Belgian nuclear chief 'sceptical' reactor can be restarted, TEN American reactors may have used the component in question.

Belgian nuclear chief 'sceptical' reactor can be restarted, TEN American reactors may have used the component in question.(HD)(WSJ).The head of Belgium's federal agency for nuclear safety AFCN said on Friday he was "sceptical" that an ageing reactor closed over fears of cracks could be restarted. "I'm fairly sceptical for the moment," Willy de Roovere told RTBF public radio, even if "the possibility remains that I am wrong." According to French-language daily Le Soir, a crack of between 15 and 20 millimetres (0.6 and 0.8 inches) was discovered during a test in June. There has been no denial of this report. According to the agency, repairs are "practically impossible" and are "not an option" for fear of creating new tensions "which we must avoid at all costs." Installing a replacement meanwhile has never been attempted anywhere because of the problem of high radiation levels. The AFCN revealed on Wednesday that the Doel 3 reactor, located 25 kilometres (20 miles) north of Antwerp, would remain closed at least until August 31 after the discovery of possible cracks in the protective vessel surrounding the core during routine June testing. The agency is also mulling the permanent closure "in the worst case" of a second reactor in the country's south near Liege. The tests showed "faults in the steel base material" on which the reactor vessel is mounted, the AFCN said.The Dutch firm, Rotterdam Drydocks, that made the vessels is out of business, which has amplified concerns about others it delivered in Europe and in the Americas. Spain has indicated it has two reactors in the same bracket, Switzerland and Sweden one each. The firm supplied one to the Netherlands, but had not manufactured it. The government in The Hague said it has still to decide whether to test its nuclear facilities. The German government said reactors supplied by the defunct company were no longer in service. Representatives of nuclear safety bodies from all the countries involved will meet in Brussels on August 16 to "exchange information," the AFCN said.
Checks with a new technology at the Doel power plant near Belgium's biggest port, Antwerp, identified the possible cracks, the Belgian regulator FANC said. The vessel is a 20-centimeter-thick steel tank, which is roughly three meters tall and four meters in diameter.
At least one reactor in Switzerland, another in Belgium and two in Spain have components produced by the same Dutch firm, Rotterdam Drydock Company, which has gone bankrupt since producing the equipment.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it has been informed that 10 American reactors may have used the component in question, but it hasn't yet verified that information with U.S. nuclear operators. 

The U.S. regulator said it will send an engineering expert to next week's meeting. "We want to know more about what tests were done, the methodologies and techniques and equipment used to test it," spokesman David McIntyre said. "It's a little early to be jumping to conclusions at this point. There will be more testing to verify that there's a problem and the extent of it." The Swiss reactor was already shut for routine checks and the second Belgian reactor will be shut next week for tests, the countries' regulators said. Spain didn't find any problem in its vessels, after testing them with the same advanced technology used in Belgium.Read the full story here and here.

Iranian ambassador to the IAEA says We “will never, ever suspend our activities, including [uranium] enrichment,”

Iranian ambassador to the IAEA says We “will never, ever suspend our activities, including [uranium] enrichment,”.(PressTV).Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran is not after acquiring military atomic technology but resolute to continue with its nuclear energy program. The Islamic Republic “has not been pursuing a nuclear weapon” Ali Asghar Soltanieh said in a recent interview with Fox News television channel. We “will never, ever suspend our activities, including [uranium] enrichment,” he added. Pointing to the “politicized” debate on the Parchin site, Soltanieh stressed that while Tehran is willing to cooperate with the IAEA on its nuclear energy program, it will not accede to any demand to visit its military facilities. “We cannot permit each time any country wants to knock at the door and wants to go to our military sites,” he said. The Iranian envoy to the UN nuclear body went on to say that Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities have been ineffective. “Sanctions have had no effect,” he pointed out, adding, “We are more determined to pursue our nuclear activities.” Soltanieh also downplayed threats of a military attack against Iranian nuclear sites and reiterated that Tehran would give “a strong response with an iron fist” to any such venture. “Nobody would dare attack Iran,” he said. The US and the EU say Iran is seeking military objectives in its nuclear energy program and have used the allegation as a pretext to impose sanctions against Tehran, while the Israeli regime has publicly engaged in making threats of military strikes against Iran. The US government has also made repeated threats of keeping its military “options on the table” against Tehran.Read the full story here.

Satellite images suggest Iran may be cleaning up nuke site: nuclear experts.

