Islamist leader of Turkey Erdogan declares death penalty will soon be reinstated.

@JoumanaGebara "Thank God almighty, I am a servant of sharia.” It was 1994, and Erdogan was proud to proclaim his Islamist roots Istanbul, pic.twitter.com/tpNZNtGTy5

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) October 30, 2016

Islamist leader of Turkey Erdogan declares death penalty will soon be reinstated....My note: 'As Sharia dictates'. (TurkishMinute).

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that legislation to reinstate capital punishment, which was abolished in 2004, will soon be taken to Parliament by the Justice And Development Party (AKP).

“It is soon. … Don’t worry. … It is soon, God willing. … Our government [AKP] will bring it to Parliament. I believe that it will be approved by the legislature. When it comes to me, I will approve it,” said Erdoğan after a group of people chanted “We want the death penalty” during a ceremony in Ankara on Saturday.

Asking why he would approve it, Erdoğan said: “Because what the nation wants will happen. Does not sovereignty, without any condition or reservation, belong to the nation? Yes it does. … Then the issue has been solved.”


“The West says this and that. … Sorry… What is important is not what the West says but my nation,” added Erdoğan, in reaction to criticism from the US and the European Union (EU). Read the full story here.

Flashback to November 2012:
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent remarks on a possible reintroduction of capital punishment have triggered an outcry in the European Union, a leading advocate for its abolition.
Erdogan, famous for his provocative talk, triggered controversy earlier this month when he suggested the death penalty might be brought back due to popular support for the measure, particularly in terror-related cases.

The state cannot forgive a murderer, only the victim's family can, he said, supporting a stance defended by Islam. “Thank God almighty, I am a servant of sharia.” It was 1994, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan was proud to proclaim his Islamist roots in his native Istanbul, where he served as the mayor – or, as he customarily described himself, the city’s “imam.”

Hmmm.....Under Islamic Human rights (CairoDeclaration) all rights are subject to Shariah law, death penalty is no problem.

SOURCE.

Obama's BFF Erdogan exploiting Netanyahu's apology as much as possible.

“Prime Minister Erdogan made the State of Israel kneel down.”

Obama's BFF Erdogan exploiting Netanyahu's apology as much as possible.HT: TundraTabloids.
By Caroline Glick US President Barack Obama was on the line when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish protesters aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010.

For those who don’t remember, the Mavi Marmara was a Turkish ship that set sail in a bid to break Israel’s lawful maritime blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza’s coastline. When Israeli naval commandos boarded the ship to interdict it, passengers on deck attacked them – in breach of international maritime law. Soldiers were stabbed, bludgeoned and thrown overboard. In a misguided attempt to show the good faith of Israeli actions, the naval commandos were sent aboard the ship armed with paintball guns. As a consequence, the soldiers pressed to defend themselves. In the hand-to-hand combat that ensued, nine of the Turkish attackers were killed.

The Mavi Marmara was an eminently predictable fight. The Turkish group that hired the boat was an al-Qaeda-affiliated Turkish NGO named IHH. In 1999, the Turkish government was so wary of IHH that it barred the group from participating in relief efforts following a devastating earthquake.

IHH’s fortunes shifted with the rise of its fellow Islamists in the AKP Justice and Development Party led by Recep Tayip Erdogan. The AKP won the 2002 elections and has since been reelected twice.

By 2010, Prime Minster Erdogan had a long track record of anti-Israel actions. Indeed, by 2010, Erdogan had effectively destroyed the strategic alliance Israel had developed with Turkey since 1949. In 2006, Erdogan was the first major international leader and NATO member to host Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh. The same year he allowed Iran to use Turkish territory to transfer weaponry to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War.

On Saturday, the Arab League convened in Doha, Qatar and discussed Israel’s apology to Turkey and its ramifications for pan-Arab policy. The Arab League member states considered the prospect of demanding similar apologies for its military operations in Lebanon, Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The Arab League’s discussions point to the true ramifications of the apology for Israel. By apologizing for responding lawfully to unlawful aggression against the State of Israel and its armed forces, Israel did two things. First, Israel humiliated itself and its soldiers, and so projected an image of profound weakness. Due to this projected image, Israel has opened itself up to further demands for it to apologize for its other responses to acts of unlawful war and aggression against the state, its territory and its citizens from other aggressors.

On a wider level, it is important for Israel to develop the means to end its dependency on the US. Under Obama, despite the support of the great majority of the public, the US has become an undependable ally to Israel, and indeed to the rest of the US’s allies as well. The more quickly Israel can minimize its dependence, the better it will be for Israel, for the US and for the stability of the region. The apology to Turkey was a strategic error. To minimize its consequences, Israel must boldly assert its interests in Syria, Iran, and throughout the region. Read the full story here.

Did Erdogan find in Netanyahu a dangling pinata? Erdogan: "Normalization depends on Israel’s actions."

Did Erdogan find in Netanyahu a dangling pinata? Erdogan: "Normalization depends on Israel’s actions."(TT).

This is the mind of the Islamic world, no matter what overtures are given, it’s never enough, they will always find a pretext to demand for more. Just look at the Arabs response to anything Israel has done to forward the ”peace process”, its never good enough, there will always be something yet to be done in order for them to be finally ”pleased.”

Normalization of diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey will not occur until Israel meets its commitments to ease blockade, compensate victims, Turkish PM stresses

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that his country’s ties with Israel will only normalize if Israel follows through on its promises both to ease the Gaza blockade and to compensate Turkey for the deaths of nine Turkish citizens in the raid on the Mavi Marmara.

Erdogan spoke in an assembly at the city of Eskisehir, stressing that “Only when Israel carries out its commitments, will normalization occur.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized on Friday for the deaths of nine Turkish citizens in the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound Marmara ship.

As part of the US-brokered settlement, Israel agreed to transfer funds to a humanitarian organization that would compensate the victims’ families.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz referred Sunday to Netanyahu’s apology, saying that “It was good that the prime minister took action to promote ties with Turkey; it will have a positive effect on our security and strategic interests.”

Nevertheless, Gantz stressed that “The actions of the soldiers in regards to the Marmara were professional and ethical. Any other army would have ended the incident with dozens of deaths. I have complete faith in the commanders.”

Hmmmm.....Now that 'Sultan' Erdogan got 'Carte Blanche' from his BFF Obama he will milk the situation till it's dry.The Apology was a huge mistake, it will haunt Israel forever.Read the full story here.

Dubai - 16 years for woman who beat her Indonesian maid to death with a frying pan.

Dubai - 16 years for woman who beat her Indonesian maid to death with a frying pan.(TN).By Haneen Dajani and Ola Salem.Abu Dhabi - A woman who beat her maid to death was yesterday sentenced to 16 years in jail by the Criminal Court.The court also sentenced her male neighbour E H to a 13-year term, and ordered each of them to pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the maid’s relatives.
N S and E H, both Emiratis, undressed the maid, from Indonesia, before beating her to death with a frying pan. They were sentenced to 10 years each for causing her death, plus three years each for hiding evidence and misleading authorities. They had claimed the injuries were caused when she slipped on the kitchen floor and hit her head. N S was sentenced to an additional three years for sexual assault. The court heard previously that N S would regularly undress the maid to humiliate her and torture her by forcing her to eat spicy food. Both N S and E H blamed each other. N S claimed that E H killed the maid because she threatened to report his homosexual activities to the police. E H claimed that he only watched as N S beat the maid.read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Indonesia 6.1 - 5.3 - 5.2 ; Peru 5.5 ; Mexico 5.3 ;  !More info here. \

• Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: "Bring Your Tanks Here"Read the latest stories here.

• What Is An Ex-Iran Guard Commander Doing At The White House?(BigPeace).If you worry about the growing influence of Iran in neighboring Iraq, look no further than the delegation that visited the White House to proclaim the end of the Iraq War. Standing with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during the ceremony with President Obama was Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, who is the Transportation Minister in the Iraqi government. But previously he was a commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. As the Washington Times points out, Mr. al-Amiri was a commander in the Badr Corps, a battalion that operated in….Iraq.Worried yet about the future of Iraq?Hmmmm....“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”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.

• Belgium News reports say 2 dead, 25 wounded after hand grenade attack at busshelter in Belgian city of Liege.(yahoo)(HLN)Dutch Google translate- live updated).One victim was a girl of two years, reports Le Soir. She fights for her life in hospital.BRUSSELS - Belgian news organizations are reporting that two people have been killed and at least 10 wounded Tuesday in a hand grenade attack in the eastern Belgian city of Liege.Belgian media reported that one of the two dead was believed to be the assailant, a man believed to be about 40 years old.New reports said that at about 12:30 local time (6:30 a.m. EDT) the man lobbed several grenades at a bus shelter in Place Saint-Lambert, a busy downtown square. They said witnesses reported four explosions and gun fire. Phone calls to Liege authorities were not immediately answered.Belgium's VRT television network spoke with an unidentified man who was wounded in the attack and who said "someone threw grenades and fired shots."Police were on the scene quickly and sealed off the square. TV images showed blood splattered across the cobblestones.Valerie Schaaps, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors office, confirmed there had been explosions and gunfire, and that there were injuries.The daily La Meuse reported that the attacker had killed himself.Place Saint-Lambert is a busy crossroads: every day 1800 buses serve the square, which leads to downtown shopping streets.Read and see (Video)the full story here.Pictures here (Dutch).

• 17 Signs That The European Financial System Is Heading For An Implosion Of Historic Proportions.(BLN).The easiest way to deal with a debt spiral is to let it keep going and going. That is what the United States has done. Sure, “kicking the can down the road” makes the crisis much worse in the long run, but bringing the pain into the present is not a lot of fun either.Europe has decided to do something that is unprecedented in the post-World War II era. They have decided to put very strict limits on budget deficits and to impose tough sanctions on any nations that break the rules. They have also decided that they are not going to allow the European Central Bank to fund the debts of troubled nations with reckless money printing.Without a doubt, this is a German solution for a German-dominated Europe. Germany does not want to pay for the debt mistakes of other EU nations, and so they are shoving bitter austerity down the throats of those that have gotten into too much debt.But this solution is not going to be implemented without a massive amount of pain.In fact, this solution is going to make a massive financial collapse much more likely. The following are 17 signs that the European financial system is heading for an implosion of historic proportions….Read the full story here.

