Video - Sudanese Governor of South Kordofan Ahmad Haroun, Wanted by ICC for War Crimes, in Pep Talk to Soldiers: "Crush Them, Don't Bring Them Back Alive, Eat Them Uncooked"

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir says Sudan to teach South "final lesson by force".

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir says Sudan to teach South "final lesson by force".(Yahoo).Khartoum (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir threatened war against his newly-independent neighbour on Thursday, vowing to teach South Sudan a "final lesson by force" after it occupied a disputed oil field. Appearing in medal-spangled general's uniform at a large rally in the border province of North Kordofan, the burly military ruler danced side-to-side, waved his walking stick in the air and made blistering threats against the leadership of the South, which broke off last year after decades of civil war. "These people don't understand, and we will give them the final lesson by force," Bashir told the rally in El-Obeid, North Kordofan's capital. "We will not give them an inch of our country, and whoever extends his hand on Sudan, we will cut it."
South Sudan separated from the rest of Sudan with Bashir's blessing last July under the terms of a 2005 peace deal. But since then violence has steadily escalated, fuelled by territorial disputes, ethnic animosity and quarrels over oil. Last week, South Sudan seized Heglig, a disputed oil field near the border between the two countries, claiming it as its rightful territory and saying it would only withdraw if the United Nations deployed a neutral force there.
Bashir vowed to retake the oil field, which he said was part of Sudan's Kordofan province. That alone would not resolve the conflict, he added. "Heglig is not the end, but the beginning." Global powers have voiced alarm at the escalation of violence and urged the two to stop fighting and return to talks. In a dramatic escalation of rhetoric on Wednesday, Bashir said he would "liberate" South Sudan from its rulers, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which fought the guerrilla civil war against Khartoum. There was no immediate comment from the South to Thursday's speech.
China, a major investor in both countries, expressed "serious concern" about the increase of tensions and called on both sides to stop fighting, "maintain calm and exercise maximum restraint". "China has worked hard to ameliorate the problems between the two Sudans, and we will continue to work with the international community at mediation efforts," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a daily news briefing. Some 2 million people died in Sudan's civil war, fought for all but a few years from 1955 to 2005 over disputes of ideology, ethnicity and religion. The countries remain at odds over the position of their border, how much the landlocked South should pay to transport its oil through Sudan and the division of national debt, among other issues. Both countries accuse each other of waging proxy war through militia operating on each other's territory. Sudan's military - with an air force, tanks and artillery - is far better equipped than the former guerrilla fighters who make up the South Sudan army. In addition to the civil war in the south, Sudan has also fought long-simmering rebellions in Kordofan and Darfur. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes in connection with the Darfur conflict, charges he rejects as political. The south has tens of thousands of fighters under arms, with decades of experience in guerrilla conflict. Hmmmm.....9 July 2011, South Sudan became independent, i predicted 6 months later it would be at war, i was wrong it's 9 months.Read the full story here.

South Sudan troops 'repel oil town attack'.

South Sudan troops 'repel oil town attack'.(AlJazeera).South Sudan says its soldiers have retained control of a key town in the oil-producing border region of Heglig despite clashes with Sudanese forces. Philip Aguer, a spokesman for South Sudan's military, known as the SPLA, said on Saturday there had been overnight clashes in Kelet, a village about 40kms from Heglig town. "Yesterday, there were clashes between their patrols and SPLA. ... SPLA has destroyed two tanks belonging to the SAF," Colonel Aguer said. South Sudanese forces seized control of Heglig town earlier in the week during the worst fighting in the region since the South seceded from Khartoum's rule last year. South Sudan's information minister also said Sudanese efforts to regain Heglig had been repelled. "They tried to attack our positions north of Heglig last night but it was contained," said Barnaba Marial Benjamin. "Heglig is (still) under our control." Aguer said Sudan's air force bombed the border areas of Jau and Panakuach, in northern South Sudan's Unity State, on Saturday, as well as Heglig, the main producer of Khartoum's oil. 
No information was available early on Saturday on the positions of the two armies. A Unity State government spokesperson, reached by telephone in the state capital Bentiu, confirmed the aerial bombings near the border. "The areas in the north of Unity State are still subject to Antonovs (planes)," said the spokesperson, Gideon Gatfan. "We don't have the updates yet between Heglig and Kelet, but all those areas they are subjected to bombing."
On Friday, Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, said a spokesperson there had told her Sudanese forces were about 30kms from Heglig and that South Sudanese would defend themselves if they attempted to take back the town. "This could end up becoming a full-blown conflict," our correspondent said. World powers and the United Nations have urged restraint after the latest round of heavy fighting that broke out on Tuesday.The African Union denounced the South's occupation of Heglig as illegal and urged the two sides to avert a "disastrous" war.Read and see (video) the full story here.

Ahmed Haroun Sudan’s Southern Kordofan governor:" Don’t bring them back alive. We have no space for them."

Ahmed Haroun Sudan’s Southern Kordofan governor:" Don’t bring them back alive. We have no space for them.".(AlYazeera).The governor of Sudan’s Southern Kordofan has been filmed addressing troops before a battle with rebel fighters urging them to "take no prisoners". In footage obtained by Al Jazeera, Ahmed Harun, the state governor who has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in Darfur, is captured on camera telling his soldiers to take strong action against anyone who comes in their way. Southern Kordofan holds most of Sudan's remaining known oil reserves, after South Sudan seceded in July 2011, taking its oilfields with it. Southern Kordofan has become a strategic asset for Khartoum, but rebels there want to follow Juba and be granted independence from Khartoum.
The footage shows Sudanese troops stationed in a captured base involved in a gun battle with rebel forces. Harun is addressing his soldiers before they enter rebel territory by saying: "You must hand over the place clean. Swept, rubbed, crushed. Don’t bring them back alive. We have no space for them." An army commander standing near Harun then says: "Don’t bring them back, eat them raw." General Jogot Mekwar, who is from the Southern Kordofan rebel forces after watching the video told Al Jazeera: "What Ahmed Haroun says is inhumane. He wants to enslave people, and he has a hatred against humanity." "From our perspective, the things he says are the reason the court has issued an arrest warrant." According to the UN, tens of thousands have fled the violence, since July 2011. The UN has called for an investigation into reports of human rights abuses in the territory. Sudan's government has dismissed those accusations, and in turn has accused rebel groups, many of whom fought alongside South Sudan during decades of civil war with the Khartoum government, of launching a rebellion to try and control the territory.In 2007 the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Harun for his alleged role targeting rebel groups in Darfur by funding and arming the Janjaweed armed group to incite attacks against civilian forces.Read and see (Video) the full story here.

South Sudan said the Islamic North Sudan air force had bombed the main oil fields.

South Sudan said the Islamic North Sudan air force had bombed the main oil fields.(AlArabiya).South Sudan said the Sudanese air force had bombed the main oil fields in Unity state near the border with Sudan on Tuesday, as violence between the two escalated.
“This morning as you called I heard the Antonov hovering over Bentiu town because it has just dropped some bombs in the main Unity oil fields,” Unity state information minister Gideon Gatpan told Reuters.“It has now gone back, possibly for refueling, and may come back,” he said by phone.
Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad could not be reached on his mobile phone but Asian oil group GNPOC -- the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, a consortium led by China’s CNPC -- operating in Unity state confirmed the bombing.
“The war planes are hovering everywhere ... One bomb actually just missed Unity base camp but anywhere else so far there is no information,” said Vice President Chom Juaj.“They bombed the oil field but so far we are still waiting for the report from the field telling us if they are damaged or not,” he said.
The attack comes a day after a rare direct military confrontation in the poorly marked border region, prompting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to suspend a visit next week to South Sudan, according to Sudanese state media.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sudan accused South Sudan of hatred and deceit as U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon appealed for calm.
Comments by the South’s leader, Salva Kiir, that his military forces had taken the northern oil center of Heglig “reflected extreme hatred to Sudan and its people and the armed forces,” the official SUNA news agency said, citing Information Minister Abdullah Ali Massar.
The South had engaged in “deceptive and misleading acts” when it signed accords with Khartoum at African Union-led talks in Ethiopia, and when it sent a delegation to Khartoum last week to invite Bashir to the summit, said Massar, according to AFP.Ban called on the two countries to end the clashes and respect the agreements on border security they had already reached, his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Kiir warned of the threat of war after what he said had been Sudanese ground and air attacks on multiple positions in South Sudan’s oil-rich border regions. “This morning the (Sudanese) air force came and bombed... areas in Unity state.”Their troops had fought back and taken Heglig, he added.“After this intensive bombardment our forces.... were attacked by SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) and militia,” he added, speaking at the opening of a ruling party meeting in the southern capital Juba.
“It is a war that has been imposed on us again, but it is they (Khartoum) who are looking for it,” said Kiir, adding that he did not want the conflict to resume.
Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad initially said “limited clashes” had occurred between his forces and those of South Sudan along the border.Hmmmm..........As i predicted that did not take long.Read the full story here.

South Sudan will open embassy in Jerusalem, the Holy city.

South Sudan will open embassy in Jerusalem in Jerusalem, the Holy city.(BM).CAIRO: South Sudan and Israel discussed bilateral cooperation and diplomatic relations.South Sudan said it will establish an embassy in Jerusalem, the Holy city, rather than the political capital, Tel Aviv, following the recent visit of the South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir.
On Friday the visiting Israeli ambassador, Dan Shaham, met with the vice president of South Sudan, Riek Machar, and discussed issues pertaining to the bilateral cooperation between the two states.
The issues included the support the Israeli government will provide to the new state as well as the status of some 1,500 South Sudanese currently residing in Israel.
Shaham gave assurances that South Sudanese refugees in Israel will be trained in various skills so they can contribute to the young nation upon repatriation.Machar stressed the importance of establishing a Hebrew language school in the South Sudan’s capital, Juba.They also discussed the plans for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land by South Sudanese Christian leaders.
The Vice President and the Israeli diplomat also discussed the ongoing disarmament of civil populations in Jonglei state. They also touched on the situation in the Middle East, particularly with the current violent events in Syria.With the independence of the South Sudan in July 2011, Israel announced on 31 January that South Sudanese are no longer considered refugees and have to leave the Jewish state before the first of April of face forced deportation.The UN refugee agency, HCR, said only some 60 South Sudanese agreed to return voluntarily to their new nation before April 1. The Israeli Interior ministry recently said no South Sudanese have appealed the decision to deport them or applied for refugee status since January.Following its decision to repatriate South Sudanese, the Israeli authorities agreed, upon the request of the HCR, to give them the possibility to petition to stay in Israel. The official statics estimate that there are some 3000 South Sudanese in Israel.
South Sudan’s relations with Israel are frequently viewed with intense suspicion in the Egyptian press, cafés and bars.And this is because Egyptians view the Nile’s water sources, one of which flows through South Sudan, called the White Nile, as a matter of national security.
Egyptians fear that a “Zionist plot” is behind South Sudan’s diplomatic relations with Israel, and that there is a plan to shut off the water flow to Egypt.To what end this fanciful consipracy theory would possibly benefit anyone involved, has never been elaborated.Hmmmm.......Now here's a thought...."shut off the water flow to Egypt".Read the full story here.

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

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation New Zealand 5.7 - 5.1 ; Papua New guinea 5.2 ; Italy 5.1 !More info here.

• Halt in Iran oil could push crude up by 30 percent.(JPost).WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that global crude prices could rise as much as 30 percent if Iran halts oil exports as a result of US and European Union sanctions.If Iran halts exports to countries without offsets from other sources it would likely trigger an "initial" oil price jump of 20 to 30 percent, or about $20 to $30 a barrel, the IMF said in its first public comment on a possible Iranian oil supply disruption.The IMF highlighted the risks of rising tensions over Iran sanctions in a note on Wednesday sent to deputies from G20 countries who met in Mexico City last week.The price impact caused by a cut in Iranian exports could be exacerbated by below average oil stocks in many countries, the result of tight oil market conditions through much of last year, the IMF said.The fund's comments add pressure to the Obama administration as it struggles to find a way to get countries to reduce shipments of Iranian oil without pushing prices higher ahead of the November US presidential election.Financial sanctions against Tehran may be "tantamount to an oil embargo" and would imply supply declines of about 1.5 million barrels per day from the world's fifth-largest oil producer, the IMF said.Hmmmm......Let the Speculators of the world rejoice!Read the full story here.

