MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation China 4.9 !More info here.

• Obama to ignore 20 policy riders in omnibus funding bill.(AT).Obama in 2008 on Bush signing statements:
  

  "That's not part of his power, but this is part of the whole theory of George Bush that he can make laws as he goes along. I disagree with that. I taught the Constitution for 10 years. I believe in the Constitution and I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We're not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress," then-Senator Obama said as a presidential candidate in 2008.

  
  This is the Obama White House today on signing statements:
  

  President Obama said Friday he will not be bound by at least 20 policy riders in the 2012 omnibus funding the government, including provisions pertaining to Guantanamo Bay and gun control.
  After he signed the omnibus into law Friday, the White House released a concurrent signing statement saying Obama will object to portions of the legislation on constitutional grounds.
  Signing statements are highly controversial, and their legality is disputed.
  "I have advised the Congress that I will not construe these provisions as preventing me from fulfilling my constitutional responsibility to recommend to the Congress's consideration such measures as I shall judge necessary and expedient," Obama said in a statement as he signed the bill into law.
  The signing statement says that on the issue of accused terrorist detainees, Obama will interpret and apply provisions that bar the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "in a manner that avoids constitutional conflicts."
  Obama also objected to Defense provisions in the bill that limit the president's ability to put troops under foreign command and require 30 days advance notice to Congress for any use of the military which would involve more than $100,000 in construction costs.

  I agree with the Obama of 2008. Just because presidents are incompetent and can't get what they want from congress doesn't mean they can run off and decide which laws to enforce and which to ignore. "Gridlock" is not an excuse. And I would say to the president the same thing I say to my conservative fellows who pronounce this or that law "unconstitutional": The president (or conservative activists) doesn't get to decide that question. The constitutionality of a law is determined by the Supreme Court and no one else. If the president (or activists) want to challenge the constitutionality of a bill, or provision in a bill, take it to the courts.
  That's a slow, painstaking process - as it was designed to be. Making law is not a partisan exercise subject to the emotions and bias of factions, but rather a deliberative process that requires prudence, thought, and an eye for unintended consequences. Signing statements are, as the president noted in 2008, an "end-run around congress." Someone should challenge the president's ability to issue these daggars aimed at the heart of representative democracy and get them banned once and for all.Hmmm.........I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes. ~ Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776.Read the full story here.

• Happy Holidays. Exactly Which Holidays?(WHD).By Keith Koffler.President Obama and Michelle recorded this video to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.Which holidays, please?Let’s see, we’ve got Christmas and, um . . . Hanukkah! So where’s my Hanukkah greeting?Is there some kind of holiday in late December celebrated by the people of Manchuria that I’m missing?I’m going to smack the next person who politely wishes me a Happy Holidays. I’m Jewish. Go ahead, wish me a Merry Christmas. I’d much prefer it, and I do plan to have a merry day.Read and see the full story here.Hmmm....

1. He has no problem uttering happy Eid Al-Adha .”The rituals of Hajj and Eid Al-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world s major religions,” he added.
2. Obama CONGRATULATES Muslims on EID-UL-FITR.
3. Obama congratulates Muslims on Ramadan month.

Hmmm….“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion’ but perhaps a 'President' will?

• Silent Night!By Mark Steyn.On this Christmas, one of the great unreported stories throughout what we used to call Christendom is the persecution of Christians around the world. In Egypt, the “Arab Spring” is going so swimmingly that Copts are already fleeing Egypt and, for those Christians that remain, Midnight Mass has to be held in the daylight for security reasons. In Iraq, midnight services have been canceled entirely for fear of bloodshed, part of the remorseless de-Christianizing that has been going on, quite shamefully, under an American imperium.Not merely the media but Christian leaders in the west seem to be embarrassed by behavior that doesn’t conform to their dimwitted sappiness about “Facebook Revolutions”. It took a Jew to deliver this line:When Lord Sacks, chief rabbi in England, rose in the House of Lords to speak about the persecution of Christians, he quoted Martin Luther King. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”Read the full story here.

