'Belgistan' - Christians face Decapitation threat by ISIS followers in Brussels

'Belgistan' - Christians face Decapitation threat by ISIS followers in Brussels. (Standaard)[Googletranslate].

A trader from Anderlecht is threatened with beheading if he does not cough up 50,000 euros (63,370 $) for the Syrië fighters.

The local police had already caught rumors of such practices, but it is the first time that someone with his story out dares to come. The terrorism cel of judicial police take the matter very seriously.

When the 57-year-old B. Saturday stepped in his car, a stranger suddenly pulled the door on the driver's side open. The stranger gave him some solid punches to the head. "You have money. You have to pay, "said the man before he drove off in a waiting car standing.

B. was severely beaten up. His nose was broken, his left eye needed surgery. Possibly he holds a permanent injury to left eye.

Monday night the same guy waited until B. was alone in his office. When he stepped inside. This time he was waving a knife.

His message was: "I'm Islamist and you're Christian. We Islamists cut the throat infidels. That will happen to you if you do not do what I say. Tomorrow you must give me 50,000 euros, in notes of 500 We need for our brothers who are fighting in Syria money. And you have money. I will come and get the money. "At 10 am

B. had to repeat his words. The man also threatened even the wife and children of the merchant.

Video - Christian Arab woman reveals the truth about the 'War on Christianity' in the Holy land

Christian Arab woman reveals the truth about the 'War on Christianity' in the Holy land.HT: Camera.

In 2012, CBS aired a notoriously dishonest “60 Minutes” segment about Christians in the Holy Land. In the segment, prominent Palestinian Christians tried to dismiss legitimate concern about the suffering of Christians in Muslim-majority Palestinian society as a “great selling point.”

Now, one of the sources who appeared in the segment, Christy Anastas, has stepped into the spotlight to reveal the truth about the suffering endured by Christians living under the Palestinian Authority, a truth that is completely at odds with the “60 Minutes” story.

Anastas, who appeared in the 60 Minutes segment along with her mother came forward earlier this month in a talk she gave at Uppsala University in Sweden and which is now posted on Youtube.

During her talk, which can be seen here, Christy directly contradicts the story told by Bob Simon in the “60 Minutes” segment on Christians in Bethlehem that aired in 2012.

After speaking in defense of Israel’s right to exist with her fellow Palestinians, Christy reports she was threatened by one of her own family members – who said he would put a bullet in her head if she didn’t stop talking in defense of Israel. The explanation for the threat was that she was putting her family in danger by speaking out in Israel’s defense.

During her talk in Sweden, Christy also described how one of her uncles was shot in the head and blinded for his refusal to pay protection money, or “al-jizyah,” to Muslim extremists in the West Bank.

His life was only saved by the treatment he received in an Israeli hospital. She also describes how Palestinian judges have colluded with the theft of land from Christians in Palestinian society.

After her talk was published on YouTube by the Jerusalem Institute for Justice (JIJ), she was threatened and her has been harassed.

The video was taken down for a few days and then reposted (with a new introduction and a new ending) by the Emmaus Group, a Christian group in the United Kingdom that draws attention to the mistreatment of Christians in Muslim-majority settings.

The video attracted the attention of people in her hometown of Bethlehem. Her own father has denounced her for telling her story in a Palestinian newspaper.

Muslim Cleric Calls U.S. Aid to Egypt 'Jizya'.

Muslim Cleric Calls U.S. Aid to Egypt 'Jizya'.(MiddleEastForum).By Raymond Ibrahim. FrontPageMagazine.com.


As earlier suggested, the wonderful thing about Salafis—those extra "radical" Muslims who seek to emulate as literally as possible prophet Muhammad's teachings and habits—is that they are so unabashed and frank about what they believe. Such is the degree of brainwashing that they have undergone. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded much earlier, doublespeak is not second nature to the Salafis.
The most recent example comes from Al Hafiz TV, an Egyptian Islamic station. During a roundtable discussion on the U.S. and foreign aid to Egypt, an Islamic cleric, clearly of the Salafi bent—he had their trademark mustache-less-beard—insisted that the U.S. must be treated contemptuously, like a downtrodden dhimmi, or conquered infidel; that Egypt must make the U.S. conform to its own demands; and that, then, all the money the U.S. offers to Egypt in foreign aid can be taken as rightfully earned jizya.

Historically, the jizya was money, or tribute, that conquered non-Muslims had to pay to their Muslim overlords to safeguard their existence, as indicated in Koran 9:29. As the spirit of Islam continues making a comeback, Muslims around the world continue calling for non-Muslims, especially Christian minorities under Islam, to resume paying the jizya, which was abolished in the 19^th century thanks to European intervention.

According to the sheikh, Egypt must be less cooperative with the U.S. and at the same time insist for more monetary aid. If so, the sheikh believes that "America will accept; it will kiss our hands; and it will also increase its aid. And we will consider its aid as jizya, not as aid. But first we must make impositions on it."

When the host asked the sheikh "Do the Americans owe us jizya?" he responded, "Yes," adding that it is the price Americans have to pay "so we can leave them alone!" When the host asked the sheikh if he was proclaiming a fatwa, the latter exclaimed, "By Allah of course!" The sheikh added that, to become a truly Islamic state, Egypt must "impose on America to pay aid as jizya, before we allow it to realize its own interests, the ones which we agree to."

