MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity Japan 5.1  ! More info here.

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

• BREAKING NEWS: U.S. foils Iranian government terror plot to kill Saudi ambassador in D.C. and bomb Saudi and Israeli embassies.(DailyMail)HT:(InfidelBloggers).The United States has stopped a 'significant terrorist act' linked to Iran which wanted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Washington DC by blowing up a restaurant.The assassination of Adel Al-Jubeir would have been followed by bomb attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington.The plot has support from the Iranian government and two men allegedly working for 'factions of the Iranian government' have been charged with the plot, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday.The 21-page criminal complaint, unsealed on Tuesday, identifies the two alleged plotters as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri.Both are originally from Iran but Arbabsiar, 56, is a naturalized U.S. citizen.Arbabsiar was arrested on September 29 in New York at JFK airport, according to Holder, was working for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard and had confessed to a plot.After his arrest Arbabsiar made phone calls to Shakuri in Iran that were monitored. During the calls, Shakuri allegedly confirmed that Arbabsiar should move forward with the plot to murder the Ambassador and that he should accomplish the task as quickly as possible, stating on October 5, 2011, '[j]ust do it quickly, it’s late...' Shakuri, who is based in Iran, remains at large.Shakuri is an Iran-based member of Iran’s Qods Force, a special operations unit of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that sponsors and promotes terrorist activities abroad.    The case, called Operation Red Coalition, started in May when Iranian-American Arbabsiar from Corpus Christi, Texas, sought help for the assassination from a Mexican drug cartel and inadvertently approached a US informant.Arbabsiar allegedly wired $100,000 to the informant as a down payment for the $1.5million assassination fee.According to the complaint, Arbabsiar told agents he was recruited, funded and directed by men he understood to be senior officials in Iran’s Qods Force.He allegedly said these Iranian officials were aware of and approved of the plot.It is unclear if Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was aware of the plot. His spokesman laughed off the accusation.Both defendants are charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official; conspiracy to engage in foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire; conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives); and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism transcending national boundaries.   Arbabsiar is further charged with an additional count of foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.Developing.... Read full story here.

• Hmmmm......After 'the Fast and Furious' ....the 'Slow and Sneaky" to save Holder?US Thwarts Major Iran-Linked Terror Plot in D.C.(BigPeace).

-Conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. Plot to bomb D.C.

-Holder says Iran will be held accountable. Promises action against the Iranian government as early as this afternoon.

-Two arrests made.

-The suspects are identified as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri. According to a criminal complaint, Arbabsiar is a naturalized U.S. citizen who holds both a U.S. and an Iranian passport. One suspect has confessed.

-Holder leaves after presser shifts to “fast and furious.”

-Obama first briefed on alleged Iran plot in June.

The case, called Operation Red Coalition, began in May when an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, approached a US informant seeking the help of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, according to counter-terrorism officials.The Iranian-American thought he was dealing with a member of the feared Zetas Mexican drug organization, according to agents quoted by ABC.The report said bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Argentina were also discussed.Hmmmm....If they knew in June why wait to 'release' the news till now....If not to get Holder out of the spotlight?Read the full story here.

• NO Shocker. Obama’s Top Political Advisor Directly Linked to Occupy Wall Street Protests.(TheGatewayPundit).Obama political advisor Patrick Gaspard holds the same White House position his Bush-era predecessor, Karl Rove, did. But before he was the White House political czar he worked in several far left organizations as activist and agitator.
  NLPC.org reported:

One of the more disturbing aspects of the Obama-ACORN connection is that the White House political affairs director is one Patrick Gaspard.
Gaspard doesn’t register on the media radar screen in the way that his immediate Bush-era predecessor, Karl Rove, did. But as the New Orleans-based ACORN has been implicated in a host of illegal schemes ranging from voter registration fraud to embezzlement to tax evasion, he may get there. That’s because prior to assuming his current job, Gaspard, at least according to ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had been political director for the New York City chapter of ACORN under Bertha Lewis, who last year replaced Rathke as the group’s chief organizer and CEO. What’s more, he’s worked closely with the ACORN-controlled Working Families Party and the largest local within the Service Employees International Union.

This weekend the Working Families Party of New York, Gaspard’s organization, placed an ad on Craig’s list for paid activists to fight Wall Street.What a coincidence!The organization run by current White House political director Patrick Gaspard is paying far left activists to continue the protests against Wall Street. No wonder Barack Obama supports the far left protest movement!Hmmmm........"To protect and uphold The Constitution"?Read the full story here.