Satellite images suggest Iran may be cleaning up nuke site: nuclear experts.(AA).Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The assertions from the diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could add to the growing international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.
While the U.S. and the EU are backing a sanctions-heavy approach, Israel has warned that it may resort to a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent it from obtaining atomic weapons.
Two of the diplomats said the crews at the Parchin military site may be trying to erase evidence of tests of a small experimental neutron device used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that but said any attempt to trigger a so-called neutron initiator could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.
The diplomats said they suspect attempts at sanitization because some of the vehicles at the scene appeared to be haulage trucks and other equipment suited to carting off potentially contaminated soil from the site.
The images, provided by member countries to the IAEA, the U.N’s nuclear watchdog, are recent and constantly updated, one of the diplomats said. The diplomats all asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
The IAEA has already identified Parchin as the location of suspected nuclear weapons-related testing. In a November report, it said it appeared to be the site of experiments with conventional high explosives meant to initiate a nuclear chain reaction.It did not mention a neutron initiator as part of those tests, but in a separate section cited an unnamed member nation as saying Iran may have experimented with a neutron initiator, without going into detail or naming a location for such work.
In contrast, the intelligence information shared with the AP by the two diplomats linked the high-explosives work directly to setting off a neutron initiator at Parchin.
In explaining such a device, the agency’s November report said that “if placed in the center of a nuclear core of an implosion-type nuclear device and compressed, (it) could produce a burst of neutrons suitable for initiating a fission chain reaction.”
If Iran did try to trigger a neutron initiator, it would harden international suspicions by adding a nuclear component to a suspected string of experiments linked to weapons development that generally have not included radioactive material.
Iran has previously attempted to clean up sites considered suspicious by world powers worried about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iran razed the Lavizan Shian complex in northern Iran five years ago before allowing IAEA inspectors to visit the suspected repository of military procured equipment that could be used in a nuclear weapons program. Tehran said the site had been demolished to make way for a park, but inspectors subsequently found traces of uranium enriched to or near the level used in making the core of nuclear warheads.
The Iranians also embarked on an extensive redo at the Kalay-e Electric Co., just west of Tehran, before agency inspectors were given access nine years ago. Although the site was re-painted and otherwise sanitized, samples taken from Kalay-e also showed traces of enriched uranium, though at levels substantially below warhead grade.
One official from an IAEA member country with good intelligence on Iran said the Parchin neutron initiator experiments were conducted between 2003 and 2010. Another said any such tests were closer to 2003, adding it was not clear whether they were successful.One of six diplomats who spoke with the AP said his country continued to reserve judgment on what the movements at the site meant but two others who had seen recent spy satellite imagery said the trucks and other equipment at the site almost certainly showed attempts to clean it of radioactive contamination.The diplomats and officials spoke ahead of a meeting of the IAEA board Thursday focusing on Iran’s defiance of U.N. Security Council demands to end uranium enrichment - which can make both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material - and dispel other suspicions that it may be seeking nuclear weapons.
That session was to take place Wednesday but had to be adjourned to give six world powers time to find common ground on how harshly to criticize Iran.
They agreed on a text late Wednesday but only after marathon negotiations reflecting the difficulty of presenting a united front at upcoming talks with Iran.
Officials did not detail the text agreed upon, but the U.S., Britain, France and Germany wanted a joint statement that takes Iran to task for defying U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding it end uranium enrichment and cooperate with an IAEA probe of suspicions it secretly worked on nuclear arms.
A senior Western diplomat, however, told the AP that Russia and China, which have condemned Western sanctions on Iran as counterproductive, sought more moderate language. He also asked for anonymity to discuss confidential matters.Hmmmmmm................There should be a "modality" and a "frame of reference, of what exactly they are looking for, they have to provide the documents and specify exactly where they want to go, (so we can hide it!).Read the full story here.

Iran Ready to Open New Chapter in Relations with Belarus, will Lukashenko sell weapons-grade uranium?

Iran Ready to Open New Chapter in Relations with Belarus, will Lukashenko sell weapons-grade uranium? (Fars).TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Sergey Martynov underlined Tehran's preparedness to open a new chapter in bilateral relations and mutual cooperation with Minsk.
During the meeting in Minsk on Tuesday, The two top diplomats stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Belarus can play complementary roles in different aspects of their relations. "Iran as a great country with 75mln population and abundant capabilities and Belarus as a crossroad linking Western to Eastern Europe and the North-South Corridor enjoy many potentials for cooperation," Salehi said.
Martynov, for his part, described mutual cooperation between Iran and Belarus as a factor which reinvigorates bilateral relations between the two countries, and said this cooperation serves the interests of both nations, while it also promotes peace and security in the region.
Tehran and Minsk have in recent months increased efforts to start a jump in mutual cooperation.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in December 2009 that Tehran and Minsk were laying the foundations for broader ties and intended to promote relations to the highest level possible. Also, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergey Sidorskiy in a meeting with Iran's Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani in November 2009 urged the Iranian side to increase the volume of trade cooperation with Minsk. Noting that the current volume of economic cooperation between Tehran and Minsk stands at about $100mln, Sidorskiy reiterated that the opening of the second Iranian Bank in Belarus should help boost the volume to $1bln. The National Bank of Belarus registered two Iranian banks, namely the 'Onerbank' and 'Trading Capital Bank (TC Bank)', respectively in October 2009 and December 2008. Hmmmm......Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has announced Belarus is still in possession of Soviet-produced highly enriched uranium (HEU) that it does not intend to part with. For which purpose could this dangerous material be used by a ruler whom the Administration of George W. Bush once famously called “Europe’s last dictator”? Andrei Ozharovsky explores. April 14 2010, during Lukashenko’s working visit to Gomel Region.
“I will tell you the truth: We have kept highly enriched uranium – hundreds of kilograms of what is basically weapons-grade and lower-enriched uranium,” Read the full story here, more on Belarus stockpile of Uranium here.

