The Youth Rehabilitation Act, Led to “Pattern of Violent Offenders Returning Rapidly to the Streets and Committing More Crimes”.

The Youth Rehabilitation Act, Led to “Pattern of Violent Offenders Returning Rapidly to the Streets and Committing More Crimes”. HT: JudicialWatch.

A law enacted in the nation’s capital by a crackhead mayor to “protect African American youths from the stigma of lengthy prison sentences” has resulted in a pattern of violent offenders returning rapidly to the streets and committing more crimes. A disturbing series published by Washington D.C.’s mainstream newspaper reveals that hundreds of criminals who received lenient sentences under the measure have gone on to rob, rape or kill.

The law, Youth Rehabilitation Act, was passed in 1985 under Mayor Marion Barry, who resumed his political career after serving time in prison.


Much like Barry’s political career survived a multitude of scandals and illegal behavior, his effort to protect fellow criminals has endured. The measure was intended to give minority offenders a second chance by letting judges issue shorter sentences for violent crimes and allowing the convicts to erase their criminal record. “The original intent of the law was to rehabilitate inexperienced criminals under the age of 22,” the news story states. Instead, it has enabled many to embark on crime sprees with little consequences. Read the full story here.

Ahmadinejad’s Gov’t Is to Blame for US Seizure of Iranian Assets: Governor of the Central Bank of Iran.

Ahmadinejad’s Gov’t Is to Blame for US Seizure of Iranian Assets: Governor of the Central Bank of Iran. (Iranfrontpage).

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Valiollah Seif, held the former Iranian administration responsible for a recent US court ruling to seize near $2bn of Iran’s frozen assets, saying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government was too negligent in making investments in the US.

“Unfortunately, in the previous government, there was negligence in buying bonds and making investments in the US dollar,” Seif said.

Seif noted that “u-turn” transactions with the Islamic Republic were exceptionally permitted in the US dollar sanctions against Iran, but Ahmadinejad’s administration was not careful and cautious enough in making the investments.

The former government’s officials should have considered the issue and exercised enough caution, but in spite of warnings by CBI experts against investments on dollar-based bonds, they (the then officials) made the purchases and set the stage for the Iranian nation’s loss, he added.

“The warnings by those experts came true, and unfortunately, the ban on dollar-based transactions with Iran was once again imposed in 2008, and American banks were banned from having such transactions with Iran,” Seif said.

If the bonds had not been purchased at that time, there would have been no money to be seized by the Americans, he added, as reported by the CBI’s website.

The measures taken by the forerm government led to other hostile moves by the US, including the 13599 Executive Order against the CBI, he noted.

He was referring to an executive order issued in 2012, based on which the US Treasury blocked “all property and interests in property of the Government of Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, and of all Iranian financial institutions, regardless of whether such persons are located or incorporated inside or outside of Iran”.

Therefore, he concluded, all these unfair and illegal measures by the Americans took place under Ahmadinejad’s tenure, which was a time when the Iranian government considered sanctions to be barely effective, even futile.

If any of these moves had been prevented at that time, the recent US court ruling could not have happened, he noted.

Rouhani’s Gov’t Evading Responsibility by Pinning Blame on Predecessors: Analyst.

Meanwhile, Kezem Anbarlouie, a political analyst, believes that the incumbent government of President Hassan Rouhani is trying to blame Ahmadinejad’s to whitewash its own deficiencies.
in a comment published by Tasnim and translated by IFP, Anbarlouie referred to similar remarks by First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri on the responsibility of the former government for the asset seizure, describing his remarks as “shocking”.

“The First VP said the previous government was not prudent enough, and spent part of the CBI’s resources on purchasing bonds, even if it knew the Americans were not committed to international regulations,” Anbarlouie said.

He further argued that if Americans are not committed to international regulations, Rouhani’s government should also have refused to sign the recent nuclear deal (JCPOA) with them.

“The previous government was in conflict with the US, and everyone in the world knew that; however, the US government did not dare to seize Iran’s money at that time,” he went on to say.

“The 11th government has made an agreement with the Americans and shaken hands with them while they promised to release Iran’s frozen assets, but now, they have not only refused to release them, but they are also stealing and seizing the country’s money once again,” the analyst added.

“To those who say the former government is to blame for the US seizure of Iranian assets, one should say, ‘What were YOU doing? Do not blame the former government for your own imprudence’.”

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

Iran's FM Zarif: 'US government must protect Iran’s assets'.

Iran's FM Zarif: 'US government must protect Iran’s assets'. (Taz).

Iran thinks that the US government responsible for protecting Iran's assets in that country, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister said.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki on a visit to Iran, Zarif said that Iran does not recognize the recent verdict of a US court on its assets, Iran's state-run IRINN TV reported Apr. 25.

The US Supreme Court last week ruled the transfer of nearly $2 billion of frozen Iranian assets to the American victims of terrorist attacks, including the 1983 truck bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Investigators of the court concluded that Iran was responsible for that attack, which Tehran has denied.

The assets belong to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), blocked under the US sanctions.

The verdict is against international laws, Zarif said, adding Tehran will spare no effort to prevent the US to gain access to its assets."Iran will pursue the issue via legal channels," he added.

"We have announced that the US government is responsible to protect Iran's assets, and if they fail, Iran will claim compensation in due time," Zarif said.

He further said that the Iranian government has established a special committee to consider the issue.
The committee will investigate the reason of the former government's making investments recklessly in a way that US can block that, the way of Iran's ability to prevent reoccurrence of the similar issues in the future and "encroaching on Iran's assets".

The CBI President Valiollah Seif said Apr. 24 that the former government is the one that is actually responsible for the recent US blockade of Iranian assets.

The former government of Iran paved the way for the court ruling by being ignorant of the facts while buying bonds and making investment in dollar, Seif said.


"If the bonds which had been valued in the dollar hadn't been bought with the indirect brokerage of Americans, there would not have been any money for the US to block," he added. More on this story here.

Related:

Ahmadinejad’s Gov’t Is to Blame for US Seizure of Iranian Assets: The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)

Cuba Doesn’t Need United States: Fidel Castro lectures “Brother Obama”.

Cuba Doesn’t Need United States: Fidel Castro lectures “Brother Obama”. (Politico).

Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has responded to United States President Barack Obama's visit to his country last week saying that "Cuba doesn't need the empire to give us anything."

In an opinion piece for the website Cuba Debate on Monday, the iconic revolutionary figure pointed out that "nobody should be under the illusion that the people of this noble and selfless country will surrender their rights and spiritual wealth that they have won with the development of education, science and culture,” under the Cuban Revolution.

He added that Cuba can "produce the food and material wealth we need through effort and intelligence of our people."

Fidel Castro expressed amazement at Obama's call during his visit to Cuba to simply "forget the past … look to the future," and referred to the "merciless blockade that has lasted almost 60 years" and to US attacks to overthrow the revolution via "mercenary attacks on ships and Cuban ports, an airliner full of passengers detonated in midair, mercenary invasions, multiple acts of violence."

Castro dismissed Obama’s comments during his visit to Cuba as “honey-coated” and said that Cubans “ran the risk of having a heart attack on hearing these words from the president of the United States”.

The former Cuban president positively referred to Obama's "humble origin" and his "natural intelligence," but said that he shouldn't put forward "theories about politics in Cuba."

The leader of the 1959 Cuban Revolution denounced the American President’s pro-democracy remarks as “syrupy.”


"Native populations do not exist at all in the minds of Obama," Castro wrote. "Nor does he say that racial discrimination was swept away by the Revolution; that retirement and salary of all Cubans were enacted by this before Mr. Barack Obama was 10 years old."

Referring to the 1961 failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Castro wrote of the US “mercenary force with cannons and armored infantry, equipped with aircraft ... trained and accompanied by warships and aircraft carriers in the US raiding our country. Nothing can justify this premeditated attack that cost our country hundreds of killed and wounded."

Castro referred also to Obama's invocation of both countries' role in the end of apartheid in South Africa, remarking upon his country's 1975 intervention in Angola backing the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola against other US-backed groups. Ridding apartheid South Africa of nuclear weapons "was not the goal of our solidarity," he wrote, "but [rather] to help the people of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and other fascist colonial rule of Portugal."

In referring to the origins of South Africa's nuclear weapons, Castro mentioned the "help that racist South Africa had received from [Ronald] Reagan and Israel."

"I do not know what Obama has to say on this story now," Castro wrote, adding, "although it is very doubtful that I knew absolutely nothing."

"My modest suggestion is to reflect and do not try now to develop theories about Cuban politics."
Cuba "has no need of gifts" from the United States, Castro concluded. "Our efforts will be legal and peaceful, because it is our commitment to peace and brotherhood of all human beings living on this planet."

The 1,500-word letter published, titled “Brother Obama”, was Castro’s first response to Obama’s three-day visit last week, in which the American president said he had come to bury the two countries’ history of cold war hostility.

The letter also mentions environmental abuse under the Spaniards and reviews the historical roles of Cuban independence heroes José Martí, Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez.

The former president ends his letter with a sort of “thanks but no thanks” to Obama’s offer of assistance.

The former president, 89, did not meet Obama during the March 20 visit which was the first by a sitting US president to travel to the island nation in nearly 90 years.

