Flush with cash from oil but stuck with few options for growth in developed markets, Middle East investors are increasingly looking to Africa.

Though the fast-growing continent offers plenty of opportunities, bankers say there are also a raft of problems for Middle East investors, particularly the relatively small size of deals.

Photo by whiteafrican.com

"We're seeing more interest but I think it's fair to say that we haven't seen a lot of that crystallise into deals so far," said Diana Layfield, Africa chief executive at Britain's Standard Chartered.

"The Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are very interested in Africa. The challenge that they face is that the [amounts] they need to invest are way too large for the continent at the moment," Layfield said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa. Read more;

Two suicide car bombs ripped through the Syrian capital Thursday, killing 55 people and shaving the facade off a military intelligence building in the deadliest explosions since the country's uprising began 14 months ago, the Interior Ministry said.

Residents told an Associated Press reporter that the blasts happened in quick succession during morning rush hour, with an initial small explosion followed by a larger bomb that appeared aimed at onlookers and rescue crews arriving at the scene. Paramedics wearing rubber gloves collected human remains from the pavement as heavily damaged cars and pickup trucks smoldered.

There was no claim of responsibility for Thursday's blasts. But an al-Qaida-inspired group has claimed responsibility for several past explosions, raising fears that terrorist groups are entering the fray and exploiting the chaos.

In addition to the 55 dead, the ministry also said there were 15 bags of human remains, meaning the death toll was likely to rise.

More than 370 people also were wounded in the attack, according to the ministry, which is in charge of the country's internal security. It said the explosives weighed more than 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds).

Central Damascus is under the tight control of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad but has been struck by several bomb attacks, often targeting security installations or convoys, since the revolt against him began in March 2011.

But the previous attacks happened on a weekend when many people stay home from work, making it less likely for civilians to be killed. Thursday's blast was similar to attacks waged by al-Qaida in Iraq, which would bolster past allegations by top U.S. intelligence officials that the terror network from the neighboring country was the likely culprit behind previous bombings in Syria. Read more;

On Wednesday, West Point's Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) released a "treasure trove" of documents recovered from Osama bin Laden's compound in the raid that killed that former al Qaeda leader last year.

The accompanying report, "Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Ladin Sidelined?" studies 17 declassified documents totaling 175 pages in Arabic and 197 pages in English, including letters and electronic correspondences dating from between September 2006 and April 2011. According to the CTC, the letters authored by al Qaeda leadership including Osama bin Laden largely focus on Muslims "suffering at the hands of his jihadi 'brothers.'"

One letter presumed to have been forwarded to bin Laden shows that the group Jaysh al-Islam's sought financial assistance to "support jihad," as well as legal advice. In a separate letter purportedly authored by bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind responds to the Arab Spring.

U.S. Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan announced on Monday that the bin Laden documents would be published online. Read more;

Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese activist at the center of an international tug-of-war now wants to flee China with his family, a U.S. official confirmed, with the blind dissident telling one reporter he wants to "leave for the U.S. on Hillary Clinton's plane." 

The latest twist in an increasingly complex diplomatic stand-off comes as a prominent human rights advocate on Capitol Hill accuses the Obama administration of trying to sweep away the controversy to make way for diplomatic photo-ops at a round of Beijing meetings. The opening day of those talks, which include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was Thursday. 

"Unfortunately, having this summit and trying to get this off the table in time for the happy pictures and the photo-ops with the summit may have driven this in a way that led to a poor outcome," Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., told FoxNews.com. "How are they going to guarantee his safety?" 

The situation is developing by the hour, though, and U.S. officials are continuing to reach out to Chen Guangcheng. 

The blind activist first escaped house arrest and fled to the U.S. Embassy in China last week, touching off the diplomatic dispute. Read more:

When the recent Summit of the Americas in Colombia decided to commission a study on whether to decriminalize drugs, many thought that would be the end of it, and the whole thing would be quickly forgotten. Well, maybe not.

For starters, it was the first time that such a large group of heads of state ventured into that once taboo area. And there are several other non-related factors that may contribute to put decriminalization in the front burner later this year, or in early 2013.

At a closed meeting during the April 14-15 summit of President Barack Obama and 29 other regional leaders, Obama agreed to ask the Organization of American States to look into possible alternatives to the four-decade-old U.S.-backed war on drugs, which many say is failing. No further details were given.

Earlier this week, I called OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza to find out whether this is something we should take seriously. Read more: 

The President flew into Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan on Air Force One shortly after midnight, then went by helicopter to the Afghan Presidential Palace in Kabul where he signed a long term strategic agreement with Afghan President Karzai. The agreement is aimed at cementing a lasting commitment to Afghanistan after Military action comes to an end. President Obama said the agreement will "pave the way for a future of peace." Karzai said the postwar agreement will seal an "equal partnership between Afghanistan and the United States."

Obama's unannounced visit comes on the anniversary of the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, and is expected be on the ground for about seven hours, during that time he will make an announcement to the American people at 7:30 PM EDT. It will be 4:00AM in Afghanistan when he makes his announcement about the agreement that will broadly govern the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the American combat mission stops at the end of 2014 — 13 years after it began.

The partnership spells out the US relationship with Afghanistan beyond 2014, covering security, economics and governance. The agreement is limited in scope and essentially gives both sides certain powers. Afghanistan will gets it to maintain it's sovereignty with a promise it won't be abandoned, while the U.S. gets to end its combat mission but keep a foothold in the country.