• Head of DOE Loans Program Resigns Following Solyndra Scandal.(Environmental-Finance).By Gloria Gonzalez.The head of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office has resigned in the midst of the controversy surrounding the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.Jonathan Silver was the executive director of the DOE’s unit responsible for making the $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, although he was not with the department when the guarantee was issued in September 2009.Silver informed Energy Secretary Steven Chu of his plans to resign after the Section 1705 loan guarantee programme expired on 30 September back in July when it became clear that no significant new funds would be awarded to the programme, according to a statement by Chu.But Silver’s resignation will not satisfy Republicans in the House of Representatives who want answers about why the loan guarantee was made despite questions being raised about the company’s financial health by rank and file government staffers.“Mr. Silver’s resignation does not solve the problem,” said Congressman Fred Upton (R-Michigan), chairman of the House energy and commerce committee, and Cliff Stearns (R-Florida), chair of the oversight and investigations subcommittee. “We are in the midst of the Solyndra investigation and just days removed from Mr. Silver’s mad rush to finalise $4.7 billion in loans before the statutory deadline.”The Section 1705 programme is supporting 28 projects with total loan amounts of about $16 billion, with 90% of the loan volume related to power generation projects that are backed by long-term power purchase agreements, according to the DOE.President Barack Obama, whose administration has been under fire for the Solyndra loan guarantee, defended the programme on Thursday.“We knew from the start that the loan guarantee programme was going to entail some risk,” he said. “If it was a risk-free proposition, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it. But the overall portfolio has been successful. There were going to be some companies that did not work out; Solyndra was one of them. But the process by which the decision was made was on the merits. And of course there were going to be debates internally when you’re dealing with something as complicated as this.”The president also hit back at Stearns’ comments that the US can’t compete with China in the production of solar panels and wind turbines.“I don’t buy that,” Obama said. “I’m not going to surrender to other countries technological leads that could end up determining whether or not we’re building a strong middle class in this country. And so we’re going to have to keep on pushing hard to make sure that manufacturing is located here, new businesses are located here and new technologies are developed here. And there are going to be times where it doesn’t work out, but I’m not going to cave to the competition when they are heavily subsidising all these industries.”Silver will join centrist think-tank Third Way as a visiting distinguished senior fellow.“There is a clear need for the US to engage in the emerging $2.3 trillion global clean energy market,” said Third Way President Jonathan Cowan. “I can think of few people better to help us think through how to do this than Jonathan.”Silver will work on expanding the clean energy team’s innovation project. “I’m looking forward to collaborating with the team on energy policy and energy finance issues,” he said.Prior to joining the DOE’s Loan Programs Office, Silver was co-founder and a managing director of Core Capital Partners, a successful early-stage investor in alternative energy technology, advanced manufacturing, telecommunications and software.Read the full story here.

• Hypocritical Obama attacks banks while raking in Wall Street dough.(Dailycaller).Despite his rhetorical attacks on Wall Street, a study by the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Project shows that President Barack Obama has received more money from Wall Street than any other politician over the past 20 years, including former President George W. Bush.In 2008, Wall Street’s largesse accounted for 20 percent of Obama’s total take, according to Reuters.When asked by The Daily Caller to comment about President Obama’s credibility when it comes to criticizing Wall Street, the White House declined to reply.Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer says the distance between the president’s rhetoric and actions makes him look hypocritical.“It’s almost as if President Obama won’t cross across a Wall Street picket line except to get inside with [his] hand out, so he can raise money,” Fleischer told TheDC, referring to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who the president has been encouraging over the past week. “That sort of support causes him to look hypocritical.”“They can’t say we hate Wall Street, but we love their money,” Fleischer said.Being Wall Street’s campaign cash king is hardly the image President Obama has been trying to project in public, where he has been setting himself up as the champion of the progressive Occupy Wall Street movement and as the avenger of jilted Bank of America customers.“Banks can make money,” Obama said last week, responding to questions during an interview with ABC News about Bank of America’s decision to levy a $5 monthly fee on debit card users. “They can succeed, the old-fashioned way, by earning it.”In fact, the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks lobbyist spending and influence in both parties, found that President Obama has received more money from Bank of America than any other candidate dating back to 1991.An examination of the numbers shows that Obama took in $421,242 in campaign contributions in 2008 from Bank of America’s executives, PACs and employees, which exceeded its prior record contribution of $329,761 to President George W. Bush in 2004.According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Wall Street firms also contributed more to Obama’s 2008 campaign than they gave to Republican nominee John McCain.“The securities and investment industry is Obama’s second largest source of bundlers, after lawyers, at least 56 individuals have raised at least $8.9 million for his campaign,” Massie Ritsch wrote in a Sept. 18, 2008 entry on the Center for Responsive Politics’s OpenSecrets blog.By the end of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, executives and others connected with Wall Street firms, such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, UBS AG, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, poured nearly $15.8 million into his coffers.Hmmmm........Read the full story here.

