MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan 5.6 and Russia 5.4 ! More info here.

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

• Police Set Barricades as ‘Days of Rage’ Protesters Target Wall Street .Live updates-With Some Live Video.Source : TheBlaze .

• Obama says Americans must pay fair share to cut deficit and pay for his "PLAN".(AlArabiya).President Barack Obama said on Saturday that Americans need to be ready to “pay their fair share” to narrow the U.S. deficit, previewing his proposals to Congress that are expected to include more taxes on the rich. In his weekly radio and video address, the Democrat said his $447 billion jobs plan that features tax breaks for workers and small businesses, plus funds for public works projects and schools, “will not add to the deficit. It will be paid for.”“On Monday, I’ll lay out my plan for how we’ll do that − how we’ll pay for this plan and pay down our debt by following some basic principles: making sure we live within our means and asking everyone to pay their fair share.”(Hmmm.....Adressing Congress it was ""Everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything.")Obama has repeatedly argued for the wealthiest Americans to face higher taxes with fewer loopholes and exceptions as part of the effort to ensure the U.S. debt load remains in control. He is likely to float more taxes on the rich, as well as companies getting some tax breaks, in his Monday suggestions to a congressional “super committee” tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings over 10 years.Republicans, who have raised the volume on Washington’s fiscal problems as the November 2012 presidential election nears, see higher taxes on the wealthy as a problem for jobs, given that entrepreneurs and companies would be strongly affected.In his party’s weekly address, Republican Congressman Peter Roskam said Obama’s barnstorming about the jobs bill had masked other constraints on the economy that are keeping people from getting back to work.“Washington has become a red tape factory, with more than 4,000 rules in the pipeline − hundreds of which would cost our economy more than $100 million each annually,” Roskam said.The White House has conducted a regulatory overhaul to eliminate old and overlapping rules across U.S. government agencies. It was broadly welcomed by the private sector including major groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.Roskam said more regulations should be pared back as part of the effort to tackle unemployment. “I hope the president will consider our ideas as we take a look at his,” he said.Hmmmm.......Read my Lips" More new Taxes"?Read the full story here.

