Iran: "Our target is Israel and we don’t need missiles with a range of more than 2,000km."

Iran: "Our target is Israel and we don’t need missiles with a range of more than 2,000km." (Fars).

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced Iran's plans to supply the IRGC forces with a large number of various types of Zolfaqar missiles.

"The new Zolfaqar missile is being supplied to the IRGC Aerospace Force and a large number of this missile will be supplied to our units by the yearend," General Hajizadeh told FNA on Tuesday.

Asked if Iran has any plans to develop missiles to hit targets more than 2,000km in range, he said, "Our target is Israel and we don’t need missiles with a range of more than 2,000km."

Iran on Sunday started mass-production of home-made Zolfaqar missile that can destroy targets in distances up to 700km in range with a zero margin of error.

The production line of Zolfaqar was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan and General Hajizadeh.

Zolfaqar, the latest generation of Iran's mid-range missiles, was unveiled during the nationwide parades of Armed Forces on Wednesday.

Iran has made giant advancements in developing long-range missiles in recent years.

The IRGC fired 2 home-made 'Qadr H' ballistic missiles from the Eastern Alborz Mountains at a target in Iran's Southeastern Makran seashore some 1,400km away in March.

The missiles were fired on the sidelines of the main stage of the IRGC drills in Central Iran and various parts of the country.

One missile had a message written on it that said in Hebrew: "Israel should be wiped off the Earth".

Qadr is a 2000km-range, liquid-fuel and ballistic missile which can reach territories as far as Israel.

Improved warhead designs allow smaller warheads for a given yield, while better electronics and guidance systems allowed greater accuracy. As a result MIRV technology has proven more attractive than MRV for advanced nations. 

Because of the larger amount of nuclear material consumed by MRVs and MIRVs, single warhead missiles are more attractive for nations with less advanced technology.

The United States deployed an MRV payload on the Polaris A-3. The Soviet Union deployed MRVs on the SS-9 Mod 4 ICBM. Hmmmm.........'Because of the larger amount of nuclear material'?

'Thank God they're Moderates' - Iran says ready for direct battle with US, ready to rid Humanity of the U.S. policies.

'Thank God they're Moderates' - Iran says ready for direct battle with US. (Taz).

Iran is ready to engage in direct battle with the US, said the country's armed forces spokesman Masud Jazayeri.

"We are ready to rid humanity of the war-seeking and domination-loving policies of the US in a real and direct battle," he said in reaction to recent statements by a US presidential candidate, Press TV Persian reported June 4.

On Thursday Hillary Clinton said that notwithstanding the nuclear deal, the US would take action at any time to prevent Iran from gaining access to nuclear weapons, adding that the military option was still on the table.


Jazayeri dismissed the remarks as mere campaign propaganda in the first place.

"Our nation and armed forces are never after war, but will not overlook the need for preparedness for a moment," he maintained.

Iran II - 'Islamist' Turkey’s Energy Min refuses to deliver int’l report on Akkuyu nuclear plant to court.

Iran II - 'Islamist' Turkey’s Energy Min refuses to deliver int’l report on Akkuyu nuclear plant to court. (TZ).

Turkey's Energy Ministry has refused to deliver an international infrastructure report on the country's much-debated Akkuyu nuclear power plant on which construction has started in the country's southern province of Mersin to a court, saying the report concerns the security or interests of the state, a Turkish daily reported.

According to a Hürriyet daily main story published on Thursday, the Turkish government asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to prepare a report on Turkey's planned first nuclear power plant.

Turkey Atomic Energy Agency head Zafer Alper and Energy Ministry Undersecretary Metin Kilci received the “Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review” report prepared by the IAEA in February 2014; however, the Turkish government did not make the report public as is common practice in other states such as Poland, the United Arab Emirates and Belarus.

The report, which only Turkey is authorized to publicize as part of the agreement between Turkey and the IAEA, reportedly contains 24 pieces of advice and 15 suggestions for the Turkish government on the controversial nuclear project. Hmmm......'State secret'. Read the full story here.

Related: Turkey secretly working on the Nuclear bomb?

Nuclear arms race is on - Turkey launches construction of first nuclear power plant

Nuclear arms race is on - Turkey launches construction of first nuclear bomb power plant. (DS).

