Muslims want ‘Islamic conquest of Europe,’ Austrian cardinal & Papal candidate says.

Muslims want ‘Islamic conquest of Europe,’ Austrian cardinal & Papal candidate says. (RT).

Many Muslims would be glad to see Europe conquered by Islam, an Austrian cardinal and leading future candidate for the papacy said. He also warned that the Christian heritage of Europe risked disappearing, with the statements raising much controversy online.

“Will there now be a third Islamic attempt to conquer Europe? Many Muslims think that and want that, and they say ‘Europe is at the end,’” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said, as cited by the Archdiocese of Vienna.

He was speaking during the church festival “Holy Name of Mary.” The holiday commemorated the victory over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

He asked God to have mercy on Europe as people of Europe “are in danger of forfeiting our Christian heritage.”

“And now we wonder what Europe will look like... [Europe’s Christian heritage] is already being felt as missing [by many people]. Not only economically... but above all human and religious matters.”

“What will become of Europe?” the cardinal asked.

People on social media seem to be agreeing with Schönborn’s statement.

“[We should] live , [according to]the Catholic faith, [it is] exactly what Europe needs,” @trillarion user wrote.

“No churches, but mosques... Islam [brings] nothing good of humanity, but oppression,” one Facebook user wrote.

However, there were those who believe that the cardinal’s statement would fuel tensions between Christians and Muslims even more.

“The difference between the vast number of peaceful Muslims and radical Islamists is not yet clear. Our right-wing populists are happy about this sermon. Sad,” one more user wrote. 

Some angry readers asked the cardinal to clarify the notion “Islamic conquest” of Europe. In his Facebook post, Schönborn explained that his sermon was not calling to defend Europeans against the refugees.

“The chance of a Christian revival of Europe is with us, he said, urging to reflect on the Christ’s word and spread it to “everyone, even strangers.” Read the full story here.

Interview with Austrian Foreign Minister Kurz: 'Europe's Values Cannot Be Negotiable'.

Interview with Austrian Foreign Minister Kurz: 'Europe's Values Cannot Be Negotiable'. (Spiegel).

SPIEGEL: In recent presidential elections, almost 50 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots for Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). This came as a shock for many people in Europe. Do you have an explanation?


Kurz: Yes, and it is not as simple as the one that is sometimes given. There is, first of all, a serious dissatisfaction with the government and with the political system, in part because important reforms are not taking place. The second main reason is the refugee crisis. In Austria last year, we had 90,000 asylum applicants -- the second-largest per capita figure in all European countries. There was a phase of uncontrolled influx into Europe. Many politicians tried to tell the people that this is not a problem in terms of security or integration. Both led to a strengthening of right-wing populist parties, which is not purely an Austrian phenomenon.

SPIEGEL: Are you afraid that Europe is making itself dependent on Turkey?

Kurz: The Turkey deal can only be Plan B. Plan A needs to be a strong Europe that is prepared to defend its external borders on its own. If we do not do that, then we are living in a Europe that is dependent -- on other countries, and possibly even on personalities like President Erdogan. And dependency is dangerous.

SPIEGEL: Political developments in Turkey are worrisome. The immunity of lawmakers was recently lifted. Is this a result of the deal -- because Erdogan now has free rein?

Kurz: Not a result of the deal, but a matter of fact. How we deal with it is crucial. Europe's fundamental values cannot be negotiable. Keyword visa-liberalization: There cannot be any exceptions for Turkey either.

SPIEGEL: Erdogan is threatening to terminate the agreement, which creates the impression that he is pushing the Europeans around.

Kurz: If we Europeans are not in a state to be able to solve the refugee crisis ourselves, if we only depend on Plan B with Turkey -- then that is not simply an impression, it is the truth. But Europe cannot be susceptible to blackmail or be weak. I am, in any case, not in favor of having a deal with Turkey at any price.

SPIEGEL: Turkey is refusing to reform its anti-terror law. Do you think that the liberalization of visa regulations will still take place this year?


Kurz: That depends. I have gotten the sense in the last year that developments when it comes to human rights are very alarming. In the long term, it needs to be in our interest to have a Turkey in which human rights are respected. Anything else would mean destabilization right on our border. If we look away, the developments in Turkey will constantly get worse. Read the full interview here.

On the Austrian-Slovenian border, Austria fingerprints migrants, then discards them.

On the Austrian-Slovenian border, Austria fingerprints migrants, then discards them. (AlAhram).

On the Austrian-Slovenia border, one of the last stops on the migrant route to Germany, a policeman explains that after his 12-hour shift taking new arrivals' fingerprints, most are lost minutes after they are taken.


"We are not allowed to save the fingerprints," the Austrian policeman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said as he sat in a tent at the Spielfeld border crossing. "We do what we're asked to do."

Austria, which saw 700,000 migrants crossing its borders last year, says it is not legally allowed to save and share with other European states more than 90 percent of the fingerprint data it takes of migrants fleeing war and poverty, a potential security problem at a major migrant hub.

It is only required to upload onto Europe's shared fingerprint database, Eurodac, the data of those who actually apply for asylum in the country, which is less than 10 percent of those crossing into Austria.

So Austria takes digital fingerprints of everyone entering the country, checks whether they have a criminal record, but does not save the data if they want to move on to Germany, which most do.

Roz, a 28-year old Syrian mother of two, is surprised to hear that her family's fingerprints are neither saved nor shared.


"They need to know who we are. If you record fingerprints of refugees, it guarantees security in this country," she said as she was shown by Austrian officials onto a bus that would take her to the German border, her chosen destination.

The situation highlights how European laws are far behind the challenges of the continent's latest crisis, one that has already seen hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees, mainly from Syria, flooding into the continent seeking a new life.

"That is a major problem, we have no records on these people, there are so many moving around the bloc and we have no trace of them whatsoever," said one diplomat in Brussels, adding that some EU countries have tried to push for changes but they were blocked due to privacy protection concerns.

Berndt Koerner, deputy executive director of Europe's border agency Frontex, said he was confronted with an "anachronism" in the sharing of migrant data.


"We are currently confronted with the problem that we cannot access certain databases, which can be used nationally in border controls," Koerner told reporters this month.

Only states on the EU's external borders, such as Greece and Italy, must save and share all fingerprint data. Read the full story here.

As from today Austria Introduces Daily Refugee Entry Quota.

As from today Austria Introduces Daily Refugee Entry Quota. (SP).

Starting from February 19, the republic will accept no more than 80 applications for refugee status per day and a maximum of 3,200 migrants seeking asylum in one of its neighboring states will be allowed to transit through Austrian territory.


