'New Axes Of Evil' - North Korea and Iran are both caught moving weapons; Israel shores up its cyber defenses.

'New Axes Of Evil' - North Korea and Iran are both caught moving weapons; Israel shores up its cyber defenses.(TOI).The Friday front page of Haaretz focuses on North Korea and how the rogue nation stole the spotlight this week from Iran’s nuclear talks with the US. The paper also includes a profile of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, which includes recent highlights from his regime, including a marriage, a nuclear test, and a visit from former NBA star Dennis Rodman.
Haaretz also includes a short article about American sources stating that North Korea has moved missiles and could be preparing a launch.

That movement of missiles may not have raised alarm bells at Haaretz, but it is the top story over at Israel Hayom – “At the push of a button,” reads the article headline. The paper includes an opinion piece by Boaz Bismuth, who tries to explain the recent rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula. “What North Korea really wants is recognition, not war,” Bismuth writes. He goes on to state that the balance of power between North Korea and the United States is laughable, but the Americans aren’t laughing, partly because they don’t have a clear intelligence picture on the country. He writes that North Korea is using the nuclear option to ensure the survival of the regime, just like Iran.

Carl in Jerusalem brings us the following story: Israel preparing for cyber attack!

The attack is set for Sunday, April 7 — coincidentally, or perhaps not, the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel. Computer system administrators and security experts have been shoring up network defenses, changing passwords, and ensuring that they have the Internet bandwidth to withstand an attack.

In their latest screed, the hackers behind the newest incarnation of #OpIsrael, the ongoing attempt to “wipe Israel off the map of the Internet,” appealed for unity in the hacker community, which needed to come together to attack Israel. “We can’t be consumed by our petty differences any more,” said the message, posted on hacker-friendly websites. “We will be united in our common interest. We will once again be fighting for freedom.” In a theatrical flourish (using a quote from the 1996 film “Independence Day,” which portrayed mankind fighting off a Martian invasion), the hackers state: “’We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on, we’re going to survive.”

While the attacks are aimed at government, bank, academic, and business websites (the hackers have published extensive lists of their targets), ordinary Israelis should take precautions as well — just in case, said the Israel Internet Association (ISOC), which is taking the threat so seriously that it will be operating a hotline (03-9700911) for people to report attacks, and will update its website throughout the day with status reports about what is going on in cyberspace.Hmmm.......Unknown to them, they are heading for eternal judgment, they think they are coming to make war against God, but they are being gathered for judgment. ~ Isaiah 13:6-8. Read the full story here and here.

President Obama's White House circulating draft of executive order on cybersecurity.

"Emperor' President Obama's White House circulating draft of executive order on cybersecurity. (TheHill).The White House is circulating a draft of an executive order aimed at protecting the country from cyberattacks, The Hill has learned. The draft proposal, which has been sent to relevant federal agencies for feedback, is a clear sign that the administration is resolved to take action on cybersecurity even as Congress remains gridlocked on legislation that would address the threat. The draft executive order would establish a voluntary program where companies operating critical infrastructure would elect to meet cybersecurity best practices and standards crafted, in part, by the government, according to two people familiar with the document. The concept builds off of a section in the cybersecurity bill from Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) that was blocked last month by Senate Republicans, who called it a backdoor to new regulations. The draft has undergone multiple revisions and is brief, spanning no more than five pages. It is still being worked on and is subject to change, the people familiar with the draft stressed.
It's also unclear whether the final product will get the president's approval to move forward. A new draft of the executive order is expected to be shared with agencies next week. A spokeswoman for the White House declined to comment on whether a draft for a executive order was being circulated, but said it is one of the options the administration is weighing. "An executive order is one of a number of measures we’re considering as we look to implement the president’s direction to do absolutely everything we can to better protect our nation against today’s cyberthreats," said White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. "We are not going to comment on ongoing internal deliberations.” "The White House needs to step back and say, 'Does this make a meaningful contribution in the near term?' " Lewis said. Additionally, he cautioned that industry would balk at electing to join a program led by DHS, which is plagued with a spotty track record when it comes to leading national security efforts. "Find me a company that says 'I'm going to voluntarily agree to be regulated by DHS.' Nobody is going to volunteer to have DHS regulate them," Lewis said.Read the full story here.