• Is The NYPD Experimenting With Drones Over The City? Evidence Points To Yes.(CBSNY).They’re used in war zones for surveillance and military strikes.But are there plans to deploy drones in the Big Apple to keep an eye on New Yorkers?More and more people believe it’s inevitable, reports CBS 2’s Don Dahler.Drones are unmanned aircraft that can fly at low altitudes and shoot live video — or shoot live missiles.Surveillance cameras already dot the city’s streets, but is the NYPD exploring the use of even more eyes in the skies, in the form of drones? Some evidence points to yes.A website named Gay City News posted an e-mail it says it acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. It’s purportedly from a detective in the NYPD counterterrorism division, asking the Federal Aviation Administration about the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as a law enforcement tool.And the following is part of a recent interview with Commission Ray Kelly that raised more questions than it answered.“In an extreme situation, you would have some means to take down a plane,” Kelly told “60 Minutes.”Drones are already being used by law enforcement in other cities. CBS 2 has obtained footage of a huge protest in Poland a few months ago, shot by a small drone that could fly a few dozen feet right over the heads of the crowd and the police. High-resolution cameras can capture every detail, including faces and license plate numbers. In this country, Miami and several cities in Texas are experimenting with such aircraft.Read the full story here.

• Foreign woman stripped of clothes, assaulted, in Egypt’s Tahrir Square.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: A foreign woman was stripped and sexually assaulted on Wednesday evening in Egypt’s iconic Tahrir Square, one eyewitness said on Twitter and another confirmed in an email to Bikyamasr.com.The woman, who’s identity has not been revealed, was taken away in an ambulance after being assaulted for 10 minutes. Her husband reportedly was unable to intervene and witnessed the incident.“I saw the woman and then dozens of men surrounded her and started grabbing her, when she screamed for help some people came, but they were hit in the face,” wrote one witness.What happened next was “appalling,” said the trusted witness, who asked for anonymity. “The men just started tearing at her clothes and grabbing her body all over. When she fought back, they pushed her. It was chaos.”There were unconfirmed reports that the men “violated” her with their hands.The nationality of the woman is unknown at the current time.Throughout the day, sexual harassment towards women has been increasing and more and more reports of women being grabbed and groped began being reported.Activists called the attacks on women completely “unacceptable” and must be exposed no matter what. They demanded an end to all violence toward women.“What happened in Tahrir today has no justification and must be fully exposed even if it taints Tahrir!” wrote EgyptSecularist on Twitter.The incident brings memories of reporter Lara Logan, who was sexually assaulted the night former President Hosni Mubarak gave up power.According to studies conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Right (ECWR) in 2008, 98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women surveyed had experienced sexual harassment in Egypt.Meanwhile, 62 percent of Egyptian men confessed to harassing women and 53 percent of Egyptian men faulted women for “bringing it on.”Hmmmm......This will do wonders for tourism ,'Come Visit Egypt get groped in sight of the Pyramides'.Read the full story here.

• Haniyeh's Deputy Confirms Ahmadinejad's Invitation to Palestinian PM.(Fars). Speaking to FNA, Awad said that Haniyeh received Ahmadinejad's invitation letter on Tuesday. He stressed the significance of Haniyeh's upcoming visit to Iran, and said Haniyeh will review many issues during the trip. As regards the details of Ahmadinejad's letter, Awad said that the Iranian president has also stressed the necessity for efforts to break the Gaza blockage and support the Palestinian nation. President Ahmadinejad also reiterated Iran's continued support for the oppressed Palestinian nation and confrontation with the Zionist regime's bullying behavior. Hamas Prime Minister, for the first time since 2007, left the Gaza Strip late in December on a tour that took him to several Arab and Islamic countries. Ahmadinejad had earlier in a telephone conversation with Haniyeh congratulated Palestinians on their victory in the prisoners swap deal with Israel which, he described as, a fruit of strong and continued resistance against the Zionist regime.Hmmmm.......Palestinian PM?Read the full story here.

• US Special forces raid frees US, Danish aid workers.(HD).US special forces launched a pre-dawn raid to rescue two aid workers, an American woman and a Danish man, kidnapped three months ago in Somalia by gunmen, local security officials said Wednesday."The two DDG (Danish Demining Group) workers were released forcefully... we are getting information that at least six military helicopters attacked early this morning," said Mohamed Nur, a local security official."It was carried out by the US military," he added. Ecoterra, an independent piracy monitoring group, said its sources had also confirmed US involvement."There was a heavy shooting that left several of the pirates dead," Nur said."The reports we have is that the freed hostages were flown to Djibouti by their rescuers," he said.US officials were not immediately available for comment, but US news channel NBC reported that US Navy SEALs had been involved."We have collected dead bodies of eight pirates from the scene of the attack, and we understand that five others were arrested were taken by the rescuers," said Abduali Moalim, an official in the Adado administration."The raid took place before dawn, and it looks that very professional soldiers were involved in the attack as it lasted for less than an hour," he added.Read the full story here.

• State of the Union 2012: Heritage Reaction Roundup.(Heritage).

• SOTU 2012, Deconstructed.(THW).By MacAidho.Read the full story here.

• Somali pirates chop off hostage captain’s arm to elicit $3m ransom.(DailyMail).Somali pirates have started to cut off their hostages' limbs in a bid to extract even greater ransoms from the owners of the ships they capture.The horrific new tactic was used last Friday on the Vietnamese captain of a ship being held in the Somali pirate lair of Haradhere.Chao-I Wu's right arm was cut off after negotiations to pay a $3million ransom for his fishing ship, the FV Shiuh Fu-1, broke down.Afterwards, the pirates allowed Mr Wu's fellow crew members to call their families and describe what had happened.'This group of pirates were allowed the crew to call their relatives for only a few minutes - just long enough to tell their families about the amputation.'They begged their relatives to pay and some of them were crying. 'It was a message to the owner and their families that if the owners don't pay this amount of ransom they will hurt another crew member', a pirate source told the Somalia Report news service.Vietnamese newspaper Tuoi Tre News reported that crew member Tran Van Hung called his father to say that he had seen the pirates chop off the captain's arm.The pirates had also repeatedly beat him and the deputy captain, Mr Hung added.Read the full story here.

• Ignoring Ahmadinejad’s Calls for Jewish Genocide is a Grave Mistake.(Commentary).The run-up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday has produced some excellent articles drawing parallels between the Holocaust and the threat posed by an Iranian nuclear bomb. But there’s another parallel that’s equally disturbing: the world’s indifference to the relentless incitement to genocide of both Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The Holocaust-denying Ahmadinejad never misses an opportunity to call for “wiping Israel off the map.” Since there’s no way to eradicate Israel without also slaughtering a large number of its 7.8 million inhabitants, that is a blatant call for mass murder. Yet he has never, for instance, been declared persona non grata by the EU or investigated for incitement to genocide by the International Criminal Court; indeed, he has been feted in many parts of the “enlightened” West, from lecture invitations at Columbia University to joint press conferences with a fawning Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey.But as Prof. Shlomo Avineri pointed out this month, even more troubling is the silence of world Jewry on this issue – a stark contrast to its activism over, say, Soviet Jews.Last week, Adam Kirsch wrote a chilling analysis for Tablet of how “Jews control America” rhetoric has moved from the fringes to the respectable mainstream of American discourse in just a few short years. It takes longer to mainstream calls for mass murder. But if left unchallenged, Ahmadinejad’s calls for genocide will eventually become mainstream as well.Judging by the degree to which he has not become a pariah, his rhetoric is already acceptable to far too many “enlightened” Westerners.Hmmmmmm........"Never again" seems to be forgotten.Read the full story here.

• Exxon moves on Kurdistan despite Baghdad threat.(AlArabiya).Exxon Mobil, the first oil major to move into Iraqi Kurdistan, is quietly mobilizing in Arbil despite strenuous objections from the central government.Since the bold play came to light in November, the company has kept silent - fueling speculation that it froze the deal and bowed to Baghdad, which has long held that all foreign oil deals signed with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are illegal.But Kurdish officials insist that investment is going ahead and movement on the ground supports their claims.“They (Exxon) are definitely here and they are definitely assessing living and working accommodation,” said a Western industry source in Arbil, at the heart of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.“There are around 10 individuals here at any one time looking at what it takes to fully mobilize here - office space, housing space, these types of things. No oil company comes in in a day.”Exxon executives met the region’s Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami last week, sources in Arbil said, and are preparing to issue a tender for seismic work for some, if not all, of the six exploration blocks acquired in October.The move north sparked fury in Baghdad, which is threatening to take action against Exxon - in charge of developing the supergiant West Qurna-1 oil field in southern Iraq. Exxon has been summoned to the oil ministry for final talks.Before signing the deal with Kurdistan, Exxon was sure to have weighed any possible legal challenges.“I’m sure Exxon has more lawyers than probably there are Ministry of Oil officials in Baghdad,” said the industry source.Read the full story here.

• Ron Paul Is Taking Donations To End The TSA.(BI).A day after his Senator son refused to submit to a TSA pat-down, Ron Paul is raising money to end the TSA on his campaign website. As of writing of this post, the cause has raised over $125,000 and counting.A statement released by Paul yesterday, claimed that the police state is out of control and called attention to Paul's 'Plan to Restore America,' which through cuts in federal spending eliminates the TSA. Read the full story here.

• LAPD: Joint Military Drills In Downtown LA.(PR).Maybe the Military Equipment Movement 1\19\12 near Santa Cruz, Southbound is headed toward Los Angeles, CA for the joint military| LAPD exercise. If you are a 11Bravo veteran [US ARMY], you know the branches of the military have Urban Warfare training centers. Fort Bragg, Twenty nine Palms, etc… Military exercises designed to familiarize/operate in an urban environment is suspicious.Source: CBS Los Angeles.  Joint military training exercises will be held evenings through Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.The LAPD will be providing support for the exercises, which will also be held in other portions of the greater Los Angeles area, police said.Training sites “have been carefully selected to ensure the event does not negatively impact the citizens of Los Angeles and their daily routine,” a department official said.The training, which a department official said would involve helicopters, has been coordinated with local authorities and owners of the training sites, police said.Police said safety precautions have been taken to prevent risk to the general public and military personnel involved.The exercises are closed to the public, police said.The exercises are designed to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments, prepare forces for upcoming overseas deployments, and meet mandatory training certification requirements, police said.Hmmmmm.........Anyone preparing for riots and Martial law?Glenn Beck:The Pentagon is deploying 20,000 troops inside the U.S. for domestic security.Read the full story here.

• TRANSCRIPT: GOP Rebuttal to State of the Union.(FOX).The following is the full text of Gov. Mitch Daniels' Republican Address to the Nation, as prepared for delivery:"The status of 'loyal opposition' imposes on those out of power some serious responsibilities: to show respect for the Presidency and its occupant, to express agreement where it exists. Republicans tonight salute our President, for instance, for his aggressive pursuit of the murderers of 9/11, and for bravely backing long overdue changes in public education. I personally would add to that list admiration for the strong family commitment that he and the First Lady have displayed to a nation sorely needing such examples."On these evenings, Presidents naturally seek to find the sunny side of our national condition. But when President Obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true."The President did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in America tonight. But he was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse: the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades. One in five men of prime working age, and nearly half of all persons under 30, did not go to work today."In three short years, an unprecedented explosion of spending, with borrowed money, has added trillions to an already unaffordable national debt. And yet, the President has put us on a course to make it radically worse in the years ahead. The federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the entire economy; it borrows one of every three dollars it spends. No nation, no entity, large or small, public or private, can thrive, or survive intact, with debts as huge as ours.Read the full story here.