• "The Perfect Solar Storm" - Storm Clouds Gather Over Obama, Solyndra.(Examiner).While the sun has set on Solyndra, the solar panel company that received more than $500 million of taxpayer money only to go bankrupt, storm clouds are gathering over the Obama administration and its relationship with the now-defunct company.Many of you may not know much about Solyndra and that is primarily because most media outlets have remained mum on the subject or are hiding the news. Like the Chicago Tribune, for instance. In its Sept. 14 edition, the unfortunate death of popular Chicago Bears player Brian Urlacher’s mother was the top “news” story. Coverage of House hearings into the bankruptcy of Solyndra and how it got $535 MILLION of taxpayer money was pushed all the way to the bottom of page 20. I guess taxpayers being on the hook for more than one-half a billion dollars is minor compared to the death of a football player’s mom.Anyway, in March 2009, at the urging of the Obama White House, the Department of Energy loan department approved a $535 million guaranteed loan to Solyndra. Of course, the administration is trying to blame the Bush White House (what new?) because the loan application occurred while Bush was president. The fact is the Energy Department under President Bush DENIED the loan request from Solyndra during the administration’s waning days in early January of 2009. The Bush Energy Department denied the loan because the “company didn’t have good long-term prospects.”However, that isn’t deterring the Obama Energy Department from rewriting history. Jonathan Silver, who heads the Energy loan program, said, “By the time the Obama administration took office in late January 2009, the loan program’s staff had already established a goal of, and timeline for, issuing the company a conditional loan guarantee commitment in March 2009.”History, Mr. Silver, proves otherwise. Internal Energy Department e-mails indicate the panel evaluating the loan unanimously decided to shelve Solyndra’s loan application two weeks BEFORE Obama took office. But that didn’t stop a green-driven Obama administration from changing course. Two months later, new Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the government would give Solyndra a $535 million loan, funded with money from the stimulus program passed in February 2009.History also shows that the Obama White House asked the Energy Department to make a decision on the loan so they could schedule a visit by President Obama to the Solyndra facility to announce the loan. Records also show that Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser was a private backer of the deal and that he raised tens of thousands of dollars in 2008 for President Obama’s presidential campaign. Kaiser made repeated visits to the White House as did Solyndra executives (more than 20 to be exact). Solyndra executives also were telling Democratic members of Congress that Solyndra was a financially strong company that was doing well. They were telling this to the Obama White House and Democratic members of Congress even just weeks before the company shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy.White House and Energy Department e-mails show the Obama administration was hot to trot over Solyndra. Vice President Biden appeared at the company’s groundbreaking ceremony in 2009 and President Obama showed up May 23, 2010 to tout the company, its green products and the green jobs being created. One month after Obama touted the green jobs being created at Solyndra, the company laid off 100 workers. One cannot make this stuff up.All of this took place even as administration analysts were skeptical of the company’s claims and business stability. “This deal is NOT (emphasis in original e-mail and not my own) ready for prime time,” one White House budget analyst wrote all the way back on March 10, 2009. A few days before Solyndra’s groundbreaking ceremony in September 2009, a Department of Energy official concluded the company would run out of money by September 2011. Wow, a government analyst actually got a prediction correct!Unfortunately, no one in the Obama administration seemed to care as it continually pushed the company as a shining light in the green movement and green jobs creation.Taxpayers lost more than half a billion dollars on this company, and now 1,100 people are out of work. The Obama administration, which received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from those affiliated with Solyndra, continually touted the company as a shining example of the green economy and green jobs even as administration analysts doubted the company’s viability. And the agreement by the Energy Department to allow recent investors to recoup their investment before taxpayers is deemed illegal.And now the Obama White House is scrambling to approve another 15 loans through the Energy Department before Sept. 30. There is $10 billion still available in the Energy Department loan program that must be used by the end of the month or be re-allocated. Rather than wasting that money, wouldn’t it be better to either save that money or at least use it to help pay for the disaster costs associated with Hurricane Irene? I guess that makes too much sense.The worst presidency in U.S. history is now embroiled in a developing scandal, with another scandal brewing as well: the Fast and Furious gun-running program with Mexican drug gangs. Anyway, November 2012 can’t come soon enough, nor can January 2013.Hmmmm.....Can they startup the impeachment procedure now?Is this why they start Shoving Hillary on the front row?Realising Obama will get Impeached on this?Read the full story here.

• Related - White House Allowed Obama Campaign Donor To Act As Second Lender To Solyndra, Waived First Creditor Status.(NYTimes).Washington — The political brawl over Solyndra, the solar array manufacturer that received $528 million in government aid and then went bankrupt, shifted focus Friday to a decision by the Energy Department that allowed another lender to step in to help rescue the company.That decision in February gave Solyndra a temporary reprieve and a chance to survive, but it also forced the government to waive its privilege as first creditor in the event of a bankruptcy — which then occurred at the end of August.Complicating the politics of the situation for the Obama administration, the other lender was Argonaut, the investment company backed by George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire who is an Obama campaign contributor. Argonaut was already heavily invested in Solyndra, and provided another $69 million in cash in exchange for taking over $75 million that Solyndra was owed by its customers.The Energy Department’s approval was required for Solyndra to borrow any new funds, because if the loan was consummated, the federal government would have to surrender its status as the most senior lender, in favor of the new lender.Hmmmm......."Solyndra Gate"?Read the full story here.

• LightSquared Update: Obama Was A LightSquared Investor!(ObamaFailBlog).Earlier this week, we learned that the Obama administration pressured Air Force general William Shelton to change his testimony to help a company owned by Obama donor William Falcone.

The company is a LightSquared - a broadband satellite company.General Shelton contends LightSquared's new wireless project interferes with military GPS systems.Turns out President Obama was doing alot more than attempting to help out a major donor - Obama himself was (or still is?) an early investor in LightSquared!