Researcher: CIA, NSA may have infiltrated Microsoft to write malware

Researcher: CIA, NSA may have infiltrated Microsoft to write malware.(ITWorld).By Kevin Fogarty.Did spies posing as Microsofties write malware in Redmond? 
A leading security researcher has suggested Microsoft's core Windows and application development programming teams have been infiltrated by covert programmer/operatives from U.S. intelligence agencies. If it were true it would be another exciting twist to the stories of international espionage, sabotage and murder that surround Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame, the most successful cyberwar weapons deployed so far, with the possible exception of Windows itself.
Nevertheless, according to Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of antivirus and security software vendor F-Secure, the scenario that would make it simplest for programmers employed by U.S. intelligence agencies to create the Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame viruses and compromise Microsoft protocols to the extent they could disguise downloads to Flame as patches through Windows Update is that Microsoft has been infiltrated by members of the U.S. intelligence community. 
After studying the code for Duqu, security researchers at Kaspersky Labs said the malware was most similar to the kind of work done by old-school programmers able to write code for more than one platform at a time, do good quality control to make sure the modules were able to install themselves and update in real time, and that the command-and-control components ahd been re-used from previous editions.
Having programmers, spies and spy-supervisors from the NSA, CIA or other secret government agencies infiltrate Microsoft in order to turn its technology to their own evil uses (rather than Microsoft's) is the kind of premise that would get any writer thrown out of a movie producer's office for pitching an idea that would put the audience to sleep halfway through the first act.
Not only is it unlikely, the "action" most likely to take place on the Microsoft campus would be the kind with lots of tense, acronymically dense debates in beige conference rooms and bland corporate offices.
Earlier this month the NYT ran a story detailing two years worth of investigations during which a range of U.S. officials, including, eventually, President Obama, confirmed the U.S. had been involved in writing the Stuxnet and Flame malware and siccing them on Iran.
That's far from conclusive proof that the NSA has moved its nonexistent offices to Redmond, Wash. It doesn't rule it out either, however.
Very few malware writers are able to write such clean code that can install on a variety of hardware systems, assess their new environments and download the modules they need to successfully compromise a new network, Kaspersky researchers said.
Stuxnet and Flame are able to do all these things and to get their own updates through Windows Update using a faked Windows Update security certificate. No other malware writer, hacker or end user has been able to do that before.
Knowing it happened this time makes it more apparent that the malware writers know what they are doing and know Microsoft code inside and out.
Even in his own blog, Hypponen makes fun of those who make fun of Flame as ineffective and unremarkable, but doesn't actually suggest moles at Microsoft are to In the end it doesn't really matter. The faked certificates and ride-along on Windows Update demonstrate the malware writers have compromised the core software development operations at Microsoft.
They don't have to live there to do it; virtual compromise on the code itself would do the job more effectively than putting warm bodied programmers in the middle of highly competitive, highly intelligent, socially awkward Microsofties with a habit of asking the wrong question and insisting on an answer.The risk of having any such infiltration discovered is far too high to expose the cyberwar version of Seal Team Six to the perils of Redmond. Still, the assumption seems to be true metaphorically, if not physically, so it's safer to assume Microsoft and its software have both been compromised. Given the track record of Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame for compromising everything they're aimed at, that assumption isn't even much of a stretch.Read the full story here.

'Flame' can Steal Data Even When Computers Are Not Connected to the Internet.

'Flame' can Steal Data Even When Computers Are Not Connected to the Internet.(AP).By Susanne Posel.Experts specializing in malware from Bitdefender have uncovered a special capability in Flame’s code that allows the virus to steal data from computers that are not connected to the Internet or networked machines.

Flame can move stolen data to a USB memory stick plugged into an infected harddrive. Bitdefender asserts that this ability has never been witnessed before.

This cyber-espionage virus will move stolen information to an USB outlet, then seemingly wait for the chance to upload it to the malware controllers once the infected computer links to the Internet.

Bogdan Botezatu, malware analyst from Bitdefeder, said:

It turns users into data mules. Chances are, at some point, a user with an infected flash drive will plug it into a secure computer in a contained environment, and Flame will carry the target’s information from the protected environment to the outside world…It uses its ability to infect to ensure an escape route for the data. This is is somewhat revolutionary for a piece of malware.

Eugene Kaspersky, of the Russian Kaspersky Lab, uncovered Flame under orders from the UN.

At the Global Media and Technology Summit, Kaspersky’s team made the connection between Flame and Stuxnet and the cyberattack on Iran by the US and Israel.

The US and Israel came together to attack Iran; along with the European Union and a wide range of employed experts to guarantee that the worm would perform as planned.

This virus attacked and damaged Iranian centrifuges used to enrich uranium at the Natanz facility.The Obama administration claims to be “launching an investigation into Flame, which is a highly classified project.

Independent researchers have long attributed Stuxnet and Flame to the same cyberattacks and even claimed they are the same virus. Kaspersky’s lab has hard evidence of this fact.

The Pentagon, through a report in 2011, assessed that the US is involved in cyberespionage, but claims it is a defense to the thefts of industrial and defense secrets of other cyberspies.

Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher at Kaspersky Lab, commented:

We are now 100 percent sure that the Flame and Stuxnet groups worked together. The fact that the Flame group shared their source code with the Stuxnet group shows they cooperated at least once.

These two viruses share the same pieces of code at their based developmental stage, making them virtually identical; and most likely created by the same entity.

Alexander Gostev, Kaspersky Lab’s Chief Security Expert, says: What we have found is very strong evidence that the Stuxnet/Duqu and Flame cyberweapons are connected.Read the full story here.