• $2,500 to Sup with Ayers and Dohrn–How Much for Dinner with Manson?(Biggovernment).The Daily Caller reported Sunday that “for the low, low price of $2,500, you can have dinner cooked for you by Weather Underground agitators and terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine [sic] Dohrn.”This is the low state of the world that we have become inured to. The absence of morality and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and good and evil renders dinners with terrorists for… $2,500.In the sixties, Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn were members of the Weather Underground, a communist terrorist group that planted bombs at the Pentagon, the Capitol building, and other government buildings. Ayers himself planted a bomb at a statue commemorating police casualties during the 1886 Haymarket riots in Chicago. When a bomb he was hoping would kill American soldiers in New Jersey exploded prematurely in a house, Ayers became for ten years a fugitive from justice, but all charges against him were dropped in 1980 when an FBI program that was investigating the Weathermen was accused of improprieties.Ayers, however, remains unrepentant, saying in 2001: “I don’t regret setting bombs… I feel we didn’t do enough.”Yet this dinner is hardly the first example of the legitimization of the terrorist Ayers. As I explained in my book The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America, when he left his terrorist activities behind, Ayers served his cause as part of the left’s long march into America’s institutions. He became a respectable professor at the University of Chicago. One of his neighbors was an ambitious young man named Barack Hussein Obama. In 1995, Obama launched his political career with a run for the Illinois State Senate, and he began his campaign with a fundraising event at the Chicago home of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.Later, State Senator Obama wrote a glowing endorsement of Ayers’ book A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court. And when Obama served as Board Chairman of a philanthropic group known as the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, that group gave over $600,000 in grants to the Small Schools Workshop, an organization founded by Ayers and headed by Mike Klonsky, leader of the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) (CP-ML), a Maoist party in the United States.For his part, Obama was dishonest about the significance of this association, dismissing the aging terrorist as a casual acquaintance: Ayers, said Obama, was merely “a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received an official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from (sic) on a regular basis.” The terrorist attacks? “Now, Mr. Ayers is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something I deplore 40 years ago when I was six or seven years old. By the time I met him, he was a professor of education at the University of Illinois.”Yet records don’t justify his having been so dismissive. Ayers and Obama were also both Board members of Chicago’s Wood Fund between December 1999 and December 2002. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, “that board met four times a year, and members would see each other at occasional dinners the group hosted.”The old terrorist Bill Ayers, who just happens to live in Barack Obama’s old neighborhood, but who hardly knows the President and has had only the slightest casual contact with him over the years, visited the White House twice between January and October 2009.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited only once during that span.And now dinner with these terrorists, Ayers and Dohrn, is being sold to eager buyers for $2,500.Yes, this is the absence of reason. This is the essential failure of our public education system. Take, for example, a talk I gave to a class at New York University last week. Listen to the first question posed by a student. It best illustrates the absence of reason. The class as a whole, by the way, was uniformly but politely hostile, all of the same mind. After the class, a couple of students quietly thanked me and said that they agreed with me. So they may not be free to speak in class, but they are free to think.And this is the kind of person whom we must encourage–the kind that wouldn’t dine with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn at any price.Hmmmm......"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.

• Obama 'stimulus' working , now creating new jobs in Turkey!Turkey, US home to new T-Series Ford.(Hurriyetdaily).The Ford Motor Company will inject $1.7 billion into producing the new Ford Transit T-Series light commercial vehicle in Kansas U.S. and Gölcük in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, Turkey. The new Transit model is expected to hit global markets in 2013 and will be sold across all major continents. The current model, manufactured in Gölcük, is based on the one Ford has been producing since 1950. It has already been sold almost everywhere in the world except for the U.S., according to daily Hürriyet. Ford is now getting ready to launch the new T-Series model in the U.S. and is currently test driving the vehicle to prepare it for U.S. consumers and U.S. road conditions. The present U.S. favorite is the Econoline E-Series van. The Transit is expected to be 25 percent more fuel efficient. Read the full story here.

• Birthers - Hawaii Issued Subpoena For Obama's Original Birth Certificate and 1961 Microfiche Roll.(BR).Farrar, Roth, Lax, Judy, MacLaren v. Obama, Kemp, GA Democratic Party: Loretta Fuddy(Hawaii DOH) Served Subpoena Signed By Judge Michael Mailhi For Obama's Original Birth Certificate and 1961 Microfiche Roll - SUBPOENA HERE.Read the full story here.

• Internet piracy bill: A free speech 'kill switch'.(TheHill).What began as an attempt to restrain foreign piracy on the Internet has morphed into a domestic “kill switch” on First Amendment freedom in the fastest-growing corner of the marketplace of ideas.Proposed federal legislation purporting to protect online intellectual property would also impose sweeping new government mandates on internet service providers – a positively Orwellian power grab that would permit the U.S. Justice Department to shut down any internet site it doesn’t like (and cut off its sources of income) on nothing more than a whim.Under the so-called “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) the federal government – which is prohibited constitutionally from abridging free speech or depriving its citizens of their property without due process – would engage in both practices on an unprecedented scale. And in establishing the precursor to a taxpayer-funded “thought police,” it would dramatically curtail technology investment and innovation – wreaking havoc on our economy.Consider this: Under the proposed legislation all that’s required for government to shutdown a specific website is the mere accusation that the site unlawfully featured copyrighted content. Such an accusation need not be proven – or even accompanied by probable cause. All that an accuser (or competitor) needs to do in order to obtain injunctive relief is point the finger at a website.Additionally, SOPA would grant regulators the ability to choke off revenue to the owners of these newly classified “rogue” websites by accusing their online advertisers and payment providers as co-conspirators in the alleged “piracy.” Again, no finding of fact would be required – the mere allegation of impropriety is all that’s needed to cut the website’s purse strings.Who’s vulnerable to this legislation?“Any website that features user-generated content or that enables cloud-based data storage could end up in its crosshairs,” writes David Sohn, senior policy council at the Center on Democracy and Technology.Read the full story here.

• Obama Was Ardent Communist.(JR).Barack Obamas isn't really a communist, he's a Communist.But is it really fair to suggest he may be a Marxist? Or was there evidence for it all along?Well, consider the words of John Drew, a man whom writer Paul Kengor calls “Obama’s Missing Link.” A contemporary of Obama’s at Occidental College three decades ago, Drew says that he himself was a Marxist at the time — and part of Obama’s inner circle. And what does he reveal?Obama was an “ardent” “Marxist-Leninist” who “was in 100 percent, total agreement with [his] Marxist professors,” said Drew.In fact, Drew states that while he was a more nuanced Marxist who tried to convince Obama that old-style communist revolution was unrealistic in the West, the future President would have none of it and considered Drew a “reactionary.”To his credit hasn't suggested that the Federal government start seizing private property.....yet.Read the full story here.

• Study Shows U.S. Mosques Repositories of Sharia, Jihad, and Muslim Brotherhood Literature and Preachers.(Jihadwatch).In 1998, Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, a Sufi leader, visited 114 mosques in the United States. Then he gave testimony before a State Department Open Forum in January 1999, and asserted that 80% of American mosques taught the "extremist ideology."Then there was the Center for Religious Freedom's 2005 study, and the Mapping Sharia Project's 2008 study.Each independently showed that upwards of 80% of mosques in America were preaching hatred of Jews and Christians and the necessity ultimately to impose Islamic rule. And in the summer of 2011 came another study showing that only 19% of mosques in U.S. don't teach jihad violence and/or Islamic supremacism.And now here is more on the latter study: Study Shows U.S. Mosques Repositories of Sharia, Jihad, and Muslim Brotherhood Literature and Preachers.Peer-reviewed study most extensive empirical examination of U.S. mosques to date.December 12, 2011 – New York, New York: A leading international peer-reviewed journal specializing in the empirical study of terrorism has published a study that found that 80% of U.S. mosques provide their worshippers with jihad-style literature promoting the use of violence against non-believers and that the imams in those mosques expressly promote that literature.The study also found that when a mosque imam or its worshippers were “sharia-adherent,” as measured by certain behaviors in conformity with Islamic law, the mosque was more likely to provide this violent literature and the imam was more likely to promote it.The abstract for the study summarizes the research findings: A random survey of 100 representative mosques in the U.S. was conducted to measure the correlation between Sharia adherence and dogma calling for violence against non-believers. Of the 100 mosques surveyed, 51% had texts on site rated as severely advocating violence; 30% had texts rated as moderately advocating violence; and 19% had no violent texts at all. Mosques that presented as Sharia adherent were more likely to feature violence-positive texts on site than were their non-Sharia-adherent counterparts. In 84.5% of the mosques, the imam recommended studying violence-positive texts. The leadership at Sharia-adherent mosques was more likely to recommend that a worshipper study violence-positive texts than leadership at non-Sharia-adherent mosques. Fifty-eight percent of the mosques invited guest imams known to promote violent jihad. The leadership of mosques that featured violence-positive literature was more likely to invite guest imams who were known to promote violent jihad than was the leadership of mosques that did not feature violence-positive literature on mosque premises.The study was published in December 2011 by Perspectives on Terrorism, a scholarly international journal of the Terrorism Research Initiative (TRI), a global initiative that seeks to support the international community of terrorism researchers and scholars through the facilitation of collaborative projects and cooperative initiatives. TRI was established in 2007 by scholars from several disciplines in order to provide the global research community with a common tool than can empower them and extend the impact of each participant's research activities.The mosque study had previously been published by the Middle East Quarterly in September 2011, an academic peer-reviewed journal which specializes on Middle East regional issues. Because of the ground-breaking nature of the study, which brings a rigorous empirical methodology to the question of home-grown jihadists, MEQ granted permission to Perspectives on Terrorism to publish a more extensive analysis of the study’s conception, methodology, and results.The study’s authors, Professor Mordechai Kedar of Bar Ilan University in Israel and David Yerushalmi, who serves as general counsel to the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., have both published widely on terrorism, Islamic law and its underlying doctrines of jihad and violence against unbelievers.

1. The study may be accessed here at the Mapping Sharia website.
2. The study may be accessed here at MEQ.
3. The study may be accessed here at Perspectives on Terrorism. Read the full story here.

• How Is Obama's Middle East Policy Endangering Israel? Let Me Count the Ways.(BarryRubin).I have written about this dozens of times. The problem is that there are people who just don't want to hear. The only way they can maintain their beliefs is to pretend there is no evidence against them. But here's a list:

1. His support for the overthrow of the entire Egyptian system, thus inevitably bringing about a situation in which the Egyptians had a government dedicated to Israel's destruction and to supporting anti-Israel terrorism. He rejected State Department advice to try to limit the damage by changing the leadership and not the entire regime. The idea that the U.S. government didn't control events is correct; the idea that it couldn't and didn't influence them is nonsense.
2. His long engagement with Iran that wasted around two years and emboldened the Tehran regime. This strengthened Iran and its regional influence as forces concluded that the United States feared Iran and dared not confront it or try to stop it.
3. His long engagement with Syria which ended only because of a full-scale revolt there.
4. His closeness to the Turkish regime despite that country's hostility to Israel. U.S. policy has demoralized the Turkish opposition, persuaded Turkish voters that the regime's policy had no cost for the country's international interests, and emboldened the Islamist regime to be more aggressive against both Israel and U.S. interests.
5. His statements that he had no problem with the Muslim Brotherhood being in power in Egypt and the soft line he took toward that organization made it seem to people in that country, and in Tunisia as well, that the United States was endorsing the Brotherhood. This demoralized the moderates and swayed some votes in that direction while also making the Europeans believe they could also deal with the Brotherhood's. Israel's warnings that this endangered its security thus have fallen on deaf ears.
6. His pressure on Israel to reduce sanctions on the Gaza Strip to the absolute minimum--in response to the mere sending of a half-dozen small blockade-busting ships and what amounted to a minor confrontation--greatly strengthened and emboldened Hamas, helping to ensure its survival so that it can launch wars and subversion against Israel in future.
7. His support for the construction of a Syrian opposition leadership in which a majority of members are Islamists, managed by Islamist Turkey of all governments! This might lead to a future Islamist regime in Syria when that outcome was otherwise avoidable. Such a regime would pose a dire threat to Israel, especially in combination with allied Brotherhood-dominated Islamist regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the Gaza Strip.
8. His failure to criticize or pressure the PA and never to blame it--but only Israel--for stagnation in the peace process. Thus, the PA had no need to compromise or return to the bargaining table or to reduce incitement to terrorism and the protection of terrorists. With the president of the United States saying that Israel was responsible for the lack of peace, many other institutions, countries, and people followed suit.
9. His initial rejection of a previous president's promise that Israel could keep settlement blocs in a comprehensive peace agreement. This showed Israel that it could not trust Obama and his promises.
10. His breaking the US agreement that Israel could continue building in Jerusalem during the settlement freeze. See point 9.
11. His failure to acknowledge Israeli concessions and efforts to get talks ith the PA going. See point 9.
12. His soft stand in practice regarding the PA-Hamas cooperation.This locked the PA into an even more intransigent position and strengthened Hamas.
13. His failure to back the democratic Iranian opposition when the election was stolen. This missed a chance to weaken the Iranian regime which has threatened to wipe Israel off the map and sponsors anti-Israel subversion and terrorism.
14. His administration's puerile claims that the problem is that Israel is isolating itself when the plethora of new Islamist regimes is the cause of the problem Israel is facing. This shows administration thinking that if revolutionary Islamists take power it is up to Israel to appease them. The radicals are shown that the United States does not really support Israel (they are far harder to fool than many Americans and American Jews) and thus they can escalate their hostility and attacks on Israel without fear of an American response.
15. His announcement of a new policy on the conditions for peace without consulting Israel when PM Netanyahu was actually on a plane headed to Washington. These and other actions of showing contempt and disrespect for Netanyahu are not merely personal quirks but weaken Israel's security by showing the world that the U.S. government does not stand behind Israel. It signals that enemies are safer in attacking Israel, that continued pressure can even further reduce U.S. support, and shows European states that Washington won't mind if they also become more hostile.
16. His statement about Israel returning to the 1967 borders with territorial swaps. Not because he advocated those borders but because he advocated that Israel withdraw from the territory before any actual deal was made. This undercut Israel's future bargaining position and further reduced any chance of PA flexibility.
17. Similarly, Obama's introduction of the idea that a freeze on all new construction on settlements must stop before negotiations can be held outbid the PA position. From that point on, this became the PA's minimal demand--which it had never been before--thus making it even harder to restart talks now or in future. Again, it allowed the PA to refuse to talk while still enjoying the advantage that Israel was blamed for the lack of talks. It weakened Israel's position since that country's signing of the 1993 accord with the PLO was party conditioned on the ability to continuing building on settlements.
18. His failure to keep the promises made to Israel about UNIFIL keeping Hizballah from returning to southern Lebanon and building up military fortifications there, to stop arms' smuggling from Syria to Hizballah. This has greatly strengthened Hizballah, making war more likely and Hizballah's ability to inflict higher numbers of casualties on Israel more likely.
19. The NATO operation in Libya that did not deal with the identity of the armed opposition and has set in motion an Islamist regime in Libya. The failure to act in order to prevent vast amounts of Libyan weapons, including anti-aircraft systems, to Hamas.
20. His policy, statements, and behavior signalling weakness which emboldened radical forces and demoralized moderate Arabs. This is a general point covering the many speeches by Obama and other administration officials to this effect. When countries see that Israel has lost (or if you prefer is losing) its main protector what effect do you think this has on the strategic situation?
21. His policy of not letting government officials talk about the threat of revolutionary Islamism has underrated that threat and reduced support for the kind of understanding and measures required by Israel's security. Since revolutionary Islamism is the main threat against Israel's security by saying, in effect, that this threat doesn't exist Obama undercuts Israel's ability to mobilize support and take actions in self-defense.
22. His administration's encouragement of J Street has been an attempt to split and subvert American Jewish support for Israel. American Jewish support for Israel is an important strategic asset. The administration has reduced this asset.
23. His disrespectful treatment of Netanyahu during the prime minister's visit to Washington and his caustic remarks caught on microphone display Obama's personal dislike for the democratically elected leader of Israel. Again, this signals the "wolves" that the "shepherd" doesn't care if they take a few bites out of the herd. What do you think the effect is of such things in, say, Tehran?
24. The fact that his secretary of state can speak openly about supposed fears about the future of democracy and women's rights in Israel (especially when coupled with the absence of such reflections regarding revolutionary Islamists) signals to Americans that they should be more critical of Israel and unfairly characterizes that country as not worth defending (or at least less legitimate and worth defending).
25. His administration's refusal to deal honestly with the problem of Muslim antisemitism (the most significant aspect of antisemitism in the world today) again undercuts Israel's posture as the victim of attacks and delegitimization. The remarks of the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, even if criticized by the White House, is perfectly in line with Obama policy. If, as the ambassador said, Israel retaliation (for attacks on Israel) is a major cause of antisemitism then Israel defending itself is the cause of its own problems. In other words, Israel shouldn't defend itself.
26. He and his administration have used their considerable influence with the mass media to ignore and understate Israel's needs and concerns while building up criticism and antagonism toward that country.
27. He did not engage in the battle to keep UNESCO from admitting Palestine as a state nor has his administration really confronted--beyond the minimum--the constant UN attacks on Israel especially in the Human Rights Council which his administration decided to rejoin.[Readers are welcome to let me know points I have missed.]My fingers are getting tired and I will stop there but I could go on for some time. Now, do you still not know what Obama's administration has done that has created problems for Israel?What is the effect of Obama's policy on Obama's support base? To create an insanity like this in which a New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, who hates Israel decides that the Muslim Brotherhood are great people. After all, he had dinner with them and they were nice to him and didn't bite. By criticizing Israel and whitewashing Islamists who want to commit genocide on the Jews, the president is laying down this kind of line. Let's remember as Kristof has desert with the Brotherhood family the words of Qaradawi in January 2009, as Obama was being inaugurated:"The only thing that I hope for is that as my life approaches its end, Allah will give me an opportunity to go to the land of Jihad and resistance, even if in a wheelchair. I will shoot Allah's enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus, I will seal my life with martyrdom. Praise be to Allah."Guess that must be the after-dinner entertainment.Hmmmm....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.

• US drone now Iran's 'property': defense minister.(HurriyetDaily).A U.S. drone captured by Iran is now the "property" of the Islamic republic, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Tuesday, after a request by US President Barack Obama for its return."The American espionage drone is now Iran's property, and our country will decide what steps to take regarding it," Vahidi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency."Instead of apologizing to the Iranian nation, it (the United States) is brazenly asking for the drone back," Vahidi also said, according to another news agency, Mehr.Obama on Monday acknowledged that Iran was holding the reconnaissance drone - a bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel - by saying: "We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond." Iran last week displayed on state television what it said was the drone. A lawmaker said the Islamic republic was unlocking the aircraft's software and was going to reverse-engineer the drone.Hmmmm......'Brazenly' more like 'pretty please'?Read the full story here.

• Israel closes access ramp to al-Aqsa; Hamas says ‘war’ declared on Muslim holy sites.(AlArabiya).Israel has closed a controversial wooden access ramp to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on concerns over public safety, a police spokeswoman told AFP on Monday. “Based on an order from the city council, they have closed the ramp,” Luba Samri told AFP, referring to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation which is responsible for the upkeep of the structure, known as the Mughrabi ramp.Hamas warned that Israel’s closure of the ramp is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.“This is a serious step that shows the Zionist scheme of aggression against the al-Aqsa mosque,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. “This is a violent act that amounts to a declaration of religious war on the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.”Jerusalem’s city council on Thursday ordered the closure of the access ramp, saying it poses both a fire hazard and is at risk of collapse.But Muslim leaders fear work on it could have a destabilizing effect, accusing Israel of failing to coordinate renovation plans with the Waqf, the Islamic organization that has jurisdiction over Muslim parts of the site.There are 15 gates leading into al-Aqsa mosque compound, 10 of which are in use.The Mughrabi Gate is the only access for non-Muslims to enter the site, meaning its closure will prevent both Jews and tourists from visiting until a replacement structure is built.Last week, city engineer Shlomo Eshkol had sent a letter ordering the Foundation to close the bridge by the evening of Dec. 14.The structure has been at the center of a complex row between the city council and the Jewish and Muslim groups which respectively oversee the Western Wall plaza and al-Aqsa mosque compound next to it.Plans for the imminent closure of the ramp drew sharp condemnation last week from the Palestinians and from Jordan, which is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.“This shows their determination to judaize Jerusalem and to take over the city’s Muslim holy places,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP last week.And Gaza’s Hamas rulers said implementing the closure would be a “criminal act which constitutes a flagrant violation of the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque and a provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims.”The ramp leads from the plaza by the Western Wall, the most sacred site at which Jews can pray, up to the adjoining compound, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, which houses al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.The plaza which houses the mosque complex is venerated by Jews as the Temple Mount, the site where King Herod's temple once stood before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It is the holiest site in Judaism, but Jews are forbidden to worship there.Jordan warned Israel on Friday against closing the ramp.“Jordan rejects any Israeli attempt to affect Jerusalem’s holy sites, identity and heritage, including al-Mughrabi Gate,” Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said.The kingdom, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, “is in daily contact with the Israeli side to make sure it does not change the status quo of the gate,” Judeh told the government-owned al-Rai Arabic daily.Jordan’s powerful Islamists have condemned the city council’s decision. “Israel is disregarding all Arab and international warnings,” said Hamzeh Mansur, head of the opposition Islamic Action Front party, accusing Israel of pursuing a “policy of Judaizing the Holy Land.”Last month, Amman warned that any Israeli “threats and aggressions” against the holy site would lead to “endless” violence in the Middle East.Read the full story here.

• France may punish denial of ‘Armenian genocide’.(HurriyetDaily).France’s parliament might finally approve a law penalizing the denial of Armenian genocide claims, a deputy who helped prepare a new draft on the matter has said ahead of legislative discussion on the bill, which has prompted a Turkish reaction.“The draft law [to penalize the denial of genocide], which was prepared back in 2006, ran the risk of challenging the constitution. The new draft law has a stronger basis as it completely complies with European Union norms,” said deputy Valeri Boyer. The bill, however, has caused some worry in Ankara. “At a moment when Turkey and France have entered into a process in which they could increase their cooperation at bilateral and international level, we hope no unrecoverable steps will be taken,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. France recently officially recognized the 1915 incidents as genocide.“This draft law will penalize not only the denial of genocide but also the denial of tragedies that France has recognized as genocide. Above all, racism and xenophobia will be penalized,” Boyer recently told the Hürriyet Daily News in an email interview. Noting that Turkey emphasizes the Algeria issue when 1915 incidents are in question, Boyer said, “the incidents of Algeria were a decolonization project which ended with the Evian Accords in March 19, 1962; they were not genocide.” Boyer added that she had Algerian origins in her family. Boyer said France and Turkey might have radically different visions about the tragedies yet could continue their economic and cultural relations. “The general opinion in France is in favor of penalizing the denial of genocide.” Hmmmm.....Erdogan : "Muslims don't commit genocide".Read the full story here.

