).Clinton Talks to Palestine’s Abbas Over UN Bid:US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke Tuesday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas ahead of a showdown over the Palestinians’ controversial bid for UN membership, the State Department said.The Palestinians are expected to make their bid later this month before the United Nations General Assembly — a move Washington opposes. The US is seeking to set up a new round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.Clinton urged Abbas “to work hard with us to avoid a negative scenario in New York at the end of the month,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.Abbas will Wednesday meet with US Middle East envoy David Hale, and Clinton called on the Palestinian leadership to “hear him with open ears” as Washington hopes to avert a potentially rancorous UN meeting.White House spokesman Jay Carney meanwhile said the Palestinian effort was “not productive or helpful,” telling reporters that peace needed to be “negotiated directly by both parties.”Making the UN membership bid without a peace plan in place would “not bring the Palestinians any closer to statehood,” he said.Washington is said to be seeking to draft a proposal for peace talks that will be acceptable to Israel, as well as Russia, the European Union and the UN — the other members of the international peacemaking Quartet.“We are going to continue to work right up until the UN General Assembly, if necessary, to get these parties back to the table, and we’ll continue to work afterwards,” Nuland said of US efforts.US diplomatic efforts are focused on including a number of countries in the region to help deter the Palestinians’ move toward seeking unilateral statehood.“We have been talking in diplomatic channels… to a much broader section of countries than we usually talk to about Middle East peace, because many of them who don’t usually get confronted with decisions like this could be confronted with a decision in the General Assembly,” she said.Direct talks between Israel and Palestinians came to a halt shortly after they were re-launched in Washington last September over the issue of settlement construction.The Palestinians refuse to resume talks while Israel builds in annexed Arab east Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied West Bank.Hmmmm......"Washington is said to be seeking to draft a proposal for peace talks that will be acceptable to Israel, as well as Russia, the European Union and the UN — the other members of the international peacemaking Quartet."Palestine is not being mentioned........Obama already discussed it with the Palestinians?Read the full setup story here.

• The World from Berlin: Swiss Franc Decision Should Be a Lesson for Euro Critics.(Spiegel).The Swiss decision on Tuesday to peg its currency to the euro should serve as a warning for those who would like to see the return of the deutsche mark: No country can escape the dynamics of the tightly intertwined global market. German commentators hope that calm can now be restored to the euro debate.The future of the European common currency , as has become abundantly clear this week, is far from certain. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is struggling to find a majority within her government coalition for a crucial vote on reforms to the euro backstop. Italy has been hesitant in confronting massive state debt. Greek reforms have come more slowly than promised. And investors are nervous .

Despite the uncertainty, however, Switzerland on Tuesday pegged its currency to the euro, announcing that the exchange rate was not to fall below 1.20 Swiss francs per euro. "The current massive overvaluation of the Swiss franc poses an acute threat to the Swiss economy and carries the risk of a deflationary development," the Swiss National Bank said in an announcement. The bank said it was "prepared to buy foreign currency in unlimited quantities" in order to maintain a cheaper franc.

The country had little choice. The massive increase in the value of the franc this year -- its value relative to the euro had increased by 20 percent since January -- had begun to slow the economy. In the second quarter of this year, the Swiss economy, heavily reliant as it is on exports, grew by a mere 0.4 percent. The franc's rise in value is a direct result of loss of confidence in the euro and the dollar in recent months.The move ended 30 years of a free-floating Swiss franc and comes at a time when the euro is facing its biggest existential challenge to date, as doubts about state debt and bank health in the euro zone continue to unsettle investors. There was some good news on Tuesday, with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi agreeing to stiffen up an austerity package that he had hollowed out just days before. The plan once again includes an increase to the VAT tax and higher taxes for the country's top earners. And European stock markets recovered slightly in early trading on Wednesday as a result.But foot-dragging on reforms in Athens has renewed concerns that Greece may ultimately be forced into insolvency despite the vast aid packages it has received. Indeed, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Tuesday warned Athens, saying that there was no alternative to implementing the tough belt-tightening measures the country has promised. Horst Seehofer, the governor of Bavaria and a key Merkel ally, refused to rule out a Greek withdrawal from the euro zone in an interview with the German tabloid Bild.In a speech before the German parliament on Wednesday, Merkel sought to calm nerves, saying that "we don't see any signs of an approaching recession" and emphasized that "Germany is once again the growth engine of the EU."German commentators, on Wednesday, were still processing the Swiss decision to connect its fiscal fate to the euro zone.

