Morning Posting.
- Syria Live Blog - May 11. Here .(Al-Jazeera).
- Libya Live Blog - May 11. Here (Al-Jazeera).
- Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan today 5.0 activity. More info here.
- Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 105.
Source : Here .
- Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog
EmperorPresident Obama mocks Republican position on immigration.(AP).EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Delving anew into an explosive issue, President Barack Obama stood near the border with Mexico on Tuesday and declared it more secure than ever, trying to build pressure on Republicans to take on a comprehensive immigration overhaul—and eagerly working to show vital Hispanic voters that he is not the one standing in the way. Countering Republican calls to focus on border security before moving to a comprehensive overhaul, Obama said their demands have been more than met by his administration but "they'll never be satisfied." He boasted of increasing border patrol agents, nearing completion of a border fence, and screening more cargo. "We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement," Obama said. "But even though we've answered these concerns, I gotta say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time." "Maybe they'll need a moat," Obama said mockingly to laughter from the crowd. "Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat." Trying to build public support for legislation congressional Republicans don't want to pass, Obama said: "The question is whether those in Congress who previously walked away in the name of enforcement are now ready to come back to the table and finish the work we've started." Hmmmm.....Dictatorship or Democracy?Read the full story here.
- Statement From the Family of Osama bin Laden.(NYTimes).Statement from the family of Sheikh Osama bin Laden
I Omar Ossama Binladin and my brothers the lawful children and heirs of the Ossama Binladin (OBL) have noted wide coverage of the news of the death of our father, but we are not convinced on the available evidence in the absence of dead body, photographs, and video evidence that our natural father is dead. Therefore, with this press statement, we seek such conclusive evidence to believe the stories published in relation to 2 May 2011 operation Geronimo as declared by the President of United States Barrack Hussein Obama in his speech that he authorized the said operation and killing of OBL and later confirmed his death. If OBL has been killed in that operation as President of United States has claimed then we are just in questioning as per media reports that why an unarmed man was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world. If he has been summarily executed then, we question the propriety of such assassination where not only international law has been blatantly violated but USA has set a very different example whereby right to have a fair trial, and presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of law has been sacrificed on which western society is built and is standing when a trial of OBL was possible for any wrongdoing as that of Iraqi President Sadam Hussein and Serbian President Slobodan Miloševic'. We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems and crime's adjudication as Justice must be seen to be done.
It is also unworthy of the special forces to shoot unarmed female family members of Binladen killing a female and that of one of his son.
Most importantly, when it is a common knowledge that OBL's family is residing at one place outside KSA, why they were not contacted to receive his dead body. His sudden and un witnessed burial at sea has deprived the family of performing religious rights of a Muslim man. Finally, now that the operation is concluded we wish the Government of Pakistan to release and hand over all minors of the family and all the family members are reunited at one place and are repatriated to their country of origin, especially female members of the family to avoid further oppression and we seek international support to that effect.
Without agreeing to the ways of OBL as to how he professed, believed and operated, We Omar Ossama Binladin, and my brothers, the lawful children of the Ossama Binladin (OBL) herewith demand an inquiry under UNO to reach to the accuracy of the facts as stated by United States into the fundamental question as to why our father was not arrested and tried but summarily executed without a court of law. We are putting these questions to the United Nations, OIC, President of United States that a necessary evidence is presented to the family in private and or public to make us believe what they claim, and all the remaining family members are repatriated and united after necessary initial investigation.Failure to answer these questions will force us to go to International forum for justice such as International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice and UN must take notice of the violation of international law and assist us to have answers for which we are lawful in seeking them. A panel of eminent British and international lawyers is being constituted and a necessary action may be taken if no answers are furnished within 30 days of this statement. Hmmmm......Mr President?Read the full story here.
- Obama heckled as he tries to woo Hispanic voters by hailing importance of immigrants to U.S.(DailyMail).President Obama was heckled as he made a blatant attempt to woo Hispanic voters today by hailing the importance of immigrants to the American economy.Speaking in El Paso, Texas, close to Mexican the border, the President pledged to escalate legislation that would offer a pathway to the nation’s millions of illegal immigrants.But the President also claimed border controls between the U.S. and Mexico had never been more stringent.The President was broadly cheered by supporters as he told how immigrants were an essential part of the economic recovery and said he wanted to offer a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.But he was then heckled as he made reference to the 'fence' between the U.S. and Mexico, with shouts of 'tear it down' from the crowd.In scenes unusual for such a campaign-style event, supporters attempted to drown out jeers from opponents of immigration by chanting, 'Yes we can'.Obama claimed that fewer arrests of illegal immigrants showed that 'far fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally'.'Even as we have stepped up patrols, apprehensions along the border have been cut by nearly 40 per cent from two years ago,' said Obama.But local police chiefs have alleged that they have been told to stop arresting illegal immigrants on the border to keep official figures down.An Arizona sheriff last month said Border Patrol agents have told dozens of law enforcement officers to instead chase the immigrants back towards Mexico.Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said he had been 'flooded' with emails from officers supporting his claims.Arizona senators Jon Kyl and John McCain, who was Obama's 2008 Republican election foe, warned that people did not feel that the US-Mexico border was secure, despite the administration's pledges.