While the Egyptian cleric was focused on "international jizya"—that is, money paid by one non-Muslim nation to a Muslim nation, U.S money to Egypt—other Muslims have been receiving and enjoying individual "jizya" from Western, infidel governments, in the form of welfare aid.

Just last February, for example, Anjem Choudary, an Islamic cleric and popular preacher in the United Kingdom, was secretly taped telling a Muslim audience to follow his example and get "Jihad Seeker's Allowance" from the government—a pun on "Job Seeker's Allowance."

The father of four, who receives more than 25,000 pounds annually in welfare benefits, referred to British taxpayers as "slaves," adding, "We take the jizya, which is our haq [Arabic for "right"], anyway. The normal situation by the way is to take money from the kafir [infidel], isn't it? So this is the normal situation. They give us the money—you work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar ["Allah is Great"]. We take the money. Hopefully there's no one from the DSS [Department of Social Security] listening to this."
Thus, the non-Muslim world should be grateful to the Salafis for always and ever exposing Islam's teachings and beliefs. Immensely proud of and indoctrinated in their Islamic heritage, and like the earliest Muslim conquerors drunk with power and pride, convinced that Allah is on their side and they can do no wrong, today's Salafis are unabashed when it comes to the things of Islam, from evoking them to upholding them.
But of course, all this honesty is for naught for those many in the West who, having eyes and ears, do not see or hear reality.

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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What to expect from Egypt's Morsi.

What to expect from Egypt's Morsi.(MiddleEastForum).By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.  Ha'aretz .June 29, 2012.

What to make of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi's election as president of Egypt? What seems to be the most likely outcome is something analogous to the "constitutional settlements" of the early Roman Empire. That is, the military, like the Emperor Augustus in antiquity, will entrust to itself management of foreign policy, while granting Morsi (and a parliament, if new elections are allowed) - akin to the Senate in Rome - considerable autonomy with regards to the direction of domestic affairs, even as the military has assumed control over the drafting of the constitution.
Indeed, such a settlement would work well for the military, because, despite its extensive control of the economy, the burden of resolving the economic crisis would ultimately rest in Morsi's hands. Currently, as Reuters reports, the country's depleted foreign reserves can only cover "three months of import coverage," while the local currency debt has increased to 600 billion Egyptian pounds ($99 billion), up from 500 billion before the unrest began in January 2011.
The International Monetary Fund has indicated that a $3.2 billion loan will only be granted if the country gets its finances in order, but the prospects of such a resolution appear to be bleak. Having Morsi take responsibility, therefore, can prove useful in directing potential civilian anger away from the military. On the other hand, the perception of a settlement between the military and the president could help to attract foreign investment.
With the military managing foreign policy, the chances of a full-blown war between Egypt and Israel are slim, despite bellicose rhetoric emanating from some quarters of the Muslim Brotherhood calling for the liberation of Jerusalem and establishment of a "United Arab States." For one thing, Egypt lacks the means to launch and sustain a war against Israel. At the same time, however, one should not expect Egyptian firmness in dealing with rocket fire against the Jewish state or militant activity in the Sinai Peninsula.
In fact, one could well see the military adopt an approach toward militancy not dissimilar to the methods of the Pakistani security forces: that is, targeting those perceived to pose a direct threat to Egypt's stability, while lacking resolve at best, and at worst playing a double game with other militants in order to continue receiving U.S. aid.
As for the domestic scene, it is probable that the Islamization trend that has been apparent over the past five or so decades will not only continue but could also accelerate. When the likes of Hosni Mubarak were in charge, the arrangement was such that Islamist ideology was allowed to disseminate at ground level. Now that Egypt has an elected Islamist president, it is to be expected that sentiments on the ground will only become more hard-line.
Although it is easy to dismiss outlandish claims that Morsi wants to reinstate the discriminatory jizya poll tax - essentially the equivalent of a Mafia protection racket - on Christians (the report is an uncorroborated rumor that can be traced to one obscure Arabic website), there is evidence that he would like to restrict the rights of non-Muslim minorities and women. Just under half of voters chose Ahmed Shafiq, but that will not act as a firm barrier against a gradualist approach to implementing Islamic law that many in the Brotherhood see as the ideal strategy to adopt.
In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic magazine last year, Morsi made it clear that neither he nor the Brotherhood could tolerate the idea of a Christian or woman running for the presidency of Egypt.
While much has been made of a recent announcement by an advisor to Morsi that there are plans to appoint a Copt and a woman as vice-presidents, it should be appreciated that such positions are likely to be no more than symbolic. 
In fact, problems of discrimination against non-Muslims and women will in all likelihood only worsen under Morsi's presidency. Further, the spike in Salafist mob attacks on Coptic churches since the ousting of Mubarak - attacks usually sparked by the flimsiest rumors and trivialities - is unlikely to subside, and the authorities will probably continue to do nothing about it.
In the long run, chaos and instability are most likely to dominate the country's future. Unlike Iran, which has, since the mid-1980s, implemented a major family planning program that has dramatically slowed population growth, Egypt's population (83 million as of October 2011) continues to grow. It could reach 100 million by 2020, with more than 99 percent of the population living on an area of land around the Nile only 2.5 times the size of Israel.
Even assuming Egypt can escape from its current economic crisis, there is no sign its economy can keep up with the pace of population growth even to sustain present standards of living. The Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian Islamists have on past occasions denounced family planning as a Western conspiracy to keep the number of Muslims in the world in check. They have shown no intention of implementing a program to reduce the birth rate.
Egypt is unlikely to become a "Somalia on the Nile" as economist and columnist David P. Goldman has predicted, but in the long-term, internal stability is a remote possibility.
Update from June 29, 2012: Concerning Egypt's economy and the Muslim Brotherhood's plans, Martin Kramer summarizes the situation well:

The Muslim Brotherhood is in a bind, because it has to deliver. For the masses of people who voted for the Muslim Brotherhood, the revolution wasn't about democracy and freedom. It was about bread and social justice.
The Brotherhood has a so-called "Renaissance" plan for the overhaul of the Egyptian economy. I won't pretend to judge its feasibility. Could modernization of tax collection double or triple tax revenues? Can Egypt double the number of arriving tourists, even while contemplating limits on alcohol and bikinis? Can a renovation of the Suez Canal raise transit revenues from $6 billion a year to $100 billion? Can Egypt's economy surpass the economies of Turkey and Malaysia within seven years? These are all claims made at various times by the economic thinkers of the Muslim Brotherhood, who trumpet Egypt's supposed potential for self-sufficiency.

To these big promises, one can add Morsi's pledge to tackle congestion problems within the first 100 days of his time in office.
Kramer goes on to suggest that the Brotherhood will try to solicit aid from Gulf Arabs and the West, drawing attention to remarks made by Khairat El-Shater, the deputy supreme guide of the Brotherhood, back in February, when he "strongly" advised Europeans and Americans to "support Egypt during this critical period as compensation for the many years they supported a brutal dictatorship."
However, the question of the Brotherhood's relations with the U.S. and the West at large is a tricky issue. It should not be forgotten that the Islamists have spent the past thirty years attacking Mubarak and the establishment for supposedly being too close to the U.S. and the West, and the popular sentiment in Egypt is deeply anti-American.
That the military will continue to receive Western aid is almost certain, but Kramer correctly notes that the Brotherhood is trumpeting an image of self-reliance. A perception of economic dependence on America and the West could backfire on the Brotherhood. This is not like the North Korean regime that has a philosophy of autarky but can portray its reliance on foreign aid as tribute to the greatness of the nation.
As for the Gulf Arabs, let's just say that they have frequently proven themselves to be remarkably stingy when it comes to helping Muslim brothers in need. Saudi Arabia in particular is still angered by the 'betrayal' of Mubarak (hence its uncompromising stance on Bahrain).
* * *
Fawaz A. Gerges appears to agree with my idea of a "constitutional settlement" along the lines of the early Principate but with unfounded optimism proclaims:

After decades of persecution and incarceration, what is unfolding today clearly shows the weight and influence of the Muslim Brothers, most of whom are centrist and modernist and accept democratic values, in shaping the political future of their society…Arab Islamists are traveling a similar path as did the Christian fundamentalists and later the Christian Democrats and Euro-communists in Western Europe who in the 20th century subordinated ideology to interests and political constituencies.

As Jonathan Schanzer aptly comments on Twitter: "Fawaz Gerges just slobbers all over the Brotherhood here. Behold, the personification of MidEast studies failures today."

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and an adjunct fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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Egypt begins trial of NGO activists amid talks in Cairo to resolve issue ‘within days’.

Egypt begins trial of NGO activists amid talks in Cairo to resolve issue ‘within days’.(AA).Dozens of democracy activists including 16 Americans go on trial in Egypt on Sunday in a politically charged case which has set off a crisis in relations between Cairo and Washington and threatened $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid. Forty-three foreign and Egyptian non-profit workers - including the son of the U.S. transportation secretary - are accused of receiving illegal funds from abroad and carrying out political activities unrelated to their civil society work.A senior U.S. official said Washington and Cairo were holding what he described as “intense discussions” to resolve the crisis within days.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in the Moroccan capital after visits to Algeria and Tunisia, has met Egypt’s foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr twice in the last three days, the official said on condition of anonymity.Rights campaigners say the case is retaliation by Egypt’s ruling generals against pro-democracy groups that have been among the army’s harshest critics since it took power when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown a year ago.“The whole basis of this case is unfair,” an Egyptian activist working for one of the organizations told Reuters.It was unclear whether all of the accused - who are banned from leaving Egypt pending trial - would appear in court.A number of them were already abroad when the ban was placed, and some of those who remained in Egypt have taken refuge in the U.S. embassy in Cairo.The U.S. pro-democracy groups whose staff have been charged deny they have done anything illegal. They say the crackdown is an attempt by Egypt’s military rulers to derail democracy.Egypt says the case is a judicial matter and all groups must heed Egyptian law.Negad al-Borai, a lawyer representing the accused in Cairo, said the charges referred only to a short period in the groups’ activities and could therefore be argued against.
“The charges made involve only the period from March 2011 to December 2011,” he told Reuters. “These groups have applied for permits before that period.”Some Egyptian officials have linked the funding of civil society initiatives to a U.S. plot to undermine Egypt’s sovereignty - accusations the United States and the civil society workers deny.Among those accused is Sam LaHood, Egypt director of the International Republican Institute and the son of the U.S. transportation secretary.
The government and the ruling military council say the case was initiated by the judiciary and is out of their hands.However, on Saturday a senior U.S. official said talks are underway in Cairo to resolve the issue “within days.”“Intense discussions (are being held) with the Egyptians to try to resolve the situation within days,” the official said.Hmmmmm........How much or which weapons do they want from the American tax payer?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 Peru 6.3 !More info here.