Obama himself was an early investor and came to the presidency a firm believer in expanding broadband. He remains close to other early investors, like Gips and investment manager George W. Haywood, inviting some to luxe social events at the White House and more intimate gatherings like a night of poker and beer.

Source: Huffington Post via The Lonely Conservative

And it gets worse... There were waivers involved:

Obama installed one of his biggest fundraisers, Julius Genachowski, a campaign "bundler" and broadband cheerleader, as chairman of the FCC, whose staff granted LightSquared a special waiver to operate.

 Source: Huffington Post via The Lonely Conservative

         And it gets EVEN WORSE...

Jeffrey J. Carlisle, the company's vice president for regulatory affairs, served with Genachowski and Gips on Obama's transition team.

Source: Huffington Post via The Lonely Conservative .Read the full story here.

• Devout taxi drivers allowed to veto strip-club roof ads.(NYPost).The great religious war, waged on top of yellow cabs, has ended.Devout Muslim hacks -- who were crouched behind their steering wheels in shame while driving with ads for strip clubs atop their taxis -- won a major victory yesterday in their war on roof smut. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission agreed to give cabbies who own their vehicles absolute veto power on the content of ads on their cars -- delighting scores of modest hacks of various faiths who had fought hard for the rule overhaul. “We are Muslims, and we do not like the ads!” crowed cabby Mohamed Tahir, 66, whose cab is topped with an image of a sexy brunette from Flashdancers Gentlemen’s Club.He added, “If I had another ad, I’d change it right away! It bothers many of us.” It won’t have to anymore. Under the new rules, Tahir and other conservative cabbies who own their vehicles will have the right to nix any advertisements they deem offensive. Previously, the owners of the taxi medallion -- often someone other than the car’s owner -- could decide what ads went up.“The law is now on our side!” said a jubilant Osman Chowdhury, a longtime cabby and leading member of the Bangladesh Society in Queens. Last week, he was so embarrassed at the strip-club ad on his cab -- which he uses as his primary mode of transportation during off hours -- that he refused to drive it to his mosque for services. “I had to walk to mosque,” said Chowdhury. “People getting out of the mosque would see the disgusting things.”Prior to the vote, several cabbies recounted their shame at promoting jiggle joints to the TLC board of commissioners -- in a desperate effort to convince them to change the rules. In one horrifying example, cabby Mohan Singh recalled his 6-year-old granddaughter telling him she wanted to be a “dancer” -- after seeing a Flashdancers ad atop his taxi. That risque ad also prompted his grandnephew to ask what a “gentlemen’s club” was and if he could ever go to one. “We should keep [the advertisement] there to tell the children that it is good?” he asked angrily. In lobbying the board to vote yes on the rule change, Singh said, “I think you will be kindhearted and do what is right.” The TLC board obliged yesterday, prompting a burst of applause from the appreciative crowd. “If you’re a taxi driver who owns his or her own car, you take it home, your neighbors see it,” said TLC Commissioner David Yassky, who strongly supported the rules change. "This is an appropriate and measured step that gives the driver the authority to screen out ads.” Medallion owners make, on average, about $125 a month from the rooftop ads. It is now illegal for medallion owners to dictate what ad content is displayed over the wishes of the car owners.Singh -- the driver whose granddaughter noticed the Flashdancers ad -- said he would never again have another strip-club ad on his car.“The most important thing is for the children,” he said after the TLC’s action.Hmmmm......FOX NEWS:"No. 1 Nation in Sexy Web Searches? Call it Pornistan a.k.a. Devout Pakistan ".And: Iranian web users rank highest for visits to porn sites on Holy Day: Ashura Day, a Shiite day of mourning.Another Country of 'Devout' Muslims.Read the full story here.