• CAIR’s false attacks on ALAC legislation.(AFA).Dear Harold,  CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) is at it again.This past Sunday, CAIR put out the release below, claiming that American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) legislation, recently introduced in Virginia, is “unconstitutional.”Let’s examine their release closely.First, CAIR claims ALAC is “anti-Muslim.” If so, why is it that ALAC legislation has won the endorsement of the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC), a coalition of reformist Muslim leaders?In a release put out August 31, 2011, the AILC stated, referring to HB 4769, the ALAC bill introduced in Michigan: “We see no evidence that statutes like HB 4769 will adversely impact the free exercise of our personal pietistic observance of Islam…”The AILC knows that Muslims who reject sharia law will be protected under this legislation. For CAIR to argue ALAC is anti-Muslim is disingenuous and lacking any factual support.Second, CAIR claims ALAC is “racist.” Again, consider the words of the AILC in its support of ALAC: “To equate Bill 4769 to racism is not only dishonest, but is a poor and clumsy attempt at making ordinary Muslim Americans feel alien in their own homeland, while creating a rift between Muslims and the rest of our country.”Third, CAIR repeats the canard that ALAC will prevent Muslims from executing wills. Nonsense. If this were true we’re sure the AILC would not have endorsed it. What ALAC does is prevent state courts from applying foreign law if doing so infringes on the constitutional rights of a party in the case. A good example would be a Muslim woman denied equal protection under the law, as is commonly the case under sharia law.Fourth, CAIR uses the scare tactic that Catholics and people of other faiths would be banned from applying religious traditions. Again, utter nonsense. The linchpin of ALAC is its protection of those whose constitutional rights would be violated if foreign law were applied. And for CAIR to say with a straight face that the Catholic canon is the “equivalent” of sharia law is ludicrous.Lastly, CAIR calls ALAC “suddenly controversial.” Hardly. Nearly two years ago ACT! for America helped get ALAC passed in Tennessee with strong bipartisan support, and nearly a year ago we helped it get passed in Arizona—again with bipartisan support.We all need to remember that CAIR has been affirmed by our Justice Department as the American front organization for the terrorist group Hamas and that it was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in American history.We also need to remember that its communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, stated in 1993 that he would like to see the government of the U.S. be Islamic sometime in the future. And in 1998 CAIR’s co-founder proclaimed that the Qur’an should be the highest authority in America.So while CAIR peddles falsehoods, canards and scare tactics about ALAC, we should all understand its REAL agenda—the imposition of sharia law in America.Read the full story here.

• Mr. President: “We Can’t Wait” for the FY 2013 Budget.(Heritage).President Obama will release his annual budget proposal late yet again. Choosing the date is not merely a convention. By law, the President must release the budget by the first Monday in February, which falls on February 6 this year. Yet yesterday the Administration announced it will release its fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget a week late, marking the third such delay in four years. Right now, when the economy is struggling, annual deficits consistently exceed $1 trillion, and Americans are demanding that Washington govern responsibly, this delay is beyond frustrating. Especially after last year’s protracted budget battle, a prompt submission would have signaled that the President is ready to get down to business. Unfortunately, the opposite now seems imminent.For example, Obama’s 2012 budget would have put debt held by the public on track to rise from its current level of about 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to more than 87 percent of GDP by 2021. As this Budget Chart Book chart by The Heritage Foundation shows, that amounts to double the post–WWII average.That same budget failed to include the kinds of rational, market-based solutions necessary to fix the three major entitlement programs—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—which are currently set on spending autopilot. This chart shows that more than half of the President’s 2012 budget would have been spent on entitlement programs.The picture only gets worse from here. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that annual spending on all entitlement programs will increase from $2 trillion in 2011 to nearly $3.3 trillion in 2021. That’s almost the size of all federal spending today.Read and see the full story here.

• Is Obama Trying To Replace The Pope?(Investors).Constitution: The First Amendment forbids "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion. But a pontificating President Obama would do just that in forcing Catholics to provide contraception and sterilization.When it comes to the unnecessary and un-American controversy Obama has caused by having his Health and Human Services Department mandate Catholic contraception and sterilization coverage, the Constitution and Catholic teaching are in accord — and united in opposing the president.The First Amendment explicitly protects the practice of religion. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that contraception and sterilization are to be avoided as grave evils."Any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin," Pope Pius XI wrote in the encyclical "Casti Conubii."Correspondingly, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" published under Pope John Paul II affirmed that "every action which ... proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil."Obama's intolerance here goes against both religious and secular legal protections within U.S. law. For 50 years, for instance, the federal government has respected the religious objections of Amish Americans, exempting them from having Social Security numbers.ObamaCare was already on shaky constitutional ground in forcing the purchase of health insurance. Now it is striking at the heart of the First Amendment.Read the full story here.

• Russia’s Dreams Coming True in Administration’s Nuclear Policies.(Heritage).President Obama is working hard to make a Russian dream of a superior nuclear weapons arsenal come true, writes Heritage’s James Carafano in his most recent op-ed. “The White House has made clear that its signature tool for combating nuclear proliferation is leading by example, and that example is disarmament,” he writes. The Administration, however, runs a risk of ending its path to disarmament in nuclear fallout.America’s arsenal of strong and reliable nuclear weapons has prevented countries around the world from developing or significantly expanding their own nuclear capabilities. It has been a more successful tool for nonproliferation than the Administration’s New Strategic Arms Control Treaty with the Russian Federation. Indeed, this treaty reduces the U.S. strategic arsenal while allowing Russia to build up and deploy more multiple independent reentry vehicles on fewer delivery systems—the most destabilizing option for the deployment of nuclear weapons. The treaty also fails to address nuclear warhead production disparity between the two countries. While Russia can produce as many as 600 nuclear pits per year, the United States can produce only about 60.North Korea, China, Russia, India, and Pakistan keep expanding and modernizing their nuclear weapons arsenals. Iran is ever closer to obtaining nuclear weapons capability, while the United States continues to deemphasize the role of nuclear weapons in its strategic posture. Under current policy, replacement systems will not enter the U.S. arsenal until 2030. By then, the U.S. will have 60-year-old intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs), 40-year-old submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and 35- to 70-year-old bombers. There is currently no plan to develop a new nuclear warhead. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said that, under sequestration, the U.S. would be forced to abandon ICBMs and delay other modernization plans.The Pentagon’s new strategic guidance says, “It is possible that our deterrence goals can be achieved with a smaller nuclear force, which would reduce the number of nuclear weapons in our inventory, as well as their role in U.S. national security strategy.” The document does not offer any analysis explaining which U.S. deterrence goals changed to justify this shift. It does not appear to take into account shifts in other countries’ nuclear doctrines. As Carafano concludes, “The president is commander in chief. He can press for a smaller, less-capable military if he thinks that best. But he certainly can’t make the case with a straight face that he is giving us more defense. His policy is giving us far less.”Hmmmmm......If he really wanted to destroy America as a superpower would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• US leads Security Council charge against Israel.(Ynet)HT:IsraelMatzav.WASHINGTON – The US, Britain and Germany leveled harsh criticism at Israel's settlement construction policy on Tuesday.During a Security Council session, US Ambassador Susan Rice urged Israel to halt all settlement construction in the West Bank and work to quell settler violence against Palestinians. She also expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.Washington's representative in the UN also criticized Palestinian incitement to violence and terrorist activity, including the launching of rockets towards Israeli territory. Rice also said the recent talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Jordan were encouraging. British Ambassador to the UN Mark Grant accused Israel of employing violence in the territories and called on the Jewish state to halt all settlement construction, including in east Jerusalem. Germany's UN ambassador, Peter Wittig, said Israel was attempting to detach east Jerusalem from the West Bank, a move he claimed would make the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible. In his response to the criticism, Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor told the Security Council, "The primary obstacle to peace is not settlements. The primary obstacle to peace is the so-called 'claim (right) of return.' Let me repeat that: the major hurdle to peace is the Palestinian’s insistence on the so-called 'claim of return.'" "You will never hear Palestinian leaders say 'two states for two peoples'. If you ever hear them say 'two states for two peoples', please phone my office immediately. Call me 'collect' in the event of such an unprecedented occurrence," he said."You won’t hear them say 'two states for two peoples' because today the Palestinian leadership is calling for an independent Palestinian state, but insists that its people return to the Jewish state. This would mean the destruction of Israel. Prosor continued to say that "the idea that Israel will be flooded with millions of Palestinians will never be accepted. The international community knows it. The Palestinian leadership knows it. But the Palestinian people aren’t hearing it. In a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion last November, 90% of Palestinians said that they would not give up the 'claim of return.' This gap between their perception and reality is – and will remain – the major obstacle to peace. "Since the Palestinian leadership refuses to tell the Palestinian people the truth, the international community has the responsibility to tell them the truth. You have a responsibility to stand up and say that the so-called 'claim of return' is a non-starter. Yet, many around this table who never miss an opportunity to tell Israel what it has to do for peace – mumble, stutter and conveniently lose their voices when it comes time to tell the Palestinian people about the basic compromises they will have to make for peace," the Israeli envoy said. He added: "The Palestinians' refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state goes hand-in-hand with a culture of incitement in mosques, schools and media. Day after day, children are taught to pursue violence – and to hate, vilify, and dehumanize Israelis and Jews. "Let me be clear. I am not only talking about Hamas in Gaza— but also about the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, where you can’t turn a corner without seeing terrorists and terrorism glorified," said Prosor.Hmmmm......Obama the 'closest ally' of Israel.Read the full story here.

• Strait of Hormuz at center of int'l chess game.(JPost).A mere 54 kilometers wide at its narrowest point and dotted with tiny islands, the Strait of Hormuz has turned into something of a powder keg, just waiting to explode. The only question is who will light it on fire.Linking the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean, the strait is used to transport about a fifth of the world’s oil on a daily basis, and the popular assessment within the IDF is that Iran – which borders the channel to the north and east – has the ability to shut it down if it so chooses.The question then would be: What next? The US has taken a clear approach – some Israelis wished this week that such American resolve would carry over to Iran’s nuclear program – claiming that it will use military force, if needed, to reopen the sea line.Defense officials said Tuesday that while Iran will continue to threaten to close the strait, it most likely will not do so, in order to avoid providing US President Barack Obama with the justification to launch a strike against Iran and its nuclear facilities.Already under attack by political opponents for his economic policies, Obama is unlikely to initiate a war with Iran that would lead to a spike in worldwide oil prices. While the price of gas in the US would significantly increase, his popularity would crash.If, however, Iran closes the strait or attacks the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier that sailed through the channel and into the Persian Gulf on Sunday, Obama would receive the justification he needs to attack Iran, even in this election year.While Iran has threatened to close the strait a number of times in recent years, the last time it actually tried to disrupt shipping was during its eight-year war with Iraq.In 1988, toward the end of the war, an Iranian mine exploded under the USS Samuel B. Roberts, nearly sinking the frigate. This prompted the Reagan administration to launch Operation Praying Mantis, in which the US Navy carried out a series of retaliatory strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.In recent years, Iran has increased its arsenal of naval mines and is believed to be capable of lining the strait with them, a move that would prevent the flow of oil from the Gulf to the West.In addition, Iran has a number of naval bases along its southern coast where it stations its submarines – including a number of Russian-made Kilo-class vessels – which it could use to attack oil tankers. With insurance premiums already at relatively high levels, the sinking of an oil tanker would be akin to closing the strait, since the price of oil would almost immediately skyrocket.Read the full story here.

