MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Tonga 5.8 - 5.9 ; Fiji 5.3 !More info here.

• "Merry Christmas" - Obama rewrites rules for online gambling (and announces it at Christmas so no one notices).(DailyMail).The Obama administration cleared the way for states to legalize Internet poker and certain other online betting in a switch that may help them reap billions in tax revenue and spur web-based gambling.A Justice Department opinion dated September and made public on Friday reversed decades of previous policy that included civil and criminal charges against operators of some of the most popular online poker sites.Until now, the department held that online gambling in all forms was illegal under the Wire Act of 1961, which bars wagers via telecommunications that cross state lines or international borders.The new interpretation, by the department's Office of Legal Counsel, said the Wire Act applies only to bets on a 'sporting event or contest,' not to a state's use of the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults within its borders or abroad, Reuters reports.'The United States Department of Justice has given the online gaming community a big, big present,' said I. Nelson Rose, a gaming law expert at Whittier Law School who consults for governments and the industry.The question at issue was whether proposals by Illinois and New York to use the Internet and out-of-state transaction processors to sell lottery tickets to in-state adults violated the Wire Act.But the department's conclusion would eliminate 'almost every federal anti-gambling law that could apply to gaming that is legal under state laws,' Rose wrote on his blog at www.gamblingandthelaw.com.If a state legalized intra-state games such as poker, as Nevada and the District of Columbia have done, 'there is simply no federal law that could apply' against their operators, he said.The department's opinion, written by Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz, said the law's legislative history showed that Congress's overriding goal had been to halt wire communications for sports gambling, notably off-track betting on horse races.Congress also had been concerned about rapid transmission of betting information on baseball, basketball, football and boxing among other sports-related events or contests, she summarized the legislative history as showing.'The ordinary meaning of the phrase "sporting event or contest" does not encompass lotteries,' Seitz wrote. 'Accordingly, we conclude that the proposed lotteries are not within the prohibitions of the Wire Act.'The department expressed no opinion about a provision in the law that lets prosecutors shut down phone lines where interstate or foreign gambling is taking place.Many of the 50 U.S. states may be interested in creating online lotteries to boost tax revenues and help offset the ripple effect of a federal deficit-reduction push.Hmmm.....Thugocracy in it's natural habitat.Read the full story here.

• Obama Administration discovers the Constitution.(OAATL).By David Hardy.Apparently they have a version that allows the Executive to spend unappropriated money if it serves his "constitutional responsibility" to wield power and hire friends.I can't find that clause in my own copy. I just find "No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law." Maybe I've got an outdated version. But I'm sure my copy of the anti deficiency act is up to date. So is the provision making violation a felony.Hmmmm....The following'Comment' says it all: "I believe your analysis of spending without authorization of the House is unconstitutional, or even illegal, but how would these laws be enforced? By the "Justice" Department."Read the full story here.

• Obama trimmed with red - Why does he hate the rich but lives like a billionaire in the White House?(CFP).By David Lawrence. When Obama started running for President there was a photo of him where he looked like Lenin. It was even trimmed with red. He morphed with a dictator while he spoke like a pacifistic lamb—baa, humbug.In the early seventies I was in Hungary and saw tanks and portraits of leaders. Obama’s face is a caricature of those cold war icons.Why does Obama always have such ferocious portraits of himself? Why is his chin always up in the air so that his nose angles its disdain at his mere followers? Why does he hate the rich but live like a billionaire in the White House? It’s not his fault. Narcissists try to get away with what they can. And they do when their idiot supporters applaud their bullying indiscretions and support their flirtations with dictatorship.Obama is nothing like Hitler or Lenin. However, strangely, like them he pushed through national health care. Physician heal thyself. President, don’t nationalize health care when the country is against it and it can easily be fused into a destructive instrument to ration care against the elderly and the infirm and the less than perfect. It can also bankrupt the economy.This man has a lot of czars. He doesn’t call himself a czar or he might frighten the people. He’s slippery. He has applied snake oil salesmanship to the future of America. He has greased us up with his urgent need for meaningless change.Obama uses agencies like the EPA to get around congress. He has stolen the balancing power of the other branches of government to reframe the constitution. He has replaced law with executive order.  Obama raises taxes on the rich in order to please the desperate middle class. How far has he pushed laborers towards attacking the rich in their homes and stealing their property? How does he dare to raise the taxes on the rich when the government has done nothing but fritter away their money on ludicrous green projects like Solyndra? The government should instead reduce the taxes on businesses so that small businessmen can energize and grow their businesses while hiring new people. Kennedy and Regan improved the economy by lowering taxes.Obama went to war with Libya without Congressional approval. The dictator strikes again. And he let Egypt fall into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. In both cases the balance of power has shifted and Israel, our ally, is endangered. Any Jew who supports Obama is a traitor. Or a fool. Or a coward. Or someone I don’t want to know.Obama intends to give amnesty to illegal aliens. I suppose, as usual, he is trying to garner votes. A country without borders is not a country. It is a pawn of the dictatorial powers that bully it. If you can’t keep foreign elements out you can’t develop the nationality of the citizens that are within. Obama has the emotional temperament of a dictator. Whether he ultimately becomes a monstrous leader remains to be seen. It depends on the people’s resistance. Unfortunately, up until now Obama has been using the Republican Party and the successful as scapegoats. They are his Jews. Don’t forget he was born into the anti-Semitic Moslem religion and that he listened to Reverend Wright’s anti-Jewish lectures for twenty years. Some of this hatred must have washed off on him.I pray to God in abstentia that Obama does not succeed in his big government, totalitarian quest. Or has he already? At least in part.Hmmmm........."Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty". ~ Plato.
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• Muslim Woman Jameela Barnette Shot and Killed after Attacking Georgia Police.(AM).Georgia--A Muslim woman who had been charged with sending fake weapons and a pig’s foot to two New York lawmakers was killed during a struggle with a cop in Georgia on Sunday, authorities said.Jameela Barnette, 53, of Marietta, was slapped with federal charges last month for sending New York State Sen. Greg Ball (R,C-Patterson) a vial of perfume, a hate-filled letter and a doll of the monkey Curious George wearing two Stars of David.She had also mailed a pig’s foot to Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) in response to controversial hearings he held in March on the purported radicalization of American Muslims, Politico has reported.A spokesman for Cobb County Police said an armed Barnette was shot to death after officers responded to a panic alarm she activated at her apartment at 11 a.m. Christmas Day.When the cops arrived, Barnette opened the door while wielding a knife and a handgun and assaulted an officer with the blade, the spokesman said.The unnamed officer shot her, killing Barnette at the scene, police said."Despite receiving injuries to his arm, the officer was able to use his service weapon to stop the assault," the spokesman said.The cop was treated for minor injuries to his arm and placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.Police said they did not know why Barnette triggered the alarm.Barnette railed to several media outlets against what she called anti-Muslim congressional hearings last spring. She told a local TV station she sent Ball, who represents Putnam County and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties, the threatening package because he’s racist toward her faith and supported King’s hearings.“I knew the Jews were behind the hearings,” she told Politico. “A monkey is a representation of who the Jews are.”A judge released Barnette without bail after her arrest in November.Both Ball and King are Catholic.Hmmmmm.......A case of "Jihad bells"?Read the full story here.

