Saudi Arabia - How the House of Saud inflicted 500,000 cholera cases — as policy.

Saudi Arabia - How the House of Saud inflicted 500,000 cholera cases — as policy. HT: Crof.

The Tyee has published my article How the House of Saud Inflicted 500,000 Cholera Cases — As Policy. Excerpt:

The proxy war is a career move by Mohammed bin Salman, the 31-year-old son of the present 81-year-old Saudi king. His ascent has been rapid, culminating in June when he became crown prince. Before that he had been appointed defence minister for the kingdom. In that capacity he organized a coalition of Gulf States to intervene in Yemen via air strikes and a naval blockade. The intervention began in March 2015 — with notable silence from Saudi Arabia’s American, Canadian and European allies. 

A grinding war of attrition 

If the crown prince had won a quick victory over the Houthis, he would now be covered in glory. Instead, the Yemen war has been a grinding, brutal war of attrition — especially against Yemen’s infrastructure. 

The Saudi coalition has prevented most medical supplies from getting into the country, while Saudi coalition jets systematically bombard civilian areas. As Médecins Sans Frontières said in a July update on its activities, “Hundreds of health facilities across the country have stopped functioning due to airstrikes and shelling, and a lack of supplies, funding and staff.”  

The Saudis have clearly been emulating the strategy of other combatants in the Middle East who attack health-care facilities. This has become so widespread that the World Health Organization has actually had to organize a campaign, #NotATarget, to try to protect health-care workers in combat zones.  

This is a late and feeble response to Syrian, Saudi and American attacks on hospitals from Aleppo to Afghanistan to Yemen. They are ipso facto war crimes under Article 14 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Since the UN Security Council is dominated by permanent-member governments that have violated Article 14, we can’t do much about it. 

The Saudi coalition has also attacked Yemen’s water infrastructure, which is now in ruins. After a cholera outbreak in late 2016, the problem seemed under control until late April when a new outbreak swept the country. 

Though cholera is an easily curable disease, in poor countries and those under naval blockade it can be deadly. To their credit, the Yemenis have kept their fatality rate down to fewer than one in 100 cases. 

But since April 27, more than half a million Yemenis have been sickened by cholera. In June, children were falling ill with it at the rate of one every 35 seconds. While the peak of the outbreak seems to have passed, close to 5,000 people a day are still contracting the disease. 

According to WHO’s Aug. 22 epidemiological update, 23 per cent of cholera cases are in children under the age of five, and 53 per cent are in children under 18. Early in August, Save the Children warned that a million malnourished children are trapped in cholera hot zones. Their immune systems are weakened, and cholera and other diarrheic diseases aggravate their malnutrition. 

While non-governmental organizations like Save the Children and MSF are doing what they can, the UN is reduced to wringing its collective hands and calling it a “deplorable, man-made catastrophe.”

Wikileaks Exposes Secret Deal To Get Saudi Arabia On UN Human Rights Council

Wikileaks Exposes Secret Deal To Get Saudi Arabia On UN Human Rights Council. (Mintpress).

In a classic case of you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, the leaked cables ─ translated by UN Watch ─ allege that a secret vote trading deal was made by Britain and Saudi Arabia to ensure both countries were elected to the council.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) is tasked with the promotion and protection of human rights throughout the world. What’s remarkably under-reported (yet unsurprising) is the claim that notorious human rights abuser, Saudi Arabia, pledged $1 million to UNHRC prior to winning the blood-stained seat.

What is surprising is the next chapter in the farcical saga.

Passed to Wikileaks in June, the classified files refer to Saudi talks with British diplomats prior to the November 2013 vote in New York.

One read: “The delegation is honoured to send to the ministry the enclosed memorandum, which the delegation has received from the permanent mission of the United Kingdom asking it for the support and backing of the candidacy of their country to the membership of the human rights council (HRC) for the period 2014-2016, in the elections that will take place in 2013 in the city of New York.”

The leaked files then elaborate on the trading of “support” between the two countries:

“The ministry might find it an opportunity to exchange support with the United Kingdom, where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would support the candidacy of the United Kingdom to the membership of the council for the period 2014-2015 in exchange for the support of the United Kingdom to the candidacy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said, “Based on the evidence, we remain deeply concerned that the UK may have contracted to elect the world’s most misogynistic regime as a world judge of human rights.” The latest glimpse into Britain’s shoulder-rubbing with prolific human rights violators was revealed as the Saudi kingdom pummels Yemen for the sixth month and Saudi blogger Raif Badawi languishes behind bars for writing about democracy.