ANKARA: Turkey launched Tuesday the construction of its first nuclear power plant, a controversial $20 billion project slammed by ecologists which Ankara hopes will begin a new era of greater energy self-sufficiency.

The nuclear power station, in Akkuyu in Mersin province on the shores of the Mediterranean is being built, like Iran's first nuclear power plant, by Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom.

"Development cannot happen in a country without nuclear energy," said Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz at a ceremony attended by the head of Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko and other top officials.

It is the first of three nuclear power plants Turkey currently plans to build to reduce its dependence on importing energy from exporters like Russia and Iran.

The Turkish authorities have swatted away concerns that the Akkuyu facility lies in a seismic zone, saying it can resist quakes registering up to nine on the Richter scale. 

However the Akkuyu plant has become a bete noire for environmentalists who have raised alarm about safety issues and the building of the power station in an area rich in wildlife.

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace in January lodged a complaint in court against the awarding of an environmental impact licence to the plant and says it should not be built.

"Turkey is not ready to build nuclear reactors - the country is still missing the key pieces of necessary legislation," Jan Beranek, the director of Greenpeace Mediterranean, told AFP, saying that the seismic assessment had been "totally inadequate."

The project is strongly backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of his plan to make Turkey one of the world's top ten economies. Hmmmm.....What Erdogan wants is nuclear weapons.....period.

Related: Turkey secretly working on the Nuclear bomb?

Turkey to build nuclear reactor with China, US company, what does the contract say about the Uranium supply?

Photo: Infographics World.

Turkey to build nuclear reactor with China, US company, what does the contract say about the Uranium supply? (AA).

Turkish and Chinese state-owned companies, and a private U.S.-based company have signed an agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey.

Turkey’s state owned electricity generation corporation, Elektrik Uretim A.S., U.S.-based Westinghouse electric company and China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation announced Monday a multi-party agreement to enter exclusive negotiations to develop and construct a nuclear power plant in Turkey.

According to Westinghouse’s statement on its website, a four-unit nuclear reactor will be built in Turkey as part of the agreement.

The project will cover all life-cycle activities, including operations, nuclear fuel, maintenance, engineering, plant services and decommissioning of Turkey’s third nuclear project.

Turkey has plans to construct three nuclear plants.

The first nuclear plant will be in Akkuyu, southern Turkey, which will be financed by Russia.

The second nuclear project will be constructed by a French-Japanese consortium with a share of Turkey’s Elektrik Uretim A.S. corporation. Read the full story here.

Related: Turkey secretly working on the Nuclear bomb? 


When companies build a light-water reactor, they usually agree to the Government, the project to operate for 60 years, to provide the necessary for the operation of uranium available and then take back the spent fuel. Exactly offered in the case of Turkey in both Rosatom and the Japanese-French consortium. So far nothing special so.

Not fixed supply of uranium contract.

But Turkey has waived in both cases it to fix the supply of uranium and the withdrawal of spent fuel contract. She insisted the contrary, to regulate this separately later.  Ankara has not explained  this unusual maneuver in the negotiations. But the intention behind it is easy to see:

The Turkish leadership wants to keep these parts of the nuclear program in their own hands - and they are crucial to any State that wants to develop nuclear weapons.

First, there are the fuel rods: Not only Gorleben in Lower Saxony, but all over the world, the disposal of nuclear waste is discussed as a problem. Turkey on the other hand do not want to give up their spent fuel obviously. The only logical explanation for this: you want to make preparations for the construction of a plutonium bomb.

According to the Federal Intelligence Service, who were known to a limited German public by a relevant information service, the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has already arranged in 2010, secretly prepare for the construction of facilities for the enrichment. According to other intelligence findings that Turkey already has a significant number of centrifuges. Where they come from, can be supposed, after all: Pakistan.

Another important indication in the chain is the Turkish missile program. Since the mid-80s developed Turkey short-range missiles with a maximum range of 150 kilometers. This was to obviously not be satisfied. Public sensation was caused mainly prompted Erdogan in December 2011 to the defense industry of his country, to develop long-range missiles. Two months later, Turkey began apparently with the development of a medium-range missile. A type of missile with a range of 1,500 kilometers, after all, already tested the Turks 2012 A medium-range missile with 2,500 km range should be ready in 2015.