• World’s Second And Third Largest Economies To Bypass Dollar, Engage In Direct Currency Trade.(ZeroHedge).To all who still think that in the war of attrition between the USD and the EUR (because contrary to what some have “discovered” only recently, currency wars have been going on for a long, long time and will continue to do so, before morphing into trade and real wars), in which both currencies are doomed, and where the winner takes it all, if only for a few minutes, we bring to your attention the following most recent update out of the Pacific Rim (where incidentally the Shanghai Composite has resumed its relentless track lower with the obvious intention of closing 2011 at its 52 week low) in which we find i) that the dollar’s hegemonic control over the world is ending, and ii) that the mercantilist relationship so long sustained between China and the US, may be shifting and reversing, and in its next metamorphosis will see Japan buying the bonds of… China (although probably not for long – see next post). As Bloomberg reports, “Japan and China will promote direct trading of yen and yuan without using dollars and will encourage the development of a market for the exchange, to cut costs for companies, the Japanese government said. Japan will also apply to buy Chinese bonds next year, the Japanese government said in a statement after a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing yesterday.” And before someone blows it off as merely more foreign relations posturing, ““Given the huge size of the trade volume between the Asia’s two biggest economies, this agreement is much more significant than any other pacts China has signed with other nations,” said Ren Xianfang, a Beijing-based economist with IHS Global Insight Ltd.” As for China’s reverse mercantilist move, one which will stun anyone who believes that Yuan is still undervalued, “Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Dec. 20 buying of Chinese bonds would be beneficial for Japan because it would help reveal more information about financial markets in China, the world’s largest holder of foreign currency reserves.” Speaking of, has Albert Edwards gloated yet that given enough time, he always ends up being proven right, in this case about the CNY’s upcoming devaluation?Read the full story here.

