Al-Qaida planning kamikaze attacks on ships in Mediterranean, acc to FSB leak

Israeli elite troops.

Al-Qaida planning kamikaze attacks on ships in Mediterranean, acc to FSB leak . (Guardian).

Al-Qaida has developed a seaborne unit to attack targets around the Mediterranean, according to a confidential report from Russian intelligence, one of a cache of secret documents from spy agencies around the world tracking jihadi terrorist groups.

According to the Russians, North African al-Qaida (Aqim – al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) has established a 60-strong team of suicide bombers to plant mines under the hull of ships and to use small, fast craft for kamikaze attacks.

The claim, in a leaked document from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), is one of a string of reports on the rise of Islamic State (Isis) and al-Qaida.

They include a two-month briefing by Omani intelligence estimating that Isis now has up to 35,000 fighters and an income of $1.5m (£1m) a day, reports from United Arab Emirates agents about the Isis leadership structure and a dossier from Jordanian intelligence on confessions extracted from terrorist suspects.

The FSB report on Aqim – which had its origins in Algeria but now poses a threat across north and west Africa and western Europe – is dated February 2011 and claims the movement wants to increase its range to Spain, Italy, France, Britain and Germany as well as Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Senegal, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Somalia and Kenya. Read the full story here.

Video - Ezra Levant On The Libyan Attacks.

Ezra Levant thinks the Libyan murders and anti-US violence across the Middle East are a new chapter in the War on Terror.

Egypt’s Mursi using jihadists to mediate with radical Islamists in Sinai.

Egypt’s Mursi using jihadists to mediate with radical Islamists in Sinai.(AA).Egypt’s Islamist president is using former jihadists to mediate with radical Islamists in Sinai, trying to ensure a halt in militant attacks in return for a stop in a military offensive in the lawless peninsula, participants in the talks say. The move marks a dramatic change from the iron fist policy of heavy crackdowns and waves of arrests under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, which critics say only fueled support for militancy among Sinai’s Bedouin population by subjecting them to torture and other abuses.
But the dialogue and any possible truce could raise concerns in neighboring Israel, which has been targeted in cross-border militant attacks and has urged Egypt to stamp out the groups. The dialogue also raised concerns among some in Egypt that it would give a de facto recognition to some of the most hard-core, fringe Islamist movements, which have gained followers in Sinai and in other parts of the country. The mediation attempt shows a willingness by President Mohammed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood figure who became Egypt’s first freely elected leader, to use his Islamist credentials to deal with such groups in hopes of keeping them away from violence.
Over the weekend, the first sessions of the dialogue took place between Sinai Islamists and a delegation of reformed jihadist mediators that participants and security officials in Sinai said was sent by Mursi’s office. The president’s spokesman, traveling with Mursi on a visit to China, could not be reached to confirm that Mursi sent the mediators. The independent newspaper El-Shorouk quoted officials in Mursi’s office as confirming that the delegation went to Sinai in vehicles with presidential license plates but that no officials from Mursi’s staff were in the delegation. 
Israeli military officials said they were not aware of the dialogue and refused to comment. The idea appeared to be that such former jihadists - who once waged bloody campaigns against the government but have since forsworn violence - would have credibility with the Sinai militants to convince them to halt attacks. In the talks, the two sides reached an agreement that would “pacify the situation forever,” Hamdeen Salman Saad, a prominent Sinai Islamist who participated in the meetings, told The Associated Press.
Under the arrangement, Egyptian troops and security forces would not attack Sinai Jihadists and, in return, there will be no counterattacks or more bloodshed, he said. They would also stop “infiltrators” who aimed to carry out “sabotage” in Egypt, he said, referring to radicals coming from outside Sinai. 
Another participant in the meeting said that under the arrangement, weapons would be handed over. On Sunday, a tribe called el-Barahma handed anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and large amount of ammunition to the military. The participant also said Egypt would fully open the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, while destroying part of the underground tunnel network used in smuggling, along with goods and medicine, weapons and militants to and from Gaza. The participant spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss specific details. Saad and several other participants depicted the arrangement as agreed to by the delegation of mediators. That did not necessarily mean Mursi has signed on to the details.
The dialogue suggested continuing distrust between Mursi and internal security forces, which under Mubarak carried out heavy crackdowns on the Brotherhood. The security officials in Sinai said they had no prior knowledge of the mediation effort and discovered it only when the delegation arrived in Sinai and visited what they called some of the main strongholds of Islamic radicals in the towns of Rafah and Sheikh Zuwayid.
The delegation was led by a former jihadist leader, Magdi Salem, who served 18 years in prison for being part of a militant group known as the Vanguards of Conquest that carried out attacks in Egypt in the 1990s, including attempted assassinations of the prime minister and other officials. Also in the delegation were other former Islamic militants and a prominent lawyer from the ultraconservative Salafi movement, Nizar Ghorab, according to participants in their meetings and security officials in Sinai. They met with around 40 prominent figures from Sinai hardline Islamist movements, according to one participant in the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The figures deny having any connection to armed militants who carried out the Aug. 5 attack or other attacks the past year against security forces. But they have influence over Bedouin youth who may join those groups. Ahmed el-Jehaini, a leading Sinai Salafi who met with the mediators, praised Mursi for “reaching out to the sons of Sinai to build confidence.” Khalil Anani, an analyst of Islamic movements, said that a security crackdown in Sinai is not a solution, but that the dialogue strategy is also risky. “On one hand, Mursi’s reaching out to the jihadists can create divisions within their circles and weaken them, but on the other hand it is dangerous that you recognize the Jihadi groups,” he said. “It is also very risky game that could fire back as Mursi could be using them but later on they can turn against him.”Hmmmmm......Stop embarrassing the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt......Go on attacking Israel?Read the full story here.

Why Sunni Islamism is the world’s greatest threat.

Why Sunni Islamism is the world’s greatest threat.(JPost).By Barry Rubin.No, it sure isn’t the Age of Aquarius or of multicultural, politically correct love-ins. It’s the age of revolutionary Islamism, especially Sunni Islamism. And you better learn to understand what this is all about, real fast. (Shia Islamism, important mainly because of Iran and especially due to its nuclear ambitions is number two on the threat list. But that’s not our topic today.)
Focusing on the Sunni tidal wave, the foundational bit of knowledge is that there are three types, and you better learn them all and their complex interrelationships because a lot of people are going to be misinforming you about this and getting others – never themselves, of course – killed.

The three types are the al-Qaida type; the Salafis, and the Muslim Brotherhood. They are all equally dangerous and some are more dangerous in different ways. Have no illusions.

To understand al-Qaida, which of course goes under many names and regional local groups, is simple. It has one strategy: kill! Its only tactic is terrorism.
It is like those 19th-century revolutionary movements that always failed and for which the Marxists had so much contempt. These small groups were always persuaded that if the workers would only be roused to a general strike, or if enough officials were assassinated, the revolution would come like a nuclear explosion. Now, these movements always failed but sometimes they laid the basis for others to succeed.
Remember, the People’s Will helped launch the Russian revolutionary movement; an anarchist assassinated an American president; the Serbian state-sponsored terrorist cell set off World War One in 1914, and of course al-Qaida created September 11.

Al-Qaida and its various versions in Morocco, Gaza (the Palestinian Resistance Committees), Iraq, Somalia, Europe, Yemen and a dozen other places is dangerous in that it can stage terrorist attacks. In a place where no government exists – like Somalia – it might conceivably seize power. But al-Qaida is not the great threat of the 21st century. It is a problem for counterterrorism and relatively lightweight counterinsurgency.

They may be the worst guys, but they are not the West’s main global strategic problem. Everybody who isn’t basically a supporter of an al- Qaida group hates al-Qaida, except for the Taliban which is really sort of a similar version. Why? Simple. Because al-Qaida wants to overthrow every regime (they do play a little footsy with Iran but even that’s limited). Oh, and they also loathe Shia Muslims which makes for even more enemies and fewer potential allies.

It is “stupid” to have no friends because that means everyone has a motive to get you and nobody has a reason to help you or give you safe haven. Doesn’t sound like brilliant strategy, right? But there’s more.

Al-Qaida, although the name means “base” in Arabic, ironically has no political base. It sets up no real mass organizations; it doesn’t do social welfare work capable of rallying whole countries behind it. There is no way that hundreds of thousands or millions of people will rally to its cause. Imagine someone in 1917 saying in Moscow, “Forget about those moderate Bolsheviks. It’s the anarchists we have to fear.”

In other words, they are in a distant third place.

But even al-Qaida can be used by the Brotherhood. Look at what happened: an al-Qaida group stormed into an Egyptian base, killed lots of soldiers, stole a couple of vehicles, and attacked the border with Israel.

True, the Egyptian regime (that is, the Brotherhood) attacked and killed some of the al-Qaida people. After all, these terrorists had murdered Egyptian soldiers. But what did the regime tell its people? That Israel was behind the attack. Israel had murdered Egyptians.

And therefore there is more reason than ever to hate and wage war against Israel.

This is how Middle Eastern politics works. And that’s one reason why the Brotherhood – as it incites to hatred and violence even as it kills the even more hateful and violent – will never be moderate.

Then there are the Salafis, a word coined only recently in part as a pretense to pretend that the Muslim Brotherhood is moderate. But this also does describe a distinct set of groups, for example Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Egypt is the place where the Salafis developed in a most sophisticated fashion. But it’s important to understand why that happened.

Indeed, that point is central to comprehending what’s going on now.

In the 1970s, when president Anwar Sadat made the mistake of letting the Brotherhood return to public life in practice, he threw fear into them. Advocate violence in Egypt, come out too openly against the regime, even become too successful and back to the concentration camps you go! So the Brotherhood leadership, elderly and many of whom had been tortured and saw their colleagues hung, played it cool. They had no illusions about underestimating the strength of the regime. Yes, they said, the day of revolution will come, but meanwhile we are in a long-term stage of da’wa: organize and educate.