• Donald Trump: "Unemployment is really probably at 21 percent if you go by the real numbers".(Newsmax).The nation’s unemployment rate is significantly higher than stated in the government’s monthly tallies and the number of jobless citizens is now approaching levels not seen since the Great Depression, Donald Trump and author Robert Kiyosaki tell Newsmax.TV.The two discussed the dire state of the economy during a lengthy sit-down interview in Trump’s New York office to promote their new book, “Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich - And Why Most Don’t.”The official unemployment rate released by the Department of Labor for September was 9.1 percent. At the height of the Great Depression of the 1930s the number stood at about 25 percent.“The sad thing is unemployment is really probably at 21 percent if you go by the real numbers,” Trump said. “When you say 9.1 … that number is not a real number, the real number is 21 percent and it could even be higher than that.”“So it’s a bad time and we wrote the ‘Midas Touch,’” Trump continued. “We had great success in our first book - it went to the number one book on just about every list, and it was really a terrific book, but we think this is better. And we wrote this for these times. We feel there are better opportunities today than there were five years ago.”Trump was referring to the first book he co-authored with Kiyosaki entitled, “Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message.” Kiyosaki, best known for his “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” series of books, said the unemployment rate in the country was one reason for writing the new book.“Unemployment is a major, major, major problem and governments don’t really create jobs entrepreneurs do,” Kiyosaki confirmed. “And so we got together and said let’s make this as simple as possible for anybody to understand if they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur because many people have good ideas, but they’re not entrepreneurs.”Trump, the star of “Celebrity Apprentice,” attributed his success to one thing. “Well I think I had a lot of good ideas, but also I don’t quit,” he said. “I see so many people and we discuss this in the Midas Touch, in the book. I see so many people that have ideas, and they’re good ideas in many cases, and they give up — they don’t push forward. And one of the things we discuss very strongly is the fact you have to come up with the right ideas, the right product, whatever it might be, but never, ever quit.”Kiyosaki boiled down the key to success as an entrepreneur to five things: strength of character, focus, knowing what you stand for, relationships, and knowing what you do best.“We’ve both had our ups and downs,” Kiyosaki said of himself and Trump. “I say he’s lost lots of money, I’ve lost lots of money, and it’s easy to quit at that time. But can we make the money back is when the strength of character kicks in. I would say that’s the most important thing.”Some people are born to be a Babe Ruth or musical prodigy, Trump noted, and others can be taught. However, entrepreneurship is not for everyone.“One of the things I always discuss — whenever I’m speaking or whenever I’m talking about success, and I think it’s very important to understand — some people are better off having a job, they’re better off not being entrepreneurs,” he said.“They can’t handle pressure, they can’t handle certain things in life, and they’re better off. And there’s nothing wrong with being a great employee and taking home a check and having a wonderful family, nothing wrong with it.”The two experts at making money and creating jobs also offered their thoughts on when and how the economy might recover.Trump asserted that what is needed is new leadership and that President Barack Obama is not getting the job done.“He’s got the Midas touch for himself and getting elected but he certainly doesn’t have the Midas touch for the country,” he added.Read the full story here.

• Are You Ready? Demonstrators Plan Global Protest for Oct. 15.(TheBlaze).After scattered popular demonstrations around the world, protesters are planning the next step: This time, it’s a global movement for change, set to kick off Saturday, Oct. 15.But what exactly is “United for Global Change”? Its exact goals are a little vague, though uprising seems to be the key:

“Intolerable situation — corrupt system — global outrage. Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, Greece, Chile, Israel, India, USA. It’s time for us to unite. It’s time for them to listen. People of the world, rise up!” a video for the movement says.

As of Friday morning, there were 432 “reports” of different events in the works, heavily concentrated in Europe, the U.S. and parts of South America. There’s also a “global virtual assembly” planned for Oct. 8 and 9 to plan. As for who is behind the movement, that’s difficult to ascertain. A “who are you” section on the site doesn’t answer that question, instead asking visitors who they are and directing them to take charge of the event as if they themselves were the organizer.

October 15th the world will be under our influence. It will become whatever we want. So, who are you?According to the group’s Facebook event page, there are 6,471 “attending” so far — kind of a long way to go before next Saturday.Read and see the full story here.

• Japan stopped Obama’s Plan To Apologize For America Dropping Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima And Nagasaki.(PowerlineBlog).I recall seeing some online grandee—I thought it was Rich Karlgaard of Forbes, but I can’t find it—explain that in the fullness of time Wikileaks would turn around and bite liberals in the rear end, and sure enough there’s been a steady stream of Wikileaks that confirm what we already know about Obama. But still.Over the last couple of weeks several Japanese newspapers have been all over a new Wikileak that so far has not made much of an impression anywhere in American media. (I know: This is a surprise?) It seems that Obama wanted to include stops at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as part of his 2009 World Apology Tour, so that he could apologize for Harry Truman dropping the Big One to end World War II.One problem for The One: Japan was not amused by this idea. The U.S. embassy in Tokyo cabled Hillary Clinton to suggest with typically gentle diplomatic language that what Obama was proposing would be deeply offensive to Japanese.  From the Japan Times story:

The cable, dated Sept. 3, 2009, and sent to U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, reported Japan’s then Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka telling Ambassador John Roos on Aug. 28 that antinuclear groups would speculate over whether the president would visit Hiroshima in light of his Prague speech on nuclear nonproliferation.“He underscored, however, that both governments must temper the public’s expectations on such issues, as the idea of President Obama visiting Hiroshima to apologize for the atomic bombing during World War II is a ‘non-starter’,” said the cable.It also quoted Yabunaka as saying, “While a simple visit to Hiroshima without fanfare is sufficiently symbolic to convey the right message, it is premature to include such program in the November visit.”“Yabunaka recommended that the visit in November center mostly in Tokyo,” it said.Perhaps the next president will want to make his or her own world apology tour to make amends for Obama.Read the full story here.

• UK and U.S. special forces swoop on hijacked ship, arresting pirates and freeing crew.(DailyMail).British and U.S. special forces staged a daring raid to free an Italian cargo ship that had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, it emerged today.The pirates surrendered and were arrested after two Navy ships, one British and one American, swooped on the Montecristo, which was seized yesterday.The vessel's crew of 23 - seven Italians, six Ukrainians and 10 Indians - have been freed and are safe, according to a statement by the Italian foreign ministry.The vessel was freed in a joint operation carried out by Royal Marines from the RFA Fort Victoria and the USS De Wert.The two ships are part of Nato's operation Ocean Shield, set up to fight piracy in the seas off the Horn of Africa. Lieutenant Gwenn Laine, a spokesman for Ocean Shield, told the NewsCore agency that the De Wert 'was the first ship to close in and assess the situation while the boarding team on Fort Victoria got ready.'The crew of the [Montecristo] confined themselves in the engine room of the ship and they managed to send the information to NATO forces that they were safe and well.''Nato forces got on board and the pirates surrendered immediately,' Lieutenant Laine said, adding that there were no injuries.The Montecristo, a 56,000-ton bulk carrier, was hijacked 620 miles off the coast on Somalia yesterday by five pirates in a small boat. The crew took refuge inside an armoured shelter on the ship when it was hijacked and had continued to control its movements, bringing it closer to an area where anti-piracy forces were patrolling.The move into an armoured shelter appeared part of new measures agreed by seafaring nations to combat Somali piracy, which costs the world economy billions of dollars each year.U.S. and British forces had boarded the ship under the orders of Italian Admiral Gualtiero Mattesi, commander of the Ocean Shield anti-piracy task force.Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Royal Navy 'was involved in a compliant boarding' - in which the pirates indicated they would surrender and sailors boarded the vessel to take them into custody.Eleven pirates were apprehended in the raid, the Italian foreign ministry's statement added. Read the full story here.

• Female executive at Centers for Disease Control arrested on child molestation and bestiality charges.(DailyMail).A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official was arrested Sunday and charged with two counts of child molestation and bestiality for sexual acts involving a 6-year-old boy.According to a DeKalb County criminal warrant obtained Sunday, Kimberly Quinlan Lindsey’s boyfriend, Thomas Westerman, was also arrested on two counts of child molestation. Westerman works for the CDC as a night watchman, his LinkedIn profile states. The pair, who live together in Decatur, surrendered to authorities Sunday afternoon, said DeKalb police spokeswoman Pamela Kunz.Lindsey, 44, serves as the deputy director for the Laboratory Science Policy and Practice Program Office at the CDC, according to her biography on the agency’s website. The Emory University graduate, who’s been with the CDC since 1999, was formerly a senior health scientist responsible for overseeing a $1.5 billion fiscal allocation process for terrorism preparedness.A medical professional alerted police about the child molestation allegation on Aug. 24, Kunz said. The warrant cites two incidents — the first in Jan. 2010 and the latest on Aug. 22.“During the investigation evidence was recovered that led to the bestiality charge,” Kunz said.Lindsey earned her Ph.D. in Immunology Molecular Pathogenesis from Emory in 1998 following nine years as a research scientist. She rose quickly through the ranks of the CDC, beginning as a senior scientist in the bioterrorism program before joining the HIV/AIDS prevention division in 2000. She has received 12 awards for outstanding performance on projects and programs, according to an academic bio. Westerman, 42, started working for the CDC in January.Read the full story here.