Adamant Obama confronts Netanyahu with a lone decision on Iran.

Adamant Obama confronts Netanyahu with a lone decision on Iran.(Debka).Expectations that the meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday, March 5, will produce accord on how and when to stop Iran going nuclear are likely to prove unfounded, say debkafile’s military and Washington sources. Obama has made it clear that a military strike would be “premature” and economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure and negotiations must be allowed to run their course before a military option is considered as a last resort.
When Netanyahu flies home, therefore, he will come away from the White House facing exactly the same dilemma as before: It is up to him to determine Israel’s window of opportunity for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities and decide if and when to go through with it.
After he met Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa Friday, March 2, Netanyahu tried to temper his disagreement with Obama by offering to go along with the Six Power negotiations with Iran starting in Istanbul next month, which are a cornerstone of the US president’s Iran policy, although Israel firmly believes Iran is just playing for time.
Nonetheless, for the talks to have any point, he proposed that they should aim for three results:

1. The dismantling of the uranium enrichment facilities buried underground at Fordo;

2. The transfer of highly-enriched uranium outside the country to international control, effectively removing the material for assembling a bomb out of Tehran’s hands;

3. A ban on uranium enrichment to a grade higher than 5 percent instead of the 20 percent concentrated fissile fuel stocked at present.

The Israeli prime minister’s proposal was rejected by the White House after Moscow too found it unacceptable.A number of confidential Russian messages advised Israel to forget any reversals of Iran’s nuclear progress. The coming international negotiations, they said, must start with accepting the current status of Iran’s nuclear program, “There’s no turning back.”
By reverting to its long-abandoned attitude of denial on the Iranian nuclear threat, Washington flies in the face of the last two International Atomic Energy Agency quarterly reports. The last one published ten days ago stated: “The agency continues to have serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program,” and “Iran has produced nearly 110kg of uranium enriched to 20 percent since early 2010. Western experts say about 250 kg is needed for a nuclear weapon.”
 The report also pointed out that “Iran is shifting the most sensitive aspect of its nuclear work, refining uranium to a level that takes it significantly closer to potential bomb material, to the site.”
But now, the White House may be reacting to the explicit statement of Israel’s case by former Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin in the NYT ofn March 2.
He wrote: “What is needed is an ironclad American assurance that if Israel refrains from acting in its own window of opportunity – and all other options have failed to halt Tehran’s nuclear quest – Washington will act to prevent a nuclear Iran while it is still within its power to do so.”debkafile’s Washington sources report that no American president can be expected to tolerate Israel dictating terms, however just and pressing its case may be. Even before hearing what Israel had to say, Obama was resolved to oppose military action on Iran and not be moved on this. Now he is additionally determined to put his Israeli visitor in his place and draw a line on Jerusalem’s influence in Washington - both as a lesson to Jerusalem and an incentive for Tehran.Read the full story here.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey denies advising Israel against Iran strike.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey denies advising Israel against Iran strike.(JPost).Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey on Tuesday told a Senate panel that he did not instruct Israel against an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was also speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill, said that US President Barack Obama’s administration was working as “aggressively” as possible to implement sanctions on Iran, and that they had seen more progress than initially expected.
Dempsey, who visited Israel for high-level talks in January, was answering the panel’s questions on comments he made about a possible Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic earlier this month.
In an interview with CNN, he had said: “A strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn’t achieve their [Israel’s] long-term objectives. I wouldn’t suggest, sitting here today, that we’ve persuaded them that our view is the correct view and that they are acting in an ill-advised fashion.”
On Tuesday, Dempsey said that he had merely spoken to Israeli officials about “the issue of time,” and had not advised them against a military strike on Iran.
Dempsey also defended comments in which he described Iran as a “rational” actor, stating in his panel testimony, “We can’t afford to underestimate our potential adversaries by writing them off as irrational.”
His comments came as Defense Minister Ehud Barak was visiting the US, where he was scheduled to meet with Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday. Iran was expected to play a prominent role in these meetings.Hmmmm.........In 1991, Deputy President Ayatollah Mohajerani stated that Iran should workwith other Islamic states to create an ‘‘Islamic bomb.’’ Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani,characterized today as a pragmatist, in contrast to hardliner Ahmadinejad, in 1988 explicitly called on Iran to equip itself both in the offensive and defense use of chemical,bacteriological and radiological weapons.’’ Read the full story here.

Ahmadinejad to attend loading of own nuclear fuel rods in Tehran reactor.