Patience is essential. Don’t make the regime too mad. Yes, hooray for killing Israelis and Americans! But at home keep the murders to a few tooboldly- open secularists.
There were, of course, young men who were too impatient. Our leaders are cowards. They have betrayed the true word of Islam! Let us organize for a more imminent revolution, maybe even take up arms right now and shoot down the evil regime’s officials. And they even gunned down Sadat himself.

There were many such groups – one, Islamic Jihad, joined up with al- Qaida – but they had different views, mixes of strategies, and leaders. Some were almost sects with charismatic sheikhs.
Now they have blossomed forth, eager for violence and instant revolution.

Their al-Nour party – which only represents part of this complex mix of groups that may or may not cooperate – got about 20 percent of the parliamentary vote.

Is the Brotherhood their friend or enemy? Should they raid police stations and blow up pipelines or not? Should they set up morality patrols and beat up young men walking with women and also women who aren’t dressed as the Salafis wish? There are many different views.
Sometimes the Brotherhood uses the Salafis as a convenient excuse. If Islamic Jihad lobs rockets and mortars at Israel, well – wink, wink, nudge, nudge – that isn’t the fault of Hamas, is it? At times, the Salafis can furnish the Brotherhood with the needed stormtroopers, though I would not suggest for a moment that the Brotherhood owns the Salafis.

They are definitely two different groupings, but their interests can blend and the “radical” Salafis provide the “moderate” Brotherhood with a convenient excuse when one is needed.
One thing is clear though: the Salafis’ goal is exactly the same as that of the Brotherhood. The only question is how fast to go, how radical to talk, and how much violence to use.

And another thing is also clear: neither in Egypt, nor in Tunisia, nor in Gaza (where the Brotherhood is called Hamas) will the Salafis overthrow the Brotherhood people. We can be less sure about Syria where the balance of forces is not yet so clear.

Finally, we come to the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood is the Communist Party of Islamism. And you don’t have to take it from me; that was an idea expressed by the moderate, anti-Islamist brother of the Brotherhood’s founder.

The Brotherhood wants a Sharia state. It would like a caliphate (run by itself, of course). It wants Israel wiped off the map and America kicked out of the Middle East. It wants women put into second-class citizenship and gays put into their graves. It wants Christians subordinated or thrown out.

And it will pursue these goals with patience and strategic cleverness.
One step forward, one step back; tell the Western reporters and politicians what they want to hear. Pretend to be moderate in English while screaming death curses in Arabic.
These are the people who are coming to power. They hate their Shia counterparts generally and will kill them, too, at times. They will drag down their countries’ economies.

Ironically, they will succeed in making Israel relatively stronger as they beat and burn and tear down, as they set back their countries’ economic advancement, as they kick half the population (the female half) down the stairs.

They will lose. Just as the Communists did, just as the Nazis did, just as the Fascists and Japanese militarists did. But how many decades will it take? How many millions of people dead and injured? How much human potential and natural resources wasted? And will Western policy make easier the ultimate triumph of moderation, moderation that includes millions of anti-Islamist Muslims and also includes lots of Middle Eastern Berbers, Kurds, Turks, Iranians, Druse, Christians and – yes – Israel.

Or will the West make things harder, longer and worse.

Of victory, I have no doubt. Of Western good sense, all too much uncertainty.

The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). GLORIA Center is at www.gloriacenter.org.

Execution of Kenyan radical preacher backer of Somali Islamists in Mombasa sparks riots aimed at Christians.

Execution of Kenyan radical preacher backer of Somali Islamists in Mombasa sparks riots aimed at Christians.(DS).MOMBASA, Kenya: Deadly riots broke out in Kenya’s main port of Mombasa Monday after the assassination of a radical preacher linked to Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-allied Al-Shabaab militants. At least one person was hacked to death as thousands of angry protesters took to the streets after Aboud Rogo Mohammad – who was on U.S. and U.N. sanction lists for allegedly supporting Al-Shabaab – was shot dead.
“A car behind us aimed at my husband, they shot him on the right side,” said his widow Haniya Said, screaming in grief after the killing by unknown attackers. “One person has been killed; he was slashed to death during the protests,” said regional police chief Aggrey Adoli. Cars were set on fire and two churches were looted in the city – Kenya’s main port and a key tourist hub – according to an AFP reporter.
“There is chaos in town now, and our officers are on the ground dispersing the rioters to maintain peace,” added Adoli. “They are demonstrating against the killing of Aboud Rogo, who was shot by unknown people.” Witnesses said that Mohammad’s car was riddled with bullets, and a photograph released by his supporters showed his bloody corpse slumped behind the wheel of a car. “He died as we rushed him to hospital. Why have they killed my dear husband?” his widow added, before she and her children were taken to the hospital.
Mohammad was placed on a United States sanctions list in July for “engaging in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia,” specifically for recruiting and fundraising for the hard-line Al-Shabaab. The United Nations Security Council placed a travel ban and asset freeze on the preacher in July, saying he had provided “financial, material, logistical or technical support to Al-Shabaab.” He was the “main ideological leader” of Kenya’s Al-Hijra group, also known as the Muslim Youth Center, the U.N. said. The group is viewed as a close ally of the Al-Shabaab in Kenya.Mohammad “used the extremist group as a pathway for radicalization and recruitment of principally Swahili-speaking Africans for carrying out violent militant activity in Somalia,” the U.N. said.
MYC leader Sheikh Ahmad Iman Ali, in a message posted on Twitter, said: “We are on the right track when our leaders get shahadah [martyrdom]. “He will remain in our hearts forever,” the MYC added, while another message offered the grim warning that the “kuffar [infidels] will pay” for his death.
“The whole city is on fire, there are looters in the streets, cars have been damaged, some have been burnt,” said Francis Auma, from the local organization Muslims for Human Rights. “An imam in the mosque shouted through the speaker ‘blood for blood,’ and immediately youths started stoning cars,” said witness Dennis Odhiambo, whose car was damaged and who was forced to flee into a police station for safety. Mohammad “repeatedly called for the violent rejection of the Somali peace process,” the U.S. Treasury said, noting he had often advocated the use of violence against both the U.N. and the African Union force battling Al-Shabaab in Somalia. He “urged his audiences to travel to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab’s fight against the Kenyan government,” the Treasury added. Kenyan police arrested the preacher in January seizing firearms, ammunition and detonators, but later released him on bail. He was previously acquitted of the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa which killed 15 people – 12 Kenyans and three Israelis – as well as three suicide bombers.Read the full story here.

German Intelligence: “al-Qaeda” All Over Syria

German Intelligence: “al-Qaeda” All Over Syria.(AN).German intelligence estimates that “around 90″ terror attacks that “can be attributed to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups” were carried out in Syria between the end of December and the beginning of July, as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). This was revealed by the German government in a response to a parliamentary question. In response to the same question, the German government admitted that it had received several reports from the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, on the May 25 massacre in the Syrian town of Houla. But it noted that the content of these reports was to remain classified “by reason of national interest”, Like many other Western governments, Germany expelled Syria’s ambassador in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, holding the Syrian government responsible for the violence. Meanwhile, at least three major German newspapers – Die Welt, the FAZ, and the mass-market tabloid Bild – have published reports attributing responsibility for the massacre to anti-government rebel forces or treating this as the most probable scenario. Writing in Bild, longtime German war correspondent Jurgen Todenhofer accused the rebels of “deliberately killing civilians and then presenting them as victims of the government”.
He described this “massacre-marketing strategy” as being “among the most disgusting things that I have ever experienced in an armed conflict”. Todenhofer had recently been to Damascus, where he interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for Germany’s ARD public television. Wring in Die Welt, Alfred Hackensberger noted that Taldo, the sub-district of Houla where the massacre occurred, has been under rebel control since December 2011 and is in an open plain, making it unlikely that “hundreds of soldiers and Assad supporters” could have entered the village to commit the massacre. (An abridged version of Hackenberger’s report also appeared in Die Berliner Morgenpost.) Hackensberger visited Houla to conduct investigations for his report. A Sunni resident of Homs told Hackensberger that he had witnessed how an armed group stopped a bus: "The passengers were divided into two groups: on the one side, Sunnis; on the other, Alawis." According to Hackenberger's source, the insurgents then proceeded to decapitate the nine Alawi passengers.Hmmmm......"Arab spring".Read the full story here.

"Mama Shabab" - Former Torontonian a Den Mother to Young Somali Extremists.

"Mama Shabab" - Former Torontonian a Den Mother to Young Somali Extremists.(TS). By Michelle Shephard.NAIROBI—A Canadian woman at the centre of Somalia’s Al Qaeda is known among the intelligence agencies that track her and the foreign militants who praise her simply as “Mama Shabab.”
It is an honorific title for former Toronto resident Fadumo Jama, who intelligence agencies allege is the den mother of al Shabab who runs a safe house for Western fighters recruited into the militant Islamic organization.
While she moves frequently, using forged passports from African countries, it is believed she has operated a home in the Somali town of Merca for at least four years and has supported American and European recruits in the weeks before their suicide bombing missions.
Jama is a well-known figure to intelligence agencies in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Somalia, yet her name does not appear in any public documents and she has not been charged.
But a Toronto Star investigation based on interviews with security, intelligence and law enforcement officials, in addition to leaders in the Somali diaspora here and abroad, reveal a portrait of a female leader vital to the organization.
Her role facilitating Western recruits exemplifies the increasing importance of women to the Shabab — although her position of authority is rare, as most females are recruited only as wives for the fighters or suicide bombers.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden told a Senate committee earlier this year that this was an emerging trend.
“(There is) increasing potential for more women in Canada to become radicalized as injunctions against female participation in violent jihad have begun to disappear from extremist websites,” he said. But with their valuable passports and their seeming willingness to die fighting, the Western recruits have intelligence agencies worried — and they keep Mama Shabab on the radar.
“She is very important, as everybody went to her safe house,” one security official, who has collected reports on Jama for years, told the Star on the condition he not be identified. “At least nine of the Americans, including Jehad Mostafa, went through there.”
Mostafa is the 6’1” California university student originally from Wisconsin, indicted in the U.S. for his involvement with the Shabab.Read the full story here.