• Egypt - Witness says Egypt military threw bodies in Nile.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Rumors about bodies being thrown into the Nile the night of the state TV violence by the military are being confirmed after witnesses are stepping up and confirming the stories.A young Egyptian filmmaker said he witnessed three Army soldiers, accompanied by an officer, threw a dead body into the river Nile from above the 6 of October bridge in Cairo on Sunday night.Raggi al-Kashif said he tried to take pictures, but was chased by the soldiers back to downtown.Rumors had surfaced that the army had thrown several bodies into the river to hide their crimes, but no confirmation was publicized until witnesses came forward.Al-Kashif gave his testimony on a Facebook page, putting forward his ID number as verification he was not making the story up.On Sunday night, clashes erupted between the armed forces and Coptic Christian protesters, where soldiers opened fire and ran over several protesters, killing at least 25 and injuring hundreds.The army police, aided by riot police, then chased protesters through the streets of downtown throwing tear gas and firing into the air.Later 25 people were arrested and now they face military trial for “attacking the army and vandalizing.”Al-Kashif added that he saw soldiers assault and beat a family of three, both parents and a young child who were taking refuge at one of the garages close to the state TV building after they were seen carrying a cross.Al-Kashif added that the family was beaten, kicked and hammered with army batons, who were ignoring the screams of pain and pleas from the mother and child.Similar witnesses reports have emerged in the past two days about army brutality towards the protesters who were accused of starting the violence, a notion that both protesters and witnesses reject, and Bikyamasr.com staff present at the scene can confirm.Read the full story here.

• Yemeni women attacked, while Celebrating peace prize.(BikyaMasr).Dozens of women were reportedly injured in Yemen’s second-largest city on Sunday after government supporters attacked an anti-government rally celebrating Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman.According to reports, pro-government “thugs” threw stones at women who were taking part in a peaceful women’s march in the south-western city of Ta’izz.“Yemeni authorities must protect the right to freedom of expression, which includes not tolerating violent attacks on peaceful marches,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.“A full, independent and impartial investigation must be carried out to identify and bring to justice all those responsible for wounding dozens of women at the Ta’izz march.”Yesterday’s march in Ta’izz was called after last Friday’s announcement that Karman, a young Yemeni rights activist, would be among three women to receive the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.As a journalist and President of the NGO Women without Chains, Karman has long campaigned against human rights violations in Yemen. She has called on the authorities to protect freedom of expression and women’s rights as well as to release political prisoners.The activist was involved in this year’s pro-reform protests in Yemen from a very early stage and was briefly detained for her activism in the capital Sana’a in January.She shares this year’s Nobel Peace Prize with two Liberian women, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and rights activist Leymah Gbowee. She is the first Arab woman to win the prize.“These attacks on a peaceful gathering in Ta’izz come just days after the Nobel Peace Prize highlighted the struggle for rights in Yemen,” said Smart.“The whole world continues to watch as Yemeni authorities fail to act on demands for reform while peaceful protest is being violently suppressed.”A larger march, involving both men and women, condemning yesterday’s attack and celebrating Karman’s Nobel peace prize on top of its usual anti-government calls also took place in Ta’izz today. A pro-government group reportedly attacked a group of women who were near the Republican Hospital during the march.Since February 2011, scores of people have been killed and more than a thousand have been injured in protests across Yemen as security forces have repeatedly used excessive force, including by firing live ammunition at peaceful protesters.Read the full story here.

• Where is NATO, where is Turkey in NATO?(HurriyetDaily).By Kadri Gürsel.If those governing Turkey do not want to share with Israel the data to be obtained by the AN/TPY-2 X-band radar to be located near Kürecik in the Central Anatolian province of Malatya within the framework of NATO’s missile defense system, they should be negotiating this with the United States, not with NATO.The system is entirely American, including its missile-detecting and early warning satellites, monitoring and target-detecting ground radars, command-control infrastructure and finally its missile-killing missiles. What the Obama administration did was to enable this already existing capability to integrate with NATO for the safety of European allies. Nevertheless, the radar at Kürecik, like its match in Israel, will be operated by American staff but dedicated to NATO. Consequently, Turkey has the right to demand that non-NATO Israel be excluded from the data to be provided by this radar.Israel is the United States’ strategic ally. And the integration of the missile defense system into NATO does not constitute a total obstacle for other U.S. allies, like Israel, to make use of this system. The system contains a structure with two brains, one American, the other being NATO command-control centers.Data coming from satellites and radars first reach the American command control center, and then they are passed on to the NATO center. Data to be provided by Kürecik radar will also go to the American command control center first.Now, Turkey, at this stage, is in a position to negotiate with the U.S. for measures and assurances to prevent the data provided by the radar stationed in its own soil to be passed to Israel along with NATO.In short, the situation is this: There is no ground for Turkey to prevent a warning such as “A missile has been launched from Iran” that is coming from the satellites to the American command-control system to be passed onto the X-band radar stationed in Israel while it is being transmitted to the NATO command-control center.But Turkey has the right to demand that the data Kürecik will provide after a missile has been launched and NATO command demands that the radar in Kürecik starts tracking it will not be passed onto Israel. Now let’s take a look at the timetable.The decision in principle to form the ballistic missile defense system was made at NATO’s Lisbon summit last November. Turkey announced Sept. 1 its decision to host the radar. Then, on Sept. 13, an agreement was signed with Romania that missile-killing missiles would be stationed there. Two days later, an agreement of the same content with Poland came into effect.Now, NATO’s target is to launch the system on a temporary status before the summit in Chicago on May 20-21. Logic says, without activating the X-band radar in Kürecik, this target cannot be met. And again, logic demands that in order for the radar to become operational, an agreement between the U.S. and Turkey has to be reached that records Ankara’s reservation about Israel.It is only legitimate to ask this question at this point and time: Why would Turkey want, with such persistence, to protect that information from Israel, the one that would enable an earlier extinction while in air of a nuclear head that would cause immense civilian losses underneath it wherever it explodes?The Justice and Development Party (AKP) diplomacy was not able to give a satisfactory answer to this question to this day. I assume this attitude stems from the efforts of the AKP government’s trying to establish an internal consistency in its Middle East policy: On the one hand it is trying to create political power and legitimacy in the Middle East by forming a relationship of contention with Israel, even daring a military conflict, at least in statements, while on the other hand it wishes not to have the image of supporting Israel’s strategic defense.Prime Minister Erdoğan’s indirect announcement that he perceives Israel’s nuclear weapons as a threat against Turkey is also consistent with this position.The new Turkey, while acting together with NATO against Iran, is trying to balance this togetherness by being anti-Israel. But looking at the negative statements issued by Iran about the missile shield, it is not a very successful move.It is impossible for Turkey to convince the other 27 NATO countries of the Israeli (nuclear) threat, as it is equally impossible to receive any understanding on the matter.Even though Turkey is the front-running country to be subject to new threats against NATO members, it has a lonely position at other fronts it has selected for itself.Read the full story here.