• Domain registrar Go Daddy lost over 21,000 domains yesterday.(Cnet).Domain registrar Go Daddy lost over 21,000 domains yesterday. It could be a coincidence--or it could be the result of the company's p.r. debacle over its support for the Stop Online Piracy Act. Yesterday, Go Daddy actually reversed course and dropped its support for the controversial legislation. "Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it," Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman announced in a statement.SOPA, introduced in Congress this fall, would make it easier for the Justice Department to shut down sites allegedly dedicated to piracy.An anti-Go Daddy thread on social site Reddit led to the creation of Godaddyboycott.org, a site set up to let people amass their disapproval with the company's support of SOPA.While 21,054 domains transferred out Friday of Domaincontrol.com--which is managed by Go Daddy--it is only fair to note that 20,034 transferred in the same day, according to domain tracker Dailychanges.comAccording to techie site TheNextWeb.com, though, the transfers-out have been building over the course of the week, with 8,800 reported on Monday and 14,500 on Wednesday.Hmmmm......Go,go ,go , going?Read the full story here.
• Updated - Go Daddy loses over 37,000 domains due to SOPA stance.Read the full story here.

• Christianity Remains Dominant Religion in the United States.(Gallup).PRINCETON, NJ -- This Christmas season, 78% of American adults identify with some form of Christian religion. Less than 2% are Jewish, less than 1% are Muslim, and 15% do not have a religious identity. This means that 95% of all Americans who have a religious identity are Christians.

These results are based on a compilation of 327,244 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking from January-November 2011. The detailed breakdown shows that about a third of American Christians are Catholics, while two-thirds identify as Protestants or some other non-Catholic Christian religion. All in all, 82.5% of Americans have some form of religious identity.Gallup's methods of measuring religious identity have changed over the decades, but one major trend that is clear from Gallup's and other organizations' surveys is the increase in the percentage of Americans who do not have a formal religious identity. Some 60 years ago, in 1951, for example, just 1% of Americans in Gallup surveys said they didn't have a religious identity. At that time, Gallup classified 68% of Americans as identifying with a non-Catholic Christian faith, and 24% who were Catholic.Separate Gallup questioning earlier this year shows that 92% of Americans say they believe in God. This suggests that the lack of a religious identity is not in and of itself a sign of the total absence of religiosity.Additionally, in two separate surveys conducted in May and in late November/early December of this year, an average of 55% of Americans said religion is very important in their lives, another 26% said it is fairly important, and 19% said it is not very important.Read the full story here.

• Indian Court sets Feb 6 deadline for social networking sites to remove objectionable content case by FatwaOnlineorg Mufti .(TOI).New Delhi: A trial court on Saturday set a deadline for 22 social networking sites including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to remove "anti-religious" or "anti-social" content from their websites and directed the companies to file compliance reports by February 6. Additional Civil Judge Mukesh Kumar, who had on December 20 in an ex-parte order issued summons to the social networking websites, granted around one and half month for compliance of his order. The court was hearing a petition filed by Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi through advocate Santosh Pandey who had also submitted the printouts of the contents and the court asked the websites to remove the content which has been found objectionable by the petitioner. During the hearing, the representatives of two websites, Yahoo India Pvt Ltd and Microsoft, Out of the 22 websites summoned appeared in court on Saturday and submitted that they have not got the copies of court order and complaint against them and pleaded the judge to provide the same. Pandey assured the court that he would provide the companies with the copy of complaint and other related documents.Pandey, after the court proceedings, told the reporters that the websites have to submit a compliance report to the court by February 6 detailing what action they have taken to remove the objectionable and derogatory contents from the websites. The court had on December 20 asked the social networking websites to remove the objectionable content in the form of photographs, videos or text which might hurt religious sentiments. On the last day of hearing on December 20, the court after going through the several printouts of the objectionable contents, CD and other documents, found them defamatory and derogatory and ordered to take them off from the sites. "I have gone through the record carefully wherein the plaintiff has also filed a CD containing all the defamatory articles and photographs. In my considered opinion, the photographs shown by the plaintiff having content of defamation and derogation against the sentiments of every community. "Moreover, if the defendant will not be directed to remove the defamatory articles and contents from the social networking websites, not only the plaintiff but every individual who is having religious sentiments would suffer irreparable loss and injury and cannot be compensated in terms of money," the judge had said. 'The websites who have been asked to remove objectionable contents includes Facebook India, Facebook, Google India Pvt Ltd, Google Orkut, Youtube, Blogspot, Microsoft India Pvt Ltd, Microsoft, Zombie Time, Exboii, Boardreader, IMC India, My Lot, Shyni Blog and Topix. Hmmmm......Read the full story here. 