• Jewish leaders in Belgium split over libel suit.(JPost).BRUSSELS – A former leader of Belgian Jewry resigned last week from the country’s Jewish board in protest of the board’s decision to honor a prominent politician who has equated Israel with Nazism, and is suing the same Jewish board for libel.Joël Rubinfeld, ex-president of the Umbrella Organization of Jewish Institutions of Belgium (CCOJB), says his resignation was in response to the organization’s decision to host André Flahaut, president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, as a guest of honor at a gala dinner in September."Honoring Flahaut was inappropriate and absurd in light of his statement and the lawsuit he filed against the CCOJB,” Rubinfeld told The Jerusalem Post.Rubinfeld stepped down as president last year but remained on the board.Rubinfeld’s successor as president, Prof. Maurice Sosnowski, defended the invitation as a means of keeping dialogue open and ending Flahaut’s lawsuit in a compromise.Flahaut sued both the CCOJB and Rubinfeld individually in 2008 for libel, claiming they called him “an anti-Semite.” Rubinfeld had publicly accused Flahaut of “making statements which can encourage anti-Semitism,” in the context of a pro- Palestinian demonstration in Nivelles.Flahaut – a former defense minister and senior Socialist Party official – was filmed there, saying: “I’m determined to fight all extremism, all Nazism, all fascism wherever, whenever they occur. That’s why I’m here.”The demonstration was held in commemoration of Israel’s creation 60 years earlier and featured actors dressed as Israeli soldiers, shouting and loading other actors dressed in Arab garb onto a truck.Rubinfeld had filmed the event and Flahaut’s speech and posted the footage online.According to Sosnowski, the gala invitation was “natural” since Flahaut and the CCOJB are in contact over an end to the lawsuit. Early last year a first circuit court ruled in favour of Flahaut; Rubinfeld and the organization have appealed to the second circuit.Sosnowski told the Post that Flahaut and the organization arrived at an out-of-court compromise, but that Rubinfeld rejected the deal, making it “impossible.”Sosnowski added: “Rubinfeld was right to accuse Flahaut and right to appeal the first circuit’s sentence, but a reasonable compromise is better than a long and uncertain procedure.”The compromise would have Flahaut drop the lawsuit and declare that equating Israel to Nazism is illegitimate and amounts to anti- Semitism.Flahaut has insisted that he had never made such a link – thereby suggesting that Rubinfeld had manipulated the video. The first circuit court ruled the video had indeed been doctored, though all board members reject this.“It’s a good compromise for the Jewish community and an achievement but it’s being blocked by Rubinfeld,” Sosnowski said, adding that a majority of the board supports the settlement. “Rubinfeld wants to turn this affair into a Dreyfus trial that would drag on for a decade and drain the community’s resources.”René de Lathouwer, a board member, said Rubinfeld “was holding the CCOJB hostage.”Rubinfeld, however, insisted on appealing the first circuit ruling “because the issue has become Belgian jurisprudence and free speech. The court must now determine that equating Israel and Nazism is illegitimate. A statement by Flahaut is worthless.”Rubinfeld added that he wanted to resign immediately after the September gala, but stayed on the board “to work out the follow-up in the trial against Flahaut.”Flahaut – who did not respond to requests for a reaction – was documented leading another anti-Israel demonstration in Brussels on January 11, 2009, where some protestors waved signs reading “Jew Nazi,” “Gaza worse than Auschwitz” and “Protocols of Zion, final stage?” Also present were two other Belgian parliamentarians – Isabelle Durant of the Green Party and Françoise Dupuis of the Socialist Party – who both attended the gala along with Flahaut.CCOJB represents some 20,000 French-speaking Belgian Jews. (The Forum of Jewish Organizations – an independent body – represents the equally-sized Flemish Jewish community.) “I have no great sympathy for André Flahaut but there’s little chance of beating him in court. It will make other politicians close ranks with him,” Eli Ringer, honorary FJO chairman, said. “As a youngster Rubinfeld had good intentions to make some changes in the Brussels community but not too much could be achieved by always using force instead of dialogue.”He added: “At the same time, inviting Flahaut to the CCOJB gala while he’s suing the CCOJB wasn’t a good idea. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”Read the full story here.

• Canada fears rise of forces ‘worse than Mubarak’ in Egypt.(AlArabiya).Canada is concerned that forces worse than deposed strongman Hosni Mubarak could rise to power in a newly democratic Egypt, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in an interview.“There are obviously forces who want democracy and progressive change (in Egypt), but there are clearly some forces that would want something that's probably worse than what we had before,” he said in a taped interview with CTV News to be aired Monday.“So we’ve always been a little bit hesitant on Egypt,” he said, according to AFP.Harper was not specific about which forces concerned him.But liberals have warned about the rise of groups that advocate a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that could lead to a more conservative and overtly religious new parliament.Liberals and Islamists have also united to condemn the military’s handling of the transition to democracy that lead deadly clashes.Mubarak is currently facing a murder trial before an Egyptian court and may get the death sentence if found complicit in the killings of some 850 people who died during 18 days of protest that ousted him from power in February.Harper said he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s security amid the sweeping changes shaping its ally and neighbor.“I’ve spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu and yes, we are concerned,” Harper said.“The peace between Israel and Egypt for the past several decades has been of immense benefit to both countries and to the region. And anything that I think threatens that would not be good.”The Canadian prime minister went on to say that the first free elections in Egypt held this year was a “pretty positive thing.”“But at the same time, there’s been riots, there’s been persecution of minorities, in particular Coptic Christians and others, and this is a big concern,” he concluded.Many Egyptians believe the army is no longer fit to manage security on the ground and carry out difficult reforms at a time of political and economic crisis.On Friday, thousands rallied in Cairo and other cities to demand the army give up power and to vent anger after 17 people were killed in recent protests where troops beat and clubbed women and men even as they lay on the ground, according to Reuters.Protests continue daily in Tahrir Square. Several hundred protesters have set up camp there. Some are demanding the army bring forward the presidential vote to as early as Jan. 25, the first anniversary of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.Others, worrying that 10 months after Mubarak’s downfall Egypt remains in disarray, protested on Friday to end protests so order can be restored and the economy revitalized.Analysts say a speedy transfer could play into the hands of military by boosting the chances of presidential candidates with close ties to the army.Read the full story here.