The meeting between Cuba and the US presidents in Havana was seen as a step towards the normalization of bilateral relations. However, numerous issues remain before full normalization can be reached including the ending of the US blockade on Cuba and the return of the Guantanamo Bay.

Castro, who led Cuba for decades before handing power to his brother in 2008, was legendary for his hours-long, all-encompassing speeches.

Video - Communism refuses to embrace Change. Obama's Awkward moment with Castro

Video - British Islamist 'Abu Haleema': I'd Rather Have Trump Who Tells Us He Hates Us Than a Snake Like Obama.

Shows again that Islamist respect strength .

Judicial Watch Sues Obama Department of Health and Human Services to Obtain Early “Obamacare” Enrollment Records.

Judicial Watch Sues Obama Department of Health and Human Services to Obtain Early “Obamacare” Enrollment Records.HT: JudicialWatch.

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on November 25, 2013, it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to obtain government records related to enrollment in the controversial Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 1:13-cv-01855)).

The Healthcare.gov website, officially launched on the Tuesday, October 1, immediately encountered substantial problems typical of those reported by the Chicago Tribune:The lawsuit was filed after HHS failed to respond to an October 7 Judicial Watch FOIA request seeking the following information: Any and all records concerning, regarding, or related to the number of individuals that purchased health insurance through healthcare.gov between October 1, 2013, and October 4, 2013.

Consumers seeking more information on their new options under the Affordable Care Act were met with long delays, error messages and a largely non-working federal insurance exchange and call center Tuesday morning.

Pressed for an explanation in a conference call with reporters that afternoon, Marilyn Tavenner, head of the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, refused to disclose the number of people who had purchased insurance through the site saying, “We have just decided not to release that yet.”
As the Obama administration finally began releasing its version of the enrollee numbers in November, a controversy ensued over the accuracy of the HHS figures. In an article entitled, “Who Counts as an Obamacare Enrollee – the Administration Settles on a Definition,” the Washington Post revealed that the Obama administration had abandoned the conventional definition of a health plan enrollee, apparently in an attempt to inflate its figures.

Significantly, the HHS figures did not break down enrollment numbers by age. The administration had announced that its goal is to sign up 2.7 million people between the ages of 18 and 35, in an apparent attempt to help offset the risk of insurance pools consisting primarily of older, more sickly people, who traditionally drive up health care coverage costs. According to the website, Governing.com, “Officials said demographic information will be included in future releases but didn’t specify when.”

“To be blunt, we think the Obama administration is telling more lies about these Obamacare enrollment numbers.  And sure enough, the administration refuses to turn over one document to us about these basic numbers about the healthcare.gov website,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The fact that we have to now go to federal court to get simple answers about how many people signed up for Obamacare shows that this administration has utter contempt for the people’s right to know.”

Video - Mark Levin: ‘I Think Obama Is Unstable’

Video - Mark Levin: ‘I Think Obama Is Unstable’

Obama to Include LGBT Activists in Russia Meetings.

Obama to Include LGBT Activists in Russia Meetings.(ABC).HT: AstuteBlogger.

MOSCOW – President Obama will include members of Russian LGBT groups among the NGO leaders, democracy activists and human rights advocates he meets later this week when he is in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the G-20 summit, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News today.

It’s typical for visiting U.S. officials, including the president, to meet with civil society members here in Russia, something that always irks the Kremlin. But this appears to be the first time LGBT groups have been included in a presidential-level meeting.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton included local LGBT groups in her meeting when she was in St. Petersburg last year, but the Obama meetings will be more at the national level, the official said.
The meeting was first reported in Buzzfeed.
It comes after a summer of international outrage over Russia’s new gay “propaganda” law, which outlaws even discussing homosexuality around minors. Violators could be fined and jailed. Foreigners face similar penalties plus deportation.
During an appearance on Jay Leno’s show last month, Obama was asked about the law and said he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”Hmmm......Obama's Hypocrisy on Gays.

Related: Russian gay activist Alexeyev has huge new anti-Semitic meltdown on Facebook, Twitter

'Obama help FEMEN!' Two women arrested in Berlin topless protest.

'Obama help FEMEN!' Two women arrested in Berlin topless protest.HT:DailyMail.

FEMEN activists this morning staged a bare-chested protest in Berlin ahead of a planned speech in the city by Barack Obama. 

Two women dressed only in denim hotpants struggled with riot police in the German capital's Tiergarten district, near to where the President will speak this afternoon. Across their breasts and bellies was written the slogan: 'Obama help.' 

In a statement emailed to the MailOnline, FEMEN explained that the protest was a call for Obama to intervene to free activists held in Tunisia and help advance the emancipation of women in the Middle East. 'FEMEN appeal to the leader of world democracy the president of USA Barack Obama about the violation of human rights in the Middle East and ask to contribute to the release of Tunisian prisoners of FEMEN,' it said. 'Obama help FEMEN!'

Pictures showed the two German activists struggling with heavily armoured riot police officers near the Brandenburg Gate, where Obama will appear this afternoon. They appeared to scream and fight with the officers, who took care to grip them only by their arms as they led them away from crowds of astonished onlookers.Read the full story here, more foto's here.

Think tank Hagel chairs issued report saying Iran and U.S. are ‘natural partners’

Think tank Hagel chairs issued report saying Iran and U.S. are ‘natural partners’.(FB).

The Washington think tank overseen by President Obama’s defense secretary-designate predicts that Iran one day will be a “natural partner” for the United States and could possess nuclear weapons.

It also puts the onus on Israel to make peace with Palestinians, many of whom are governed by Hamas, an Iran-backed terrorist group bent on the destruction of the Jewish state.
The views are contained in a major policy paper by the Atlantic Council, for which former Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska serves as chairman. The paper shows the foreign policy culture from which Mr. Hagel emerges to face Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearings.
The paper also may explain the underpinnings for Mr. Hagel’s dovish views on Iran for which he will receive close scrutiny by fellow Republicans.
Mr. Obama on Monday presented Mr. Hagel as the nominee to replace Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. Mr. Hagel has taken a far less hawkish stance than Mr. Panetta, who has vowed that Tehran will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and talks of a military option to stop the regime.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday approved Mr. Hagel’s nomination, saying it hopes his appointment as Pentagon chief would improve relations between the U.S. and the Islamic republic.
Mr. Hagel upbraided President George W. Bush for not offering unconditional talks with Iran’s hard-line Islamic leaders.

He does not emphasize a military option to counter Iran’s nuclear program, and he has suggested that Iran one day will own atomic weapons.

In December, the Atlantic Council issued the major position paper — part advice to Mr. Obama in his second term, part vision for the world in the next 17 years.
Mr. Hagel did not write “Envisioning 2030: U.S. Strategy for a Post-Western World,” but it corresponds with his and the Atlantic Council’s efforts to seek global cooperation, not confrontation.
The paper predicts that Iranian hard-liners will be unable to insulate the population from democratic movements in Egypt, Tunisia and other neighboring states.
“It is difficult to envision an already globalized Iranian public not being inspired by regional examples of popular democratic governance,” the Atlantic Council says.
“For U.S. strategy, Iran should be viewed as a potential natural partner in the region. … A post-mullah dominated government shedding Shia [Muslim] ideology could easily return to being a net contributor to stability by 2030.”
The report explains that if a decision were made to normalize relations, “the process of substantially easing sanctions could be accomplished fairly rapidly.” Sanctions “would need to be removed in order to promote normal U.S.-Iran commerce, facilitate U.S. and foreign investment in Iran, to permit U.S. foreign assistance to Iran, and to permit U.S. support for unrestricted international lending to Iran.”
A further necessary step would be Iran’s “removal from the terrorism list,” a designation that triggers automatic sanctions under several different laws. Removal from the list would allow for a “substantial broadening of U.S. economic relations with Iran.”

Katzman argues that Iran would need to receive substantial international investment. The first step would be opening up Iran to receive U.S. foreign aid.
“Congress would need to also delete Iran from a list of countries barred from U.S. assistance under successive foreign aid appropriations laws,” writes Katzman. “Congress could do so when it acts on foreign aid appropriations for any subsequent fiscal year by simply omitting Iran from the list of countries.”
Katzman notes that many of the necessary actions could be done unilaterally. He writes that the administration would have to issue an executive order “lifting the U.S. ban on trade with and investment in Iran,” noting that the “administration has substantial discretion to take this step.”
The president could also use his post to “lobby other governments to approve international loans to Iran for the purpose of fostering its economic development,” the report states.
Additionally, Katzman writes that the president could restore full diplomatic relations with Iran and that Congress could do little about it.
“The president has near total discretion on how to proceed in restoring diplomatic relations, if there were a decision to do so,” the report states. “Congressional ability to block such steps appears to be limited. Attempts by Congress to legislatively prevent a president from establishing full diplomatic relations with any country, including Iran, are likely to falter on constitutional grounds.”Read the full story here.

Al-Azhar grand sheikh to meet with Iranian FM in Cairo Thursday .

"CHANGE" - Al-Azhar grand sheikh to meet with Iranian FM in Cairo Thursday.(Imra).Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb will meet with Iran’s foreign minister in Cairo on Thursday afternoon.
State-run news agency MENA reported Tuesday that Tayyeb and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi would review the latest developments in the Arab and Islamic arenas, and what Al-Azhar could possibly do to help achieve national reconciliation in Egypt.
Iran and Egypt severed ties after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, due to the Egyptian government’s support for the overthrown Shah and its peace agreement with Israel. Both nations have long vied for power in the Middle East. Egypt has been allied with the US and Israel for decades, but since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak relations between Cairo and Tehran have warmed.
President Mohamed Morsy's visit to Iran in August was the first by an Egyptian president since the Iranian revolution.Hmmm.....Carter had Iran , Obama has Egypt.Read the full story here.