• Canada: Muslim 'honor killing' heats up national debate.(Ynet).On a summer morning in 2009, in canal locks east of Toronto, police made a grisly discovery: In a submerged Nissan car were the bodies of three teenage sisters and a 52-year-old woman.A joyride gone tragically wrong, claimed the father, Mohammad Shafia, 58, who reported the disappearance. An "honor killing," prosecutors allege. A murder trial is under way, heating up a national debate about how to better absorb immigrants into the Canadian cultural mainstream.The prosecution accuses Afghan-born Shafia, his wife, and their 20-year-old son of killing the daughters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online. The older victim was Shafia's first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad, who was living with him and his second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41, in Montreal. It was a polygamous relationship, the court has been told, and if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation. The parents and son, Hamed, have pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder. The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children. The second marriage produced seven children. The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, the court has heard. Zainab, the oldest at 19, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told. The jury heard testimony that Zainab's sisters, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were hounded and trailed by their brothers because the parents suspected them of dating boys; that Sahar repeatedly said her father would kill her if he found out she had a boyfriend; that she had bruises on her arms; that Mohammad, the first wife who was helping to raise the children, also was brutally treated. Zainab ran away from home for a couple of weeks and her sisters contacted authorities, saying they wanted to be removed from the home because of violence and their father's strict parenting, the prosecution said. Prosecutor Laurie Lacelle presented wire taps and cell phone records from the Shafia family in court. In one phone conversation, the father says his daughters "betrayed us immensely." Fazil Javad, Shafia's brother-in-law, said Shafia tried to enlist him in a plan to drown Zainab. "Even if they hoist me up to the gallows, nothing is more dear to me than my honor. There is nothing more valuable than our honor," Lacelle quoted Shafia as saying in an intercept transcript. 'Domestic violence stems across cultural groups'Taking the stand and speaking in his native Dari through an interpreter, Shafia portrayed himself as a loving father with his daughters' best interests at heart. He repeated his contention that the famil members were returning from a Niagara Falls holiday, were in two cars, and were overnighting at a motel when Zainab took one of the cars. The daughters met an accidental but "rightful" death for their disobedience, he said. "You believe there's no value in life without honor, don't you?" asked Lacelle in cross-examination. "My honor is important to me," Shafia replied. "But you can't regain your honor with murder, respected lady, you must know that. "I'm a strict Muslim, but I'm not a killer." Other relatives - two of the children and a brother-in-law of Shafia - testified in support of the joyride scenario and portrayed the family as loving and caring. The trial then adjourned for the holidays and will resume on Jan. 9. Canada takes in 250,000 immigrants a year, more per capita than anywhere save Australia, and in recent years a number of so-called honor killings have prompted debate about absorbing immigrants into the mainstream and dealing with culture clashes between immigrant parents and their children. Even before the trial, Rona Ambrose, the women's affairs minister, had said the federal government was considering making such killings a separate category in the criminal code. Her office has not replied to recent questions about whether the change is going through, and the debate continues about the larger issues the Shafia case has raised about assimilating immigrants. More than 80 Canadian Muslim organizations, imams and community leaders have signed a call for action against "the reality of domestic violence within our own communities, compounded by abhorrent and yet persistent pre-Islamic practices rooted in the misguided notion of restoring family honor." On the other hand, statistically, nonimmigrant Canadians have a higher rate of murdering spouses and children, in some instances, also over family dishonor. Jeffrey Reitz, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in immigration issues, warns against using the term honor killings and equating it with any specific culture. "If you label it an honor killing, the tendency is to say, `Oh, what a terrible culture that is,' and the problem (of domestic violence) stems across cultural groups," he said.The United Nations reports 5,000 females a year are victims of honor killings around the world. In Canada, social worker Aruna Papp says she has counted 15 cases since 2002, while psychiatrist Amin Muhammad, commissioned to write a report for the government about honor killings in Canada, predicts there will be more as immigrant communities grow, bringing in some newcomers with militant cultural beliefs. "Immigrants who come here can't bring their own mindsets with them. They can't practice their own cultural ideologies if they go against the grain," he said. The government must do more, and offer services that are more visible and accessible, especially to non-English-speakers, he said. Tarek Fatah, the Pakistani-born founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, is a fierce opponent of Islamic militancy. He says it is shocking that honor killings are happening in Canada, calling them "a slap in the face of our fundamental value of what it is to be a human being." Papp, the social worker who wrote a report on honor killings for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a privately funded conservative think tank, worries that domestic violence rooted in family honor has spread to second-generation families. She argues for tougher background checks on would-be immigrants, as well as teaching immigrants Canadian rights and values. Papp, who is of Indian descent, speaks from experience. "I came here when I was 21, with a third-grade education. I had children when I was young. I didn't know how to properly parent," she said. "I did and said things I didn't know at the time were wrong, things my parents did and said to me growing up that were acceptable within the Indian culture. It's a learning process. Parents, especially immigrant parents, need to be taught parenting skills and what's acceptable behavior here." Read the full story here.