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"Even if it might be expensive in the end, the Swiss decision will ultimately be cheaper than having an economy that is no longer competitive. It should be a lesson to all those who shout 'Get Rid of the Euro' and 'Give Us Back the deutsche mark.' Were we to get the mark back, it would appreciate at least as rapidly as the franc has and German exports would suffer. It is, after all, a mistake to believe that a country only has to balance its budget in order to guarantee growth and prosperity, to avoid crisis and to make its citizens happy.""Switzerland has its own currency, a diminutive budget deficit and a legally mandated balanced budget (debt brake) -- and still it found itself being chewed up by the market machinery. In a world of globalized finances, there are no islands of bliss. This network creates a dynamic that solitary actors like Switzerland cannot escape. And Germany certainly couldn't either."Read the full story here.

• Delhi court blast: 11 dead, 50 injured; sketches of suspects released.(NDTV).New Delhi: A bomb placed in a brief case exploded at the Delhi High Court this morning killing 11 people and injuring over 70. The explosion took place in the reception area at Gate no 5, where hundreds of people had gathered to collect passes needed to enter the courthouse. A crater nearly four feet deep established how powerful the bomb was; police sources say the explosive shows traces of ammonium nitrate and combusted completely, signs of sophisticated bomb-making.The Delhi Police has released two sketches of the man believed to be responsible for today's terror attack, based on descriptions provided by eyewitnesses."All states put on high alert. A forensic team of CFSL Delhi examining evidence from blast site," UK Bansal, Special Secretary Security, said.This is the second explosion in the Delhi High Court in four months. A smaller bomb in a parking lot in May did not cause any injuries. Police sources say that attempt was a dry run by the terrorists behind today's attack. The incident in May had underscored the need for security cameras. They have yet to be installed at the court's nine different gates. (First pics of the blast)Home Minister P Chidambaram acknowledged that "Intelligence agencies constantly share intelligence inputs with Delhi Police. Intelligence pertaining to threats emanating from certain groups was shared with Delhi Police in July, 2011." Two hours after the blasts, he told Parliament that it is not possible at this stage to identify who is responsible for today's terror attack. The National Investigating Agency (NIA) will supervise the inquiry with a special 20-member team.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, currently in Bangladesh on an official visit, described the attack as "a cowardly act of a terrorist nature." He added, "We will deal with it... we will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism... this is a long war." An email received by different media organizations including NDTV said that the Harkat-ul-Jihadi (HuJI) takes responsibility for today's blast. HuJI is a Pakistan-based terrorist group. "We take the mail very seriously," said NIA Chief SC Sinha. The email states, "We owe the responsibility of today's blasts at High Court Delhi... our demand is that Afzal Guru's death sentence should be repealed immediately else we would target major high courts and the Supreme Court of India."Afzal Guru has been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for his role in the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. His mercy petition that asks for his sentence to be commuted to life is pending with President Pratibha Patil. The Home Ministry has reportedly recommended that it be rejected.Today's explosion took place at 10.15 am - "rush hour" for the courthouse which usually starts hearings at 10.30 am.On Wednesday, Public Interest Litigations (PIL) are heard in the High Court, drawing larger than usual crowds. In the seconds after the blast, lawyers and litigants were seen running for help, their blood-soaked clothes clinging to them."I heard a loud noise and smoke coming out following by cries of people," said Narendra Kumar Singh, a guard at a construction site outside the court.By 3 pm, the High Court was back to work to signal that it remains strong despite today's attack. But the conversations in and outside court-rooms were about the tragedy.Lawyer Sanjeev Beniwal rushed his client Mehtab Singh to a Delhi hospital after the explosion. Mr Singh did not survive."He (Singh) was fighting a property-related case at the court. He was getting his pass made when the blast occurred. His son Rohit and my associate Sachin Powa have also been injured. We rushed them to hospital and I just want them to be safe as I could not save Singh," said Mr Beniwal, who was also injured.Read the full story here.