U.S. Population - less than 50% of the total population works.

U.S. Population - less than 50% of the total population works.(TECB).The unemployment crisis in America is much worse than you are being told. Did you know that there are 100 million working age Americans that do not get up in the morning and go to work? No wonder why it seems like there are so many people that do not have jobs!
According to the federal government, there are 12.6 million working age Americans that are considered to be "officially" unemployed, but there are another 87.8 million working age Americans that are not working either. The federal government considers those Americans to be "not in the labor force" so they are not included in the unemployment rate. In fact, this is one of the key ways that the government manipulates the unemployment numbers. The Obama administration would have us believe that the unemployment rate is going down and that that since the start of the last recession about as many Americans have left the labor force as we saw during the entire decades of the 1980s and 1990s combined. Of course that is a bunch of nonsense, but that is what the Obama administration would have us believe. The truth is that the percentage of working age Americans that are employed is just about the same right now as it was two years ago. It was incredibly difficult to get a job back then and it is incredibly difficult to get a job right now. 
So don't believe the hype that things are getting much better. If you still do have a good job, you might want to hold on to it tightly, because there is not much hope that things are going to improve significantly any time soon. The first chart that I have posted below shows the total number of "officially" unemployed workers in America. According to the Federal Reserve, that number is currently 12,673,000. This chart makes it look like the employment picture in America is getting significantly better.... But if you dig deeper into the numbers you quickly see that this is not true. A lot of those workers that were formerly classified as "unemployed" have now been moved into the "not in labor force" category. Since the start of the last recession, the number of Americans not in the labor force has risen by more than 8 million according to the Obama administration. The total number of working age Americans not in the labor force now stands at 87,897,000.... So when you add 12,673,000 and 87,897,000, you get a total of 100,570,000 working age Americans that do not have jobs.
When Barack Obama tells you that "America is going back to work" he is lying to you.
The cold, hard reality of the matter is that there are millions of hard working Americans that have been sitting at home for years hoping that a new job will come along.
Back in 2007, approximately 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for one year or longer.
Today, that figure is above 30 percent.
The average duration of unemployment in the United States today is about three times as long as it was back in the year 2000.
And according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the number of announced job cuts is actually rising again....
Anyway all these numbers made my head spin and i was wondering what's the actual population of America?


May 4, 2012 U.S. Population: 313,478,000.

The Census marks the under-18 population at 73.9 million on July 1, 2011.

73, 9 under working age + 100,570,000 million working age unemployed Americans = 174,470,00 Million that don't work.

313,478,000 U.S. population - 174,470,000 not working  = 139,008,000 working people, this means that only 44 % of the population works.Read the full story here.

Video Exposing How ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Was Organized From Day One by SEIU/ACORN Front – The Working Family Party, and How They All Tie to the Obama Administration, DNC, Democratic Socialists of America, Tides and George Soros.

The Left's Economic





Read more at The Blaze…

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan: Israel's Attack on the Mavi Marmara Constitutes a Casus Belli; There Will Be More and More Turkish Warships in the Eastern Mediterranean

From now on, Turkeys' relations with Israel will be at the level of second secretary, and even this level will not be permanent.

Second, we have frozen our commercial ties pertaining to military industries. Israel is not honest in this regard. It does not conform to proper commercial values. We have purchase and sale agreements, which include the maintenance of unmanned aircrafts by Israel. The agreement requires Israel to do this, but because of the problems between us, Israel has not handed these aircrafts over to us.

Third, from now on, we will be seeing Turkish ships in the international waters of the eastern Mediterranean. We will be seeing them more and more. I am referring to Turkish military ships. The world will see more and more warships, especially in maritime areas in which we have economic interests. From now on, Israel will not be able to impose its influence in these regions however it likes. It must realize this.

There is another important measure. Based upon its relations with us and our goodwill, Israel conducted joint military operations with us. Of course, a year ago, we stopped maneuvers of this kind. We cancelled them, and from now on, there will be no military cooperation or joint military maneuvers. This is impossible. We will not do this anymore.

The fifth issue pertains to our slain brothers – the victims aboard the Marmara, in particular. We will defend their rights. We will give them the greatest support, and we will continue to defend their rights, and we will pursue their case in the Hague court to the end.

As you know, Israel has begun to declare its control over areas of economic influence, as it sees fit, and has declared them areas in which it has interests. It will see that it has no authority in these areas.

Turkey has economic interests in these regions, especially in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Turkey is a guarantor state in Cyprus, and its position is well known there. Therefore, Turkey must display its resolve there, and guarantee freedom of navigation in international waters at all times.

With regard to the ships sailing to Gaza, [Turkey] will not hesitate to take measures. We will give all possible support to the transfer of humanitarian aid, and will provide the necessary arrangements.
The main mission of Turkish military ships is to protect Turkish vessels. This is their duty. We will send humanitarian aid to [Gaza], and this aid will not be subject to any attack like the one on the Mavi Marmara. If they are attacked, the attackers will meet an appropriate response.Hmmmm.....Since Erdogan and Obama have weekly phone calls one can only conclude he has Obama's backing on this.Source here.

Turkey is a member of NATO. Article One of the NATO charter reads as follows:

The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.
Turkey’s warlike threats obviously contradict the NATO charter.

MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan 5.1 , Iran  5.0 , Philipines 5.1 ! More info here.

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

• Debunking 6 Myths About Anders Breivik.(DanielGreenfield).

1. Anders Behring Breivik was a Fundamentalist Christian.

2. Anders Behring Breivik Hated Muslims.

3. Anders Behring Breivik was Inspired by Counterjihad Bloggers.

4. Anders Behring Breivik was Pro-Israel.

5. Anders Behring Breivik was a Moderate.

6. Anders Behring Breivik was a Political Terrorist.

Breivik did have a plan, but it is detached enough from reality that it can hardly be called a serious political program. He did succeed in killing a large number of people, but so have many other lunatics. Nothing that Breivik did was the work of a sound mind.Comparisons have been made to the Unabomber, but the Columbine killers and numerous others also come to mind. Including Charles Manson. Breivik's program was just as grandiose as Manson's, and just as deluded. Both hoped that a serious of violent acts would touch off a larger war that would enable them to take over.Breivik is as much a political terrorist as Manson, and can no more be considered part of any larger cause, beyond the malformed chemicals in his own brain.Read the full story here.

• Atheists sue to stop Christian cross from being placed at the 9/11 World Trade Center memorial.(DailyMail).An atheist organisation has filed a lawsuit to prevent the World Trade Center cross from going on display at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.American Atheists filed the lawsuit this week in the state court of New York and posted a copy on its website. Some of the defendants listed include the state of New Jersey, the city of New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Governor Chris Christie.The cross, which was found standing upright in the rubble of the World Trade Center, is comprised of steel girders that were closely welded together, resembling a Christian Roman Cross. This symbol became a source of comfort for some of the workers involved in the disaster clean-up.However, several atheist groups have strongly criticised the decision to display the cross at the museum, citing that no other religions or philosophies will be honoured in the same fashion.The cross, which was moved on Saturday to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, underwent a ceremonial blessing in a service led by Father Brian Jordan, a Franciscan monk who ministered to workers involved in the 9/11 clean-up. Joe Daniels, 9/11 Memorial president, said the cross is 'an important part of our commitment to bring back the authentic physical reminders that tell the history of 9/11 in a way nothing else could'.The 9/ll Memorial and Museum is due to open in September, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.A statement on the American Atheists website said: 'This was an attack against America, not Christianity, and Christianity does not deserve special placement just because the girders look like their religious symbol.'American Atheists also stated on their website that either they would pay for a memorial of equal size inside the museum, or the museum will not include the cross.'Equality is an all-or-nothing deal,' the statement said.Hmmmm........Read the full story here.

• A 'giant' on clay legs?New polls confirm Obama's Democratic base crumbles.(LATimes).With all of the spotlights on the high-stakes debt maneuverings by President Obama and Speaker John Boehner the last few days, few people noticed what Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders said:"I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition."This is political treason 469 days before a presidential election. Yes, yes, this is just a crusty old New England independent for now, albeit one who caucuses loyally with Harry Reid's Democratic posse.Using political forensics, notice any clues, perhaps telltale code words that reveal to whom he was really addressing his Monday message? Clearly, it wasn't congressional Republicans -- or Democrats, for that matter.The nation's top talker uttered 4,526 words in those remarks. He said "balanced approach" seven times, three times in a single paragraph.That's the giveaway. Obviously, David Plouffe and the incumbent's strategists have been polling phrases for use in this ongoing debt duel, which is more about 2012 now than 2011. "Balanced approach" is no sweet talk for old Bernie or tea sippers on the other side.Obama is running for the center already, aiming for the independents who played such a crucial role in his victorious coalition in 2008. They were the first to start abandoning the good ship Obama back in 2009 when all the ex-state senator could do was talk about healthcare, when jobs and the economy were the peoples' priority.Democrats lost the New Jersey and Virginia governor's offices largely as a result of that and Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. And then came last November's midterms when voters chose the approach of that historic pack of House-bound Republicans.Republicans have their own poll problems in some areas. But even without an identified GOP presidential alternative, we've had a plethora of recent polls showing Obama's fading job approval, especially on the economy.Now, comes a new ABC News/Washington Post poll with a whole harvest of revelations, among them, strong indications that Obama's liberal base is starting to crumble.Read the full story here.