As the kingdom that has beheaded over 100 people this year prepares to crucify a 17-year-old for taking part in demonstrations, Britain’s insincere boasting about being a strong promoter of human rights sounds more hollow than ever.

This article (Wikileaks Exposes Secret Deal to Get Saudi Arabia on UN Human Rights Council) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whitton and the AntiMedia.org.

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PM of the People's Republic of Donetsk Zaharchenko says 286 women bodies found where Ukrainian battalion was quartered

PM of the People's Republic of Donetsk Zaharchenko declares 286 women bodies found where Ukrainian battalion was quartered. (Novorossinfo) [GoogleTranslate].


Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Donetsk Alexander Zaharchenko reported finding near Kranoarmeysk where Ukrainian formation performed punitive action, 286 women, noting that all were missing including 400 residents of New Russia.

"Nearly 400 women aged 18 to 25 years have gone missing in Krasnoarmeysk, where a battalion " Dnepr-1 " was quartered. 286 bodies of women were found around Kranoarmeysk raped "- said Zakharchenko, RIA" Novosti ".

Krasnoarmeysk - a city of regional significance in the Donetsk region, located about 45 kilometers north-west of Donetsk.

Recall also that the militias found September 23 bodies buried in the territory of a lumberyard mine number 22 "Kommunar" (Lower Krynka, 60 km from Donetsk), which until recently was under the control of the security forces.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the murder of civilians near Donetsk a war crime.

UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said that people responsable for the bodies found in mass graves in the Donets Basin in the Ukraine, could be arrested by Ukrainian law enforcers. More here and more details here.



Update:

In an interview with Life news Alexander Zaharchenko Now denies he mentioned the 286 women bodies. [GoogleTranslate].

Zaharchenko rejected reports that the women were shot. Prime DNR said LifeNews, he did not speak about the discovery of 286 bodies with gunshot wounds.

Alexander Zaharchenko in a personal conversation with a reporter LifeNews said that he made no claims that the militias under Krasnoarmeiskiy found 286 women's bodies.

Earlier citations premiere DNI that were incorrect, and he will distribute an statement to information agency "Interfax" Mia "Russia Today."

According to Alexander Zaharchenko, he said that during the conflict of Krasnoarmeiskii DNR's Republic authorities received about 300-400 statements about the disappearance of young girls and women.

News agencies informed that Prime DNR reportedly said that 286 bodies of women with signs of violence were found around the Red Army, and they were all shot in the head. No other details were reported. Hmmm.....My guess he probably did say it, and is now backtracking in view of the attention it's attracting.

UN approves Prince Zeid of Jordan as next UN human rights chief.

UN approves Prince Zeid of Jordan as next UN human rights chief, Will he 'Judge' according to Sharia law?(AP).

Prince Zeid al Hussein of Jordan, a veteran diplomat and campaigner for international justice, will become the first U.N. human rights chief from the Muslim and Arab worlds following his unanimous election Monday by the U.N. General Assembly.

The 193-member world body burst into applause when assembly President John Ashe banged his gavel signifying approval by consensus of the prince's nomination to the U.N.'s top human rights job by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Zeid, who is currently Jordan's U.N. ambassador, praised current U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay of South Africa "for her courageous endeavors" and pledged "to build on her noteworthy achievements."

His four-year term in the post which was created by the General Assembly in 1993, will begin on Sept. 1.

"I am going to be the first high commissioner from the Asian continent and from the Muslim and Arab worlds," the prince said. "This reflects the commitment of the international community towards this important dossier, and this important commitment to push it forward in this continent (Asia) as well as in other regions of the world."

Zeid spent five years as an officer in the Jordanian desert police, the successor to the Arab Legion, before joining the U.N. protection force in former Yugoslavia from 1994-1996. In his long diplomatic career, he has been ambassador to the United Nations twice as well as ambassador to the United States from 2007-2010.

The prince is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court, has served as president of its Assembly of States Parties, and has spoken out often against sexual violence. Hmmmm....Will he 'Judge' according to Sharia law?

"United Nutcases" - UNHRC president replaces Falk with pro-Palestinian Indonesian diplomat.

"United Nutcases" - UNHRC president replaces Falk with pro-Palestinian Indonesian diplomat. (JPost).