• Why won’t Saudi Arabia write down its laws?(MEfp).Nathan J. BrownIn 2007 and 2009 Saudi King Abdullah capped a decade of legal and judicial reforms in his country by reorganizing the judiciary and ordering that Saudi Arabia follow the step that virtually all other states in the region did long ago by codifying its laws — committing to paper a comprehensive compendium of the operative laws in the kingdom. Since that date, however, his order has been neither challenged nor implemented. Why is codification of law seen as such a dramatic step in Saudi Arabia? And why does the king seem incapable of making it happen?Saudi kings devoted considerable attention in the first decade of the 21st century to remaking the judicial order. Initial steps taken were new procedure laws with new decrees insisting (with uncertain effectiveness) that courts follow prescribed rules in their operation — and making the courts, always ambivalent about the role of lawyers, friendlier to the legal profession. In the most recent moves, besides ordering codification, the king consolidated all sorts of quasi-judicial bodies that littered the legal framework of the kingdom, wrenched adjudication functions away from the Supreme Judicial Council (handing them to a newly created Supreme Court), and relieved the country’s highest-ranking judge, a pillar of the old order, from his office at the head of the system. The king’s steps were sufficiently dramatic — and the identity of the Saudi state so deeply enmeshed in claims to be fully Islamic, especially in its legal structure — that longtime Saudi legal scholar Frank E. Vogel, in “Saudi Arabia: Public, Civil, and Individual Shari`a in Law and Politics,” termed them “not a shot but a barrage across the bow of his partners in rule, the conservative religious establishment” and “clearly seismic events within the world of Saudi shari`a politics.”So why is codification of laws -- merely writing down what the laws are -- seen as a repugnant steps by many (though not all) of the kingdom's most powerful religious scholars? The opposition shows some signs of waning, but it has still been sufficient to prevent any practical steps toward codification.First, there is a basic problem with the term "codification" of the shari`a itself -- the term used (taqnin al-shari`a) might quite literally be translated as "rendering God's law into man-made legislation," an almost sacrilegious concept. Some codification advocates have therefore preferred the term tadwin, which has the same denotation without the etymological baggage.The sweeping processes of political change unleashed elsewhere in the region may actually have taken the wind out of the sails of current Saudi Arabian judicial reform efforts. Like many promises made in the past -- for a consultative assembly, for instance -- codification will probably happen, but it may take decades more.Read the full story here.

• Netanyahu tells special Knesset session: World silent while Iran, Hezbollah threaten to destroy Israel.(Ynet)."Seventy years have passed since the Holocaust, and many around the world still remain silent in the face of Iran's threats to wipe Israel off the map, and many stay silent despite Hezbollah's call for the destruction of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday during a special Knesset session ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be marked this week. "International Holocaust Remembrance Day is the day on which the world needs to stand behind the words 'no more.' It's not a slogan, but has a deep meaning," he said. "It is the day on which the world must unite to make certain weapons of mass destruction do not fall into the hands of dark regimes, headed by the ayatollahs' regime in Iran." Netanyahu added: "Have we learned the lessons of the Holocaust? Are we treating these threats of destruction seriously? Or perhaps, like many generations before us we do not want to see the scope of the danger that is facing us. The Iranian regime is openly calling for the destruction of Israel, but many around the world remain silent. We mustn't bury our head in the sand. The Iranian regime is planning the annihilation of Israel and is working towards Israel's destruction – its agents (Hezbollah) fired over 12,000 missiles towards Israel's cities. They are not concealing their intent to kill as many (Israelis) as possible. "The UN was founded to prevent genocides and massacres. These were its basic goals. Have these goals been attained? Unfortunately, the answer is no," said the PM.Netanyahu also addressed a recent speech delivered by the Palestinians' top Muslim cleric, Mufti Mohammed Hussein, in which he encouraged the killing of Jews. "Instead of calling for peace and reconciliation, the mufti is calling to kill Jews wherever they may be. I don’t hear any condemnations from the world's countries. I hear them condemning the construction of a home in Gilo or a balcony in Ramot (neighborhoods in Jerusalem) – that is what I hear," he said. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin told the plenum, "We don’t have the privilege to deny the tragedies of other nations, be it the Armenians, Syrians or others." "Even when denial is convenient, history has destined us to fight against such atrocities. We cannot stand aside and let the world remain indifferent," he added. Only three ministers and 22 Knesset members attended the special session.Hmmmmm.........The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. ~  Martin Luther King, Jr.Read the full story here.

• EU Reaches Agreement on Permanent Bailout Fund.(Spiegel).The 17 euro-zone countries have reached agreement on the contract for the permanent euro bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), clearing the way for the aid fund to be launched one year earlier than planned. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the group of euro-zone finance ministers, announced the agreement following a Monday night meeting in Brussels. The ESM is now set to replace the temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) on July 1, a year earlier than originally planned."I believe this is an important achievement," said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble after the meeting. "It demonstrates that the euro group and the European Union as a whole is capable of taking the necessary steps."Schäuble also said that agreement had been reached on the euro-zone fiscal pact, which would submit members of the common currency zone to stricter budgetary rules. "We aren't yet over the mountain," Schäuble said in reference to the ongoing euro-zone debt crisis. But he said there is "cause for optimism."The ESM will be funded with €500 billion to help struggling euro-zone countries, with Germany providing the largest share -- although Angela Merkel's recent refusal to consider upping that figure seems to be wavering under heavy pressure.Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti believes the ESM should be doubled to €1 trillion, while there have also been calls from French President Nicolas Sarkozy for Germany to put in more money. European Central Bank head Mario Draghi shares that view as does International Monetary Fund boss Christine Lagarde. "We need a larger firewall," Lagarde said at a Monday appearance in Berlin. "Without it, countries like Italy and Spain, that are fundamentally able to repay their debts, could potentially be forced into a solvency crisis by abnormal financing costs."The German chancellor has been adamantly opposed to such an increase, although that might be changing. Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday with Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, who had signalled his desire to see the fund increased, Merkel said: "Germany has always done what is necessary to defend the euro."Read the full story here.

• OIC: Adoption of genocide law sign of Islamophobia in France.(Trend).The adoption of the law criminalizing the denial of the so-called "Armenian Genocide" is a sign of Islamophobia in France, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told Trend on Tuesday."This law contradicts three fundamental principles of democracy -- equality, freedom and brotherhood. It is a sign of growing Islamophobia," Ihsanoglu said.He called the law unacceptable, non-complying with historical facts and demonstrating double standards.After a nearly eight-hour debate, the French Senate adopted the bill. Some 127 senators voted in favor, while 86 senators voted against on Jan.23.The lower house of the French parliament adopted a bill criminalising the denial of the so-called "genocide" on Dec.22. Some 45 out of 577 French MPs voted with 38 voting for and seven against the adoption of the bill.The bill demands a year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euro for denying the so-called "genocide." In response to the decision, Turkey announced that it has frozen all diplomatic relations with France.MPs from the French president's Union for Popular Movement (UMP) party, which has the parliamentary majority, proposed the bill aimed at criminalising the denial of the so-called "genocide" to the legislative committee of the National Assembly in early December.Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the parliaments of several countries.Read the full story here.

• Just what you always suspected: FDR opposed bombing Auschwitz.(IsraelMatzav).A new study by the US Holocaust Museum has concluded that Franklin Roosevelt himself opposed bombing the Auschwitz death camp (Hat Tip: Dan F). A new two year study by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC reveals the opposition by WWII American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) to bombing the Auschwitz Birkenau death complex in Southern Poland in the summer of 1944. The findings of the latest USHMM study on wartime allied and Jewish Zionist leaders over the decision not to bomb Auschwitz were the subject of an EnerPub article, “Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Sin of Omission: Auschwitz” by former US diplomat, Martin Barillas. Barillas noted the contrast with Britain’s wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill: Churchill appeared interested in a military strike against the camps. He told Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden that Hitler's war against the Jews was "probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world," adding, "Get everything out of the Air Force you can, and invoke me, if necessary." In July 1944 Churchill was told that U.S. bomber pilots could do the job best, but that it would be "costly and hazardous."70 years from now, will future generations be discussing whether and why Barack Hussein Obama opposed bombing Iran?Read the full story here.

• Hundreds of Kyrgyz prisoners sew lips shut in hunger strike.(HD).Three thousand prisoners were on a hunger strike Wednesday in Kyrgyzstan with several hundred sewing shut their lips with staples and thread to protest jail conditions, officials said."Over three thousand convicts are refusing food in Kyrgyzstan, about 640 have sewn their lips shut," the Central Asian country's ombudsman Tursunbek Akun told journalists.Prisoners in the country's largest prison in Bishkek are in a serious condition, he said, with some having to be hospitalised due to not taking food.Kyrgyzstan's prison service however claimed that criminal bosses were forcing convicts to mutilate themselves in protest after their privileges were taken away."The people initiating this 'sewing' are leaders of the criminal world," the prison service said in a statement.The standoff between prison authorities and convicts began in the Bishkek prison after one crime boss murdered another.Prison staff transferred the murderer to a different jail with less comfortable conditions, and raided the premises, confiscating mobile phones, drugs and money."That angered the criminal world, which told the regular convicts to riot," the prison service said. The hunger strikes have now spread to other prisons in Kyrgyzstan, which has a prison population of 15,000 people.Rights campaigner Tolekan Ismailova denied that the strikes were sparked by criminal bosses, however."Those on hunger strike are against inhumane conditions," she said. "They don't have medicine, normal food, linen or soap. Their illnesses are not treated because there are not enough doctors," she said.Read the full story here.

• Arab Sheikhs fall in love with Renminbi, the "people's currency" also known as the yuan.(Stratrisks).By M K Bhadrakumar.China and Qatar have been taking virtually opposite positions apropos events in Libya and Syria. Yet, they do not seem to be deterred by this little difference and are bonding in a big way in economic cooperation to mutual benefit.Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who visited Doha last week, disclosed at a press conference on Friday: a) China proposes to invest in the manufacturing of ”downstream oil products, which are most urgently needed by Qatar”; b) China and Qatar signed an agreement to jointly build a refinery in Taizhou, Zheijiang, in China; c) Chinese companies propose to participate in infrastructure projects in Qatar; and d) China and Qatar arediscussing a “long-term, stable and comprehensive cooperative partnership” in natural gas.Then, Wen quietly dropped a bombshell. He revealed “one more important point” as if it were an afterthought. He said: In order to address investment issues, we [China and Qatar] need financial support. Therefore, we reached another agreement, a cooperation agreement linking finance with investment. Qatar also proposed the use of local currency in trade settlement and even a specific ratio. I think this proposal can be studied.The short point is, the renminbi, the “people’s currency” also known as the yuan, is appearing in Doha. The China-United Arab Emirates (UAE) currency swap deal which was signed during Wen’s visit to Abu Dhabi last week already brings the yuan to the Emirates. The deal with the UAE is worth US$5.5 billion and the Chinese central bank statement said that it aims at “strengthening bilateral financial cooperation, promoting trade and investments and jointly safeguarding regional financial stability”.Indeed, China is playing for the long term. Addressing an energy summit in the UAE, Wen made the startling proposal to create an international body that is mandated to determine the price of oil and which would regulate the policies of the entire supply chain involving the supplier countries, the consumers and even the transit countries.Iran and Russia have already switched to their national currencies for conducting bilateral trade. Tehran’s ambassador to Moscow Seyed Reza Sajjadi said on Friday, “[Trade] with Russia is based on our national currencies. We started this work long ago. Iranian businessmen are buying products in Russia and are using the rouble as [payment] currency] … The US dollar has no [economic] support base … There is a similar interest on the Russian side.”Last week, it also came to be known that India proposes to allow Iran’s central bank to open rupee accounts with two Indian banks as a long-term solution to the countries’ payment problems instigated by the US (which pressured New Delhi to terminate the traditional payment mechanism for Iran within the Asian Clearing Union.) An Indian delegation visited Tehran last week to finalize details.The new arrangement envisages that while the payments for India’s oil imports from Iran (roughly $12-14 billion annually) would be initially in Indian rupees, they would subsequently be converted into a separate designated currency. This is a pointed snub to Washington, which forbids friendly countries from dealings with Iran’s central bank.Hmmmmmm........Read the full story here.