'Unfortunately, when President Obama was in the Senate, he actively worked to undermine the reform that he now seems to be advocating during election season,' the senators said in a statement.'This is not surprising considering he made the same evolution in 2008. It's too bad he didn't choose to follow through on those promises after his election,' they said.Republican congressman Peter King also rejected Obama's approach.'The President has again called for amnesty for illegal immigrants without offering a single proposal to actually improve the security of our borders,' King said.But the truth is, the measures we’ve put in place are getting results. Over the past two and a half years, we’ve seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more currency, and 64 percent more weapons than before.Hmmmm....Did he mean "We sold 64% more weapons"?Read the full story here.
- "The Mouse that Roars"?Belgium : Google infringes copyright by displaying and linking to news site content.(TheRegister).A Belgian appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling that Google infringes on newspapers' copyright when its services display and link to content from newspaper websites, according to press reports.The search engine giant is responsible for infringing the copyrights of the papers when it links to the sites or copies sections of stories on its Google News service, the Belgian Court of Appeals said (41-page/1.19MB PDF), according to a report in PC World.Google must not link to material from Belgian newspapers, the court said, according to the report (in French). No translation of the ruling is yet available.Google faces a fine of roughly €25,000 for every day it fails to comply with the court judgment, the report said. The ruling does not apply to Flemish newspapers.Hmmmm.....Being right doesn't allways mean being smart.Read the full story here.
- US Attorney’s give “employment” seminar to Muslims at Fresno mosque (video).(Creeping Sharia).Does the Obama administration favor one “religion” over all others and none at all, or does it just seem that way?Since when did the U.S. Attorney’s office start giving religious-specific “employment seminars” in mosques?The chief of the Fresno U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mark Cullers and his assitant Yasin Mohammad lead the discussions explaining to young Muslims how their office prosecutes and defends the US Government in criminal and civil cases.“The department wants to reach out to all communities, including the Muslim community.”Of course, but so far they’ve only consistently reached out to 1% of the U.S. population.Mohammad, a Muslim and Assistant U.S. Attorney says reaching out to those in the Islamic faith is important for him because, as he says, there’s a negative public perseption about Muslims.Shouldn’t that be a U.S. Attorney who happens to be Muslim? The fact that he is a Muslim first likely led to his belief that part of his job is to advocate for Islam at taxpayer expense. Does Mohammad consider events like the 1993 WTC bombing, 9/11 and the scores of terrorist attacks and attempts to kill Americans by Muslims might have shaped the perception about Muslims? Not to mention his namesake.“I think that the religion has been hijacked, by a terrorist element, that’s a small element. But it’s sort of sensational and it’s kind of hijacked the entire religion which doesn’t really agree with that part of it.”Here Mohammad basically admits that jihad is in fact part of Islam, just that many Muslims don’t agree with it. But if he really believes it’s such a small element, why does the U.S. Attorney’s office feel the need to pander in mosques to good Muslims? Why not the standard recruiting at universities?He hopes events like this will help change that, by brigning Muslims together to talk about their future roles in society.So it’s not really about employment. It’s about Muslims roles in American society. Much more than an “employment” seminar – it’s mentoring Muslims at taxpayer expense.Some in the crowd also took the seminar as a chance for them to hear how Federal Prosecutors view Muslims.As victims, clearly.The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it will hold similar employment seminars with any community that requests it.Of course they will. But no other 1% of the population will ever get as much taxpayer funding as do Muslims.Hmmmm....."Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".When will they finally impeach him?Read the full story here.
- Cavalcade of Failure.(DougRoss).Of course, we've borrowed trillions of dollars to spend on a "Stimulus" program (trillions because it was built into subsequent baseline budgets), which Democrats promised would keep unemployment under 8%.Housing. Automobiles. Unemployment.They are ideologues, not economists. They are, by definition, economic illiterates. Nothing they've done has worked. Actually, everything they've tried has made things provably, measurably worse.They are walking, talking clusters. Remember in 2012, before it's too late.President Obama and Congressional Democrats are utter and complete failures.They are like King Midas in reverse. Everything they touch turns to crap.Read and see the full story here.