The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Makarim Wibisono – an Indonesian diplomat who has expressed pro-Palestinian views – on Thursday to a six-year term as its special investigator of Israeli actions in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

In a surprising move, UNHRC President Baudelaire Ndong Ella gave the post to Wibisono after disregarding the three vetted candidates that a UNHRC consultative group of five member states put forward.

In March, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, had predicted that Wibisono would get the post.

At the time, he had charged that Wibisono was problematic because in the past he had “accused Israel of ‘unconscionable use of force against the Palestinians,’ ‘untenable acts of aggression,’ and of having a ‘policy of retribution against the entire Palestinian nation.’”

Neuer said that “Wibisono has referred to the ‘stark and brutal nature of the policies pursued by the occupying power,’ accused Israel of being ‘the aggressor and the perpetrator of wanton violence,’ and repeatedly minimized Israeli suffering, speaking of ‘the handful of Israelis who have died,’ and of Israel’s battle with rocket and other terrorist attacks as a ‘flimsy pretext.’” 

The UNHRC has 37 rapporteurs, of which 15 are for specific countries. But Israel is the only country to which a rapporteur is permanently assigned. Its mandate focuses solely on Israeli actions with regard to the Palestinians.Hmmm........Antisemitism was never about land, but religion.Read the full story here.

The Real Rouhani - Actions speak clearer than words.

HT: The Real Rouhani

WHAT ROUHANI SAYS	WHAT ROUHANI DOES
1. “We must work together to end the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart.” (The Washington Post, 09/19/13)	1. Rouhani’s government held a military parade in Tehran this weekend featuring missiles emblazoned with the slogans “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” (The Washington Free Beacon, 09/23/13)
2. “I’m committed to fulfilling my promises to my people, including my pledge to engage in constructive interaction with the world.” (The Washington Post, 09/21/13)	2. Rouhani in a campaign speech on May 8th, 2013: “Saying ‘Death to America’ is easy. We need to express ‘Death to America’ with action.” (The Wall Street Journal, 08/07/13)
3. “A constructive approach to diplomacy…means engaging with one’s counterparts, on the basis of equal footing and mutual respect.” (The Washington Post, 09/21/13)	3. Rouhani previously said: “We recognize Israel as a terrorist nation.” (ABC News, 09/12/02)
4. “A key aspect of my commitment to constructive interaction entails a sincere effort to engage with neighbors and other nations to identify and secure win-win solutions.” (The Washington Post, 09/21/13)	4. Rouhani picked as his defense minister one of the plotters of the 1983 U.S. Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. (The Washington Times, 08/13/13)
5. “The nuclear negotiations need only one thing and that is the political will of the other side to reach an agreement. This does exist on our side. And in my opinion, if both sides have the political will, then the Iranian nuclear issue is a very simple matter and can be settled in a short period of time.” (NBC News, 09/21/13)	5. In a speech to Iranian clerics only weeks ago, he said: “Our government will not give up one iota of its absolute rights on the nuclear issue.” (YNet News, 09/10/13) In 2006, Rouhani boasted in a private speech in Iran of misleading the West over Iran’s nuclear program. According to the New York Times: “In a remarkable admission, Mr. Rowhani suggested in his speech that Iran had used the negotiations with the Europeans to dupe them. He boasted that while negotiations were continuing, Iran managed to master a key stage in the nuclear fuel process — the conversion of uranium yellowcake at its Isfahan plant. ‘While we were talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the facility in Isfahan, but we still had a long way to go to complete the project,’ he said. ‘In fact, by creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work on Isfahan.’” (The New York Times, 03/14/06)
6. “Iran wants to have peaceful nuclear activities. Iran is against any nuclear weapons.” (NBC News, 09/21/13)	6. In 2003, when Rouhani was Iran’s head nuclear negotiator, he baldly lied to European negotiators about Iran’s nuclear program. He promised that Iran was fully cooperating with IAEA monitoring of its nuclear program while Iran was in fact clandestinely enriching uranium. (American Enterprise Institute, 06/18/13)
7. “Syria, a jewel of civilization, has become the scene of heartbreaking violence, including chemical weapons attacks, which we strongly condemn.” (The Washington Post, 09/19/13)	7. Aside from Russia, Iran has been the biggest political and military supporter of the Assad regime in Syria, throughout the war supplying Assad’s military with weapons, money, training, and fighters. Assad’s chemical attack occurred while Rouhani was president of Iran. (The New York Times, 09/04/12)
8. “We must create an atmosphere where peoples of the region can decide their own fates.” (The Washington Post, 09/19/13)	8. Iran ordered its Lebanese-based terrorist ally Hezbollah into Syria to help Assad more efficiently kill his own people. (The New York Times, 08/17/13) Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah set up a joint command to violently suppress the uprising against the Assad regime. (The Times of Israel, 09/07/13)
9. “Gone is the age of blood feuds.” (The Washington Post, 09/19/13)	9. “Rohani…chaired Iran’s National Security Council between 1989 and 2005, meaning he was at the top table when Iran masterminded the 1994 bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people, and of the Khobar Towers in 1996, killing 19 U.S. airmen.” (The Wall Street Journal, 06/17/13)
10. “Rather than focusing on how to prevent things from getting worse, we need to think — and talk — about how to make things better.” (The Washington Post, 09/19/13)	10. “Mr. Rohani led the crackdown on a 1999 student uprising…As Mr. Rohani said at a pro-regime rally in July 1999: ‘At dusk yesterday we received a decisive revolutionary order to crush mercilessly and monumentally any move of these opportunist elements wherever it may occur.’” (The Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2013)