Obama Admin drops charges against Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo.

Obama Admin drops charges against Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo.(AA).The Pentagon dropped war crimes charges against a Kuwaiti prisoner at Guantanamo on Friday amid reports the United States and Kuwait were in talks to repatriate the last two Kuwaitis held there. Kuwait is a U.S. ally and the Gulf state’s parliament has condemned the continued detention of its citizens, Faiz al Kandari and Fawazi al Odah, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military base in Cuba, where both have been held for more than a decade. The state news agency KUNA reported on Friday that a Kuwaiti delegation had held talks with U.S. officials seeking their return. It quoted Kuwait’s ambassador to Washington, Salem Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah, as saying more talks were expected in the upcoming weeks. Guantanamo prosecutors charged Kandari in 2008 with conspiring with al Qaeda and providing material support for terrorism. They alleged he was an adviser to Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, that he made al Qaeda recruiting tapes, and that he was an instructor at a training camp in Afghanistan from June to December 2001. The charges were never referred for trial. The Pentagon appointee overseeing the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, Retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald, dismissed them on Friday without explanation. A Pentagon spokesman, Army Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale, said the charges were filed under a 2006 law that was amended in 2009. “Because of the changes to the applicable law, it is important that the prosecutors re-evaluate the case. At some future time, prosecutors may decide to re-charge him under the 2009 Act,” he said.Odah, 35, whose name appears in some Guantanamo documents as Fouzi al Awda, has never been charged with a crime. U.S. military documents allege he was an al Qaeda and Taliban associate who carried an AK-47 and was captured by Pakistani authorities while trying to leave Afghanistan through the Tora Bora mountains in November 2001. He told a Guantanamo review panel that he never knew anyone associated with al Qaeda, never fought against anyone and could never kill anyone because he was a “chicken.”Hmmmm........"Anyone interested in a bridge for sale"?Read the full story here.

Syrian 'NATO' Supported Rebels Ransack Christian Churches.

Syrian 'NATO' Supported Rebels Ransack Christian Churches.(PP).By Paul Joseph Watson.Shocking images have emerged which show the aftermath of Christian churches ransacked by NATO-backed Syrian rebels, illustrating once again how western powers are supporting Muslim extremists in their bid to achieve regime change in the middle east.A photograph provided to us by a Christian woman in Homs, scene of some of the bloodiest clashes of the conflict, shows a member of the Free Syrian Army posing with a looted Catholic cross in one hand and a gun in the other while wearing a priest’s robe. “Everyone knows simply removing these garments from the church is a sin. 
The priest is the only one who wears them too. They even pray before putting them on. Him posing in front of the funeral car as well is disgusting to the max,” our source told us. “They destroyed the church and went in to film it. I know this for a fact.” “The Robes can only be worn by Deacons or Priests or Sub-Deacons, and they a Christian man wouldn’t hold a Cross in one hand and a gun in another,” the woman adds Another image shows a ransacked church in Bustan al-Diwan (Old Homs). While Syrian rebels busy themselves ransacking Christian churches, they also rallying around the Al-Qaeda flag just as their counterparts did in Libya.Hmmmmm.....Obama: "“We will hold sacred the beliefs held sacred by others.”Read and see the full story here.

“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” ~ Pope Benedict XVI . 




FlashBack - June 5, 2012 MFS : French Greek-Catholic Melkite Archimandrite : Syrian Soldiers Face Foreign Fighters, Mercenaries, Militants and the Muslim Brotherhood .

                   - May 16, 2012 MFS: Christians are under pressure in Syria, the patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church Gregorios III denounces the silence of the Western Press.

Al-Shabab plotting attack in Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.

Al-Shabab plotting attack in Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.(RNW).A former commander of the Somali Al Qaeda-linked organisation al-Shabab has said that dormant cells in the Netherlands are secretly preparing terrorist attacks. The commander, who left al-Shabab because of a dispute with its leaders, said the militant Islamist group is actively recruiting and training members of the Somali diaspora in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States to launch attacks in the countries where they have a residence permit. 
Dutch public broadcaster VPRO spoke to a BBC reporter, Mary Harper, on its radio programme Bureau Buitenland. Ms Harper had interviewed Mohamed Farah al Ansari who said Somalia was becoming the new hub of jihadism. Al Ansari joined up with government forces and entered a protection programme with the interim government after he stopped activities with Al Shabab. The Somali commander was questioned by US security officials at the American embassy in Nairobi. Waging jihad Al-Shabab is an offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union, which splintered into several smaller factions after its defeat in 2006 by the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the TFG's Ethiopian military allies. The group describes itself as waging jihad against "enemies of Islam", and is engaged in combat against the TFG and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). The outfit controls large swathes of the southern parts of the country where it is said to have imposed its own strict form of Sharia Law. Its strength is estimated at around 14,000 militants. The group also targets foreign aid organisations, leading to a suspension of humanitarian operations and an exodus of relief agents. The UN Security Council voted earlier this year to increase AU peacekeeping forces in Somalia. The fighting has shifted away from the capital Mogadishu and government troops have managed to take a strategic al-Shabab stronghold in south-western Somalia.Read the full story here.

US fighting 'extremists' in Afghanistan, Pakistan: Obama.

US fighting 'extremists' in Afghanistan, Pakistan: Obama.(Ptv).“It is in our national interest to see a Pakistan that is democratic, that is prosperous and that is stable; that we share a common enemy in the extremists that are found not only in Afghanistan, but also within Pakistan; and that we need to work through some of the tensions that have inevitably arisen after 10 years of our military presence in that region,” Obama said after his brief meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari. Washington had previously claimed it was fighting al-Qaeda members and Taliban militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Addressing the final day of the NATO summit in Chicago, the US president said that NATO leaders have agreed on a formal withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 “to bring our war in Afghanistan to a responsible end." “We agreed that Afghan forces will take the lead for combat operations next year in mid-2013… And this will mark a major step toward the goal we agreed to in Lisbon; completing the transition to Afghan lead for security by the end of 2014 so that Afghans can take responsibility for their own country and so our troops can come home,” he said on Monday. He, however, added that foreign troops will remain in the country after 2014 to support and oversee the training of Afghan forces. “We also agreed on what NATO's relationship with Afghanistan will look like after 2014. NATO will continue to train, advise and support Afghan forces as they grow stronger,” he said.Hmmmm......Once your'e an ally of Al-Qaida in Lybia and now in Syria you can't call them 'the enemy'?Read the full story here.

Obama backed Syrian rebels say "Israel To Remain an Enemy"

Obama backed Syrian rebels say "Israel To Remain an Enemy".(VOC).As Syria creeps into total anarchy, rebels also insist that Israel will remain an enemy after the anticipated fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad. President Barack Obama told the G-8 Summit Saturday that Assad must leave.Regardless of whether he continues in power or is replaced, Israel is destined to remain an enemy state. Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun told a Saudi Arabian newspaper Saturday that Israel is "the main enemy of the Syrian revolution,” and he accused Jerusalem of being Assad’s “strongest ally.” 
Rebels claimed on Sunday that they killed senior Assad aides, but the regime denied the report and also accused “terrorists” of suicide bombings. The report of the assassinations was published by Al Jazeera, which quoted rebel leaders as saying they assassinated Assad's senior military leader, the Interior Minister and one of his top aides. The regime immediately called the reports “lies” and released an interview with one of the supposed assassination victims. Anarchy, if not civil war, is overcoming the country. A suicide bomb hit near the government’s intelligence complex Saturday night, with the regime and the opposition accusing each other of carrying out the deadly attack. The target area was the same place that once was a transit station for terrorists fighting American forces in Iraq, indicating that the attack may have been carried out by Al Qaeda-linked groups. Assad until recently had been gaining the upper hand in the brutal suppression of the 14-month-old rebellion, but Gulf States and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood have begun arming the opposition. The Obama administration has denied it is arming the rebels but has said it is coordinating with other countries that are sending them arms.
The administration has totally reversed itself, having called Assad a “reformer” a year ago and now saying that he must leave power. If the future of Syria works out according to President Obama’s plans, anarchy is likely to reign.
The president told G8 leaders at Camp David on Saturday that the Arab Spring revolution in Yemen has shown that political transition can work, according to deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. However, Al Qaeda terrorists already have taken over a significant part of southern Yemen, and at least 34 people were killed Saturday in clashes with the terrorist organization’s fighters. Al Qaeda also is operating in Syria, presenting the possibility that if and when Assad falls, the terrorist organization will be looking down on Israel along the Golan Heights border.Hmmmm.....The same Al-Qaida fighters who fought Ghadaffi in Lybia are now fighting Assad, who transported them, The Muslim Brotherhood?And with who's planes or trucks?...............Israel i've got your back and surrounded you with mortal enemies.Read the full story here.

U.S. Postal worker says he was poisoned by mysterious (neurotoxin?)leaking parcel from Yemen... but officials deny it ever existed.