• Pakistan police rescue 45 students chained in Islamic seminary.(AlArabiya).Pakistani police rescued 45 students found chained in the basement during a raid late Monday on an Islamic seminary in the southern port city of Karachi, police said.Officers also arrested two clerics at the Madrassa Zakarya in Karachi’s central Sohrab Goth area but the head of the seminary managed to escape, police official Mukhtiar Khaskheli told AFP.“At least 18 of those chained are aged 20 or younger, while the rest are older,” Khaskheli said.Some Islamic schools in Pakistan are accused of training militants and supporting violent extremist groups, with some dispatching fighters to neighboring Afghanistan.“The madrassa officials claim that they had chained those students because they were drug addicts and they wanted to rehabilitate them and make them better Muslims,” the police official said.Khaskheli said a full scale investigation had been started which would also inquire about any possible links with militants.“Every possibility including its involvement in militancy will be investigated upon,” said Sharfuddin Memon, a spokesman for the home department of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.Memon said the incident highlighted the brutality in society.“It showed the brutalized aspect of our society and our police's effort was aimed at eradicating that element,” he said.Local private Samaa TV showed footage of the madrassa and the chained students, who danced in jubilation as police started to release them.According to government records, there are at least 15,148 seminaries in Pakistan with more than two million students ─ around five percent of the 34 million children in formal education.But officials suspect thousands more go unregistered, providing sons of Pakistan’s poverty-stricken majority the only education they can afford.Read the full story here.

• Fatwa Prohibits Muslims From Joining Western Armies, Working As Police Informants.(Memri).In a fatwa published on the website of Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad (MTJ), prominent Salafi-Jihadi cleric Abu Humam Al-Athari said that Muslims living in the West should not join Western armies or police forces, since such an act is considered heresy, and might remove the sanctity [i.e. immunity] from the blood and money of any Muslim doing so.Read the full story here.

• The Arabs of Palestine Saw Themselves as Part of Syria 90 Years Ago.(PAD).Arab demonstration, Jerusalem, 1919/1920. The banner on the left reads "We resist Jewish immigration", the banner on the right reads "Palestine is part of Syria". The picture reflects the political tensions in Palestine after the British captured the area from the Ottoman Empire. The region was being divided up by the Great Powers with France taking over Syria and Lebanon, and Great Britain assuming the mandate of Palestine (both sides of the Jordan River) and Iraq. And in accordance with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Palestine was to house the national Jewish home. By 1922, the British had lopped off the eastern bank of the Jordan (some 70 percent of Palestine) to establish the Kingdom of Transjordan for Emir Abdullah.Some Arabs in Palestine objected, particularly to the division of the single former Ottoman region of Syria and southern Syria (Palestine). The Library of Congress photos were taken on March 8, 1920, the same week that the Syrian Congress proclaimed independence for Syria and Palestine. The demonstrations by Arabs in Palestine were echoing the sentiment expressed in Syria.This historical period is discussed by Stanford University scholar Daniel Pipes: "No Arabic-speaking Muslims identified themselves as "Palestinian" until 1920, when, in rapid order this appellation and identity was adopted by the Muslim Arabs living in the British mandate of Palestine.""Muslim distaste for the very notion of Palestine was confirmed in April 1920, when the British authorities carved out a Palestinian entity," Pipes wrote in 1989. "The Muslims' response was one of extreme suspicion. They saw the delineation of this territory as a victory for the Zionists; in their more paranoid moments, they even thought it reflected linger­ing Crusader impulses among the British...." "By the end of World War I in November 1918," Pipes continued, "the notion of a Syrian nation had made considerable headway among the Arabs of Palestine. They agreed almost unanimously on the existence of a Syrian nation. With few exceptions, they identified with the Syrian Arab government in Damascus, headed by Prince Faysal, a member of the Hashemite family. Palestinian enthusiasm for Pan-Syrian unity steadily increased through mid-1920.""Four major events occurred in 1920. In March, Faysal was crowned king of Syria, raising expectations that Palestine would join his independent state. In April, the British put Palestine on the map, dashing those hopes. In July, French forces captured Damascus, ending the Palestinian tie with Syria. And in December, responding to these events, the Palestinian leadership adopted the goal of an independent Palestin­ian state," Pipes concludes.Read and see the full story here.
  

• Former Azhar cleric slams religious extremism in Egypt.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: A former deputy sheikh at Egypt’s al-Azhar has slammed recent “extremist” discourse in the country during the election period.Former Deputy of the Sunni Islamic world’s most respected institution Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour was speaking to al-Arabiya news network on Monday.He lashed out at recent statements from Egyptian Salafists – those who adhere to an ultra-conservative literal interpretation of Islam – who recently called on some of Egypt’s ancient monuments to be “covered” and said they were idols.“Those people are neither knowledgeable nor responsible enough to be talking to people,” he told the network.The former Azhar sheikh said that the supposed preachers in the country have little right to make statements that, in his view, go against the foundation of Islam as a tolerant and open faith.“None of those had a problem with ancient Egyptian monuments or thought they have to be destroyed or that they are against Islam,” he said in reference to Islamic conquerors of Egypt and leaders of the faith in the country over the past few centuries.He was also critical of the sentiments surfacing toward democracy and Islam. Ashour said that those who claim democracy is a form of apostasy are being misled, adding that democracy was mentioned in the Qur’an.“Several verses in the Quran talk about the concept of ‘shura’ or consultation and the prophet applied this concept all the time. This is what democracy is about,” he said.His statement was confirmation of earlier comments made by Dar al-Iftaa, the body in charge of issuing Islamic opinions, or fatwas, who argued that Islam and democracy have “no contradictions.”There is a growing fear inside Egypt that with the rise of the Salafist groups, most notably the al-Nour Party – which won a surprise 20 percent of first round votes – that a more conservative Islam could begin to take form in terms of governance and societal norms.Earlier this week, a representative of the al-Nour Party at a tourism conference in Aswan, in southern Egypt, said that if their party were to take power they would ban alcohol and bikinis, only giving foreigners the opportunity to drink inside their hotel rooms.Read the full story here.

• Attack on Iran will have 'calamitous' consequences, says Prince Turki.(ArabNews).RIYADH: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, on Monday called for the creation of a nuclear-free Middle East while supporting a system based on rewards and sanctions to deter nations in the region with nuclear ambitions.Prince Turki, who is extensively engaged in public diplomacy by touring and lecturing across the world, also said that any attack on Iran will have huge consequences for the region and its adverse implications will be felt worldwide.Prince Turki, speaking to an elite group of academics and faculty members at the prestigious Alfaisal University in Riyadh, said a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) was the best way to get Iran and Israel on board and to force them to abandon nuclear programs.“Such a zone must be accompanied by a rewards regime for those countries in the region that join the zone,” said the prince, while stressing and calling for “a nuclear security umbrella guaranteed by all the permanent members of the UN Security Council for the region.”Replying to a question about the possibility of an attack on Iran to force it to roll back its nuclear program and the impact of such an action, Prince Turki reiterated that the impact will be “calamitous … cataclysmic, not just catastrophic.”He said that Iranian actions have provoked worldwide opposition but at the same time suggests that Iran's nuclear program is being singled out, while Israel is being given a clean chit. Any unilateral decision to launch a military attack aimed at halting the nuclear program of Iran could have huge consequences, he warned.He, however, expressed his grave concerns that if Israel and Iran acquire a range of nuclear weapons, they would unleash a cascade of nuclear proliferation that would significantly destabilize the region and possibly destroy efforts to establish a nuclear weapons free zone in this part of the world.To this end, he also noted that the last year's nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference included in its final document a call for the establishment of a Middle East zone free of all weapons of mass destruction.Prince Turki, who also shook hands and stood with students for photo sessions, pointed out that an intergovernmental conference to discuss such a zone was scheduled for 2012. Most of the countries in the region except Israel and Iran are pursuing nuclear programs for peaceful purposes.The Kingdom has also announced it will build 16 reactors for nuclear power plants that should start active operations within the next 20 years.Hmmmm.....I presume they ment "while Israel is being given a clean 'sheat'.If Obama gets a second term then he will oppose the Israely Nuclear weapons.Read the full story here.

• Death Penalty Opposition: EU Set to Ban Export of Drug Used in US Executions.(Spiegel).Ever since January, when the Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Hospira elected to stop making a key ingredient in the lethal injection cocktail used by several US states to execute death-row inmates, the United States has been searching for alternative suppliers. As of Friday, obtaining the drug from the European Union will become much more difficult.According to a report published Monday in the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, a new European Union regulation set to go into effect at the end of this week will prohibit the export of some barbituric acids unless a special permit has been issued. Among those chemicals on the list is the anesthetic thiopental, which is used broadly in the US for executions.When announcing its decision to cease production of thiopental, Hospira cited the drug's use in lethal injection cocktails as the primary reason. Numerous executions in the US have had to be postponed due to shortages of the chemical as a result of the company's decision. Simply replacing it with something else is not immediately possible due to the complicated process with which chemicals are approved for inclusion in lethal injection cocktails. As a result, many states have spent months searching for new suppliers abroad.In June, Germany's Vice Chancellor Philipp Rösler, who was health minister at the time, said he was asked by then-US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to help in the search for new suppliers of thiopental. "I noted the request, and declined," Rösler reported saying in response. He also wrote to German pharmaceutical companies asking them not to sell the chemical in the US.The Süddeutsche reports that Rösler was a significant supporter of the new EU regulation. Just two weeks ago, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Naari AG, which produces sodium thiopental in India, complained that Nebraska had illegitimately obtained a supply via a middleman. Naari CEO Prithi Kochhar wrote a letter to Nebraska's Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican as well as to the state attorney general saying he is opposed to the use of the drug in lethal injections."I am shocked and appalled by this news," Kochar wrote in the letter, which was first reported on by the Lincoln Journal Star. "I am writing to request that the thiopental which was wrongfully diverted ... to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services be returned immediately to its rightful owners, that is, that it be returned to us at Naari." In April, Indian pharmaceutical company Kayem Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd. halted sales of the drug for use in death penalty cocktails. The Danish company Lundbeck followed suit in June.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                       Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan today 5.2  , 5.8 Indonesia! More info here.

• Volcanic Activity : Mount Hekla -Situation Update No. 6  - Source.

• Japan - Nuclear disaster - Situation Update No. 141 - .Source .

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

• Bolivia hit by snowstorm.Bolivia has been hit by a major snowstorm, the biggest in decades, with thousands of people in the mountains cut off from the rest of the country. Local farmers are sizing up the damage to their crops and nearly 50,000 llamas are desperately looking for grass shooting from under a thick layer of snow. The government has appealed to the neighboring countries for help.Source .

• Breaking News! Three blasts in Mumbai, ten people dead.Home Ministry confirms terror attack.(NDTV).Mumbai: Three explosions have taken place in Mumbai on Wednesday evening - two in South Mumbai at Opera House and in Zaveri Bazar and one at Dadar West, in central Mumbai. The Home Ministry has confirmed a terrorist attack and Mumbai is on high alert.All blasts took place in crowded places. Eyewitnesses said about 15 to 20 people have taken to hospital in Zaveri Bazar. Reports said six people had died in the Dadar blast, four in the Zaveri Bazaar blast.One explosion, in a car at a bus stop in Dadar West, has been confirmed. A police officer said there might have been an explosive in a meter box behind a hoarding at Khau gali, a street filled with eateries at Zaveri Bazaar. Early reports said a police control room had received a call claiming that there were serial blasts in Mumbai. A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has rushed to Mumbai from Delhi to investigate and collect forensic evidence.An unexploded bomb has also reportedly been found in Dadar and a bomb disposal squad is working to defuse it.The police have appealed for calm. Read the full story here ,more here.