President Rohani to meet 2 counterparts, 2 PMs, German FM and American Muslim leaders in NY

President Rohani to meet 2 counterparts, 2 PMs, German FM and American Muslim leaders in NY.(Taz).

In the meetings, the sides will discuss bilateral relations and international issues.

On the second day of his stay, President Rohani will be the 7th president to address the UNGA meeting, IRNA reported.

Among other programs on President Rohani's agenda are an interview with CNN and meetings with outstanding personalities and American Muslim leaders.

The president's speech at the UNGA will be broadcast live from the first channel of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the IRIB News Network, the IRIB External Service, the IRIB Al-Alam TV, Press TV, Hispan TV and Jam-e Jam TV.

"Dawn Of The Moderates" - Iran pardons 80 political prisoners, keeps hundreds if not thousands more in Jail.

"Dawn Of The Moderates" - Iran pardons 80 political prisoners, keeps hundreds more in Jail.(Taz).

Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has pardoned eighty prisoners, Judiciary spokesman and Attorney General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei said on Monday.
The prisoners were released after the amnesty, the Khabaronline news website quoted Ejei as saying.
He went on to note that some prisoners who were arrested over riots that followed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 were among the pardoned prisoners.
"Under the law, prisoners can be granted pardon on the suggestion of the head of the judiciary and that can include all or part of their terms," Ejei said.
According to him, more prisoners will be pardoned and released in the near future.

United for Iran has documented at least 500 political prisoners who are currently languishing in prison, with the total number likely much higher.

A Detailed prisoner list can be seen here, Take your time there are 4, 761 names !

"Dawn of the Moderates" - Hassan Rouhani heads to UN with 23 executions in 4 days.

"Dawn of the Moderates" - Hassan Rouhani heads to UN with 23 executions in 4 days.(NCR).(Warning link contains graphic images)

Just in the past four days and on the eve of Mullah Rouhani’s participation at United Nations General Assembly, mullahs’ regime has hanged 23 prisoners in prisons of Zahedan, Yazd, Tonekabon and the Gohardasht prison. Hence, after the June 14 sham presidential election, number of executions announced by regime’s media or disclosed otherwise stands at 173.

On Saturday, September 21, nine prisoners were hanged in two group executions in prisons of Zahedan and Qazvin. Sunni compatriots Ahmad Issa Zehi, Rashid Soufian, Khaled Reigei, Hamidreza Karimi and Ghaffar Nourzehei were hanged in Zahedan prison. To bar dissemination of this atrocity, the clerical regime cut off all communications of this prison with the outside world two days in advance. On this same day, four more prisoners were executed in Qazvin.

At dawn of Thursday, September 19, eight prisoners, including three women, were hanged in Yazd’s central prison. On this same day, two prisoners were executed in Tonekabon. One prisoner was hanged in public (Mehr news agency, affiliated with Ministry of Intelligence - September 19). Additionally, on September 18, at least four prisoners were executed in Gohardasht prison.

Thousands of prisoners, including 3000 in Qezelhessar prison in Karaj, are on the death row. To facilitate mass executions, mullahs’ regime has installed stages where it can concurrently execute 24 and every week it covertly hangs a number of prisoners.