U.S. Postal worker says he was poisoned by mysterious (neurotoxin?)leaking parcel from Yemen... but officials deny it ever existed.(Dailymail).A postal worker says a package leaking a mysterious syrupy substance that was mailed from Yemen has poisoned him, but the U.S. Postal Service has denied the parcel ever existed.
The worker, 44-year-old Jeffrey Lill, says he has been has been suffering from extreme fatigue, tremors, and liver and neurological problems after coming in contact with the leaking package while working at the Orlando mail processing center in February 2011.
Lill’s symptoms are apparently consistent with exposure to a neurotoxin, according to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR), in a story published by the Miami Herald.
The center tracked down some of Lill’s co-workers, who said that they too saw the parcel and smelled the fumes emanating from it, which may contain a key to the postal worker’s ailment. The package, however, is nowhere to be found. USPS has denied that Lill was exposed to a potentially toxic package. In a letter to Lill’s attorney, USPS lawyer Isabel Robison acknowledged that a harmless spill had occurred on February 2, 2011, but she said nothing was spilled on February 4, the day when he believes he was poisoned.
Lill and his co-workers Paz Oquendo and Yolanda Ocasio tell a different story. Oquendo said she was the first to smell the noxious odor coming from a large mailbag hanging near the package-conveyor belts.She said she told Lill, the shift supervisor. The 44-year-old went to investigate and caught whiff of a powerful chemical stench wafting from a bag wet with a brown, sticky substance. Lill opened the bag and saw a broken package with tubes and wires sticking out. The return address read ‘Yemen.’ 
Four months earlier, bomb materials hidden inside printer ink cartridges from Yemen had been sent through FedEx and UPS in an unsuccessful al-Qaida attempt to blow up cargo planes. Following the incident, the postal service had alerted its workers to be on the lookout for packages coming from the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Fearing the package was hazardous, Lill ordered the 40 postal employees out of the sorting area and threw open the large bay doors to ventilate the space. Lill said he then moved the bag to a cart and pushed it outside to the hazmat shed. After he moved the package, Lill said his throat started burning and he got a headache from the fumes. Lill admitted that he did not follow the Postal Service protocol that required him to put on a protective suit before handling the parcel because he was rushing to get his co-workers out of the building. 'If I had followed the rules, I guess we would have had a lot more people exposed to it,' he said. The 44-year-old proceeded to notify his manager, Cynthia Hickman, about the spill, and was told that the next on-duty supervisor would finish handling the incident. However, the FCIR reported that the postal service did not investigate the suspicious package as a security or health threat, and did not report it to the US Department of Homeland Security in accordance with the rules. In the weeks after the spill, Lill, who had rarely missed a day of work, fell inexplicably ill. By June, the once-vital man had lost 25 pounds and wound up in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer and esophagus.US Representative Ann Marie Buerkle, whose district includes Lill's new residence in Rochester, New York, has pressured USPS to investigate the incident and come up with answers.Read the full story here.

Yemen to deport two arrested Belgians, who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorism.

Yemen to deport two arrested Belgians, who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorism.(YP).Yemen will deport two Belgians who have been held for a month after they were arrested in Sana'a International Airport on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, Yemeni official said on Sunday. The official told Reuters that the arrestees Ebraheem Bali and Ez-Adin Tuhairi were arrested on April 13 when they arrived in Sana'a. He explained that they were arrested as they were suspicious of planning to terrorist activities, pointing out that Yemen is negotiating with the Belgian Government to deport them within days. A spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry affirmed that the two persons were arrested due to their involvement in terrorist acts, indicating that Brussels was seeking consular access to them. A Yemeni human rights group, Hood, stated on Saturday that Yemen's Political Security, the state intelligence agency, has seized the two Belgian nationals in Sana'a International Airport. Hood made it clear that the two prisoners were not referred to courts, pointing out that their seizure contradicts the Yemeni laws that provide the arrestees must be referred to prosecutions during 24 hours. Hood said that the two arrestees came to Yemen to learn Arabic, pointing out that it sent a letter to the Attorney-General in which it informed him that this seizure violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the article 48 of the Yemeni Constitution. It further demanded the Attorney General to swiftly order the prosecution to visit their prison, and release or refer them to specialized courts, asking to hold those persons responsible for this illegal seizure accountable. Hood revealed in March that hundreds of Yemenis are held in underground jails and demanded President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi to swiftly release them.Other Muslims were subjected to harassment by Yemen's intelligence agencies as they were suspicious of involvement in terror acts.Read the full story here.

Contrary to previous US Armed Forces Mortuary claims, 9/11 remains dumped in landfill.

Contrary to previous US Armed Forces Mortuary claims, 9/11 remains dumped in landfill.(IT).(CNN).Retired General John Abizaid, who is in charge of the independent review of the practices at the Armed Forces Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base (AFB), briefed Pentagon reporters on Tuesday, saying it was unclear how many victims’ partial remains were disposed of in this manner.
The report contradicted a 2011 US Air Force account that claimed there were no records showing how remains at Dover were handled before 2003.
Washington: Partial remains of some victims of the September 11 attacks were dumped in a landfill, the Pentagon revealed on Tuesday for the first time, issuing a report that exposed years of bungling at the US military's most important mortuary.
The portions of remains that ended up at a landfill came from the 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and from a hijacked airliner that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on 9/11, according to the report by an independent panel.
The revelation came from a review of the troubled mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, which has been blamed for mishandling the remains of some troops killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The details about the 9/11 remains were mentioned only in passing in the report, which focused on how to fix management problems at the troubled mortuary.
Any remains related to 9/11 carry a special significance for Americans and the White House promptly issued a statement, saying the Pentagon was taking steps to ensure such mistakes "never happen again.""We are deeply concerned about reports that in 2001, some unidentified portions of remains from the 9/11 attacks were disposed of in a landfill, and about the unacceptable handling of remains at Dover," the White House said.Officials said it was unclear how many victims might be involved or whether some of the remains belonged to the al-Qaida hijackers.
The military had acknowledged last year that some portions of remains of fallen soldiers at the Dover mortuary in Delaware had been incinerated and sent to a Virginia landfill, a practice that was halted in 2008.The military now disposes of unidentified cremated remains at sea.But the review released on Tuesday said "several portions of remains from the Pentagon attack and the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, crash site" also were taken to an unidentified landfill."These cremated portions were then placed in sealed containers that were provided to a biomedical waste disposal contractor," it said.The report contradicts a 2011 US Air Force account which said there were no records that showed how remains at Dover were handled before 2003.Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told a news conference on Tuesday he was not aware that some remains of 9/11 victims had been taken to a landfill, saying: "This is new information to me."
But retired Army general John Abizaid, who led the review, said he had briefed all the armed services on his report's findings.
The coroner in Pennsylvania's Somerset County who oversaw the recovery of remains from hijacked Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he was surprised to hear that any remains could have been taken to a landfill.Hmmmm......."Officials said it was unclear how many victims might be involved or whether some of the remains belonged to the al-Qaida hijackers"....I can hear another 'Apology' coming in the distance.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Chile 5.4 - 5.3 ; Greece 5.3!More info here.

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

• Canary Islands - El Hierro earthquake and volcano eruption – Update 21.  here , Live webcams here and here.

• Egypt LiveBlog: Déjà Vu All Over Again . Here.

• Barack Obama, Emperor of Insolvency.(DougRoss).The lede in today's coverage of the U.S. deficit struggle ("Obama reopens debate on US stimulus") at the Financial Times is troubling on two fronts.Barack Obama sought to reignite the debate over an ­economic stimulus package on Tuesday, demanding that a bitterly divided Congress pass an extension of payroll tax cuts before the end of the year.“We still have to give the economy the jolt that it needs,” the US president said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, a day after a bipartisan committee failed to agree on a $1,200bn deficit reduction package. He added he would do “everything in his power, with or without Congress”. Consider:
  
  • Fact: the "payroll tax cuts" simply accelerate the collapse of the Social Security system
  
  • And what kind of president talks about operating "without Congress"?
  
  Our beloved Dictator-in-Chief knows that America is insolvent, that Social Security is headed for collapse, and that Obamacare simply hastens the implosion. Hmmm.....Now read the following 'Flashback'.Read the full story here.

• 'Flashback' - Why he's really Destroying America: Cloward-Piven Government.(AT).It is time to cast aside all remaining doubt. President Obama is not trying to lead America forward to recovery, prosperity and strength. Quite the opposite, in fact.In September of last year(2008), American Thinker published my article, Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis. Part of a series, it connected then-presidential candidate Barack Obama to individuals and organizations practicing a malevolent strategy for destroying our economy and our system of government. Since then, the story of that strategy has found its way across the blogosphere, onto the airwaves of radio stations across the country, the Glenn Beck television show, Bill O'Reilly, and now Mark Levin.The methodology is known as the Cloward-Piven Strategy, and we can all be grateful to David Horowitz and his Discover the Networks for originally exposing and explaining it to us. He describes it as: The strategy of forcing political change through orchestrated crisis. The "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven were two lifelong members of Democratic Socialists of America who taught sociology at Columbia University (Piven later went on to City University of New York). In a May 1966 Nation magazine article titled "The Weight of the Poor," they outlined their strategy, proposing to use grassroots radical organizations to push ever more strident demands for public services at all levels of government. The result, they predicted, would be "a profound financial and political crisis" that would unleash "powerful forces ... for major economic reform at the national level."They implemented the strategy by creating a succession of radical organizations, most notable among them the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), with the help of veteran organizer Wade Rathke. Their crowning achievement was the "Motor Voter" act, signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1993 with Cloward and Piven standing behind him.As we now know, ACORN was one of the chief drivers of high-risk mortgage lending that eventually led to the financial crisis. But the Motor Voter law was another component of the strategy. It created vast vulnerabilities in our electoral system, which ACORN then exploited.ACORN's vote registration scandals throughout the U.S. are predictable fallout. The Motor Voter law has also been used to open another vulnerability in the system: the registration of vast numbers of illegal aliens, who then reliably vote Democrat. Herein lies the real reason Democrats are so anxious for open borders, security be damned.It should be clear to anyone with a mind and two eyes that this president and this Congress do not have our interests at heart. They are implementing this strategy on an unprecedented scale by flooding America with a tidal wave of poisonous initiatives, orders, regulations, and laws. As Rahm Emmanuel said, "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste."The real goal of "health care" legislation, the real goal of "cap-and-trade," and the real goal of the "stimulus" is to rip the guts out of our private economy and transfer wide swaths of it over to the government to control. Do not be deluded by the propaganda. These initiatives are vehicles for change. They are not goals in and of themselves except in their ability to deliver power. They and will make matters much worse, for that is their design. This time, in addition to overwhelming the government with demands for services, Obama and the Democrats are overwhelming political opposition to their plans with a flood of apocalyptic legislation. Their ultimate goal is to leave us so discouraged, demoralized, and exhausted that we throw our hands up in defeat. As Charles Rangel* said, "the middle class will be too distracted to fight."These people are our enemies. They don't use guns, yet, but they are just as dangerous, determined, and duplicitous as the communists we faced in the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, and bush wars across the globe, and the Nazis we faced in World War II.It is time we fully internalized and digested this fact, with all its ugly ramifications. These people have violated countless laws and could be prosecuted, had we the political power. Not only are their policies unconstitutional, but deliberately so -- the goal being to make the Constitution irrelevant. Their spending is off the charts and will drive us into hyperinflation, but it could be rescinded, had we the political power. These policies are toxic, but they could be stopped and reversed, had we the political power. Their ideologies are poisonous, but they could be exposed for what they are, with long jail sentences as an object lesson, had we the political power. Every single citizen who cares about this country should be spending every minute of his or her spare time lobbying, organizing, writing, and planning. Fight every initiative they launch. It is all destructive. If we are to root out this evil, it is critical that in 2010 we elect competent, principled leaders willing to defend our Constitution and our country. Otherwise, the malevolent cabal that occupies the government today will become too entrenched.After that, all bets are off.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.