- Geert Wilders : "I don't hate Muslims,I hate Islam".Read and see the full story here.
- EU to keep files on all air passengers under latest Brussels diktat.(DailyMail).Millions of holidaymakers will have their personal details tracked on huge databases thanks to the latest EU diktat.Countries will be expected to record air passengers’ information, including who they travelled with, the price they paid for a ticket, and even any meal requests they made.EU member states would then be able to trawl their neighbours’ data to check for links to terrorism or other criminality.Under the latest measure – the Passenger Name Record directive – EU member states will be expected to gather all the information travellers provide to airlines when crossing borders.This will include details held on the person’s passport as well as their payment card number, travel companions, seat number, onward flight itinerary, meal request and price of ticket.The final form of the directive is still being hammered out, but it is expected every EU country would establish a so-called Passenger Information Unit. Data would be logged by the country a person left and the one in which they landed.Other member states investigating suspected criminality could then ask to examine the data. Originally, the directive was only to apply to journeys from the rest of the world into the EU, but at the Government’s request it now appears certain to include journeys from one EU member state to another as well.Britain, which is planning to log people going in and out of the country with its own e-Borders system, could have opted out of the directive – which is expected to add a small fee to the price of each ticket to cover the cost of airlines passing on passenger information.Stephen Booth, research director of think-tank Open Europe, said: ‘Despite their tough rhetoric in opposition, Conservative ministers have handed over crime and justice powers to Brussels at an alarming rate since they’ve come to office. ‘It is completely undemocratic that the Government can choose to hand over British citizens’ personal data to police forces all across Europe without so much as a vote in Parliament.’Hmmmm........Read the full story here.
- Iran Turns Up the Heat in the Gulf.(PajamasMedia).Eyeing regional domination, the mullahs seize on the uprising in Bahrain.On May 16, according to the state-owned Fars News Agency, Iran is going to send what they call an aid flotilla from the southern port city of Bushehr. Its destination? Bahrain. In addition to aid, the report stated, the flotilla will convey the Iranian people’s message — “Solidarity with Oppressed Bahraini People.”But that is not all. Reports from inside Iran state that the flotilla will be carrying the martyrdom forces destined to be the start of a new confrontation with the kingdom in Bahrain.The radical Islamic organization Ansar Hezbollah — consisting of Islamist thugs and ardent supporters of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who have been at the forefront in the brutal suppression of Iranian demonstrators — has now assembled volunteers, mostly from Basij forces, for a martyrdom mission to Bahrain.They are also preparing suicide bombers, in coordination with the Guards’ Quds Force, for attacks on Bahraini and Saudi interests.A key part of that strategy, Allah-Karam revealed, involves registering volunteers willing to go to the conflict areas to carry out suicide missions.Another part of their plan: to launch flotillas to Bahrain and provide assistance to the Shiites with their uprising.Ever since the unrest in Bahrain — especially as Saudi forces advanced into that country — the Iranian leaders have been stirring up talk about revenge. Some military commanders and high officials have gone so far as to propose a military intervention to help the Shiite majority with their rebellion against the Sunni-ruled kingdom.The radicals ruling Iran have also threatened Saudi Arabia with serious consequences for its suppression of the protesters in Bahrain.Just weeks ago, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative to Iran’s universities, Hojatolislam Ali-Reza Panahian, stated that “the uprising in Bahrain is the best opportunity to begin setting the stage for the emergence of the Twelfth Imam, our Mahdi.”“The situation in Bahrain alone,” he continued, “could be the catalyst to cause the disintegration of the United States and lead to the downfall of that straw empire.”Hmmmm......Seems like the saudis have more guts to stand up to Iran then Barry.Read the full story here.