• Mutilated Body of missing boy, Leiby Kletzky, 8, found in dumpster in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn.(NYDaily).An 8-year-old Brooklyn boy who vanished while walking home alone from camp was found dead in a dumpster in Greenwood Heights early Wednesday morning, police sources said.More than a dozen NYPD detectives swarmed the scene outside the Park Slope Auto Center at 651 Fourth Ave. where the dismembered remains of little Leiby Kletzky may were discovered. Sources said the body of the Orthodox Jewish boy was found after police checked the large gray trash container, which had its lid open.Three suspects were in custody, police sources said. "I've never seen a community feel more depression than they are at the moment," Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park) said he said in an interview broadcast on NY1. "Whoever did this is sick beyond belief."Hikind said the suspected killer is Jewish.Body parts stuffed in a suitcase were found in a Dumpster at 20th Street and Fourth Avenue early this morning and more remains were the suspect's home 2 miles away, and police believe the body is Leibby Kletzky, who disappeared Monday while on his way to meet his parents.Police stormed a Kensington home just before 4 a.m. and arrested a 35-year-old man who told cops where to find the body, sources said. He is currently being held at the 67th Precinct; Investigators tracked him down by tracing credit-card purchases and through video surveillance footage.A massive search by cops and hundreds of volunteers from the Orthodox Jewish community had been underway for Leiby, who had begged his parents to let him walk home alone from camp for the first time. His parents agreed to meet him halfway between his Borough Park school and the family's home on Monday afternoon.But he never showed up - and now cops think his disappearance may be linked to a man he was seen following on the street.The Orthodox Jewish boy was filmed by a store surveillance camera standing alone about 5:30 p.m. at the corner where 45th St., 18th Ave. and Dahill Road intersect, police said. At that point, he was already far off course from a seven-block walk to meet his parents.The video shows a bearded man turn the corner and walk down Dahill Road with the boy walking behind him. The man then gets into a gold-colored sedan and drives off - but the video does not show the passenger side of the car.Leiby is not seen getting into the car or driving away with the man."We have not ruled out that the boy got into that same vehicle," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the department's top spokesman.On an earlier surveillance video, Leiby was filmed leaving the camp at Yeshiva Boyan at 4:50 p.m.About 30 minutes later, yet another video shows him walking alone on 15th Ave. near 44th St., police said. The 4-foot-tall boy was carrying a backpack and wearing blue pants and a blue shirt with green and white stripes. The encounter with the bearded man in the gold car, shown on a third surveillance video, came seven minutes later."Everyone's thinking the worst and hoping for the best," said Shmuel Eckstein, 44, a friend of Leiby's father, before the body was discovered. "He's a very good kid. He's an angel. He has no rebellious streak to him."Cops searched the neighborhood by helicopter and door to door. Agents from the FBI's New York office also joined in the hunt.The Shomrim neighborhood patrol provided dozens of members and arranged for more than a hundred volunteers to join the hunt.Hmmm......May God rest his soul and give swift justice to his killer.Read the full story here , here and here.

• The World from Berlin.For Euro Zone, It's Euro Bonds or Else!(Spiegel).Markets in Europe are being hit hard by fears that the debt crisis will spread to Italy, which is regarded as too big to rescue. German media commentators say the time has come to stop the piecemeal bailout efforts and to make the member states share liability for their debt -- via euro bonds. European markets and the euro are falling on worries that the euro crisis is about to engulf Italy and Spain, which analysts regard as too big to rescue. To make matters worse, the euro-zone finance ministers failed at their meeting on Monday to agree on a second bailout package for Greece. They pledged longer bond maturities and a more flexible rescue fund to help Greece and other European Union debtors, but they set no deadline to act, merely saying new steps would be decided "shortly." They also declined to rule out the possibility of a selective default by Greece, even though the European Central Bank is opposed to such a move.A decision has been postponed due to continuing disagreement over the terms of involving private-sector investors in a second bailout package for Greece. The euro fell below $1.39 on Tuesday, down from €1.42 at the end of last week. and the yield on the Italian 10-year bond rose to 5.9 percent, above the 5.7 percent pain threshold identified by some market participants as putting Italy's public finances under heightened pressure. The yield on 10-year bonds issued by Spain, the euro zone's fourth-largest economy, rose to 6.28 percent. German media commentators say the pressure on Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy which has strong economic fundamentals despite its high debt-to-GDP ratio, shows that investors have no faith in the EU's crisis management. The bailout efforts taken over the past 18 months have been piecemeal and achieved little more than buy time, they argue, adding that a fundamental reform of the euro zone's financial architecture is required: Member states may have to assume common liability for public debt in the 17-nation euro area via the introduction of so-called euro bonds -- a taboo until now because it enshrines the principle that strong euro-zone economies assume liability for the debts of the weaker ones.

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

"The next approaching crisis -- in Italy this time -- shows that the euro states' rescue strategy isn't working. In fact, it shows that one can't even call it a strategy, strictly speaking. Buying time, whatever the cost -- not much more than that has happened in the one-and-a-half years since the Greek crisis erupted.""The problem is that buying time makes no sense. It entails the constant cobbling together of new bailout packages while the speculators and their henchmen, the rating agencies, set their sights on the next crisis candidate." "Even though the Italian economy is fairly solid by comparison with the other crisis countries, the nation is an easy target. All market players know that the Italian debt mountain was the highest in Europe until the Greek crisis and that the Berlusconi government was usually too busy with other matters to worry about the dreary task of balancing the budget." "If a rescue fund were to bail out Italy, it would be expensive. Very expensive. Maybe then the time will have finally come for the euro politicians to put an end to the incessant costly patch-up jobs, and to put the single currency on a new common footing. There has long been a plausible solution. It's called euro bonds. In future, all euro states would borrow funds together. Anyone who wanted to speculate against European government bonds would have to take on Germany, France and 15 other states. That would but up a roadblock to the wandering circus of speculators. It would be an opportunity to restore the primacy of governments over the markets."

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"The case of Italy will show whether Europe is truly prepared to defend the euro. It's not enough to call for a few austerity packages or an increase in the rescue fund to €1.5 trillion. If the pressure on the country increases, Europe will have to break what has until now been a taboo: to pool the organization of borrowing and debt -- in a fiscal union with euro bonds. Alternatively, the EU must solve the problem on its periphery so fast, sustainably and decisively that the attacks on its core will cease."Read the full story here.

• Related - Irish Debt Downgraded as Euro Worries Spread.(Spiegel).Just one week after downgrading Portuguese debt to junk status, the rating agency Moody's has slashed its rating of Irish debt. The move comes despite growing official anger in Europe at the power of the big three rating agencies. But a new aid package for Ireland, Moody's believes, may be unavoidable.The European Union in recent days has indicated it is seeking ways to limit the amount of influence rating agencies have when it comes to evaluating sovereign debt. But Moody's on Tuesday made it clear it is unimpressed. The agency cut Ireland's credit rating to junk status on Tuesday and warned that the country, struggling under an immense load of debt, would likely need a second bailout.Moody's has also kept the outlook for Ireland negative, meaning that further downgrades are likely.The move comes just a week after a similar Moody's downgrade for Portugal and as the European Union is struggling to put together a second bailout package for Greece. In addition, concerns about Italy's finances have rocked European markets this week. Collectively, the events have resulted in a rapid fall in the euro's value against the dollar. The European common currency is now at its lowest level against the dollar in four months."This is a disappointing development and it is completely at odds with the recent views of other rating agencies," the Irish Finance Ministry said in a statement. In contrast to Greece, Ireland has met the targets set for it when it received its €85 billion ($119 billion) bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last November. The Irish economy, however, has been sluggish and tax revenues are struggling as a result.In recent days, in response to Moody's downgrade of Portugal, several European officials had indicated a desire to reduce the power of rating agencies. "Europe can't allow three private US enterprises to destroy the euro," European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding told the German daily Die Welt, in a reference to the so-called Big Three of Moody's, Fitch and Standard and Poor's -- though Fitch is majority owned by a French company and is based in both New York and London.Both Fitch and Standard and Poor's have so far refrained from downgrading Irish debt to junk status.Reding's colleague, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, suggested that rating agencies should not be allowed to pass judgement on countries that receive international aid. And German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said that it must be examined whether "the oligopoly of the rating agencies can be broken up." He added that "last week there was a notification from a rating agency related to Portugal that was generally met with total incomprehension."Barnier told SPIEGEL this week that efforts are underway to break the ratings monopoly held by the three large rating agencies. "We will try to create a separate European rating agency ," he said. Such a project, however, faces several hurdles.Hmmmm........Who are the people behind Moody?Read the full story here.

• A Small City’s Depleted Pension Fund Rattles Rhode Island,how long before it spread to the whole of the USA?(NYTimes).The small city of Central Falls, R.I., appears to be headed for a rare municipal bankruptcy filing, and state officials are rushing to keep its woes from overwhelming the struggling state.The impoverished city, operating under a receiver for a year, has promised $80 million worth of retirement benefits to 214 police officers and firefighters, far more than it can afford. Those workers’ pension fund will probably run out of money in October, giving Central Falls the distinction of becoming the second municipality in the United States to exhaust its pension fund, after Prichard, Ala. “Time is running out,” warns Robert G. Flanders, the state-appointed receiver, who recently closed the public library and a community center to save money. He has no power to cancel the city’s contracts with workers, so instead he has begun approaching retired police officers and firefighters with what he describes as “the Big Ask”: will they voluntarily accept smaller benefits in the name of saving Central Falls? Some of the retirees are in their 90s, and Central Falls, like many American cities, has not placed its police and firefighters in Social Security. Many have no other benefits to fall back on. State lawmakers are trying to contain the damage, mindful that it would be a bad time for any state to seek help in Washington. Last month they rescinded an offer of state aid to Central Falls, just after Moody’s downgraded the city’s credit to “possibility of default.”Some analysts fear that a Central Falls bankruptcy, and a whiff of other problems out there, could scare nervous investors away from bonds issued by Rhode Island’s other municipalities, perhaps setting off a chain reaction that could push the state itself to the brink. There is a precedent: the last American state to default on its bonds, Arkansas in 1933, got in over its head by trying to help struggling municipalities. More recently, when local governments have veered toward bankruptcy — Orange County, Calif., in 1994; Cleveland in 1978 — neighboring municipalities have found it harder to sell their own debt. During the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975, New Jersey suddenly found its bonds harder to sell. “That type of contagion is what you’re trying to avoid,” said James E. Spiotto, a bankruptcy specialist at the law firm Chapman and Cutler, who is not involved in Rhode Island’s problems. Rhode Island has an investment-grade credit rating, but it is in no position to bail out a string of teetering cities, or take over their shaky local pension funds the way the federal government does when some companies go bankrupt. The state treasurer, Gina M. Raimondo, says Rhode Island must first stabilize its own pension fund, which continues to require more and more cash each year, despite four overhauls since 2005 that were supposed to get the cost under control. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating. If the state turns out to have understated its commitments, it could deliver a new jolt to bond markets still nervous after two traumatic years. Lawmakers in Rhode Island are trying to reassure investors. On July 1 they passed a law giving certain bonds, known as general obligations, legal priority over all other payments that municipalities must make, including retirement benefits. The measure, awaiting Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s signature, also requires Rhode Island’s cities, towns and districts to dedicate their general revenue to paying bondholders first, and to raise property taxes as much as necessary to make all payments to bondholders on time.Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• Project Gunrunner Tied Directly to President Obama.(BigGovernment).In a Dec. 3, 2009, article about the announced resignation of Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Perez wrote that Ogden hasn’t been identified with any major Justice Department policy initiatives. Now that this C-SPAN video from March 24, 2009, is making the rounds anew, it appears Ogden’s name — and that of President Barack Obama — is going to be associated with one now.That initiative — which could go down in the annals of presidential history as “Obama’s Watergate“ — goes by the name, “Operation Fast and Furious,” and it’s an offshoot of “Project Gunrunner.” Ogden is shown in the video that resurfaced Friday as he addresses reporters at a Department of Justice briefing.