• MKs call for state to recognize Armenian genocide.(JPost).Knesset members from all sides of the political spectrum called for the government to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, marking the first time the issue was discussed in an open Knesset meeting.The Knesset Education Committee meeting was initiated after MK Arye Eldad (National Union) proposed a bill to mark the Armenian genocide annually, which was then turned into a motion for the agenda after Eldad realized the coalition would not allow the legislation to pass. The meeting also addressed a similar motion put forward by MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz), making Armenian genocide one of the few topics agreed upon by the Knesset factions farthest to the political left and right.The discussion took place a week after France’s lower house of parliament moved to criminalize Armenian-genocide denial, leading to a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Ankara.Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said that those who fight Holocaust denial must not ignore the tragedies of other nations, and it is a moral imperative that Israel remember the Armenian genocide. Rivlin said that he made a motion to the agenda on the matter in 1989, but until Monday, it was not discussed openly in the Knesset, due to political and diplomatic reasons. He added that the issue was moved from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, where it was discussed behind closed doors, to the Education Committee, with the press present, so that “morals and values” could be discussed.Gal-On said the meeting was an “exciting moment,” bringing to fruition the efforts of many former and current Meretz MKs over the years.She called for government ministries to stop using the Armenian genocide as a tool in Israeli foreign policy. Although Gal-On said that Israel must not allow “tense” relations with Turkey to deteriorate, she added that relations with Turkey should be separate from this issue.“This is the first time we can really discuss this and not sweep it under the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s rug: A million and a half Armenians were murdered in the beginning of World War I,” Eldad said. “Who remembers them today? We must talk about it, so no one in the world thinks [genocide] can be committed again.”Eldad accused the government of hypocrisy, saying that at first, the matter wasn’t publicly addressed because relations with Turkey were strong, and now the same policy stands for the opposite reason.Coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) said that he is embarrassed that the Knesset has yet to fulfill its “basic responsibility” in recognizing the Armenian genocide.He said “a wall has been broken” in that the Education Committee discussion was taking place openly, but that progress still needs to be made.Elkin also mentioned that in 1939, Hitler cited the fact that Europe ignored the Armenian genocide to justify his actions.At the same time, Foreign Ministry representatives in the meeting said that it would be irresponsible to make any official declarations on the matter.The ministry never denied the Armenian genocide, the representatives explained, but the issue has become political, and Israel prefers not to be involved, especially because Turkey and Armenia have been holding an open dialog on the facts and opinions surrounding it.In addition, only 21 countries have officially recognized the Armenian genocide, according to the Foreign Ministry, and it would be unfair to declare all those who haven’t immoral.“We can’t disconnect ourselves from reality. The Islamic world is getting more and more extreme,” MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) said, echoing the Foreign Ministry’s stance. “We have to improve our relationship with Turkey; it’s a matter of survival, even if it has a painful price.”Schneller suggested that the Knesset declare that according to human and Jewish morality, genocide is unacceptable no matter where it takes place, be it Armenia, Rwanda or Cambodia. He added that specific discussion of the Armenian genocide would be irresponsible.In addition, two representatives of the Israel-Azerbaijan International Association (AZIZ), denied that genocide took place, saying that Armenians took the side of Turkey’s enemies and were a “fifth column” in Turkey.In addition, AZIZ spokesman Arye Gut said that thousands of Azerbaijanis were killed in war with Armenia, and that Armenia occupies land Azerbaijan’s land. The two countries fought a war following World War I, and another war from 1988-1994.Gut told the committee to keep in mind that Turkey helped Jews after the Spanish Inquisition and during the Holocaust, and that there are only 300 Jews in Armenia, while 30,000 live in Azerbaijan.He called for the government not to make any official statements, and wait for decisions to be made in an international, academic forum.No vote took place at the end of the meeting, and Knesset Education Committee chairman Alex Miller (Israel Beiteinu) said that more open discussions of the Armenian genocide will take place.Read the full story here.

• U.S. has incurred about $400 million in annual costs, or about $1 million a day, assisting Turkey in its fight against terrorism.(HurriyetDaily).Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says a high-level agreement was reached between Turkey and the United States in 2007 on intelligence services.The United States is covering the cost of intelligence-sharing in Turkey’s fight against terror, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said over the weekend.A high-level agreement was reached between the two countries in 2007, and the flow of intelligence has been uninterrupted and instantaneous ever since, said Davutoğlu. “Turkey does not have any economic responsibilities in this support provided by the United States,” said Davutoğlu in response to a question submitted to Parliament by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Secretary-General İsmet Büyükataman.“These capabilities from the United States’ own inventory assigned exclusively to the fight against the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] are significant, and the intelligence provided by the unmanned aerial vehicle’s are valuable to our fight,” said Davutoğlu.U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Francis J. Ricciardone said last May that the U.S. had incurred about $400 million in annual costs, or about $1 million a day, assisting Turkey in its fight against terrorism.Real-time intelligence sharing between the U.S. and Turkey in order to supply critical information about terrorist movements to the Turkish military was formally agreed upon by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and then-U.S. President George W. Bush in 2007.The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.Hmmmm....What's $ 400 Million among friends?Read the full story here.