- Schoolgirls targeted in Bahrain raids.(Al-Jazeera). In a secretly filmed interview, 16-year-old tells how she was severely beaten as Gulf kingdom cracked down on protests.Secret filming conducted by Al Jazeera has revealed shocking evidence of the brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in the Gulf state of Bahrain.An undercover investigation conducted by Al Jazeera's correspondent, Charles Stratford, has unearthed evidence that Bahraini police carried out periodic raids on girls' schools since the unrest began.The government of Bahrain deployed security forces onto the streets on March 14 in an attempt to quell more than four weeks of protests.A three-month "state of emergency" that was declared by King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on March 15, is due to be lifted on June 1.At the height of the protests, up to 200,000 people rallied against the government. The crackdown was an attempt to end the protests that demanded the end of the despotic rule of the Khalifah royal family.In an interview "Heba", a 16-year-old schoolgirl, alleges she, along with three of her school friends, were taken away by the police from their school and subjected to severe beatings while in custody for three consecutive days."He hit me on the head, I started bleeding. I fell down, he told them [guards] to keep me in the rest-room," she said during the secretly filmed interview."He [the officer] hit and banged me against the wall to scream. Since we did not cry out or scream, we were beaten more and more, stronger and stronger. "Beating was severe, but being afraid of what comes next, we were senseless to the pain."According to the mainly Shia opposition Al Wefaq party, police have raided up to 15 mainly girls schools, detaining, beating and threatening to rape girls as young as 12.A Bahrain human rights group says at least 70 teachers have also been detained. Meanwhile the media clampdown continues.Read and see the full story here.
- Kuwait, Not Syria, to Sit on U.N.
INHuman Rights Council.(Weeklystandard).The Obama administration has been under siege for its support of the U.N.’s top human rights body, the U.N. Human Rights Council. Until today, Syria was seeking to join the Council during elections scheduled to take place at the General Assembly on May 20, 2011. The administration, European states, and other Council fans were already reeling from Libya’s election last May and were desperately looking for a way to save the Council from oblivion. The solution is to replace Syria with Kuwait. Obviously, the anybody-but-Syria campaign spent little time considering the suitability of their replacement candidate.Kuwait is hardly qualified to serve on the Human Rights Council. According to recent reports of Freedom House and the State Department, there is no rule of law in Kuwait. There is no independent judiciary. The emir appoints all judges. The emir has the authority to dissolve the National Assembly at will. Formal political parties are banned. Women are required to have a male guardian in order to marry. Women are eligible for a half of their brother’s inheritance. Spousal rape is not a crime. The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence. Vacationers have spent months in jails if airport officials hear them “insulting the emir.” In other words, Kuwait will fit right in with current Human Rights Council member Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading example of a gender apartheid state, with its entire female population subjected to male domination and grotesque forms of subservience. Not to mention the periodic beheadings which are part of the Saudi judicial system and the illegality of any public display of a religion other than Islam.Hmmmm.....Another proof of the "Joke" the Human rights council has become.Read the full story here.
- Israel's next challenge: Obama's outreach to Muslim Brotherhood.(Debka).Israelis celebrate the 63rd anniversary of their independence this week in good cheer. Neither by word nor hint have its leaders referred to the challenge facing the country in the year to come: Barack Obama, President of Israel's best friend and ally, has picked the Muslim Brotherhood movement of the Middle East as his chosen partner for promoting American interests in the Arab world in place of its ousted rulers. His courtship of this organization, which he regards as moderate, was the rationale, say debkafile's Washington and counter-terror sources, behind his bold decision to get rid of Osama bin Laden, a step which his two predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, held back from although they knew where he was.Many people forgot the vow Obama made in Cairo on June 4 to mend America's fences with the Muslim world, but he meant every word. His White House has made forging a pact between the United States and the Muslim Brotherhood their ultimate policy objective, although they do not expect to achieve it in one fell swoop.Bin Laden's death was part of the US president's unfolding game plan:
1. He needed to demonstrate unswerving resolve to eradicate the terrorist threat posed by Islamic extremists;
2. The Muslim Brotherhood and its national chapters needed to be held back from falling into the arms of Islamic radicalism if it were to qualify as the centerpiece of America's new beginning with the Arab world.
Mubarak's fellow Arab rulers watched and noted how quickly and ruthlessly Obama disposed of him and mustered all their resources to defeat the US-backed revolts against their regimes before they too were tossed on the rubbish heap.Saudi King Abdullah fought back with a divorce from Washington. He is bitterly hostile to the Obama administration – not just over Mubarak's humiliating downfall, but because he believes that a US-Muslim Brotherhood pact would threaten the royal House of Saud by engulfing the clerical institutions which give the throne its legitimacy.Libya's Qaddafi tried to save himself by pointing to his common cause with the US against a rebellion penetrated by Al Qaeda and other Muslim extremists. When he realized that Washington did not share his view and favored the Muslim elements, he decided to fight back against the rebellion and defy their NATO backers.Syria's Bashar Assad, who represents a secular regime and creed, has resorted to tanks, artillery and live bullets for a ferocious crackdown to end what he regards as the continuation of the Muslim Brotherhood-led challenge to the Alawite Assad family rule launched first against his father 19 years ago.Another piece of the Obama game plan was put in place in Cairo Wednesday, May 4, with the inking of the Palestinian unity pact by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas for Fatah and Khaled Meshaal for Hamas.After Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Abbas that the Palestinians must choose between peace and Hamas, Abbas is reported by debkafile's Cairo sources as privately asking why the Israelis complained to him. They should complain to Obama, he said.Hmmmmm......"The 'peacemaker'?Read the full story here.