Austria's move to toughen its border controls is supported by Slovenia, who also intends to implement a similar approach in solidarity.

Vienna has been criticized by the European Commission and a number of other EU bodies for imposing a cap on the number of asylum requests, viewed as a breach of the bloc’s human rights laws.

On Tuesday, the Austrian Interior Ministry also announced it would introduce stricter controls at 12 checkpoints along the country’s southern border in a bid to deter the unprecedented migrant inflow they had been experiencing. Read the full story here. 

Austria suspends Schengen agreement, steps up border control, tells EU to clean up their refugee act.

Austria suspends Schengen agreement, steps up border control, tells EU to clean up their refugee act. (RT).

Vienna is radically changing its policy towards migrants and refugees, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told local media.

“All refugees must be controlled, economic migrants must be sent to the countries of their origin,” Faymann said in an interview with Austria’s Oesterreich newspaper, to be published on Sunday.

The government is implementing a strict monitoring system for asylum seekers, the chancellor said, adding that, just like in neighboring Germany, its border controls are being tightened, and repatriations of refugees are carried out.

“Anyone who arrives at our border is subject to control,” Faymann said. Consequently, the Schengen agreement on open borders is “temporarily cancelled” in Austria, the chancellor said.

“If the EU does not manage to secure the external borders, Schengen as a whole is put into question...Then each country must control its national borders,” Faymann told the newspaper, adding that if the bloc’s external borders are not secured in the near future, “the whole EU [will be] in question.”  Hmmm.........The end of Europe thanks to the refugees welcome policy. 

Read the full story here.

Related: 

Can the refugee crisis and subsequent rise of Extreme right make the EU fall apart?

Judge: Merkel Committed Historic Breach Of Law In Opening Borders, Constitution Allows ‘Right To Resist’ https://t.co/l0xvYU6lVo

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) January 17, 2016

Two Alleged Ex-ISIS Fighters Detained in Austria posing as refugees.

Two Alleged Ex-ISIS Fighters Detained in Austria posing as refugees. (NBC).

 MAINZ, Germany — Two Syrians who were registered as refugees after making their way to Austria have been detained amid claims they previously fought for ISIS.


A spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Salzburg confirmed to NBC News today that two separate investigations were ongoing against "two Syrian men in their 20s."

The two men were reported to authorities by other migrants who were concerned by both their behavior and background stories. Authorities say they reportedly had discussed their involvement in ISIS combat.

"There is no evidence that the men planned terror attacks in Europe and there is no evidence of a connection to recent attacks," the prosecutor's office spokesman added.


Both men were being held in so-called "investigative custody" in Austria. The probe is ongoing. Hmmmm.......yup they were just planning some sight seeing in the EU. Thank God for the other refugees as screening obviously doesn't work. Read the full story here.

Video - EU[Rabia]: Who benefits from Muslim mass migration? Only the elite Left

Video - EU[Rabia]: Who benefits from Muslim mass migration? Only the elite Left. HT: The Rebel.

For many of them, this enthusiasm is an act of emotional therapy, especially for guilty white liberal Germans, for whom taking in all these migrants will be akin to committing cultural suicide.

In Europe, as in America, the elite Left's "humanitarian" open borders policy is often just a thinly disguised desire for cheap labour.

Plus all these new "underprivileged" people will suddenly "need" social workers and welfare bureaucrats...

I predict that this mass migration will uncork new bigotry among ordinary citizens, as Europe's good will is taken advantage of.

And that's not all I see happening. Hmmm....Expect 'Far right to rise in EU[Rabia].

Austria to deploy army as part of tougher border controls.

Police at Austrian -Hungarian Border (Source)

Austria to deploy army as part of tougher border controls.(Itv).(HLB)[Google translated].

Austria is following Germany in introducing tougher border controls, and it is deploying the army to assist in dealing with an influx of migrants, Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner has said.

"If Germany carries out border controls, Austria must put strengthened border controls in place. We are doing that now", Mr Mitterlehner said.

At the German border controls today thirty human smugglers have been apprehended near Passau , police said.

The German checks will continue for weeks , said the interior minister of the southern German state of Bavaria , Joachim Herrmann. According to him, the controls are not there to stop refugees, but they are necessary because many people who are not refugees keep up with the flow.

During the past weekend 40 thousand refugees entered Germany, 12 thousand of them entered Munich, where local police said the city is in full capacity and cannot absorb any more refugees. In Austria, 40 people were found in a refrigerator truck. Thirty four immigrants, half of them children, drowned to death yesterday (Sunday) across from Greek shores.

A report of the German intelligence agency claims that extreme Islamic elements in Germany are working to recruit asylum seekers who flow into the country in recent weeks.

“The extremists are trying to approach the young unaccompanied refugees, who arrive in our country without their families and are particularly looking for contacts and support,” a spokesperson for the intelligence service said. “The extremists want to take advantage of the insecurity and distress of the refugees,” he said. Read the full story here.

Video - Passenger Ferry on fire in Adriatic, Hundreds of passengers trapped, Live updates.

Ferry on fire in Adriatic, Hundreds of passengers including 54 Turks trapped. HT: Bugun. (Bild).

Hundreds of passengers including 54 Turks were trapped on a burning car ferry off Greece on Sunday, pleading to be rescued by a flotilla of nearby ships that battled storm conditions in open water to try to reach them.

LIVE UPDATES.
An international rescue effort is under way since Sunday morning after a major fire broke out in the early hours of the day in the garage of an Italian-flagged ferry sailing from the Greek port of Patras to Italy's Ancona with 411 passengers, 55 crew and 222 vehicles on board, coast guard officials said.

The Norman Atlantic, hired by Greek ANEK shipping company, was 33 nautical miles off the small island of Othonoi and12 nautical miles off the coast of Albania when it sent a distress signal.

14:23 local time:The Norman Atlantic is a 26,900-tonne, roll-on roll-off ferry chartered by Greek ferry company ANEK, the coastguard said. According to marine traffic data, it was built in 2009 and previously operated in Italy.

Tug boats were being sent from both Greeceand Italybut would take some time before arriving.

Greek Coast guard tweeted that Rome's Search and Rescue Centre confirmed that 56 passengers from Norman Atlantic have been rescued.

The Greek coastguard said 50 people had been saved from the Italian-registered Norman Atlantic, which was carrying almost 500 passengers and crew when it sent a distress signal after fire broke out on its lower deck.

As high winds and rough seas impeded efforts by other ships to rescue those still on board, it was unclear whether there had been casualties or if any passengers were in the water.

"The ship is still on fire, the floor is burning," passenger George Styliaras told Greek TV by telephone, adding that smoke was making it difficult to breathe. "We don't know how long we can hold on."