• Russian Peacekeepers to Pull Out of South Sudan.(RN).Russia is to withdraw its peacekeeping troops from South Sudan, the Kremlin website reported on Tuesday.All Russian soldiers and helicopters should leave the African country by April 1, 2012, a presidential decree published on the website said, adding that the decision was due to the official end of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) on July 11, 2011.Russia currently has eight helicopters and 120 personnel servicing the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which was established on July 9, 2011, when South Sudan was officially declared an independent state.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said last week that Russia might withdraw its helicopters from South Sudan amid concerns over the safety of its personnel.Gatilov was speaking after an upsurge in inter-ethnic violence in the impoverished oil-producing state, which caused 60,000 people to flee their homes.A series of recent tribal clashes in the country is believed to have left some 3,000 people dead, according to local officials. The United Nations has yet to confirm the figure.“We have not been happy about security in the region recently,” Gatilov told reporters in Moscow.Gatilov said Russia doubted the authorities’ ability to contain violence, as both they and the UN had failed to give assurances about the safety of the Russian task force.Since a number of Russian personnel deployed in South Sudan were attacked in November last year, the Russian helicopters have been grounded, he said.Hmmmm........Read the full story here.

• Egyptian minister: "Israel is the #1 enemy of Egypt and Arabs".(DocsTalk).Dr. Gouda Abdel-Khalek, Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, has said that the calls by some Egyptians to dismantle the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is "absurd."He said that the Egyptian military is "the only coherent military institution in the Arab world, capable of facing any external force."Abdel-Khalek told Al Masry al Youm, "I ask the revolutionaries to cease the demand for dropping SCAF, if they consider that Israel remains the number one enemy of Egypt and the Arabs."Abdel-Khalek was, unsurprisingly, appointed by the military council. And the Egyptian military owns a lot of Egypt's internal trade, even of non-military items. In the cabinet reshuffling currently taking place under Egypt's militarily-appointed premier Kamal El-Ganzouri, he places the responsiblity for regulating food prices back on the lap of the Minister of Social Solidarity - now renamed the Ministry of Supply and Domestic Trade.This revives a ministry that had recently been eliminated, simply transferring the post under the new name to Gouda Abdel Khaleq, who served as minister of social solidarity in the last administration.Abdel Khaleq is a veteran leftist associated with Al-Tagammu party.Prime Minister El-Ganzouri, who was chosen by Egypt’s ruling military junta to replace Essam Sharaf last week, has previously stated that the ministry of Supply and Domestic Trade will be mandated to face the rising prices of basic goods and food stuffs. It will also be responsible for supplying goods to limited-income citizens through its outlets.Food prices, which account for 44 per cent of Egypt's consumer price index (CPI), dropped 0.5 per cent in October below September’s level.Read the full story here.

• EU Prepares Fresh Sanctions for Belarus.(RN).The European Union is preparing to impose new sanctions against Belarusian companies and individuals that are deemed responsible for human rights violations, a European Council spokesperson told RIA Novosti.“The Council ruled on a decision that expands the criteria for restrictive measures (sanctions) against individuals and companies. It lays a further foundation for determining people and companies, responsible for repressions against civil society and democratic opposition,” the spokesperson said.According to EU diplomatic sources, the new sanctions increased the list of Belarusian officials banned from traveling within the EU member states by another 135 people.Over 200 Belarusian officials are currently under EU and the U.S. sanctions that were first introduced in January 2011 in response to December 2010's flawed elections and brutal clampdown on opposition leaders and protesters.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator," said last week that he would “think seriously” about reforming the ex-Soviet state’s “political system” after a parliamentary vote in September.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation indonesia 5.6 - 5.3 ; Papua New guinea 5.3 - 5.2!More info here.

• Statement by the President on the Celebration of Coptic Christmas.(CL).Michelle and I wish Coptic Orthodox Christians in the United States and around the world a blessed and joyous Christmas. On this special day, we give thanks for the extraordinary contributions that Coptic Christians have made to the United States. I want to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to work for the protection of Christian and other religious minorities around the world. As events in Egypt and elsewhere have illustrated, and as history repeatedly reminds us, freedom of religion, the protection of people of all faiths, and the ability to worship as you choose are critical to a peaceful, inclusive and thriving society. In this Christmas season, we join our Coptic brothers and sisters around the globe in prayers for peace.Hmmmm......“I want to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to work for the protection of Christian and other religious minorities” hmmmm….’Christians and other religious minorities’so who’s the majority religion according to Caliph President Obama?Read the full story here.

• Obama’s ‘Court-Packing’ Moment?(Cato).By Mark A. Calabria.Although Franklin Roosevelt did go on to win another term after his court-packing debacle in 1937, his support dramatically declined after the incident. Whereas his 1936 election came with the support of 62% of voters, his 1940 was down to 55% (granted, still a “landslide by modern standards). And while it wouldn’t be until 1946 that Republicans would take the Senate, the 1938 mid-terms did cost the Democrats five Senate seats. The point of all this? Constitutional overreach comes at a cost, and in a nation split roughly evenly on Red/Blue ideological lines, that coust could make all the difference.While it is still too early to tell, President Obama’s recent “recess” appointments have the potential to erode his support among independents, many of whom actually care about the Constitution. While the National Journal‘s Shane Goldmacher is pondering why Republicans even want to take on this fight, it really should be the White House questioning whether it is worth it. When Ron Paul says, “The president is not a dictator or a king who can simply ignore the Constitution whenever he feels frustrated by the system of checks and balances,” this is something that anyone can understand, even former law professors.A few things to remember about FDR’s court-packing scheme. First, unlike Obama’s recent appointments, FDR’s plot was actually constitutional, but still struck at the checks and balances behind the Constitution. FDR also painted his plan as a way to rein in an out-of-touch, conservative Court that, in his view, protected “big business” (sounds a little familiar). Despite FDR’s massive popularity at the time, and the unpopularity of both Republicans and the Court, the plan still cost him.It is also worth remembering that court-packing initially had some support. From its announcement in February until about April, Gallup showed a steady support of around 45%. In fact, support never fell below 30% before the plan was shelved. Goes to show no matter how offensive, there will also be some blind partisans to support any scheme.By now most of the public has already made up their mind about “who is the bigger front for Wall Street,” so yes this maneuver will energize the base some. But it is unlikely to change anyone’s mind about Republicans and Wall Street. What it does do, however, is further raise issues about Obama’s commitment to and understanding of the Constitution. When the Obama campaign says, “He’ll work with Congress when he can, but if they refuse to act—he will,” it really displays either a deep misunderstanding or outright contempt for the separation of powers inherent in our system. If Obama doesn’t place any value upon that notion, perhaps the American public will.Read the full story here.

• Obama: The Mask is Off.(AT).The mask is fully off. Barack Obama is the most corrupt, power-mad president in this nation's illustrious history. By his actions in bypassing Congress and making appointments that should be subject to Senate approval while the Senate is still in session and innumerable extra-constitutional actions since he became president, he is following in the footsteps of the despots who dominated the 20th century.In late September of 2008, it became clear to me that Barack Obama would be elected president. Based on his background, education, motivation, and indoctrination, I saw a man who could single-handedly destroy the country and someone with no respect for the history, the Constitution, or the people of the United States. The specter of a megalomaniac who was a stranger to the truth and would or say or do anything to achieve or retain power overcame me. In Barack Obama and his fellow travelers, I saw what I feared the most since I came to this country: a person and a political mindset that would, if allowed, spell the end of the noblest experiment in the history of mankind.It was at that point that I wrote my first article for American Thinker in an attempt to warn the people of America that the result of the 2008 election would be critical to the nation's survival. This was the first column I had written since my college days over 40+ years before, and I am eternally grateful to AT for publishing it and giving me a forum to speak to the American people.I had to survive a war that was precipitated by those who were initially elected by the people in a democratic fashion. Yet once in power, they began to systematically usurp and overthrow the rule of law. Their lust for power led them to shred any written constitution or traditions as they systematically imposed new regulations, laws, and executive orders geared primarily to centralize authority in the government as individual rights and liberties were extinguished. In due course, they and their cronies became the government, as the people were powerless to stop them.The people of Germany, the most advanced society in continental Europe, or Italy in the first four years of the 1930s, would have found it incredible to imagine what became of those countries by 1945. They would not think it even remotely possible.   The history of the United States and its traditions of liberty and individual freedom should be a bulwark against the successful emergence of people like Obama and his cronies. Yet why are the media, or the opposition party, or the members of Congress or the judiciary not shouting from the highest hilltop and taking action to stop these power-grabs? Has this country enjoyed peace and prosperity so long that everyone is jaded and preoccupied with him- or herself, or in a self-induced stupor either ignoring what's happening or saying that these unconstitutional steps are minor? Is it because Obama happens to have black skin and everyone is too intimidated by political correctness to speak? Or is it as it was in Germany, Italy, and Russia among many -- a belief that the worst could never happen here?I have seen and experienced the worst that man can offer, I am not intimidated, and I will say without reservation that Barack Obama and his cronies have the same mindset in their tactical approach, philosophy, and lust for power that was extant in Benito Mussolini and the Fascists in the early days of their regime. If the apologists for those in power in Washington want to vilify me for that comparison, so be it.To the American people, it is far beyond time to wake up to who this man in the White House is and what his ambitions are. As for the Republicans in the Congress or running for office, the task is upon your shoulders to stop Barack Obama in his tracks before he goes any farther. It is time to do your sworn duty to preserve and protect the country. And for the Democrats who are so blinded by party loyalty that they would sell their country for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver, the long-term difficulties and potential downfall of the greatest nation on earth will be your legacy.Read the full story here.

• Former AG Meese: Obama’s ‘Recess’ Appointments Are a ‘Constitutional Abuse of a High Order’.(BigGovernment).In a Washington Post editorial Thursday, Edwin Meese, the former U.S. Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, and Todd Gaziano, Director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, wrote that President Obama’s unilateral appointment of three individuals to the National Labor Relations Board, and of Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, while the Senate was not in recess, is a “breathtaking violation of the separation of powers and the duty of comity that the executive owes to Congress.”The authors asserted: …never before has a president purported to make a “recess” appointment when the Senate is demonstrably not in recess. That is a constitutional abuse of a high order.The beauty of this editorial is that Mr. Meese and Mr. Gaziano provide instruction to handle this rogue president who continues to thumb his nose at the Constitution. They continue:  President Obama’s flagrant violation of the Constitution not only will damage relations with Congress for years to come but will ultimately weaken the office of the presidency. There eventually may be litigation over the illegal appointments, but it will be a failure of government if the political branches do not resolve this injustice before a court rules…Congressional leaders of both parties must vigorously (though thoughtfully) defend their prerogatives. Senators could filibuster all presidential nominations, as Sen. Robert C. Byrd did in 1985 over a lesser recess appointment issue, until Obama rescinds these wrongful appointments. The House or Senate could condition all “must-pass” legislation for the remainder of 2012 on an agreement to rescind these appointments. The House also could require the attorney general to produce legal justification and testify at oversight hearings.The authors conclude: If Congress does not resist, the injury is not just to its branch but ultimately to the people.As if we were not already aware, “Congress” includes Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who, naturally, praised the president for trampling over her branch of government. Regarding Mr. Obama’s power grab, Mrs. Pelosi said, “…we’re glad that the president took the lead, went out there, it was bold and made the appointments.” (Translation: How else can I get the things I want since I’m no longer Speaker?)But, “Congress” also includes Speaker John Boehner, whose response to the bird he was just flipped was that the president’s action is “bad for jobs.” Mr. Boehner said, “This action goes beyond the President’s authority, and I expect the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate.” So that’s it? Just file a lawsuit and get back to the business of the day? No defense of the Constitution, of the separation of powers? No conditions placed on future legislation? No talk of impeachment?Hmmmm.......Whatever happened to the "To protect and uphold  the Constitution" part?Read the full story here.