“The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels,” Ogden begins, “and Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the Administration’s comprehensive plan.”

He goes on to outline that plan, using the exact words below:“DOJ’s Drug Enforcement Administration, which already has the largest U.S. drug enforcement presence in Mexico with 11 offices in that country, is placing 16 new DEA positions in Southwest border field operations specifically to target Mexican trafficking and associated violence.”

“The DEA is also deploying four new mobile enforcement teams to specifically target Mexican methamphetamine trafficking, both along the border and in U.S. cities impacted by the cartels.”“DOJ’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is increasing its efforts by adding 37 new employees in three new offices, using $10 million in Recovery Act funds and redeploying 100 personnel to the Southwest border in the next 45 days to fortify its Project Gunrunner which is aimed at disrupting arms trafficking between the United States and Mexico.”

“ATF is doubling its presence in Mexico itself, from five to nine personnel working with the Mexicans, specifically to facilitate gun-tracing activity which targets the illegal weapons and their sources in the United States.”

After watching this video, the reasons behind Ogden’s resignation after working for Attorney General Eric Holder for less than a year, appear seem clear: He wanted to reduce his chances of becoming the “fall guy” for the Obama Administration after news of this doomed-from-the-start gun-running operation became public. Nineteen months later, the “cat” that is Project Gunrunner is out of the proverbial bag.Hmmmmm......."GunWalker".These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do, one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'.Read and see the full story here.

• “A shot across President Obama’s bow,”NYC Dem Heavyweight Ed Koch Urges Voters In Weiner Replacement Election To Vote GOP To Protest Obama’s Anti-Israel Policies.(NYPost).In “a shot across President Obama’s bow,” Democratic former Mayor Ed Koch yesterday urged voters in Queens and Brooklyn to make “history” by voting for the Republican candidate to replace randy ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner in the Sept. 13 special election — as a protest against the White House’s policy on Israel.Koch — a staunch ally of Israel — said he would “vote for Bob Turner” if the Republican-Conservative candidate backs Israel and opposes cutbacks to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.“If Jewish New Yorkers and others who support Israel were to turn away from the Democratic Party in that congressional election and elect the Republican candidate to Congress in 2011, it might very well cause President Obama to change his hostile position on the state of Israel and to re-establish the special relationship presidents before him had supported,” Koch said in his weekly commentary.Koch likened the situation to Republican Scott Brown winning the Massachusetts Senate seat long occupied by Ted Kennedy.“I want to put a shot across Obama’s bow,” Koch said in an interview.He is furious with Obama over the president’s public push to get Israel to use its 1967 borders as a starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state.Koch also said he’s upset with Obama for considering trimming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to get a deficit/debt reduction agreement with the GOP.Koch’s comments are an early headache for Assemblyman David Weprin, the Democratic candidate handpicked to replace Weiner, who resigned in disgrace amid a sexting scandal.Read the full story here.

• Obama said he “cannot guarantee” that the government can pay benefits next month to Social Security recipients.(NYTimes).The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Tuesday that a bipartisan budget deal with President Obama was probably out of reach, and he proposed a plan under which the president could increase the federal debt limit without Congressional approval for offsetting spending cuts.Mr. McConnell’s proposal reflected a growing sense of pessimism on Capitol Hill about the prospects that Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders could come to terms on a budget deal before the government’s borrowing authority hits its limit on Aug. 2. The negotiators sat down for another round of talks at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.In an interview with CBS News, Mr. Obama said he “cannot guarantee” that the government can pay benefits next month to Social Security recipients, veterans and the disabled if Congress does not increase the federal debt limit, raising the political stakes even as Republicans hardened their opposition to him.Mr. McConnell’s proposal would give Mr. Obama sweeping power to increase the government’s borrowing authority, in increments, by up to $2.4 trillion — enough, it is estimated, to cover federal obligations through next year — only if Mr. Obama specified spending cuts of equal amounts. But Congress would not have to approve the spending cuts prior to the debt-limit increase.It is not clear whether House Republicans would sign on to such a measure, given their drive to extract deep spending cuts in return for any debt-limit increase. Mr. McConnell, who after the midterm elections in November said Republicans’ goal would be to make Mr. Obama a one-term president, said in his Senate speech, “After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable.”Mr. Obama, responding to a question in an interview with CBS News, said: “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on Aug. 3 if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.”He added, “This is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out.”Hmmmm......."Thugocracy in it's natural element".Read the full story here.

• US senators voice worry over radar deal with Turkey.(HurriyetDaily).Two key US senators expressed concerns Tuesday about a possible agreement to base a missile-shield radar in Turkey, citing the NATO ally's strained ties with Israel and relations with Iran.Republican Senators Jon Kyl and Mark Kirk wrote Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeking reassurances on the possible deal, which was described in a news report last week.The lawmakers asked for "written assurances" that data collected by a so-called X-band radar "will be made available, in real time" to staunch US ally Israel to be "fully integrated into its battlement management and control."They also sought a guarantee that "Turkish entities are not engaged, or suspected of engaging" in activities that fall afoul of various US laws aimed at curbing suspected nuclear weapons programs in Iran and Syria and keeping sensitive know-how from North Korea.And President Barack Obama's administration must also certify that the powerful radar will only be operated by US personnel, and for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for maintenance breaks, the senators said.Kirk and Kyl, the number-two Senate Republican, also questioned whether the reported decision to locate the radar in Turkey would "ensure the best defense of the United States against the Iranian long-range ballistic missile threat."They cited a US Missile Defense Agency study that found that the South Caucasus to be "the optimum placement" if the system is designed to defend against an eventual Iranian ballistic missile attack."The administration's plans for missile defense will require the cooperation of the Congress; the prospects for such cooperation are jeopardized if the Congress is not provided the information it requests," they warned.Hmmmm.......Finally some good common sense.Read the full story here.

• 50 - year -old U.S. woman and 14-year-old son abducted by suspected Islamists in Philippines.(DailyMail).A 50-year-old American woman and young son visiting relatives in the Philippines were abducted by armed men today. Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, her 14-year-old son Kevin and 19-year-old Filipino nephew Romnick Jackaria were snatched by more than a dozen gunmen from a resort on the island of Tictabon.The island lies in the troubled south, near a stronghold of Al Qaeda-linked militants, officials said.The mother and son are both naturalised U.S. citizens.Suspicion fell on the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and bombings in the last two decadesAnother possibility is a Muslim rebel commander whose group has been linked to previous abductions.The 400-plus Abu Sayyaf militants, who are fighting for an Islamist state in the predominantly Christian nation, are holding three other kidnap victims, including a child, as part of desperate efforts to raise funds, according to the Philippine army.The assailants seized the trio before dawn from a house in the island village, part of Zamboanga city, and then fled with their captives in two motorised boats, said police Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo.There has been no contact or ransom demand from the abductors, and their identities remain unconfirmed, de Ocampo said.The abduction took place near Basilan Island, the birthplace and stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf militants, about 550 miles south of Manila.The largest Muslim separatist group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, also has a presence in the area but they have been negotiating with the government amid a ceasefire that has been largely holding in the restive southern Philippines for several years.However, the military said a separatist Moro commander identified as Waning Abdulsalam may have been responsible. Rebel spokesman Von Al Haq said his group would investigate but that it has no such report and will not tolerate criminal activities.Police earlier said the woman was a Filipino married to a German national and that the family lives in the U.S. state of Virginia.Hmmmm......."the religion of peace".Read the full story here.

• Has Islam Replaced Communism As The Top U.S. Enemy?(BigPeace).A radical Islamist group which claims a presence in nearly 50 countries is so confident it can help establish a global Muslim government – or caliphate – that it distributed a draft constitution during a recent conference outside of Chicago.It calls for the death penalty for apostates and for creating a government department dedicated to jihad.The latest Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) gathering drew more than 300 people to a DoubleTree Hotel ballroom June 26.HT is an international movement to establish a global Islamic state, or caliphate (Khilafah). Although it is officially committed to nonviolence, HT preaches a virulent brand of hatred for the United States, and for Western democracy in general. Its alumni include such violent Islamists as Khaiid Sheikh Mohammad, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and the late Iraqi jihadist Abu Musab Zarqawi. Hizb ut-Tahrir has been described as a “conveyor belt” of terror.At the conference, activists portrayed Islam as the only real force in the world standing up to the United States and the West. With Soviet communism gone, the West is now confronted with the threat posed by Islam, said a speaker identified as Reza Imam. He has served as a spokesman for the organization.“And they see the return of Islam,” he warned. “And this, brothers and sisters, is the shaking [of] the thrones.” Islam’s foes “see the coming revival of Islam, and they know what that means and they know what it means for their policies,” Imam said.At the conference, HT activists distributed a brochure detailing how the Muslim state would be governed. The document is “to be studied by Muslims while they are working to establish the Islamic State that will carry the Islamic da’wah (proselytizing) to the world,” it says. The document would govern “the Islamic State in the Islamic world” and does not target individual countries.The pamphlet, entitled “Khilafah State Structure: Introduction to the Constitution,” contains charts illustrating how a caliphate government would function along with a draft constitution.“Those that are guilty of apostasy (murtad) from Islam are to be executed according to the rule of apostasy, provided they have themselves renounced Islam,” says Article 7. Moreover, “if they are born as non-Muslims, i. e., if they are the sons of apostates, then they are treated as non-Muslims according to their status as being either polytheists (mushriks) or People of the Book.”The caliphate government would establish an “Internal Affairs Department” which would include a division of “Apostasy.”Waging jihad would be a top priority for the government. The caliphate cabinet includes a senior-level “Private Secretary” for jihad. The “Military Department” – which appears to be a cabinet-level agency –would be headed by a “Field Marshall,” who appoints a “Director of Jihad,” his second in command. Included within the Treasury department would be something called a “Department of Jihad.”The Treasury would be divided into two divisions: one handling revenue, which includes a “War booties Agency,” and the other covering expenditures, which includes both a “Dept. of Jihad” and a “Director of Jihad Office” on its organizational chart.Articles 51 through 55 of the draft constitution would establish an “Amir (military leader) of Jihad” who would supervise holy war-related activities in government agencies.The group believes that this year’s revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria and other states offer Muslims an opportunity to throw off the shackles of Western colonialism.“No longer are the Muslims afraid of these regimes who have oppressed the masses,” reads a flyer for the conference that appears on the HT website. “Will the Muslim world rid itself of Western colonial interference? Will these events lead to the application of Islam and the re-establishment of the Khilafah (caliphate) State?”Arab rulers are pretending to be legitimate leaders just as Soviet Communist Party leaders used to do, Imam told the conference.For the West, the “front line” in the struggle against Islam is ensuring that the “tyrants” in the Muslim world remain in power, Imam said. Speakers cited Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as examples of Muslim leaders who must be replaced.The Pakistani Army announced last month that it arrested Brigadier Ali Khan and four majors in an investigation of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s infiltration of the military there. Khan, assigned to Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, is the most senior Pakistani military officer known to have been arrested for alleged involvement with radical groups since 9/11.While Hizb ut-Tahrir has struggled to win followers in the United States, its name has come up in connection with several recent terror-related arrests.At Hizb ut-Tahrir America’s June 26 conference, speakers attacked President Obama as an enemy of Muslims. “Obama visits the Middle East and our [Muslim] public rulers rush to shake his bloody hands. They send up their armies to dance for him,” one speaker said. “They roll out red carpets to welcome the butcher of Iraq.”Under the caliphate, Muslims would not be forced to live “under what ‘Sheikh Obama’ or Assad or Erdogan believed” but under the rule of Islam, a speaker identified as Abu Atallah declared.Middle Eastern leaders “and their masters in the West” have been “shaken to the core,” said Reza Imam, who pointed to statements by former President George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld warning of the dangers posed by the establishment of a caliphate.“They see their hard work being undone,” he said. “It’s like a dreaded, fearful occurrence for them – that Muslims want to unite and live under Islam.”“It’s criminal to them,” Imam continued. “And this is why their thrones are shaken. They’re terrorized by this – simply that Muslims want to obey Allah.”Hmmmm......Why Sheikh Obama?Read the full story here.

