MFS -The Other News - What the main papers don't say.

  Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Kyrgyzstan 5.3 - 5.2!More info here.

• Newt Gingrich Suggests Obama Is A Muslim-Appeasing Traitor.(NH).By Ellen.Newt Gingrich visited the Hannity show last night where he predictably spewed venom against President Obama. But Gingrich outdid himself when he repeatedly suggested that Obama is a traitor who “appeases” our enemies - such as Iran and the Taliban - and double-crosses our allies and troops.Both Hannity and Gingrich have been lusting for war against Iran for years – though neither has ever suited up in a military uniform. Hannity cited Leon Panetta’s recently-stated concern that Israel may attack Iran – almost certainly knowing that Gingrich would launch his own chickenhawk attack on Obama.“It tells you a lot about what’s wrong with this administration. Instead of worrying about the Iranians getting a nuclear weapon, they’re worried about our ally. It strikes me that we ought to be helping our ally and making sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.”Gingrich accused the Obama administration of “living in a fantasyland” at that point.“The great threat in the Middle East is not Israel, it’s Iran. The great problem in Afghanistan is the Taliban and yet you have an administration which is apparently gonna release a number of Taliban terrorists… as a faith-building measure. These guys must be breaking up laughing… If I were a young American serving in Afghanistan, and I thought that I had a Commander in Chief who was currying favor with the people trying to kill me, I would find that very, very upsetting.Read the full story here.

• Obama Thinks Veterans Are Only Good For Menial Jobs.(RWN).By William Teach.We’re finally going to get, after, what, a year? of talking about jobs for military veterans, his plan to get them work. And it’s as pitiful as you’d expect. (Fox News) In an effort to cut the unemployment rate among veterans, the Obama administration is calling for a new conservation program that would put veterans to work rebuilding trails, roads and levees on public lands.Of course, much like with his Stimulus, the jobs probably do not exist. Furthermore, the idea, like most of his ideas, isn’t particularly original. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the Civilian Conservation Corps that operated during the 1930s could be viewed as a model for what the administration will try to accomplish through its “Veterans Jobs Corps.” He said that the administration will propose spending $1 billion that would be used to put an estimated 20,000 veterans to work restoring habitat and eradicating invasive species, among other activities. So now the Obama admin. is looking towards Depression era make-work programs that failed to stimulate the economy, and helped keep the USA mired in depression for a decade.Hmmmm......The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments.The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans.Read the full story here.

• Europe's cold snap claims more victims, travel hit.(Yahoo).Transport networks were also badly hit as the chilling weather moved west, prompting severe weather warnings to be issued across much of France and Britain.London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, said it had cancelled about half of its normal services as more than 15cm (6 inches) of snow fell in parts of England overnight and temperatures dropped to almost -10 Celsius.Many of Britain's other airports were forced to shut runways overnight and warned of further disruption, while rail services were affected and motorways near London were brought to a standstill, forcing some divers to abandon their vehicles.In Paris, the Eiffel Tower received a coating of snow and more downfalls were expected to bring problems to the French capital's main airports.Meanwhile in Belgium, police found that overnight temperatures of about -10 Celsius were so low that machines to test motorists' alcohol levels did not work.Read the full story here.

• Former DEA Chief: Hezbollah Eyeing Southwest Border, ‘Hell to Pay in the Not Too Distant Future’.(CNSNews).By Penny Starr.The Iranian-supported Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah has spread its influence all the way to the U.S. border with Mexico, a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Iran’s influence in the Western Hemisphere heard on Thursday.Michael Braun, a former chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Agency, said Hezbollah had developed relationships with the powerful Mexican drug cartels to “move their agenda forward.” He cited a plot, recently uncovered by the DEA, involving an Iranian operative in Mexico allegedly planning to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C.“Hezbollah are absolute masters at forming close relationships with existing organized crime groups around the world that helps them facilitate what they need to do to move their agendas forward,” Braun told CNSNews.com following the hearing. “And if anyone thinks for a moment that they don’t have their eye on the southwest border and all of our country, then they couldn’t be more wrong.”Read the full story here.