"Cyber Czar" wants Homeland Security to patrol America’s Internet borders

"Cyber Czar" wants Homeland Security to patrol America’s Internet borders.(RT).Lawmakers in Washington are divided as to how to implement cybersecurity legislation to protect against infiltration from hackers, but one insider says the answer is simple: just establish border patrol for the Internet in America. Former George W Bush special adviser for cybersecurity, Richard A. Clarke, tackles the topic of America’s susceptibility to Internet crimes in an editorial published in The New York Times this week, and the ex-White House “cyber czar” says the issue could easily be resolved. Clarke argues that America loses billions of dollars every year from foreign hackers that steal information from US computers, and while Congress is at odds over which of the handful of cybersecurity bills best fits the country’s needs, Clarke — who held related positions in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations — offers a solution of his own. In an op-ed published on April 2, Clarke suggests that the US Department of Homeland Security stands to largely stop critical data from being accessed by foreign hackers if they can successfully implement a way to monitor what goes in and out of America’s online infrastructure. Clarke argues in his op-ed that the current administration is all too hesitant to grab the issue by the horns. Not only has Congress complicated matters by considering several similar laws to establish cybersecurity guidelines with little success, he says, but President Barack Obama himself has failed to exercise his own authority to take on the issue.
The commander-in-chief, argues Clarke, could easily let the Department of Homeland Security take a stab at the problem. In turn, all they would have to do is scan trillions upon trillions of bits and bytes being beamed out of the personal computers in each American household. “Under Customs authority, the Department of Homeland Security could inspect what enters and exits the United States in cyberspace,” writes Clarke.
“Customs already looks online for child pornography crossing our virtual borders. And under the Intelligence Act, the president could issue a finding that would authorize agencies to scan Internet traffic outside the United States and seize sensitive files stolen from within our borders.”
Clarke insists that the president could easily step up and establish these guidelines himself without dealing with a divided Congress. Currently the US House of Representatives and Senate are considering varying legislation that would let the government monitor the Web to differing degrees. According to Clarke, however, letting DHS dig into the data going in and out of America’s computer systems would be the best place to start. The op-ed, titled “How China Steals Our Secrets,” was published days after a congressional panel heard that a 10-year, $1 billion research program was copied by hackers in a single night. The US military’s Cyber Command chief called the crime at the time “the greatest transfer of wealth in history,” but Clarke fears that future attacks will only rival it. Should hackers uncover classified information and hand it over to the Chinese, writes Clarke, America’s “competitive edge” against other nations will be jeopardized. He adds that many private firms are already unknowingly being hacked by outside users with unauthorized access and the next major cybercrime could already be on the horizon. “If Congress will not act to protect America’s companies from Chinese cyberthreats, President Obama must,” writes Clarke.
In the new op-ed, however, Clarke attempts to downplay the privacy concerns that are certain to arise should his own idea for cybersecurity take off. “Because it is fearful that government monitoring would be seen as a cover for illegal snooping and a violation of citizens’ privacy, the Obama administration has not even attempted to develop a proposal for spotting and stopping vast industrial espionage,” he explains, “…But by failing to act, Washington is effectively fulfilling China’s research requirements while helping to put Americans out of work.” For now Clarke’s suggestion is merely a pipe dream for the man that spent decades working for the US government, including an impressive stint on the United States Security Council. In the meantime, though, Congress could be very close to establishing other guidelines for the World Wide Web that might eliminate online privacy in America as it currently exists. One of the proposed bills currently garnering significant support in Washington is the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, which, if passed, would let the government get into any personal online communication it wants if it can claim that efforts exist “to degrade, disrupt or destroy” either “a system or network of a government or private entity.”
“We have a number of concerns with something like this bill that creates sort of a vast hole in the privacy law to allow government to receive these kinds of information,” Kendall Burman of the DC-based Center for Democracy and Technology tells RT during a recent interview. “Cyber security, when done right and done narrowly, could benefit everyone,” she added, “but it needs to be done in an incremental way with an arrow approach, and the heavy hand that lawmakers are taking with these current bills . . . it brings real serious concerns.” To POLITICO, the CDT’s vice president of public policy, Jim Dempsey, agrees that some sort of legislation could be a blessing as far as protecting America’s cyber infrastructure goes, but that is far and away different from digging into the personal correspondence being conducted from every computer in the country. “I think the government itself is a little schizophrenic on this,” explains Dempsey.
“On the one hand, there’s clearly the appropriate desire to say, ‘When a hurricane hits, we want to get information on the ground.’ Then there are others that say, ‘We also want to hear about protests and demonstrations.’” Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, adds to POLITICO that the government needs to figure out how to go about handling the “gray area” between personal matters and national threats if it wants to actually establish cybersecurity legislation without losing the support of millions of Americans. “The concept that the government would somehow be monitoring and storing inquiries of individual Web activities — many would find that disconcerting,” says Meehan. In his op-ed, however, Richard Clarke says that the government could easily alleviate those concerns. “[T]his does not have to endanger citizens’ privacy rights,” urges Clarke, who at the same time suggests that the Obama administration has failed to take the initiative in the matter thus far because “it fears a negative reaction from privacy-rights and Internet-freedom advocates who do not want the government scanning Internet traffic.” The CDT’s Burman also agrees as much and warns that, should the government give CISPA or any of the other cyber-surveillance legislation the go ahead, Congress could expect a backlash like they experienced earlier this year after attempting to pass SOPA, the Stop Online Privacy Act. “One of the lessons we learned in the reaction to SOPA and PIPA is that when Congress tries to legislate on things that are going to affect Internet users’ experience, the Internet users are going to pay attention,” Burman tells RT.Hmmmm......Perhaps Obama is waiting till he has 'more flexibility'? Read the full story here.

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

  Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Japan 5.7 - 5.6 ; Equador 5.6 - 5.5 ; Tonga 5.3 ; Indonesia 5.1!More info here.

• Bill would give DHS broader control of cybersecurity, follows corporate-sponsored MIT study recommendations.(AP).By Madison Ruppert.In December of last year I covered a study conducted by MIT with the help of “advisers” from the exact corporations which would benefit from the implementation of the recommendations of the report, and now it appears that these ideas have made their way all the way to Capitol Hill.This bill, which is reportedly currently before Congress, would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) significantly more monitoring power of the cybersecurity practices of private industries and services which are supposedly part of the United States’ critical infrastructure.The details of the bill have yet to be released, and I have not even been able to track down a number for the legislation yet so I can actually read it (if anyone can help me out with this I would be quite grateful).The small portions of the bill which have been made public attempt to define which companies are covered by the bill, although it is hardly as precise as one might like.Furthermore, I find it laughable that any legislation is allowed to be kept from the public at all, although given that our current government refuses to even justify why they think they are able to murder Americans without charge or trial, this is hardly unusual.The companies which will be affected by the bill have systems “whose disruption could result in the interruption of life-sustaining services, catastrophic economic damage or severe degradation of national security capabilities.”As I’m sure you can tell, this leaves a lot of wiggle room, something which legislators and bureaucrats love because it allows them to exploit the legislation as much as possible without technically violating it.A recent article in the Washington Post claims that the bill is just going to allow DHS to inspect the computer systems and networks which fall under this jurisdiction in order to determine if they are sufficiently secured against cybersecurity threats.I’m not sure if DHS and our so-called Representatives are aware, but our own deadly drone fleets are infected with malware. Maybe they should worry about securing the most critical of government systems before beginning to impose themselves on private industries.If they can’t even manage to secure unmanned aerial vehicles or Pentagon networks, who in their right mind would trust them to tell private industries what to do when it comes to securing their networks?This bill would allow the DHS to actually require companies to upgrade their systems and improve security if they decide they do not meet their arbitrary standards.Read the full story here.