• Iran extends oil deal with Turkey for 2012 despite sanctions.(TodaysZaman).Iran said on Saturday it has extended its crude export contract with Turkey for 2012, state-run English Language Press TV reported, suggesting it aims to trade via Turkey to circumvent tight sanctions imposed over its disputed nuclear program.Turkey has said it is complying with the sanctions, after trying unsuccessfully to mediate between Iran and the international community."The National Iranian Oil Co. has renewed its crude export contracts with a number of Turkish oil companies ... by the end of 2012," Press TV said in the report.The report said Turkey was a potential market for the export of Iranian crude to Europe, and predicted the Islamic state's crude exports to Turkey would rise by a third in 2012."In 2011, Turkey's oil purchases from Iran was 150,000 barrels per day which is expected to rise to 200,000 barrels in 2012."The European Union is considering a ban - already in place in the United States - on imports of Iranian oil, although diplomats and traders say awareness is growing in the EU that such a ban could damage the bloc's economy without doing much to undercut Iran.Iran warned that any move to block its oil exports would more than double crude prices.The West suspects Iran's nuclear programme might be aimed at making atomic bombs, while Tehran denies this and says its nuclear development is entirely for peaceful ends.Many foreign companies with capital and modern technology have been forced to pull out from the country's lucrative energy sector because of the international sanctions.Hmmmm.....Sanctions that 'bite' benefit Obama buddy Turkey, can NATO trust Turkey......?Read the full story here.

• Netherlands party challenges Turkey's NATO membership: report.(Hurriyetdaily).The Netherlands' third largest political party urged the country's Foreign Affairs and Defense ministries last week to reconsider Turkey's NATO membership, the Jerusalem Post reported.Head of the Dutch Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, and the party's Middle East expert, MP Wim Kortenoeven, accused Turkey of abandoning its allies Israel and France, the report said. The Turkish government had implemented sanctions on France immediately after the French Parliament voted Dec. 22 in favor of a bill penalizing the denial of the events in 1915 as genocide.France and Holland were regarded as being among the leading countries in the NATO military alliance by the Jerusalem Post. Kortenoeven reportedly told the Jerusalem Post that "Turkey had a short but disturbing history of abandoning its allies" and "it could be a lethal mistake to entrust them with the custody of a crucial element of new Western/European defence system against nuclear rogue states such as Iran and Pakistan."The party's military spokesperson also posed questions to the ministries regarding Turkey's reliability as a NATO partner, the article said.The article mentioned a statement by Radio Netherlands Worldwide in which it said that it was unlikely for Netherlands or Germany to follow the French example and pass resolutions against Turkey.“Both countries have large Turkish communities. No one will be keen to offend them with a ban. But it would be good to put a bit more pressure on Turkey. It’s always good to take an honest look at your history,” Lariss van den Heri, professor of international law at Leiden University was quoted as saying.Hmmmm.....Hear, hear!Read the full story here.

• PM Netanyahu: Israel won't negotiate with PA if Hamas joins gov't.(JPost).Netanyahu says Israel won't let Palestinian state become launching ground for rockets like Gaza, Lebanon; repeats that he's willing to meet Palestinians "anytime, anyplace. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear Sunday night that Israel will not engage in any negotiations with the Palestinian Authority if it enters into a unity government with Hamas.Speaking at the annual conference of the heads of Israel's delegations abroad, meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Netanyahu stated that the turmoil in the Middle East must be taken into consideration in any future negotiation with the Palestinians."Progress in the diplomatic process is dependent on Israel preserving and guarding its security needs which are much more difficult given the changes in the region," Netanyahu said.The prime minister said that Israel is "not prepared to allow a Palestinian state to turn into Gaza or Lebanon," meaning a territory from which thousands of rockets are launched into Israel.He stated that although it was not a pre-condition for peace talks, Palestinians would eventually "have to accept Israel as the national home of the Jewish people."Netanyahu repeated his refrain that he is "willing to meet with the Palestinians anyplace anytime."Speaking at the conference earlier on Sunday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that, with the Middle East in turmoil, now is not the time to think that a peace agreement with the Palestinians can be reached any time soon.Hmmmm.....Perhaps "when crows wear stiletto heels"?Read the full story here.

• Arab League monitor reported injured in Syria, Calls what is happening A "Genocide" as 25 killed.(BikyaMasr).Beirut (dpa) – A member of the Arab League observer mission to Syria was reported injured Monday in shelling in the central Homs province, activists said, as 25 people were killed in the ongoing conflict.Mustashar Mahgoub was injured in an attack in Baba Amr neighborhood, according to a prominent Syrian activist, who requested anonymity.However, an official at the Arab League denied that any member of the mission in Syria was injured.“Our people managed to take four observers from their Damascus Hotel (Sham Hotel) without the notification of the Syrian government on Sunday night to show them the reality of what is happening inside the neighborhoods of Baba Amr and Khailidyeh,” the activist told dpa.“While we were touring the area the shelling started and he was wounded by the fire of the Syrian security forces,” he added.Mahgoub, in a phone interview with broadcaster Al Arabiya, refused to say how and where he was wounded and it was also not clear whether he was in the restive city of Homs or in Damascus during the call.But he did call the violent clampdown on protests – which the United Nations estimate have killed at least 5,000 people this year – a “genocide.”“This is a regime is taking revenge on its people,” Mahgoub told the channel, adding: “what’s happening in Syria is a genocide.”Around 50 Arab League monitors, headed by Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, began arriving in Syria to start inspecting areas gripped by violence, according to activists.According to an Arab diplomat based in Beirut “preparations were being made for the observers to go to Homs on Tuesday, but due to the current situation, intensive contacts are being made to speed the visit.”Homs, in central Syria, has been a focal point of the government crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.A nine-member advance Arab team arrived in Damascus last week, to prepare for the monitors.The arrival of the observers in Syria is part of a deal agreed to by President Bashar al-Assad’s government with the Arab League last week. It calls for the withdrawal of the Syrian army and militias as well as rebel forces from the streets, the release of detainees and an end to all forms of violence.A total of 150 Arab monitors are due to arrive in Damascus by the end of the month.During the Monday shelling in Homs, at least 25 people were killed, Homs-based activist Omar Homsi told dpa by phone.He said that 21 of them are from the Baba Amr neighborhood, where 20 houses were destroyed.Some 40 others were wounded, most them women and children, he said, adding that most of the injured could not be taken to the hospitals due to the intensity of the shelling.“The situation is frightening and the shelling is the most intense of the last three days,” the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.“The observers must head immediately to the martyrs’ district of Baba Amr to stop the assassinations and meet with the people so that they witness the crimes being perpetrated by the Syrian regime,” the group said.Activists posted gruesome pictures of human remains on the streets inside the Baba Amr neighborhood on their websites.Footage posted online showed the aftermath of the shelling, with bleeding corpses of at least four young men and a woman screaming for help from the international community.Omar Idlibi, a prominent Syrian activist in exile, expressed dismay over the mission of the observers and blamed the Arab League for the delay in their mission.”“Scores of people are being killed in the streets and the Syrian government is still stalling and the Arab League is still not doing anything,” Idlibi said.Read the full story here.