Meanwhile, Mullahs’ supreme tribunal has confirmed death sentences of four Kurdish compatriots Jamshid Dehghani, his younger brother Jahangir Dehghani, Hamed Ahmadi and Kamal Molaei and these four prisoners may be executed at any time.

The cycle of torture and execution is essential to the survival of religious fascism ruling Iran and as long as this regime is in power, this ominous cycle will demand its victims every day and hour from the Iranian people and in particular its youth. In such conditions and while scores of Iranian youth, students, laborers and families of PMOI and Ashrafis are in regime’s prisons, torture chambers, and safe houses, releasing sixteen prisoners that most of them had almost finished their prison terms and some were even released conditionally, will hardly deceive anyone.

Daughters for Sale: India's Child Slavery Scourge.

Daughters for Sale: India's Child Slavery Scourge.(Spiegel) By Anne Backhaus.

Millions of Indian children work as slaves in factories, brothels or in the homes of families. Out of poverty and desperation, parents sell their daughters, and human traffickers wait at train stations for runaways and scour for orphans in monsoon-ravaged villages.

On the day that Durga Mala was rescued, she lay crying on the stone floor, where she was attempting to cool her back. She was 11 years old and her skin was covered with blisters, from her shoulder blades to her buttocks. A few days earlier, her owners had poured hot oil over her because they thought she was working too slowly. Suddenly Durga heard screams and huddled on the floor. Acting on a tip, police stormed the apartment in the heart of Bangalore. When they broke the door down, Durga crossed her arms in front of her chest and closed her eyes. She was only wearing a pair of panties -- that's all the clothing that her owners had allowed her to have. Durga says: "I was ashamed."

One of the men wrapped the small girl in a sheet and brought her to a hospital. Doctors treated her for a number of days. In addition to her burns, she was malnourished, infected wounds covered her fingers and her lips were scarred. "I dropped a glass once," says Durga, "and the woman got angry and pulled my fingernails out, one by one." Sometimes they poked her in the mouth with a needle. Durga was supposed to work, not speak.

It's estimated that millions of children in India live as modern-day slaves. They work in the fields, in factories, brothels and private households -- often without pay and usually with no realistic chance of escaping. The majority of them are sold or hired out by their own families.

According to an Indian government census from 2001, this country of over 1 billion people has 12.6 million minors between the ages of 5 and 14 who are working.

The real number is undoubtedly significantly higher because many children are not officially registered at birth -- and the owners of course do their best to keep the existence of child slaves a secret. Aid organizations estimate that three-quarters of all domestic servants in India are children, and 90 percent of those are girls. Although both child labor and child trafficking are illegal, police rarely intervene -- and the courts seldom convict child traffickers and slaveholders.

Durga grew up in Calcutta. When she was seven, her father died, followed two years later by the death of her mother. Her grandmother took in Durga and her three elder sisters, but she couldn't manage to feed all four of them. One girl had to go, so she sold off the youngest. Via an intermediary, a family of total strangers paid 80 rupees for Durga -- roughly the equivalent of €1 ($1.33).

 "This is the trading center for children in southern India," says Father George.

The Salesian priest is nearly 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall, slightly heavyset and wears jeans. He strides through the bustling crowd of thousands, undeterred by the noise and the odors. Every day, George walks through the train station and heads straight to a hut in the middle of one of the railway platforms. This is where his staff members bring the children they have found wandering alone through the train station. "They are highly at risk," says George. "We try to help them before they fall into the wrong hands."Read the full story here.

Video - At the top of the human rights hierarchy - Islam has trumped homosexuality when it comes to the human rights pecking order.

Ezra Levant and Menzoid discuss U.N. 'human rights'.HT: SunNewsNetwork.

Female MPs to Present Iran's Position in the 57th session of the UN Commission on Violence against Women in New York.

Female MPs to Present Iran's Position in the 57th session of the UN Commission on Violence against Women in New York. (Fars).

"Ending violence against women is a matter of life and death," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the opening of the two-week session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York on Monday, the UN News Center reported on Tuesday.

"The problem pervades all countries, even in the most stable and developed regions," Eliasson added.

Eliasson stressed that it will take multiple approaches to tackle this issue, from governments implementing policies to empower victims and prosecute perpetrators, to creating a culture where gender stereotypes are broken by encouraging men and boys to take an equal share of responsibilities in their home and families.

"Violence against women pervades war zones as well as stable communities, capitals as well as the countryside, public space as well as the private sphere," Eliasson said. "Since it is an unacceptable feature of daily life, we have to respond everywhere and on every level."