• House panel advances Keystone pipeline plan.(Yahoo).WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A plan to fast-track the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline was passed by a key committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Republicans made yet another attempt to spur approval of the project that has become a major issue in the 2012 elections.The bill would wrest decision-making on the pipeline from the Obama administration and hand it to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which would be compelled to issue approval permits quickly on the Canada-to-Texas project.But the plan would need to clear several more congressional hurdles, including getting through Democratic opposition in the Senate, before it could land on President Barack Obama's desk for approval.In a decision last month that pleased environmental groups, Obama blocked TransCanada's $7 billion project, citing the need for further review of its route as the line would have traversed sensitive lands and an aquifer in Nebraska.Republicans have made the pipeline a symbol of what they believe are unnecessary regulations that are stifling job creation and energy production in the United States.On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 33-20 to send its Keystone bill to the full House, where it will likely become part of a highway and infrastructure funding bill that House Speaker John Boehner wants to see passed this month.Republicans also have not ruled out trying to attach a Keystone provision to must-pass payroll tax-cut legislation."We're going to use all options, so we'll see," said Fred Upton, the Republican chair of the energy committee, who is also part of a joint Senate-House conference panel working on the payroll tax-cut compromise.On Tuesday, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch withdrew a proposal to link Keystone to the Senate's highway funding bill."It is absolutely tragic that the prime minister of Canada is now negotiating with the Chinese to take their oil because we're too stupid to allow a pipeline to go through," Hatch said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the powerful panel, convinced Hatch to withdraw his measure."The inclusion of Keystone would take down the bill," Baucus said, although he noted he strongly supports the pipeline.Read the full story here.

• Iran: US, Israel vulnerable to counterattack.(JPost).The United States and Israel are in no position to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities because of their high susceptibility to retaliatory attacks from the Islamic Republic, a senior Iranian military commander said Tuesday.Iranian news agency Press TV quoted senior Revolutionary Guard official Brig.-Gen. Masoud Jazayeri as saying that both the US and Israel were aware of Tehran's ability to hurt them with its counterattack and therefore their threats lack credibility.The Tehran Times quoted Jazayeri as saying that Iran will continue to pursue its objectives without considering, what he referred to as, Washington's policy of "carrot and stick." The senior Revolutionary Guard official made the comments in response to remarks made by US President Barack Obama on Sunday in which he stated that diplomacy and not military action was the "preferred solution" to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.The White House announced tough new sanctions on Iran Monday, clamping down on the activity of the country’s Central Bank and those who do business with it.In an interview with NBC on Sunday Obama emphasized the goal is to resolve this issue diplomatically, while reiterating that he will not take any options off the table.Asked whether Israel had promised to give advance warning of an attack, Obama declined to reveal the content of diplomatic conversations but said, “We are going to make sure we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this, hopefully diplomatically.”Questioned on whether he supported such a strike, Obama responded, “I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on their nuclear weapons program.”Read the full story here.

• The Financial Crisis Of 2008 Was Just A Warm Up Act For The Economic Horror Show That Is Coming.(BS).The people out there that believe that the U.S. economy is experiencing a permanent recovery and that very bright days are ahead for us should have their heads examined. Unfortunately, what we are going through right now is simply just a period of “hopetimism” between two financial crashes. Things may seem relatively stable right now, but it won’t last long. The truth is that the financial crisis of 2008 was just a warm up act for the economic horror show that is coming. Nothing really got fixed after the crash of 2008. We are living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world, and it has gotten even bigger since then. The “too big to fail” banks are larger now than they have ever been. Americans continue to run up credit card balances like there is no tomorrow. Tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of jobs continue to leave the country. We continue to consume far more than we produce and we continue to become poorer as a nation. None of the problems that caused the crisis of 2008 have been solved and we are even weaker financially than we were back then. So why in the world are so many people so optimistic about the economy right now?Just take a look at the chart posted below. It shows the growth of total debt in the United States. During the financial crisis of 2008 there was a little “hiccup”, but the truth is that not much deleveraging really took place at all. And since the recession “ended”, total credit market debt has gone on to even greater heights….So what does this mean for the future?Well, if a small “hiccup” in the debt bubble caused so much chaos back in 2008, what is going to happen when this debt bubble finally bursts?That is something to think about.Sadly, most Americans seem oblivious to all of this.If you go out to malls in the wealthy areas of America today, people are charging up a storm. In all, Americans charged a whopping 2.5 trillion dollarson their credit cards during 2011. Way too many people have already forgotten the lessons that we all learned back in 2008.Read the full story here.