Cold winter temperatures would make survival in the sea difficult unless rescue came quickly.

Varvitsiotis said there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, more than the 466 originally reported. Of those, he said 268 were Greek, while a foreign ministry official said there were also passengers from several other countries including Germany, Italy, Austria, Turkey, France and the Netherlands. Many appeared to be truck drivers.

One Greek passenger told a television reporter that language differences hindered communication between passengers and crew.Read the full story here and here.

Air rescue of 478 passengers on Greece-Italy #ferry hampered by high winds @BBCNews http://t.co/Ejs0QN4I8q

— david lepeska (@dlepeska) December 28, 2014

#NormanAtlantic: 51 rescuees on Cruise Europa, 39 on Aby Jeannette, 49 on Spirit of Piraeus, 9 flown to Lecce & 1 on IT vessel ~@HCoastGuard

— Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) December 28, 2014

Airlift begins for hundreds trapped on burning #Italian ferry http://t.co/qpFx0obWLy @bgnnewsturkey pic.twitter.com/9WlEqCAXWp
— BGN News (@bgnnewsturkey) December 28, 2014

Hellenic Coast Guard @HCoastGuard has tweeted that the number of rescued people from #NormanAtlantic has now raised to 140.
— Stefanos Livos (@stefivos) December 28, 2014

MORE: Italian #NormanAtlantic #ferry which caught fire off Greek coast drifts to Albania http://t.co/HTwvw3SMhU pic.twitter.com/qsLS0MReEf
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 28, 2014

Italian ship #NormanAtlantic "does not have enough rafts for all passengers." They still live in Titanic era (1912)?
— Mika Peltokorpi (@MikaPeltokorpi) December 28, 2014

"Pregate per noi, stiamo bruciando". I passeggeri si stanno buttando in mare #NormanAtlantic http://t.co/LaKWXVtXju pic.twitter.com/vgMuwoNrpD
— neXt quotidiano (@neXtquotidiano) December 28, 2014

After UK investigation start, Muslim Brotherhood Org has decided to transfer their offices to Austria and three other unidentified European cities.

After UK investigation start, Muslim Brotherhood Org has decided to transfer their offices to Austria and three other unidentified European cities. HT: TGMBR.

Egyptian media is reporting that based on inside sources, the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood has decided to transfer their offices to Graz, Austria and three other unidentified European cities following the announcement of an investigation into the Brotherhood’s activities in the UK. Highlights from a translated summary of the Youm7.com Arabic language report include:

• A meeting was held featuring Ibrahim Munir, Ibrahim Salah, and Dr. Mahmoud Hussein who were identified as the permanent members of the International Organization together with 17 unidentified new members.

• The three permanent members agreed to transfer their offices to Graz, Austria and other three European countries following the announcement of the British inquiry into Muslim Brotherhood activities in the UK.

• The meeting focused on the latest developments in Egypt, the development of a new strategy to stop the expected May elections for Presidency, and a new website created to expose the flaws in the election.

• Members of the International Organization have been holding meetings in Brussels with senior European figures aimed at persuading the European Parliament to put pressure on Egypt regarding the treatment of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egyptian prisons.

• The International Organization is in the process of establishing the “Jihadi Internet Army” and the “Rabia Army”  aimed at destroying Egyptian banks and other state institutions.

The GMBDW reported earlier this week that Ibrahim Munir had warned that banning the Brotherhood in the UK would lead to an increased risk of terrorism. We reported last week that Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an inquiry into the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Kingdom.

The choice of Graz as the location for a Muslim Brotherhood headquarters may seem odd to some but as a report on the history of the US Muslim Brotherhood has noted, self-described Brotherhood  “Foreign Minister” Youssef Nada and the late US Muslim Brotherhood leader Ahmed Elkadi were both living in Graz in the 1960’s. In addition, European Muslim Brotherhood leader Ayman Aly, formerly a top advisor to deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, had been a long-time resident of Graz.Read the full story and more here.

Iranian official 'has set up international money laundering network' .

Iranian official 'has set up international money laundering network'.(Telegraph).A senior aide to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used trips to Vienna to defy UN sanctions to build an international money laundering network that funds black market equipment purchases by the country’s regime. At least two visits this year to Vienna by a senior departmental director have been used to carry out transactions worth millions of euros, according to sources, reported The Telegraph. While the official and the Center for Innovation and Technology Cooperation - part of Ahmadinejad’s presidential office - are on the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list, no measures have been taken against the official in Europe.
Internal documents have been obtained from the center by People’s Mujahadeen, the Iranian opposition group. The official spent more than a week in Austria in April and September, holding meetings with key lieutenants, two of whom are Iranian businessmen and two Austrians. The center is a key vehicle for supplying technology to Iran’s nuclear program. Austrian officials said the September trip was the latest of six trips the official made since his elevation to head the directorate. The centre is a key vehicle for supplying technology to Iran's nuclear programme. European sources said there has been concerns over the Austrian authorities' failure to intervene in working trips to Europe. The Austrian interior ministry said it had not yet launched an official investigation of the activities. "There are no ongoing criminal investigations," it told Profil magazine.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Austria to exhume hundreds of bodies in Nazi euthanasia probe.Over 220 bodies discovered in hospital cemetery suspected to have been buried between 1942 and 1945 as victims of a Nazi-era purge of 'unworthy' patients.Hundreds of graves found at an Austrian state hospital will be exhumed once the ground thaws to see if any are victims of a Nazi-era purge of patients deemed unworthy to live, authorities said on Tuesday.The discovery of about 220 bodies in a hospital cemetery during a construction project in Hall, near the Tyrolean capital Innsbruck, aroused suspicions that some of those buried there between 1942 and 1945 were victims of a euthanasia campaign."But one should not speak of 220 murder victims," historian Oliver Seifert told Reuters Television, noting that some of the patients buried there may have died of undernourishment or natural causes. Officials told a news conference a panel of experts would oversee the two-year project to identify the dead from hospital records and genetic samples. Nazi Germany, which annexed Austria in 1938, introduced mass killings of the physically and mentally handicapped in an effort to eradicate people deemed inferior.Thousands in Austria died in gas chambers at the Hartheim Castle euthanasia centre near Linz. At least 360 patients from the hospital in Hall were sent to their deaths before the so-called T4 euthanasia programme officially ended in August 1941, ushering in a new phase in which victims died from neglect, hunger or drug overdoses. "This phase of 'wild euthanasia' between 1942 and 1945 has really been examined in just a cursory way," Seifert said. "This is certainly a first step and a good opportunity to see what happened here and how to view it. We know that active killing went on at other institutions in Austria ... but there are no indications of this at the moment in Hall." Hmmmm...."wir haben das nicht gewusst"?Read the full story here.