• Leftist 'fifth column' groups plan noon Hill protest.(WashingtonExaminer).A coaltion of leftist groups, including the Campaign for America’s Future, MoveOn.Org (which claims as “fact” that “the GOP will hurt America just to undermine Obama”), Rebuild the Dream, and the AFL-CIO are urging their members to attend a noon protest on Capitol Hill for a “Don’t Destroy the American Dream” rally. The groups will be protesting what they characterize as “a disastrous debt deal” that calls for deep spending cuts to offset an increase in the national debt.The deal hammered out over the weekend by Republicans and Democrats was rejected by President Obama as the clock keeps ticking toward the August 2 deadline.Protestors plan to show up at various House offices to demand an “immediate” extension of the debt ceiling “with no conditions” in an attempt to stiffen the resolve of any wavering members.Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, blamed Republicans for “driving us closer to economic catastrophe.”None of the groups oppose adding to the $14.3 trillion national debt, which is mostly held by foreign investors even though the sea of red ink threatens the viability of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – the same entitlement programs they claim to champion.The very real fact is that the mountain of debt already racked up by the federal government threatens to destroy any semblance of the American Dream.Hmmmm......The Obama 'brownshirts' move in?Read the full story here.

• Speaker Boehner’s remarks, as prepared for delivery.(Politico).Before I served in Congress, I ran a small business in Ohio. I was amazed at how different Washington DC operated than every business in America. Where most American business make the hard choices to pay their bills and live within their means, in Washington more spending and more debt is business as usual.I’ve got news for Washington – those days are over.President Obama came to Congress in January and requested business as usual — yet another routine increase in the national debt limit — we in the House said ‘not so fast.’ Here was the president, asking for the largest debt increase in American history, on the heels of the largest spending binge in American history.Here’s what we got for that spending binge: a massive health care bill that most Americans never asked for. A ‘stimulus’ bill that was more effective in producing material for late-night comedians than it was in producing jobs. And a national debt that has gotten so out of hand it has sparked a crisis without precedent in my lifetime or yours.The United States cannot default on its debt obligations. The jobs and savings of too many Americans are at stake. What we told the president in January was this: the American people will not accept an increase in the debt limit without significant spending cuts and reforms. And over the last six months, we’ve done our best to convince the president to partner with us to do something dramatic to change the fiscal trajectory of our country…something that will boost confidence in our economy, renew a measure of faith in our government, and help small businesses get back on track.The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. That is just not going to happen. You see, there is no stalemate in Congress. The House has passed a bill to raise the debt limit with bipartisan support. And this week, while the Senate is struggling to pass a bill filled with phony accounting and Washington gimmicks, we will pass another bill – one that was developed with the support of the bipartisan leadership of the U.S. Senate.Obviously, I expect that bill can and will pass the Senate, and be sent to the President for his signature. If the President signs it, the ‘crisis’ atmosphere he has created will simply disappear. The debt limit will be raised. Spending will be cut by more than one trillion dollars, and a serious, bipartisan committee of the Congress will begin the hard but necessary work of dealing with the tough challenges our nation faces.This debate isn’t about President Obama and House Republicans … it isn’t about Congress and the White House … it’s about what’s standing between the American people and the future we seek for ourselves and our families. You know, I’ve always believed, the bigger government, the smaller the people. And right now, we have a government so big and so expensive it’s sapping the drive of our people and keeping our economy from running at full capacity.The solution to this crisis is not complicated: if you’re spending more money than you’re taking in, you need to spend less of it.There is no symptom of big government more menacing than our debt. Break its grip, and we begin to liberate our economy and our future. We are up to the task, and I hope President Obama will join us in this work. God bless you and your families, and God bless America.Read the full statement here.

• Congress Reminds Obama He's President, Not King.(Investors).Between 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday, the nation began a constitutional course-correction. The current occupant's vanity and naivete — a dangerous amalgam — are causing the modern presidency to buckle beneath the weight of its pretenses. And Congress is reasserting its responsibilities.At his Friday news conference-cum-tantrum, Barack Obama imperiously summoned congressional leaders to his presence: "I've told" them "I want them here at 11 a.m."By Saturday, his administration seemed to be cultivating chaos by suddenly postulating a new deadline: The debt-ceiling impasse must end before Asian markets opened Sunday evening Eastern time, lest the heavens fall.Those markets opened; the heavens held. The faux deadline, reportedly invoked at a Saturday White House meeting by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who should resign, inevitably seeped into the media and invited overseas panic, thereby risking the nation's currency, for brief tactical advantage.Amid these tawdry episodes, House Speaker John Boehner signaled constitutional sanity regained: "Congress will forge a responsible path forward." Congress. Obama has marginalized himself.Inordinate self-regard is an occupational hazard of politics and part of the job description of the rhetorical presidency, this incessant tutor. Still, upon what meat doth this our current Caesar feed that he has grown so great that he presumes to command leaders of a coequal branch of government?He once boasted (June 3, 2008) that he could influence the oceans' rise; he must be disabused of comparable delusions about controlling Congress. When he was a lecturer on constitutional law, he evidently skipped the separation of powers doctrine.But, then, because this doctrine impedes the progressives' goal of unleashing untrammeled government, they have long loathed it: Woodrow Wilson, the first president to criticize the American founding, considered the separation of powers the Constitution's "radical defect."It has, however, rescued the nation from Obama's preference for a "clean" debt-ceiling increase that would ignore the onrushing debt tsunami. There are 87 reasons for Obama's temporary conversion of convenience to the cause of spending restraint — the 87 House Republican freshmen.Read the full story here.

• Obama and NATO Turn Libya, and a $30B Check, Over to Jihadists.(Aina).By Tara Servatius.How would Americans feel if they knew the Obama administration just agreed to hand people affiliated with a designated terrorist group a $30 billion dollar check and recognize them as the legitimate rulers of Libya?Things weren't looking so good for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group back in 2004 when they were designated a foreign terrorist group by the State Department. In chilling testimony, then-CIA Director George Tenet warned the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 that even if Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda was completely destroyed, "a global network of Islamic extremists bent on killing Americans had emerged." Tenet listed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) as one of those groups.In 2007, the LIFG formally joined al-Qaeda, an event so well documented that even Reuters covered it. Its goals, which it is now close to achieving thanks to airpower help from President Obama and NATO, include killing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, setting up an Islamic caliphate in Libya and waging international jihad.The known leaders of the Libyan rebel forces on the ground are all former LIFG fighters, some with documented personal connections to al-Qaeda. The Transitional National Council, which the Obama administration recognized last week as the official government of Libya, is packed with pro-LIFG activists, lawyers who have advocated for imprisoned LIFG fighters, and Islamic scholars from LIFG strongholds.Something smells strongly of jihad here.Oddly though, one of the first things the U.S.-led coalition did when it invaded Libya in March was to help the rebels capture the oil fields. If Libya's radical Islamists can get their hands on that oil revenue, they will control oil fields capable of generating $34 billion worth of black gold a year. You can sure fund a lot of jihad with that.Earlier this year, a debate broke out over whether there were al-Qaeda fighters in the rebel ranks. The answer the Washington establishment settled on was that there were "flickers" here and there.But everyone was asking the wrong question.A better question would have been about the extent to which LIFG fighters were leading the ground battle.It is well-documented that a handful of former Gaddafi military leaders oversaw the rebellion in Libya. But the actual training of troops and fighting on the ground was largely led by LIFG veteran fighters fresh from battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among them were LIFG veteran fighters such as Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi, who has admitted to fighting allied forces in Afghanistan and was turned over to Libya by the U.S. after his capture in 2002.His field commander on the front lines, Salah al-Barrani, is also a well-known LIFG fighter. Before serving as a Libyan rebel commander, former Guantanamo inmate Sufyan Ben Qumu, who was transferred to Libya in 2007, was named to the military committee of the LIFG in between stints training with al-Qaeda and fighting alongside the Taliban.Fewer than half of the 33 members of the Transitional National Council (TNC), which the LIFG-led rebels now say they answer to, are even publicly known. The rest have gone unnamed, supposedly to protect their families. Several of those who are known have ties to or were supporters of the LIFG, did legal work for LFG fighters or advocated on their behalf when they were repressed by Gaddafi.A graduate student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies who did an extensive technical analysis of the new Libyan leadership warned that the radical Islamists are now one of three groups vying for power among the Obama-recognized Libyan leadership, and that TNC members already sympathetic to them might ally themselves with the radical jihadists to grow their power.At stake? Again, $30 billion in Gaddafi-frozen assets that the U.S. promised to turn over to the TNC, and Libya's oil.Senior militants in online chat rooms monitored by the West seem to know the score, and are urging a patient, long-term approach rather than a quick revolution, The Australian reports: "One forum leader warns that declaring an Islamic emirate in Libya would prompt a Western invasion, and stresses instead that they should build up their military forces, 'educate the people' on the need for an Islamic state, 'and then declare the emirate, with weapons, economy and a people ready to fight for Allah.'"That should be no problem with the billions provided by Obama and NATO to fund it all.Hmmmm.........."I will stand with my Muslim Brothers"?Read the full story here.