• Israel embassies preparing for Iran strike?(YNet).Preparing for Iran strike? Foreign embassies in Israel have recently started to formulate contingency plans to evacuate their citizens from the Jewish State in case of a missile attack on Israel.Senior officials in Jerusalem said that several diplomatic missions have shown great interest in preparing for various emergency situations, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.In the framework of the preparations for possible fallout in case of an Israeli strike on Iran, foreign diplomats stationed in Israel requested that the Foreign Ministry equip them and their family members with gas masks. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has provided foreign embassies in Israel with a list of public bomb shelters across the country, as well as an instructional pamphlet in English produced by the IDF Home Front Command. Diplomatic officials deployed in Israel are particularly concerned about the possibility of a missile offensive on the Jewish State that would prompt thousands of Israeli citizens with foreign passports to seek evacuation from country. A senior European diplomat said that in such case, the European Union does not have the means to undertake a massive evacuation operation within a short period of time. Meanwhile, the Home Front Command is preparing to launch a two-day drill in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday. IDF forces, firefighters, police officers and Magen David Adom emergency services will be taking part in the exercise. Army officials said that heavy military and emergency vehicle traffic is expected in the city's Shimshon neighborhood during the day. The drill marks the latest in a series of Home Front exercises held in Israel in recent months. The Air Force will also be holding major maneuvers Wednesday, in the northern Israel Galilee region.Read the full story here.

• 18 babies killed in Syria’s Homs as power cut.(BM).CAIRO: Activists in Homs have reported that at least 18 premature babies died on Wednesday at a local hospital after electricity was cut, causing their incubators to shut down.“The babies were in al-Walid Hospital in al-Waar neighbourhood near the dissident area of Baba Amr,” an activist told German press agency dpa.It comes as near continuous shelling is being maintained by the security forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the country, which has left hundreds of civilians dead over the past few days of shelling.At least 47 people have been killed on Wednesday morning in the country.“The security forces started to storm the al-Khalidiyeh, al-Inshaat, Bab Amr neighborhoods, targeting residential areas and hospitals,” Omar Idibi, spokesman of the Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committees, told dpa in Beirut.“Initial reports from inside Homs said 47 are killed and scores of people were injured and cannot reach the hospital,” he added.The government troops had arrested several injured people in the hospital where they were being treated, he said.Read the full story here.

• Will China take Stephen Harper to task for Canada’s record on human rights?(Yahoo).It's expected that prime minister Stephen Harper will raise the issue of China's human rights record this week while meeting with government officials in the middle kingdom.But will China take Canada to task for its record on human rights?In an ironic twist, a First Nations group from British Columbia is asking the Chinese government to raise the issue with Stephen Harper.In an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jin Tao, the Yinka Dene Alliance, comprised of five First Nations communities in central British Columbia, suggest their human rights are being violated at the hands of the Canadian government."We are writing to you to request that you raise our human rights concerns with Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. We understand that you will meet with him in China this week. From previous public reports we know that Prime Minister Harper always challenges your country on the human rights record. Open dialogue around human rights is a very positive way to create change and we hope that you to hear our side of the story before this meeting occurs," notes the letter signed by Chiefs from the alliance's five first nations."Aboriginal communities in Canada live at the margins of society conditions. Recently the community of Attawapiskat was highlighted in the news for the extreme conditions with lack of housing, running water and sewage. Attawapiskat is one of more than 100 First Nations communities in Canada that face this reality. These conditions violate the adequate standard of living guaranteed by theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights."The letter, published on the group's website, includes examples of human rights abuses against Aboriginal people: it notes their communities' disproportionate incarceration rates and the high number of aboriginal women that have gone missing or were murdered. The letter also warns the Chinese government of the legal uncertainty associated with the proposed Enbridge pipeline and tankers project:"We have learned that Sinopec, and a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), are among the companies that have signed preliminary, non-binding agreements with Enbridge in relation to this pipeline. The Canadian government's hearing process to review the Enbridge project cannot be relied upon to provide certainty to project investors, because it does not respect our rights to our land," notes the letter."Investors should not place confidence in Canada's system to review oil pipeline projects until the underlying question of our land rights has been resolved."Read the full story here.

• "Bold Alligator 2012" drills 20,000 troops on US East Coast for Persian Gulf action.(Debka). Some 20,000 marines, seamen and air crews from half a dozen countries, a US nuclear aircraft carrier strike group and three US Marine gunship carriers are practicing an attack on a fictitious mechanized enemy division which has invaded its neighbor. It is the largest amphibian exercise seen in the West for a decade, staged to simulate a potential Iranian invasion of an allied Persian Gulf country and a marine landing on the Iranian coast. Based largely on US personnel and hardware, French, British, Italian, Dutch, Australian and New Zealand military elements are integrated in the drill. Bold Alligator went into its operational phase Monday, Feb. 6, the same day as a large-scale exercise began in southern Iran opposite the Strait of Hormuz. This simultaneity attests to the preparations for a US-Iranian showdown involving Israel behind the words on Feb. 5 of US President Barack Obama ("I don't think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran") and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 3 ("The war itself will be ten times as detrimental to the US.").Monday, Feb. 6, the US president ordered the tightening of sanctions by freezing Iranian assets in America and blocking the operations of Iranian banks including its central bank.US Rear Adm. Kevin Scott and Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens are coordinating the exercise over large stretches of coastal terrain in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida and Atlantic Ocean from the USS Wasp amphibian helicopter carrier. It is led by the USS Enterprise nuclear carrier with strike force alongside three amphibian helicopter carriers, the USS Wasp, the USS Boxer and the USS Kearsage. On their decks are 6,000 Marines, 25 fighter bombers and 65 strike and transport helicopters, mainly MV-22B Ospreys with their crews. Altogether 100 combat aircraft are involved.US naval officials insist that the exercise has nothing to do with Iran, but the scenario is a giveaway. A mechanized division from the fictitious hostile country of Garnet (Iran) has invaded its neighbor, Amber (Saudi Arabia), which has asked for coalition assistance to halt the enemy's northern advance. Garnet has already mined harbors (Hormuz) and established anti-ship missiles on its coastline.Coalition forces are required to develop strategy for defeating the enemy and carry the combat onto its (Iranian) soil. Hence, the preponderance of amphibian Marines in the exercise.Read the full story here.