• 'World’s ability to limit Iran missile program fading'.(JPost).By Hillary Leila Krieger.WASHINGTON – Iran’s missile program is becoming increasingly self-reliant, lessening the ability of the international community to limit its capabilities, the architect of Israel’s missile defense system warned on Friday.As Iran’s technological know-how and its skill at constructing its own components grows, Western countries have fewer opportunities to delay its program by refusing to sell Tehran equipment or by supplying faulty parts, said Uzi Rubin, who founded the Defense Ministry’s Israel Missile Defense Association.“It is less and less dependent on outside skill,” Rubin told the Foundation for Defense of Democracies before heading to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers later in the day.“Today Iran can avoid all those export controls quite easily,” he continued, adding that currently, despite the economic sanctions, the country’s access to money is sufficient to “buy all they want.”Rubin wouldn’t offer a timetable for how long it would take Iran to not only develop a nuclear weapon, but produce it in a form suitable for putting on a warhead, and then constructing the warhead itself. But he did say the time is “very short.”Producing an intercontinental ballistic missile might take longer, but Rubin assessed that the Islamic Republics’s interest would be satisfied simply by posing a credible threat to the US homeland rather than in actually deploying an ICBM.“Iran would love to be in a deterrent situation with the United States. That makes it a superpower,” said Rubin, who now heads a defense consulting firm.He urged US political leaders to work to secure missile stocks in Middle East countries roiled by the Arab Spring.He described missiles held in countries such as Syria as “really capable” and ones that could pose a grave challenge to the West.“If you don’t take care of them, those missiles will end up in places that are bad for Israel and bad for the US,” Rubin said.Read the full story here.

• Video - U.S. Bridges, Roads Being Built by Chinese Firms.Read and see the full story here.

• FM Lavrov Explains Russia’s Veto on Syria Resolution in UN.(RN).Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday explained why Russia had vetoed a resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council, saying that without Russia's latest amendments, the draft would be unilateral and would harm Syria if adopted.Lavrov said he had on Friday sent Russian amendments to the draft resolution to U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Russia’s envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin so that all partners could get familiarized with them.“The rationality and objectivity of these amendments should not cause anyone’s doubt,” Lavrov said.Some Western countries have been trying to persuade Moscow to support a resolution effectively authorizing a military operation, but Russia has repeatedly insisted that the Western drive for a stronger crackdown on Syria is preparation for a “Libyan scenario.”In Libya, rebels ousted and killed long-standing dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 after a months-long military standoff in which they received assistance from NATO forces.Although UN Security Council diplomats had toned down the latest draft in an apparent move to overcome Russia’s opposition, Lavrov said the Morocco-submitted plan was “unilateral.”The Russian foreign minister said extremist groups that provoke violence in Syria should be assessed in a proper way, which has not been done. He said the resolution did not set enough demands on anti-government armed groups, and that Russia was concerned it could jeopardize Syria’s national political dialogue.Besides, he said, the draft resolution contained a demand that all Assad’s forces should withdraw from cities and towns.“This phrase, without being linked to a simultaneous termination of violence on the part of armed extremist groups, is absolutely provocative, as no president with self-respect, no matter how treated, will agree to surrender inhabited localities to armed extremists without resistance,” he said.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Saturday she was "disgusted" by the Russian and Chinese veto on the draft, and that “all further bloodshed” that could follow will be on the two countries’ conscience."For months this council has been held hostage by a couple of members. These members stand behind empty arguments and individual interests while delaying and seeking to strip bare any text that would pressure Assad to change his actions,” Rice said.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the veto, and his statement distributed through his spokesperson called it “a great disappointment to the people of Syria and the Middle East, and to all supporters of democracy and human rights.”“It undermines the role of the United Nations and the international community in this period when the Syrian authorities must hear a unified voice calling for an immediate end to its violence against the Syrian people,” Ban said.Read the full story here.

• Israeli minister says Assad's end may be "long and bloody".(TZ).Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, facing an 11-month-old uprising, will fall from power eventually but the process could be "long and bloody" as he has outside support from Iran, Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said on Friday. In remarks to Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Germany, Ayalon said that support in the UN Security Council could also prolong Assad's rule. He did not name any country but appeared to refer to longtime Syria ally Russia. "Assad has no real challenge unfortunately from the international community as his case is being barred from discussion in the Security Council because of some members of the Security Council, and because he continues to get material financial and military help from the Ayatollahs in Iran and Hezbollah." "So with having these two political assets in the Security Council and military assets in Iran, unfortunately he can stay for a long time, although he lost his legitimacy and sometimes at the end he will fall, but it may be a long and bloody process." Ayalon said Russia should avoid supplying arms to Syria as this could destabilise the situation further.Assad has used troops and tanks to try to crush a popular revolt and thousands of people have been killed. Ayalon said the bulk of the Syrian military was still intact "notwithstanding a few defections". Read the full story here.