Given the already established nuclear power, Israel and the nascent nuclear-armed Iran, the Turkish prime minister has no choice but to his country to arm nuclear, if he wants to carry out his vision of a great power Turkey. Because otherwise, Turkey remains his understanding of secondary importance - and therefore can not and will Erdogan definitely not satisfied. Hmmm....Only prob Erdogan is way more dangerous then Ahmadinejad ever was. Read the full story here.

Turkey has no intention to build nuclear weapon, minister says.

Turkey has no intention to build nuclear weapon, minister says. (Taz).

Turkey doesn’t intend to enrich uranium and has no plans to build a nuclear weapon, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Taner Yildiz said in his interview with TRT Haber TV channel on Sept.24.


Yildiz said that the information earlier spread by some media outlets about Turkey developing a nuclear weapon, aims to slander Turkey. He said currently the country doesn’t have technology to build a nuclear weapon.

Earlier, some media outlets reported that Turkey is working on building a nuclear weapon under the instructions of the country’s president. It was also reported that the technology to build this weapon was transferred to Turkey by Pakistan. Hmmm......Turkey wouldn't lie.....Would they?

Related: Turkey secretly working on the Nuclear bomb?

Turkey secretly working on the Nuclear bomb?

Photo: Infographics World

Turkey secretly working on the Nuclear bomb? (Welt)[GoogleTranslate].

Where Europe bordering the Middle East, there is a man who follows powerful visions. The new Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to be as dynamic as a Southeast Asian boom economy, while inspired by Islamic piety and widely invincible as once the Ottoman Empire. Not unlike his predecessor Sultan also spread this as much fear as gloss.

As was recently announced that the federal intelligence service spying on Turkey , there were several possible reasons for the same: through the country on the Bosporus drag Islamist fighters in the crises in Iraq and Syria. Drug trafficking, smuggling, militant Kurds can explore in Erdogan's Turkey also. But there is an even better, though hardly known reason, which makes Turkey a legitimate target German intelligence services. For some time, there are increasing signs that Erdogan wants to arm his country nuclear.

That obviously Turkey is working on nuclear weapons, however, is hardly discussed publicly. The western intelligence scene, however, is largely in agreement about it.

Model for the strategy of the Turks is clearly Iran. Tehran seeks nuclear weapons by establishing bomb material secretly under the cover of a civilian nuclear program.

2011 instructed the Russian company Rosatom Ankara for 15 billion euros to build a large reactor complex on the Mediterranean coast, about 300 kilometers east of the tourist center of Antalya. Two years later, a similar agreement with a Japanese-French consortium for the price of 17 billion. Even more interesting than these figures but the contracts - and especially what is not in it.

When companies build a light-water reactor, they usually agree to the Government, the project to operate for 60 years, to provide the necessary for the operation of uranium available and then take back the spent fuel. Exactly offered in the case of Turkey in both Rosatom and the Japanese-French consortium. So far nothing special so.

Not fixed supply of uranium contract

But Turkey has waived in both cases it to fix the supply of uranium and the withdrawal of spent fuel contract. She insisted the contrary, to regulate this separately later.  Ankara has not explained  this unusual maneuver in the negotiations. But the intention behind it is easy to see:

The Turkish leadership wants to keep these parts of the nuclear program in their own hands - and they are crucial to any State that wants to develop nuclear weapons.

First, there are the fuel rods: Not only Gorleben in Lower Saxony, but all over the world, the disposal of nuclear waste is discussed as a problem. Turkey on the other hand do not want to give up their spent fuel obviously. The only logical explanation for this: you want to make preparations for the construction of a plutonium bomb.

According to the Federal Intelligence Service, who were known to a limited German public by a relevant information service, the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has already arranged in 2010, secretly prepare for the construction of facilities for the enrichment. According to other intelligence findings that Turkey already has a significant number of centrifuges. Where they come from, can be supposed, after all: Pakistan.

Another important indication in the chain is the Turkish missile program. Since the mid-80s developed Turkey short-range missiles with a maximum range of 150 kilometers. This was to obviously not be satisfied. Public sensation was caused mainly prompted Erdogan in December 2011 to the defense industry of his country, to develop long-range missiles. Two months later, Turkey began apparently with the development of a medium-range missile. A type of missile with a range of 1,500 kilometers, after all, already tested the Turks 2012 A medium-range missile with 2,500 km range should be ready in 2015.