• Sheriff Joe Arpaio Constituted Law Enforcement Posse to Investigate Obama's Birth Certificate.(BR).Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona has constituted a special law enforcement posse to investigate allegations brought by members of the Surprise, Ariz., Tea Party that the birth certificate Barack Obama released to the public April 27 might be a forgery, WND has learned.The posse, under the authority of Arpaio's office, will consist of two former law enforcement officers and two retired attorneys, headed by Michael Zullo, a retired police detective originally from Bergen County, N.J.  WND confirmed with Zullo and with Arpaio's office that the investigation into the Obama birth certificate has been sanctioned fully by Arpaio's office. The investigation, they said, will be conducted with "utmost diligence," and the investigators will be authorized to utilize subpoena power.Arpaio spokesman Lt. Justin Griffin told WND that Arpaio's posse will consist entirely of volunteers and will avoid incurring any cost to the taxpayers of Maricopa County."I am very grateful that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a sincere man of his word and a fearless, patriotic American," Brian Reilly, a spokesman for the Surprise Tea Party, told WND.The document in question, which has been described as a fraud by numerous analysts and experts in imaging, documents and computers: Reilly had less kind words for his representatives in Washington, D.C."Congress should be ashamed," he said. "They didn't even have the backbone to uphold their constitutional oaths of office to initiate this investigation."Arpaio's move is unprecedented in that WND research can find no other instance in United States history in which a county sheriff's office has undertaken an investigation of a document pertaining to a sitting United States president.Arpaio's decision follows a meeting held in his office Aug. 17 with a group of Surprise Tea Party representatives, including Reilly. Four days later, the group presented a formal letter to Arpaio expressing concern that should Obama use a forged birth certificate to prove his eligibility for the 2012 presidential ballot in Arizona, the voting rights of the residents of Maricopa County could be irreparably compromised.Read and see the full story here.

• Iran: Court to commute sentences for 2 American Hikers.(WashingtonTimes).TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister says the courts are willing “in near future” to commute the prison sentences for two jailed Americans convicted for spying.Ali Akbar Salehi says Iran’s judiciary was ready to cancel the sentences as a gesture of Islamic mercy. But he did not give any clearer indication on when the two men could be released.Salehi comments at a news conference Saturday come as international efforts intensified to seal a $1 million bail-for-freedom deal for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. They were detained along the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009 and each sentenced to eight years in prison.Mediators from Iraq and Oman have asked Iran to free them and an Omani plane is in Tehran to carry the pair out of Iran if a deal is reached.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The defense lawyer for two Americans jailed in Iran moved ahead with bail arrangements on Saturday, as international efforts intensified to seal a freedom-for-bail deal for the two men, convicted of spying.Attorney Masoud Shafiei told The Associated Press he was in court, “following up the case” of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Shafiei said he hopes Iran’s judiciary will clear the way for payment of $1 million in exchange for the Americans’ release.Bauer and Fattal were detained along the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009 with their friend Sarah Shourd. She was released last September with mediation by Oman after $500,000 was paid. They maintain their innocence.The first word of the bail offer for Bauer and Fattal, who have been in jail more than two years, came earlier this week from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He said the Americans could be freed in a matter of days. But Iran’s powerful judiciary then responded that the bail provisions were still under review.The mixed signals could reflect the bitter internal political feuds inside Iran between Ahmadinejad and the country’s ruling clerics, who control the courts. Ahmadinejad and his allies are accused of trying to challenge the power of Iran’s Islamic establishment.Shafiei said two judges have to sign the bail papers before the Americans could be released.By noon Saturday, the Iranian lawyer said one judge had already signed while the second one was expected to do so in a matter of hours. Once the two signatures were in place, the bail money can be posted, Shafiei added.Mediators from Iraq and Oman have asked Iran to release the men on humanitarian grounds.A plane from the Gulf state is in Tehran to carry the pair out of Iran if a bail-for-freedom deal is reached. Swiss officials also are involved as representatives of U.S. interests in Iran, which has no diplomatic ties with America.Read the full story here.