• Obama Administration Offers $75,000 Grants to Sign Up More Food Stamp Recipients.(BigGovernment).Over the last three years, the number of Americans on food stamps has skyrocketed by two-thirds and stands at a record-high 46 million citizens, or one out of every seven people in the United States. Despite the historic rise in food stamp use, however, the Obama Administration believes not enough people are receiving food stamps who should be and is offering $75,000 grants to groups who devise “effective strategies” to “increase program participation” among those who have yet to sign up.The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website singles out Hispanics and elderly Americans as groups who often fail to enroll in the food stamp program (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) and says that one of the contributing factors that must be overcome to get more people to sign up for SNAP benefits is individual “pride”:There are many reasons why eligible people, including seniors and Hispanics, do not participate in the SNAP. These include unawareness of eligibility, confusion about program rules and requirements, a complex application process, and a lack of transportation and pride.To reduce these “barriers” to food stamp enrollment, the Department of Agriculture offers non-profit groups the chance to receive $75,000 grants for projects designed to boost food stamp participation among those who are eligible but have yet to sign up. The Department of Agriculture believes that the SNAP program is “severely underutilized” and says that 33 percent more Americans who are eligible to receive food stamps have yet to apply, thus the need to offer federal grants to sign more citizens up.President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has also argued that food stamps are an effective form of economic stimulus that puts “people to work” because each time food stamps are used at a grocery store “someone’s got to stock it, shelve it, package it, process it, ship it–all of those are jobs.”On January 9th, the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) sent a letter to Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting a full report on the Agriculture Department’s oversight efforts. And last year, the Wall Street Journal declared that under President Obama a “food stamp crime wave” was rampant in America.Still, thus far, the Obama Administration has decided to continue offering cash grants through the SNAP Outreach Grant program and plans to pursue its stated strategic plan of increasing food stamp enrollment through 2015.Read the full story here.

• The Heretical Gospel According to Pope Barack Hussein Obama The First.(WyBlog).Via Pundette comes the latest Obamacare tyranny — Pope Barack Hussein Obama The First overrules 20 centuries of Catholic doctrine.Undeterred, and menacingly on the cusp of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued an "interim final rule" which requires all private health plans, including those of Catholic hospitals and schools, to include coverage of prescription contraceptives, female sterilization procedures, and abortion counseling.Thereby replacing "Thou Shalt Not Kill" with a new heresy —The Gospel According to Obama.Archbishop Timothy Dolan: "Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience," said Dolan. "This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights."Disobey our consciences and our faith, or disengage completely from providing health care services. He's "graciously" given us a year to decide. Archbishop Dolan again:"In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences."Which is of course no time at all. Except there's an election coming up. No Catholic can in good conscience vote for Barack Obama. Not after this. To re-elect Obama is to put him above God, to disavow a core tenet of our Catholic faith, to turn your back on everything that Christ taught. And to be complicit in mortal sin. We still believe in mortal sin, don't we? Us Catholics, I mean. The secular world has long since decided to look the other way. Can we? Can we turn our backs and accede to government-sanctioned infanticide? Will we pay our blood money and call it "health care?"I hope not. Is it hyperbole to posit that Barack Hussein Obama is the Antichrist? He will destroy Holy Mother Church. He has said as much, and his actions cannot possibly be interpreted differently. The Church is already out of the adoption business, forced by Obama to surrender our doctrinal authority to the vagaries of homosexual dystopianism.Now he'll prevent us from providing health care. No Catholic hospital can operate under this requirement. They'll be sold, at fire sale prices, probably to Obama cronies like George Soros and Warren Buffett. And no Catholic school will be able to offer health insurance to their employees. "Look at the heartless Catholics," his sycophantic media will say. "The public schools give their employees the best health insurance available!"He will not stop until the Catholic Church is scrubbed from the public square. Banished, like lepers, to the fringes of Obama's New World Order. Crushed under the secular jackboot labeled "tolerance."And then what is left? Who will the people turn to? Government!His message is seductively simple, a siren song, music to the ears of a fickle and easily distracted populace. Obama is our shepherd, we shall not want. It is the eternal seduction of the evil one, played out in the United States of America in the Year of Our Lord 2012.In November Barack Obama must be defeated. Or he will destroy us.Read the full story here.

• DHS Unveils National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at Davos.(BLN).(DHSPressrelease).DAVOS, Switzerland—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today unveiled the Obama administrations National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Department of Homeland Security is committed to facilitating legitimate trade and travel, while preventing terrorists from exploiting supply chains, protecting transportation systems from attacks and disruptions, and increasing the resilience of global supply chains.We must continue to strengthen global supply chains to ensure that they operate effectively in time of crisis; recover quickly from disruptions; and facilitate international trade and travel, said Secretary Napolitano. As a part of this effort, we look forward to working closely with our international partners in the public and private sector to build a more resilient global supply chain.The National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security outlines clear goals to promote the efficient and secure movement of goods and foster a resilient supply chain system. It also provides guidance for the U.S. government and crucial domestic, international, public and private stakeholders who share a common interest in the security and resiliency of the global supply chain.Following the release of the National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security, DHS and the Department of State will lead a six month engagement period with the international community and industry stakeholders to solicit feedback and specific recommendations on how to implement the Strategy in a cost effective and collaborative manner. Within 12 months of the release of the Strategy, a consolidated report on the status of implementation efforts will be developed.Read the full story here.