According to the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), up to 70 percent of women in some countries face physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. In countries such as Australia, Canada, Israel (the Zionist regime), South Africa and the United States, intimate partner violence accounts for 40 to 70 percent of female murder victims.* In addition, some 140 million girls have suffered female genital mutilation and millions more are subjected to forced marriage and trafficking.

Eliasson underlined that eliminating violence against women and girls is also an issue intricately linked to development and peace. It is critical to achieve the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), he said, as access to sanitation, is essential to guarantee women have safe places to seek privacy. This is not possible when there are currently more than one billion people without access to toilets.

The Women's Fraction of the Iranian Parliament dispatched two female MPs to the UN Commission of the Status of Women (UNCSW).The Iranian parliamentarian delegation includes members of Iranian Parliament Sakineh Omrani and Nayyereh Akhavan who left for New York to attend the 57th session of UNCSW meeting at the UN headquarters.

"In this summit, the representatives of the Islamic Republic will state Iran's stance on legislative and executive bids to reduce and prevent violence against women," Omrani said.

The Iranian lawmaker added that CDs and catalogues containing the views of the Islamic Republic with regards to women's status would be distributed among the participants of the conference.In mid 2010, The United Nations elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to Tehran.In the four-year period beginning in 2011, Iran will help set UN policy on gender equality and the advancement of women.Other countries joining Iran for the term include Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, Liberia, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand and Zimbabwe. Read the full story here.

Related: Qaradawi Organization Wants To Be Consulted Before Islamic Countries Sign Int. Treaties about "Violence against Women" as it might 'contradict' Sharia Law.

* Hmmmm.....Nice to see that the Iranians news forgot to mention Turkey , Saudi Arabia , Pakistan , Afghanistan and i could just go on, but lets just look at their BFF Turkey:
The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010 says violence against women, including domestic violence, is a "serious" problem in both urban and rural areas of Turkey.

In a May 2011 report on family violence in Turkey, Human Rights Watch cites a 2009 survey by the Turkish Hacettepe University that showed that 42 percent of women in Turkey, between the ages of 15 and 60, and 47 percent of women in rural areas, had "experienced physical and/or sexual violence by their husbands or partners at some point in their lives" (May 2011, 10). Similarly, an article in Today's Zaman says that "[m]ore than 40 percent of women in Turkey have suffered from violence at some point in their lives" (19 Feb. 2012). In addition, Roj Women's Association (Roj Women), a London-based "Kurdish and Turkish grass-roots women’s rights movement" (n.d.), notes that, in southeast Turkey, one out of two women are victims of violence; nationally, it is 39 percent (Mar. 2011, 5).

In a March 2012 report, the parliamentary Human Rights Commission noted that, since 2008, domestic violence, as well as violence against women, in Turkey had "doubled" Today's Zaman 13 Mar. 2012). The report includes statistics from the police and the gendarmerie on the incidence of domestic abuse and violence against women: 48,264 cases in 2008, 62,587 in 2009, 72,257 in 2010, and 80,398 in 2011 (ibid.). Hurriyet Daily News reports similarly that, between 2008 and 2011, the number of cases of domestic violence recorded by law enforcement agencies increased by almost 70 percent, from 48,000 to 80,000 (5 May 2012). Bianet, a multi-media Turkish information site, reported that a study by the General Police Directorate revealed that, between February 2010 and August 2011, there were 78,488 registered incidents of domestic violence in Turkey (10 Nov. 2011).

The parliamentary Human Rights Commission report described the province of Istanbul as the "most dangerous" for women with respect to domestic and gender-based violence; in 2011, the province totalled 10,207 cases of violence against women (Today's Zaman 13 Mar. 2012). Police records, reports Today's Zaman, show that, between 2009 and February 2012, there were 2,754 incidents of "'domestic assault'" in the city of Istanbul (19 Feb. 2012).

The parliamentary Human Rights Commission also noted an apparent decrease in violence against women in some Anatolian provinces, known for high levels of gender-based violence, forced marriage, and honor killings (ibid.13 Mar. 2012). For example, incidents in Batman decreased from 163 in 2008 to 51 in 2011 and incidents in Diyarbakir decreased from 581 in 2008 to 279 in 2011 ibid.).