• Ya'alon takes on Erdogan.(Ynet).Vice premier confronts the Turkish prime minister: "How can you trust a government that consorts with Iran and Hamas?" wondered Minister Moshe Ya'alon during a conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The vice premier, who addressed a 'Calcalist' gathering, continued his assault on Recep Tayip Erdogan, saying that "since his government rose to power, Turkey has decided to turn east instead of west. Turkey turned into an Islamic republic from a secular republic." Relations between Turkey and Israel reached a new low on Tuesday after the Turkish prime minister said Anakra would cut all defense-related trade with Israel. Erdogan said that further sanctions are on the agenda, calling Israel a "spoiled child of the UN".Ya'alon also referred to the question of whether Israel should apologize for the incident on board the Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turkish activists were killed. "We are talking about a phenomenon that goes beyond this specific incident. The goal is to defeat the State of Israel. If anyone thinks that one word can settle the matter, they fails to understand." Ya'alon, who was involved in efforts to bring about reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, added that "what happened during the flotilla was without a doubt a Turkish provocation." According to Ya'alon, "We had no intention of ending the incident with fatalities but the soldiers had no other choice but to defend themselves. The result was not good and we tried to resolve the crisis later on."Ya'alon also reacted to criticism voiced by Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni against the conduct of Netanyahu's government during the crisis. "Israel is not at fault for the situation with Turkey. I regret hearing the Opposition chairwoman say that the absence of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks led to the situation with Turkey. Whoever says that in an interview is asking for outside pressure. Perhaps he fails to understand or perhaps he is driven by political interests."Read the full story here.

• Why the Muslim Beard Bodes Trouble.(PajamasMedia).By Raymond Ibrahim. To develop a thorough understanding of Islam, one must learn to “connect the dots.” For instance, Muslims who adhere to non-problematic aspects of Islam, indirectly indicate their acceptance of problematic aspects of Islam — such as enmity for infidels, death for apostates, subjugation for women, and so on.Consider the Muslim beard. Because Muhammad wanted his Muslims to look different from infidel Christians and Jews, he ordered them to “trim closely the moustache and grow the beard.” Accordingly, all Sunni schools of law maintain that it is forbidden, a “major sin,” for men to shave their beards — unless, of course, it is part of a stratagem against the infidel, in which case it is permissible.Prior to Ramadan, Islamic leaders in Egypt called for a million men to grow their beards and show Egypt’s adherence to Muhammad’s commands. Popular and enthusiastic preachers such as Muhammad Hassan went as far as to pray for the day when 80 million Egyptians grew their beards — a figure that presumably includes women and children, as 80 million is the size of Egypt’s entire population.Amr Adib, a popular talk show host on Cairo Today, mocked this call for a “million man beard” with his trademark sarcasm: “This is a great endeavor! After all, a man with a beard can never be a thug, can never rape a woman in the street, can never set a church on fire, can never fight and quarrel, can never steal, and can never be dishonest!”He and his Egyptian viewers know quite well that it is precisely those Muslims who most closely follow the minutia of Muhammad — the Salafists — that are most prone to violence and deceit, which were also advocated by the prophet. Towards the end of the program, Adib spoke seriously, ominously, saying this issue is not about growing a beard, but rather, “once you grow your beard, you give proof of your commitment and fealty to everything in Islam.”While Egyptians instinctively understand how fealty to the Muslim beard evinces fealty, or at least acceptance, to all those other things Muhammad commanded, even in fuzzy Western op-eds the connection sometimes peeks out. Consider the following excerpt from a recent New York Times piece titled “Behold the Mighty Beard, a Badge of Piety and Religious Belonging”:[A]ll over the Muslim world, the full beard has come to connote piety and spiritual fervor. It is such a powerful cultural signifier, in fact, that it inspires non-Muslims, too. … Of course, the beard is only a sign of righteousness. It is no guarantor, as Mr. Zulfiqar [a Muslim interviewee] reminds us: “I recall one gentleman who came back from a trip to Pakistan and remarked to me, ‘I learned one thing: the longer the beard, the bigger the crook.’ His anticipation was people with big beards would be really honest, but he kept meeting people lying to him.” [emphasis mine]The italicized portion speaks for itself. Whereas the Muslim beard represents piety, some people, mostly Westerners, are shocked to find that those who wear it are often “crooks” and “liars.” In Islam, however, outer signs of religiosity on the one hand, and corruption and deceit on the other, are compatible. After all, the same source — Muhammad, as recorded in the hadith — that tells Muslims to grow a beard also advocates deception and all sorts of other practices antithetical to Western notions of piety.The hijab, or headscarf, which cloaks Muslim women, also on Muhammad’s command, produces the same symbiosis. Tawfik Hamid, a former aspiring jihadist and acquaintance of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri, accurately observes that “the proliferation of the hijab is strongly correlated with increased terrorism. … Terrorism became much more frequent in such societies as Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, and the UK after the hijab became prevalent among Muslim women living in those communities.”The question is simple: Why do some Muslim men wear the prescribed beard and why do some Muslim women wear the prescribed hijab? Most Muslims would say they do so because Muhammad commanded them to in the hadith.Yet if such Muslims meticulously follow the minor, “outer” things of Islam simply because their prophet made a few utterances concerning them in the hadith, logically speaking, does that not indicate that they also follow, or at least accept as legitimate, the major, “inner” themes Muhammad constantly emphasized in the hadith — such as enmity for and deceit of the infidel, and, when capable, perpetual jihad?Read the full story here.