- Gaza aid flotilla scheduled for third week of June.(TodaysZaman).An aid flotilla will depart for the Gaza Strip in the third week of June, just over a year after a similar flotilla was raided by Israeli forces, leaving nine Turks dead on a Turkish boat, activists said.A coalition of pro-Palestinian groups, most of them based in Europe, announced the date in a statement after a meeting in Paris. The unfolding plans for the new flotilla set up a possible confrontation with Israel, which has vowed to stop any attempt to breach its sea blockade of Gaza.Activists had originally planned to depart on May 31, the anniversary of the botched Israeli commando raid. The delayed departure appears at least partly related to Turkey’s plans for parliamentary elections on June 12. Turkish activists, who are in contact with the government but say they operate independently, had said they wanted to leave after the vote for fear any controversy could disrupt the election debate. Turkish officials, who have stepped up criticism of Israel since the three-week war in Gaza that ended in early 2009, have indicated that the Turkish activists are free to sail from home waters.The “Freedom Flotilla” coalition said Marseille, France, was one of various European departure points for the convoy, and that it welcomed “the recent addition” of a Swiss-German boat. It did not say how many boats were participating, but IHH, an aid group in Turkey, has said it expects the convoy to be at least twice as big as the one that attempted to reach Gaza last year.Six ships set sail last year. This year’s convoy includes the Mavi Marmara, the same Turkish vessel operated by IHH on which the activists died in the raid, and an American vessel named “The Audacity of Hope,” the title of a book by President Obama.The coalition said organizers was heading to Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday to seek the support of European parliamentarians.Eight Turks and one Turkish-American died in the raid last year. Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded. Each side accused the other of starting the violence. The incident drew world attention to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and plunged ties between former allies Israel and Turkey to a new low.Hmmmm......How long would it take to lay a minefield ?Read the full story here.
- Israel braces for 'Nakba Day'.(Ynet).IDF boosts West Bank deployment as Palestinians prepare to mark 'disaster' of Jewish State's establishment; police bracing for possible violence within Green Line, Arab-Israelis hold major rally Tuesday.Independence Day over, 'Nakba Day' looming: Israel's defense establishment is preparing for a possibly turbulent weekend as Palestinians mark what they view as the disaster inherent in Israel's establishment. The annual 'Nakba Day' will be marked on May 15th, the date of the Jewish state's inception.Security officials have been assessing the volatile situation in the past week, and as of Wednesday the IDF will be boosting its deployment throughout Judea and Samaria. The army is preparing for various scenarios, including extreme violence, despite estimations that Palestinian security forces will aim to keep tensions low. Several IDF regiments will be joining units already in place, in case Palestinian rallies turn violent and prompt dangerous friction with Israeli forces and settlers. "We don't want to be surprised or improvise a response at the last moment," a military official said, while expressing his hope that quiet will prevail throughout 'Nakba Day.' Meanwhile, Israel Police officials are preparing for the possibility of Arab Israelis joining the protests and resorting to violence within the Green Line. Police officers fear that planned rallies and marches will turn into mass riots and will discuss the option of boosting police deployment over the weekend. As opposed to previous years, the Palestinians have been calling for civil disobedience both in the West Bank and outside Israel, in states sharing a border with the Jewish state. The trend got underway with the launch of a Facebook page urging the Palestinians to embark on a third Intifada on May 15. Elsewhere online, several groups are organizing with the aims of reaching Israel's borders. One such initiative is being organized by the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt, with university students expected to depart from Cairo Friday en route to the Gaza Strip border. Tuesday evening, some 15,000 Arab Israelis took part in a 'Nakba Day rally in the western Galilee region. The event was attended by Arab Knesset members and senior Islamic Movement figures. Participants held up Palestinian flags and signs with anti-occupation slogans. Cities within Israel's Green Line, including Kfar Saba and Petach Tikva, just north of Tel Aviv, were also declared as "occupied." The rally also endorsed the recent Hamas-Fatah unity deal.However, it appears that there is no consensus on the Arab side, after the Islamic Movement walked out of the event because a female singer took the stage.Hmmmmm......Sooner or later it will come to the final showdown ,why wait and let then grow stronger?Read the full story here.