Ahmadinejad to attend loading of own nuclear fuel rods in Tehran reactor.(JPost).Iran will load locally made nuclear fuel rods into its Tehran Research Reactor on Wednesday for the first time, a senior official told the Students News Agency ISNA."The first home-made nuclear fuel roads will be loaded in the Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," said Ali Baqeri, deputy secretary general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, ISNA reported. The reactor is currently running out of nuclear fuel originally provided by Argentina in the 1990s."We will also send a reply to the EU's Foreign Policy Chief (on nuclear talks) today," he said.
The move appeared designed to show that increased sanctions are failing to halt Iran's technical progress and to strengthen its hand in any renewed negotiations with the major powers.
Diplomats believe Iran has in the past overstated its nuclear achievements to gain leverage in its standoff with Western powers, which suspect Iran is seeking to develop the means to make atom bombs, a charge the country denies."Fuel elements, for the first time created by Iranian scientists, will in the presence of the president ... be loaded into the Tehran research reactor," Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.
Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he did not believe the Iranian announcement signaled any mass production of nuclear fuel.
"We are talking about laboratory-scale production of a single element for the reactor," he said.Read the full story here.

‘Israel to Give Obama no more than 12 Hours Notice on Attacking Iran’ - Would you?

‘Israel to Give Obama no more than 12 Hours Notice on Attacking Iran’.(INN).HT: IsraelMatzav.Israeli officials told visiting USS Chief Joint of Staffs Martin Dempsey that it would give President Barack Obama no more than 12 hours notice if and when it attacks Iran, The London Times reported Sunday.The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report, the latest in a number of suposed scenarios concerning cooperation or lack of it between Jerusalem and Washington.
It is left to speculation whether the rumors are based on facts or are leaked by officials to mask the possibility of secret military coordination.The London Times said its sources explained that that Israel fears that President Obama would try to torpedo an Israel attack if more notice were given because he is concerned that Iran will respond by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a rise in the price of oil that could cripple Western economies. If the attack were to occur in the next 10 months, it would put President Obama in a tight spot on the eve of his bid for re-election.President Shimon Peres told Dempsey, "I am sure that in this fight [against Iran] we will emerge victorious. It is a fight that does not belong exclusively to the United States or Israel, but a global struggle to create a safe world for all peoples.”Hmmmm.......Would you warn Obama.....given his track record of throwing allies under the bus?Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation New Zealand 6.1 - 5.8 - 5.5 - 5.2 ; Solomon Islands 5.6 !More info here.

• Boehner: Obama approved Solyndra, but not Keystone.(BC).By Joel Gehrke.House Speaker John Boehner said that President Obama has put politics ahead of job creation, and faulted the president for approving the high-risk Solyndra loan guarantee, but then denying a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to be built."President Obama expedited approval of the Solyndra loan project, but won't approve a project that's been under review for over three years," House Speaker John Boehner said in a press conference today on Obama's decision not to grant a permit for the Keystone pipeline. He declared that "President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese." He argued that "the President is selling out American jobs for politics," and declared that Obama's promise to work to create jobs "was broken" today.President Obama said he was "disappointed" in the Republicans for forcing a Keystone decision ahead of the environmental studies timetable. "The rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment," Obama said in his statement on the Keystone rejection. "I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil." Hmmmm.......Yup that's why Under Obama, Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands Is Down 40% !Read the full story here.

• "Job-Killers, 2; American Workers, 0".(PNW).LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – called the reported decision by the Obama Administration today to block permitting for Keystone XL pipeline "politics at its worst."Last fall the Administration delayed consideration of a permit for the pipeline until after the 2012 elections. Today, in response to Congressional legislation requiring a 60-day decision, the Administration reportedly denied a permit."The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero. We are completely and totally disappointed. This is politics at its worst," LIUNA General President Terry O'Sullivan said. "Once again the President has sided with environmentalists instead of blue collar construction workers – even though environmental concerns were more than adequately addressed. Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this."The project would create thousands of good jobs at a time when unemployment in the construction industry is 16 percent with 1.3 million men and women jobless.Environmental groups have used the Keystone XL as a disingenuous proxy for arguments about global warming. The pipeline would carry up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada's Tar Sands to the U.S., reducing reliance on oil from hostile nations. While environmental groups decry Tar Sands development, the Canadian government and Trans-Canada, the company developing the Tar Sands, have made clear the oil will be developed – and possibly sold to China – regardless of whether Keystone XL is built.In addition, experts believe the project would be the safest ever constructed. Design included 21,000 sensors, monitored by satellites to immediately detect leaks and automatically stop the flow of oil. In addition, a revised route alleviated concerns in Nebraska over the project crossing water resources. Overall, the pipeline has undergone more than 1,100 days of governmental review. "The Administration and environmentalists have blown the whistle on workers trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads," said O'Sullivan. "Instead of celebrating their victory by hugging a tree they should hug a jobless construction worker because they're the ones who are going to need it."Read the full story here.