• Saudi female students storm Mecca’s Umm Al Qura university campus.(AlArabiya).Hundreds of Saudi female students stormed the campus of Umm Al Qura University in Mecca last Saturday to protest what they charged was the lack of fairness in the admissions process. Their protests were shown widely on a video they posted on YouTube after the incident. In a bid to calm the situation, university vice president Badr Bin Ahmad Habib Allah said the students would be admitted to College of Community Service ‎and Continuing Education without charging them the required tuition fees, which will be paid by the government.Mr. Habib Allah added that the registration had started on Sunday.The women had accused the university of having admitted students who did not met the admission requirements. They claimed the existence of favoritism and reservation of academic places for relatives and friends.Suhaila Zainal Abidin, of the National Society for Human Rights, told AlArabiya.net that favoritism was rampant in Saudi universities without exception, which has prompted the students to storm the university building, a move Ms. Zainal Abidin opposed. “They (female students) have a right and they did not need to do this because such actions could weaken their position. They could have used official channels to gain their rights instead of the violence.”She demanded the intervention of the national anti-corruption agency to put an end to all practices of favoritism and unlawful practices in the admissions process.Read the full story here.

• Belarusian dictatorship and Red Chinese paratroopers conduct 10-day exercise in former Soviet republic.(Onceuponatimeinthewest).Since the beginning of the year, the former Soviet republic of Belarus has been in a considerable state of political and economic turmoil related in part to its large trade deficit and the devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. “Ex”-communist dictator Alexander Lukashenko (The man who once threatened to use Nuclear arms against the West)desperately requires outside cash infusions and cheap natural gas from Russia, Belarus’ only reliable ally, to prop up his country’s ailing Soviet-style command economy.In order to deflect domestic anger away from his mismanagement of the country and the fraudulent results of last year’s presidential election, which handed a fourth term to Lukashenko, Comrade Alex has unleashed the Belarusian KGB in a string of vicious crackdowns on the opposition.In the wake of the Arab Spring, which has toppled dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt and threatens to overthrow those in Libya and Yemen, democrats in Europe are once again urging Belarusians to rise up and overthrow Lukashenko. In the midst of this unrest, Comrade Alex has invited Red China to participate in joint “anti-terrorism” drills with the Belarusian armed forces. Belarus shares a border with Poland, a former Warsaw Pact state that is now part of NATO.On July 5, an 83-strong special task force of paratroopers of the People’s Liberation Army arrived in Baranovichi, where they held a 10-day exercise with Belarusian counterparts, overcoming “challenges of language, geography and climate to accomplish the planned task with close cooperation and coordination.” On or around July 15, the PLA airborne troops flew back to Urumqi, capital city of Red China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.“It was not only the first drills conducted jointly by soldiers from the Chinese and Belorussian armed forces, but also the first occasion for Chinese paratroopers to leave the country for joint training with foreign soldiers,” reports Red China’s state media, adding:The two armed forces trained together in counterterrorism, and the two-phased drills included training in mixed units and comprehensive exercises . . . The first phase of the drills included an obstacle course, hand-to-hand combat, parachuting, combat firing and anti-terrorism tactics. During the second phase, paratroopers encircled and eliminated “terrorists” by combining parachuting and tactical air landing operations.According to Red China’s defense ministry, “the joint-training exercise serves to consolidate the traditional friendship between China and Belarus and enrich cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries . . .” The PLA contingent in Belarus was relatively small, but raises the spectre of future military drills involving Red Chinese troops in Europe.Hmmmm.....The same guys who held drills with Turkey?Read the full story here.

• Hamas hangs two 'Israeli collaborators' in Gaza.(HurriyetDaily).Gaza's Hamas rulers on Tuesday hanged two Palestinians who were convicted of collaborating with Israel, an interior ministry statement said.It was the second time this year that the Islamist movement had carried out an execution of someone accused of 'collaborating' with the Israelis."The sentence was carried out after all appeals were exhausted," it said. "The execution came after the government approved the decision to implement the penalty imposed on agents who collaborate with the Israeli occupation."The Hamas-run interior ministry identified the two men only as M.A.Q. and R.A.Q, and a security source, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the pair were brothers."The Gaza Court of First Instance sentenced the defendants on November 29, 2004 to death by hanging and the Court of Cassation rejected their appeal and upheld the sentence on July 14, 2011," the ministry said.The statement said the charges against them included murder, attempted murder and "communicating with hostile foreign security elements to the detriment of national interests" and "weakening morale and the strength of the resistance."In May, a man referred to as A.S. was executed by firing squad after being convicted of collaboration a month earlier.Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel, murder, and drug trafficking are all punishable by death.By law, all execution orders must be approved by the Palestinian president before they can be carried out, but Hamas no longer recognizes the legitimacy of Mahmud Abbas, whose four-year term ended in 2009.In recent months, Hamas has arrested several alleged collaborators, and warned it would prosecute any "traitor" working for the Jewish state.Hmmmmm........Obama's 'peacepartners'.Read the full story here.

• Khamenei Establishes Council to Arbitrate Between Majlis and Ahmadinejad.(Memri).Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has appointed Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi – former head of the judiciary branch – to head a new council that will engage in "supreme arbitration and coordination between the three branches of government" and will answer to Khamenei.The council includes conservative clerics loyal to Khamenei, including: Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi; Expediency Council member Morteza Nabavi; and Guardian Council Spokesman Ali Kadkhodaei.It seems that Khamenei appointed the council in order to put an end to the conflict between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Majlis. It should be mentioned that the Expediency Council, headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani (Ahmadinejad's rival), serves as a supreme arbitration body. However, it seems that Khamenei sought an arbitrator who is not associated with either of the rivals, and as part of his plan to supplant Rafsanjani, who was once associated with the Green Movement.Read the full story here.

• UNHRC: "Womens' rights problems? Not so loud, please!".(EuropeNews).In this speech in the UN Human Rights Council, David G. Littman points out discrimination against women directly and documentably sanctioned by Islamic law. President Phuangketkeow responds by requesting more 'sensitivity' in matters where religion is involved, womens' rights has distinctly lower priority than showing 'understanding' for religion.In his follow-up speech on June 10th, Littman reminds the assembly that such demands constitute an undermining of the universality of human rights, that The idea of "Cultural relativism" is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights, and demonstrates his precise and well-documented understanding of Islamic doctrine by quoting current Islamic scholars endorsing the practice of trading sex slaves in the free market.

In 2008, in her 60th anniversary UDHR lecture, Noble Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi declared: “The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.” [She condemned the fact that in Iran a girl is considered an adult and liable to punishment, even execution, at 9 and a boy at 15.]Only last week, a popular Egyptian preacher, Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini, confirmed on Egyptian TV [Hikma] what he had said 18 years ago that: Jihad still justifies plundering, enslaving and raping the infidels – for which he provided quotations from sacred texts in justification. He even boasted that Islam allows Muslims to buy and sell conquered infidel women, adding: "When I want a sex-slave, I go to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her." (3).And last weekend, a political activist and former parliamentary candidate for Kuwait's government, Salwa al-Mutairi, expressed her religious opinion to "revive the institution of sex-slavery.”(4) It is 3 years since a 1½ hour landmark event [also known as the ‘Sharia-gate Shipwreck’] occurred at the Council in reaction to our joint statement on ‘violence against women’ [item 8]. (5) We had begun by once again condemning FGM [– the barbaric female genital mutilation of @ 3 million young girls every year in 32 countries, 29 of which are members of the OIC; the stoning of women; honour killing and the marriage-sale of 9 year-old-girls – all carried out in the name either of ‘traditional practices’ or ‘cultural relativism’, but with irrefutable religious connections.]And we remain convinced that such crimes, carried out ‘traditionally’, but also with official religious sanction (6), should not be treated as taboo subjects at the Council. The growing phenomenon of ‘cultural relativism’ should not be supported by self-censorship at the UN, [especially not under the guise of ‘complementary standards’ or ‘sensitivity and understanding’.] It is surely time for more States, especially OIC countries, and NGOs to condemn here all such barbaric practices against women – for whatever reason. We appeal to both the Council and the High Commissioner to reconsider this matter seriously and put an end to the silence. In the words of Shakespeare’s Othello: Silence that dreadful bell [Act ii, scene 3]Thank you, Mr President.Read and see the full story here.

• Human Rights Watch lauds law banning female genital mutilation in Iraqi Kurdistan.(AlArabiya).Human Rights Watch on Tuesday welcomed a draft law banning female genital mutilation by the regional government in Iraqi Kurdistan.The Family Violence Bill approved June 21 by the autonomous government includes several provisions criminalizing the practice in Kurdistan, HRW, said, adding that prevalence of FGM among girls and women in Kurdistan “is at least 40 percent.”“By passing this law, the Kurdistan regional government has shown its resolve to end female genital mutilation and to protect the rights of women and girls,” said Nadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.“But the government needs a long-term strategy to deal with this harmful practice because criminalizing it is not enough,” she said in a statement.The bill has to be ratified by the regional president, Massud Barzani.The draft law criminalizes FGM, penalizing medical professionals and midwives who “instigate, assist, or carry out” the procedure. Criminal penalties include prison terms ranging from six months to three years, in addition to fines of up to $8,500.Shortly after HRW issued a June 2010 report about FGM, the Kurdistan Health Ministry surveyed 5,000 women and girls and found that 41 percent had undergone the procedure, and that the practice is more prevalent in some regions than others in Kurdistan, the statement said.It quoted a 2010 finding by the Association for Crisis Assistance and Development Co-operation, a German-Iraqi human rights non-governmental organization, that out of the 1,408 girls and women aged 14 and over interviewed, 72.7 percent had undergone FGM.For the 12 to 24 age group, the prevalence was slightly over 40 percent, the report found.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Papua New Guinea 5.9 ! More info here.