• Obama escalates appointments crisis, claims Cordray has full powers without Senate approval.(DailyCaller).President Barack Obama today escalated his claimed power to appoint top officials by announcing that his financial-sector appointee also has authority that is legally reserved only for an official who has been confirmed by the Senate.The 2010 law that established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau includes a section that says many of the bureau’s new powers are to be held by the secretary of the Treasury “until the Director of the Bureau is confirmed by the Senate.”Obam’s Jan. 3. claim to have appointed Cordray appears to violate the Constitution and is a grab for increased presidential power, say many constitutional lawyers.But his new Jan. 6 claim about Cordray’s powers goes even further by contradicting the plain language of the 2010 law that created the bureau.Section 1066 of the law says many of the bureau’s new powers are activated once the Senate confirms a director. Those extra powers include the authority to write regulations for non-bank firms, such as payday lenders.Obama also said Friday that Cordray’s new authority include those powers.“Now that Richard [Cordray] is your director, you can finally exercise the full power that this agency has been given to protect consumers under the law,” Obama said in a Dec. 6 visit to the CFPB. “Now that he’s here, irresponsible debt collectors and payday lenders, independent mortgage services and loan providers, they’re all bound by the same rules as everyone else.”Obama’s declarations have “now escalated to arrogance on steroids,” said Roger Pilon, the founder and director of the Cato Institute’s constitutional studies center. Congress makes laws and the White House executes them, said Pilon, and Obama’s constitutional and legal claims “are a direct attack on the [Constitution’s] separation of powers principle.”The Constitution, he said, curbs the president’s power by requiring him to win Senate approval for his top appointments. That, he said, “is a check on unbridled executive power.”White House officials declined to answer The Daily Caller’s question about Obama’s claim to have confirmed — and not just recess-appointed — Cordray.Instead, a White House official reiterated the unchallenged fact that a person can serve as director of the bureau after a proper recess appointment.“The CFPB’s authorizing statute does not limit the President’s ability to exercise his constitutional power to appoint a Director during a recess,” said a statement from White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “The CFPB statute, like other statutes, makes clear that the Director is a presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed position, but it does not preclude a recess-appointed Director from serving.Schultz declined to address the question of whether Obama can declared Cordray to be confirmed.In a break from routine, White House officials did not hold a press conference today. The next conference will likely be held in three days.During former president George W. Bush’s term in office, liberals heavily criticized him for saying the presidency affords America’s chief executive the authority to direct the nation’s foreign affairs without the agreement of the Congress. These controversies revolved around the idea of a “unitary executive,” which progressives said was a power grab.However, “here we’re dealing with domestic issues where the president has far less independent power than in foreign affairs,” said Pilon.This controversy created by Obama’s decisions, he said, is “a constitutional problem right from the start.”Hmmm........I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes. ~ Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776.Read the full story here.

• Run for the hills the 'Mother of All Tsunamis' is coming!German 1 year Yields go NEGATIVE again as Euro Prepares to Crumble.(Shenandoah).By John Galt.Despite the popular belief that the Euro will survive there is ample evidence that the ultra-wealthy and many banks believe otherwise. The examples below are just of the German 1 year yield and the Euroswiss 3 month which both have displayed negative yields at various points in their recent trading history but more so recently as all faith in the ECB has evaporated. Bankers and wealthy investors do not pay central banks to hold their cash unless there was fear of an imminent collapse or crisis. The billions of Dollars and Euros it takes to drive yields to zero or negative is somewhat large and an indication that there is extreme doubt in the current structure of the European Monetary Union. Just as a heads up and point of reference, the U.S. 1 and 3 month Treasury Bill yield has been trading between -0.02% and 0.01% for some time now as well.If the super wealthy and banksters are preparing for a collapse, shouldn’t everyone else also?Read the full story here.

• Mr. President: Why Refuse to Answer Whether the Justice Department Issued a Legal Opinion?(Heritage).President Obama thinks he merely stretched his powers under the Constitution in making so-called recess appointments for three members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III and counsel Todd Gaziano made clear in their Washington Post editorial of January 6, 2012, that the President violated the Constitution with the purported appointments.The President takes an oath before God to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Most Presidents, before they take an action that — like the purported Obama recess appointments — will test the outer limit of their powers under the Constitution, seek the advice of the Attorney General. Indeed, Congress has passed a law (28 U.S.C. 511) that requires the Attorney General to give the President legal advice upon request: “The Attorney General shall give his advice and opinion on questions of law when required by the President.” That statute helps carry out the Constitutional provision that the President “may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices.”A prudent President would have sought the advice of the Attorney General on whether the so-called recess appointments were within the President’s constitutional power. But, when asked in a White House Press Briefing on January 5, 2012, whether the Department of Justice had provided a legal opinion to the President in advance of the recess appointments, the President’s press secretary would not say. Even if the White House is going to take the position that it will not release the contents of a legal opinion rendered by the Department of Justice on the ground that the contents are legally privileged from disclosure, it is odd that the White House would refuse to confirm or deny whether such a Department of Justice legal opinion even exists.It is reasonable that people are asking the White House whether a Department of Justice legal opinion was issued before the President made the purported recess appointments. The question of the existence or not of such a legal memo has a bearing on the judgment of the President. If such a Department of Justice memo exists, then at least the country knows that the President demonstrated at least some measure of prudence and thought in testing the outer limits of the Constitution by seeking in advance legal advice from the country’s chief legal officer. If, however, no such memo exists, then the country knows that the President was less prudent and thoughtful and did not bother with legal advice from the Attorney General. The degree of prudence and thoughtfulness of a President in performing his duties is a legitimate subject of public interest — especially for a President asking the people to re-elect him.Clients are not bound to follow the advice of their lawyers. Indeed, the Constitution commands the President himself to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” But a wise client seeks the advice of his lawyer before taking a big risk. And a prudent and thoughtful President seeks the legal advice of the Attorney General before testing the outer limits of the constitutional powers of the presidency.So, Mr. President, did the Department of Justice issue a legal opinion in relation to your purported recess appointments to the NLRB and the CPFB before you made them?Read the full story here.

• Hamas Chief: “Islamic Spring”; Brotherhood Chief: Caliphate Soon; Western Media: Islamists Moderate, Israel Bad.(PJM).By BarryRubin.A 27-year-old American-Israeli law school student decides he’s going to go to Egypt and talk to Egyptians. He gets arrested by the authorities there as a spy, then is released in the prisoner exchange. He then brags that the mere charm of his magical persuasion convinced a hardened Muslim Brotherhood cadre not to be anti-Israel any more. So there’s nothing to worry about!That’s worth a Washington Post op-ed, but the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader calling for an Islamic state and a caliphate isn’t?At least the New York Times reported the statement of Ismail Haniya (whom it calls “the Hamas prime minister of Gaza”) on his official state visit to Turkey: The Arab Spring is turning into an Islamic spring. (Note: Turkey’s government, President Obama’s favorite Middle East regime and his main regional advisor, is part of that radical Islamist bloc.)Haniya knows it. We know it. Why don’t Western governments, mass media, and “experts” understand what this means? It doesn’t mean a springtime for “Islam” as a “religion of peace,” but a springtime for political Islamism as being in power — imposing a very anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-American, and radically intolerant interpretation of Islam on their countries.In his official weekly message published on the official Brotherhood website, Muhammad al-Badi — official leader of what is officially the biggest political party and parliamentary vote-getter in Egypt — said that the Brotherhood will now begin the “long-term plan for the reform of all aspects of people’s lives.”(Note: Why didn’t Barack and Michelle think of that phrase first?)And soon, the Brotherhood’s supreme guide also explains, the caliphate will be restored. I don’t believe him, but the fact that he thinks so is significant. Why is the caliphate important? Well, one reason is that the caliph can supposedly declare an international jihad in which every Muslim must fight. I don’t believe that will happen either, and it didn’t work out well when the German-backed Ottoman caliph tried it in World War One. But it does convey something about the Brotherhood’s plans for the future.To my knowledge, that statement by the supreme guide — an actual leader of hundreds of thousands of people backed by almost half of all Egyptians — has not been reported in any Western mass media outlet.Al-Badi’s own formula is that Egypt will be “a just country” under “just rule,” which means his interpretation of Sharia. This brand of social justice includes death to converts from Islam, and the whole long list of such things.Did I mention that almost half of all Egyptians voted for the Muslim Brotherhood, and that almost half of those who didn’t voted for an even more radical Islamist party?Who would you expect the Western media to believe and publicize: the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, who disagrees with them about the nature of his own organization; or a student with no achievements whatsoever who agrees with the Western media?What better proof could there be that we are being fed propaganda, and not news?Want more proof? David Gerstman has been monitoring relevant New York Times op-eds for the last six months. His methodology is quite fair and reasonable. And here is his conclusion:

Anti-Israel op-eds: 38
Pro-Israel op-eds: 7

And this includes four op-eds supporting a Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence — even though that would violate every agreement made in the much-beloved “peace process” — and not a single one opposing it.We are no longer talking about a “slant” in media coverage. They have fallen over entirely, either onto their knees or flat on their face.Hmmmm.........."I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."Read the full story here.

• 'UK sends most powerful vessel HMS Daring to Gulf'.(JPost).The UK is sending its most powerful naval vessel to the Gulf to counter any potential Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, the Daily Telegraph reported Friday. The ship, a Type 45 destroyer named HMS Daring, will depart from Portsmouth on Wednesday and is set to arrive in the Gulf by the end of January. It is capable of shooting down "any missile in Iran's armory," according to the Telegraph.The report came just two days after Defense Secretary Philip Hammond declared that his country would take military action against Iran if it carries out its threat to block the Strait of Hormuz. While on a visit in Washington DC. Hammond warned that any attempt by Iran to close the Strait would be "illegal and unsuccessful", adding that the Royal Navy would participate in efforts to ensure the free flow of traffic in the waterway.“Our joint naval presence in the Arabian Gulf, something our regional partners appreciate, is key to keeping the Straits of Hormuz open for international trade,” Hammond stated.“Disruption to the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz would threaten regional and global economic growth,” he said, arguing that “it is in all our interests that the arteries of global trade are kept free, open and running.”The UK ship being sent to the Gulf carries the world's most sophisticated naval radar, capable of tracking multiple incoming threats from missiles to fighter jets, the Telegraph reported. The 8,000 ton destroyer will carry 48 Sea Viper anti-air missile systems, capable of intercepting fighters as well as sea-skimming missiles. It will also host a Lynx helicopter capable of carrying Sea Skua anti-ship missiles, according to the Telegraph.The British daily cited UK Naval commanders who said that the ship's deployment will send a significant message to the Iranians because of its firepower and "world-beating" technology. A British Ministry of Defense spokesman was quoted by the Telegraph as saying that "while the newly operational Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring is more capable than earlier ships, her deployment East of Suez has been long planned, is entirely routine and replaces a frigate on station." In late December, Iran threatened to block the strait if sanctions are imposed on its crude-oil exports. Europe and the United States have stepped up sanctions the Islamic republic in recent weeks in an attempt to force it to abandon its nuclear program. The Western action has already hit Iran's rial currency, which fell by 40 percent against the dollar in the past month. It recently recovered 20% of its value through intervention by Iran's Central Bank.Western powers are discussing other contingency plans for a potential Iranian closure of the strait, including one to tap a record volume of oil from emergency stockpiles to replace what would be lost if in case of an Iranian closure. It is estimated that the proposal, which would release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers, could be sustained during the first month of any coordinated action.Iran recently concluded a ten-day naval drill, during which it test fired two long-range missiles. Iran said that it was using the test to display its resolve in countering any attack by enemies such as Israel or the United States. Revolutionary Guards Corps will hold new naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz in February, an Iranian military commander was quoted as saying.Read the full story here.