• Muslim sect Boko Haram claims Nigeria church attacks; 25 dead.(AlArabiya).An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital Sunday, killing at least 25 people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect waging an increasingly sophisticated sectarian fight claimed the attack and another bombing in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast.The Christmas Day attacks show the growing national ambition of the sect known as Boko Haram, which is responsible for at least 491 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The assaults come a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded.The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town in Niger state close to the capital, Abuja, authorities said. Rescue workers recovered at least 25 bodies from the church and officials continued to tally those wounded in various hospitals, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.His agency already has acknowledged it didn't have enough ambulances immediately on hand to help the wounded. Luguard also said an angry crowd that gathered at the blast site hampered rescue efforts as they refused to allow workers inside.“We’re trying to calm the situation,” Luguard said. “There are some angry people around trying to cause problems.”In Jos, a second explosion struck near a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, government spokesman Pam Ayuba said. Ayuba said gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one police officer. Two other locally made explosives were found in a nearby building and disarmed, he said.“The military are here on ground and have taken control over the entire place,” Ayuba said.The city of Jos is located on the dividing line between Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south and Muslim north. Thousands have died in communal clashes there over the last decade.After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria’s Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja had issued a warning Friday to citizens to be “particularly vigilant” around churches, large crowds and areas where foreigners congregate.Several days of fighting in and around the northeastern city of Damaturu between the sect and security forces already had killed at least 61 people, authorities said. On Sunday, local police commissioner Tanko Lawan said two explosions struck Damaturu, including a blast near government offices. He declined to comment further, saying police had begun an operation to attack suspected Boko Haram sect members.In the last year, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people.Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a Nov. 4 attack on Damaturu, Yobe state’s capital, that killed more than 100 people. The group also claimed the Aug. 24 suicide car bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria's capital that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.The sect came to national prominence in 2009, when its members rioted and burned police stations near its base of Maiduguri, a dusty northeastern city on the cusp of the Sahara Desert. Nigeria’s military violently put down the attack, crushing the sect’s mosque into shards as its leader was arrested and died in police custody. About 700 people died during the violence.While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.Boko Haram has splintered into three factions, with one wing increasingly willing to kill as it maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia, diplomats and security sources say.Sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and nearby Cameroon, Chad and Niger.Read the full story here.