• IMF wants to blow up Greek economy.(Capital).(Via: KTG).The members of the technical IMF team, which the government had asked in October to provide technical assistance in view of the tax reforms, suggest irrelevant proposals that could blow up the Greek economy. According to protothema.gr, in a mammoth report of over 100 pages, they suggest among other things, a doubling of VAT and tax on deposits, bonds and rents. Specifically, the IMF recommends: transfer of all goods and services from 6.5% to 13%. The IMF report proposes "abolition of the minimum rate of 6.5% which includes only hotels, medicines, books, magazines and theater tickets. This measure could generate about 360 million euros. Imposition of single VAT rate 19% -21% on all goods and services (other than hotels and tour packages that may be subject to a reduced 9% or 11%). This represents an increase from 13% to 19% or 21% VAT burdening food, medicines, electricity, water and gas bills, public transport tickets, taxi fares, medical visits and examinations, medical care etc.Elimination of the 30% reduced VAT rates applicable to the Aegean islands. This means an increase in tax for residents of the islands by 5% or 9% to 13% and from 16% to 19% or 21% for all other goods and services.The long list of new taxes just go's on.Read the full story here.

• Maan News Agency: Haniyeh meets renowned Egypt Muslim Brotherhood sheikh al-Qaradawi in Qatar.(CA).(Maan) GAZA CITY – Influential Egyptian Muslim theologian Yususf al-Qaradawi on Friday stressed the necessity that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip should be open completely.During a meeting with the premier of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, al-Qaradawi said, “It is unusual that closure of the Rafah crossing continues barring movement of people and goods.” He added that the Gaza Strip expected support from the Arab and Islamic nations. Al-Qaradaqwi applauded the emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, for his support to Palestine and to Gaza.“In light of what the triumphant revolutions in the Arab world achieved, I can assert that Palestine will achieve victory because Palestine is rightness and rightness always wins, while occupation is falseness and falseness will eventually vanish.”For his part, Haniyeh applauded Qatar and Sheikh Al Thani for the support to Palestine and the Palestinian cause. He highlighted that the emir of Qatar responded positively to calls for reconstructing the war-torn Gaza Strip. Hmmmm......Hamas...who's your daddy?Read the full story here.

• Muslim Brotherhood will determine future of Hamas.(TZ).Hamas, which has left its mark on Palestine’s political life, embarked on a quest for both a new leader and a new policy.The Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt is expected to be the driving force of change in Hamas, which will affect the region as well as Palestine.Samir Ghattas, director of Maqdis Center for Political Studies in Gaza, says Hamas is definitely attached to the Muslim Brotherhood, and so the role the Muslim Brotherhood will have in the political life of Egypt in the same way will deeply affect Hamas.The wind of change within Hamas started after the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal, which took place in Cairo last May and Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu also attended. Hamas leader Khalid Mishal, just like Palestine’s leader Mahmud Abbas, supports the establishment of a Palestine state within 1967 borders.However, at the time of this reconciliation, many inner conflicts within Hamas were revealed. Mahmoud Zahar, one of Hamas’ big guns, caused deep cracks within the organization to be unearthed when he severely criticized Mishal.Stressing that the most important reason behind change in Hamas is the developments in Syria, Ghattas points out the existence of Hamas in Syria leads to heavy oppression of the organization, as tens of people are dying there everyday.Saying that, on the other hand, Hamas getting out of Syria may cause serious problems, Ghattas adds: “First of all, the country where Mishal and the organization will deploy is vague. Qatar and Jordan are the countries that are discussed most. Secondly, Hamas has a serious asset in Syria, and there is a great amount of money in their banks. Therefore, if the organization retreats from this country, it will leave all its wealth behind.”According to Ahmed Mousa, head of the political section at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo, whether or not Hamas will get out of Syria isn’t known. Pointing out that there are no concrete developments that indicate whether or not there will be a serious change within Hamas, Mousa states that the organization establishing itself in Egypt is beside the point.Ghattas also says Hamas’s settling in Egypt seriously distresses the Muslim Brotherhood, which is expected to establish the government in Egypt, and therefore it isn’t very possible.Read the full story here.