Given the already established nuclear power, Israel and the nascent nuclear-armed Iran, the Turkish prime minister has no choice but to his country to arm nuclear, if he wants to carry out his vision of a great power Turkey. Because otherwise, Turkey remains his understanding of secondary importance - and therefore can not and will Erdogan definitely not satisfied. Hmmm....Only prob Erdogan is way more dangerous then Ahmadinejad ever was. Read the full story here.

Growing fear in Israel that Iran Could be Building Dirty Bombs.

Growing fear in Israel that Iran Could be Building Dirty Bombs.(Debka).
Israeli leaders were harshly criticized on the eve of Israel’s 64th Independence Day for too much speechifying and no real action against a nuclear Iran, whereas the US in contrast finally made a move by establishing a new Pentagon spy agency for gathering intelligence inside Iran. April 24 and 25, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak addressed memorial ceremonies for the fallen, they reiterated the same old “Israel will not permit Iran to acquire nuclear arms” – a remark which the Israeli street has stopped taking seriously. Many members of military and intelligence circles are quoted by debkafile as believing that Israel may have waited too long and, along with the US, lost the initiative. Jerusalem and Washington are still at odds on Iran, but the theme of their dispute has shifted. It is no longer about Iran’s timeline for building a bomb, but what kind. They agree that Tehran will not possess advanced nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles capable of penetrating the US and Israeli missile defenses any time soon. Israel is now worried about more primitive devices like the ones in the North Korean and Pakistani arsenals which Israeli believes are in the final stages of constructions. 
The question in Israeli intelligence circles is this: Why is the impending North Korean nuclear test considered by the US, Japan and South Korea a major menace while no one seems to care about devices identical to the one Pyongyang plans to explode on the way to operational capability. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon said publicly earlier this month that by the end of 2012, Iran would have a dirty bomb. His disclosure drew no reactions, although it was a warning. A dirty bomb combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. Its chief danger is the spread of radioactive contamination. Cruder and cheaper to producer than a nuclear bomb, counter-terror agencies have long appreciated that it is easily transferred to terrorists. Ya’alon’s warning therefore means that Iran may soon be able to transfer dirty bombs to the Lebanese Hizballah units sitting on Israel’s northern border and the Palesinian Hamas and Jihad Islami in Gaza. The Weekly Standard edition for publication on April 30 wrote the following sentence: “The supreme leader and his guards can have a nuclear weapon in their hands in as little as 43 days, provided Iran’s nuclear scientists have mastered the manufacture of a nuclear trigger – technically much less difficult than enrichment.” The UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna and US intelligence officials have reported tests on nuclear materials conducted in recent weeks at the Parchin site near Tehran, to which access has been denied UN inspectors.Hmmmm........What else did Erdogan and Obama promise to Iran?Read the full story here.

Iran Adopts Countermeasures to Defuse US Missile Shield in Persian Gulf .

Iran Adopts Countermeasures to Defuse US Missile Shield in Persian Gulf.(Fars).Tehran has devised the necessary plans and measures to defuse the potential threat of the US missile shield project in the Persian Gulf, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said."We have thought of the necessary measures to counter this plan," Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told reporters here in Tehran on Monday. He said after the recent announcement and deployment of the so-called NATO missile shield in Turkey, Tehran knew that the US would announce a second such plan to complete the chain of its early warning system in the region. Hajizadeh added that the Washington and Tel Aviv are seeking to establish security for Israel at the expense of the Arab countries. "All assessments have been made (by Iran) and we know that (establishing security for) Israel is the goal of all these issues," he said, but meantime stressed, "Yet, we are not worried about the deployment of such systems." Last week, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi called on the neighboring states to avoid joining a US-Israeli project for deploying a missile shield in the Persian Gulf. "This missile defense shield (in the Persian Gulf) is a US-Israeli project and everyone should pay attention to the fact that anyone who gets involved with this project is, in fact, implementing the US and Israel's plot," he said on Wednesday. "Since the very beginning we have rejected this project as we saw it against the regional security, and we have recommended our friends not to enter such fields (of activity)," he noted. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Saturday promoted the missile shield idea at a Persian Gulf-US security forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Hmmmm........The 'weakest link' in the chain being Islamist Turkey?Read the full story here.