• It's Official ! Gibbs to Leave as White House Press Secretary! Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary and close confidante to President Obama, said Wednesday that he will step down and become an outside political adviser to the president and his re-election campaign.Mr. Gibbs said that he intends to leave the podium in early February. His successor has not yet been decided, he said, but will likely be announced within the next two weeks.President Obama, who is in the midst of making final decisions on the first major reorganization of his administration, said in a brief telephone interview on Wednesday that Mr. Gibbs would remain a close adviser and “will continue to shape the dialogue politically for many years to come.”“We’ve been on this ride together since I won my Senate primary in 2004,” Mr. Obama said. “He’s had a six-year stretch now where basically he’s been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay. I think it’s natural for someone like Robert to want to step back for a second to reflect, retool and that, as a consequence, brings about both challenges and opportunities for the White House.”Mr. Gibbs will remain part of the president’s inner circle of political advisers, along with David Axelrod, a senior adviser and Jim Messina, a deputy chief of staff, who also are leaving the White House to focus on the president’s re-election effort. Mr. Gibbs will defend Mr. Obama on television – and will expand his presence on Twitter and other Internet platforms – as well as beginning to define the field of 2012 Republican presidential candidates.Hmmmm....."Mr. Gibbs will defend Mr. Obama on television."?Read the full story here. More here .HT:Barracuda Brigade.

• HT:Debka.Widening cracks in Ahmadinejad's grip on power?There are growing indications that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing his second epic struggle to stay in power since the 2009 popular riots against his election - with his back to the wall. Even the secretive revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran has been unable to conceal the widening fissures in Iran's ruling elite.debkafile's exclusive Iranian sources report that the president's situation must be dire indeed because Monday night, Jan. 3 he called off at the last minute a secret trip to Beirut by his chef de bureau and kinsman Rahim Esfandiar Mashaee for winding up a key power move in Lebanon. The need to keep his trusted confidant at his side was apparently more pressing than a key step in Iran's takeover of Lebanon. A day earlier, Ahmadinejad sacked his 14 top advisers, breaking up the inner cabinet which virtually ran the country under his control.Mashaee was to have persuaded Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to have announced the dissolution of the UN tribunal set up to probe the Rafiq Hariri assassination and try its perpetrators. He would have had to override Saad Hariri's government and cut through the Saudi-Syrian formula for solving the Lebanese crisis to pre-empt the tribunal presentation of indictments against Hizballah officials. This stratagem would have satisfied and empowered Iran's proxy as the dominant power in Beirut. This mission was important enough for Ahmadinejad order Mashaee to remain in Beirut until it was accomplished.Our Washington sources report that the White House is keenly watching the infighting and deepening splits in the clerical regime. Opinions vary as to the cause which triggered the crisis, ranging from opposition to the deep slashes Ahmadinejad ordered last month in subsidies for essential consumer goods, to dialectical differences and a straight power struggle. But they all agree that the Iranian president is fighting for his life in a struggle that is approaching a resolution.Washington sees three major forces ranged solidly against him for the first time:

1. The Iranian parliament, the Majlis, and its powerful speaker Ali Larijani, who has been working to check Ahmadinejad's limitless thirst for power for some time.
2. The generals: Never before since the 1979 Islamic Revolution have the armed forces chiefs taken a hand in Iranian politics. But they are now deeply concerned that Ahmadinejad's policies, including his push for a nuclear weapon, are bringing the country into perils it cannot withstand.
3. Long-time rival, the former president Hashem Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, the supreme body overseeing the various arms of the regime, is showing signs of recovering from the years of persecution and restrictions placed on the activities of his faction.It was noticed in Washington this week that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who habitually praises the president and his works, has stopped mentioning him in his public appearances, probably watching and waiting to see how the internal discord turns out. Also sitting on the fence are the heads of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, Ahmadinejad's principle buttress until now. He appears therefore to be fighting for survival singlehanded except for a hard core of the most radical ayatollahs who have backed him through thick and thin.Hmmmm....Wishfull thinking ?I hope not but,Ahmadinejad gone wont stop the regime it's path.Read the full story here. 

• U.N. Group Using Obama's Family to Make Claims About Anti-Hunger Algae.EDITOR'S UPDATE: After this story was published, IIMSAM removed from its website the picture of a youthful Barack Obama described in the article below.A little-known United Nations-affiliated organization is using members of President Obama’s Kenyan family -- as well as Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona -- to promote the idea that a type of algae is the solution to world hunger.The grandly-named Intergovernmental Institute for the Use of Micro-Algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM) proudly advertises that President Obama’s Kenyan grandmother, Sarah, and his Uncle Said are “goodwill ambassadors” for the organization, helping to sponsor a feeding and education program in Kenya and raising the organization’s profile throughout the region.A youthful photo of Barack Obama himself, posing with his grandmother, is prominently displayed on the IIMSAM website. The photos are attached to an IIMSAM press release dated November 6, 2008 -- just two days after President Obama’s election victory.The Obamas are also highlighted in an IIMSAM financial report for 2009, which says they play a “pivotal role” in IIMSAM’s future expansion in Central and East Africa. What that role is, the report does not specify.There is one problem: a White House official queried by Fox News says IIMSAM does not ring a bell in the White House.Hmmmm.....The term "Snake oil salesman" comes to mind?Read the full story here.

• Muslim group urges rejection of anti-Sharia bill.INDIANAPOLIS — A leading Muslim advocacy group is calling on Indiana legislators to reject a proposal a bill that would deny recognition of the Islamic legal system Sharia in the state. The Tribune-Star of Terre Haute reports that Republican state Rep. Bruce Borders of Jasonville plans to introduce a bill saying the state "does not recognize Sharia law." The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Tuesday that it has written all members of the Indiana General Assembly, urging them not to consider such a bill. The group says the proposal is a "fear-mongering" attack on Islam and "un-American to its core." It says Sharia is a guide to Islamic religious practice and is similar to those in other religious traditions.Hmmmmm....Un-American to it's core?How about Un-Human rights to it's core?Basic equal human rights for women?Freedom of religion?Etc,etc...Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Lebanon to UN: Protect gas from Israel.Lebanese officials accuse Israel of drilling in fields that extend into Lebanon, state denies allegations.Lebanon has asked the United Nations to protect the country's natural gas reserves along the maritime border with Israel.Lebanese officials accuse Israel of drilling in fields that extend into Lebanon. Israel denies the allegation. Last week, Texas-based Noble Energy Inc. announced an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas found in a field off Israel's Mediterranean coast.Late Tuesday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Shami sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to "prevent Israel from exploiting Lebanon's oil and maritime wealth." The United Nations demarcated the land border separating Israel and Lebanon in 2000, but there is no official naval border.Meanwhile the UN has refused to get involved.Read the full story here.