• Latest Update: Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani.(Vinienco).The case of imprisoned Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani now has been referred to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, Agence France-Presse, a French news service, reported Oct. 10.The ayatollah has ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and AFP said the move to involve him in the case could mean a delay in the final verdict, which had been expected Monday.“The step to involve the most powerful leader in Iran demonstrates that Iran is feeling the pressure,” Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, said. “Involving the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in a case before a regional court is unusual. We can be certain if the lies spread by Iran were true — that Youcef was instead convicted of rape, extortion and Zionism — the court would not seek the advice of the Supreme Ayatollah.“Now that Iran’s Supreme Leader will be considering the case, it is imperative that our top diplomat, Secretary of State Clinton, call for Pastor Youcef’s unconditional release,” Sekulow wrote in a post on the group’s website Oct. 10.More than 125,000 people had signed the petition asking Clinton to pressure Iran on behalf of the pastor, Sekulow said. Also, bipartisan support was growing in Congress with Reps. Joe Pitts, R.-Pa., and Heath Schuler, D.-N.C., writing a letter to Clinton urging her to intervene.“We implore you to raise your voice at this critical juncture on behalf of Pastor Nadarkhani. We must not stand by while the Iranian Regime executes a man who has committed no crime,” the letter, released to the ACLJ, said.By Oct. 7 the letter had been signed by at least 39 members of Congress, including 13 Democrats. Notably, Rep. Keith Ellison, D.-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Congress, was among them.Sekulow asked Americans to sign the Clinton petition and to contact their members of Congress and request that they sign the Pitts-Shuler letter with urgency, given the possibility that Nadarkhani could be executed at any time without any prior announcement.Meanwhile, the European Centre for Law and Justice, the ACLJ’s international affiliate which holds special consultative status with the United Nations, submitted a letter on Nadarkhani’s behalf, calling on the United Nations to secure the pastor’s immediate and unconditional release.The letter explained that Nadarkhani’s conviction and death sentence are inconsistent with the Iranian constitution and the nation’s obligations under international law. The ECLJ reminded the United Nations that the pastor’s case “has tremendous implications for all Christians and religious minorities in Iran and is yet another indicator of the regime’s disregard for basic human rights and freedoms.”Nadarkhani, 32, was arrested in 2009 and charged with apostasy, an offense punishable by hanging. A lower court found that while he had never been Muslim, he was guilty of apostasy because he came from a Muslim family. The Iranian Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.Nadarkhani’s refusal to recant his faith has inspired Christians worldwide. The ACLJ reported one of his court exchanges.“Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?” he asked.“To the religion of your ancestors, Islam,” the judge reportedly replied.“I cannot,” Nadarkhani responded.Read the full story here.

• Palestinians Declare America Public Enemy #1.(JPost).The US is the number one enemy of the Palestinians because it supports Israeli “oppression” against the Palestinians, Tawfik Tirawi, a senior member of the Fatah Central Committee, said on Sunday.Tirawi, former commander of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Force in the West Bank, also said that Fatah has not abandoned the armed struggle option against Israel.“Fatah hasn’t thrown the rifle aside,” Tirawi told thousands of university students during a rally in Hebron.Tirawi’s anti-US remarks came only days after a Palestinian protester tossed a shoe at US diplomats who arrived in Ramallah to attend a cultural event.The Palestinians were protesting against US President Barack Obama’s refusal to back the PA’s statehood bid at the UN and US threats to cut off financial aid to the PA.Tirawi also criticized the PA leadership for refusing to allow Palestine TV to use the term “Israeli enemy” in its broadcasts.“Those who prevent the use of the term ‘Israeli enemy’ are acting in violation of national awareness and the principles of people under occupation,” he argued. “They must go away.”Read the full story here.