• Top U.S. senators see Egypt risking ‘disastrous’ rupture in ties with Washington.(AlArabiya).A trio of leading U.S. senators Tuesday warned Egypt that the risk of a “disastrous” rupture in ties had “rarely been greater” amid an escalating row over the planned trial of U.S. pro-democracy activists.Echoed by a bipartisan chorus of anger from U.S. lawmakers, Republican senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, joined by independent Joe Lieberman, also warned that U.S. congressional “support for Egypt -- including continued financial assistance -- is in jeopardy.”Washington currently provides some $1.3 billion a year in aid to its key Arab ally -- one of the biggest aid packages offered to any nation.“The current crisis with the Egyptian government has escalated to such a level that it now threatens our long-standing partnership,” the senators wrote in a joint statement.“There are committed opponents of the United States and the U.S.-Egypt relationship within the government in Cairo who are exacerbating tensions and inflaming public opinion in order to advance a narrow political agenda,” they said, according to AFP. “A rupture in relations would be disastrous, and the risks of such an outcome have rarely been greater,” the senators added.Egyptian justices have announced plans to put dozens of pro-democracy activists, including 19 Americans, on trial over alleged illegal funding to foreign aid groups -- a move that has clearly left U.S. lawmakers seething.The row has led some to openly question the crucial Egypt-U.S. partnership that has anchored America’s Middle East policy for a generation and helped keep the peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.Democrat John Kerry, influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, berated Egypt’s leaders for what he said was a “slap in the face to Americans who have supported Egypt for decades and to Egyptian individuals and NGOs who have put their futures on the line for a more democratic Egypt.”He accused unnamed figures of “engaging in a very dangerous game that risks damaging both Egypt’s democratic prospects and the U.S.-Egyptian bilateral relationship.”Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned that U.S. aid to Egypt could be cut if activists end up being imprisoned.“If anybody goes to jail I think there’ll be a backlash you can’t contain,” Graham told reporters.Asked if that meant scrapping the aid Washington provides to Egypt, Graham replied: “Yes, I think very much at risk.”“The red line for me is incarceration. If any American or NGO (non-governmental organization) staff member is pre-trial confined or post-trial confined, that's just an absolute overreaction,” he added.There was anger in the House of Representatives as well, with congresswoman Kay Granger, who chairs a subcommittee on foreign appropriations, warning that “the harassment of Americans who are in Egypt trying to help build their democracy is unacceptable.”“Not one more dollar should flow to the government of Egypt until the secretary of state can assure the American people that this issue is resolved,” she said.Hmmmm........Come to think of it....How about the U.S. sale of 125 - M1A1 Abrams tanks to Egypt ?Read the full story here.

• Turkey plans conference on Syria, says Assad dares not to use ‘Kurds as a card’.(AlArabiya).Turkey plans an international conference “as soon as possible” with regional players and world powers to solve the Syrian crisis, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.“We are determined to establish a broad-based forum to promote international understanding with all countries concerned” with the developments in Syria, Ahmet Davutoglu said in a televised interview.The planned conference follows on from a series of conferences hosted by Turkey in 2011 to unite various opposition groups into an established coalition opposition movement.Davutoglu, who said that the Assad regime dares not to use Kurdish separatist groups as proxies and as a “card” against Turkey, added that Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, would discuss the situation in Syria in a phone call with Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev later on Wednesday.The conference could take place in Turkey or in another country but it must certainly be “in the region” and “as soon as possible,” he added.Turkey has been trying to create a “new roadmap,” on Syria.Later in the day, Davutoglu will fly to the United States for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for further discussions on the Syrian crisis.He will also meet U.S. National Security Advisor Thomas Danilon and return to Turkey on Sunday, said a statement from the foreign ministry.Erdogan on Tuesday gave initial signs of a new initiative on Syria after China and Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by the West and the Arab League to stop the months-long bloodshed.Hmmm.....We all know how 'concerned' Erdogan is about the Kurds.Read the full story here.

• Maldives mob smashes Buddhist statues in national museum.(AlArabiya).Police said Wednesday a mob had stormed the Maldives national museum and smashed Buddhist statues, an act of vandalism which former president Mohamed Nasheed blamed on Islamic radicals. “A mob entered the museum yesterday (Tuesday). They smashed many statues. This included some statues of Buddha,” police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told AFP.In an interview with AFP on Wednesday, Nasheed said a mob including Islamist hardliners had attacked the museum because they believed some of the statues inside were “idolatrous.” Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution.Nasheed's resignation came after a small band of policeman mutinied on Tuesday morning and refused to obey an order to break up an anti-government protest where demonstrators were demanding the president step down.Islamist radicals had been used as part of the attack on his record in office, he said, referring to public statements alleging he was under the influence of Jews and was trying to bring Christianity to the Muslim nation.“They (the opposition) feared they had no chance in the election next year,” he said. “There is no reason why people should be toppling the government."Read the full story here.