"Lover's quarrel" is over - Istanbul to Host Iran-G5+1 Talks .

"Lover's quarrel" is over - Istanbul to Host Iran-G5+1 Talks.(Fars).Tehran - Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) are scheduled to resume their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, and in case of good progress hold a second round of talks in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad. After weeks of debates, Iran and the six world powers agreed to attend a first meeting in Istanbul. The Iraqi capital city of Baghdad will be the second host to the Iran-powers talks in case of progress in the first round of negotiations in Istanbul. Yet, sources said that the two sides' top negotiating officials need to endorse the agreement, and that the final decision would be released later today. Also, diplomats told FNA that Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Undersecretary Ali Baqeri and the EU foreign policy deputy chief have agreed on April 14 as the date for holding the talks. The Iranian team of negotiators is led by SNSC Secretary Saeed Jalili, while delegations of the six world powers are headed by EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton. The deputies of Jalili and Ashton were in charge of discussions over the date and venue of the talks. The last meeting between the two sides took place in Istanbul in January 2011. Iran and the G5+1 had also held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December 2010. The announcement came after diplomatic sources told FNA Thursday evening that Iran has rejected repeated offers by the western side to hold the next round of talks with the world powers in European countries. The sources said Ashton had named several European countries, including Norway, Switzerland and Austria, for holding the talks with Iran, but the Iranian side rejected Ashton's offers, stressing that it was not interested in attending the talks in these countries.Hmmm.........Just further playing for time. Read the full story here.

A prominent Iranian lawmaker says the country can produce nuclear weapons

A prominent Iranian lawmaker says the country can produce nuclear weapons.(AlArabiya).Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent lawmaker said. Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam said Iran can easily produce the highly enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs but it is not Tehran’s policy to go that route. “Iran has the scientific and technological capability to produce (a) nuclear weapon, but will never choose this path,” Moghadam told the parliament’s news website, icana.ir, late Friday. Moghadam is a parliamentarian not a government official and his views do not represent the Iranian government's policy.
It is the first time that a prominent Iranian politician has publicly stated that Iran has the technological capability to produce a nuclear weapon. The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges, saying its program is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly insisted that his country is not seeking nuclear weapons, saying that holding such arms is a sin as well as “useless, harmful and dangerous.”
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also asserted that if Iran one day decides to build nuclear weapons, it will do so openly and won’t fear anybody. Iran says it is enriching uranium to about 3.5 percent to produce nuclear fuel for its future reactors and also to around 20 percent to fuel a research reactor that produces medical isotopes to treat cancer treatment. Uranium has to be enriched to more than 90 percent to be used for a nuclear weapon. The U.N. nuclear agency has also confirmed that centrifuges at the Fordo site near Iran’s holy city of Qom are churning out uranium enriched to 20 percent, and says uranium enriched to that level can more quickly be turned into weapons-grade material. Moghadam, the lawmaker, said that Iran has the means to produce 90-plus percent enrichment. “There is a possibility for Iran to easily achieve more than 90 percent enrichment,” icana.ir quoted Moghadam as saying.“
President Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme leader Ali Khamenei can back up his recent public claim that his nation 'will never pursue nuclear weapons’,” said Ignatius. “A few days before traveling to Iran, Erdogan had held a two-hour meeting with Obama in Seoul, in which they discussed what Erdogan would tell the ayatollah about the nuclear issue and Syria,” he wrote.
The United States said Thursday that it still expected Iran to hold talks with six world powers on the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear program to go ahead next week, despite a dispute on the venue being Istanbul or Baghdad. According to Ignatius, Obama asked Erdogan to tell Khamenei “that the Iranians should realize that time is running out for a peaceful settlement and that Tehran should take advantage of the current window for negotiations.” However, “Obama didn’t specify whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium domestically as part of civilian program the United States would endorse. That delicate issue evidently would be left for the negotiations.” It is not the first time that the Pres Obama says that it okays a civilian nuclear program in Iran. Ignatius added that “the challenge for negotiators is whether it’s possible to turn Khamenei’s public rhetoric into a serious and verifiable commitment not to build a bomb.”Hmmmm......The 'Challenge' for Israel is what else have Obama and Erdogan promised Iran!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 Indonesia 5.6 - 5.2 !More info here.

• Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham Not Sold on Obama’s Christianity.(ABC).The 2012 race turned to God, Satan and religion when Franklin Graham said he’s surer that Rick Santorum is a Christian than President Obama and a 2008 Santorum speech surfaced in which the top GOP candidate told a religious audience that Satan is attacking U.S. institutions.Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, said on MSNBC Tuesday that he could not verify that President Obama is a Christian. “I just have to assume that he is,” Graham said.But he has no question about Rick Santorum. “His values are so clear on moral issues. No question about it. … I think he’s a man of faith.”Santorum’s faith was in the news for another reason, too. The Pennsylvania Republican said in 2008, two years after losing his Senate seat and four years before seeking the presidency, that Satan was attacking U.S. institutions in government and religion.The comments, not before mentioned during the 2012 election cycle, were the lead item on the Drudge Report Tuesday. Santorum has surged to even or even ahead of Mitt Romney in opinion polls, including in Romney’s home state of Michigan, where Republican voters cast their preference for the GOP nominee next Tuesday.Santorum, speaking at the conservative Catholic Ave Maria University in Florida, praised the Catholic Bishop Samuel Aquila for pledging to deny communion to politicians who support abortion rights and said the matter went beyond politics and was a symptom of Satan’s reach in U.S. society.“While we all see all this as a great political conflict in warfare between the Obama camp and the McCain camp and culture wars, what Bishop Aquila put his finger on and what I think, I suspect those of you who are here understand, this is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war. This is a spiritual war,” Santorum said in August of 2008.“And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country, the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age. There is no one else to go after other than the United States and that has been the case now for almost 200 years, once America’s preeminence was sown by our great Founding Fathers.”Santorum said Satan’s reach in U.S. society has grown.“He didn’t have much success in the early days. Our foundation was very strong, in fact, is very strong. But over time, that great, acidic quality of time corrodes even the strongest foundations. And Satan has done so by attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition.”Hmmmm......“A good man brings forth good from the good treasure that is in his heart and the evil man brings out evil from the evil treasure that is in his heart. For the lips speak from the fullness of the heart.” ~ Luke 6:45.Read the full story here.

• Despotism, Thy Name Is Obamacare.(Heritage).Two years ago, everything about Obamacare was in the future. Recall the revealing comment at the time by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) that Congress had to pass the legislation to see what was in it. Now that the disputed law is in its implementation stage, Americans are beginning to see what is in it and what it means for them. Welcome to the future.The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is the centerpiece of the current progressive agenda. At its core is the requirement for individuals—under penalty of law—to buy health insurance. As we have argued before, this requirement is unprecedented and unconstitutional. The concern is that if government can regulate inactivity, it can do anything and everything. We now see how this new regime will operate. Massive regulatory authority over one-sixth of the American economy is transferred to a collection of more than 150 federal agencies, bureaus, and commissions, along with an unprecedented delegation of power to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a result, key policy decisions are given over to bureaucrats whose “rules” in the guise of “regulations,” mostly unaccountable and invisible to the public, have the full force and effect of laws passed by Congress.This new bureaucratic reign, its arbitrary discretion, and the resulting potential for cronyism can be seen in Obamacare’s earliest actions. Even before the law is fully implemented, administrators have granted almost 2,000 waivers (mostly for union and business friends) to its own health care regulations. One whole program (the CLASS Act, Obamacare’s long-term care insurance plan) has been unilaterally cancelled as completely unworkable—but kept on the books for possible future implementation.We now have the first real taste of what is to come. Not only do we have to buy health insurance, but now they’re telling us what that health insurance will look like.Read the full story here.

• Two More Religious Liberty Lawsuits Filed Against Obamacare Mandate.(Heritage).The Obamacare anti-conscience mandate has suffered two more blows this week.The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced it has filed legal complaints on behalf of two private, religiously affiliated schools, each opposing the Obamacare mandate that forces almost all employers to provide health insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilization, without a co-pay. The schools, both affiliated with Protestant denominations, join a growing list of diverse religious employers who are challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate.Today, Geneva College, a private institution in Pennsylvania associated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, held a press conference announcing it has filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over the mandate’s infringement on religious liberty.The college takes issue with the mandate’s requirement to provide health insurance coverage of drugs like Plan B and ella, which can sometimes cause abortions in early pregnancy, at no cost to the insured. To effectively subsidize chemical abortions violates the college’s deeply held moral and religious beliefs and runs roughshod over the institution’s religious liberty and conscience rights.“The government shouldn’t be able to force anyone to buy or sell insurance that subsidizes morally objectionable treatments,” said Geneva College President Ken Smith.While the lawsuits filed this week focus on the mandate’s threat to religious freedom, the violations of liberty enabled by Obamacare’s unprecedented federal overreach could extend far beyond religious institutions.“People of faith shouldn’t be punished by the state for following that faith in making decisions for themselves or their organizations,” said Greg Baylor, senior counsel at ADF. “Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this—and worse—to everyone.”Read the full story here.