• Related - Head of monitors to Syria says access ‘good so far’; videos show Homs carnage.Tunesian Pres:"Assad has one month to leave peacefully".(AlArabiya).The head of the Arab League’s monitoring mission seeking an end to violent repression in Syria said on Monday he met several government officials who have been cooperative and said access had been unfettered “so far”.Sudanese General Mustafa Daby, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday, is leading a team of observers that will check whether Syria is implementing part of an Arab peace plan requiring it to pull out of civilian areas and put an end to bloodshed.“We are in Damascus now and have started our mission and will head to other cities faster than you think,” Daby told Reuters by telephone. “Our Syrian brothers are cooperating very well and without any restrictions so far.”Daby said the Syrians would be providing transportation for the monitoring mission, a move which may rile the Syrian opposition and spark accusations of censorship.Arab League delegates have said they will try to maintain an element of surprise by only announcing the specific areas they would visit on the same day of their departure.The general said he had already met the foreign minister and his deputy, as well as several officials from the armed forces.He warned those watching the mission not to jump to conclusions about the results of the monitoring mission.“Give us some time, we just got here.”Heavy gunfire killed 23 people in the besieged city of Homs on Monday as newly arriving Arab League observers were urged to head immediately to one of the country’s most serious hot spots.An initial group of 50 observers was to land in Syria later Monday to oversee a deal aimed at ending a bloody crackdown on anti-regime dissent, which has showed no signs of abating since erupting in March.“Rocket fire and heavy machineguns in the Baba Amro quarter killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia.“The situation is frightening and the shelling is the most intense of the past three days,” it said.Six civilians died in other parts of the central Syrian city, while another three, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot dead when security forces opened fire on a demonstration in Khattab in neighbouring Hama province.A first group of Arab League observers are due in Syria Monday to monitor a deal to end nine months of deadly violence as activists report new deaths in the government’s crackdown on a nine-month uprising. Intensive shelling was reported on Bab Amro in Syria on Monday and as many as 23 people have been killed mostly in Homs, Al Arabiya reported citing Syrian activists.Five days of shelling Bab Amro left 45 people dead and 250 others injured, Syrian activists said.A source at the mission told Reuters that the team will start its mission in Syria by visiting the turbulent city of Homs on Tuesday. “It also will visit the capital Damascus, Hama and Idlib on Tuesday,” the source said.Amateur video shot by anti-government Syrian activists showed carnage in a Homs city street, and locals said they were afraid to leave their homes on Monday as army tanks appeared to fire machineguns and mortars into residential areas.Four bodies of what appeared to be male civilians lay bloodied under fallen power lines in a narrow alleyway of the Bab Amr district, their limbs twisted, heads gashed and brains spilling out.Baba Amr has been one of the hardest hit areas of Homs, a hotbed of revolt since the government began its crackdown on a nine-month-old protest movement seeking President Bashar al-Assad’s removal.“This is Baba Amr, December 26, 2011, and the random shelling is still falling on the neighborhood,” a voice shouted over women’s screams according to a report by Reuters. “These are the martyrs thrown in the streets,” the man’s voice shouted.A third day of heavy gunfire in Syria’s flashpoint city killed at least 20 people, the day before an Arab League monitoring mission is expected there, activists said.The people of Homs are awaiting the arrival of the monitors, who are supposed to determine if Assad is keeping his word by withdrawing the army from civilian areas. “Where are the Arabs? Where is the international community? This is what happened after mortar rockets fell on our neighborhood,” yelled the voice in the video as it panned over a row of crumbling buildings.“These are the destroyed homes. Allahu akbar, allahu akbar! The martyrs are in the streets! We can’t get an ambulance in.”Residents said they were too terrified to venture outside. One described to Reuters a state of siege.“They’ve been doing a few surprise rounds of firing every few hours since early morning,” construction worker Tamir told Reuters by telephone. “I don’t feel hopeful that the Arab League monitors can do anything, they won’t help us at all.”“Every time the firing starts, we run down to the basement and wait for it to stop ... I swear to God that we are all cold and hungry here. There’s not enough food, there's not enough fuel for heating any more. The area is surrounded by soldiers.”Three other video segments said to have been filmed in Homs on Monday morning showed two tanks facing in opposite directions next to an apartment block. One was firing a heavy weapon, possibly a tank-mounted mortar.A third tank, its commander standing up in the sand-bagged turret, maneuvered along the street. There were constant bursts of heavy machinegun fire and the sound of sniper rifles.A third video showing a tank recorded a loud explosion, like the sound of its main gun firing. Finally, after a flash and a loud blast, the screen went white.“If we go out, we have to stay in the alley our house is on. If we move past there we might get shot at,” construction worker Tamir said. "Two people in the neighborhood were just wounded by machineguns.”“We can’t rely on the Arab League. The only one we can turn to is God. We’ve been bearing this for 10 months and they keep giving the government extensions and now finally they brought monitors and then what? More extensions? Until we all die?”The Arab mission is headed by Maj. Gen. Mohammed Mustapha al-Daby. The is scheduled to tour Syrian cities in order to prepare a report, to be referred to the Arab League Secretariat as well as the Syrian government, according to Al Arabiya. The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on Nov. 2 that also calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.But since signing the agreement, the Assad regime has been accused of pressing on with its crackdown on dissent.Meanwhile, Tunisian President Moncef al-Marzouqi called on the Syrian opposition to give the chance for President Bashar al-Assad to leave the country peacefully.In an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily, Marzouqi said “they shouldn’t encircle the wounded tiger for the four sides….he should have a way out. He should be frankly told that he has only one month to leave power peacefully.”Marzouqi also said that in case of Assad’s departure, he should not be referred to the International Criminal Court.Read the full story here.