• How Europe Has Evolved From A Democracy To A Bankocracy And Why Austerity Will Lead To Chaos.(ZeroHedge).In one of the clearest (and most optically pleasing) discussions of recent months, David McWiliams (of Punk Economics) succinctly explains how Europe has evolved from a democracy to a bankocracy, the implications of which lead to austerity for the people and a Franco-German imposition (the 'fiscal compact') that can only lead to social unrest and chaos. In this brief (and expertly illustrated) video, the Irish economist clarifies Europe's 'dirty little secret' where economic policy is being run almost exclusively for the banks which, as we see in Greece and Ireland, means the political elite are becoming more and more detached from the people. The terror of the r-word (referendum) looms large as McWilliams analogizes the two ways out of a debt crisis (squeeze the debtor or forgive the debtor) with the catholic and protestant perspectives on sin and forgiveness. While falling short of calling for governments to go full-Keynesian (everyone knows you never go full-Keynesian), he (focusing on the problems of the current hopeful solution) summarizes the fiscal union as envisaged by France and Germany (which actually penalizes countries that are in trouble, rather than help them) as not a friendly-union but a vindictive strait-jacket put in place to help banks, not countries. It comes as no surprise to him that the price of Gold (and Bunds) is firm as the 'example' that Greece is likely to set (or face extreme social upheaval) will domino-like stumble across the other troubled nations and as he points "we have been warned". Our view remains that austerity works if countries manage to cut expenses while keeping a balance. Alas, the balance is out of skew due to 30 years of runaway full-Keynesianism, which leads indeed to the problems that McWilliams so well espouses.Read and see (Video) the full story here.

• Russia vetoes anti-Assad UN motion after preparing Special Forces for Syria.(Debka).The West and Russia had a major showdown Saturday Feb. 5 over the Arab League resolution calling on Bashar Assad to step down and allow the formation of a national unity government. US President Barack Obama demanded a UN stand against the Syrian president's "relentless brutality" and a vote before the end of the day. It was put to the vote and defeated by Russian and China vetoes.Moscow sources charged that the motion had been intended to pave the way for war in Iran and a bid to overthrow the Tehran regime.debkafile's military sources report that the Russians backed their hard line against the West by putting Rapid Reaction Force (aka Spetsnaz) units in Black Sea bases on the ready to set out for Syria and defend Damascus. A Cold War dimension has been injected into the Syrian crisis, which is fast descending into a sectarian war between Syria's ruling Alawites (Shiites) and the majority Sunnis. The regional dimension is provided by pitting Iran and Syria against Turkey and the Gulf Arabs.The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's earlier announcement that he would visit Damascus next Tuesday, Feb 7, with Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov was meant to buy Bashar Assad another three days' grace to polish off the opposition before a possible UN-ordered ceasefire.However, the US and Western powers refused to wait for further Syrian excesses to take place after various sources reported earlier Saturday that Syrian troops had shelled the Homs district of Khaldiyeh, killing an estimated 350 people there and injuring some 1,500, in the worst military bombardment of nearly 11-month-old uprising,.Syrian government officials denied the charge accusing "gunmen" of killing civilians.Aside from a few Turkish brigades strung out along the Syrian border, the West maintains no troops on in the vicinity of Syria since the American military withdrew from Iraq last December.The United States presented a tough front at the UN Security Council Saturday, with President Obama insisting that the council vote on a Arab League text without further delay or changes to accommodate Moscow and that its president step down over his "unspeakable assault" on Homs.Read the full story here.

• Saudi Lawyer wants Genie to Testify in Court.(Emirates24/7).A Saudi defence lawyer has asked court to summon a jinn (genie) claimed to have possessed a judge who has been arrested on corruption charges, the Saudi Arabic language daily Okaz reported on Saturday.The lawyer, Salim bin Atteyya, told court that the jinn must be present in court to testify in the case of the corrupt judge in Madina, Islam’s second holiest shrine after Makkah, the newspaper said.“The case of the corrupt judge in Madina has taken a new turn and witnessed new developments as the lawyer of an absent defendant has asked court to summon the jinn to testify,” the paper said.“If what the accused judge said about the jinn, then this jinn could be bad and blasphemous…this jinn could have been sent by a bad sorcerer because witchcraft is bad and non-Islamic.”Okaz quoted the lawyer as saying he had made that demand on the grounds any sentence must not be based on “jinn’s allegations”, presented by an exorcist.“This Raqi (Koran reciter and exorcist) has not presented any real evidence that the accused judge has been possessed by jinn,” the lawyer said.In a report on the case early this week, Okaz said the accused judge told court he was under a magic spell by jinn when he was involved in such practices.The paper said the court summoned Fayez Al-Kathami, a well-known cleric and Raqi who is believed to have the powers of speaking to jinn.It said the court summoned Kathami after the arrested judge said he was possessed by jinn through another defendant, who is a sorcerer.Kathami told the judge later that he managed to “question” the jinn that had possessed the judge and would present a report to the court.“The judge also asked me to question the jinn about all the offences committed by the accused judge and other defendant who is at large,” Kathami said.“The jinn told me all I want through the accused judge…I have written all what the jinn said about the judge’s life and the other defendant….I will write a full report and present it to the court, proving this judge has been under a spell.”According to Okaz, the corrupt judge had told investigators that the other defendant had “taken control of his thoughts and made him rule on cases without being conscious of committing any illegal act.Read the full story here.