• Report: Israel bombed Sudan targets.(Ynet).Sudanese newspaper al-Intibaha reported last week that the Israeli Air Force attacked vehicles in South Sudan, Ynet learned on Sunday. The report speculated on whether the targeted vehicles had been serving arms smugglers. The newspaper claimed that the first of two attacks was carried out on December 15. The IAF allegedly bombed two land cruiser vehicles killing four passengers. The second attack was reportedly carried out on December 18. A car had been bombed and all its passengers killed. It was also reported that an Israeli apache plane landed in an area where South Sudanese army radar stations are located.The report could not be verified and was denied by official Sudanese elements. South Sudan's army spokesman said he could not confirm the report.The past two years have seen two similar reports on alleged Israeli strikes against terrorists and arms smuggling convoys in Sudan. In January 2009, foreign media reported that IAF jets attacked an arms smuggling convoy transporting weapons to Hamas. According to the report, 119 were killed in the attack. Last April, it was reported that two unknown individuals were killed when their car was bombed near an airport in Port Sudan. Police initially claimed that the two had been hit by a missile fired at them from the Red Sea. Later on, Sudanese officials said that a foreign aircraft attacked the car. Foreign media linked Israel to the incident.Sudan has been known to serve terrorist groups as a route for arms smuggling. Last March, Egyptian security forces claimed they had seized five vehicles transporting weapons from Sudan en route to Gaza.Ynet's security and defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai said that Israel had neither confirmed nor denied previous reports on activity in Sudan. In this case too, the Sudanese sources could not be sure whether the alleged attack was carried out from the sea or from the air.Read the full story here.

• Mideast Christians Are the Litmus Test of Arab Spring.(JPost).By David Parsons. During last year's Christmas holiday season, it seemed a pair of brutal terror assaults on Christian congregations in Egypt and Iraq had finally brought the plight of the Middle East's embattled Christian minorities to the fore, at least to the point where Western leaders could no longer ignore this abysmal problem.An al-Qaida cell's shocking raid on a Baghdad cathedral in late October, 2010 resulted in the murder of 44 Christian worshipers, two priests and seven Iraqi security personnel. Then, on New Year's Day 2011, a powerful car bomb targeted a Coptic church in Alexandria, killing 25 parishioners and wounding nearly 100 just as they were finishing midnight Mass.As a long-time observer of the Middle East, I held out hope at the time that these tragedies would prove to be a tipping point, and that the West would finally come to the rescue of the dwindling and battered Christian communities of the region. But then the Arab Spring erupted and realpolitik took over. Sadly, there was no time to deal with radical Muslim attacks on Christians when the entire Middle East was convulsing with unprecedented mass protests.Still, the vicious slaughter in Alexandria had left the Copts with an uneasy sense that the Mubarak regime was no longer able to protect them. As a result, many withdrew their traditional support for the government and joined the mass demonstrations in Tahrir Square.Yet now that the Muslim Brotherhood and an even more militant Salafist faction are poised to take over the new parliament, many Copts are having second thoughts. Already facing discrimination and harassment from a secular regime, they realize things could actually get a lot worse under the Islamists.AN ANCIENT Christian community that according to tradition was introduced to Egypt by Saint Mark in 42 CE, the Copts today comprise nearly 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people. They are a proud faith community -- proud that they have survived centuries of Muslim persecution and repeated attempts at forced conversions to Islam. This pride goes even to the point that many have small green crosses tattooed on their wrists.Yet they are faced with a dilemma under the emerging new order in Egypt. The nation's laws require everyone over the age of 16 to carry an identity card containing their personal details, including their religion.The card in necessary for employment, education, access to public services, even to be married and buried. Thus, there are good reasons that Copts want to be identified as Christians, but holding such a card means facing certain discrimination in job opportunities, education and other pursuits in life.As a result, the Copts are anxious to see whether the new constitution being drawn up for the country will guarantee them both equal rights as citizens and full religious freedoms as a distinct faith community.They also are fearful the army and courts will no longer be there to shield them from Muslim agitators and terrorists. Some have serious doubts on both accounts and Western embassies in Cairo are already reporting an increase in Coptic Christians seeking to apply for emigration abroad.AS THE Arab Spring runs its course, the litmus test of whether democracy truly is taking root in Egypt and elsewhere in the region will be if the emerging rulers respect the rights of their Christian minorities.I have serious doubts this will come about naturally.It is totally dependent on Western leaders expressing their outrage -- loudly and clearly -- at any manifestation of Christian persecution. There must be a determined diplomatic campaign to ensure the rights and safety of the Middle East's indigenous Christians, including political intervention when necessary.There is clear historic precedent for such outside intervention in the Arab/Muslim world to protect Christian communities. As Ottoman rule over the Middle East began to wane, the Great Powers moved into the region, each concluding deals with the Sultanate in Istanbul to provide protection to various imperiled Christian denominations. British envoys arrived to safeguard Protestant interests, France the Lebanese Christians, Russia the Orthodox folds. The Vatican also stepped in to aid certain sects, producing the unique hybrids of the Maronite and Greek Melkite churches which are loyal to the papacy but retain some Eastern Orthodox beliefs and practices.These Western interlocutors all brought with them schools, hospitals and other modern institutions, thus vastly improving the education, health and job opportunities of the local Christians. With this benevolent influx also came advances for all peoples of the region.Some locals are sure to object to any renewed Western intervention on behalf of Middle East Christians as a form of neo-colonialism. But no one has territorial designs here anymore. It is just a matter of plain human decency.No coddling of Islamist regimes! Sanctions if necessary! Someone has to do something to help stop the endless bleeding of Eastern Christianity.When Christ was born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, an angel warned Joseph in a dream to flee with his family to Egypt to protect the child from the maniacal Herod the Great. Today, every warning sign says Egypt is no longer a place of refuge for his humble followers.Read the full story here.