• Obama’s “Forced” Keystone Decision Rejects Jobs, Energy, and Logic.(Heritage).By Nicolas Loris.President Obama’s politically intoned decision to reject TransCanada’s permit application to construct a 1,700-mile pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas refineries sent a clear message that special interest demands are of more importance than more energy and much-needed job creation.Building the pipeline would bring over 700,000 barrels of oil per day and directly create 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs. The Canadian Energy Research Institute estimates that current pipeline operations and the addition of the Keystone XL pipeline would create 179,000 American jobs by 2035.Since TransCanada and Nebraska politicians have agreed to reroute the pipeline, the focus should now be on completing the reroute design and beginning construction. Congress should recognize the findings in the State Department’s “Final Environmental Impact Statement” and authorize the application submitted by TransCanada in September 2008.Given the need for jobs and more oil on the global market to offset high prices, the permit application had been moving along positively with bipartisan support without much attention until environmental activists made blocking the Keystone XL pipeline their issue to rally around for 2011. Although President Obama and the Department of State (DOS) said they’d make a decision at the end of 2011, they ultimately catered to a narrow set of special interests, punting the decision until after the 2012 elections.The payroll tax holiday legislation signed at the end of 2011 moved that decision date up to February 21. Today, however, the President rejected the permit, claiming, “This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.” President Obama initially delayed the decision because he claimed that additional environmental review from the DOS was necessary.This is a stunning (though not unexpected) decision. At a time when unemployment remains unacceptably high, Iran is threatening the Strait of Hormuz, and Canada is looking to take this oil elsewhere, it is difficult to understand how the President could say no to thousands of jobs and an increase in energy supply from our ally.Hmmmm....Perhaps he wants the U.S. depending on Arab oil?Or in Fantasy Obamaland every one drives electric cars?Read the full story here.

• Taqiyya vs. Our President.(FM).Posted by David Meir-Levi.In a previous essay, the present writer exposed the concept of “taqiyya” as a traditional Muslim form of deceit employed by Yasir Arafat​, Mahmoud Abbas​, and other leaders of the Arab terror war against Israel. El-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood​ also are using taqiyya against the USA and other western countries, and with frightening success.While the Qur’an encourages honesty between believers (Sura 40:28), deception directed at non-Muslims, generally known in Arabic as taqiyya, has full Qur’anic support. Is Obama unaware of the intentions of the Brotherhood? Even if he had no Arabists on his staff, no one to translate the works of Sayd Qtub or Mustafa Mashhur or Yusuf el-Qaradhawi, much has been written about them in English. Have his advisors never read Front Page Magazine?Obama cannot not know that his backing of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than support for the regimes that seek our demise. So one must ask the uncomfortable question: “whose side is he on?”Read the full story here.

• U.S. May Release Senior Taliban Terrorists.(IPT).The Obama administration is considering releasing five top Taliban jihadists from custody at Guantanamo Bay in hopes of negotiating a peace agreement with the Afghan terrorist movement. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that administration is in "the preliminary stages" of testing whether talks with the Taliban can succeed.President Obama plans to withdraw virtually all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Last month, Vice President Joe Biden told an interviewer that "the Taliban per se is not our enemy."Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney blasted Obama's approach to the Taliban, declaring that "The right course for America is not to negotiate with the Taliban while the Taliban are killing our soldiers." Yet one of Romney's top foreign policy aides has reportedly advocated a negotiating approach that is similar to Obama's.According to a recent report in The Hindu, radical Islamist cleric and Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Yusuf al-Qaradawi has served as a "key mediator" in U.S.-Taliban negotiations.The Taliban's recent announcement that it plans to open a political office in Qatar meets a longstanding U.S./NATO condition for discussing Afghanistan's future with the terror group. Earlier this month, reports indicated that Washington had agreed to transfer the five Taliban leaders from U.S. custody to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.At some point, they could be set free.Another report indicated the jihadists would be transferred to Qatar, a nation with a poor record on combating terrorism and a suspected link to the 9/11 attacks.The strategy is fraught with peril as previous experience has shown. Still, the State Department has made finding a negotiating address for the Taliban a top priority.Read the full story here.

• Muslim Brotherhood to US Ambassador in Egypt: Sharia Law ensures personal freedoms.(BM).CAIRO: A statement issued by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said that US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson met with the group’s Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie on Wednesday, and reportedly told her that Sharia law, or Islamic law, “ensures personal freedoms for all.”The MB’s statement explained that Patterson expressed her gratitude for the meeting and congratulated the group for their political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), victory in the recent parliamentary elections, and stressed that the United States is looking forward to cooperate with “whoever is chosen by the Egyptian people and a democratic government.”The statement pointed out that Badie also thanked the ambassador for her congratulations, and said the elections “made Egyptians proud,” adding that the results of elections are a “victory” for the democratic alliance led by FJP, which includes a number of other parties.The Supreme Guide criticized the successive US administrations and accused them of “controlling people through their support to the dictators,” which made the popularity of the United States decline across the region.“The current era is the era of the people and we want to see deeds not words by the United States to recover its credibility among Arabs and Muslims, and in particular with regard to the Palestinian issue, which is the most important cause for Arabs and Muslims.”Badie explained that the principles of Islamic Sharia law is the m”ain source of legislation and the biggest guarantee of public and private freedoms, as it ensures the freedom of belief, religion and personal rights to all citizens equally.”For her part, Ambassador Patterson admitted that US administrations have committed some mistakes, but called for overcoming them and to “learn from them to avoid their recurrence in the future.”She pointed out that democracy always brings stable partners.Read the full story here.