The EC progress report noted that, according to official statistics on violence against women, in 2008, 806 women were killed, and, in the first 7 months of 2009, there were 953 (EU 12 Oct. 2011, 32 note 37). Bianet reports that, based on data collected from national and local media, between January and October 2011, 226 women were killed by men and 93 were raped; most of the cases occurred in the Marmara region (northwestern Turkey) and the Aegean (west coast) (16 Dec. 2011). In the month of October of 2011, 20 women were killed by men, most of them by their husbands, in 16 Turkish provinces (bianet 16 Dec. 2011). Out of those, 12 were stabbed to death, 7 shot, 1 killed after she had left a shelter, and 4 after submitting a request for protection or a complaint to the office of the prosecutor (ibid.).

According to bianet, the media reported 22 cases of violence resulting in injury against women by men, the majority of them either a husband or a boyfriend, in the month of October, most of them occurring in Izmir (ibid.). The incidents were as follows: 13 women were beaten; 7 injured with a knife; 1 with a rifle; 1 fell from a fifth floor balcony while trying to escape her husband; and 1 was wounded by a husband who ignored a restraining order (ibid.).

Human Rights Watch notes that, according to a study by the Turkish Hacettepe University, only eight percent of women victims of sexual or physical violence turn for help to institutions, NGOs, or elsewhere (May 2011, 10).Source: UNHRC.

Iran Fashion Police.

A day to be proud to be Israeli - Israel is a no-show at its rights review before the UN.

A day to be proud to be Israeli - Israel is a no-show at its rights review before the UN.(Fox).Geneva - Israel is a no-show as the top U.N. human rights body reviews its record — the first time that a nation has done that without giving a reason.
At its meeting Tuesday in Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council waited for Israel to appear for its once-every-four-years rights review, then determined it had not.
Council spokesman Rolando Gomez told The Associated Press "we're in new territory here" with the unprecedented absence without a reason — once before Haiti didn't appear, but it gave a reason.
U.S. diplomats have said the council is too focused on Israel, though all U.N. member nations are required to submit to such a review.
Israel said last year it would stop cooperating with the council because of an international fact-finding mission into Israeli settlements. Read the full story here.

More 'change from within' at the 'human rights council' .

More 'change from within' at the 'human rights council'.HT: IsraelMatzav.Here's some more of that 'change from within' that the Obama administration is bringing to the United Nations' 'human rights council.'
The council has elected two new vice presidents - Maldives and Mauritania - that have death penalties for those who leave Islam. Additionally, although it was officially outlawed 31 years ago, Mauritania still permits slavery. This is from the first link. Mauritania and Maldives, which both permit citizens who renounce Islam to be sentenced to death, were on Monday elected as vice-presidents of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013.
... Earlier on Monday, the rights records of Mauritania and Maldives, where an elected president and former political prisoner was ousted early this year in what he says was a hard-line coup, came under fire from a global free-thought body.
In a report detailing persecution and discrimination faced by atheists and humanists around the world, International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), said both impose Islam as the sole religion of the state.
Mauritania, the report said, outlaws apostasy, or the renunciation of the official religion for another or for a philosophy that does not recognise the existence of a deity.
Anyone found guilty of the offence is given the opportunity to repent within three days, according to the report. If this is not done, the offender is sentenced to death and his property is confiscated by the state.
Similar laws exist in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan - all of which are Islamic countries.
How do you like that 'change from within' at the 'human rights council'?Hmmmm....."The future does not belong to those that slander the prophet"?Read the full story here.

Unbelievable: UN 'human rights council' calls for boycott of US companies, arrest of their employees.

Unbelievable: UN 'human rights council' calls for boycott of US companies, arrest of their employees.HT: IsraelMatzav.Remember how the Obama administration insisted on joining the United Nations 'human rights council' so that they could 'reform' it from within show they were different than the Bush administration? Remember how, in a bid to bind a future administration if Obama loses the election, Obama insisted on re-upping for a second term far before it was necessary to make that decision? And of course you know that the 'human rights council' has an agenda item on Israel - and only on Israel - as if Israel were not only a human rights violator, but the only human rights violator in the world.

Well, now the UN is paying back President Hussein Obama for his devotion to the 'human rights council.' On Thursday, the council called for boycotting American companies that do business with Israel. That includes companies like Motorola, Hewlett Packard and Caterpillar. It also includes companies based in Britain, France, Mexico, Israel and others. Really (Hat Tip: Lance K).

The Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.

...