• Reciprocity…(HurriyetDaily).An officious deputy Istanbul governor – who unfortunately is serving as the “highest administrative official” at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport – apparently decided to defend the “national honor” of Turkey by ordering customs police to apply the famous “reciprocity principle” to arriving Israeli citizens and question them why they wanted to visit Turkey. Thank God, at least so far, neither the officious deputy governor nor the officious customs policemen decided to undress arriving Israelis from top to toe as Israeli security people were reported to have been doing for some Turks at Tel Aviv Airport.I have been to Israel many times over the past years. There were times when I was treated as a VIP and escorted by protocol people, there were times when I was questioned mercilessly and my luggage was violently searched by security people. In view of the immense terrorist threat to Israel and Israelis, I always considered the tightened security or obsessive security measures undertaken by Israelis at key places such as the Tel Aviv Airport as “perfectly normal.” Yet, the fact that Israel employs “kids” as security people with the power to conduct body searches at the airport or at crossing points to Palestinian areas has always been problematic. A “kid” in uniform holding the Turkish foreign minister for hours at the crossing point to Palestinian territory was awful but almost a common practice in security-obsessed Israel. That has been a perennial problem that Israel must resolve somehow, of course without compromising its legitimate security concerns.The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government should urgently take action against that stupidity at the Istanbul airport which if not stopped might seriously hurt Turkey’s legitimate uproar against the Israeli Mavi Marmara barbarism and intransigence in delivering a modest apology and compensation for the nine Turkish nationals murdered by Israeli marines.If such foolish and indeed shows of masturbation at the airport are allowed to continue on the pretext of reciprocity – as if this were the first time Israel had ever started to become obsessed about security – people might start asking tomorrow what happened to that deputy governor who allowed the Mavi Marmara to leave Turkey with passengers who did not go through routine departure formalities in accordance with the passport laws of the country. Did the Mavi Marmara possess proper navigation papers (and not ones obtained in the aftermath)?There are many questions to be asked and of course even though Ankara might declare the U.N. Palmer Report on the Mavi Marmara incident as “null and void,” can the people in Ankara say in all confidence as “honest Muslims” that they did all they could to prevent the Mavi Marmara catastrophe? Why at the last minute were AKP deputies “ordered” to stay away from the trip but others were allowed to leave without going through passport formalities? The Mavi Marmara incident exploded both in the hands of the Israeli coalition of absurdity and in the hands of Turkey’s absolute ruler, who had a revanchist outburst after being angered by Israel’s sidelining of Ankara’s “regional mediator” or “regional power” role by conducting the Gaza bombardment just hours after a trip to Ankara by the Israeli prime minister.What’s done is done… Perhaps Israel and Turkey should sit back and calculate the prospective cost of continuing the current politics of tension before adding more fuel to the fire… Where is the common interest? In reciprocating offenses or helping each other treat their wounds?Read the full story here.