• U.S. Contains Enough Reserves to Fuel Country for Decades, Petroleum Institute Says.Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said that if the Obama administration and Congress would allow the industry access to domestic oil and natural gas reserves, the United States would get the energy it needs, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the government would add more than $1.7 trillion to its coffers.“The state of American energy must be strong in order for the American economy to thrive,” said Gerard in a speech at the Newseum on Tuesday. “How then do we strengthen the state of American energy?”“For starters, there are vast reserves of domestic resources that are currently off-limits to exploration and production: billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas ... onshore and off,” Gerard said. “And those estimates are most likely conservative given our past experience and new advanced technologies.”It is estimated that the United States has enough natural gas to fuel 100 percent of current domestic demand for at least 90 years. In addition, the United States produces about 2 billion barrels of crude oil per year, according to the API.“Accessing these U.S. resources could improve our energy security by making us less reliant on others, generate an additional $1.7 trillion in government revenue over the life of the resources and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs,” Gerard said.On the other hand, “Raising taxes on the industry with no increase in access could reduce domestic production by 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (in 2020), sacrifice as many as 170,000 jobs (in 2014), and reduce revenue to the government by billions of dollars annually,” stated the release.The API report, State of American Energy, estimates that the offshore drilling regions in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic coast could hold as much as $7.6 billion barrels of oil and 58.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.On a related note, North Dakota is one of the fastest growing oil producing regions in the United States, where 80 million barrels were produced in 2009, the report states. Also, North Dakota’s unemployment rate is less than four percent, according to Gerard.Hmmmm....If he wanted to destroy America would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• 'Bigoted' BBC caned by Muslim teachers.MUSLIM teachers have blasted the BBC as “bigoted and Islamophobic” after a documentary about Muslim schools.The Panorama investigation by veteran journalist John Ware claimed children were exposed to extremist preachers and fundamentalist Islamic groups.He also revealed that a network of 40 part-time Saudi schools were offering to teach the Saudi national curriculum, and standard textbooks showed children the correct way to cut off thieves’ hands and feet.But tutors at the London School of Islamics (LSI) branded Ware an “Islam basher”.Spokesman Iftikhar Ahmad added: “The Panorama show was a confused and sensationalist bit of film-making. “Yet the Islamist schools in the documentary were all rated as good or excellent, and this was confirmed by their own presenter.” Last night the BBC said it “stood by the documentary 100%”. School watchdogs are now looking into why part-time schools can escape Ofsted inspections and will report to Education Secretary Michael Gove, 43. Read the full story here.

• 43% of Saudi youth are jobless.Unemployment rose 20% among Saudi youth in 2009.Saudi Arabia is suffering from a high unemployment rate among young men as more than 43 per cent of citizens aged between 20 and 24 years are unemployed, according to government figures.The rate at the end of 2009 was higher than in 2008 despite an ongoing drive by the world’s oil powerhouse to find jobs for its fast-growing nationals and dispose of hundreds of thousands of expatriate workers who dominate the private sector.The figures by the government statistics and information centre showed nearly 43.2 per cent of the Saudi males and females aged 20-24 years were unemployed at the end of 2009, nearly 20 per cent above the 2008 rate.The report, published in Saudi newspapers this week, showed more than 450,000 Saudi nationals of all ages were jobless last year.“This comes at a time when nearly one million labour visas for foreign workers were issued last year,” the report said. “The private sector continued a drive to import foreign labour although nearly 111,000 Saudis were looking for jobs.”A breakdown showed nearly 300,000 of those visas were issued in the capital Riyadh while 199,000 were in the eastern province and 185,000 in Makkah.Around 49 per cent of the visas were for jobs in the construction sector while nearly 12 per cent were for fishing and farming, 11 per cent for trade, eight per cent for the manufacturing sector and six per cent for communication.The private sector’s excuse for its heavy reliance on foreign workers is that the Saudi labour is characterized by low productivity and negligence…but of course this is an incorrect accusation,” said Hamza al Salim, a university economics professor in Riyadh. “The real reason is that the foreign labour is cheaper…this practice is aggravating the joblessness problem and draining the country’s financial resources since the expatriates remit most of their money abroad.”Hmmmm.....Cheap labor by foreigners is the reason,perhaps someone should tel Obama about it?Read the full story here.

• India to head UNSC fight against terror.New Delhi: India has begun her two-year-stint as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. In addition, India has been given the responsibility of heading the Security Council committee 1373 that deals with counter-terrorism. The1373 committee was formed in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the US and enforces a number of global measures to tackle terrorism. Speaking to NDTV, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative to the UN, said, "I can confirm that as of 1500 hours in New York this afternoon the silent procedure was completed and India was elected to chair the 1373 counter-terrorism committee. The Security Council will formally approve this in a few hours."NDTV: But even senior US authorities have called Pakistan the epicenter of terror. Surely no UN committee on counter terror can be taken seriously unless it cracks down on Pakistan.Ambassador Puri: I cannot get involved in a discussion on what the epicenter is etc. We will deal with the facts of the case in the 1373 resolution. It deals with the financing of terror and other such issues. The focus will have to be terrorism worldwide including in our part of the world.Hmmm....Very diplomatic answer.Read the full story here.

• Taliban cut off man's hand for theft.The Taliban chopped off a man's hand after he was found guilty of theft by a 'Shariah' or Islamic court set up by them in the restive Orakzai tribal region of northwest Pakistan, a day after beheading a fellow militant who was accused of spying for the government. Abdul Khaliq's hand was cut off by members of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan at Qureshan Chowk in Mamozai area of Orakzai tribal agency.The act was witnessed by local residents, the Dawn newspaper reported today, adding that Khaliq was found guilty of theft by the Taliban.Despite claims by security forces and the semi-autonomous region's political administration that 90 per cent of Orakzai region had been purged of militants, the Taliban are still very active in several parts of the tribal agency.A day earlier, the Taliban in Orakzai beheaded a fellow militant named Gulbat Khan after accusing him of "spying" for the government and the security forces.In November last year, the Taliban had publicly flogged 25 alleged drug peddlers in Orakzai.The Taliban had set up numerous "courts" across the tribal belt about three years ago to administer their brand of justice.Though some of these courts were wound up after the army launched an operation in parts of the tribal areas, they have been re-established in recent months by the Taliban.Hmmmmm.....welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.

