MFS - The Other News

                       Afternoon Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 13. Here .(Al-Jazeera).
• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world increased seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.5 and 5.4! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 84.On 12.04.2011 at 02:59 GMT+2. Here .

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

• HT:BigGovernment.Obama’s ‘Framework’ for Perpetual Deficits and Higher Taxes.Big Government has received an outline of President Obama’s ‘framework’ for reducing the federal budget deficit. The White House claims the ‘framework’ will trim $4 Trillion, over 12 years from the deficit.The President believes that we need a comprehensive, pro-growth economic strategy that invests in winning the future, lays the foundation for strong private-sector job growth and ensures that shared prosperity will keep the American dream alive for generations to come. A key component of that strategy must be a commitment to fiscal responsibility and to living within our means. Today, the President is laying out a comprehensive, balanced deficit reduction framework to cut spending, bring down our debt and increase confidence in our nation’s fiscal strength, while supporting our economic recovery and ensuring we are making the investments we need to win the future.Hmmmm....Call me old fashion but what interest me is what's the spending numbers for the next 12 years,considering the number of Trillions he adds in a year to the US debt?Read the full story here.

• HT:Politico.Most 'transparant' administration White House visitor logs leave out many.A foot of snow couldn’t keep Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jennifer Hudson and other celebrities away from a star-studded celebration of civil-rights-era music, hosted by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House in February 2010.Dylan’s haunting rendition of “The Times They Are a-Changin’” was a highlight of the dazzling evening. The digitally friendly White House even posted the video of his performance on its website.But you won’t find Dylan (or Robert Zimmerman, his birth name) listed in the White House visitor logs — the official record of who comes to call at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which is maintained by the Secret Service.Ditto Joan Baez.Similarly, the logs are missing the names of thousands of other visitors to the White House, including lobbyists, government employees, campaign donors, policy experts and friends of the first family, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.The White House website proudly boasts of making available “over 1,000,000 records of everyone who’s come through the doors of the White House” via a searchable database.Yet the Center’s analysis shows that the logs routinely omit or cloud key details about the identity of visitors, whom they met with and the nature of their visits. The logs even include the names of people who never showed up. These are critical gaps that raise doubts about the records’ historical accuracy and utility in helping the public understand White House operations, from social events to meetings on key policy debates.

Among the many weaknesses found by the Center’s review of the database:

• The “event” description in the logs is blank for more than 205,000 visits, including many that involved small meetings with the president and his key aides.

• Five junior staff aides together received more than 4,440 visits. By contrast, then-chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, famed for his workaholic schedule, is listed as having fewer than 500 visits.

• Less than 1 percent of the estimated 500,000 visits to the White House in Obama’s first eight months — a time when the new administration was bustling with activity — have been disclosed, according to the Center’s analysis.The Center’s analysis is based on visitor logs through February; additional names released in late March are not included in this analysis. “If this is transparency, who needs it?” said Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. He called the White House visitor logs “very thin gruel.”Hmmmm.....For all i know even Osama Bin Laden could be visiting Hussein and staying in the guestroom?Read the full story here.

• Iran benefits from regional turmoil as price of oil soars.At the same time, Hezbollah is concerned with the ongoing protests in Syria and the possibility that President Bashar Assad will lose power.According to foreign reports, Syria is storing an unspecified number of long-range Scud missiles inside a base near the Syrian-Lebanese border. Other reports have mentioned that Syria is also storing advanced surface-to-air missiles on Hezbollah’s behalf.Iran is believed to still be suffering from technical setbacks due to the Stuxnet computer virus that attached its Natanz uranium fuel enrichment facility over the summer but has gotten most of its program back on track.According to assessments within the defense establishment, Iran’s current strategy is to prepare all of its nuclear assets for the day that it will decide to go to the breakout stage and begin developing a nuclear weapon.Hmmmm......Read the full story here.

• Top White House aide delivers Obama letter to Saudi king.A top White House aide delivered a personal letter from President Obama to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Tuesday, as the administration moved to calm tensions between the two countries over how to respond to upheaval in the Arab world and deal with their mutual adversary in Iran.The stakes are high for both sides, perhaps higher for Obama.

Saudi Arabia, in addition to being the world’s largest oil exporter and the site of the Muslim world’s holiest sites, is the leading U.S. regional partner on counterterrorism matters. An extensive bilateral intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure has been established over the past decade. A pending $60 billion arms deal with the Saudis is the largest in U.S. history.Underlying the current tensions is Saudi Arabia’s long-standing concern that it “has been taken for granted by the United States,” said another member of the Shura, part of a group that visited Washington last week.