• "Sanctions that bite" - Iran, Iraq Agree to Launch Joint Shipping Line.(Fars).TEHRAN - Iran and Iraq reached an agreement on launching a joint shipping line to enhance their marine cooperation, Managing-Director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Seyed Ataollah Sadr announced on Sunday. Speaking to FNA, Sadr underlined that launching a joint shipping line between Iran and Iraq will provide the ground for both countries' private companies to set up a joint company to increase their cooperation. "Iran can have desirable cooperation in maritime and port fields with the friendly and brotherly country of Iraq," he added. Sadr also expressed the hope that Tehran and Baghdad would activate a joint committee in the near future for maritime cooperation. Tehran and Baghdad signed a number of bilateral agreements during Iraqi Transportation Minister Hadi Farhan al-Amiri's recent visit to Iran. During the visit, the Iranian and Iraqi officials also agreed to establish joint companies to facilitate transportation of goods and passengers between the two countries. "On the sidelines of a recent meeting (between the Iranian and Iraqi road and transportation ministers), the two sides agreed to set up joint transportation companies," Iranian Deputy Minister of Road and Urbanization Shahriyar Afandizadeh told FNA on Saturday. He expressed the hope that the measure would further facilitate transportation between the two neighboring countries.Hmmmm...."Sanctions that bite".Great way to avoid sanctions Iraqi tankers delivering Iranian oil.Read the full story here.

• The Report That Will Blow Up The Eurozone.(BI).HT: KleinVerzet.The report I refer to in the title requires a little background info: In Holland, where I'll be for a few more days, there's a "rogue" right-wing party named PVV (Party for Freedom). It has no cabinet ministers, but the minority moderate right-wing government needs its support to stay in the saddle. The PVV, like other European right-wingers, is, among many other things, against much of what the European Union stands for. It's certainly against the Euro, and the bailouts with Dutch taxpayer money of countries like Greece and Portugal.A few months ago, the PVV announced they had commissioned a report from British financial consultancy firm Lombard Street Research on the economic consequences of staying in the Eurozone versus returning to the guilder. That report is about to be published "within days". It will prove to be highly explosive material. And the PVV will do all it possibly can to make sure it receives a lot of media attention. It may tear down the incumbent government, which is a heavy advocate of all things Europe, and which will have to quit once the PVV support dies, but for that party that's not the no. 1 concern.And if and when Holland has a large scale discussion on the report and the issues it raises, Germany won't be able to ignore it and stay behind. And then, neither will France.Max Julius of Citywire.uk did a piece on the report, without mentioning it directly, 10 days ago: BI estimate that once the report is published governments in Berlin and The Hague will have a lot of explaining to do. They have to do so against a backdrop of (near-)failing Greek debt swap talks, which will at the very least force them to admit that they have a lost tens of billions in taxpayer money to Club Med countries already. With a second Portugal bailout waiting in the wings. And lots of negative news on Italy and Spain. And more domestic budget cuts. The report will be the moment when the Dutch (and the Germans) realize that our governments have painted far too rosy pictures about the issues so far.The combination of economic reality in the eurozone is already causing a seething hatred and anger. The fact that a reputable economic research firm will flatly contradict the dire predictions by our government about the effects of leaving the euro will "serve as the catalyst that blows up the powder keg. It may take a few months, but it will happen".Hmmm....To put it in a quote"luctor et emergo""I struggle and emerge” are we talking about the Truth? The coat of  arms of the province of Zeeland(TheNetherlands).Read the full story here.

• US Embassy in Egypt housing citizens barred from leaving country.(BM).CAIRO: A new report published on Monday says the United States Embassy in Cairo is sheltering American citizens working for NGOs in the country who have been barred from leaving the country.The Washington Post said Embassy officials and a former NGO official have confirmed that the US citizens banned from leaving Egypt are currently on its grounds.The American Embassy in Cairo is taking the step as relations between Washington and the military junta in the country continue to deteriorate.The embassy did not return calls from Bikyamasr.com for a comment on the situation, but in recent months has been unwilling to assist American citizens arrested and detained by the military, including Bikyamasr.com Editor-in-chief Joseph Mayton, who was detained, beaten and held for more than 12 hours by the military. The US Embassy told Mayton that they would not come retrieve him and had to deal with “the political relationship between Washington and the military.”A Hungarian citizen detained hours after Mayton, was picked up by his embassy in the early evening.The US Embassy has since claimed it always assists its citizens in Egypt, but did not comment on specifics.A senior State Department official said Sunday that a “handful of US citizens have opted to stay in the embassy compound in Cairo while awaiting permission to depart Egypt.”The official, who was not allowed to discuss the matter on the record, would not say whether Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, was among those at the embassy.Hmmm.....Perhaps Obama can give the Muslim Brotherhood a couple of extra $Billions?Read the full story here.