• HT:DirectorBlue.Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the comedy stylings of Shecky Green and Nancy Pelosi!She just flew in from San Francisco* and, boy, are her arms tired!Coming from the most radical and fiscally destructive House Speaker in American history -- who added $5 trillion in new deficits in just four short years -- this is comedy gold.At her final press conference as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go."...When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at [$8.67 trillion]. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi's Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was [$13.9 trillion] - a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi's four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.With no end in sight.Hmmmm....If you wanted to destroy America would you do it any different?Read and see the full story here.

• HT:SultanKnish.Islamic Terrorism is an Inside Job.At the start of the new year, the Governor of Punjab was murdered because he had opposed the call by Pakistan's Islamists to execute a Christian woman on false blasphemy charges arising out of her harassment by her Muslim neighbors. The murderer was one of his own security personnel. Around the same time in Egypt, security forces withdrew from a Coptic church, and an hour later a car bomb went off killing 21 and injuring a 100 more. And this was not the first time security forces had pulled back before an attack on a church.The first order of business was to muddy the waters. The Egyptian government treated it as a national attack on Egypt by foreigners. The Obama White House issued statements falsely claiming that both Christians and Muslims were casualties of the Alexandria attack. Both avoided clearly identifying either the victims of the perpetrators or addressing the Muslim mobs chanting Allah Akbar while the dead burned. When the Burqa is lifted long enough to identify the attackers as Muslims, it will be only to describe them as "extremists". But it also clear that these "extremists" are represented in the security forces of both countries. Which once again raises the question of just what is an extremist anyway.Islamic terrorism is not some minor fringe threat, it's the leading of a wave that is sweeping across the world. The bombs are the least of it. They are only points of friction, sparks that show us a fraction of the kinetic energy at work in the clash of civilizations. It's the inside job of Muslim states who are feeling their strength and their Western appeasers who are too afraid to do anything, but play Atahualpa to the Muslim Pizarros, gleefully looting our civilization for all they can take. It is not the discontent of the oppressed, but the greed and lust of the oppressors. We are not the oppressors, but if this goes on... we will surely become the oppressed.Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.The Debt Ceiling Debate Really Doesn’t Matter – Either Way U.S. Government Finances Are Going To Crash.Congratulations America, you are now 14 trillion dollars in debt. The U.S. national debt is now more than 14 times larger than it was just 30 short years ago. The federal government is literally drowning in debt. Now some members of Congress are actually debating whether we should raise the debt ceiling again. At the moment, the U.S. government debt ceiling is is set at $14.294 trillion, and considering the fact that the U.S. government is borrowing approximately 2.63 million more dollars every single minute, that cap will be reached very quickly. The U.S. Congress has raised the federal debt ceiling six times in just the past three years, so you would think that raising it again would not be that big of a deal for our debt-addicted politicians. But this past November a significant number of Tea Party candidates were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and they are eager to prove that they are serious about fiscal responsibility.So exactly what is the debt ceiling? Well, it is an arbitrary limit on U.S. government debt that is set by the U.S. Congress. The original idea of the debt ceiling was that it would keep U.S. government debt from getting out of control, but obviously that has not happened. Whenever we have started getting close to the debt ceiling Congress has always raised it. It has been raised ten different times since 2001. Now it is time to raise it again, and if it does not get raised the U.S. government could actually start defaulting on its obligations.So would the financial system really crash if the debt ceiling is reached?Well, it would certainly spook world financial markets. Whether a full-blown financial panic would erupt would depend on a lot of things.But the truth is that U.S. government finances are going to crash whether we raise the debt ceiling or not.The U.S. government is in the terminal phase of a debt spiral. Just look at the chart below. Is there a single person reading this article that actually believes that this debt is sustainable?Hmmmm......Many Years ago i predicted this would happen,now we caught up with reality.Read the full story here.

• Sarkozy’s internet police warn illegal downloaders.Nicolas Sarkozy’s battle against illegal downloading has begun firmly with France’s internet surveillance body already warning over 100,000 internet-users in France that they have been captured accessing pirate material.Sarkozy feels very strongly about the anti-piracy law and along with singer wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, argues that artists need to be protected from the huge culture of illegal downloading. France is said to illegally download more movies and music than any other country in the world.The internet policing system goes by the name Hadopi but is nicknamed “Big Brother”, investigates particular incidents of illegal downloading which are reported b the film and music companies. Internet service providers give them web-users’ details, they then proceed to hand out a number of warnings by letter and email.The people who continue to break the rules can receive a 30 day suspension from any all internet access. The punishment for counterfeiting can be fines and even risk being cut off from all internet access for one year. Since October, a minimum of 100,000 warning emails have been issued.Hmmmmm....Do you sometimes feel "Watched"?Chances are you're right!Read the full story here.

• Pakistan.Husband beaten by wives over fifth planned marriage. A polygamist Pakistani man has suffered the shame of a public beating by two of his wives, who claimed he was planning to marry in secret for a fifth time.Mian Ishaq had to be saved by police officers who hauled his two angry wives away from a friend's wedding reception he was attending with his third wife in Pakistan's Punjab province. Afterwards he told reporters that he had only three wives, and rumours that he had a fourth wife and plans for a fifth were not true. "This is a blatant lie. I am willing to swear on my life that I only have three wives," he told reporters.Witnesses said his two disgruntled partners arrived with relatives at the wedding reception in Gujranwala on Monday, overturning tables and shouting death threats before they started attacking their husband with shoes. "All the women got together and beat him with shoes. They slapped him and swore at him. It was madness," said a guest. However, the explanations were not enough for one of the wives "We know that he is trying to marry a fifth time and he should be publicly humiliated for his behaviour," said Uzma afterwards. Hmmmm....Any sane Western man can tell you one angry spouse is enough, unless you have suicidal tendencies?Read the full story here.

• HT:NewsRealBlog.What Happens If… (A Fun New Muslim Game!).A lot of us found brand new board games, or electronic games, under the Christmas tree a week or so ago. But you haven’t seen this one yet! Gather your friends, and play along – it’s kind of like Trivial Pursuit, but the trivia you’re pursuing is all about the religion of peace!Q: What happens if you disagree with Islamic law in an Islamic country?A: Well, you die – even if you are a bigshot. Today, the governor of the Pakistani Punjab province was shot dead… by one of his own guards! Apparently, the governor expressed a wee bit o’ displeasure over Pakistan’s blasphemy laws (under which a Christian woman was recently sentenced to death for insulting Mohammed). So, naturally, a true follower of Islam took care of it. Problem. Solved.Q: What happens if you practice journalism in an Islamic country?A: Well, you spend some serious time in a third-world slammer. As National Review’s Benjamin Weinthal reports today, the Germans may have reached the limit of their patience with Iran (and as Weinthal notes, they may be done coddling the Iranians) – this as two German journalists have now spent 86 days incarcerated in a prison in the city of Tabriz. Their crime? Interviewing family members of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani — a woman sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery.Wait a second. I need to take a little time-out in our fun new game.A woman was sentenced to death for insulting Mohammed in Pakistan? And another woman was sentenced to death for (alleged) adultery in Iran? What is wrong with these Muslims, anyway? It’s almost as if they are brainwashed from childhood.Okay back to our game.Q: What happens if you are a child in an Islamic country?Hmmm...The only thing is ...It's not a game it's reality!Read the full story here.