• Leftists Sink to Nazi Propaganda in 'Bibi Uber Alles' Video Clip.(INN).Israelis of all political stripes are aghast over a Youtube video showing Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels endorsing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The video, titled “Bibi Uber Alles,” clearly violates pending and existing laws against using Nazi imagery and inciting hatred, wrote commenters on the video site's page, and called for police prosecution of the individual who posted the video.In the video, called “one of the worst examples of leftist hate ever on the internet” by one commenter on the video's YouTube page, Goebbels is seen speaking to a mass audience of Germans in archival footage from a Nazi rally in the 1930s. However, interspersed in the video (obviously edited in) are shots of “settler” types, including what appears to be a woman wearing a head scarf – and oddly, one who bears a striking resemblance to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – along with the archival footage of Nazi-supporting masses.The video's author is listed as “Christian101,” and on Wednesday night it appeared on the Facebook page of an individual who calls himself Meir Mendelson, who wrote in a comment that “the cult of personality encouraged by Bibi the megalomaniac will lead to a catastrophe.”Commenters who identified themselves as both leftists and rightists condemned the video on its home page, with rightwing activists saying that the video shows not just the left's frustrated hatred of the right – but also its hypocrisy; weeks after the hareidi-religious use of Nazi imagery to protest arrests in Mea Shearim and Beit Shemesh was roundly condemned by everyone, not one public voice from leftists who “fear for Israeli democracy” has been raised in the several weeks since the video has been posted. Dozens of Israelis posting to the page called for viewers to demand that YouTube remove the video, and that police investigate and seek out the person behind the video and arrest him.Read the full story here.

• Islam's OIC: The World's Thought Police.(StonegateI).By Mudar Zahran.On December 19, 2011, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the negative stereotyping and stigmatization of people based on their religion, and urged member states to take effective measures towards addressing and combating "such incidents." This resolution, based on an initiative from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), was supported by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who hosted a closed-door three-day meeting – apparently one of many in a series called the "Istanbul Process"-- in Washington D.C. with OIC representatives to discuss ways to implement the resolution.What might sound like a step toward "tolerance," however, is in reality an assault on freedom of speech: a UN-endorsed violation of human rights, co-sponsored by the US, and prompted by the OIC, an organization of 57 Muslim nations, most of which hold the world's worst records on freedom of speech.The OIC initiative for a UN resolution against "defamation of religion" is not new; the OIC has been promoting it for the last 13 years despite earlier opposition from Western countries. What changed recently was dropping the word "defamation of religion" and stressing "freedom of speech"-- something about which Secretary of State Clinton seems to be enthusiastic.What resulted, however, from this new "Resolution 16/18," as it is called, is a US-endorsed UN proposal that urges the restriction of freedom of speech by using a vague terms, such as combating "religious profiling" – a term that can be interpreted by anyone any way he likes.Placing such language into an international legal context forces people to have to think twice before practicing their constitutionally-secured right of free speech – in the US, at least -- when it comes to discussing religion.What is also alarming, even to me as a practicing Muslim, is the fact that the resolution seems to revolve around just one religion: Islam. But will the OIC countries implement any resolution for themselves, taking measures against their government-sponsored demonization of the Jewish faith and the systematic proliferation of anti-Semitism?Does Resolution 16/18 mean that Muslims will still be free in their textbooks to call Jews the sons of swine and monkeys -- perhaps on some trumped-up excuse that that a such a remark is not religious but "only" racial?Will the Palestinians' highest religious authority, the Mufti, Muhammad Hussein, still be able to say, as he did in early January at a Fatah (not Hamas) event to celebrate the 47th anniversary of its founding, that the destiny of Muslims is to kill Jews [sic], and, quoting a Hadith [a saying attributed to the prophet Mohammad] that "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews… come and kill [them]" – and then have Palestinian TV repeat it?The values of Islam, for example, encourage the military conquest of non-Muslim nations. Although this value is within my religion, as a Muslim, I would like to see it being dropped—Now, is that a defamation of my own religion?Is Obama's, Clinton's and the US's current message that some religions are "more sacred" than others?Unfortunately without ever investigating the United Nations, perhaps the biggest international human rights violator of all, Human Rights Watch, in one of its reports, says that the OIC, at least, has been relentless protecting states that violate human rights from criticism.Human Rights Watch also states it has concerns over the OIC's definition of terrorism, which includes "imperilling people's honour;" "threatening political unity," which sounds like an enshrinement of "one man, one vote, one time;" and "threatening territorial integrity." Would the OIC label the people of Quebec who want separation from Canada terrorists for threatening Canada's "territorial integrity"? Would the OIC recognize the Tea Party as a terrorist organization for "threatening political unity" in the US?Funny? Not really. The OIC could easily try to market those definitions of "terrorism" that Human Rights Watch describes as "vague," and label genuinely "peaceful acts of expression" as terrorism.Revealingly, the OIC excludes all real acts of terrorism – carried out by terrorist organizations, such as Hamas – calling them "legitimate struggle".Read the full story here.