• Canada - Muslim Women Living In Western Countries Forced To Use Mail-Order Hymens To Avoid Being Victim Of Honor Killing.(CNews).Women who cannot afford to get their hymens surgically re-attached in Canada prior to marriages in their cultural country of origin have a less expensive option: they can order one in the mail.Starting at just $29.95, women can order a false hymen online, shipped from China.The imports are officially banned in many Middle Eastern and North African countries, but women in North America and Great Britain are a fertile market.“We have many urgent requests from women, begging us for urgent delivery before their wedding night,” says Mike Munro, with the Hymenshop.com. The online store opened in March 2010, and sells a couple thousand per month.“There are some cultural notions out there that the ordinary person cannot just challenge and try and change them without paying a very dear price and in some case with their own lives.”In Canada, some young women from predominantly Muslim backgrounds are desperate to appear as virgins, fearing they could be killed by their families if they do not have an intact hymen on their marriage beds after arranged marriages in their cultural home countries.Some are getting plastic surgery in Canadian private clinics to re-attach their hymens.The mail-order version is a thin film containing a packet of red fluid. The website advises to insert the film 20 minutes prior to sex in order to mimic the breaking of the hymen and showing the required “blood.”Hmmmm......."DisHonor killing interuptus"?Read the full story here.

• Germany - Hitler's Nuclear legacy,More than 126,000 barrels of nuclear material lie rotting in an old salt mine.(DailyMail).German nuclear experts believe they have found nuclear waste from Hitler’s secret atom bomb programme in a crumbling mine near Hanover.More than 126,000 barrels of nuclear material lie rotting over 2,000 feet below ground in an old salt mine. Rumour has it that the remains of nuclear scientists who worked on the Nazi programme are also there, their irradiated bodies burned in secret by S.S. men sworn to secrecy.A statement by a boss of the Asse II nuclear fuel dump, just discovered in an archive, said how in 1967 'our association sank radioactive wastes from the last war, uranium waste, from the preparation of the German atom bomb.' This has sent shock waves through historians who thought that the German atomic programme was nowhere near advanced enough in WW2 to have produced nuclear waste in any quantities.It has also triggered a firestorm of uncertainty among locals, especially given Germany’s paranoia post-Fukushima. Germany was the first western nation to announce the closure of all its atomic power plants following the disaster at the Japanese facility following the catastrophic earthquake and Tsunami in March.There are calls to remove all the nuclear material stored within the sealed site but this would cost billions of pounds.Yet the thought of Nazi atomic bomb material stored underground has made headlines across Germany - and the country’s Greenpeace movement has backed a call for secret documents relating to the dump to be released to the state parliament from sealed archives in Berlin.It was in January of 1939, nine months before the outbreak of the Second World War, that German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann published the results of an historic experiment about nuclear fission.The German 'uranium project' began in earnest shortly after Germany’s invasion of Poland in September.Army physicist Kurt Diebner led a team tasked to investigate the military applications of fission. By the end of the year the physicist Werner Heisenberg had calculated that nuclear fission chain reactions might be possible.Although the war hampered their work, by the fall of the Third Reich in 1945 Nazi scientists had achieved a significant enrichment in samples of uranium.Mark Walker, a US expert on the Nazi programme said: 'Because we still don’t know about these projects, which remain cloaked in WW2 secrecy, it isn’t safe to say the Nazis fell short of enriching enough uranium for a bomb. Some documents remain top secret to this day.'Claims that a nuclear weapon was tested at Ruegen in October 1944 and again at Ohrdruf in March 1945 leave open a question, did they or didn’t they?'Ruegen is a Baltic island and Ohrdruf a top-secret bunker complex in Thuringia where local legend has it that an A-bomb was tested by the Nazis in the dying days of the war.Hmmmm.......A warning for those who believe Iran isn't ready yet.Read the full story here.

• Canada - Mallick: Time for someone to speak up for shy young girls.(TStar).Isn’t it odd how stories about Muslim school prayers now being conducted at Valley Park Middle School in Don Mills are all about religion making its way into public schools? I don’t discuss religion, ever. Feminism is my credo, and my eye was instantly drawn to the fact that girls are placed in the back, behind the boys, separated by benches used as shields.And menstruating girls are segregated, off in their own little group, like this paragraph.Stigmatized, bleeding mysteriously and bewildered by maternal instructions, these girls are not allowed to pray (I am told other religions require this as well). You can see them in the Star’s photograph, the boys at the front, the girls hidden behind, flattened in prayer, and the girls with periods sitting cross-legged or kneeling. These girls are in grades 7 and 8. OMG I am like totally remembering myself at that age and I would like have died of embarrassment except that I noticed even then that no one ever actually does. That’s unfortunate.The girls at this school aren’t toughened for ridicule, which is only part of the reason I hate their being singled out for a female function we are still learning to discuss openly in the modern West. They are sensitive, as are all young girls despite the toughness they parade. They probably won’t do what I would have done in this situation, which is lie and join the rest of the crowd because no one need know when you have your period. (Girls, this is only one of the joys of tampons. Go to Shoppers, buy the box, study the diagram carefully, and good luck.)The Toronto District School Board cares about building self-esteem for girls. Trustee Michael Coteau says he’d like the services, since they are during school hours, to follow the board’s gender-equity policy. Essentially, that would mean girls pray beside boys, not behind them.As for singling out girls who have their periods — why not just make them wear a hat with a big arrow or a flag? — no one’s discussing that. Except me, in this column. Why should it fall to me? Can some school trustee, male or female, please stand up to defend shy girls of tender age?Hmmmm......Hear,Hear!Read the full story here.

• US to sell F-16 jets to Iraq?(Ynet).Talks over sale of fighter jets, aerial defense systems focus on curbing Iranian regional influence.The United States and Iraq have renewed talks over the sale of American F-16 fighter jets and aerial defense systems to Baghdad.The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the US is hoping the deal will help reestablish Iraq's regional status and block Iranian influence on neighboring countries.Iraq had stalled the purchase of 18 fighter jets following the wave of uprisings in the Arab world, which raised concerns over the country's internal stability. Now, Iraqi officials are considering raising the number of jets to 36 and purchasing aerial defense systems that will include surface-to-air missiles and radar-guided shells.While these new systems are expected to contribute to Iraq's security and help it deter Iran from flexing its muscles, it will also pose a problem for a potential Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.Officials in Washington have stressed that if such a deal was to be signed, it would include a clause that would ensure the sensitive technology does not spill over to hostile elements.The sources noted that while it is hard to estimate the value of the sale, the former jet purchase deal, which included 18 aircraft, spare parts, training and airborne weapons was worth an estimated $4.2 billion.Hmmmm......Tanks for the Muslim brotherhood , planes for the Mullahs.Read the full story here.

• Indonesian Maid saved from beheading in Saudi Arabia Reunites With Family in Jakarta.(JakartaGlobe).An Indonesian migrant worker spared from being beheaded in Saudi Arabia for murder was greeted by the open arms of her father and children upon returning to Jakarta early on Wednesday.Aside from her family, Darsem binti Dawud Tawar, who was granted a reprieve after the Indonesian government paid Rp 4.6 billion ($534,000) in “blood money” to win her freedom, was met by a crush of photographers and reporters who had gathered at the Foreign Ministry in anticipation of her arrival.The resulting press presence unnerved the mother of three from West Java, who refused to speak and grimly tolerated the cameras. The chaos prompted Linda Gumelar, the women’s empowerment minister, to issue a plea to give Darsem space so that she could recover from her ordeal.“After she returns, we should give time for Darsem to recover from her shock and trauma,” Linda said. “We also need to make people understand to help her calm down.”Darsem’s family, represented by legal adviser Elyasa Budianto, thanked the government for facilitating her return.Darsem was convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and sentenced to death despite her claim that she had killed her victim in self-defense because he had attempted to rape her.On June 25, spurred by the public outcry over the earlier beheading of an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia, the government intervened with the blood money payment.The Foreign Ministry said Darsem’s return was a heartening cooperative effort between the ministry and the president, but that the job of saving Indonesians from death in Saudi Arabia was far from over. There are 23 Indonesians facing death in that country. Hmmmmmm.........How many did loose their heads?Read the full story here.

• Police Open Fire at Islamic Boarding School Siege, Three Wounded.(JakartaGlobe).Security forces besieging a radical Islamic boarding school in eastern Indonesia have opened fire on student protesters, wounding three, National Police confirmed on Wednesday.National Police have also confirmed that they have dispatched additional forces, most likely members of the elite Densus 88 antiterror police, to the Umar bin Khatab Islamic Boarding School in Bima, Sumbawa, nearly 48 hours after a homemade bomb detonated prematurely and killed a suspected terrorist.It is understood that four platoons of local Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and antiriot police, as well as additional forces from the Indonesian Military (TNI), have surrounded the school, which is understood to house 45 students, as well as teachers and an unknown number of supporters.Students armed with sticks and machetes have been preventing investigators from reaching the scene of the explosion in a tense stand-off.National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam told the Jakarta Globe that police at the scene had opened fire on a group of students who had been hurling stones at police.“The students were throwing stones at the police chief and his personal aide. They suffered minor injuries,” he said. He said police had retaliated, opening fire and wounding three people.The report is at odds with local police officials, who have been claiming that they are adopting a nonviolent approach.“We are still using persuasive ways to avoid casualties,” NTB Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sukarman Husein told the Jakarta Globe in Mataram on Wednesday.National Police Operational Assistant Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti told the Globe that “there was not a single piece of land in Indonesia that was untouchable by our officers” whenever the law had been violated.He said police would try their best to achieve a negotiated settlement and to avoid major bloodshed.The school is associated with Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), a hard-line group founded by convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir.Hmmmm......"The religion of peace".Read the full story here.