• Putin: I Saw Jesus in Iran’s Leader.(PajamasMedia).Iran’s supreme leader is being elevated to sainthood and leader of the worldwide Islamic movement by the Iranian media.In commentaries that reflect the dictates of the Iranian regime, the media for the first time are publishing statements by world officials and others that deify Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The most significant of such statements comes from Vladimir Putin, the former president and current prime minister of Russia. The media outlet Mahramaneh reports that in October 2007, when Putin traveled to Iran, he specifically requested a meeting with Khamenei and came away dazzled.During that meeting, according to the report, Khamenei talked about the history of Russia and what lies ahead, which surprised Putin. Afterward, Iranian diplomats said that Putin’s behavior had changed drastically. When Putin returned to Moscow, a reporter asked what he thought of the Iranian supreme leader. Putin is quoted as saying: “I don’t know much about the Messiah, the Christ, just what I have heard or read in the Bible, but I saw Christ, the Messiah, in the leader of Iran.”Kofi Annan, who served as the seventh secretary general of the United Nations, is also quoted as saying: “I have met … many world leaders whom I came to respect such as Jacques Chirac, the French president, Mikhail Gorbachev, the head of state of the U.S.S.R., and Helmut Kohl, chancellor of Germany, but none of these men touched me the way Ayatollah Khamenei did. In my meeting with him, I forgot about everything else as I was overwhelmed by his spirituality.”Recently, the Iranian state-controlled TV for the first time publicly announced that Khamenei is really the mythical figure Seyed Khorasani, who, a centuries-old hadith (saying) states, will create the circumstances for the end of the world and the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, who will conquer the world under the banner of Islam.Several high-ranking clerics in Iran have publicly announced that Khamenei is the deputy of the Shiite’s 12th Imam on Earth and that refusal to obey his orders would be to refuse Allah. Some have also stated that Khamenei once a year travels to the sky and meets with the 12th Imam and confers on needed actions. During one such meeting, according to the clerics, he was told to continue on with the Iranian nuclear program despite widespread world objection.The media in Iran have credited the supreme leader with predicting the economic turmoil in Europe and the global awakening of Islam in the “Arab Spring.” They have also been adamant about an important prediction of the leader: the destruction of Israel, which they believe is imminent.Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the terrorist group Hezbollah, is quoted as saying, “Certain qualities of Iran’s supreme leader and aspects of his wisdom, prudence and spirituality are secret and sealed and unfortunately cannot be talked about in public.” He adds: “Though I cannot reveal much of what I know about Ayatollah Khamenei, I can tell with utmost certainty that the leader truly believes the destruction of Israel is … imminent.”One media outlet reports that what is about to take place is much more than the destruction of Israel. It claims humanity will witness the greatest event of its history and that Muslims should prepare themselves because the final glorification of Islam is at hand.Khamenei, in a speech last week on the occasion of Eid ul-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, hinted that the end is near: “An important period in the history of the world is in formation.”“Who would have thought that the agents of America and the Zionists in the region would fall one after another,” he declared.The Iranian leader has also predicted the demise of America and has called the current sanctions in place by the Obama administration a failure in stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran has announced that there will be no negotiations on its nuclear drive. The United Nations nuclear agency in its most recent report indicated that there is credible evidence that Iran is working on nuclear weapons and that it already has enough enriched uranium for six nuclear warheads.Hmmmm...."Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4).Read the full story here.