• "CHANGE" - Turkey Day Inflation: Thanksgiving Dinner Up 13% Over Last Year.(SHTF).A new report from the American Farm Bureau Federation says that Thanksgiving dinner will cost Americans 13% more this year than it did in 2010, yet another indicator that price inflation with respect to necessities like food and energy is not a transitory phenomenon.The retail cost of menu items for a classic Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the basic trimmings increased about 13 percent this year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.AFBF’s 26th annual informal price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $49.20, a $5.73 price increase from last year’s average of $43.47.In addition, “the era of grocers holding the line on retail food cost increases is basically over,” Anderson explained. “Retailers are being more aggressive about passing on higher costs for shipping, processing and storing food to consumers, although turkeys may still be featured in special sales and promotions close to Thanksgiving.A total of 141 volunteer shoppers from 35 states participated in this year’s survey. Farm Bureau’s survey menu has remained unchanged since 1986 to allow for consistent price comparisons.Hmmm....My guess not many will be thankfull for the "Obama Change".Read the full story here.

• Turkey, Israel clash over gas drilling.(JPost).ANKARA - Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday Israeli and Cypriot energy exploration in the Mediterranean was illegal, agreement should first be reached with all relevant parties, and resources should be equally shared.Turkey and Cyprus are in dispute over the energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean and Texas-based Noble Energy started drilling in September a Cypriot offshore block abutting another block controlled by Israel.The Foreign Ministry shot back at the Turkish accusation, telling The Jerusalem Post that, "Israel strictly abides by international law." "If Turkey wants to lay claim to Israeli resources then it should do so through the UN and not through the media," the ministry spokesperson said.Turkey is the only government to recognize the breakaway northern Cyprus, run by a Turkish Cypriot administration, as a separate state, though it backs reunification talks. In September, Turkey began exploring for gas in an offshore zone where Cyprus had started drilling the previous week.Israel is also drilling nearby, and the issue has emerged as a further bone of contention between Turkey and the Jewish state. Long Israel's rare Middle East ally, Ankara has downgraded ties over Israel's refusal to apologize for a deadly raid last year on a Turkish aid flotilla.The question of who has the right to tap deposits in a region holding the world's biggest natural gas find of the past decade has added urgency to efforts to settle the conflict over Cyprus, divided since 1974 into Greek and Turkish enclaves.Israel has gradually boosted naval patrols around its east Mediterranean natural gas fields for fear of guerrilla attacks and as the maritime rivalry with Turkey deepens, an Israeli official said on Monday.Missile boats have stepped up missions around the Tamar and Leviathan gas platforms over the past year, as well as coordination with private security firms contracted by the US-Israeli exploration consortium, the official said."We have replicated the arrangements already in place at Yam Tethys," the official said, referring to another Israeli gas field 40 km (25 miles) off southern Ashkelon port, near the waters of the Palestinian territory Gaza.Tamar and Leviathan, in which Israel sees a potential pipeline to energy independence, are around twice and three times as far out to sea, respectively. That challenges Israel's small navy, which is more accustomed to close coastal patrols.The Israeli military's newspaper Bamahane said the navy was undergoing expansion including the appointment of a commodore to handle the induction of two more German-made submarines and address "the new need to protect the drilling rigs."Hmmm...... The Mediterranean is mine All Mine?Read the full story here.

• Unholy Alliance: Egypt's Military And The Muslim Brotherhood.(Huffingtonpost).By Amb. Marc Ginsberg.Despite protestations of its purported political neutrality Egypt's besieged military leadership has been secretly funneling financial, food, and security support to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and its allied Salafist parties in the run up to next week's parliamentary elections. The assistance takes the form of "walk around" money, clothing and food giveaways secretly funneled to the coffers of the Brotherhood's front party -- the Freedom and Justice Party, the Construction and Development Party, as well as to allied Salafist Parties, including Al Nour, Al-Asalah, Al-Fadilah, Al Islah and others -- in a bid to buy votes and provide Islamist parties a military supported upper hand in the upcoming parliamentary elections.. The military leadership has not only channeled financial support to the Islamists, it has also secretly collaborated with Salafists who have attacked Copts throughout Egypt in a show of support for more punitive discriminatory acts against Egypt's Coptic minority to curry further favor with Salafists. Hundreds of Copts were attacked by unknown assailants en route to Cairo's Tahrir Square on November 18th the second night of demonstrations this month while security forces stood by. This latest attack comes in the wake of October's attack by the army which used live fire and drove military vehicles into a crowd of Copts protesting a rash of attacks on Copts and Coptic churches, killing 25 innocent protestors. According to information obtained from a reliable European military intelligence source with whom I met in Turkey a few days ago, an emissary of The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) met secretly with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist oriented political movements last April to establish local political "action committee" bank accounts to funnel an underground supply chain of financial and commodity support to local Islamist political organizations throughout Egypt outside the prying eyes of Cairo-based media. Hundreds of local Islamist political organization chapters throughout Egypt have been buying votes courtesy of military provided financial and food handouts.While it is impossible to determine the exact extent of the financial, clothing and food transfers, I was told by a prominent Egyptian journalist who is trying to uncover the magnitude of the payouts that it amounts to "millions of dollars." The military is not the sole source of funds to Islamists parties, which are also receiving funds from Egyptian businessmen trying to buy favor with the likely winners of Egypt's parliamentary elections, and charitable donations from wealthy Saudis. The SCAF's surreptitious political maneuvering favoring Islamists over more secular political movements is based on one simple equation -- the military is determined to prevent secularists from gaining a parliamentary majority which would likely impair its insatiable appetite for controlling Egypt's national budget and its own extensive business operations. It is determined to prevent a civilian government from interfering with its cherished prerogatives. Moreover, the vast majority of Egypt's rank and file soldiers come from more rural, conservative parts of Egypt, where support for Islamic parties is most pronounced. The SCAF is betting that its considerable support for Islamists will translate into long term loyalty among Egypt's post revolutionary conscripts as an insurance policy against potential efforts to interfere with the military's jealously guarded prerogatives.The outbreak of unrest throughout Cairo in recent days orchestrated largely by Egypt's more secular, liberal-oriented political supporters has clearly shocked the SCAF. Anger at Egypt's military rulers reached a boiling point when, in addition to delaying reforms and presidential elections, the SCAF-controlled constitution drafting committee (with a wink and nod from Islamist members of the drafting committee) unveiled a draft two weeks ago exempting the military and its budget from civilian oversight over the strenuous objections of secular political parties. In fact, Field Marshal Tantawi's determination to press ahead with parliamentary elections next week as originally planned despite the violence and unrest throughout the country reflects, in part, the military leadership's fear that prolonging the parliamentary campaigning will reveal the extent of the SCAF's slush fund operations and its interference on behalf of Islamist parties.Hmmm......Could be the birth of an Iran like government, it's first steps in it's infancy.Read the full story here.

• Medvedev: Russia may target U.S. missile defense sites.(HurriyetDaily).President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will aim its missiles at the U.S. missile defense sites in Europe if Washington fails to address Russian concerns on its missile defense plans.Medvedev said that Russia will deploy missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas if Russia and NATO fail to reach a deal on the U.S.-led missile defense plans.He also said in a televised statement Wednesday that Moscow may opt out of the New Start arms control deal with the United States and halt other arms control talks if the U.S. proceeds with its plans to deploy its missile shield in Europe.Russia considers the U.S. shield as a threat to its nuclear forces.Hmmm....Don't you feel safe with Obama in 'control'?Read the full story here.

• Obama Admin Bans US Aircraft Maker, Favors Non-US Firm with Ties to Iran on Light Aircraft Project.(PJM).Late Thursday the Obama administration abruptly knocked Kansas aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft out of contention for a $1 billion project to make a fleet of lightweight counterinsurgency aircraft for the Air Force. Hawker Beechcraft is, understandably, disturbed and asking questions.