• Why Is an Anti-American Islamist Obama's Favorite Middle East Leader?(DocsTalk).By BarryRubin.For the first time in forty years, Israel is not the American president’s favorite Middle Eastern ally. Instead, that role is played by Turkey’s government.This would not be such a bad thing if we were talking about the “old” Turkey, the secular republic. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama’s favorite advisor among the regional leaders is Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Pretend all you want but Obama really dislikes—hates?—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and truth be told Netanyahu has done nothing to deserve that treatment.The fundamental problem with Erdogan is despite being embraced by the United States, he is an enemy of the United States, the West more generally, and Israel. He is on the side of radical, anti-American Islamists who want to wipe Israel off the map. So angry and passionate is Erdogan’s loathing of Israel that the leader of the opposition mockingly but pointedly asked if the prime minister wanted to go to war with the Jewish state. In contrast, the list of Erdogan’s dearest friends includes Hamas, Hizballah, Iran, the repressive Sudanese dictatorship, and Syria (formerly the regime there; now the Islamist portions of the opposition). Erdogan would like to be good buddies with the Muslim Brotherhood forces in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, though they are suspicious of him.Erdogan’s record at home and abroad shows what he and his regime are all about. Indeed, what is truly bizarre about Obama’s judgment is that Erdogan has done nothing so beneficial to the United States and a number of things detrimental to it:

1. Iraq war: Whatever you think of the Iraq war, the refusal of the Turkish government to deliver on their promise to let U.S. troops cross into northern Iraq in 2003 was unfriendly and many American officials and members of Congress were outraged at the time.
2. Israel policy: Erdogan has gone to an extreme in attacking Israel and sabotaging any possibility of conciliation. His government sponsored the Gaza flotilla knowing that a lot of the Turkish participants were violent Islamists who wanted to stage a confrontation.
3. Iran: The Erdogan’s regime tried to sabotage sanctions against Iran in 2010. He has repeatedly defended Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and denied that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons. While there have been some bilateral disagreements—the Turkish decision to allow in NATO installations to watch Iran and backing different sides in Syria, the two countries remain quite close and Erdogan is currently visiting Iran.
4. Lebanon and Palestinians: In opposition to U.S. policy, Erdogan backs radical, openly antisemitic Islamist terrorist groups, Hamas and Hizballah. The leader of the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip has just been received as a hero by Erdogan.
5. Syria: While Turkey opposes the continuation of the Asad regime in Syria, this is not out of a love of democracy but rather due to support for a Sunni Islamist takeover there. When Obama gave Erdogan the task of organizing a Syrian opposition leadership, the Turkish regime packed that leadership with Islamists.
6.  Worldview: Erdogan’s foreign minister wrote a book in Turkish explaining the regime’s strategy of aligning with the Islamic world against the West. This is clearly what Erdogan has been doing. The bonus, however, is that he has been able to pretend otherwise and thus act without any real cost or pressure from the West. On the contrary, he can tell Turkish voter that Obama loves him.
7. Then there’s Erdogan’s domestic policy which grows worse with each day: increasing repression; massive arrests without trial; trumped-up phony charges of terrorism and treason; intimidation of the media; constitutional changes that give him control over all institutions including the courts. The very real fear and despair within Turkey is generally not reported in the West.Now the former army chief of staff, retired General Ilker Basbug, has been humiliated and will be put on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow the regime. One thing that's never explained is that if the hundreds of officers who have been arrested were working to stage a coup how come in ten years not the tiniest action was ever actually taken? Meanwhile, journalists are on trial for alleged terrorism and other crimes.Wait a minute! Maybe that's what the "Turkish model," which the Obama Administration wants to spread to the Arabic-speaking world, is: an elected government that makes itself into a dictatorship. Talk to almost any Turk, at least to those who aren’t regime supporters, and they’ll tell you that the only explanation they can figure out is a conspiracy in which the United States wants an Islamist regime in Turkey to prove its sympathy for Islam and possibly affect such groups elsewhere. One thing that the regime has done very well—or, at least, benefitted from conditions—is regarding the economy. Despite recent claims that Turkey’s economy is in trouble, the country seems to be flourishing.Soner Cagaptay, a frequent critic of the regime, describes Turkey as in an unprecedented “sense of global confidence” not seen for centuries; a “Eurasian China;” a country whose economy grew a record 8.2 percent in the third quarter of 2011. Since 2002, he continues the economy has nearly tripled in size. Its trade is shifting from Europe to Islamic countries. As one journalist put it: "After suffering through eight coalition governments and four economic crises, the Turkish people have welcomed ten years of a stable…government even if it has meant entrenched single-party rule"Cagaptay argues that to continue this economic success the Turkish government must avoid “a belligerent foreign policy.” But that’s a bit misleading. Turkey can have a radical, pro-Islamist foreign policy that is objectively anti-Western at little cost. It just has to avoid getting involved directly in wars, which it can easily do.Now with the Turkish army broken, Erdogan needs merely complete his control of the courts to be able to do whatever he pleases within the country.And with Obama following Erdogan’s advice and trying to help spread the “Turkish model”—electing radical Islamist regimes that will be repressive at home and backing radicals abroad—things look bright for Erdogan as he steadily consolidates control.Read the full story here.

• Tensions rise between Turkish military and government.(BikyaMasr).Istanbul (dpa) – The arrest and detention in the early hours of Friday morning of the former head of Turkey’s military, General Ilker Basbug, signals an increase in tensions between the government and the military that looks certain to escalate further.Basbug was arrested and interrogated for seven hours regarding allegations that he conspired as head of a secret organization to overthrow by force the elected government of the Turkish Republic, before being imprisoned pending further questioning.The arrest stems from a three year investigation into the “Ergenekon” organization. Prosecutors allege the group brought together serving and former senior military officers and civilian officials in a plot to overthrow the moderate Islamist government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.The Ergenekon investigation has to date seen the arrest and charging of around 400 suspects, including 58 generals and admirals currently serving in the Turkish military, as well as dozens of intellectuals, academics, former and serving civil servants, and journalists.It has been strongly supported by the government and by many secular Turks who share no ideological or religious platform with Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), and who believe the military and its associates have a case to answer.But it has also been heavily criticized by Turkey’s military and many secular Turks who regard it as a witch hunt against the military. The institution has traditionally guaranteed the secular nature of the Turkish republic in the face of what some Turks regard as the “creeping Islamization” of the country.Many more though, fear that while the investigation may have begun in earnest, it has strayed beyond the limits of its scope and now threatens to undermine the very democratic process it was initiated to protect.They criticize both the lack of clarity over what is being investigated and the length of time the cases are taking to resolve.In court for the first time last week after 11 months in jail, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik commented: “We don’t even know what we are accused of; the indictment doesn’t specify a crime.”With numerous trials related to the Ergenekon probe still ongoing, hundreds imprisoned and arrests still being made, tensions have been running high.Basbug’s arrest comes little over a week after Turkish planes bombed a convoy of civilians smuggling cigarettes and diesel fuel into Turkey from Iraq, killing 35.While Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan expressed shock and grief at the killings and promised a full investigation, the military managed only a statement to the effect that it was acting on “intelligence” that the group were terrorists intent on attacking targets inside Turkey.The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union, has for over two decades launched such attacks from bases in the autonomous Kurdish region of Northern Iraq.However those killed were not terrorists but smugglers – many, of them also members of the “Village Guards,” a state-run militia which guards against PKK activity in the region.While neither the government nor the military has directly blamed the other side for the mistake which led to the killings, the respected Taraf newspaper has published unsourced claims that the intelligence supplied to the military came from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT).As a body which reports to the Prime Ministry, MIT has no direct connections with the military, and it has strenuously denied the allegations.“MIT shared no intelligence on groups, locations, numbers, dates or routes that may have been related to the deaths of the 35 citizens,” the organization said in a written statement.However the implications of the allegations appear clear: namely that a disagreement exists as to whether the faulty “intelligence” came from the military, or from sources controlled by the government.Who exactly is responsible for the killings will hopefully emerge from the promised official investigation.But given the record to date of the Ergenekon investigation, few are betting that it can be completed either as swiftly or as openly as the tragic events would seem to require – or without further inflaming tensions between the government and the military.Hmmmm.....Once again i dare to ask "Did a U.S. Drone give the info that led to the deadly strike?Read the full story here.

• Feds Create Jobs For “Low-Income, Disconnected Youth” at a $ 1.5 Billion taxpayer cost.(JW).Keeping with the big government mentality, various federal agencies are creating thousands of positions to meet the goals set by a new Obama initiative to find jobs for “low-income and disconnected youth.”Announced by the president this week, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Summer Jobs 2012 is being promoted as a private-federal partnership in which a quarter of a million unemployed, low-income youths will enter the workforce. Several major companies already operate similar programs though the DOL seems to indicate that they were inspired by this novel plan.After all, the administration is touting it as a “new call-to-action for businesses, nonprofits and government to provide pathways to employment for low-income and disconnected youth.” The goal is to create 250,000 summer jobs for the disenfranchised youth, ages 16 to 24. An internet tool will soon be launched where the job-seekers can access openings and connect with participating employers.Obama’s Labor Secretary, former California Congresswoman Hilda Solis, hinted that minorities will be heavily targeted, pointing out that “minority youth have had an especially difficult time funding summer employment.” To back this up Solis offered the following statistics; the unemployment rate for African-American youth last summer was 31% and for Latinos it was 20%. That means 900,000 African-American youth and 820,000 Latino youth didn’t work, according to the secretary’s figures. This is being presented by the administration as a crisis that requires government intervention. So far three federal agencies have committed to create a combined 19,424 jobs for the low-income, disconnected minority youth. The Department of the Interior, which manages the country’s national parks, will lead the way with 12,000 positions in various wildlife refuges, environmental restoration projects and tribal lands.The Department of Agriculture will offer 7,100 low-income youth—referred to as “our future leaders”—with “valuable work experience” and the Department of Health and Human Services will chip in 324 jobs. Recalling her upbringing in a blue-collar Los Angeles neighborhood, Solis credits these sorts of summer youth jobs for setting her on a course that led her to a president’s cabinet.Since making it to the prestigious post, Solis has launched a number of controversial programs, including a division with a 1,000 field investigators to protect illegal immigrants in the U.S. workforce. Her agency has also dedicated tens of millions of dollars to questionable initiatives that provide “meaningful job training” for low-income juvenile delinquents and “high-risk” adults, safety training for “low-literacy Latinos” and to promote collective bargaining in Vietnam.  Last month, Judicial Watch uncovered a scandal behind the DOL’s wasteful, bilingual smartphone app to help hourly workers “stand up for their rights” and file complaints against employers. To create the app, the agency awarded a noncompetitive contract— intended for socially and economically disadvantaged businesses—to former DOL official who owns a profitable company called Cascades Technologies Inc.Hmmmm........Buying the youth their votes with taxpayer money.Read the full story here.

• Turkey Gets It, Acquires F-35s. Obama Administration Doesn’t.(Heritage).The Turkish government understands what the Obama Administration does not: Acquiring the American-made F-35 fighter jet is the most effective way to claim supremacy of the skies.Yesterday, Turkey’s Defense Industry Implementation Committee announced the purchase of two Lockheed Martin F-35s. Turkey had put its F-35 order on hold in March over concerns of technology sharing and cost. However, the recent announcement suggests that Turkey is preparing itself for the increasing challenges that its neighborhood poses.It’s unfortunate that the Obama Administration has failed to register the message. In addition to canceling production of the F-22, a stealth fighter jet built to ensure U.S. supremacy over any battlefield, the Administration has reduced production of the F-35, which American taxpayers have invested $50 billion in. As the first aircraft in history with a 360-degree view and the ability to see over 800 miles with integrated combat systems, the F-35 is a marvel of modern engineering.In a time of austerity, critics of F-35 production argue that the jet is too expensive. Yet what they disregard is that the cost of plane decreases as production and sale of jets to allies increases. As part of the international F-35 consortium, British Defense Minister Phillip Hammond expressed concern over the cuts to the program yesterday, citing the likelihood that costs of the jet will increase if there is reduced production.Rather than limiting production of the F-35 and cancelling its brother, the F-22, the Obama Administration should invest in the potential these jets offer to U.S. air capabilities and to our allies. Gutting the defense budget makes Americans and our allies less safe. A first step to remedying this is to take the F-22 and F-35 off the chopping block.Read the full story here.