• Bengal hospital horror: Mamata blames the Left for 40,000 infant deaths each year.(NDTV).Malda: In just 48 hours, 15 babies have died in a government hospital in Malda, West Bengal. The government quibbles that it is 11 deaths in two days, not 15, a number no less shocking.Four of the babies died in a span of eight hours last night. Health authorities claim each of these infants were brought to the hospital, the Malda Medical College Hopsital, in very serious condition and insist there has been no negligence. Last November, 26 infants had died at the same hospital over a period of six days; an average 40,000 infants die every year in West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has vowed today to bring that rate down by 25 per cent. But when the health department sent a task force to the Malda hospital recently to investigate infant deaths, members of the team said no senior staff was present to answer queries. They were reportedly informed that the superintendent and vice principal of the college were in Kolkata and the principal was in Hyderabad for some official work. The task force reported that the hospital needs more doctors, nurses and infrastructure. "The hospital needs more doctors, nurses and group D staff. There is a lot of pressure at this hospital. The Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) needs to be expanded. Negligence, if found, will be punished," said Tridib Bhattacharya, a member of the task force.The Malda infant deaths bring into sharp focus the disarray that healthcare is in in West Bengal.Hmmmm......What is obviously missing in this story is the gender of the babies.....what leads one to stray to the thought of "gendercide".Read the full story here.

• 'Radioactive material stolen from Egypt plant'.(JPost).CAIRO - Radioactive material has been stolen from a nuclear power station on Egypt's Mediterranean coast that was the site of violent protests last week, state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday.A safe containing radioactive material at the Dabaa nuclear power plant was seized while another safe containing radioactive material was broken open and part of its contents taken, the newspaper said.The government has alerted security authorities and asked that specialised teams help in the search for the stolen material, Al-Ahram reported.More than a dozen people were wounded last week when military police tried to disperse hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding the relocation of the Dabaa plant, which is still under construction.Plant staff have refused to go to the site because of the deterioration in the security situation there, Al-Ahram said.About 500 Egyptians rallied in front of the plant last week to demand that the project be terminated, with some saying they had lost their land on the plant's site.Soldiers and the protesters hurled stones at each other and exchanged gunfire after the protesters demolished a wall surrounding the site, a security source and witnesses said.Hmmmm.....Repeat after me "Dirty bomb".Read the full story here.

• UN: Gaza blockade – collective punishment.(YNet). The United Nations' submitted its annual report on the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, painting a grim picture that includes food insecurity, isolation, violence and failing health and education services – all courtesy of the Israeli "occupation."The report, which was presented during a Security Council session upon the Palestinians' request, asserted that the number of civilian casualties rose by more than 30% in Gaza and the West Bank compared to 2010."Serious protection and human rights issues, limited access to essential services and entrenched levels of food insecurity continue to characterize the day-to-day lives of many Palestinians," the report stated. "Israeli authorities continued to impose a blockade on Gaza, amounting to collective punishment of the population and affecting every aspect of life in the Gaza Strip," it adds.The report maintains that the policies that restrict the Gazans' access to areas with viable agriculture and fishing prospects constrain their livelihoods. Moreover, restrictions on the movement of goods and people into Gaza compromise the region's health, education and sanitation services. The UN also addressed the situation in east Jerusalem, arguing that the Palestinian population there is growing isolated from the rest of the West Bank. Furthermore, the residents of Area C – which makes up 60% of the West Bank and is under Israeli control – have been facing escalating rates of home demolitions, settler violence and restricted travel. "The threat to lives and livelihoods became too great for many, coping strategies were overwhelmed and an increasing number of Palestinians were displaced from their homes and their land," the report claims.The global body called on organizations and policy makers to work towards alleviating the suffering and demand respect for the Palestinians' human rights. "Progress in the peace process is desperately needed – the coping strategies of Palestinian communities are being eroded with each year that passes," the report said.Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor slammed the Security Council for "wasting time on an issue that does not pose a humanitarian crisis." He noted that while Gaza saw a 28% growth in its Gross Domestic Product, 4 million Somalis are starving and people in Haiti, Sudan and Afghanistan don't have access to water.Prosor later told reporters that a humanitarian crisis can be found in southern Israel, where kids have 15 seconds to take cover when a rocket is about to explode.Read the full story here.