• Iran continues to execute in secret.(Persian2English).Iran Human Rights has reported on recent executions that were carried out in Iran without any announcement or follow-up report by Iranian authorities. The reports include information on secret mass executions in Vakilabad and Ghezel Hesar prisons.Mohammad Reza Mir-Heydari, the head of the security forces in Qom said in a press conference today that four people convicted of smuggling drugs have been executed in Qom prison during the last two weeks.The main theme of the press conference was about the arrest of more than 200 people, including 32 drug dealers, 79 “dangerous drug addicts”, and 137 drug users. Mir-Heydari described the four executions as “marginal”.None of those executed were identified by name and the Iranian media did not announce the news of the executions earlier.Since Iranian authorities fail to announce all the executions, human rights groups believe that the real number of executions are much higher than those announced by the Iranian media.Earlier, Iran Human Rights reported that 25 people in Ghezel Hesar prison (in Karaj, west of Tehran) had been hanged on July 3rd.…all those executed were men convicted of drug-related offences. The executions took place in the prison’s yard.These executions have not been reported by the official Iranian media.According to the group “Iranian Activists for Human Rights and Democracy”, 7 people were hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison also on July 3rd. Six of the prisoners were transferred from Ghezel Hesar prison and one was transferred from Rajai Shahr prison. One of the men, who was not identified by name, was an Afghan citizen. The other six men executed were identified as, Hamid Nader, Seyed Abolfazl Azimitabar, Mehdi Bashir, Javad Abdollahvand (54 years old), Asghar, and Masoud Ali Moradi (30 years old, transferred from Rajai Shahr prison).Iranian authorities have not reported on these executions.Several human rights groups had reported earlier about secret mass executions in prisons in the province of Khorasan. According to our reports, secret mass executions have also been occurring in other Iranian prisons like Ghezel Hesar.It is believed that the number of executions in Ghezel Hesar prison might even exceed those in Mashhad’s Vakilabad prison.According to the IHR annual report on the death penalty in 2010 , in Iran, at least 474 people were executed as a result of the secret mass executions in the Khorasan province. At least 205 of the executions were not included in the annual report due to ongoing investigations.Most of the people executed were convicted of drug-trafficking.The Prosecutor of the southern Khorasan province confirmed in a press conference last week that 140 prisoners convicted of drug-trafficking had been executed in that region from the period of March 2010 to March 2011. The majority of these executions had not been reported by the Iranian media.IHR urges the newly appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur Mr. Ahmad Shaheed to pay special attention to the reports concerning the secret mass executions in Iranian prisons.Hmmmmm.......Perhaps give Iran a few more seats in the UN human rights commissions?Read the full story here.

• Iranian Authorities Block Google+ Social Networking Site.(Persian2English).Radio Zamaneh — The Google+ social networking site has joined the long list of websites filtered by the Islamic Republic.ITNA, Iran’s Telecommunications News Agency, reports that Google Plus which was announced two weeks ago, will no longer be accessible to Iranian users.Google Plus is still not officially available to all users but it would have been over the next few months; however, Iranian authorities have already blocked the site without any explanation.Iranian authorities have expanded their efforts to block internet sites since the controversial presidential election of 2009, which triggered widespread protests.Protesters used social networking sites to rally demonstrators and also to report on the protests using text and photos.Google+ is Google’s new social networking site, announced on June 28 on Google’s official weblog. It claims to offer users more possibilities than Facebook and has been designed with Facebook’s limitations in mind.Read the full story here.

• Muslim Brotherhood challenges Jordan’s king.(JPost).Upcoming demonstrations may usher in new, harsher phase of protests; Brotherhood may increase rhetoric on regime overthrow, says journalist.As it prepares for a large-scale demonstration on July 15, Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood has stepped up its criticism of King Abdullah II’s monarchy, going so far as to risk breaking the law by questioning its legitimacy."Any authority that does not rely on the people does not represent it nor does it express its interests," declared the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the Brotherhood's political wing, in a press statement issued Tuesday. Since March, the Brotherhood has vociferously criticized the government's snail-pace political reforms, organizing weekly demonstrations throughout the kingdom.Friday's demonstration may be different, experts say. Organizers plan an open-ended sit-in in Amman's Gamal Abd Al-Nasser Square, where a previous demonstration organized by a youth coalition on March 25 was violently dispersed by government security forces and pro-monarchy thugs. One man was killed and dozens injured as pro-monarchists hurled stones at opposition demonstrators."An open ended sit-in would mean a scenario similar to Tahrir Square in Cairo," Assaf David, a Jordan expert at Jerusalem's Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, told The Media Line. "The regime's big fear is that more and more people will join the demonstration and things will get out of hand."Abdullah, a key US ally in the region, has failed to snuff out protests and other political activity that has surfaced this year and grown bigger and increasingly critical of his rule in recent weeks. He has promised reforms and has re-shuffled his cabinet twice, most recently last week, but protesters have been encouraged by their Arab Spring peers across the region and by revelations of corruption in the government.  Like mass protests elsewhere in the Middle East this year, young, mostly secular figures mobilized through social media have been leading the way. But the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was formed in 1942, is the kingdom's largest and most organized opposition group and its decision to up the stakes poses a bigger threat to the king. Fahed Khitan, a political columnist with the independent Jordanian daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm, said the crowd's size scared the government less than its chants. "It‘s not unlikely that the demonstrators will raise the famous banner of Arab revolutions: 'The people want the regime to fall'," he wrote on Tuesday, adding that such calls would lead Jordan to a disastrous civil war.The Brotherhood's growing assertiveness was made clear in an interview given by Zaki Bani Arshid, a senior member, to the Qatari daily Al-Shourouq on Sunday. Bani Arshid told the newspaper that his movement was leading the popular mobilization against the government of Jordanian Prime Minster Maaruouf Al-Bakhit. The Brotherhood has refused to participate in the national dialogue initiated by the king in March to appease the opposition movement."The majority of Jordanian society is religious and believes that those who raise the banner of Islam should be trusted," Bani Arshid told Al-Shourouq.The Brotherhood is quite popular on the Jordanian street, said Fatima Al-Smadi, a journalism professor at Zarka University and columnist for Al-Arab Al-Yawm. She said the group's power was recently boosted by an American announcement that the administration would engage Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Jordanian movement’s parent organization. An expected rise in gasoline prices would also push the average Jordanian away from the government and towards the opposition, she added."The Muslim Brotherhood is the best organized opposition group, and the most capable of mobilizing the street," Al-Smadi told The Media Line. "The government's reaction to Friday's demonstration will determine whether the situation will escalate further." But Al-Smadi said it was all but inevitable that the government and Brotherhood are headed for conflict in the coming days.David of the Truman Institute said Friday's demonstrators may call for the resignation of Bakhit's government and even the dissolution of parliament, but would likely not call for the king to step down. Criticism of the King and the royal family is illegal in Jordan. But Al-Smadi said calls to topple the regime were already heard, albeit limitedly, during demonstrations in southern Jordan last Friday. She said the Muslim Brotherhood is capable of fanning the flames or extinguishing them at will."It depends on the Islamists," she said. "They can raise the rhetoric to that level." Hmmmm........Obama's "Partners"the Muslim Brotherhood.Read the full story here.

• IDF - New Flickr Set: Hezbollah Weaponry and Tactics in Lebanon.(IDF).Photos showing captured Hezbollah weaponry and tactics from 2004-2009 are now available on the IDF’s official Flickr account, as today the IDF marks five years since the Second Lebanon War broke out.The captured weapons further highlight Hezbollah’s connection to Iran, as an RPG launcher depicted in the album bears the insignia of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Iran not only supplies Hezbollah with the means to fight Israel, but it also trains Hezbollah forces as forces are flown to train in Iranian bases. Hezbollah is an immensely dangerous enemy: it is an active violator of human rights and will stop at nothing to destroy Israel.On July 12, 2006, two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hezbollah, one of many terrorist acts committed by Hezbollah at that time, leading to the Second Lebanon War. The war came to an end following UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the release of abducted IDF soldiers.Since the war, Israel has fully withdrawn from southern Lebanon, which Hezbollah has taken advantage of in order to violate Resolution 1701, strengthen its grip on the Lebanese civilians of the area, and to instill intimidation in the minds of Israelis.This album outlines the various techniques and weaponry that Hezbollah has employed against Israel. Hundreds of rockets, grenades and rifles which were captured by the IDF were to be used in guerrilla warfare tactics and constant rocket fire at Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers as Hezbollah did everything it could to inflict maximum damage on the state.Read and see the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Wife locked fugitive husband in cupboard and only let him out for sex.(DailyMail).A broody wife hid her murderer husband in a cupboard after he escaped from prison - and only let him out to have sex, a court heard yesterday.Claire Thomas, 40, was 'desperate' for a baby after her killer husband Wyndham Thomas had been behind bars for 12 years.Mrs Thomas hid him in a storage closet in their home in Caerphilly, South Wales, when police came looking for the fugitive after three days on the run.Thomas, 33, would only be let out of the closet for sex with Claire - in the hope she would get pregnant before he was caught.Jenet Treharne, defending, said: 'They wanted an opportunity to spend some intimate time together to start a family.'She knows that she was very foolish.'Newport Crown Court heard that Thomas knew his wife was 'very anxious' to have children when he fled his open prison in the baby jailbreak.Mrs Thomas did not know he fled - but when he turned up on her doorstep she said: 'Quick get upstairs.'Miss Treharne described Thomas as a 'very, very sad case' desperate to have children.She said: 'She had sent a letter to the justice secretary asking for IVF treatment.'Mrs Thomas is still not pregnant - nine months after her husband escaped.Her husband was serving a life sentence for murdering a father trying to protect his home.Judge Rees said she accepted the couple were anxious to have children - but that the 'foolish escapade' had pushed their plans back two years.She said: 'Wyndham Thomas has paid a very high price for it and dashed all hope for several years of regaining freedom. That, of course, means that you too have to be punished in that way'.Hmmmm.....Sentenced to 'hard labour'?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Woman: "he deserved it', she Cut Off Husband's Penis, Threw It in Garbage Disposal.(NBC).Warning: This article includes content of a graphic nature.A woman was in custody Tuesday for allegedly poisoning her estranged husband, cutting off his penis with a 10-inch kitchen knife and throwing it in the garbage disposal.Lt. Jeff Nightengale said the crime occurred Monday night at the man's Garden Grove home. According to authorities, this was the first time police have ever been called to the home. No neighbors reported any signs of fighting or screaming.Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, was booked for aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning, and spousal abuse. She was being held at the Orange County Jail.The woman, who was later identified as the suspect, called 911 to report a medical emergency at about 10 p.m."The suspect called 911 and told responding officers that he 'deserved it,'" Nightengale said.When officers arrived, they found the man tied to a bed and bleeding from the groin area. He told officers the woman had given him a drug in the dinner she had made for him.Investigators said she tied him to the bed after he fell asleep. When he awoke, the woman grabbed his penis and cut it off with a 10-inch kitchen knife, according to police. She then threw it in the garbage disposal and turned on the disposal, police said.The 51-year-old man was hospitalized at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. He was listed in serious condition. Pieces of the penis were taken to the hospital, but it remained unclear whether surgeons were able to reattach it.The rope used to tie the man to the bed and a knife were seized as evidence.Nightengale said an initial investigation indicated the two are married and going through a divorce. According to courts records, the victim filed for divorce on May 16, and is representing himself.Hmmmm......Nothing as lethal as the wrath of a woman.Read the full story here.