• Imran Khan: "If elected, we’ll create an Islamic welfare state".(DailyTimes).By Asad Farooq. Karachi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, on Sunday, pledged to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state if his party came to power, and promised a state where justice would be ensured on grass roots level. Addressing a big convention at a ground adjacent to the Mazar-e-Quaid, the PTI chairman told the crowd he was forming a team to formulate policies, notably aimed at alleiviating poverty “We want to break the begging bowl once and for all”, he said, and make Pakistan a “true Islamic welfare state”. He hit out at President Asif Ali Zardari, claiming his days were numbered and accusing him of policies that encouraged corruption.He said his party would solidify judiciary on priority basis, and promised free of cost justice on people’s doorsteps, adding that all the systems in government departments would be computerised to check corruption. Khan said that he would introduce an exemplary team, which would be honest and capable. He said that party ticket would be granted on merit to only those candidates who will declare their assets. Later, if someone’s assets grow, he/she would be asked to make a declaration. That mechanism, he said, would prevent legislators from getting involved in corruption. The PTI chief further said that corruption prevalent in the country would be eliminated within 90 days of his party’s coming to power, and said it was not a tough task for him. He said that in present situation, the country bears a loss of Rs 3000 million every day. He announced that his party would form a free and fair accountability cell, free of political pressure, and vowed to end political interference in police department. All roads in Karachi near the rally venue were jammed for more than ten hours, an AFP reporter said, and hundreds of thousands of people waved party flags when the former Pakistan cricket captain arrived. “I promised to all you people that we’ll make a new and respectable Pakistan. Join me to achieve this goal,” he told the crowds, full of people waving the green and red flags of his opposition Movement for Justice Party.“I have been an honest cricketer who never fixed a match. I promise you that I’ll never fixed a match either during my political career,” he said, brushing aside speculation his rise had tacit support from the military establishment. Imran Khan said that he will do everything which Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah would have done, and would never beg from foreigners. He said his team would present outstanding and revolutionary policies on all subjects, including local government, foreign, transport, economy, agriculture, and particularly education. He said that a unified educational system was his dream.Hmmmm......."CHANGE"......where have we heard this before?Read the full story here.

• Iranian woman Sakineh Ashtiani to face death by stoning or hanging.(YNet).Authorities in Iran said Sunday they are again moving ahead with plans to execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning on an adultery conviction in a case that sparked an international outcry, but are considering whether to carry out the punishment by hanging instead. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is already behind bars, serving a 10-year sentence on a separate conviction in the murder of her husband. Amid the international outrage her case generated, Iran in July 2010 suspended plans to carry out her death sentence on the adultery conviction.On Sunday, a senior judiciary official said experts were studying whether the punishment of stoning could be changed to hanging."There is no haste. ... We are waiting to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging or not," said Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of justice department of East Azerbaijan province, where Ashtiani is jailed."As soon as the result (of the investigation) is obtained, we will carry out the sentence," he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.The charge of a married woman having an illicit relationship requires a punishment of stoning, he said.He said judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani ordered a halt to stoning in order to allow Islamic experts to investigate whether the punishment can be altered in Ashtiani's case.Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 after the murder of her husband.She was later convicted of being an accessory to her husband's murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.Read the full story here.