• Iran says ready to expand military links with Iraq.(AlArabiya).Iran stands ready to expand its military and security ties with Iraq, its armed forces chief of staff said Sunday, a week after the exit of U.S. forces from the neighboring Arab country. General Hassan Firouzabadi hailed the “forced departure” of the U.S. and allied forces that he said “was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and government,” the state Islamic Republic News Agency reported.The statements were made in messages Firouzabadi sent to his Iraqi counterpart, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, and to Iraq's acting defense minister, Saadun al-Dulaimi, IRNA said.The departure of the U.S. troops “was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and government,” he said.“I hope the humiliating failure of the United States after nine years of occupying Iraq will serve as a lesson for them to never think of attacking another country,” he said.Firouzabadi added that Iran was now “ready to expand its military and security ties with Iraq.”Zebari led a delegation of Iraqi military chiefs to Iran last month to explore greater cooperation between the two defense forces.U.S. analysts have expressed concern that Iran could exploit the vacuum left by the U.S. withdrawal to bolster links with Iraq's Shiite-led government.The United States frequently accused Iran of arming Iraqi militias that attacked U.S. forces when they were deployed there.U.S. President Barack Obama said on December 14 that, while the situation left behind in Iraq was not perfect, “we are leaving behind a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq.”His administration has warned Iran against trying to interfere in Iraq.Hmmmm......Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!Read the full story here.

• Iran denies harboring man U.S. accuses of being al-Qaeda financier.(Alarabiya).Iran said on Sunday it is not harboring an alleged al-Qaeda fundraiser who has a $10-million U.S. bounty on his head, with the foreign ministry calling the claim “utterly baseless.” The U.S. charge that Iran was protecting Syrian-born Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil was part of an “inept” attempt to implicate Iran in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the website of the state broadcaster IRIB.The U.S. State Department on Thursday said it was offering a $10-million reward for information leading to the arrest of Khalil, whom it described as a “terrorist financier.”Khalil, also known as Yacine al-Suri, was put on a U.S. Treasury Department blacklist in July, when he was described as a high-level al-Qaeda “facilitator” who operated from inside Iran since 2005 “under an agreement between al-Qaeda and the Iranian government.”Tehran has previously denied harboring al-Qaeda members, and has announced the arrest of at least nine people linked to the terrorist group since December 2010.Read the full story here.