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman blasted the report and the HRC’s special rapporteur: “We believe you should have prevented the Secretariat from being a party to Mr. Falk’s anti-Israel agenda. Mr. Falk’s entire tenure as Special Rapporteur has served to undermine the credibility of the institution of the United Nations.”

The report attempts to instigate a campaign of boycott, divestment, sanctions, and legal action against a litany of international companies doing business in Israel. In addition to American companies, the U.N. targets include major European firms such as Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security, the Dexia Group, the Volvo Group.

“The costs to companies and businesses of failing to respect international humanitarian law are considerable,” the report warns, “including damage to a company’s public image, impact on shareholder decisions and share price and could result in employees being criminally responsible for rights abuses.”

But wait - it gets worse.

The report warns American employees of targeted companies that they face legal risks.

“Employees of companies can face investigation and prosecution for human rights violations committed irrespective of where the violation was committed.”

In addition to legal action against American employees of targeted companies, the Special Rapporteur “concludes that all companies that operate in or otherwise have dealings with Israeli settlements should be boycotted.” The companies should ”be prepared to accept any consequences—reputation, financial, or legal—of continuing operations.”

Should the companies continue doing business in Israel, the Human Rights Council “calls on civil society to actively pursue legal and political redress against non-complying business” and “to vigorously pursue initiatives to boycott, divest and sanction the businesses highlighted in this report” and “calls on the international community to consider requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice” to punish the businesses.

Mitt Romney should call now for the US to withdraw from the 'human rights council' and should pledge to withdraw immediately should he become President. Enough is enough.

Related: Pres Barack HUSSEIN Obama issued a proclamation observing United Nations Day 2012, urging all U.S. governors to do the same

UN Dep Secr-Gen: " free speech not a fundamental right, but a “privilege” given to us by the U.N."

UN Dep Secr-Gen: " free speech not a fundamental right, but a “privilege” given to us by the U.N."(Heritage).By Brett Schaefer.

On Tuesday, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson characterized free speech not as a fundamental right, but as a “privilege” given to us by the U.N. Specifically, he referred to “the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression” as a: gift given to us by the [Universal] Declaration of Human Rights, but it also implies some type of responsibility to use that in such a way that you don’t cause situations.… [It is] a privilege that we have, which in my view involves also the need for respect, the need to avoid provocations, in a world where we have enough of contradictions and hatred. 

This opinion will come as a surprise to most Americans who don’t believe the U.N. has the authority to grant or, presumably, revoke our rights and freedoms.
Freedom of speech—a right considered by America’s founders to be endowed upon free people by our Creator, not by government—is one of the bedrock principles of our nation.

The First Amendment to our Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

President Obama specifically referenced this principle in his speech last week to the U.N. General Assembly, noting, “I know there are some who ask why we don’t just ban such a video. And the answer is enshrined in our laws: Our Constitution protects the right to practice free speech.” Sounds good, right?
However, the President then repeatedly weakened and undermined his defense of free speech in his address to the assembled world leaders.
Indeed, the President backhandedly endorsed global efforts to restrict free speech—especially the “defamation of religions” resolutions offered by the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the U.N.—when he said:

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. 

This was a grievous mistake. Few, if any, nations defend freedom of speech as strongly as does the United States. If the U.S. goes wobbly on freedom of speech, other nations will surely take advantage. Historically, the U.S. has been the bulwark defending free speech from assault in the U.N. In Europe, governments support bans on hate speech.
In totalitarian states, governments repress political speech. In many predominantly Muslim nations, governments outlaw “blasphemy” and proselytism and any other speech and actions they deem insulting to Islam. In recent weeks, governments have been increasingly bold in asserting that speech be subject to restrictions based on how others might be offended or provoked. This is an outrageous assault on a fundamental right that, if realized, would render free speech meaningless.
The U.S. should denounce Eliasson’s comments and other assaults on free speech at the U.N. But U.S. officials cannot do that effectively when President Obama said essentially the same thing last week. The President’s half-hearted defense of free speech, weakened by caveats and conditions, has given the U.N. mandarins like Eliasson a green light to express their own skepticism—and repressive governments a handy tool to advance their agendas.

MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

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

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

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

1. Anders Behring Breivik was a Fundamentalist Christian.

2. Anders Behring Breivik Hated Muslims.

3. Anders Behring Breivik was Inspired by Counterjihad Bloggers.

4. Anders Behring Breivik was Pro-Israel.

5. Anders Behring Breivik was a Moderate.

6. Anders Behring Breivik was a Political Terrorist.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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