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

• Three rating agencies have already downgraded U.S. government debt.(Cato).Lost in all the concerns over how Moody’s and SandP will view any deal to raise the debt ceiling and whether such a deal addresses our country’s long term budget imbalances is the fact that at least three rating agencies have already downgraded U.S. government debt. One of these agencies, Weiss Ratings, treats U.S. government debt as barely better than “junk” or speculative grade.It would be easy to dismiss these agencies as irrelevant and attempting to simply grab attention, but at least one of these agencies, Egan-Jones, has a track record of correctly predicting problems at such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers that the major rating agencies missed until it was too late. Egan-Jones also employs a business model of having investors pay for its services, rather than the debt issuer.The simple truth is that the U.S. government has made more future promises than it will have the capacity to pay, under almost any circumstances. The fact that the major rating agencies downplay these long term imbalances is further testament to their entrenched monopoly status. But then when the government provides you with some regulatory protections, its only natural to assume the government will expect one to return the favor.Read the full story here.

• Obama Rejects Bi-Partisan Debt Plan.(BigGovernment).A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”If this is accurate the president is playing with fire.By halting a bipartisan deal he imperils the country’s finances and can rightly be accused of putting partisanship above all else. The ONLY reason to reject a short-term, two-step deal embraced by both the House and Senate is to avoid another approval-killing face-off for President Obama before the election. Next to pulling troops out of Afghanistan to fit the election calendar, this is the most irresponsible and shameful move of his presidency.Hmmmmm.........Impeachment sounds reasonable.Read the full story here.

• Steve King on default: Obama could be impeached.(Politico).Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Monday that President Barack Obama “would be impeached” if the nation falls into default.“STOP talking about default,” he wrote on Twitter. “The 1st dime of each $1 of revenue services debt. Obama would be impeached if he blocked debt payments. C C and B!”King is among the House Republicans who voted for the so-called “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan that would introduce a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. The Senate last week dismissed the House bill.King isn’t the first Republican to suggest that Obama should be impeached over the debt crisis.Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said earlier this month it would be “an impeachable offense” for Obama to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval. In April, former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein drafted articles of impeachment in hopes that House Republicans would introduce them. And Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in March said the air attacks on Libya are impeachable acts.Read the full story here.

• Obama: Immigration reform stalled by GOP.(Politico).President Barack Obama on Monday sought to mend a growing rift with Hispanics over the lack of progress on immigration reform and other key issues, telling a national Latino conference: “I will keep up this fight.” “This is a city where ‘compromise’ is becoming a dirty word, where there’s more political upside in doing what’s easier for reelection, what’s easier for an attack ad, than what’s best for the country,” Obama told the National Council of La Raza, a prominent Hispanic civil rights group, at its annual conference.Referencing the debt limit and deficit debate, Obama expressed frustration over Republicans’ unwillingness to join him on much at all, including immigration reform. “I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own,” Obama told La Raza conference attendees at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park. “Believe me, right now, dealing with Congress, the idea of doing this on my own is very tempting — not just on immigration reform.” Obama’s audience began chanting “Yes, you can, yes, you can,” a nod to his “Yes, we can” 2008 campaign slogan and tart rejoinder to his repeated claims that Republicans are to blame for the lack of progress on key Hispanic issues.Some Hispanic leaders have urged Obama to use his executive authority to slow deportation of illegal immigrants, something the president has been unwilling to do. He reiterated that discomfort on Monday, saying end-runs around Congress are “not how our system works.” “Change it!” came a call from the audience.Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Obama’s immigration reform plan amounts to an amnesty system that would “bury” the nation in debt by expanding the social safety net. He called on the president to enforce existing laws. “If millions of illegal immigrants are legalized, they will be eligible for a wide array of taxpayer-funded benefits, such as health care and education,” Smith said Monday. “They will also further deplete our entitlement programs, which are already on the verge of insolvency.” Obama’s attendance at La Raza came after he angered another prominent Hispanic organization, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, by repeatedly declining invitations to their annual conference after promising as a candidate to return.Hmmmm......Clearly this President doesn't give a damm about the November 2010 result.It's still 'my way or the highway'.Read the full story here.

• Bad Obama Arisin’ Once Again.(Whitehousedossier).President Obama, avatar of hope and change, is back in real nasty mode, suggesting not too subtly that conservative Republican lawmakers are un-American.The frightening thing here is not that Obama has gone into a political mode similar to that which we saw just before Election Day 2010, when he resorted to calling Republicans enemies, suggested without proof that foreign money was funding the Chamber of Commerce’s political work, said Republicans don’t want black people to vote and that they had a master plan to keep the economy from improving in order to seize power, and so on.The frightening thing is that he believes this, in the idea that people with different philosophies than his are evil and un-American. It’s wrong when anyone – liberal or conservative – takes such a position. It’s scary when the president of all of us does.And how comforted are you by this?Believe me — believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. (Laughter.) I promise you. Not just on immigration reform.Now, he followed up emphatically with “That’s not how our democracy functions,” and was clearly trying to make the point that he needs Republicans to get things done, not that he wants to govern by fiat. But I’ve never heard a president joke around in such a careless manner. It contains an unappealing dose of egotism and disrespect for the system.Obama so easily slips into a deeply partisan, even contemptuous mode of speaking. Hmmmmm.......How close are we to a Dictator rising?Read the full story here.

• Obama Nominates Anti-gun Activist to Country’s Second Most Important Court.(USACarry).In case you were thinking that Barack Obama’s hatred of the Second Amendment was subsiding, Obama has now nominated — to the country’s second-highest court — an avid leader in the effort to destroy firearms manufacturers using frivolous litigation.The nomination of Caitlin Halligan — formerly the solicitor general of New York – to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals would put a rabid anti-gun activist in a position where she could do maximum damage to the Second Amendment.As New York’s solicitor general, Halligan was one of the chief lawyers responsible for New York’s baseless and politically motivated efforts to bankrupt gun manufacturers using frivolous litigation. In so doing, Halligan proved that she places liberal political activism above fealty to the law.Halligan’s public hatred for firearms was only matched by her zealotry inside the courtroom. In a speech on May 5, 2003, Halligan called for “handgun manufacturers [to be held] liable for criminal acts committed with handguns.”Certainly, no other manufacturer of another item — whether it be cars, baseball bats, or anything else — would be held liable for the criminal misuse of its product. And, as Halligan well knows, the application of that principle to firearms would surely eliminate the manufacture of firearms in America.It is also significant that a Washington-based anti-gun group openly took credit for coordinating anti-gun suits such as Halligan’s.After attempts of legal extortion of the firearms industry were repudiated by a bipartisan vote in Congress, Halligan’s office signed a brief calling for New York courts to declare the federal Gun Makers’ Protection Act “unconstitutional” because it supposedly overstepped Congress’ powers.This, at a time when Halligan would no doubt hold the anti-gun ObamaCare is constitutional because there are no effective limits on Congress’ powers.Finally, Halligan, in written testimony submitted to the Senate in connection with her nomination, attempted to conceal the extent of her anti-gun animus.Halligan’s failure to provide information that would clarify her statements, thus keeping her testimony from being misleading, constitutes “fraud” against the Senate. As such, the only role she should play in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the role of a defendant.We have to stop this Presidential court-packing scheme. But we don’t have much time — the Senate could be voting on this anti-gun nominee this week!ACTION: Contact your senators and urge them to vote against the Halligan nomination.Hmmmmm.....If he wanted to destroy America would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• Super Congress: Echoes of Tyranny Rising.(NoisyRoom).By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton.I would remind people of the Enabling Act of 1933 in Germany. It is eerily similar to what is happening now. In short, with the Enabling Act, the parliament granted the German government additional powers and de facto legalized Hitler’s dictatorship.And let’s not forget the Communist Party of Soviet Russia and the Politburo. We are in a similar position. The “Super Congress,” however, is taking the power out of the people’s hands (as delegated to their “representatives”) and placing it into the hands of a few before giving it to an authoritarian. And there are more and more of the whispers speaking of a Super Congress. Starting Saturday evening, a story came forth from the New York Times that a Super Congress was being touted as a solution to the debt ceiling empasse. Hardly the most reliable source, nevertheless it is being repeated in the Huffington Post and has now been picked up by NewsMax. I pray this is wrong, because it is so unconstitutional as to bring fear into this American’s heart of another revolution and to reverberate the echoes of tyranny rising throughout America.I ask our politicians, where is the transparency? Since when do Americans get locked out of seeing your ‘plans?’ Plans that will effect each and every one of us in life changing ways. Why don’t you show us what you are proposing? Sunlight is the best disinfectant – bring these talks and plans into the open for all to see. A Super Congress is not the answer. It is a Progressive/Marxist solution to a problem of their own making and will allow an elite cabal to rule over America with a dictator at the helm. Is this what we have come to? From the Huffington Post:This “Super Congress,” composed of members of both chambers and both parties, isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, but would be granted extraordinary new powers. Under a plan put forth by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his counterpart Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation to lift the debt ceiling would be accompanied by the creation of a 12-member panel made up of 12 lawmakers — six from each chamber and six from each party.Legislation approved by the Super Congress — which some on Capitol Hill are calling the “super committee” — would then be fast-tracked through both chambers, where it couldn’t be amended by simple, regular lawmakers, who’d have the ability only to cast an up or down vote. With the weight of both leaderships behind it, a product originated by the Super Congress would have a strong chance of moving through the little Congress and quickly becoming law. A Super Congress would be less accountable than the system that exists today, and would find it easier to strip the public of popular benefits. Negotiators are currently considering cutting the mortgage deduction and tax credits for retirement savings, for instance, extremely popular policies that would be difficult to slice up using the traditional legislative process.The article goes on to claim that John Boehner is making the Super Congress a defining point in his new proposal to raise the debt ceiling. If true, shame on him and shame on McConnell. We’ve come to expect fascist maneuvering from the Progressives on the Left, but now it would seem the Progressives on the Right are rearing their unconstitutional heads.The Tea Party and American patriots want and demand that our leaders cut spending and not raise taxes. Do not raise the debt ceiling any more. We don’t want a Super Congress and we don’t want to be a party to your gleeful destruction of the Constitution. Stop floating these Marxist ideas or Americans will surely see you are removed from office for good. Americans will not become subservient to an elite ruling class. We will fight you, you can be sure of that.There is a good reason that Boehner has not pressed this plan publicly. He would be ripped to shreds by Conservatives over it and he knows it. If this story is true, we are indeed in real trouble folks. Why is this story not everywhere you look? And how much power and money was promised to those that would betray the Tea Party and Americans in general? Inquiring minds really need to know.Whether this piece of insanity comes to fruition is yet to be seen. I don’t think it will come to pass because it would mean a revolt of the people. However, I still believe there is a very strong chance that Obama will use his Executive Order power using the 14th Amendment as cover to raise the debt ceiling. Looks like this week will be one wild ride…If this effort to create a Super Congress to distill power into the hands of the few, the elite, the select succeeds, we will indeed have tyranny rising. Hmmmmm.......And so it has begun.Read the full story here.