• Senior Iranian commander: Iran's Air Defense Fully Prepared to Repel Enemy Threats.(Fars). TEHRAN - A senior Iranian commander underlined that the country's air defense unit is fully capable of detecting and repelling all aerial threats. "Iran's air defense will give a tough response to any threat with its various ground-to-air missiles and weapons, most of which have been upgraded or manufactured inside the country," Commander of Northeastern Air Defense Unit Colonel Abdollah Reshadi told reporters on Tuesday. He added that Iran's air defense radar systems can easily detect cruise missiles and drones. In October 2011, Iran equipped its air defense units with advanced radars capable of detecting Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Commander of Khatom ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said at the time that Iran can trace and shoot down small UAVs over its airspace. Brigadier General Farzad Esmaeili also said that air defense units are closely monitoring overflights of foreign aircraft and are fully prepared to detect and shoot down unauthorized UAVs. Last week, Esmayeeli announced that the country's Armed Forces have launched new radar and missile systems with various ranges. Tens of radar and missile systems with various ranges have been manufactured and deployed in Iran's defense sector so far and new systems are on their way to join the defense network during the 10-Day Dawn celebrations, which began on February 1 to mark the 33th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Esmayeeli said last Wednesday. Iran has recently renewed and upgraded the weapons and defense systems of its air defense units. Late in September, Iran equipped its air defense units across the country with large numbers of the home-made Mersad Air Defense Missile System. Read the full story here.

• Germany - 'Fetih 1453' Turkish Conquest movie continues to anger Europe.(HD).The upcoming Turkish movie “Fetih 1453” (Conquest 1453) has angered Christians in the German city of Cologne, with the Christian association Via Dolorosa boycotting the film. The association said Turks should be ashamed of what they did to Christians in the past instead of celebrating Istanbul’s conquest. The movie, directed by Faruk Aksoy, tells the story of Istanbul’s capture by the Ottomans during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II.“We advise every Christian not to watch this movie. We will distribute brochures in front of the cinemas and inform the Christians who would like to see this movie,” said a spokesperson for the group, adding that the Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest.The movie has also angered Greek viewers after it was released there in January. Greek weekly To Proto Thema described the film as “conquest propaganda by the Turks,” in a story published on its website. “The Turkish invaders present themselves as rulers of the world” and “[fail] to show the mass killings of Greeks and the plunder of the land by the Turks,” the piece said.Read and see (Trailer) the full story here.

• IDF submarine fleet bans dual citizenship.(Ynet).The IDF now demands that new candidates for service in Israel's submarine fleet waive their foreign citizenship in order to join the elite unit. The demand to concede one's dual citizenship is made at certain IDF combat units and for posts requiring high security clearance. Submarine fleet recruits receive a notification stating they must renounce their foreign citizenships in order to qualify for the prolonged training, as part of their security screenings. Submarine fleet recruits who fail to complete the year-long training lose their foreign citizenships nonetheless.The recent move raised strong opposition among fleet reserve officers,who claim that the new requirement will limit the number of volunteers to the unit."This is absurd. Many excellent recruits hold a dual citizenship but wish to serve in an elite unit such as submarine fleet,"an ex-officer said. "In a country that fights for every recruit, especially for elite units, this demand should not be made. Soldiers serve for only a few years, and must not pay by losing the foreign citizenship that can be used later in life." Security officials say that in recent years there was a decline in number of units that demand a foreign citizenship waiver as part of the security clearance process. The criteria for receiving a security clearance are decided by the units, the Shin Bet and the National Security Council, according to the level of exposure to classified materials during one's service. In many combat units, candidates are required to declare any foreign citizenship, but not to renounce it. According to the international media, IDF submarines operate in foreign waters, far from Israel's borders. The IDF Spokesman's Office issued the following statement in response to the story: "For information security purposes, soldiers serving in certain IDF units are required to meet strict criteria". Read the full story here.

• Is your child a devout Muslim or a drug addict?(HD).By Burak.Bekdil.The cliché accusation against the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Islamist policies over the past decade has been an illusionary scenario that the party aims to “make Turkey a second Iran.”This column, since 2002, has repeatedly refuted that claim, instead, arguing that the AKP aimed to “make Turkey somewhere between what is today’s Turkey and what is today’s Egypt” in terms of visible – though not necessarily genuine – devoutness. Therefore, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s now officially proclaimed objective of “raising devout generations… which embrace our historic principles” is no surprise to this columnist.In response to criticism, Mr. Erdoğan asked: “Should we, instead, raise homeless drug addicts?” Sadly, in the prime minister’s world, a non-devout child is a homeless drug addict. But never mind.Mr. Erdoğan’s goal is problematic on two grounds. First, how should the prime minister describe devoutness? Is it simply “what I, the prime minister, understand of devoutness?” But would a lady who abstains from pork, does not wear a headscarf, prays five a day, fasts during Ramadan but drinks alcohol qualify? Or a man who does not drink alcohol but eats pork? Would a Muslim who observes all dietary prohibitions, prays regularly, fasts, has visited Mecca 10 times but cheats, steals and does injustice to others qualify? Who is authorized to judge? Which mortal could have the license to measure other people’s devoutness? How would the Muslim-meter respond to a query that spots no pork but finds immodesty? No alcohol but injustice? Or vice versa? And second, “raising generations that will embrace our historic principles” may be even more problematic. Which historic principles does Mr. Erdoğan want to raise generations to embrace? Military raids and the occupation of other nations’ lands? Making non-Muslims second-class citizens in occupied territories? Sultans with harems? Alcohol-drinking caliphs? Endless wars? Generations who wholeheartedly believe in the supremacy of the Sunni Muslim Turk? How, if Mr. Erdoğan’s declared social engineering works, would the devout generations who embrace our historic principles treat the not-so-devout generations who judge our historic principles in all objectivity? It’s not so hard to guess… It is precisely for these reasons why secular Turks have viewed Mr. Erdoğan and his ideology with deep suspicion.Read the full story here.