• Twitter Continues To Evade Explaining Its Breaking of U.S. Law and Its Indirect Support For Online Jihad: The Case of Hizbullah and Al-Manar TV.(Memri).As part of its research, the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor follows the multiple ways in which jihadi groups are using Twitter – "tweeting" news flashes, reporting attacks, battles, and other operational activities, and sharing videos, and more. Jihadi groups' use of Twitter is part of their online media strategy of taking advantage of Western websites and technologies, uploading videos to YouTube and to the Internet Archive, creating official Facebook pages, and other methods. Jihadis have come to depend on free web hosting, where content can be uploaded anonymously, reliably, and at no cost.Headquartered in San Francisco, California and with servers in San Antonio, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts, and New York, Twitter is increasingly being used by terrorist organizations and their media outlets. Their online followers are growing in number. Twitter's Terms of Services Supposedly Ban Users "Barred From Receiving Services Under the Laws of the United States" – Yet Growing Number of Designated Terrorist Organizations Are Tweeting.The latest designated terrorist organization active on twitter is Hizbullah (http://twitter.com/#1/almanarnews). Other jihadi organizations include the Somali Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahedeen, the Taliban, Jihad Al-Ansar Media, Nukhbat Al-I'lam Al-Jihadi, Ribat Media Center, and many more, on which MEMRI will be reporting soon.According to Twitter's Terms of Service, account holders may use the Services only if "you [the user] can form a binding contract with Twitter and are not a person barred from receiving services under the laws of the United States or other applicable jurisdiction." Its "Restrictions on Content" states "We reserve the right at all times (but will not have an obligation) to remove or refuse to distribute any Content on the Services and to terminate users or reclaim usernames... We also reserve the right to... enforce the Terms, including investigation of potential violations hereof." Twitter also provides readers with the option to report violations.Jihadis' use of Twitter should not be dismissed. The terrorist organizations mentioned above, and an ever-growing cadre of online jihadi groups and bloggers supportive of Al-Qaeda, are tweeting 24/7. In fact, according to recent research on Twitter users, Arabic is now the fastest-growing language on the site; the number of Arabic-language tweets is 22 times greater than it was a year ago.
Is Twitter Breaking the Law? The U.S. Government's Emerging Policy.Over the past month – as it has been reported that terror organizations, including the Taliban and the Somali Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahedeen, have been tweeting – there is increasing pressure on Twitter to act. A December 18, 2011 Washington Post report revealed that "U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned about extremists' stepped-up activity on social media sites, citing cases in which Americans have been recruited online by terrorists overseas."As far back as April 2011, Twitter was asked by The Washington Times to comment on reports about the Taliban Twitter account and about the law prohibiting provision of services to designated terrorist groups – but refused to do so. The newspaper report did quote Senator Joseph Lieberman as saying that he believed that the Taliban's use of Twitter "would be violating the company's terms of use."Subsequently, the Los Angeles Times reported, on November 23, 2011, that after some Congressmen urged Twitter to stop hosting pro-Taliban tweets, Twitter executives told lawmakers that the micro-posts do not violate the website's terms of service because the Taliban is not listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. Such a designation would make it illegal to provide 'material support or resources' to the group. On this occasion too, "Twitter officials did not respond to requests for comment."When it was discovered that Al-Shabaab – which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. State Department in 2008 – had launched a Twitter account and begun tweeting on December 7, 2011, questions arose regarding whether the government – or Twitter – would take action. A State Department spokesman said, "We are looking closely at the facts of this situation to determine what the appropriate next steps might be." According to a December 20, 2011 New York Times report, "some American officials said the government was exploring legal options to shut down the Shabaab's new Twitter account, potentially opening a debate over the line between free speech and support for terrorism... American officials said they were worried that the Shabaab might be using Twitter to reach potential recruits in the West." Again, just as Twitter refused to comment to The Washington Times and the Los Angeles Times, company spokesman Matt Graves told The New York Times on December 19, 2011, "I appreciate your offer for Twitter to provide perspective for the story, but we are declining comment on this one.".

Hizbullah and Al-Manar TV: Another State Department-Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations Using Twitter. The Lebanese-based Hizbullah terrorist organization has killed more Americans than any other terrorist organization except for Al-Qaeda; most recently, Hizbullah made headlines on December 16, 2011, when Ali Musa Daqduq, a Hizbullah commander, was handed over from U.S. custody to the Iraqi government. In January 2007, Daqduq orchestrated a raid on American troops, in which Shi'ite militants, in American-style uniforms and carrying forged identity cards, killed five American soldiers in Karbala. One soldier was killed in the raid, and four others were kidnapped and their bodies were later found dumped by a roadside.The U.S. State Department designated Hizbullah a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 11, 2005. The group was previously designated an FTO in 1999, but the designation was rescinded in 2001 after it denounced the 9/11 attacks. Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV was designated a terrorist entity in December 2004 by the U.S. State Department. In 2006, Al-Manar was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity by the U.S., which declared that it was "owned or controlled by the Iran-funded Hizbullah terrorist network."On March 23, 2006, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that pursuant to Executive Order 13224, Al-Manar was designated a global terrorist entity. The announcement cited earlier U.S. laws against Al-Manar which it called "the media arm of Hizbullah."In response to the U.S. designation, Al-Manar vowed to continue broadcasting even though its assets were now frozen by the U.S. government. A spokesman insisted that there was "nothing new" and added, "It doesn't change anything, and we will continue our work and will remain broadcasting everywhere in the world, including the U.S."Hmmmm.......Twitter - Terrorists - Taliban all start with T.Read the full story here.