• U.K. - The Prime Minister-In-Waiting is on the Muslim Payroll.(IVE).We all know that the Labour leader Ed Miliband is a joke. Sooner or later he will be replaced by his more personable brother David, who stands a good chance of eventually becoming Prime Minister. It's interesting to note, therefore, that this Prime Minister-in-waiting is already on the Muslim payroll. In fact, he works for two different sets of Muslims: Arabs and Pakistanis.Mr Miliband recently pocketed more than £21,000 a day for work in the United Arab Emirates. His rate of pay even outstrips controversial Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester, who earns just under £6,000 a day in salary and bonus.Mr Miliband’s latest entry in the Commons Register of Members’ Interests shows that he received £64,475 from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.He was also provided with transport and accommodation for himself and an accompanying member of staff worth £4,935 for joining the ‘advisory board’ at the ‘Sir Bani Yas Forum’ in Abu Dhabi last November.The confidential forum lasted just three days. The event was described as a ‘high-level retreat’ that ‘created a space for action-oriented discussions among leading policy and opinion-makers about critical issues for peace and security in the Middle East’.The forum was held on Sir Bani Yas island, a luxurious desert island resort created in the Eighties by UAE founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who spent billions of pounds transforming the island into a forest and animal park. More than 3.5 million trees and 60,000 animals were shipped to the island in 1985, following ten years of construction work. And nine million gallons of desalinated water are reported to be pumped to the island each day.Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed Mr Miliband is also working for a Pakistan-based City firm backed by a Swiss aristocratic playboy.Mr Miliband was joined at the ‘Sir Bani Yas Forum’ in Abu Dhabi by his former political patron, Tony Blair, whose own earnings now surpass £12 million a year.Last night Tory MP Charlie Elphicke MP was critical of Mr Miliband and his brother Ed. He said: ‘Usually when spouses own shares it is to help avoid tax. Ed Miliband and Labour talk tough on tax-avoidance except when it’s in the family. You can’t trust a thing they say.’ Read the full story here.

• Video - Syrian troops seize Damascus suburbs from rebels; Clinton to attend U.N. session.(AlArabiya).Troops seized eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels early Monday, opposition activists said, after two days of fighting only a few kilometers from the center of power of President Bashar al-Assad. “The Free Syrian Army has made a tactical withdrawal. Regime forces have re-occupied the suburbs and started making house-to-house arrests,” an activist named Kamal said by phone from the eastern al-Ghouta area on the edge of the capital.A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army of defectors fighting Assad’s forces appeared to confirm that account.“Tanks have gone in but they do not know where the Free Syrian Army is. We are still operating close to Damascus,” Maher al-Naimi told Reuters by phone from Turkey.Activists said earlier on Sunday soldiers had moved into the suburbs at dawn, along with at least 50 tanks and other armored vehicles. At least 19 civilians and rebel fighters were killed in that initial attack, they said. “The more the regime uses the army, the more soldiers defect,” Ahmed al-Khatib, a local rebel council member on the Damascus outskirts, told AFP.Other rebel sources reported heavy fighting in Rankus, 45 kilometers from Damascus, and of heightened tension in Hama, further to the north.Rankus was “besieged for the past five days and is being randomly shelled since dawn by tanks and artillery rounds,” rebel Abu Ali al-Rankusi told AFP by telephone.Fighters had taken over districts less than eight km (five miles) from the heart of the city. The areas have seen repeated protests against Assad’s rule and crackdowns by troops in the 10-month-old uprising. “It’s urban war. There are bodies in the street,” said an activist speaking from the suburb of Kfar Batna.Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city’s calm.Read the full story here.

• Debate on Free Press Heats up in Ankara.(SI).Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has rejected mounting Western criticism over a record number of imprisoned journalists in Turkey, while the top American diplomat in Turkey has confessed he was still unable to understand why journalists and intellectuals were put behind bars. Erdoğan argued the outside world was not aware they were involved in subversive and violent activities."It's hard for Western countries to understand the problem because they do not have journalists who engage in coup attempts and who support and invite coups," Erdoğan said late Wednesday at a reception marking the 25th anniversary of the Zaman newspaper.Without giving a name, he said the jailed journalists included a person who had killed a policeman, and mentioned news stories that were used as evidence in a failed judicial bid in 2008 to have his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, outlawed.However, United States Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said he could not "understand" the situation."I do have to confess, I do not understand how in a country whose democracy has come so far and is so cherished by the people -- I don't think Turks will ever let go their democracy, I don't think you'll ever accept dictatorship in this country -- so how can there be intellectuals and journalists behind bars in a country that so values freedom? I simply do not understand," he told a group of Ankara bureau chiefs Wednesday.Ricciardone made a similar critical statement in early 2011, shortly after his arrival in Turkey, and has been severely criticized by Erdoğan, who described the envoy as a "rookie ambassador.""At the risk of being misunderstood: I said last year, 'anlamadım, anlayamadım' ('I do not understand, I am unable to understand'). I have to say that again. I say it respectfully," he said, drawing attention to the dilemma of the improvements in the nature of Turkish democracy in the last decade, supported both by the government and the opposition, and the increasing number of jailed journalists and intellectuals.Read the full story here.

• Hamas chief Meshaal makes ‘historic’ visit to Jordan amid Islamists’ praise.(AlArabiya).Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Sunday made his first official visit to Jordan since the kingdom expelled him more than a decade ago and held talks with King Abdullah.Meshaal was accompanied by Qatar’s Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The visit was planned before an uprising erupted in Syria, where Hamas has had its main headquarters outside the Gaza Strip.“We are happy with this new good start ... We are keen on building strong ties with Jordan and on its security, stability and interests,” Meshaal was quoted as saying in a palace statement after the meeting, according to AFP.“With this new chapter in relations with Jordan, we hope Jordanian and Palestinian interests will be served,” said the leader of the Palestinian Islamic movement.Meshaal, who has Jordanian nationality, blasted Israel.“Hamas stands firm against Israel’s schemes to turn Jordan into a substitute homeland. Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine. We insist on restoring Palestinian rights,” he said.Both Hamas and Jordan have denied that the Islamist movement may move its headquarters from Damascus, where many of its Jordanian leadership relocated after being expelled from the kingdom in 1999. The Syrian conflict has forced Hamas to move some of its activists and families out of the country. “Jordan supports the Palestinian Authority as well as Palestinian reconciliation,” King Abdullah told Meshaal at the meeting, attended by a Hamas political bureau delegation, including number two Mussa Abu Marzuk.“Uniting the Palestinian stand will strengthen the Palestinian people and help restore their rights,” said the king, whose country aims to help efforts at inter-Palestinian reconciliation.Jordan has indicated it will accommodate families of the Syrian based leadership, many of whom are Jordanian citizens, but would not tolerate political activities on its soil.Read the full story here.