The Saudis consider themselves “the voice for moderation and stabilization in the Middle East,” he said, and resent the U.S. implication that the administration is more attuned to threats such as Iran, or that the Saudi monarchy needs to move toward its own reforms at a faster pace than it believes is wise or necessary.

Some foreign policy experts in this country agree that Obama needs to pay more attention to the relationship. The Saudi king needs to know “that the president will provide a secure safety net of support, rather than undermine him” in the event of trouble in the kingdom, Martin Indyk, the director of the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program, wrote in The Washington Post early this week. Saudi uncertainty was reflected in a visit to Pakistan last month by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the head of the Saudi National Security Council.But others are more dismissive of Saudi concerns. “Our friends are mad at us because we said Mubarak had to go,” Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said Tuesday at the U.S.-Islamic Forum, a conference in Washington jointly sponsored by Brookings and the government of Qatar. “We didn’t say that . . . the Egyptian people did,” Kerry said. “We acknowledged a reality.”“For leaders worried about their regimes, royal families and governments,” Kerry said, “this is an opportunity to adjust to how they stay in power.”Hmmmm......C'Mon Abdul no hard feelings wasn't planning to stab you in the back down the road....well not right now perhaps later in an alley?Read the full story here.

• EU slaps sanctions on 32 Iranians over rights abuses.AFP LUXEMBOURG — The European Union imposed assets freezes and travel bans on 32 Iranian officials on Tuesday, saying they had been involved in human rights violations.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers that the 27-nation bloc wanted to hit back at the "appalling human rights record of Iran."He denounced the jailing of Iranian opposition leaders, the detention of more journalists "than any other country in the world," and an "excessive use of the death penalty, often on vague charges."The EU "is agreeing today restrictive measures on 32 individuals in Iran we believe are responsible and instrumental in these policies," he said.The measures were decided at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, following in the footsteps of the United States, which imposed similar sanctions in September 2010.The list of names will soon be made public in the EU Official Journal.The EU ministers had already agreed in principle to the sanctions in March, when they voiced concern about the "deterioration" of human rights in Iran.They also voiced alarm over the "dramatic increase in executions in recent months and the systematic repression of Iranian citizens."Iran has already been hit by a raft of sanctions imposed by the United Nations over its refusal to halt its controversial nuclear programme.The United States and the European Union added their own unilateral sanctions on top of the UN measures last year.The United States hit eight Iranian official with sanctions last year, including current and former ministers, accusing them of committing serious human rights violations during the disputed presidential elections of 2009.Read the full story here.

• Sweden Plans Deportation of Christian-Convert Imam.A former imam who converted to Christianity is facing extradition from Sweden to his native Iraq, where he may face imprisonment or death for his "apostasy" from Islam. . According to an article at Dagen.se (translated by Google): A former imam, who lives in Karlskoga and who converted to Christianity must be deported to Iraq, the Administrative Court of Appeal has decided. Bengt Sjoberg, local politician from Filipstad and heavily involved in refugee issues, said that the former Imam [had] been baptized in the Baptist church in Karlskoga and openly share[d] [his] faith with others. “This is absolutely horrible. This is a genuine conversion and many of us can testify that there is a man who lives as a Christian.”Given the latitude which has been shown by Western nations for generations in extending protection to individuals claiming sanctuary from the tyranny which would confront them at home, the decision of Swedish authorities to deport a man whose conversion would make him a target seems reckless. The bloody persecution which has been inflicted on the Church in Iraq in the past few years has driven much of the Christian remnant out of the country; even the homes of Christians in Baghdad were subjected to Jihadist attacks this past Christmas.According to an entry (“Mänskliga rättigheter, asylsökande och dop/Human rights, asylum seekers and baptism”) on Mr. Sjoberg’s website, the Church of Sweden is making the situation worse for converts because it is urging that those foreigners who become believers in Christianity should not be baptized, if there is a possibility they could be deported. As Mr. Sjoberg writes (again, via Google translation): It's good that the Swedish Church declares that it is dangerous to be a Christian if you come from certain countries such as Afghanistan and Iran.Certainly one of the most basic rights recognized in the West is the freedom of conscience in matters of religion. While Islamic nations threaten to execute those who "blaspheme" Islam, and Jihadists murder the only Christian in the Pakistani government, the moral obligation of Western nations is to protect immigrants from such nations as would imprison or murder them for their religious beliefs, as we once offered a measure of protection to those who fled from the Communist nations.It is not surprising that some of the recent émigrés from the Islam-dominated countries will come to the realization that they had previously been deceived regarding the nature of Christianity. Rev. Elijah Abraham, a former Muslim from Iraq who converted to Christianity, has a ministry, Living Oasis Ministries, which has as its goal bringing the Gospel to adherents of Islam. (Rev. Abraham was interviewed by The New American last year, and the first portion of that interview may be found here.) Rev. Abraham explained that his life as a Muslim in Iraq was one which was filled with hatred:

I grew up with hatred: hatred toward Christianity. I had a lot of Christian neighbors and friends and I loved them, but the Christians I could not separate from Christianity because my community and Islam told me I could not separate America from Christianity ... England from Christianity ... colonialism from Christianity. So that was the hatred — hatred toward the West — imperialism, capitalism, etc. — and hatred toward the Jews, and Israel, and Zionism. Nobody told me why I needed to hate. The culture of hate is just a way of life, and not just hatred toward Christians and Jews, but also toward other factions within Islam. There is no peace. There is this constant struggle, on a personal, community, or national level. That’s why it’s a really great opportunity to share the Gospel with Muslims, because as human beings we always want to have peace of mind. We always want to be at rest and ease. That’s the void that only God can fill. So it’s a great opportunity when I witness to Muslims and give them that option. Yes, they will give me typical Muslim objections to the Gospel, but I’m prepared to answer those questions.Such converts from Islam have a great deal to teach Christians in the West through their willingness to suffer for what they believe. As Sjoberg observes, “We never baptize someone who has not received proper training and if you come from a Muslim background you may be given a long time to think about the risks it entails to become a Christian and be baptized, [as you] may be deported to a country where capital punishment [is inflicted] on any converts. If you still stand fast in the desire to fully become a Christian, we can not deny anyone to make this powerful spiritual experience.”Hmmmm......Why not appeal to the Pope to put pressure on the Swedes?Read the full story here.

• The Obama Administration Embraces Radical Islamists.But the clueless Obama administration’s “faith advisor” Dahlia Mogahed is mimicking Alfred E. Neuman’s line in Mad Magazine: “What, Me Worry?According to a report on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood website that has since been mysteriously removed, Ms. Mogahed, presumably reflecting the views of her boss, has reportedly said in a recent interview that Washington has no worries concerning the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.The news media – even Fox News – has dropped the ball in not covering this latest piece of evidence that the Obama administration is legitimizing our number one ideological enemy – radical Islam .In the interview, Obama’s faith advisor revealed that the Obama administration:

does not want to make an enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood and in fact respects them;

foresees the Muslim Brotherhood acquiring a majority of the seats in Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary election; andbelieves the relationship between the United States and an Egypt governed by a Muslim Brotherhood majority will be much more that of equals.Obama’s faith advisor did not stop there. In an article she posted on the Huffington Post website entitled “The Fruits of Faith in the Arab Spring,” Ms. Mogahed argued that Islam is playing a role in the Arab nation revolutions akin to the role that religious faith played for this country’s civil rights movement.She said that

Islam contains rich resources for liberation philosophy.

I highly doubt that the Iranian dissidents whom have been killed, beaten, arrested, and tortured at the behest of the oh-so-devout Islamic mullahs running the Islamic Republic of Iran would be impressed with Islam’s version of a “liberation philosophy.”That’s not all. Ms. Mogahed also claimed that Islamists’ rejection of any man-made law that conflicts with Allah’s law is a good thing : Its most central theological principle is that of God’s absolute oneness, meaning that only He is worthy of unquestioning obedience and submission, and only He should be truly feared. This focus on God’s glory minimizes the supposed supremacy of tyrants, making them seem miniscule and powerless. When protesters declare “God is greater,” they are saying that the Devine (sic) dominates the dictator.Hmmmm.....,A pitty her boss has a tendency to leave the word GOD out?Ah my mistake ....that's the Christian God.Read the full treason story here.

• HT:Memri.Al-Azhar Sheikh: Pope's Apology A Condition For Interfaith Dialogue.As part of yesterday's Cairo visit by the Vatican envoy, Al-Azhar Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb demanded an official apology from Pope Benedict XVI for his insult to Islam, calling it a basic condition for renewing the interfaith dialogue between the two institutions. Al-Azhar decided to freeze the dialogue with the Vatican in late January following Pope Benedict XVI's criticism of Muslims' treatment of Christians in the Middle East.Hmmm......My guess you got your answer a while back“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” Pope Benedict XVI. Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Video - New Islamic Council Established In Spain.The plan is to subsidize the building of more mosques and Islamic schools. Goal is the “further integration of Islam into Spanish society.”Hmmmm....El.Cid planning to be re-burried at the vatican?Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Memri.GCC Countries Call For Cancelling Baghdad Summit.Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad al-Khalifa is reported to have declared that the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have demanded the cancellation of the Arab summit, which is set for Baghdad on May 10-11. The GCC's decision reflects the tension between the Gulf states and Iraq over the issue of Bahrain. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said on March 19 and reiterated on March 26 that "Bahrain differs from Libya and Egypt; it is a case between Sunnis and Shi'a and the entry of forces from Arab countries regarded as Sunni in support of the Sunni government of Bahrain has created a situation that appeared like Sunni mobilization against the Shi'a."Al-Maliki has warned of a sectarian regional war.Hmmmm.....Where does Sunni Turkey stand in all this?Read the full story here.