• PM Harper says 'Islamicism' biggest threat to Canada.(CBC).Prime minister says Conservatives will bring back controversial anti-terrorism laws.In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the biggest security threat to Canada a decade after 9/11 is Islamic terrorism.In a wide-ranging interview with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that will air in its entirety on The National Thursday night, Harper says Canada is safer than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., but that "the major threat is still Islamicism.""There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats," Harper said.Harper cautioned that terrorist threats can "come out of the blue" from a different source, such as the recent Norway attacks, where a lone gunman who hated Muslims killed 77 people.But Harper said terrorism by Islamic radicals is still the top threat, though a "diffuse" one."When people think of Islamic terrorism, they think of Afghanistan, or maybe they think of some place in the Middle East, but the truth is that threat exists all over the world," he said, citing domestic terrorism in Nigeria.The prime minister said home-grown Islamic radicals in Canada are "also something that we keep an eye on."Harper said his government will bring back anti-terrorism clauses that were brought in in 2001 but were sunset in 2007 amid heated political debate.There were two clauses at the heart of the debate:

One allowed police to arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them for three days without charges if police believed a terrorist act may have been committed.

The other allowed a judge to compel a witness to testify in secret about past associations or perhaps pending acts under penalty of going to jail if the witness didn't comply.Neither clause was used by police or prosecutors in the five years before they expired.

In October 2006, a parliamentary committee recommended extending the two provisions.The Conservatives put forward a proposal to keep the measures in place for three more years, but the three opposition parties united to defeat the proposal in February 2007 by a 159-124 vote.The rest of the legislation remained in force.When asked by Mansbridge if he would try to bring those laws back, Harper replied: "That is our plan.""We think those measures are necessary. We think they've been useful," he said. "And as you know … they're applied rarely, but there are times where they're needed."Read the full story here.

• Al-Arabiya TV Director to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan: Don't Sell Dreams to the Arabs for Demagogical Purposes.(Memri).In an August 22, 2011 op-ed in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, the daily's former editor and current director of Al-Arabiya TV, criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for inconsistency in his attitude towards the Syrian regime. He said that while Turkey had adopted a harsh stance against the Al-Assad regime at the onset of the protests in Syria, it had softened its stance following the June parliamentary elections – to the point where Turkey now resembled pro-Assad Russia. While praising many of Erdogan's accomplishments, Al-Rashed called on him not to make empty promises and to realize his potential as an influential leader in the region.

It should be noted that Al-Rashed's position is in line with similar views expressed in the Saudi press, i.e. that Saudi Arabia had hoped that Turkey could find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Syria."Two years ago, during the Davos summit, this [Turk] from Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, became the hero of the Arabs when he snatched the microphone from Israeli President Shimon Peres and rebuked him harshly for Israel's crimes in Gaza. Then he walked off the stage and told the world he would never again return to Davos. "The frustrated Arabs – comprising the majority of Arabs, who grasp at every sliver of hope that might rescue them from their miserable situation – naturally celebrated [Erdogan's actions]. They always look for heroes, but in most cases they discover that [their] heroes are cardboard figures and media propagandists [like Gamal] 'Abd Al-Nasser, [Bashar] Al-Assad, Saddam [Hussein], [Hassan] Nasrallah, and other stars who have ended up in the dustbin of history.

"Erdogan, who rode the wave of popular Arab [adoration], should think long and hard before taking up the role of savior, as he did recently when he and his family flew to Somalia and called for [feeding] the hungry [there].""What is the truth behind this great demagogue?"I think Erdogan could have contributed much to the region. First, he could have been a model of the moderate Muslim, in an age dominated by extremist Islamists. Turkey, too, could be a model of the modern Muslim state. There are many things that Erdogan and Turkey can do – but the question is whether they have any real intent and desire to do them.

"What happened at Davos was nothing but a show. The conflict with Israel over the Freedom Flotilla, [after] the Israelis attacked [the Mavi Marmara] and killed nine Turkish [activists], ended just like other [conflicts]: with nothing more than verbal threats..."Turkey's many failures under Erdogan's [leadership] are etched in our memory. In handling the Iranian crisis, [Erdogan] supported a nuclear Iran. [When the] Libyan [crisis erupted], he initially supported the regime of Colonel [Qadhafi] and then claimed he had been misunderstood. In the Bahrain [crisis], he supported the protest movement and called its suppression 'a second Karbala,' and later claimed, once again, to have been misunderstood. [In the Syrian crisis], he [initially] took a strident tone towards the Syrian regime, to the point of making threats; this elevated his popularity to new heights, with his photo being carried in most of the Syrian demonstrations."