• South Sudan demands border deal before restarting oil; Khartoum frees held tankers.(Alarabiya).South Sudan has totally shut down oil output in a row with Sudan over export transit fees and will only restart after the two reach a deal covering border security and the disputed Abyei region, its oil minister said on Sunday. Khartoum, meanwhile, said it freed the tankers being held at port to help defuse the dispute. South Sudan seceded in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war in which around 2 million people died. The possibility that war could restart over the oil dispute was a “great concern,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.Both sides have failed to resolve a long list of disputes including how to disentangle their oil industries, divide debt, mark the poorly drawn border and decide who should control Abyei, a region the size of Connecticut that was a major battleground during the war.Landlocked South Sudan took about three-quarters of Sudan’s oil output when it broke away, but still needs pipelines running through its northern neighbor to export crude.Juba depends on oil for about 98 percent of state revenues, while for Khartoum transit fees are crucial since it lost the oil fields themselves last year. That plunged it into a severe economic crisis.The new U.N. member state said on Jan. 20 it would shut off its roughly 350,000 barrels per day of output after Khartoum started taking some oil in lieu of what it called unpaid fees. The shutdown was “100 percent complete” on Sunday, Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau told Reuters in Juba.To restart pumping, he demanded seized cargoes of oil be released, stolen crude returned and for Sudan to cease support for rebel groups in South Sudan, something Khartoum denies.“Oil production will restart when we have a comprehensive agreement and all the deals are signed,” said Dau, adding that any deal had to be overseen by the international community and linked to the demarcation of the border and control over Abyei.“Sudan must recognize the 1956 border, which means they must give back all the areas under occupation,” he said, referring to an internal boundary used around the time of Sudan’s independence.Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti also said this month that an oil deal would likely depend on an agreement on border and security issues.Speaking at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ban said he was greatly concerned that the dispute could reignite armed conflict and blamed a lack of political will on both sides. Their two leaders met on Friday but failed to resolve the row.“(South Sudan) President Salva Kiir and (Sudan) President Bashir should fully engage themselves ... making the necessary compromise and flexibility,” he told reporters.Read the full story here.

• 'Dogophobia'? Hague: Muslim party wants dog ban.(IIE).via Spitsnieuws (Dutch): Hasan Küçük, Hague councilor for the Islam Democrats, says dogs should be banned as pets in the city, reports De Telegraaf. The Muslim party says that the animals belong in nature, not inside the house. Küçük says that keeping dogs is animal abuse and should therefore be criminalized. He responded sharply during a council debate last Thursday, when the Party for Animals suggested more consideration for dogs.Paul ter Linden (PVV councillor) responded saying that pets are the norm in the Netherlands, and whoever disagrees should move to another country.Read the full story here.

• Iran announces production of laser-guided artillery shells.(JPost).TEHRAN - Iran said on Monday it had manufactured laser-guided artillery shells that were capable of spotting and hitting moving targets with a high degree of precision, state-run television reported.Iran does periodically unveil military advancements, but this latest report comes as tension between Iran and the West escalates over Iran's disputed nuclear program.Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi hailed what he described as "intelligent munitions" as a new chapter in the country's weapons and military equipment."Besides America and Russia, there are only three other countries which have this technology," Vahidi was quoted as saying during the unveiling ceremony.State television also showed footage of the shell, called Basir (insightful), being fired by an artillery piece. No more details were given in the report. Read the full story here.