• Canada: Islamic Prayers in Schools and the Looming Elections.(EdmontonJournal).With the Ontario election less than a month away, provincial party leaders are being pressed to take a public stance on religious teachings in secular schools.“Everyone knows that it is a violation of the Education Act, which bars any religion in public schools,” said Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) founder Tarek Fatah. “But none of them (party leaders) has the courage to say that.”Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty, Progressive Conservative Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath have stayed mum on whether they support public tax dollars funding religious studies in the public school system. Earlier this year, McGuinty said that the issue of religious accommodation is up to the school board to decide, and should align with the Ontario Human Rights Code, which promotes freedom to practise religion.But Fatah says the politicians are passing the buck, afraid that they will lose the Muslim vote if they speak out against a regular prayer service at an east Toronto school. The public school has been permitting an afternoon Islamic prayer service in its cafeteria for its students for the past year.An imam directs the voluntary 40-minute service every Friday, which was started after administrators realized that many students missed class because they had to leave the school to attend the service at a mosque. The school has come under fire in the past couple of months, after it was revealed that the service segregates male and female students and is not monitored by school officials.The MCC goes as far to accuse the school of being under the thumb of the local mosque, which Fatah says is run by religious leaders who believe in sharia law and jihad.“The public school system has become a prisoner of the mosque,” he said. “Nobody is stopping these kids from going to prayer but how did a mosque end up in a public school? It’s ridiculous.”The Canadian Secular Alliance, a public advocacy group calling for the separation of church and state, is organizing a protest. “Religious indoctrination should not be funded by tax dollars,” said the group’s president Greg Oliver.The CSA is calling for the end of the Muslim prayer service, but also for funding to be cut from Catholic schools and Gay-Straight Alliance groups to be welcomed in all schools. “We want to make this an issue for the election,” he said. “Unfortunately, the big three parties have been avoiding these issues.”This isn’t the first time this has been a contentious election issue.In the 2007 provincial election, then-PC leader John Tory promised if elected, he would spend $400 million on funding for Jewish, Muslim and other religious schools. The idea resulted in controversy, which some pundits say cost Tory the election.Read the full story here.