• Qaradawi Meets Hamas Leaders, Predicts "Victory".(TIP).A Hamas delegation headed by the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of Gaza met Yusuf al Qaradawi, the highly influential Muslim Brotherhood theologian, in Qatar Saturday. In the love fest which followed, as reported on Qaradawi's website, "His Eminence also gave the people of Gaza and Palestine the good news that victory is near and at the door."Along with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the delegation included Yehya Al-Sinwar, a top security strategist, and his deputy Rawhi Mushtaha, recently released from long terms in Israeli prison as part of the prisoner swap. They invited Qaradawi to visit Gaza, where he could broadcast over Hamas's media outlet, al Aqsa TV. They also prayed that God would extend the Sheikh's life to allow him to pray alongside them in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque.Qaradawi returned to Egypt from a long exile following the fall of President Hosni Mubarak last year to preach the Friday sermon in Tahrir Square. "A message to our brothers in Palestine: I harbor the hope that just like God allowed me to witness the triumph of Egypt, He will allow me to witness the conquest of the al-Aqsa mosque, and will enable me to preach in the al-Aqsa Mosque."In a 2009 speech before the Arab Spring Qaradawi was less optimistic and merely hoped to die fighting the Jews: I'd like to say that the only thing 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."Hmmm.....All he needs is Obama having a second term?Read the full story here.

• If Armenian 'Genocide' Proven, Turkey will Apologize, Bagis Says.(SI).Turkey's Minister for European Affairs and chief European Union negotiator Egemen Bağış on Saturday said if claims that the 1915 deportation of Anatolian Armenians constituted "genocide" could be historically and scientifically substantiated, Turkey would apologize for it.As a guest on "Talk to Al Jazeera," one of the most popular programs on the Al Jazeera English-language news station, Bağış responded to extensive questions regarding whether the Turkish government would recognize the 1915 incidents as "genocide."Bağış said: "If it is recognized as a reality approved both historically and scientifically, moreover, unanimously, then why not?" He noted that every nation has dark moments in its history, asking, "Would you be able to name a nation without any dark chapters or pains in its past?"He also noted that to prove if the incident amounted to "genocide" or not, first the disputed issue needs to be examined objectively. However, he said the Armenian government was not brave enough to confront its own history, as it refuses to disclose its historical archives.Recalling the Armenian government's rejection of a Turkish proposal to publicly discuss the archived documents from both sides and document every historian's discussion about the events and also their research, Bağış said, "Unfortunately, the Armenian government lacks the courage to accept this suggestion."Referring to a bill adopted recently by the French Senate that makes it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 in Anatolia amounted to genocide, Bağış said the bill was "null and void" for Turkey.Armenia claims the 1915 deportation of Armenians by the Ottomans was a genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed and says the incident was an act of ethnic cleansing, wanting it to be internationally recognized as genocide. Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its national honor, meanwhile, says the killings were not intentionally perpetrated to eradicate a particular ethnicity but were the result of the wartime conditions during World War I. Turkey also notes that both Muslim and non-Muslims died during the event.Read the full story here.

• Prelude to a US-NATO Intervention?(AlexanderMunch).Russia and China have vetoed the UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria pointing to the existence of armed groups involved in terrorist acts including the killing of civilians. These armed groups have been involved since the outset of the "protest movement" in Daraa, southern Syria, in March 2011. The statement of Russia's envoy to the UN Viktor Churkin remains within the realm of international diplomacy. It does not mention who is behind these armed groups and the fact that NATO is supporting an armed insurrection. "Churkin said that resolution's Western co-sponsors had not included key proposals such as isolating the Syrian opposition from violent extremist groups or a call to arms for other states to use their influence to prevent such alliances". (Russia Today, February 4, 2012)Ironically, Russia's decision to veto the resolution is consistent with the report of the Arab League's Observer Mission to Syria, which confirms the existence of an "Armed Entity". Unexpectedly, however, neither Washington nor the Arab League, which commissioned the Observer Mission to Syria in the first place, have accepted the interim report presented by the AL Mission.  Why? Because the Mission --integrated by independent observers from Arab League countries-- provides a balanced and objective assessment of what is happening on the ground inside Syria. It does not serve as a mouthpiece for Washington and the governments of Arab states.  It points to the existence of an "Armed Entity"; it acknowledges that "armed opposition groups" including the Syria Free Army are involved in criminal and terrorist acts. Read the full story here.

• Google's HUD glasses have been sighted.(CNet).The prototype for Google's HUD glasses has been seen, according to tech news site 9to5Google. And, supposedly they resemble Oakley's Thump glasses, which makes them look a lot like something the Terminator might wear.But, it's not just how Google's glasses look, their function also mirrors something out of the Terminator trilogy. In December, rumors spread that Google was finishing up a prototype on high-tech glasses known as wearable head-up displays (HUD) that could tap into Google's cloud-based location services and detail users' surroundings. The information would then appear as an augmented reality computer display. According to 9to5Google, these glasses can do all that and more. The glasses will reportedly have an extremely small front-facing camera with a flash to gather information and take photos, a navigation system that is used by head-tilting to scroll and click, I/O for voice input and output, and CPU/RAM/storage hardware nearly equivalent to a generation-oldAndroid smartphone. Read the full story here.