• That Belgian BlackHole bank Called Dexia.(KleinVerzet). Over on ZeroHedge somebody is seriously flabbergasted about the financial sink-hole Dexia and Belgium have got themselves into. For starters, Dexia had 566 billion euros in debt and 19 billion euros in equity as of the end of 2010. Right off the bat, that’s a leverage ratio of 29 to 1. Lehman Brothers was leveraged at 30 to 1 when it collapsed. Now consider that Belgium’s entire GDP is just 348 billion euros. Dexia has 566 billion euros in assets. Of this 352 billion are loans. Put another way, Dexia’s loan portfolio alone is larger than its home country’s entire economy.
  
  AND THIS BANK PASSED THE STRESS TESTS.
  
  Suffice to say, Europe’s banking system is in far FAR worse shape than anyone over there is admitting. The stress tests were complete and total fiction. And the market is starting to figure this out.The markets are figuring this out only now? Have they not been paying attention? When things get serious YOU HAVE TO LIE. That is what one of the foremost EUnion top banana said himself. That is the EUnion way.
  
  Makes you wonder, though, what else is hiding in the 'Darkroom' where the stress test was taken, doesn't it?Read the full story here. 

• EGYPT - The Last Choice.(AlexanderMunch).So, now what? Well, as far as I see it, there is only one solution out of this: Our political and social leaders need to sit down with SCAF and deliver the following message to them: “If you keep this up you are walking the path of your own destruction. The old tactics won’t work. The people refused to turn sectarian, and your soldiers are no way near enough to take control of the country. So why not cut the crap and finish this? Tell us what you want, and get out of power immediately, because if you continue doing this you will break the country and your institution. Neither one of us wants to live in a broken country, and you can’t sustain this, so this needs to stop, now. What we want is a country with a future, and the only way to get there is together. This is the only choice you have, because the Price of the other choice is one that you cannot afford to pay, but we are starting to be willing to pay it. This is not a negotiation; this is the only road out, and you no longer have space to maneuver. We are stopping you from signing your own death warrant, so let’s end this now.” And we take it from there. An exit deal, made right now, ending this fiasco, because the alternative is death to all. And make no mistake: they will have to answer to the death toll of yesterday, because the army cannot kill its people and be allowed to get away with it. Someone will be held into account as part of that deal. No one will win, but especially not the SCAF, because it’s no longer an option for them. Read the full story here.

• Netherlands: Turks to claim back integration course costs.(DutchNews).Thousands of Turkish nationals are set to claim back the cost of integration courses from the Dutch state, now that the compulsory classes have been ruled illegal, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.Lawyer Bilal Coskun told the paper some 30,000 Turks have been forced to take the courses, many of them in Turkey itself. He has now set up a foundation to represent them in claiming back an average €5,000 per person.In 2006, the government introduced new rules requiring Turkish nationals who want to come to the Netherlands to pass an integration exam before arrival. But this has now been ruled illegal under treaties between Turkey and the EU.The government has already said people who took the course after August 16 would be refunded, but not the rest.Read the full story here.

• Children to be banned from blowing up balloons, under EU safety rules.(Telegraph).The EU toy safety directive, agreed and implemented by Government, states that balloons must not be blown up by unsupervised children under the age of eight, in case they accidentally swallow them and choke.Despite having been popular favourites for generations of children, party games including whistles and magnetic fishing games are to be banned because their small parts or chemicals used in making them are decreed to be too risky.Apparently harmless toys that children have enjoyed for decades are now regarded by EU regulators as posing an unacceptable safety risk.Whistle blowers, that scroll out into a a long coloured paper tongue when sounded – a party favourite at family Christmas meals – are now classed as unsafe for all children under 14.The new rules are designed to protect children from the chance that a piece of the whistle could be swallowed and cause choking.The EU directive will also force manufacturers and retailers to attach safety warnings to toys hitherto regarded as harmless.Official guidance notes: "For latex balloons there must be a warning that children under eight years must be supervised and broken balloons should be discarded." Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent, warned that toy safety bans were part of a trend to micro-manage children's lives at the expense of allowing them to explore, learn and have fun through play. "Toys and activities, such as blowing up balloons, are part and parcel of the type of children's play that helps them become independent and self-reliant," he said.As well as new rules for balloons and party whistles, the EU legislation will impose restrictions on how noisy toys, including rattles or musical instruments, are allowed to be.All teddie bears meant for children under the age of three will now have to be fully washable because EU regulators are concerned that dirty cuddly toys could spread disease and infection.Paul Nuttall, a member of the European Parliament's consumer safety committee, said the "kill joy" world of EU officialdom was being ill-equipped to understand the concept of children having fun."I would say that this is crackers but I sure children are banned from using them too. EU party poopers should not be telling families how to blow up balloons," said the Ukip MEP.Hmmmmmmm.........A lot of 'hot air'?Read the full story here.