• Damn the American economy: full speed ahead for the public sector unions!(DougRoss).On Friday, right after his Democrat colleagues in the Senate used a procedural maneuver to kill the Cut, Cap and Balance Act without a real vote, President Obama held a town hall meeting at the University of Maryland before a carefully screened, very supportive audience. He said a few interesting things in this relaxed and comfortable environment.Obama blamed divided government for the debt ceiling crisis. “I’m sympathetic to your view that this would be easier if I could do this entirely on my own,” he told a questioner who brought up the theory, fashionable in some liberal circles, that the 14th Amendment gives the President power to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally. The President went on to remark, with a chuckle, that this would give him more time to spend with his daughters. In addition to recoiling in horror at the thought of America’s chief executive being arrogant enough to even speculate about the joys of dictatorship out loud, a thoughtful town hall attendee might ask why the Democrats didn’t balance the budget when they had total control of Washington from 2009 to 2010, and point out that they have controlled both houses of Congress since 2006. But you’re not supposed to ask questions like that.Obama also told his audience that “it’s hard to keep up with all the different plans” for handling the debt crisis. No, it isn’t. There’s are only two real plans: the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, which enjoys the support of a huge majority of Americans, or leaving the debt ceiling where it is. There are no other plans. There are only vague outlines… absolutely none of which have come from President Obama, who has made no concrete proposals at all.Hayward has a memorable phrase that may truly become Obama's nom de guerre: "Architect of the new Depression":[Obama says that] “we’ve made good choices so far.” (I am not making this up. He really said that.) He also declared, “The United States of America doesn’t run out without paying the tab. We pay our bills. We meet our obligations.” Um… Mr. President? Running a huge deficit means, by definition, that you are not “paying your bills,” and you are the one who keeps threatening that your government will not “meet its obligations,” by shutting off Social Security checks, veterans benefits, and other essential services.Do you recall what George Bush’s final deficit was? It was loudly decried as a “record-breaking” figure in the mainstream press, and it was indeed far too high. The amount was about $458 billion. Barack Obama racks up that much debt in three months... The angry President who railed against oil companies and corporate jet owners one more time on Friday is a man lost in delusions the rest of us should refuse to entertain. He’s treating an existential fiscal crisis as a political opportunity to grab some more tax money, and goose his re-election numbers a bit.Actually, he's trying to keep the public sector unions -- which funnel money directly into Obama's campaign coffers -- fully employed and engaged in the 2012 fight. Damn the American economy: full speed ahead for the public sector unions!That is what this fight is all about. Obama wants to continue borrowing trillions to keep the public sector unions fueled and ready; members' dues will then go washing back into his 2012 campaign.This power-mad man is dooming America's fiscal future in order to retain his white-knuckled grip on power.Read the full story here.

• Release of Palmer report postponed.(Ynet).UN report probing raid on first Gaza flotilla deferred in hopes Israel, Turkey reach compromise by new release date.Jerusalem sources told Ynet Sunday that the Release of the UN's Palmer report, probing the raid on the first Gaza flotilla, has been postponed to mid-august. The move is said to be in an effort to allow Israel and Turkey more time to reach a compromise as to its phrasing.The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said Sunday that the Palmer report on last year's Gaza-bound flotilla is expected to be released this week. The United Nations inquiry into the deadly events which took place aboard Turkey's Marmara is led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, who is assisted by two deputies – an Israeli one and a Turkish one. Earlier Sunday, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported that Palmer report has ruled that IDF soldiers boarded the ship with "the intent to kill.' According to the report, Israel is considering compensating the families of the nine people killed aboard the ship, and intends to issue a statement regretting the loss of life - regardless of Turkey's demand for an official apology. Hmmmmm......Let me guess the 'release' of the report will coincide with the Palestinian statehood vote?read the full story here.

• Erdogan's 'Plan B': Downgrading Israel ties.(Ynet). Turkish newspaper reports prime minister considering options if Israel refuses to apologize for 2010 flotilla raid.Turkish newspaper Hurriyet on Monday reported that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considering moving to a "Plan B" which will see relations with Israel suffer further by downgrading the level of Turkey's diplomatic staff in Israel.   On Sunday, Erdogan said that he still expects an apology from Jerusalem. "We will wait for the Israelis' decision a certain period. If they don't apologize by this time we shall move to plan b," he said.According to Hurriyet, "Plan B" means cooling down relations with Israel. One of the most significant steps will be downgrading the level of Turkey's embassy staff in Israel. Ankara recalled its ambassador following last year's flotilla event. It is also possible Turkey will not approve an Israeli ambassador to replace Gaby Levy.Hmmmm.....Welcome to Turkey ......Ahmadinejad style?Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Another two women killed by their husbands over the weekend.(TodaysZaman).Two more women were murdered by their husband this weekend, adding to the alarming headcount of women killed in cases of domestic abuse. Despite the drafting of new legislation, efforts of women’s rights organizations and the dedication of leaders to the cause, violence against women continues to persist in Turkey.A man allegedly shot and killed his wife and father-in-law in Konya on Saturday night when she refused to accept his second wife. Polygamy is illegal in Turkey, but the practice still does occur in some regional areas.When Ramazan K. brought home a second wife, his first wife, Dilek K., objected and they argued. Upset, Dilek K. left and went to the home of her father, Muzaffer Karataş. Ramazan K. later met with his wife briefly at her father’s home but failed to convince her to return home. Outraged that his first wife refused to return with him, he shot at them through an open kitchen window, hitting and killing both Dilek K. and her father. Ramazan K. fled the scene but was later detained in the town of Altınekin.In another instance of domestic violence, a man shot and killed his wife in front of their two children and then committed suicide in Ankara early Sunday morning.Salih Ekinci and his wife, Naile Ekinci, were in the process of obtaining a divorce and had been separated for quite some time. Early on Sunday Salih Ekinci went to his wife’s home where she lived with their two children. When she refused to open the door, he entered through the balcony. While arguing, Salih Ekinci shot and killed his wife in front of their children. He then went out onto the balcony and shot himself.Read the full story here.