• HT:Translating Jihad."Qa'ida al-Jihad" Attacks Hamas for Sentencing to Death a Muslim Who Killed a Christian. These are the kinds of statements that would get you labeled as an "Islamic extremist" or maybe even just a "violent extremist" in Western press. But let's look at the argument here. This group Qa'ida al-Jihad is taking issue with Hamas ordering the execution of a Muslim in retribution for killing a Christian, because this is against the saying of Muhammad that "A Muslim will not be killed by an infidel." They further point out the status of Christians in a Muslim country as the People of the Book, with three choices: death, conversion to Islam, or living as second-class citizens under the 'dhimmi,' or protected, covenant, which is based on Qur'an 9:29, as well as a couple of sayings of Muhammad recorded in al-Bukhari and Muslim. If the Christian has indeed broken his dhimmi covenant by leaving the Muslim country, or by supporting a nation at war with Islam, as they're alleging Christians in Gaza have done, then by Islamic law the man becomes far game. So is this just a bunch of extremists twisting Islam, or is Islam itself fundamentally 'extreme'? It would be nice if the former were true, but all the evidence points to the latter. Just read the Qur'an, and it all makes sense.Hmmmmm....Obama "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:GatewayPundit.Video : Russian News Discusses Rise of Communism in New York City.“As the economic crisis has gotten steeper in the country, it is not surprising that people are opening their minds to other ideas. Words like socialism and communism have been so stigmatized by the educational system that many people are afraid of those words. However, many studies have shown Americans support the redistribution of wealth but if you mention the socialism word they won’t agree with it anymore.”In modern day America, the specter of communism hangs over the bottom floor of a brick building on the West side of downtown New York City. It’s the Brecht Forum, which started out as the NY Marxist School in 1975. Here, communism is certainly no bogeyman and its poster-philosopher so to speak is revered. “I am a Marxist and I wanted to be around other Marxists and just to talk with other Marxists,” explained Dale. In the US that may sound a little taboo, even unpatriotic to the average Joe. But these days, amid rising poverty and inequality in the country more and more people are joining in the discussion. “I think people certainly since the financial crisis hit home and some people realized there are some systemic problems, we saw a huge influx of traffic,” said Max Uhlenback, development coordinator at the Brecht Forum.Hmmmm....."And who's supposed to be the new "Lenin"?Read the full story here.

• After a Court Ruling, Turkey Frees 23 Suspected Militants.ISTANBUL — More than 20 suspected militants, including members of an extreme Islamist organization, were released from Turkish jails on Tuesday after a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that limits to 10 years the time detainees can be held without being sentenced.Eighteen members of Turkish Hezbollah — a Sunni organization unrelated to the Shiite Hezbollah group active in Lebanon — and five members of the outlawed P.K.K., an armed Kurdish independence movement, were set free after having spent more than 10 years in jail awaiting the endorsement of their sentences by the Supreme Court of Appeals. Under the Turkish legal system, any local court conviction has to be approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals before a sentence can be put into effect.The released detainees will not be able to leave the country and must report to the local police on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the prisoner releases and the prospect of many more to come — the Turkish news media have reported that more than 50,000 have applied for review of their cases — have raised concerns. At trial, as Turkish news reports repeatedly reminded the public, forensic experts testified that the Hezbollah members had executed numerous victims by burying them alive, their hands and feet tied together. Television video showed dozens of supporters celebrating as a senior member of the Turkish Hezbollah network was released from a jail in Diyarbakir, in southeast Turkey.Hmmmmm.....What did you say ?Shortage of Martires and terrorists?Don't worry we'll resolve that for you right away!Read the full story here.HT:AstuteBloggers.

• Rep. Peter King has 'nothing but contempt' for New York Times.Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, ripped into The New York Times Tuesday for telling him in a weekend editorial to tone down his rhetoric.From King’s response, there is no indication he will do anything of the sort.“I’m absolutely delighted that The New York Times would attack me,” he said in an interview with The Hill. “I have nothing but contempt for them. They should be indicted under the Espionage Act. … The New York Times is just basically being a mouthpiece for political correctness.”“If people weren’t taking me seriously, that would be one thing,” King said. “I don’t need to take political advice from anyone else. People follow what I say. I’m outspoken, but I can back up everything I say. I am what I am and people seem to like it and I’m at peace with myself.”“I’m certainly not going to take any political advice or direction from The New York Times,” he said. “I have more contempt for The New York Times than anything or anyone I can think of.”Hmmmm.....A man with his heart on his tongue !Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Yemen Rents Out U.S. Military Aid For Profit. While millions in U.S. military aid continue pouring into Yemen, the Middle Eastern haven for Islamic militants profits from Uncle Sam’s generosity by renting out servicemen and patrol boats to lucrative operations that provide security for commercial ships.As part of a regional counter terrorism effort, the Obama Administration has deluged Yemen with hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid in the last few years. In 2009 the U.S. gave Yemen $67 million and last year the figure more than doubled to $155 million. The money is supposed to help the impoverished country’s army fight Al Qaeda by providing essential equipment like helicopters, ground vehicles, night-vision goggles and transport aircraft.It turns out that some of the military equipment furnished by the U.S. to protect Yemen’s coastline against terrorists is being exploited by the country’s Coast Guard to support a private and quite profitable security business, according to a major newspaper report published this week. The operations, protecting commercial ships from pirates, involve high-ranking officials in Yemen’s Ministry of Interior as well as its Coast Guard Authority.The U.S. government has given 24 vessels to Yemen’s coast guard since 2003 and two large “coastal protection boats” are scheduled for delivery this year, according to the news report. Commercial ship companies pay $55,000 to have the heavily armored patrol vessels escort cargo with a team of up to nine armed guards. No official comment from the Obama Administration which has proposed increasing military aid to Yemen to $250 million in 2011, a move that would require congressional approval.Hmmmm.....US Vessel for hire?Perhaps Iran can lease them for a prolonged time period?Read the full story here.