• New Climate Scare: Europe May be Facing Return Of ‘Little Ice Age’.(WUWT).Newsbytes from Dr. Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Britain should brace itself for another freezing winter with the return of La Niña, a climate phenomenon known to disrupt global weather, ministers have warned. The warning coincides with research from the Met Office suggesting Europe could be facing a return of the “little ice age” that gripped Britain 300 years ago, causing decades of bitter winters. The prediction, to be published in Nature, is based on observations showing a slight fall in the sun’s emissions of ultraviolet radiation, which over a long period may trigger mini ice ages in Europe. –Jonathan Leake, The Sunday Times, 9 October 2011.

BRITAIN is set to suffer a mini ice age that could last for decades and bring with it a series of bitterly cold winters. And it could all begin within weeks as experts said last night that the mercury may soon plunge below the record -20C endured last year. Latest evidence shows La Nina, linked to extreme winter weather in America and with a knock-on effect on Britain, is in force and will gradually strengthen as the year ends. It coincides with research from the Met Office indicating the nation could be facing a repeat of the “little ice age” that gripped the country 300 years ago, causing decades of harsh winters. –Laura Caroe, Daily Express, 10 October 2011

Some scientists predict that the Sun is heading for a long slump in solar activity known as a Grand Solar Minimum. If this happens, it is possible that Britain could return to conditions similar to those 350 years ago when sunspots vanished during “the Little Ice Age”, when ice fairs were often held on the frozen Thames in London. –Paul Simons, The Times, 10 October 2011

The fact is that nobody knows if the forthcoming winter will be severe or mild. The only wise advice that can be given is to plan as if 2011 is going to be like the previous three winters, and one doesn’t need multi-million pound computers to make it. –-David Whitehouse, The Observatory, 10 October 2011

Green thinking represents a challenge to the status quo? That’s a laughable idea. From schools and universities to every corner of the Western political sphere, the climate-change outlook is the status quo. In fact, it’s the new conservatism. –Brendan O’Neil, The Australian, 8 October 2011.Read the full 'story' here.

• Senior Salafi Cleric: It Is Permissible to Report to Infidel Police a Muslim Conspiring against another Muslim, But Not against an Infidel.(Memri).On October 6, 2011, the Salafi-jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad published a fatwa by Sheikh Abu Mudhir Al-Shinqiti, a member of the website's shari'a council, on the issue of reporting the crimes of Muslims to infidel police forces. According to the fatwa, if the victim of the crime is a Muslim, it is permissible to report it, but not if the victim is an infidel, since in any case a Muslim is allowed to kill him, steal his possessions, and defile his honor.Read the full story here.

• The Chinese Paper Dragon is Tumbling down.(AstuteBloggers).Central Huijin, the domestic arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund, will purchase shares in Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , the official Xinhua news agency announced on Monday. Xinhua added that the purchases by Huijin – its first such public intervention since a similar decision at the onset of the financial crisis three years ago – would “support the healthy operations and development of key state-owned financial institutions and stabilise the share prices of state-owned commercial banks”.The announcement came too late for the Chinese stock market, which had closed at a 30-month low...IT'S GONNA GET REAL UGLY REAL SOON. LIKE 3-6 WEEKS.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.And the trophy goes to... China's silliest supertower built in a village of 2,000 farmers.(DailyMail).It has been recognised as the richest village in China with each resident having at least $250,000 in the bank, but now it is showing off its economic might with the opening of a huge skyscraper.What is perhaps most startling about the building - dubbed the Hanging Village of Huaxi - is that it is in a village with just 2,000 officially registered inhabitants.Reaching 328 metres (1,076ft) into the sky in Huaxi, Jiangsu province, East China, its closest rival is 600 miles away in Beijing and it is 18 metres taller than the Shard will be when it opens in Central London next year.It ranks as the 15th-highest skyscraper in the world, standing taller than Paris's Eiffel Tower (324m) and the Chrysler Building (319m) in New York.It has taken four years for the work to be finished on the 74-storey hotel and residential block at a cost of 3billion yuan (£301m).Some have compared the building as looking like a trophy because at the top there is a huge sphere made out of glass while others wonder if it is sustainable in such a place as Huaxi.Money for the project partly came from people in the village - which celebrated its 50th anniversary the day the building was opened - who gave shares of 10million Yuan each, the China News Service said.Zhou Li, deputy party chief of the village, said: 'The building is a symbol of collectivism.'Read and see the full story here.