• OWS Letter to the Editor in USA Today: We Will Storm Wall Street With Guns.(BJ).Over at USA Today, a self-employed massage therapist from Austin, TX has a letter to the editor responding to an editorial suggesting that Occupy Wall Street has lost its way.Here’s what this fellow wrote: USA TODAY’s editorial is right to say that Occupy might lack clear goals on how to move forward, but the movement has accomplished its main original goal: to protest these injustices, not by simply holding a rally and going home, but by keeping the rally going to underscore the seriousness of this problem. Your piece accuses the protesters of sitting around and doing nothing. So maybe they should take up their Second Amendment-sanctioned guns and storm Wall Street and our nation’s capitals. If our country doesn’t change, it could very well come to that one day.Notice the language here. Rich Latta, the author, threatens outright to head to Wall Street with firearms. Janet Napolitano, where are you? He says they out to head to Washington, D.C. packing heat. Secret Service, you’re being paged.Read the full story here.

• IAEA: Tehran talks failed to secure agreement.(JPost).VIENNA - The UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it had failed to secure an agreement with Iran during two days of talks over disputed atomic activities and that the Islamic Republic had rejected a request to visit a key military site.In the second such trip in less than a month, a senior team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had traveled to Tehran to press Iranian officials to start addressing mounting concerns that the Islamic Republic may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons.The outcome seems likely to add to already soaring tension between Iran and Western powers, which have ratcheted up sanctions on the major oil producer in recent months."During both the first and second round of discussions, the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place," the Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement after the Feb 20-21 talks.The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November that lent independent weight to Western fears that Iran was working to develop an atomic bomb, an allegation Iranian officials reject."It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.Hmmmm.....The IAEA has been 'begging' for the last EIGHT years to inspect certain parts of Parchin, call me impatient but that should be the red flag SIX years ago!Read the full story here.

• Khamenei: No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work.(Jpost).TEHRAN - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran's nuclear course would not change regardless of international sanctions, assassinations or other pressures."With God's help, and without paying attention to propaganda, Iran's nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously ... Pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work."Khamenei was speaking on state television shortly after the UN nuclear watchdog declared a collapse in talks with Iran aimed at getting it to address suspicions that it is covertly seeking nuclear weapons capability.The Islamic Republic denies this, saying its program to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel is for peaceful energy only.But Iran's refusal to curb sensitive atomic activities with both civilian and military purposes, and its track record of secrecy and restricting UN inspections, have drawn increasingly harsh UN and separate US and European sanctions, now targeting its economically vital oil exports.Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in bombings over the past two years, attacks that Tehran has blamed on arch-adversary Israel. The Jewish state has not commented.The United States and Israel have not ruled out resorting to military action against Iran if they conclude that diplomacy and sanctions will not stop it from developing a nuclear warhead.Read the full story here.

• Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Demonstrates Its Rampant Homophobia.(TT).The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation does what it can to wear the clothes of human rights despite the human rights records of many of its member states. The Geneva based NGO UN Watch reported that the 56 member voting bloc in the UN refused to participate in a debate about homophobic violence. It appears that the OIC mask is slipping and it is beginning to show its true colours.Readers of this website will no doubt be aware that the OIC has been campaigning against freedom of speech for many years in its effort to create a global blasphemy law. Western governments have already embarked on a policy of appeasement with regard to the OIC and its tyrannical demands. The US State Department has already hosted a meeting of the ‘Istanbul Process’ and the EU plans to follow suit later this year. If freedom of speech is abolished then perhaps the OIC will try to pass the persecution of homosexuals off as a religious right and therefore demand punishment for anyone who criticises it.The OIC’s attitude towards homophobia is completely unacceptable and the way such an organisation gets to lecture the world on human rights issues beggars belief. It is incomprehensible that supposedly progressive Western states fawn on this organisation and apparently indulge its every whim. The Istanbul Process is an effort on the part of the OIC to spread its outdated and tyrannical practices to societies that were once free. It is time for Western leaders to see OIC efforts for what they are.Read the full story here.