• The Caliph man who could trigger a world war.(OttowaCitizen).The greatest threat to the world’s peace, at this moment, comes from a man named Recip Tayyip Erdogan. He is the prime minister of Turkey, at the head of the Justice and Development Party (“AK,” from the Turkish). A former mayor of Istanbul, he was arrested and jailed when he publicly recited Islamist verses (“the mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets are our bayonets,” etc.), in defiance of the old secularist, Ataturk constitution, which made it an offence to incite religious and racial fanaticism.Erdogan’s credentials as an anti-Semite, but also as an anti-Communist, were established from his school days. He came from an observant Muslim family, and while nothing he says can be taken without salt, he claims an illustrious ancestry, of fighters for Turkish and Ottoman causes.He is an “interesting case” in other respects. His post-secondary education was in economics; he is a very capable technocrat, and under his direction the Turkish economy was rescued. He is a dragonslayer of inflation, and public deficits; he took dramatic and effective measures to clean up squalor in the Turkish bureaucracy, and as the saying goes, “he made the trains run on time.”Erdogan is also a “democrat,” who has no reason not to be, because he enjoys tremendous and abiding domestic popularity. The party he founded came to power by a landslide, and has been twice re-elected. (He had a stand-in for prime minister at first, for he was still banned from public office.) There are demographic reasons, too, why Turkish secularism has been overwhelmed by Turkish Islamism. The Muslim faithful have babies; modern secularists don’t.Turkey's powerful, western-equipped military is now entirely Erdogan's baby, and the country's secularist constitution is a dead letter. Erdogan, the Islamist, now has absolute power.It was he who sent the "peace flotilla" to challenge Israel's right to blockade Gaza (recognized under international law and explicitly by the U.N.). He made the inevitable violent result of that adventure into an anti-Israeli cause célèbre. He has now announced that the next peace flotilla will be accompanied by the Turkish navy.This will put Israel in the position of either surrendering its right to defend itself, or firing on Turkish naval vessels. There is no way to overstate the gravity of this: Erdogan is manoeuvring to create a casus belli.Hmmmm......Here we go again...Get Turkey out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• Turkey wants to revive Ottoman Empire.(Pravda).By Sergei Balmasov .First, the emergence of the Turkish Navy in the Red Sea is largely a reaction to the appearance of the Iranian fleet in the area. In addition, Turkey intends to demonstrate a desire to show its power in the region strategically important for the West, where the oil routes from the Persian Gulf run.
Second, attention should be paid to Turkey's policy in respect of all Arab countries. Turkey openly threatened Syria to send troops to northern Iraq, and participated in the NATO operation against Libya.As for Egypt, under Murambak Cairo considered Ankara a dangerous competitor in terms of influence on the Middle East and Arab countries.  Of course, they remain competitors today. But then Egypt used to rely on the full support of the West. Now the situation has changed: the revolutionary changes in the country are just beginning, and Islamist sentiment out there is much worse. Turkey would not mind to use the opportunity to try to expand its influence in this country through the development of the economic ties and military-technical cooperation.Last but not least factor has to do with the events of "Arab spring" that led to the collapse of the former authoritarian regimes. In this regard, Turkey would not mind using the opportunity to, first, divert public attention from the purely Turkish reality and increase its influence in the region.
It is significant how Islamists Erdogan and Gul support Syrian and Egyptian "Muslim Brothers". This is mostly not an ideological affinity, but the intention to place a bet in the global game. The West supports the Liberals who have no influence on the masses of protesters who sympathize with the radicals like those "brothers." 
As for Israel itself, its attitude towards Turkey's behavior is rather unemotional. The Israeli leadership is well aware that strong statements by the Turkish leadership are in fact more focused on winning sympathy among Arabs.In the discussion about the Israeli-Turkish verbal dispute, it should be emphasized that the actions of Ankara are aimed not so much against the interests of Tel Aviv, but at restoring its influence in the eastern Mediterranean and southern Europe.
The Turkish leadership is doing all it can to show that its activity is directed against Israel, to whose shores a few frigates and corvettes as well as dozens of missile boats and support vessels will soon rush.
However, it is sufficient to consider "a new naval strategy" with a great name "Operation Barbarossa - Aegean shield" adopted a few days earlier, which implies that Israeli ships would be placed between Cyprus and Israel. This will allow the latter to make an equal influence not only on the Tel-Aviv, but also Nicosia and Athens. Anti-Israel rhetoric in this case is more like a camouflage to conceal the true intentions of the South-European direction.In the past six months, Ankara has been aggressively pursuing its policy towards Cyprus and has been trying to prevent the of oil and gas deposits at its shores going to Greek companies. Moreover, the Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagysh openly declared the possibility of using military force to prevent such a scenario.
But there is more to it. Turkey has also announced its plans to increase its Navy presence in the Adriatic Sea. It is known that in the near future a new "assignment" will be given to at least some of the 14 Turkish submarines. This way Ankara intends to strengthen its influence among the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), openly declaring this to the European Union that had its own plans for the future of BiH.In the middle of the 18th century the Ottoman Empire has steadily weakened and lost its influence in the world on all fronts, starting with the Maghreb and ending with the Balkan and Caucasus. It was evidenced by lost wars with its neighbors, including Russia.
Finally, in the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had the contemptuous name of a "sick man of Europe". Such a characterization was fully justified considering losses in a war with Russia (1877-1878), clashes with the Balkan states, and loss of its Italian possessions in Libya1912-1913.
The defeat in World War I meant not only the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, which had lost virtually all the Arab lands. The existence of Turkey in general as an independent state was at stake.While in 1922 Kemal managed to beat Greece supported by the Entente, it seemed that the Turks have never recovered from the defeat of 1918. Yet, after 100 years of "gathering strength" Turkey seems to be going back to claim the lost. Inevitably, the Turkish activity will be more manifested in the Caucasian and Crimean directions, which cannot but worry Russia.Hmmm.....The "sick man of Europe" is back.Read the full story here.