• A Cold War Hot Victory: The Meaning of Assad's Fall.(INN).By Mark Langfan.The writer affords us convincing and compelling reasons to pray even harder for Assad's fall at the hands of Saudi supported rebels. Whether Syria democratizes or not is secondary to what is analyzed below.In the Syrian "Revolution," we are witnessing the beginnings of the greatest "hot" military victory the world has ever seen in a "cold" war. As we speak, in Syria, the dark evil forces of Iran are, hopefully, in the process of being militarily defeated by the bright, good forces of Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, the strategic importance to the West of what will be an inexorable Iranian Shiite defeat and a Saudi Sunni victory in Syria is not even partially understood by the mainstream narrative.A Sunni victory in Syria may very well spare the world from a looming World War which is casting Iran as the new Nazi Germany bent on world military domination. It is as if in 1938, instead of the West's Munich's appeasement, an anti-Hitler Italian revolution crushed the fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and turned Italy into enemy of Hitler and forward base of operations against Hitler for allied forces. Such a "1938 anti-Hitler Italian" revolution would have likely dealt a catastrophically fatal counter-stroke to Hitler’s world-wide ambitions. In a heartbeat, Hitler’s entire order of battle calculus, which had otherwise enabled Hitler to confidently start World War II and invade Poland, would have been reversed against the Third Reich.Similarly, the immediate consequence of the liquidation of Bashar Assad and his Shiite Alawite clan from its minority tyrannical and sectarian rule of Syria, would clearly be a catastrophic sui generis defeat for Iran, Syria's Senior Partner in the, until-now, waxing Pan-Shiite crescent.  But that's only the beginning of the fall of Iran's "House of Cards." This Iranian Shiite defeat in Syria will have many second and third order immediate consequences that are already beginning to be felt like an earthquake throughout the entire region.First, the Iranian "sphere" of Iraq will no longer be an Iranian sure-thing walkover, let alone an Iranian "sphere." With the new Sunni Syria as an Iranian enemy instead of an Iranian puppet-state to the West of Iraq, all of a sudden, Iraq will have the ability to stand up to Iran in the East in ways that Iraq never had before when it was bookended to the West and East by two long-standing Iranian military powerhouses.  Finally, the last thing this nascent, or even full-grown, Sunni Mesopotamian Alliance will want to do is start a war with the militarily benign Israel, and put the entire Levant into play. Israel provides the Mesopotamian Sunni Alliance with a cost-effective de facto non-hostile and indestructible logistics node for US and Western resupply of any Pan-Sunni defense against any Iranian westward attack.  If anything, the current Syrian revolution has only conclusively proved that Israel is not the cause of Middle East "instability," but rather, the bedrock of Middle East stability.In conclusion, the Anti-Assad Sunni Syrian revolution has the promise of forming an embryonic, indigenous Sunni Arab military counterweight capable of possibly defending itself against the waxing nuclear Iran.  Such a natural congealing of the Arab Sunni peoples may be the world's best, and only long-term hope, of defeating the Iranian mad Mahdian march to world nuclear domination.Hmmmm.....Yes if there were enough time.Read the full story here.

• Beijing Customers Can Buy Knives Only With ID Card.(RaiNovosti).Customers in large supermarkets of Beijing has to show their ID cards to buy knives from Saturday, Chinese Fachi wanbao newspaper reported.The requirement to register all knives' buyers has been initiated by city's public security agencies. From now on a customer who wants to buy a knife or any other blade has to tell supermarket's special officer his or her name, ID card number, home address and purposes of knife use.Supermarkets are prohibited to sell knives to teenagers and people with 'unusual and abnormal' behavior. If such categories of citizens want to buy knives, supermarket managers must call the police.The requirement has been already in force in city's largest supermarket chains, while owners of small shops in the Chinese capital do not register the customers, the paper said.The reason to tighten knives sale procedure is unknown. Previously ban on the sale of knives was introduced in Beijing during the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in October 2009.Read the full story here.

• Turkish Women Victims of "Permitted" Rape.(StoneGateInstitute).By Veli Sirin.At the beginning of the New Year, as reported in the daily newspaper Haber Türk (Turkish News) of January 6, 2012, E.D., a 25-year old man in the northwestern Turkish city of Bolu, took his 11-year old "wife," Z.Ç., to the hospital because she suffered pain. The news story identified the couple only by their initials. The doctor diagnosed the girl as eight months pregnant by her "husband." Whether the girl was in a condition to consent to sexual relations is obviously questionable. One would more probably assume she was raped by the 25-year old.Marriage to an 11-year old girl is illegal in Turkey, but such cases are a constant in the country's life.The doctor called for the girl to be kept in the hospital for in-patient care, but her "spouse" refused, and the couple returned to their village, Alpagut, near Bolu. The hospital released them after the girl signed a document declaring her wish to leave the facility.Two days afterward, the governor of Bolu province stated that he had spoken with health authorities who assured him the girl must have been older than 11, given her bone structure.E.D. and Z.Ç. told the doctor they had been married by an imam. Their neighbors had warned them that if they went to a city and disclosed this fact, they would face legal trouble.Read the full story here.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's son barred from leaving Egypt.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's son barred from leaving Egypt.(Fox).By Judson Berger.The son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is among several Americans who have been barred from leaving Egypt following a raid on advocacy groups last month.
Sam LaHood has been the director of the International Republican Institute's Egypt program since late 2010. The IRI's offices, as well as the offices of nine other nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, were raided by the Egyptian government last month.
But the IRI found out over the weekend that the Egyptian government has gone on to create a "no-exit list" as part of that investigation. And Sam LaHood is on it.When he tried to fly out of Egypt on Saturday for what was described as a "routine trip out of the country," LaHood was told he could not travel, according to Scott Mastic, director of IRI's Middle East division."He was told by the airport official that they have received instructions not to let him pass through passport control," Mastic said.
Though he said the organization has not been able to see the whole no-exit list, IRI has learned that five of its members, including three Americans, are on it. Other non-Americans are also on the list. The existence of the list was confirmed by the group's legal counsel in Egypt, Mastic said.
The no-exit list is the latest development in the fallout from the raids, which the Obama administration has condemned.Given the existence of the no-exit list, he said the groups are concerned about “further escalation.”"We are very concerned about finding that there is a list preventing Americans from leaving Egypt," Mastic said. "We are actively working to ask that this no-fly list be lifted, be removed."Mastic said his organization has been told the no-exit list would be lifted, but expressed doubt – given that prior assurances that the Egyptian government would return confiscated materials so far have not been honored."Frankly, at this point, we don't have a lot of faith that that will happen in short order, because there's just not been any signs of positive progress since the initial raids," he said.LaHood used to work as a press officer in the State Department.Hmmmm.....Perhaps Obama could give them an extra few $ Billion?Read the full story here.