The Air Force has notified Hawker Beechcraft Corp. that its Beechcraft AT-6 has been excluded from competition to build a light attack aircraft, a contract worth nearly $1 billion, the company said.
The company had hoped to its AT-6, an armed version of its T-6 trainer, would be chosen for the Light Air Support Counter Insurgency aircraft for the Afghanistan National Army Corps. The chosen aircraft also would be used as a light attack armed reconnaissance aircraft for the U.S. Air Force.
The piston planes are designed for counterinsurgency, close air support, armed overwatch and homeland security, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/ud7FDM).
Hawker Beechcraft officials said in a news release that they were “confounded and troubled” by the Air Force’s decision. The company said it is asking the Air Force for an explanation and will explore all options.
Hawker Beechcraft said it had been working with the Air Force for two years and had invested more than $100 million to meet the Air Force’s requirements for the plane. It noted that the Beechcraft AT-6 had been found capable of meeting the requirements in a demonstration program led by the Air National Guard.
“We have followed the Air Force’s guidance close, and based on what we have seen, we continue to believe that we submitted the most capable, affordable and sustainable light attack aircraft,” the company said.
The company has said that winning the contract would have kept its T-6 production line running after 2015. About 1,400 employees in 20 states – including 800 at Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita – work on the AT-6 and T-6 programs for Beechcraft and its U.S. suppliers and partners.So that’s another 1,400 American jobs lost. And it gets worse. By knocking Hawker Beechcraft out, the Pentagon has limited the “competition” to one company, a company that is not only not an American manufacturer, it’s a government-owned entity with ties to our enemies. The company is Embraer, which is controlled by the government of Brazil and has close ties to the government of Iran, as Timothy Lee wrote for the Tatler on Nov. 10.Why is the administration making a decision to exclude an American manufacturer in favor of a maker with such a history? This is the Obama administration’s second billion-dollar giveaway to the Brazilian government in 2011; the first was its outrageous offshore oil loan guarantee decision in March. The two decisions siphon more than $2 billion and more than 21,000 jobs out of the US economy. Of the two, putting a foreign manufacturer with ties to our enemies in charge of a project to build anti-terror weaponry may be the most disturbing. And this is the Obama administration’s second major decision against an American aircraft manufacturer, the first being the NLRB’s unprecedented lawsuit against Boeing and its South Carolina Dreamliner plant. Both states impacted — Kansas and South Carolina — are right-to-work states. And then there’s this president’s sustained rhetorical war against corporate jet owners. Somebody has to make those jets, and Hawker Beechcraft is among the manufacturers indirectly targeted.Hmmm......Thugocracy in it's natural element, "You're either with me or against me".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.

• Arab States, Turkey, U.S. Plan ‘No-Fly Zone’ Over Syria.(Cryptogon).Senior European sources said that Arab jet fighters, and possibly Turkish warplanes, backed by American logistic support will implement a no fly zone in Syria’s skies, after the Arab League will issue a decision, under its Charter, calling for the protection of Syrian civilians.The sources told Kuwait’s al Rai daily that the no fly ban will include a ban on the movement of Syrian military vehicles, including tanks, personnel carriers and artillery, adding that this move would aim at curbing the movement of Assad forces, and cripple their ability to bomb cities. The European sources said the no fly ban might lead to the paralysis of the Syrian regime forces “in less than 24 hours.”Read the full story here.

• Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 Parks Next Door To Syria Just As US Urges Americans To Leave Country "Immediately".(BlacklistedNews).Yesterday we reported that the Arab League (with European and US support) are preparing to institute a no fly zone over Syria. Today, we get an escalation which confirms we may be on the edge. Just out from CBS: "The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria." But probably the most damning evidence that the "western world" is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked... right next to Syria.

And from CBS:  "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," said a statement issued to the American community in Syria Wednesday and posted on the Embassy's website. "The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly since the summer, while many of those airlines remaining have reduced their number of flights."Read the full story here.

• Egypt’s First Free Elections: Situation a Powder Keg, Muslim Brotherhood May Hold the Match.(BigPeace).Violent clashes erupted as protesters demand the Military Council step down and hand over authority to a civilian body. Feeling the revolution has gone sour protestors want to see some change.Arab Spring revolutions have already granted power to Islamists across the Middle East. It made the Muslim Brotherhood the main political force in Tunisia, Egypt, and now in Syria. After years of focusing on charity and social work, the Muslim Brotherhood senses this it the right time to go into politics, and it is acting accordingly.Years of experience gives the radical Muslim Brotherhood an edge. Access to devoted religious crowds is yet another advantage. But as these are the first free elections in Egypt, no one knows how the Egyptians will behave.The people’s frustration from the slow pace of change in Egypt is the burning fuel, and the Brotherhood only had to light one match to blow everything up. The Brotherhood was trying to make one last effort to convince people to go out and vote. The campaign includes evening prayers, a ready crowd, religious fanatic’s chants and marches.But as often happens with volatile situations, you know where you start but not where you’ll end up. It seems the people’s frustrations are so intense these riots have grown out of control.With the military council controlling Egypt, little reform was achieved after the removal of Mubarak. The evident rift between the Military Council and the people of Tahrir Square cannot be ignored. Religious tensions and clashes add to the feeling that the revolution has gone off tracks.As protesters clash with the army representing the Military Council, Tahrir Square returns to revolution chaos again. In an effort to restore calm before the elections the cabinet offered its resignation on Monday to Egypt’s transitional military rulers.Realizing the riots endanger the elections, the Muslim Brotherhood have pulled out of the planned demonstration today, saying in a statement that it did not want to be involved in a protest that might delay the elections and thus the transition to democracy. But this may be too little and too late.The US policy towards the Muslim Brotherhood is highly forgiving. It has recently changed its attitude toward the Islamic group and is also expecting a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood in the upcoming elections. The United States gives $2 billion annually to Egypt in military and economic aid in exchange for its peace treaty with Israel. Will this peace treaty hold once the Muslim Brotherhood is in control?Free elections require stability and calm. Free elections cannot be held with millions protesting and clashing with military forces.Egypt needs to rebuild, and to do that it needs a strong secular governing body. Involving religious and political inspirations will only drive Egypt towards Sharia law and chaos.Sadly it seems that in the first battle between the Military Council and the Islamists, the army has lost. Egyptians may have free democratic elections, but if they choose the Muslim Brotherhood, they will not live in a free democratic state afterwards.Hmmm....."Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty". ~ Plato.Read the full story here.

• Unconvinced by army’s promises, Egypt protesters battle on to end military rule.(AlArabiya).Thousands of protesters rallied Wednesday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square demanding an end to military rule, despite a promise by Egypt’s interim leader to transfer power to an elected president by mid-2012. Less than two hours after the speech by Egypt’s military ruler Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, clashes have erupted again on Mohammed Mahmoud Street, a sign that activists and politician say indicates that the nation’s military rulers are following the former regime’s failed strategy to remain in power. Eyewitnesses and doctors at a makeshift field hospital said there were an invisible substance causing suffocation and inflammation of the eyes. Reports of protesters fainting were widespread, a report carried by Egypt’s al-Masry al-Youm said on Wednesday.One man was killed in clashes early on Wednesday in the second city Alexandria, one of several towns that saw unrest, as protesters continued to battle police around the interior ministry headquarters, close to the central Tahrir Square in Cairo. The death toll from confrontations between protesters and police around Egypt has reached 32, in addition to around 870 others injured, an Al Arabiya correspondent said citing the health ministry.The U.N. human rights chief called Wednesday for an independent probe into the killing of protestors by Egypt's military and security forces. “I urge the Egyptian authorities to end the clearly excessive use of force against protestors in Tahrir square and elsewhere in the country,” said Navi Pillay, adding that “there should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses.”“There should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses that have taken place should be ensured,” added the U.N. rights chief.Police have been locked in sporadic clashes with protesters demanding the end of military rule, according to AFP.Police have denied using live ammunition but most of the dead in the preceding five days of protest have had bullet wounds, medics say. And demonstrators have shown off cartridge casings they say come from weapons used by the authorities.“We will stay here until the field marshal leaves and a transitional council from the people takes over,” Abdullah Galal, 28, a computer sales manager, told Reuters as people set up tents across the sprawling Tahrir traffic interchange which has become the abiding symbol of this year’s “Arab Spring” revolts.For many Egyptians, trapped in a daily battle to feed themselves and their families, the political demands of some of those they view as young idealists are hard to fathom:“I have lost track of what the demands are,” said Mohammed Sayed, 32, a store clerk in central Cairo as the capital went about its normal business before the start of what protesters had hoped might be a “million man march” on Tuesday.“If you talk to the people in Tahrir, they have no clue,” added Sayed. “I don’t know where the country is headed. I’m worried about my life.”On the square, however, demonstrators believed the army’s reluctance to cede power could see an escalation, as activists tried to complete what some call an “unfinished revolution”: “All they are doing now is forcing people to escalate,” said Mohammed, 23, a financial analyst. “They are leaving. There is no question about that.”“This opens the door for instability.”Using a computer analogy, protester Abdullah Galal said: “There are many viruses in the system. It needs to be cleaned out entirely. We want to delete, reformat and reinstall ... We need to change the regime like they did in Tunisia and Libya.”Read the full story here.