• Iran arrests Christian missionaries: official.TEHRAN — Iran has arrested a number of Christian missionaries in Tehran province and vowed to detain more of them, the provincial governor was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA on Tuesday.Morteza Tamaddon said "the leaders of this movement have been arrested in Tehran province and more will be arrested in the near future."e did not give their identities, so it was unclear whether they are foreigners, Iranians or a combination of both.Nor did he explain what he meant by their belonging to a movement, which he called "deviated" and "corrupt."He referred to them as "tabshiri," or missionaries, and likened them to the Taliban."Just like the Taliban... who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, they have crafted a movement with Britain's backing in the name of Christianity," Tamaddon said."Various kinds of fake, deviated and corrupt cults have sharpened their teeth for our beliefs and one can see their activities among the youth," he said, branding Christian missionaries as an example of "cultural onslaught" against Iran.Christianity is among the recognised religions in Iran but, under the country's Sharia-based law, renouncing Islam, or apostasy, is punishable by death.Read the full story here.

• The sky is the limit?Turkish fighter jets, Turkish astronauts… Turkish avatars coming soon?It is practically impossible to predict whether any future wave of WikiLeaks cables will reveal Turkish pressure on Hollywood to produce a film portraying the antics of a Turk Superman who does not eat pork or drink alcohol and is disguised as a journalist writing for a government-friendly newspaper. It is similarly impossible to predict whether cables will reveal a Turkish request for match-fixing at the 2010 World Basketball Championship’s final game, a threat to bomb Israel with future “made-in-Turkey” fighter jets, or an invitation to a U.S. ambassador in Turkey to convert to Islam. But surely, the cables are fun!The latest leaks have unveiled that the king of Saudi Arabia wanted the United States president to outfit his personal jet with the same high-tech devices as Air Force One – in return for choosing Boeing’s passenger jets over those of Airbus. The Bangladeshi prime minister reportedly pressed the State Department to re-establish landing rights at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York – also in exchange for choosing Boeing over Airbus.And President Abdullah Gül, according to the cables, wanted the Obama administration to let a Turkish astronaut sit on a NASA space flight – not too difficult to guess…for Boeing planes! After Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım conveyed the request in January 2010, then U.S. ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey called the effort to link the Boeing deal to political requests an “unwelcome, but unsurprising degree of political influence in this transaction.About a month after Ambassador Jeffrey cabled to Washington that “we probably cannot put a Turkish astronaut in orbit,” Turkish Airlines, or THY, placed an order for 20 Boeing planes – the Airbus chaps must have learned their lesson: in the next competition, they should propose a team of Turkish astronauts in orbit, not just one!In fact, what in the world of defense business could be viewed as a kind of Boeing-Airbus rivalry concerns Turkey – and imminently! In two tenders worth several billions of dollars, U.S. and European rivals are thriving to beat each other and the Turks will choose the victors this year. What will the very important Turks request in these classified deals? Is the sky the limit? A mega-sized mosque in Rome? Frozen diplomatic ties with Israel? The first Turkish nuclear bomb? It’s too hard and boring to guess.Read the full story here.

• Turkey's 'secular survey' stirs doubts about its faith.A planned government survey on the public’s attitude toward religious issues is prompting concern that secularism in Turkey could be eroded as experts debate the appropriateness of conducting such a poll.“The state doesn’t carry out surveys. They are done by research institutions. It has not been a common instrument in Turkey,” former Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Türk told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Tuesday.“The definition of secularism, for instance, is already clear. There is no need to conduct a survey about already-known concepts. It seems the government expects a result that is in line with their views and will make it a base for drafting the new Constitution,” he said. The country’s Religious Affairs Directorate, which has been undergoing internal restructuring, has given the go-ahead for the survey, which is slated to begin in March. Tens of thousands of citizens will be asked their opinion on public institutions, the headscarf issue, religious classes in schools, Alevi demands, the relationship between the government and religion and the directorate’s areas of service.The results of the survey will be examined after the general elections set to be held in June and are expected to shape the new constitution if the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is re-elected.“What types of questions will be asked? I can’t understand its purpose. Will the meaning and scope of secularism be determined in line with the survey results?” Türk asked in questioning the aim of the survey.“The Constitutional Court annulled the wearing of headscarves in state-run universities. Maybe they will use the survey results to bring it back onto the agenda while drafting the new Constitution,” he said.Hmmmmm....It's pretty clear for the outsider to see in what direction Erdogan is heading Turkey.The question is will it be the Egyptian or the Iranian model?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Assassination of Governor Salman Taseer for Urging Amendments in the Blasphemy Laws of Pakistan. Facebook Page Created for the Assassin. Images of Protests by Pakistani Religious Organizations Against Attempts to Amend Blasphemy Laws.The PPP-led government had indicated that it will amend the blasphemy laws to ensure that they are not misused against the members of the minority communities. However, notwithstanding the personal risk taken by Salman Taseer and Sherry Rehman, the Pakistani government later succumbed to the mounting pressure from religious organizations, formally telling the parliament that it does not intend to amend the blasphemy laws.Lawmaker Sherry Rehman also faces threats to life.Within perhaps minutes of Governor Salman Taseer's assassination, a webpage devoted to Qadri, the attacker, was created on the social networking site Facebook. The Facebook page gives the assassin's full name as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. A snapshot of the Facebook page is given, with 498 members liking it in first few minutes.On Friday, December 31, 2010, religious organizations across Pakistan organized mass protests against any likely moves by secular activists to amend the controversial blasphemy laws of Pakistan. The country-wide protests of December 31, 2010, were organized in almost all Pakistani towns and cities by the religious organizations to demonstrate their unified opposition to any likely move by the secular government to amend the blasphemy laws. Following are images of the protests, as they appeared in the Pakistani newspapers of January 1, 2011.Read and see the full story here.

• Younger Son Of Iran's Shah Commits Suicide.Alireza Pahlavi, the second child and younger son of Iran’s shah, has killed himself. A statement posted on the website of his brother, former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, says that the 44-year-old took his life on January 4 at his residence in Boston. According to some reports, Pahlavi died from a "self-inflicted gunshot wound."The statement, signed by family members including his mother, Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi, and sister, Farahnaz Pahlavi, suggests he battled with depression. His suicide comes ten years following the death of his sister, the shah’s youngest child, Leila Pahlavi, in a London hotel from a reported overdose of sleeping pills. She was 31 years old and she had also been suffering from depression. The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in the 1979 revolution. Following his death from cancer in 1980 in Egypt, his family resetlled in the United States and France.Hmmmmm....Iran was much better of under the Shah then now.My condolences to the grieving family.Read the full story here. More here.