• Saudi scholar urges for an Islamic fatwa to stop Libya fighting.(Emirates24/7).A Saudi Moslem scholar appeared on state-run Libyan satellite television on Monday to call for a fatwa (religious ruling) by key scholars in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries urging the rebels in Libya to put their arms down and talk peace with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.Hamoud bin Nafei Al Anzi, a mosque preacher in the central Saudi town of Alasiah, said several prominent Moslem scholars in the Arab region made a hasty decision when they sanctioned the fight against Gaddafi in the first days after fighting broke out in the north African Arab country five months ago.Anzi, the first Arab Moslem scholar to publicly and boldly support Gaddafi, said he had been taken by Libyan officials and scholars to sites bombed by NATO warplanes in Tripoli, Misrata and other towns.Anzi, who is visiting Tripoli, Gaddafi’s stronghold, said he was in Libya on a personal mission and that he does not represent Saudi government views.“I have been to many places bombed by the crusaders (NATO) in Libya….these crusaders are only killing the Libyan people without discrimination and destroying the country,” he said in a seminar broadcast by Libyan television.“I appeal for all our Moslem scholars and intellects to issue a fatwa for those who are fighting the government and their own people to put their arms down and join their brothers on the negotiating table…if you (rebels) have any demands, then sit at the negotiating table and discuss them…please do not resort to weapons to resolve your disputes…I acknowledge there are mistakes but mistakes must not be tackled by bigger mistakes…for God’s sake, stop the bloodshed.”“I saw people who had their legs and hands severed, eyes blinded and bodies mutilated by the bombs of the blasphemous…and I now wonder who is benefiting from all this destruction…even if there are mistakes by the rulers, this does not justify bringing the foreigners into the country…Islam forbids this…I appeal for all Libyans to stop fighting, talk to each other and discard those crusaders,” Alanzi said in rare comments by a Saudi scholar.“I just urge my brothers in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries to issue a fatwa now forbidding fighting and bloodshed….what is wrong with issuing a fatwa telling all parties in Libya to case aside their weapons and sit together…they should listen to the voice of reason and their religion and unite against this blasphemous enemy (NATO) whose sole purpose is to destroy Libya.”Hmmmmm........Clearly for him the Crusader enemy is NATO and Gadaffi is a peace loving believer?Read the full story here.

• Iran draws the line with Turkey on Syria.(AsiaTimesOnline).In a sign of growing Iranian misgiving about Turkey's role in Middle Eastern affairs, Tehran has decided to throw its weight behind the embattled Syrian regime, even if that translates into a setback in relations between Tehran and Ankara. Iran's move is bound to represent a new thorn in ties, with multiple potential side-effects, since it comes at a delicate time when Turkey is pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government to adopt meaningful reforms and to give legitimacy to the Syrian opposition, which has repeatedly held meetings in Turkey. Over the weekend, Tehran hosted Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Alaw for the signing of a major trilateral Iran-Iraq-Syria gas deal worth.billions of dollars, while showering the Assad regime with unconditional praise as the "vanguard of resistance" that was subjected to psychological warfare and Western-Zionist conspiracy. Articulating Iran's steadfast support for its key Arab ally, Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi used his meeting with Alaw to expel the slightest doubt about Iran's stance on Syria, by stating that "Iran and Syria are two inseparable countries and allies, and Iran will stand by its friend and Muslim [neighboring] country, Syria, under all circumstances". In sharp contrast to Turkey's support for the Syrian opposition, Rahimi dismissed the current unrest in Syria as "guided by arrogant powers and the meddling of enemies".A clue to the "new Iranian thinking" on the crisis in Syria and its regional implications emerged in a recent issue of Sobhe Sadegh, the weekly publication of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), written by Reza Garmabehry, that in unmistakable language warned that if Iran had to choose between Turkey and Syria, it would choose Syria. Titled "Iran's serious position vis-a-vis the events in Syria", the article implicitly criticized Turkey for serving Western and Zionist interests by siding with the opposition and thus weakening the regime in Syria. Simultaneously, the IRGC has demonstrated Iran's hard power by conducting a successful counter-insurgency military campaign resulting in its incursion inside Iraqi territory in hot pursuit of a Kurdish armed group known as PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan). This is a fresh reminder to Turkey of Iran's stability role with respect to the Kurdish problem besetting Ankara, in light of Iran's considerable clout in Iraq. This coincides with a new Iranian naval strategy that focuses on "out of area" missions for the navy in "open waters" and with access to foreign ports such as in Syria.Playing hardball with Ankara, Tehran's new determination to stand behind Damascus no matter what in effect confronts Ankara with tough choices: ie, either continue with the current position tilted in favor of the Syrian opposition, and thus earn a substantial setback in relations with Iran, or emulate Iran and refrain from the hard push for reform inside Syria, and thus avoid a broadening of the arc of crisis engulfing Turkey's regional context. According to Bahram Amirahmadian, a Tehran analyst who says Ankara has been exploiting "weak Iranian diplomacy", a more robust Iranian diplomacy is called for to avoid lagging behind Turkey in Middle East affairs. Apparently, the above-mentioned IRGC initiative is intended to address this issue, through a combination of soft and hard power that includes the carrot of economic (energy) incentives in league with Baghdad. Thus, it is not simply Iran but rather the triumvirate of Iran-Iraq-Syria that Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member, has to reckon with.Hmmmm......All this thanks to a weak US President.Read the full story here.

• Iranian Student Leader: We Will Play Soccer With The Heads Of American Soldiers.(Memri).In response to potential U.S. presidential candidate John Bolton's support of an attack on Iran, Mohammad Sang Tarash, the head of the 'Zulfiqar Research Center on Soft War" Iranian student organization said that Iranian students are eagerly awaiting an American attack so they "can play soccer in Tehran with the heads of American soldiers."He called on students in the Muslim countries where there have been uprisings to expel the ambassadors for the U.S., U.K., and Israel.Read the full story here.

• What is Islamist Turkey planning with the Kurds?Zeytinburnu, Kurds and the Nightmare Scenario!(Hevallo). It has been actually hard to understand, what exactly has been going on in Zeytinburnu, West Istanbul, but for the last 3 nights there have been gangs of ultra nationalist gangs roaming the streets with bats and machetes attacking Kurdish shops, businesses and BDP buildings. If, like me, you have trawled through all the videos and photos you will of been struck by a number of points in relation to these racist attacks.

1. It of course the 'nightmare' scenario that Turkey will polarise into sectarian conflict based on ethnicity! Surprisingly, though the Turkish government has hardly said anything on the events in Zeytinburnu.
2. The police have been aiding the fascist gangs by holding back, being very limp in controlling (or attempting to look like they are controlling) and have been, on occasion, actively helping in some cases by going into cafes and shops to identify which ones are Kurdish!
3. On many occasions I have heard on the videos the crowds chanting "Allah O Akkbar!" God is Great! suggesting religous/political motivation.
4. Also you see obvious ringleaders, men organising the crowds with radios and mobile phones!
5. The Mayor of Zeytinburnu has reported that these crowds are being organised on Facebook and Twitter with many messages being sent to try to inflame the situation.

Yesterday, when the fascist hordes were roaming the streets and attacking the BDP offices, tweets were being sent of an inflammatory nature claiming pro PKK had killed 5 people and calling on people join them!Hmmmm......What is the Obama administration their position on this situation?Read and see(Videos) the full story here.

• Eyewitnesses: Iranian Artillery Heavily Shelling Areas Near Erbil.(Memri).Eyewitnesses in the area of Sidkan in the province of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Regional Government, said that heavy Iranian artillery shelled the area all day yesterday, and that residents had fled to nearby caves or mountaintops. Sidkan is located on the triangle formed by the Iraq-Turkey-Iran borders, and comprises 254 villages and a population of 10,000. Three hundred families, primarily cattle herders, were forced out of their homes, and fields have been damaged.Hmmmm......Are we witnessing a systematic extermination of the Kurdish people,something that will have an end result like the Armenian Genocide?Read the full story here.

• Egypt to Release Sayyed Imam former leader and ideologue of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and a founding member of Al-Qaeda.(Memri).Egyptian authorities have decided to release Sayyed Imam, former leader and ideologue of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and a founding member of Al-Qaeda, in accordance with the decree of a medical committee in Al-Aqrab prison, according to sources from Islamist movements in the prison.Hmmmm......The Muslim Brotherhood might make him responsible for the Funds received from the Obama Administration? Read the full story here.

• Saudi Arabia to set minimum marriage age.(Emirates24/7).Saudi Arabia intends to set a minimum age for girls allowed to marry under a new law intended to curb child marriages following a surge in such a phenomenon in the conservative Gulf Kingdom.The ministry of justice is working on a regulation banning the marriage of female minors, most of which are forced by their fathers to marry much older men for dowry or other personal purposes, newspapers said.Ministry sources, quoted by Almadina and other local newspapers, said the law would be issued soon despite what they described as stiff opposition by some scholars who believe such a ruling violates Islamic law.“The law to set a minimum age for marriage is being drafted and will be issued soon,” one source said, without elaborating on that age.Officials in the world’s oil powerhouse said the law, the first in the region, would have to be endorsed by the country’s appointed parliament (Shura) and King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz before it is enforced.Newspapers said early this year that Shura had already given the green light to the ministry of justice to draft legislation restricting child marriage.Shura gave no details of the proposed curbs but the law follows growing international criticism and recurrent calls by the local media to enforce tough rules against child marriage in the Moslem country.“These acts should be stopped,” the Arabic language daily Shams said last month in response to recent reports about the marriage of a 55-year-old man to a 12-year-old girl. “This marriage is a new tragedy.”Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed Al Issa said early this year that the Kingdom, is planning to enact a law to regulate the marriage of teenage girls following a surge in such weddings and growing criticism by local human rights groups. He said the new regulations are needed to put an end to what he described as widespread controversy and confusion about such marriages."The Ministry is studying a draft law to regulate the marriage of teenage girls…the marriage of under-age girls in the country is not a phenomenon yet as some claim... those who say this are wrong. We are considering regulations in line with the Islamic Shariah to govern this kind of marriage."Okaz newspaper recently quoted a statement by the Saudi Human Rights Commission as saying this marriage violates the girl’s rights.Read the full story here.