"Unfortunately, all this noise was prior to the Turkish parliamentary elections. After the elections, Turkey [suddenly] changed its tone and style... The position of Erdogan's government [became increasingly similar] to that of the Russians, who were hostile towards the Syrian people. [Turkey] opposed foreign intervention [in Syria] and rejected the calls for Assad's resignation. Considering Erdogan's pre-election declarations that so delighted the Syrian public, Turkey could have at least remained silent [instead of voicing a pro-Assad stance].""I do not want to present Erdogan as a disappointing Muslim leader. I believe he [still] has plenty of time to prove the sincerity of his program. Nobody expects Turkey to do what is beyond its ability, but it should not sell people [empty] dreams for demagogical purposes..."We are not forgetting that, amid all his demagogical positions, Erdogan has enormous accomplishments: his reconciliation with the Kurds in Turkey and his support for their rights; the true peace with Greece, Turkey's [longtime] enemy; and the economic prosperity of his country, which allowed it to knock on Europe's gates and apply for membership in the EU. [Erdogan] has many accomplishments, and there is much more that he can yet achieve. "[But] I advise him not to say things he does not mean in this region – where people are emotional and easily moved to either love or hate – because they have a good memory."Hmmmmm.......As i said before on Syria he won't turn against Ahmadinejad.Get Turkey out of NATO.Read the full story here.

• Muslims Riot, Kill 2 and Injure Many Others Over Hindu Idol.(Vinienco).There were Hindu – Muslim riots on the issue of installation of Ganesh idol at Ujjain. Two persons were killed and many got injured during these riots. Curfew has been imposed in the jurisdiction of 9 police stations in the city.The trouble began on Friday night in the Daulatgunj old town area of Ujjain after a Hindu shop-owner installed an idol of Ganesh at his store, which is adjacent to a mosque. Police said that some members of the Muslim community objected to it since the idol is un-Islamic and was near the Mosque where Muslims were praying. Although the idol was on the shopkeepers property, police urged the shopkeeper to shift the idol to another spot to calm the Muslim mob.When discussions were going about place of installation, riots started. The Muslim group tried to move the idol and began to stone pelt Police and Hindus trying to install the Ganesh idol. Two persons have been killed and many injured during the riots. The violent mob was caned and police opened tear gas shells to have control over them. The police, however, declared curfew when they failed to bring the situation under control. Additional police force has also been called from the neighboring district to calm the Muslim extremist mob.Read the full story here.

• The Price of Camels a Life and a womans value.(ArabNews).Blood Money or diyya is an Shariah principle that arose to avoid feuds and independent application of lex talionis or retribution. In the case of accidental death, it may be covered by insurance, but for intentional killings, it falls upon the miscreant and his family. The value of blood money has remained static in Saudi Arabia for the past 29 years. It is now being raised to three or four times the old value to keep in line with the changes in its baseline figure: the price of a camel.RIYADH: Royal consent has been given to raise the diyyah (blood money) limit for murder to SR400,000 and accidental killings to SR300,000, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Tuesday.The newspaper said the adjustments were requested by the Supreme Court in light of the hikes in the price of camels.According to Shariah rules, the heirs of a murdered person should be compensated with 100 camels. The new blood money values are expected to be circulated soon.Blood money values, currently set at SR110,000 for murder and SR100,000 for accidental killings, have been static for the last 29 years. Murdered women are paid half of the amount. The Supreme Council of Scholars had called for reviewing diyyah in light of the increasing prices of camels.The Saudi system still values women’s lives at half that of men and of non-Muslims at only a quarter.Judge Yasser Al-Balawi said he expected the changes in blood money levels to reduce crime in the Kingdom. It is also predicted that car insurance companies will increase their premiums in response.Fawwaz Al-Hijji, director of business development at Tawuniya, said the company would conduct a study to decide the price of new insurance policies.Read the full story here.