• Hmmmm....The US must bend to the will off the Muslim Brotherhood?Forum seeks more US action in Muslim world conflicts.The head of a global Islamic group called Tuesday for the United States to be more active in solving conflicts in the Muslim world, particularly the long-running dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.In a speech to open the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, said the Middle East peace process should be the cornerstone of U.S.-Muslim world relations and called on Washington to take a "more active role in seeking solutions to conflict-ridden situations in the Muslim world."The Muslim world has "seen improvements" in relations with the United States since President Barack Obama took office, said İhsanoğlu, but tensions between the two sides will persist if the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not resolved. "There are certain concerns – I should say certain grievances – concerning the Palestinian issue," İhsanoğlu told reporters."This should be addressed in a concrete way. Without addressing these issues properly, we will still find certain problems between the Muslim world and the United States," he said.Those parameters would include a reference to the borders that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, and the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of both states. The Palestinians also want the quartet to issue a condemnation of continuing Israeli settlement expansion.On Tuesday, as the U.S.-Islamic World forum opened, diplomats at the United Nations said Washington had blocked a bid to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process by not agreeing to a meeting in Berlin where Britain, France and Germany wanted to outline a settlement to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Read the full story here.

• Women block road in Syria after hundreds arrested.Thousands of women staged a sit-in Wednesday on a main highway in northern Syria to demand the release of hundreds of people arrested in protests in the region, a rights activist said."More than 5,000 women are gathered on the main road linking the towns of Tartus and Banias to demand the release of hundreds of people arrested yesterday in Baida by security forces," Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France-Presse."Dozens of people were arrested" in the nearby flashpoint town of Banias, said Abdel Rahman, who was speaking by telephone from London where his organization, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is based.Syrian security forces closed the coastal town of Banias, 280 kilometers north of Damascus, and raked Baida with gunfire on Tuesday, witnesses told AFP by telephone.One witness said gunfire on Baida was "intense like rain" while another said Banias was "surrounded by tanks" and "like a prison" with no one able to go in or out of the town.Residents also complained of bread shortages and said shops and petrol stations were closed.The army has kept a stranglehold on Banias since Sunday, when regime agents opened fired on residents, particularly those in mosques, killing four people and wounding 17, according to witnesses.The official SANA news agency had said nine soldiers, including two officers, were killed on Sunday when their patrol was ambushed outside Banias.A human rights activist told AFP that the crackdown on Banias was "probably aimed at arresting" Anas al-Shuhri, one of the leaders of the pro-democracy protests.Read the full story here.

• Kerry: Obama wasted time on settlement freeze.Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry slams US president's 'wrong approach' to Israeli-Palestinian peace process.WASHINGTON – Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry (D), slammed Wednesday President Barack Obama's efforts to advance the Mideast peace process, saying he adopted "the wrong approach."Speaking at a Brookings' Saban Center for Middle East Policy conference, Kerry blamed Obama for "wasting" more that half of his presidential term by publicly demanding that Israel suspend all settlement expansion.Kerry, who has a 2004 presidential bid under his belt, served as a special envoy for the Obama Administration to Syria and Afghanistan. The senator explained his opposition to Obama's policy, saying he believes a plan involving public pressure was doomed to fail, and "unachievable." He went on to say that the American president's choice of action was the same as "putting the cart before the horses," adding the key to resolving the issue was reaching an agreement that clearly addresses security issues and borders. Kerry qualified his words, saying he did not believe this could be achieved at this point in time.Still, the Democratic senator added he had every faith that Washington would soon try to reignite the stalled peace process, likely during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to DC next month. Kerry added Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are likely to actively partake in the process and will do what they can to advance it before September – and the scheduled meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.The Palestinians intend to bring before the Assembly a proposal calling for UN recognition of a Palestinian state win line with the 1967 borders.Kerry added that he believed the Palestinian effort to unilaterally push the issue was "a mistake." He further warned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that such a move would be perilous. The US, he concluded, will make a true effort to stop things from spinning out of control.Hmmmmm.......Words come cheap these days.Read the full story here.