• "You can't fix Stupid"! Obama aide says Iran nuclear effort slowed; Tehran failed to make Iraq ‘client state’.(AlArabiya).President Barack Obama’s top national security aide said early Wednesday a U.S.-led drive to isolate Iran had slowed its nuclear program and that there was still “time, space and means” to persuade Tehran to abandon atomic weapons ambitions.National security adviser Tom Donilon defended Obama’s Iran policy in a wide-ranging speech following criticism by Republican presidential contenders that the administration had not done enough to thwart Tehran's nuclear advances.His remarks may also serve as an appeal to Israel for more time to let Washington’s strategy work. There has been growing speculation about an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites since a U.N. nuclear watchdog accused Tehran this month of covert atomic weapons work.“Iran today is fundamentally weaker, more isolated, more vulnerable and badly discredited than ever,” Donilon said at the Brookings Institution think tank a day after the United States, Britain and Canada slapped new sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors, according to Reuters.He said that after Iran rejected the Obama’s early diplomatic outreach and continued defying the international community, the United States had worked to ratchet up sanctions, strengthen military ties with Tehran's neighbors and increase it isolation.“The effect of these sanctions has been clear,” Donilon said. “Coupled with mistakes and difficulties in Iran, they have slowed Iran's nuclear efforts ... Not only is it harder for Iran to proceed, it is more expensive.”Despite those claims, Obama - like predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton - has been unable to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program or come clean on its developments.Analysts said they did not believe the latest punitive steps would be any more effective in dissuading Iran from pursuing its nuclear plans, which Washington and its allies say is a cover for seeking nuclear arms.Though Iran has acknowledged some economic damage, it dismissed the new sanctions, saying they would only boost popular support for a nuclear program it insists is solely for peaceful purposes.The range of unilateral steps planned by Western powers reflects the difficulty of persuading Russia and China not to veto further sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.While the West has been reluctant to deal too harshly with one of the world’s biggest oil producers because of the risk to world markets, Donilon said: “We are certainly not ruling out additional steps against Iran’s banking sector, including the central bank.”He said Washington remained resolute. “Put simply, the Iranian regime has not yet fundamentally altered its behavior, but we have succeeded in slowing its nuclear program,” he said.“The international community has the time, space and means to affect the calculus of Iran's leaders, who must know that they cannot evade or avoid the choice we have laid before them,” Donilon said.Donilon said that Iran has failed to shape Iraq into a “client state” in its own image and will lose one of its few remaining allies as “inevitable” change comes to Syria.Donilon said Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were increasingly headed for confrontation amid fissures developing in the ruling class under the pressure of Western sanctions.“Just as the regime is increasingly isolated and losing its legitimacy at home, Iran is increasingly isolated in the region. The regional balance of power is tipping against Iran,” Donilon said.“Next door, Iran has failed in its effort to shape Iraq into a client state in its own image,” Donilon said, weeks before the last U.S. troops leave Iraq, according to AFP.“In fact, Iraqis are moving in the opposite direction -- building a sovereign, democratic state with a strong aversion to illicit outside interference.”“Iraq and Iran have very different visions of their future.”The United States has repeatedly accused elements of the Iranian government and elite Revolutionary Guards of arming Iraqi factions hostile to Washington’s military presence in Iraq.Donilon also said that Iran had failed in its efforts to intimidate Gulf states, saying Gulf Cooperation Council members were more willing than ever to challenge Tehran.“Iran is basically down to just two principal remaining allies -- the Assad clique in Syria and Hezbollah. And, like Iran, they too are fundamentally at odds with the democratic forces now sweeping the region.”“The handwriting is on the wall. Change is inevitable,” said Donilon, adding the demise of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime would constitute Iran’s “greatest setback in the region” and restack the balance of power.Earlier however, there were new signs of a cracking in the united front against Tehran that has permitted four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions, as Russia also criticized the Western sanctions.Hmmmm......Ooooh look a Unicorn.Read the full story here.

• Panel Rejects Many Obama 'not qualified' Prospects for Judgeships.(NYT).Washington — The American Bar Association has secretly declared a significant number of President Obama’s potential judicial nominees “not qualified,” slowing White House efforts to fill vacant judgeships — and nearly all of the prospects given poor ratings were women or members of an ethnic minority group, according to interviews. The White House has chosen not to nominate any person the bar association deemed unqualified, so the negative ratings have not been made public. But the association’s judicial vetting committee has opposed 14 of the roughly 185 potential nominees the administration asked it to evaluate, according to a person familiar with the matter. The number of Obama prospects deemed “not qualified” already exceeds the total number opposed by the group during the eight-year administrations of Bill Clinton or George W. Bush; the rejection rate is more than three and a half times as high as it was under either of the previous two presidencies, documents and interviews show. That outcome has added a new twist to a long-running friction in the politics of judicial nominations. During recent Republican administrations, conservatives have made political hay of accusing the A.B.A. of bias against conservative potential judges. In 2001, President Bush stopped sending the group names of prospects before he selected them, so the panel instead rated them after their nomination. In 2009, Mr. Obama restored the panel’s role in the pre-nomination selection process, which dates to the Eisenhower administration. In discussions with bar panel leaders, administration officials have expressed growing frustrations with the ratings over the past year and a half, people familiar with those conversations said. In particular, they are said to have questioned whether the panelists — many of whom are litigators — place too much value on courtroom experience at the expense of lawyers who pursued career paths less likely to involve trials, like government lawyers and law professors. In response to questions about the ratings, Mr. Obama’s White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, said in a statement that the administration “continues to have a strong working relationship with the A.B.A.” But she also acknowledged disagreements with some of its ratings. “Although we may not agree with all of their ratings,” Ms. Ruemmler said, “we respect and value their historical role in evaluating judicial candidates. The president remains committed to addressing the judicial vacancy crisis with urgency and with qualified candidates who bring a diverse range of experience to the bench.” The chairman since August of the bar association’s vetting committee, Allan J. Joseph, would not confirm any negative ratings but defended the panel’s work as fair-minded and independent. Its members, he said, are all volunteers who, as a matter of public service, put in long hours reading candidates’ writings and conducting confidential interviews about them with dozens of judges and lawyers. “We are not a rubber stamp,” he said. “Our role is to provide the only peer review in the whole process, and we think that is valuable — particularly with a lifetime appointment under consideration.” Mr. Obama has made it a policy goal to diversify the bench in terms of race, gender and life experiences, and the judges he has appointed have been more likely to be women or minorities than any previous president. Of the 14 people opposed by the panel, a person familiar with the ratings said, nine are women — five of whom are white, two black, and two Hispanic. Of the five men, one is white, two are black, and two are Hispanic. Sheldon Goldman, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who studies judicial selection, noted that the panel rated as “qualified” or “well-qualified” many other of Mr. Obama’s female and minority nominees. “Their diversity record is unparalleled,” Mr. Goldman said. “If it were turning out that most of the women and minorities they were sending over to the A.B.A. were getting bounced, then you would have a crisis, but that’s not the case at all.” The bar association is also said to have deemed at least two other potential minority or female judicial nominees as “not qualified,” but upgraded them to “qualified” after the White House asked it to take a second look. To protect the confidentiality of people interviewed about the candidate, the committee often identifies only general categories of concern. According to a person familiar with the ratings, in discussions with the administration, the panel cited concerns about experience for six of the 14 candidates found “not qualified.” It also cited concerns over temperament for five, competence for three, and ethics for three. (Three potential nominees were said to have been criticized as falling short in more than one of those areas.) All but one of the 14 were slated to become district court judges, and — as is traditional — had been recommended for the Obama administration’s consideration by Congress. One had been identified by the administration and was slated for an appeals court. Officials of Mr. Obama’s legal team have met several times with the chairman of the bar association panel over the last year to raise concerns over the number of negative ratings, and have raised the possibility that the panel’s emphasis on trial experience may have a disparate impact on female and minority lawyers because they may have been less likely to become litigators. So far, lawmakers who originally recommended candidates found “not qualified” by the bar association have not criticized the process publicly. But in February 2010, the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, did criticize the association at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for a district court nominee from his state, Gloria Navarro. At the time, Nevada had no female or Hispanic district court judges. Ms. Navarro, a former public defender and government lawyer, had been endorsed by both Mr. Reid and the state’s Republican senator, John Ensign. But the bar group rated her as merely “qualified”-- and a minority of the vetting panel had voted to rate her “not qualified.” Mr. Reid, who said he thought the association had delivered its tepid rating because she had no prior judicial experience, sharply rejected the notion that Ms. Navarro was not well-qualified, saying that he was upset that Ms. Navarro “is not rated as high as she should be” and arguing that she “has had experience in the real world of government, the real world of law.” In May 2010, the Senate voted 98-0 to confirm her. Hmmm....It's not what...but whom you know?Read the full story here.

• Europe - They mean to take over.(KleinVerzet).This illustration (via; NL) presented without (much) further comment. Caveat emptor!See the full story here.

• US, Russia and UK back Israel at IAEA Mideast meeting.(YNet).In a boost to Israel, Russia joined the US and Britain on Tuesday in backing the Jewish state's view that the Middle East cannot be turned into a nuclear arms-free zone without progress on regional peace.The three nations – who are charged with registering new members to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty – also blunted Arab efforts to get them involved creating such a zone, telling an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna that was the sole responsibility of countries in the region.The three-nation statement was made at a rare venue – a meeting bringing Israel and the Arab states together for a discussion of how to work toward establishing a Mideast nuclear-arms free zone. While nearly 100 nations attended the forum, it was primarily meant to allow those two opposing camps to exchange views on the issue – one of many dividing Israel from its Arab neighbors. Organizers had warned against high expectations, and an official inside the closed two-day meeting said it ended Friday without bridging the differences. Still the three-nation statement was significant. Russia is traditionally in the Arab corner and Moscow's decision to join Washington and London in the joint statement of support for Israel's view was a rare nod from Moscow recognizing Israel's security concerns."While Nuclear Weapon-Free zones improve the security of the entire international community, they do not exist in isolation from other security factors," said the statement to the closed meeting, which was shared with The Associated Press. Any such zone, it said must see "the states in the region united in their aspiration to provide for strengthened regional stability and security." That dovetails with Israel's view that peace must prevail in the Middle East before it can be made into a nuclear free zone. But it clashes with the Arab position that the two issues are separate. The Arabs say Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal represents the biggest threat to Mideast peace. But Israel says Iran is the greatest threat to the region through its refusal to heed UN Security Council resolutions demanding it stop activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons and suspected research and development of such capabilities. Tehran denies any interest in such arms. Iran boycotted the meeting. But a decision last year by the 189 members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty to convene a UN-sponsored conference on establishing a Middle East nuclear-free zone in 2012 was an incentive for Israel's Arab neighbors to come to the exploratory Vienna talks.Arab countries and Iran are aware of the potential of using the 2012 UN conference as a platform to pressure Israel to fulfill their long-standing demands: joining the nonproliferation treaty, acknowledging that it has nuclear weapons and allowing IAEA inspectors to probe its atomic activities.Israel is unlikely to do any of that. It remains unclear whether it will even attend the 2012 talks and is at the Vienna meeting only under the stipulation that it remain a nonbinding give-and-take on the issue of nuclear-free zones in general. The three-nation statement also sought to put into context the value of the meeting – which featured presentations on nuclear-free zones elsewhere.It said "zones free of nuclear weapons cannot be created counter to the will of the countries of the region by the efforts of extra-regional powers or international organizations." That was an rebuttal of an Arab push to get powers that are members of the Nonproliferation Treaty involved in creating a Mideast nuclear-free region. Participants said most speakers avoided polemics. But on Monday, Syria – among Israel's bitterest Mideast rivals – used the gathering to accuse Israel of posing a "grave and serious threat" through its undeclared atomic arsenal. Israel, for its part, restated its view: no discussions on a nuclear-free zone without peace in the Middle East."Experience shows that such a process can only be launched when normal, peaceful relations exist in the region, when the threat perception of all regional members is low, and only after basic confidence is established among states of the region," David Danieli, Israel's deputy nuclear chief, said in comments provided to the AP. For now, he said, "political instability, open hostilities, deep mistrust and noncompliance with international obligations are too common in many parts of the Middle East." Read the full story here.