• Davutoglu: Turkey doesn't need US mediation in Israel crisis.(Ynet).Turkey does not need United States' mediation to solve a long-lasting crisis with Israel over a deadly 2010 flotilla raid, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday."We do not need mediation ... for Israel in any way," Davutoglu said during a televised press conference in the central province of Konya when asked to comment on the possibility of the US helping to resolve their differences."There is no such situation in which mediation is needed. The demands of Turkey are clear" if its former ally Israel wants to improve relations, Davutoglu said. "No one should test our resolve on this matter," he said, adding that Israeli-Turkish relations might be on the agenda among other issues of a meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama next week on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. "The Americans are probably the people who best understand Turkey's position on this issue," Davutoglu added. Addressing Cyprus' plan to begin gas exploration in the Mediterranean, Davutoglu said such a move would amount to a "provocation" and if drilling went ahead Turkey would consider carrying out its own offshore surveys with northern Cyprus. "If this fait accompli continues we have steps of our own that we will take ... northern Cyprus can carry out the same explorations with Turkey and TPAO," he said, referring to Turkey's state-owned oil and gas exploration company.Earlier this week, Erdogan continued his aggressive rhetoric towards Israel, saying the Jewish State could not do "whatever it wanted" in the eastern Mediterranean and that Turkish warships could be there at any moment. Erdogan also spoke of the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey, saying that "Islam and democracy are not contradictory" and reiterating that the only way to normalize the situation is for Israel to offer an official apology for the 2010 raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla.Hmmmm.......Erdogan: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers".Read the full story here.

• Hamas to Abbas: UN bid 'empty of content'.(Ynet).Not all Palestinians are in favor of the United Nations' bid: Following the dramatic speech made by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, serious disagreements between Fatah and Hamas rose to the surface once more. After the self-restrain Hamas chose to display in recent months in regards to Abbas' diplomatic moves, the terror organization has now decided to make its stance clear. Hamas announced that the UN bid is empty of content, claiming they could not support it because it de facto recognizes the State of Israel along the 1967 borders. Hamas official Yusef Rizka, political advisor to Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, criticized Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, claiming the Palestinian leader's speech "left some issues undefined and unclear on a legal level." Rizka said he is not sure how Abbas can say the Palestinian plan will not affect the issue of refugees and the legitimacy of the Palestine Liberation Organization, while British legal experts made it clear that this bid can affect them both. Rizka was referring to the London meeting between Fatah Central Committee member Saeb Erekat and British legal experts back in August. During that meeting, Erekat warned that the Palestinian statehood bid might have legal repercussions preventing Palestinian refugees from their right of return, as well as hurt the legal status of the PLO. The Palestinians Authority quickly clarified that they had obtained other legal opinions stating the UN bid does not endanger the status of refugees. In his speech Friday, Abbas took a jab at Hamas, stressing that the PLO is the chief organization representing the Palestinian people. "We are the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and we intend to keep going until we secure full independence," he said.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum addressed Abbas' speech, saying its intention was to "market negotiations with Israel." Barhoum added that the Palestinian president's plan to demand full membership in the UN is "part of his own personal plans having to do with the fate of the Palestine people." The Hamas spokesperson added that Abbas is acting without consulting the Palestinian people and their political factions.Barhoum stated that Hamas will not support any plan which recognizes Israel or goes against the Palestinian people's rights, especially their right of return and self-determination. He also added that Abbas' speech goes against the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.Hmmmm......Therefor they do not meet the conditions for statehood !Read the full story here.