• New Fears for Iranian Pastor on Death Row Who Refuses to Renounce His Christian Faith.(CNS).– In what it described as “an extremely dangerous turn of events,” the American Center for Law and Justice said Monday it had learned from contacts inside Iran that Youcef Nadarkhani, the Christian pastor on death row for “apostasy,” looks increasingly likely to be executed.“Pastor Youcef’s case had been stalled due to increased international pressure and the Iranian court’s request that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, decide Pastor Youcef’s fate,” said ACLJ executive director Jordan Sekulow.“Now, because Pastor Youcef has continually refused to give into the regime’s demands that he renounce his Christian faith, the likelihood that the Iranian regime will execute him increases by the day.”Nadarkhani, a married father of two young children, was arrested in October 2009 and has been sentenced to hang for “apostasy.”In mid-January, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said it had learned that authorities in Rasht, Nadarkhani’s home city in the north of the country, had offered him freedom in return for agreeing to declare that Mohammed was a messenger sent by God, an apparent to secure an indirect repudiation of his faith. It said Nadarkhani had declined the offer.“Just as the initial conviction of Pastor Nadarkhani is illegal under Iranian law, the recent offer made by the authorities in Rasht is a violation of the Iranian constitution, and of international covenants to which Iran is a signatory that guarantee freedom of religion and freedom to change one’s religion,” said CSW chief executive Mervyn Thomas.Sekulow of the ACLJ, which has led advocacy efforts in the U.S. on the pastor’s behalf, said Monday it was more critical than ever to increase the pressure on Tehran to overturn the death sentence and release Nadarkhani.Iran’s treatment of Nadarkhani was condemned by the White House last September and by the State Department in July.Last month, Nadarkhani’s case was featured during a 90-minute debate on human rights in Iran in Britain’s House of Commons.Lawmakers discussed the pastor as well as other imprisoned Iranian Christians, and also heard about the plight of the Baha’i, who are also frequently accused of apostasy despite in many cases having been Baha’i adherents for many generations.A British government representative undertook to raise the concerns at the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) when it holds its next session, in March.In an official submission to the HRC in 2010, Iran stated that members of permitted religious minority groups – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – “within the limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.”“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Muslims are duty-bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with ethical norms and the principles of Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human rights,” it said.Read the full story here.

• Netherlands: Muslims don't accept 'incurable' diagnosis.(IIE).Via Zorgvisie(Dutch): Research by Fuusje de Graaff of NIVEL (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research) finds that in palliative care, the professional values of care-providers clashes with the culture values of Turkish and Moroccan patients.De Graaff researched what shape the palliative care takes for patients of Turkish and Moroccan background. For Turks and Moroccans an illness is usually a matter for the whole family. They have no idea what to do with the diagnosis 'incurable'. They often don't tell the critically ill patient, hoping not to deprive him of a cure. They expect the doctors to do everything to try and cure the patient, even if he's incurably ill, more Dutch health-care providers give priority to the quality of life. If the doctors say that the patient will die soon, the health-care providers assume alleviating pain and discomfort is more important than stretching out the patient's life. Turkish and Moroccan patients and family members don't accept that as much. They think the moment of death is in God's hands, and can't be decided by the doctors. Additionally they're afraid that pain-management makes them drowsy, and they want to be lucid when they appear before Allah.De Graaff says that join decisions are the key to the best possible care. Doctors, nurses and care-givers should find a way to deal with the caregiver-patient-family relationship. Doctors and nurses who are more experienced seem to succeed better. De Graaff explains that they're more inclined to take the wishes of the patient's family into consideration. They explain how things are in the Netherlands and why it is so. And they ask patients what they want. It's very important to connect to the patient and the family.Turkish and Moroccan families don't use home-care a lot. De Graaff says that starting home-care earlier, while also under the care of the family member, can spot problems faster, which can be reported to the family's doctor.Hmmm.......'Hippocratic' oath?Read the full story here.