• Diplomats: EU reaches deal on new Iran sanctions.(Ynet).European Union governments agreed in principle on Tuesday to extend sanctions against Iran by adding some 200 names to a target list of people and entities in an effort to add pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program, diplomats said. The decision will be formally approved at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on December 1, they said. "The silent procedure went through, it's done," said one EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. He was referring to a procedure that allows EU governments to reach agreements on various policies. European companies will be banned from doing business with the listed firms and organisations, while officials will be subject to asset freezes and visa bans.EU diplomats can, in theory, tweak the target list during further discussions in the coming days, and the final list of names will be made public after the formal approval.In addition to extending the sanctions list, EU governments are also expected to discuss proposals by France and Britain for further sanctions, such as targeting the Iranian central bank. France also wants to target the oil industry.If agreed, such moves could also be formally approved next week, diplomats have said.France said on Tuesday it was pushing hard to persuade its EU counterparts to move quickly on its proposal.On Monday, the United States, Britain and Canada announced new measures against Iran's energy and financial sectors, in response to a Nov. 8 International Atomic Energy Agency report that presented intelligence suggesting Iran had worked on designing an atomic bomb.Hmmmm....What's the use with an 'open' trade between Turkey and Iran?Read the full story here.

• Turkey again the 'Devil's advocate' says Iran's nuclear ambitions may be about threats it perceives.(TodaysZaman).Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said empathy is required to understand the underlying reasons why Iran is so determined to continue with its suspected nuclear program despite sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy.“It is important to put oneself in their shoes and see how they perceive threats,” Gül told The Guardian, referring to Israel’s nuclear capability, which it has neither acknowledged nor denied. Gül’s questioning of Iran’s nuclear aspirations came a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its most critical report on Iran’s nuclear program, claiming that there is evidence that Iran might be on its way to developing nuclear weapon capability. Gül also said there are different groups and concentrations of power in Iran and that it is impossible to see them as one single authority, without elaborating on what elements he was referring to within the Iranian regime. Turkey spearheaded sustained efforts last year to revive nuclear diplomacy between Western nations and Iran and a year ago it hosted talks regarding Iran’s nuclear program in İstanbul. Turkey’s efforts to bring Iran and Western powers together were at the expense of its image in the West and badly damaged its ties with the US. The Turkish president said that for the sake of peace it is very important that dialogue between Iran and the West progresses in a more frank and transparent way. “When I say transparent I mean Iran, and when I say frank I mean the West,” he explained.Gül added that Turkey is opposed to military options for dealing with the issue amid increasing threats from Israeli officials that it could strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if the Islamic republic does not relinquish its nuclear program. “Looking at the Middle East, one has to have a comprehensive approach [to disarmament],” he added. “A piecemeal approach would not yield the same results.” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said last week that Turkey is against nuclear weapons in the region. “We want a Middle East that is free of nuclear weapons. There are already enough tensions in the region. We believe Iran will behave responsibly,” he said.Hmmmmm.....Turkey is still on Iran's side and want 'business as usual' with Iran......so much for Sanctions that 'bite'.Read the full story here.

• Turkey’s Democratic Dusk.(Projectsyndicate).By Prof. Dani Rodrik.Cambridge – When questioned recently about a constitutional law professor who was arrested for lecturing at an institute run by the country’s main pro-Kurdish political party, Turkey’s interior minister, Idris Naim Sahin, couldn’t hide his irritation: “I am having a hard time understanding those saying a professor should not be arrested while thousands of other people are being arrested in Turkey.”Presumably, Sahin meant to say that a professor cannot claim special treatment under the law. But his remark inadvertently underscored Turkey’s new reality, in which any perceived opponent of the current regime can be jailed, with or without evidence, for terrorism or other violent acts.Special courts, tasked with prosecuting terrorism and crimes against the state, have been working overtime to produce charges that are often as absurd as they are baseless. For example, journalists have been imprisoned for producing articles and books at the behest of an alleged terrorist organization called “Ergenekon,” whose existence has yet to be confirmed, despite years of investigation. Likewise, military officers have been charged on the basis of blatantly fraudulent – indeed, amateurishly produced – documents containing obvious anachronisms. A senior police commissioner is currently languishing in jail for allegedly collaborating with far-left militants he spent his entire career hunting down. These prosecutions have cast an ever-widening net, ensnaring scores of journalists, authors, and academics, hundreds of military officers, and thousands of Kurdish politicians and activists, among others.Self-censorship has become routine. Media bosses anxious to retain Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s favor have fired many of those journalists who continue to criticize his regime. And government control now extends beyond the media, judiciary, and academia to the worlds of business and sports. Previously autonomous regulatory bodies (such as the competition authority) have been quietly subordinated to the government, with no debate or discussion.  Even the Turkish Academy of Sciences has been targeted. A recent decree, widely condemned abroad, allows the government to appoint two-thirds of the Academy’s members, thereby ending even the semblance of scientific independence.Yet, while Erdoğan may appear to be at the pinnacle of power, it is his government’s “Gülenist” allies who have grown increasingly powerful. Members of the transnational Gülen movement – inspired by followers of Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsylvania-based Muslim theologian – are staffing Turkey’s police, judiciary, bureaucracy, and universities. The Gülenist media now set the country’s new ideological tone, producing a steady stream of disinformation in their vocal support of the country’s show trials.These trials are, in fact, often staged to serve Gülenist ends specifically. Prominent detainees, such as the journalist Nedim Sener and police commissioner Hanefi Avci, landed in jail after exposing the wrongdoings of Gülenist police and prosecutors. Editorials in Zaman, the Gülen network’s Turkish-language daily newspaper, no longer mince words: a new Turkey is being created; those who stand in the way are getting what they deserve.Erdoğan has benefited greatly from Gülenist support, yet he detests sharing power and remains suspicious of the movement. Early on, he successfully exploited the Gülenist-supported political trials in order to demonize the opposition. But, as the charges have increased in scope and implausibility, the trials have complicated his relationships with the military, domestic liberals, and outsiders such as foreign media and the European Union. Moreover, individuals close to him and his administration have recently become entangled in the net of judicial manipulation, which suggests that he may be losing control over the police and the special courts.Given that the fight against the common enemy, the secularist old guard, has been decisively won, an eventual break between Erdoğan and the Gülenists is perhaps inevitable. Unfortunately, regardless of which side emerges victorious, the outcome will not be good news for Turkish democracy.It wasn’t long ago that Turkey appeared to be a bright beacon of democracy and moderation in a region accustomed to autocracy and radicalism. Now it looks more like a country heading towards authoritarianism at home and embracing adventurism abroad.It is understandable that Europeans and Americans do not want to offend a regional power. But playing Erdoğan’s game only reinforces his sense of invincibility. It does not advance the cause of democracy in Turkey; nor does it make Turkey a more reliable ally.Read the full story here.

• In New Statement, Al-Qaeda's Top Pakistani Official Ustad Ahmad Farooq Vows To Avenge Killing of Osama Bin Laden.(Memri).In a new statement, Al-Qaeda's top Pakistani official Ustad Ahmad Farooq has vowed to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden and the deaths of other muhajir (immigrants or non-Pakistani) militants who were killed by the Pakistani military.Ustad Ahmad Farooq directs Al-Qaeda's Dawah and Media Department for Pakistan. In recent years, Farooq has mainly delivered scholarly speeches, which have been released through jihadist forums.In the new statement, Farooq warns: "We will avenge the murder of all guests, including Sheikh Osama, who were martyred by the Pakistani Army, the slaves of America."Following is the text of his statement:"Promise of Pakistani Mujahideen to the Muhajireen [Immigrants]"We will avenge the murder of all guests, including Sheikh Osama, who were martyred by the Pakistani Army, the slaves of America."We will avenge all the sobs and cries of the brothers of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [the Taliban's shadow government] which came from the heart of a muhajir brother or sister in the prison of Pakistani intelligence agencies, the slaves of the Crusaders."We will eliminate the burns of every muhajir mother whose child was imprisoned or killed by this army [of Pakistan]."We will cool the eyes of every muhajir sister whose husband was martyred by this characterless army."We will cleanse this soil [Pakistan] of the apostates and their masters and of the presence of Crusaders, and will construct such a Pakistan in reality where every muhajir brother from Arab and Ajam [non-Arab land] can freely...Read the full story here.

• Fatwa Permits Mujahideen to Kidnap, Imprison, and Have Sexual Intercourse with Infidel Women.(Memri).Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad published a fatwa by Sheikh Abu Humam Al-Athari, a member of its shari'a council, in which he unequivocally permits mujahideen to capture the infidels' women and have sexual intercourse with them, even those who are married.Hmmmm....."Islamophobia Anyone"?Read the full story here.

• Turkey’s Islamist PM Slams Western “Islamophobia,” Says It Should Be “Condemned As Much As Anti-Semitism”.(Tehran Times) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that there is a vicious propaganda campaign against Islam by some Western circles, Press TV’s Ankara correspondent reported.Erdogan was addressing the Second Meeting of Leaders of African Continent Muslim Countries and Societies which opened in Istanbul on Monday.“There are those who use some marginal cases, to equate Islam and Muslims with terrorism, clashes, intolerance and poverty,” Erdogan stated.“A mistake by a member of a religion or society should not be attributed to the religion or society,” he added.“This means that Islamophobia should be condemned as much as racism and anti-Semitism is [condemned],” the Turkish premier stressed.Hmmmm.....Erdogan: “The Minarets are our bayonets, the domes our helmets, the mosques our barracks, and the believers our army.”Doesn't sound worrisome? Read the full story here.