• Gaza’s Hamas leader launches Muslim world trip.(AlArabia).Gaza’s prime minister left the territory Sunday on his first trip abroad since his militant Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, hoping to improve ties with Muslim countries swept up in the uprisings convulsing the Arab world. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s deputy, Mohammed Awwad, said the Gaza leader would visit Egypt, Sudan, Qatar, Bahrain, Tunisia and Turkey.Awwad said Haniyeh would discuss possible development projects for Gaza and the West Bank, as well as progress toward reconciling the dueling governments of the two Palestinian territories and Israeli construction in disputed Jerusalem.“We hope that with this visit we can turn a new page in Palestinian-Arab relations," he said before Haniyeh left for neighboring Egypt through Gaza’s Rafah crossing.His departure was confirmed by border official Maher Abu Sabha.Awwad said the Gaza prime minister would meet with uprising leaders as well as official decision-makers.Haniyeh plans to be abroad at least two weeks and possibly more if he receives invitations to visit from other Muslim countries, Awwad said.Haniyeh had been confined to Gaza, mostly because of tensions with Egypt and fighting with Israel. But Egypt’s new rulers have warmed up to Hamas since longtime President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February.Read the full story here.

• Related - Gaza's Hamas leader to visit Turkey in first trip abroad.(TodaysZaman).Gaza's prime minister is leaving on his first official trip outside the territory since his Hamas movement overran the coastal strip in June 2007.Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's deputy, Mohammed Awwad, said on Sunday the Gaza leader will visit Egypt, Sudan, Qatar, Bahrain, Tunisia and Turkey - all countries that have been affected by the upheavals sweeping the Arab world.Awwad says Haniyeh's objective is to discuss development projects. He didn't say how long the trip would last.Haniyeh has been confined to Gaza, in part because of tensions with Egypt.Hmmmm.....Picking up the promised $ 300 Million?Read the full story here.