• Intelligence Service: Several Dutchmen Participate in Jihad.(TundraTabloids).Jan-Kees Goet, the acting Head of the Dutch General Intelligence Service (AIVD) said that there are several Dutchmen presently active in the Jihad. In the past two years, tens of Dutchmen have tried to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. A few days ago it became known that a Dutch Somalian is active in the Somalian terror group al-Shabaab.The AIVD said that one risk is that these people attack NATO soldiers in Afghanistan for instance. Another is that they return to the Netherlands with fighting experience and then plan a terrorist attack. The internet plays a crucial role for them in finding their way to terror groups. The AIVD adds that even though society pays little attention to it, there is still a threat of Muslim terrorism.Read the full story here.

• Barry Rubin: Obama's move to counter PA bid for statehood will fail.(RubinReport).By Barry Rubin.I have seen about 20 articles today about why the UN bid isn’t in the PA’s interest and why they should stop. But none of these articles really point out that the opposite is true: the PA has pretty much nothing to lose. Will the United States cut off all aid? Of course not. Will it make them moreun popular at home? No. If it kills talks with Israel? That’s good. They don’t need or want them. If it delays the creation of a real state? Since the PA can’t and won’t negotiate for a compromise agreement it doesn’t matter. The PA will get a huge majority in the General Assembly and that will seem a diplomatic victory. If the United States vetos, the PA has an excuse for not succeeding.If you don’t confront the reality of why a country or group act the way it does–and why a weak Western policy makes radical behavior possible–any discussion of the issue is a waste of time.Here is the problem with “international efforts to avoid the Palestinian UN bid.” To say this is not an attempt to avoid giving some constructive advice. Rather, giving constructive advice requires using this as a starting point and explaining why this is true.

First, it’s too late. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been talking repeatedly about this gambit for almost a year. Why is it only now, when it is so thoroughly committed to this effort, is the U.S. government staging a campaign against unilateral independence? The failure to start earlier has destroyed any attempt to avoid this disastrous outcome.

Second, the U.S. government did virtually nothing to mobilize other countries to oppose this campaign. What should have happened is that starting in late 2010, the White House should have begun lining up votes. American ambassadors should have been given high-priority instructions to talk with the leaders of the countries to which they were accredited and put together a coalition to avoid the coming crisis. It failed to do so.

Third, the U.S. government has never used real leverage to persuade the PA to relent or to convince other countries to oppose the UN General Assembly backing for a unilateral independence bid. No threats have been made; no benefits offered; power applied.Hmmmm......"I Will Stand With the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”Read the full story here.

• Philippines: ‘Sex strike’ by Women Brings Peace to Muslim South.(Vinienco).Women in the southern Philippines brought peace to their strife-torn village by threatening to withhold sex if their men kept fighting, the UN refugee agency reported Friday.The “sex strike” in rural Dado village on the often lawless southern island of Mindanao in July helped end tensions and bring some prosperity to the 102 families living there, said UNHCR national officer Rico Salcedo.“The area is in a town which is subject to conflict, family feuds, land disputes. The idea came personally from the women,” Salcedo told AFP.The idea was conceived by a group of women who had set up a sewing business but found that they could not deliver their products because the village road was closed by the threat of violence, Salcedo said.Sporadic shooting incidents between men in the village had occurred especially near the road, the UNHCR said.“There had been a string of clan conflicts. You would have a number of men who would go against another family. There were scattered incidents of shooting at each other,” said UNHCR staffer Tom Temprosa.The sewing group’s leader, Hasna Kandatu, said they warned their husbands they would be cut off from sex if they continued causing trouble.“If you go there (to fight), you won’t be able to come back. I won’t accept you,” Kandatu recalled telling her husband, in a video on the UNHCR website.Her husband, Lengs Kupong, recalled his wife telling him: “If you do bad things, you will be cut off, here,” he said, motioning below his waist.Feuds between Muslim clans over land, money or political influence have been a major source of violence in the southern Philippines, helping fuel a Muslim separatist insurgency and brutal crimes, rights groups and scholars have said.In the worst case of such feuds, members of an influential Muslim clan are being tried for allegedly murdering 57 people in the south in 2009 to keep a rival family from challenging them in local elections.Read the full story here.