• Two Catholic priests kidnapped in Sudan.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Fears in the minority Christian community in Sudan have intensified after the kidnapping of two Catholic priests last Sunday.Father Joseph Makwey and Father Sylvester Mogga were kidnapped on January 15 by a militia who broke into their compound in Rabak, south of Khartoum.The men scoured the compound, kidnapping the men and stealing computers and other valuables.The militia reportedly targeted the church because it was rumored that the priests had granted refuge to a former member of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, who fought successfully for the independence of South Sudan.The identity of the armed men is now yet known, however police believe that they are militiamen from South Sudan.Bishop Daniel Adwok of the Khartoum archdiocese said that the government had failed to protect citizens from the violence, and explained that the kidnapping does not come as an isolated incident, but part of a larger problem within the Christian community in Sudan.“I do not believe this was a random crime. This kidnapping seems deliberate. They must have known that the two individuals kidnapped were priests,” said the Bishop.Christians in Sudan have reported an increase in violence and intimidation, as hostilities have heightened since the secession of South Sudan.Read the full story here.

• Tunisian students launch hunger strike to protest ban on veils.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Five Tunisian students went on a hunger strike on Wednesday to protest a ban on the niqab at a University of Manouba, just west of Tunis.The students are reportedly under medical monitoring, and will continue the hunger strike indefinitely.The dispute over the niqab ban began last November, with the university banning the garment due to security concerns.A group of Salafist Muslim students held a series of sit-ins to protest the ban, shutting down the university for a month and a half.The sit-ins will continue as the students launch their hunger strike, however university officials want to disperse the protests before exams start on January 24.“I don’t wear the niqab or the veil, but I believe that any woman should have the right to dress as she believes is appropriate. That is freedom,” university student Hend Mohamed told Bikyamasr.com via email on Thursday.Read the full story here.

• Iran’s nude actress Golshifteh Farahani sparks anger,Iranian government, calling her “anti-Islam” and demanding that she be put to death for “blasphemy.”(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: An Iranian actress who posted nude photos of herself on Facebook has been attacked by the Iranian government, calling her “anti-Islam” and demanding that she be put to death for “blasphemy.”Golshifteh Farahani came to stardom at the age of 14 when she appeared in the film Pearl Tree, but jumped to international fame in 2008 when she starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Body of Lies.Her dabbling in women’s issues began when she appeared in France’s Madame Le Figaro and protested against the ultra-conservative nature of her home country, which she said in the interview, was “restricting the ability for Iran’s film industry to push forward.”This month, however, she again sparked controversy by posting her bare chest image on her personal Facebook page.“I think it is disgusting and she should be put to jail or worse for this crazy idea. Women here are treated with utmost respect,” said an Iranian government official in Cairo, the birthplace of the nude photo revolutionary in the region.Back in Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency said “publishing of photographs of the deplorable Golshifteh Farahani on the Internet shows the ugly face of cinemas behind the scenes.”But women in Iran are not as disturbed by the image and told Bikyamasr.com that the idea that a woman can demand her rights through “the shock of nudity” is not new to the world.“We have long had nudity in our history, and this concept and act of protest by Farahani is the next evolution in the battle for women to become equal and have full rights in the country,” said one professor, Nadia, who said speaking on the topic could make her face disciplinary action.“It is really easy to condemn and call her ridiculous, but the reality is men are all logging on to see her naked body, just like they did in Egypt. At least now we can talk about women’s issues in this country and push empowerment forward,” the professor told Bikyamasr.com via telephone.In Egypt, upon hearing of Farahani’s actions, activist Manal said that “if she is going to be banned from Iran, maybe more women should follow her lead and take off their clothes. At least this way we can leave our countries and live in peace.”Read the full story here.

• 'Previously hidden mass graves found at Treblinka'.(DailyMail).A British forensic archaeologist has unearthed fresh evidence to prove the existence of mass graves at the Nazi death camp Treblinka - scuppering the claims of Holocaust deniers who say it was merely a transit camp.Some 800,000 Jews were killed at the site, in north east Poland, during the Second World War but a lack of physical evidence in the area has been exploited by Holocaust deniers.Forensic archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls has now undertaken the first co-ordinated scientific attempt to locate the graves.As Jewish religious law forbids disturbing burial sites, she and her team from the University of Birmingham have used 'ground-penetrating radar'.Her work at the site, where the Nazis tried to destroy all traces of industrial-scale killing, is being followed in forthcoming Radio 4 documentary The Hidden Graves Of The Holocaust.Sturdy Colls said: 'All the history books state that Treblinka was destroyed by the Nazis but the survey has demonstrated that simply isn’t the case.'I’ve identified a number of buried pits using geophysical techniques. These are considerable in size, and very deep, one in particular is 26 by 17 metres.'The programme’s presenter says that the pits contain the burnt remains of thousands of bodies.Read the full story here.