• 2012 Promises to be an Especially Difficult Year for Israel.(DocsTalk).By Neil Snyder.Muslim persecution of Christians is a growing problem in the Middle East: "When the major media reported a few months ago that Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was set to be executed for leaving Islam, many Western people were shocked, finding it hard to believe that in the 21st century people are still being persecuted -- by their governments no less -- simply for being Christian.The fact is, Muslim persecution of Christians in the modern era has been consistently growing worse. Yet, because only one out of every few hundred or so cases ever receives major attention, few in the West have any idea that it exists." The problem is so disconcerting that Christian Solidarity International has started a petition drive hoping to force President Obama to raise the issue at the global level:  "We urge you, Mr. President, to present during the forthcoming State of the Union Address your administration's policy to prevent the eradication of the endangered Christian communities and other religious minorities of the Islamic Middle East."French President Nicolas Sarkozy has voiced his concern already: "We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly perverse program of religious cleansing in the Middle East."To date, President Obama has not seen fit to inject himself and his office into the debate. His reluctance to speak publically about Muslim persecution of any sort is probably motivated by his desire to create an America that is tolerant of Islam. In the process, he has thrown Christians under the bus:"Christians in the Middle East and other parts of the world encounter an Obama administration that seems utterly indifferent to their fate. One of the most important but mostly neglected stories in recent years is the severe persecution of Christians in the Middle East and other parts of the world. Words such as 'religious cleansing,' 'mass murder' and 'authentic martyrdom' have been used by those who know the situation best to describe this persecution."As appalling as Muslim persecution of Christians is, Muslims of different persuasions hate each other even more than they hate Christians. From Thailand to Pakistan to Egypt, sectarian violence is erupting into conflicts that border on civil war. This problem is especially prevalent today in Iraq, and with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, it is a growing concern. On Friday, thousands of Iraqi Sunni Muslims took to the streets to protest against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki:"Friday's protests took place a day after at least 69 people were killed in a wave of bombings across Baghdad. The demonstrations have also come on the heels of a growing political crisis involving Mr. Maliki and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi."The situation in Iraq is rapidly spinning out of control with Maliki and al-Hashemi accusing each other of stirring up sectarian trouble for political purposes: "The Sunni vice president wanted for allegedly running a hit squad in Iraq on Friday accused Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of waging a campaign against Sunnis and pushing the country toward sectarian war."Peter Wehner writing for Commentary calls what's happening in Iraq a "March Backwards Into the Sun":"Yesterday, a barrage of at least 15 bombs were set off in Baghdad, which according to press reports rocked almost every major neighborhood in the Iraqi capital. Dozens of people were killed. We're seeing a dramatic resurgence of sectarian and ethnic divisions."Concerning Iraq, The Economist went so far as say, "[T]he American neo-con dream of a post-Saddam Iraq spreading democracy throughout the Middle East was always a delusional fantasy. The risk, now that there is no American presence to hold the ring, is that Iraq will fall into sectarian chaos (just as neighbouring Syria may). That in turn will strengthen the argument that in the absence of a Saddam-like strongman Iraq, with its Sunni and Shia Arabs and Sunni Kurds, can never be a coherent state and must, at best, become a loose federation."Although the Arab Spring began as a movement for liberalism and human rights, it has morphed into sectarian strife throughout the Middle East and North Africa: "Many pundits and government officials have praised the 'Arab Spring' as a prelude to the rise of a new and more democratic Middle East. But it is difficult to reconcile this notion with the images of growing intersectarian violence within the region, such as the recent anti-Shiite attacks perpetrated in the course of the celebration of the Shiite Ashura festival on December 5 and 6. The event, a traditional catalyst for intersectarian violence, served as a powerful reminder that identity politics continue to play a major role in the region.Indeed, these Arab uprisings, while fueled by widespread desires for more freedom at the grassroots level, demonstrate that preexisting religious identities were never abandoned in favor of new national ones and that Middle Eastern politics are still very much based on group affiliation and identity politics."As 2011 draws to a close, 2012 promises to be the year of sectarian strife in the Middle East, and no one knows for sure what it portends. This much is certain, though: when Arab Muslim political leaders are confronted with internal difficulties, they unite by blaming the Jews. Israel is a bastion of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, and she is a ready target for Muslims of every persuasion because they hate Israel more than they hate each other. Therefore, 2012 promises to be an especially difficult year for Israel.Neil Snyder is a chaired professor emeritus at the University of Virginia. His blog, SnyderTalk.com, is posted daily. His latest book is titled If You Voted for Obama in 2008 to Prove You're Not a Racist, You Need to Vote for Someone Else in 2012 to Prove You're Not an Idiot.Hmmmm......Obama : "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
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• The story of Aurora Mardiganian, Armenian genocide survival.(Firat).Aurora (Arshaluys) Mardiganian (January 12, 1901, Çemişgezek, Mamuret-ül Aziz, Ottoman Empire - February 6, 1994, Los Angeles, California, USA) was an Armenian American actress and a survivor of the Armenian Genocide.Aurora Mardiganian was the daughter of a prosperous Armenian family living in Çemişgezek, twenty miles north of Harput, in Ottoman Turkey. Witnessing the deaths of her family members and being forced to march over 1,400 miles, during which she was kidnapped and sold into the slave markets of Anatolia, Mardiganian escaped to Tiflis (modern Tbilisi, Georgia), then to St. Petersburg, from where she traveled to Oslo and finally, with the help of Near East Relief, to New York. Here she was approached by Harvey Gates, a young screenwriter, who helped her write and publish a narrative that is often described as a memoir titled Ravished Armenia; the Story of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian Girl, Who Lived Through the Great Massacres (1918). The narrative was used for writing a film script that was produced in 1919, Mardiganian playing herself, and first screened in London as "Auction of Souls." The first New York performance of the silent film under the title "Ravished Armenia" took place on February 16, 1919, in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, with society leaders, Mrs. Oliver Harriman and Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt, serving as co-hostesses on behalf of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. Mardiganian was referred to in the press as the Joan of Arc of Armenia, describing her role as the spokesperson for the victims of the horrors that were then taking place in Turkey and the catalyst for the humanist movement in America. In the 1920s Mardiganian married and lived in Los Angeles until her death on February 6, 1994.Read and see the full story here.