• U.S. Official on Propping Up Islamist Democracies.(TIP).Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, stated in a recent editorial for Dar al Hayat, that American officials will work with Islamist parties to prop up emerging Arab democracies."We are less concerned what a political party or organization calls itself than what it does in practice, and we will reach out to those who act according to democratic principles, respect their fellow citizens' rights, and do not use force or violence to impose their views," Feltman explains in the op-ed.The Obama Administration's goal is "to reach out beyond the traditional government and business elites not only to articulate clearly our own goals but to listen to a wide spectrum of views. This includes reaching out to Islamist parties, who now play an important role in the political transformation of many countries in the region."The United States intends to support the new democracies with both governmental aid and private economic investment. Feltman saluted the efforts of major American firms like Pfizer, Marriott, and Microsoft, who have already invested in Tunisia's new Islamist-led democracy. He also discussed the Administration's effort to convince Congress to facilitate job creation in Egypt, academic exchanges between the countries, and to "develop […] 'Enterprise Funds' to foster private-sector development."The commitment of Islamist parties to democracy and human rights remains to be seen. While officials from Tunisia's Al-Nahda party and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood have said all the right things to Western news sources, they have continued to use traditional extremist rhetoric in addresses to their political base. Several Islamist groups also support a policy of gradualism, by incrementally introducing Islamism into local society and building their relationship with other Islamist regimes in the direction of a renewed Islamic empire [Caliphate].Read the full story here.

• Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says Shiite Crescent could prove to be an opportunity.(TodaysZaman). The rise of a “Shiite Crescent” was interpreted as a threat years ago, but now it could turn into an opportunity if Turkey and Iran enhance their dialogue, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters on his flight back on Thursday from Tehran, where he discussed with Iranian officials ways to stop sectarian conflict in the volatile region.Recalling that the 10th century was the era of the “Shiite Crescent,” a notion that suggests the rise of Shiite dominance in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran resembled the form of a crescent on the world map, Davutoğlu suggested on Thursday that the current trend in the region once again points toward a rise in politics along sectarian lines, but if Iran and Turkey increase their dialogue, the rise could become an opportunity to avert sectarian conflicts in the region.“If relations between Turkey and Iran were at the level they were 10 years ago, a sectarian clash would have already erupted in the region,” Davutoğlu told a group of reporters aboard his plane back to Ankara.Davutoğlu’s comments came following developments in neighboring Syria and Iraq, which seem to be descending into civilian strife along sectarian lines, a development Turkey and Iran both say they are very concerned about. Recent days witnessed bomb attacks in Iraq, which seems to be torn between three main blocs, of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, all of whom vie for more authority in Iraqi politics.Davutoğlu also met in Tehran with influential Shiite politician Muqtada al-Sadr to discuss developments in Iraq, which signal that a political conflict between Sunni and Shiite blocs has the potential of turning into armed chaos. Sadr has suggested in recent weeks that Iraq could opt for early elections to prevent a sectarian crisis from escalating. “Turkey is not only in touch with Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq, but also with Shiites,” Davutoğlu said, explaining that Turkey is in contact with all parties in the Iraqi controversy. “What Sadr pointed out in our talks was the need for the establishment of an administration that would represent all blocs in Iraq and prevention of a divide along sectarian and ethnic lines, which has just emerged out of a dictatorship,” Davutoğlu said in order to stress that Sadr’s opinion was similar to Turkey’s view with regard to the current developments. Diplomatic sources from Ankara also affirmed on Friday that Sadr’s opinion on Iraqi solidarity was “not too far” from that of Turkey’s, since both seek a solution in Iraq that would preserve its territorial unity and establish peace among all blocs.Iraq was challenged by sectarianism in its parliament a day after US troops pulled out of its territory, when Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued an arrest warrant for his vice president and rival, top Sunni politician Tariq al-Hashemi, and asked for the resignation of his Sunni deputy. Fleeing Baghdad, Hashemi suggested the country was on the brink of a sectarian divide, with Maliki trying to consolidate power in the hands of the Shiite sect and sideline the Sunni bloc.Hmmmm......And America believes their missile shield will work when war occurs with Iran?.....Forgetaboutit!Read the full story here.

• Accounts Emerge in South Sudan of 3,000 Deaths in Ethnic Violence.(NYT).By Jeffrey Gettleman.NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 3,000 villagers were massacred in the recent burst of communal violence in South Sudan, local officials said Thursday, with the fledging South Sudanese government, which just won its independence six months ago, seemingly unable to stem the bloodshed.Thousands of armed fighters attacked the town of Pibor.If the death toll is confirmed — United Nations officials and South Sudanese Army officers have yet to do that, saying they were still collecting information from the conflict zone — this would be one of the deadliest clashes in South Sudan in recent memory. In the past two weeks, United Nations aircraft had been tracking an unusually large column of 6,000 to 8,000 heavily armed fighters from the Lou Nuer ethnic group as it advanced toward the town of Pibor, cutting a swath of destruction across the savanna. Pibor is the hometown of the Lou Nuer’s traditional rival, the Murle, and the two groups have been locked in a tit-for-tat cattle rustling feud for years, with the death toll steadily rising each round.According to Joshua Konyi, the commissioner of Pibor County and a Murle, 2,182 women and children and 959 men were killed, 1,293 children were abducted and 375,186 cows were stolen.“We’ve been counting the bodies,” Mr. Konyi said by telephone from Pibor on Thursday night. “It’s really a genocide. If you come, you will see.”He said Lou Nuer fighters had mercilessly hunted down civilians who were cowering in the bush. Other Murle leaders said hundreds of women had been chased into a river, where they drowned.Earlier this week, United Nations officials had a much lower estimate, describing a death toll “in the tens, if not the hundreds” and saying that several corpses had already been unearthed. United Nations peacekeepers had tried to stop the fighters from storming the town of Pibor, but when it was clear that the peacekeepers and government soldiers were vastly outnumbered, Pibor’s residents were advised to flee. As many as 50,000 people scattered across the area. At first, United Nations officials believed that the early warnings had saved many lives.“At this stage, it’s very difficult to get an accurate picture,” Kouider Zerrouk, a United Nations spokesman in South Sudan, said Thursday. “We’re not in a position to confirm any figures, and we’re in the process of assessing their validity.”The Pibor area is one of the most rugged and isolated parts of South Sudan, surrounded by thick forests and swamps. With thousands of fighters still roaming around and many roads inaccessible, United Nations officials said they would not know the full extent of the violence for several more days.South Sudan’s military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, said, “I’m sure many people died.” But the army, like the United Nations, was waiting for more details, he said.“I feel bad,” Colonel Aguer said. Referring to the South Sudanese Army, he continued: “It is regrettable that the SPLA couldn’t stop this. This region is in conflict. This is not the first incident of this kind, and it will not be the last.”The cattle-rustling tradition in this part of South Sudan goes back generations. Both the Murle and the Lou Nuer prize cows and often lionize the young warriors who steal them. Years ago, the warriors clashed with spears. Now, they use AK-47s.Last year, the Lou Nuer attacked several Murle villages, stole cattle and killed hundreds. The Murle responded by attacking several Lou Nuer villages, stealing cattle and killing hundreds. The two groups often abduct women and children during these raids. Church elders tried to intervene, but talks broke down in December. Then the Lou Nuer began amassing a huge force of heavily armed youths. Lou Nuer elders said it was time to wipe out the smaller Murle group, once and for all.In late December, the column of Lou Nuer fighters began marching toward Pibor, burning huts along the way. The United Nations rushed 400 peacekeepers to Pibor, trying to defend the town alongside about 400 South Sudanese government troops.But as Colonel Aguer said, “800 can’t stop 6,000.”When asked why so few soldiers were defending Pibor when it was clear an enormous force of Lou Nuer fighters was headed that way, he replied, “It’s a long story.”Murle leaders say the government essentially abandoned them in their time of need. Thousands of people remain camped out in the bush, “people with no food, no water, and this is my problem to get them help,” said Mr. Konyi, the Pibor commissioner.Their rage vented, the Lou Nuer fighters now appear to be heading home. Mr. Konyi even described Pibor on Thursday night as calm. But others say the next outburst is only a matter of time.“To me, this can’t stop,” said David Ibon, a Murle pastor. “This isn’t just cattle rustling. This is war.”Hmmmm........In 2010, the CIA issued a warning that "over the next five years,...a new mass killing or genocide is most likely to occur in southern Sudan."The Nuer White Army released a statement stating its intention to "wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer’s cattle" and activists, including Minority Rights Group International, warn of genocide in the current Jonglei conflict.Read the full story here.

• Indian Islamist Magazine's Report on Iraq War and American 'Thirst for Human Blood': Obama is 'Currently the World's No.1 Violent Extremist, the World's No. 1 Killer of Children'.(Memri).Following the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq on December 15, 2011, an Islamist weekly magazine in India published a cover-page article titled "Can Bush and Obama Be Tried for Holocaust-Genocide in Iraq?" The magazine, Radiance Viewsweekly, belongs to a group of Islamist publications in India which owe their ideological allegiance to the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, the country's leading religious organization.In the article, the author, Dr. S. Ausaf Saied Vasfi, accuses the U.S. of committing "genocide" against millions of Muslims in Iraq and other Muslim countries and argues that the American "thirst for human blood" will lead the U.S. to attack Iran. Dr. Vasfi states: "The point is - what does the U.S. now propose to do to quench its thirst for human blood? Our thinking - rather the world's thinking - is the next target would be Iran."He adds: "It looks as if the entire Muslim area – West Asia and North Africa – are the primary areas of U.S.'s bloody interest for three reasons: one, because the would-be victims are Muslim, and secondly because there is oil wealth in those areas, and thirdly because this might ensure the security of the transplanted state called Israel, to whose interests the U.S. remains chained….""The U.S., without sufficient legal or moral grounds, devoured 4.6 million in Iraq, 5.6 million in Afghanistan, 1.5 million in Palestine, 2.2 million in Somalia, and 50,000 in Libya. (The figures include war-related deaths.)… The fact [of the Iraq war], invented by Mr. George W. Bush, brings the so-called weapons of mass destruction under sharper focus."Several political commentators and analysts have shed light on the not-so-stale subject. Was the U.S.-Iraq war a mere toxic cocktail of neo-conservative thinking, or an itch for unilateralism, or an essay in forcing the world to adopt the Western thinking and lifestyle or remind the world that the real boss is the United States…?"Today the image of America is not that of a peaceable and peace-loving, broad-minded, large-hearted noble country. The U.S. image is that of a bully, a goon, a thug, or, to be charitable, that of an unreasonable person, capable of manufacturing lies or excuses to have a fight with you, without any rhyme or reason. It is hard to believe that Jefferson and Lincoln were born in the United States [sic]."Not 4,407 but 4,500 American soldiers were killed in the U.S.-led 'Alliance of the Willing' and the Iraqi forces. According to a study of Dr. Gideon Polya, an eminent author and journalist, 'Since 1990, Iraq has suffered 4.6 million war-related deaths, 1.7 million violent deaths, 2.9 million avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation, 5-6 million refugees, 2.0 under-5 infant deaths, 90% avoidable and due to egregious U.S. alliance war crimes, in gross violation of the Geneva Convention.'" Read the full story here.