The deal does not commit the United States to any specific troop presence or spending. But it does allow the U.S. to potentially keep troops in Afghanistan after the war ends for the purpose of continuing to train Afghan forces and target operations against al Qaida.

Media traveling with the President on the long 14 hour flight had to agree to keep it secret until Obama safely finished the helicopter flight to Kabul, the Afghan capitol, where Taliban insurgents still launch lethal attacks.

After the historic document was signed the President flew back to Bagram, where is at the time of this posting. Bagram is much more secure (supposedly) and is where he will make his 7:30 announcement from.

Given the recent security breaches as recently as two weeks ago resulted in the shooting deaths of U.S. Servicemen by assailants in Afghan uniforms, I personally think the trip was unnessessarily risky and will not be at ease until the President is safely back on U.S. soil.

  Syria derided U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon as biased and called his comments "outrageous" Saturday after he blamed the regime for widespread cease-fire violations — the latest sign of trouble for an international peace plan many expect to fail.

In new fighting Saturday, activists said regime forces battled army defectors near President Bashar Assad's summer palace in a coastal village and shelled a Damascus suburb in pursuit of gunmen. State media said government troops foiled an attempt by armed men in rubber boats to land on Syria's coast, the first reported attempt by rebels to infiltrate from the sea.

The regime's verbal attack on the U.N. secretary general raised new concerns that Assad is playing for time to avoid compliance with a plan that could eventually force him out of office.

Under special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point road map, a cease-fire is to be followed by the deployment of as many as 300 U.N. truce monitors and talks between Assad and the opposition on Syria's political future. Read more: 

U.S officials are saying a N. Korean multi-stage Intercontinental Ballistics Missile launched at 7:38 PM EDT, (11:38 M local time) broke apart shortly after the missile left the launchpad. The Japanese and South Korea are saying the breakup occurred within one minute after launch.

This is a terrible embarrassment to the N. Korean regime, which is trying to establish their presence as a military power with nuclear capabilities.  

The U.S., China and other countries had urged the new North Korean regime not to move forward with this rocket launch. My understanding is that food aid was offered to N. Korea in exchange for their cooperation in curtailing their rocket experimentation. I just heard as I am posting this article, that President Obama has cancelled a Food Aid agreement with the N. Koreans who have been saying the launch was for a weather satellite. However, it is believed to actually be an attempt to further their long range Ballistic Missile capabilities.

(Btw, the N. Koreans also lack the technology to track weather satellites)

An article posted by The Inquisitor says;

Japan immediately requested an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, and the launch was condemned by world leaders. US President Barack Obama said that “with this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.”
Read more at 

IMO, N. Korean Premier Choe Yong Rim should be more concerned about feeding his people than spending money building rockets, especially when they obviously are poorly lacking in rocket technology.  

How concerned are you about the N. Koreans trying to establish themselves as a military power?

Also, do you believe the U.S. should try to normalize relations with the North Koreans?

Peace is at the heart of Neve Shalom.

Long before universities starting granting graduate degrees in peacemaking and diplomacy, a handful of Israeli families -- three Jewish and one Arab - devised their own path to a better future for their children.

Together they founded a new intentional community in 1979, based on trust and shared values.

This is a remarkable documentary in which the winner of journalism's top awards for both press and broadcasting, including academy awards in the UK and US television, John Pilger, himself a renowned war reporter, questions the role the media in war. 

   A Child screams after her parents were killed by U.S. soldiers --------------->
[Photo by Chris Hondros, the Getty Images photographer killed on the front lines in Misurata, Libya.] 

The War You Don't See asks whether mainstream news has become an integral part of war-making.

Focusing on the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pilger reflects on the history of the relationship between the media and government in times of conflict stretching back to World War I and explores the impact on the information fed to the public of the modern day practice of public relations in the guise of 'embedding' journalists with the military.

Featuring interviews with senior figures at major UK broadcasters, the BBC and ITV, and high profile journalists on both sides of the Atlantic, including Rageh Omaar and Dan Rather, the film investigates the reporting of government claims that Iraq harboured weapons of mass destruction. Watch streamer;

(Text link to video)

Arabs and Jews...working together! :-)

New Zealand police on Saturday revealed bizarre details of the arrest of the suspected kingpin of an Internet copyright theft case against the James Bond-like backdrop of a country mansion hideaway with electronic locks, a safe room and a pink Cadillac.

German national Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was one of four men arrested on Friday, a day before his 38th birthday, in an investigation of the Megaupload.com website led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The group was accused of engaging in a scheme that took more than $500 million away from copyright holders and generated over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising.

A police official said dozens of officers, backed by helicopters, forced their way into the mansion, nestled in lush, rolling farmland, after Dotcom refused them entry, a scene more reminiscent of a high-octane spy drama than the usual policeman's lot in rural New Zealand. Read more;

The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground -- killing three people and injuring 20 more -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy.

Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.

Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, ..... Read more;

My conscience does not permit me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless it is within a real democratic system . . .

Pentagon officials vowed Wednesday that a video posted online purportedly showing U.S. Marines in Afghanistan urinating on dead Taliban fighters will be "fully investigated."

The video appeared to surface first on YouTube shortly before midnight Tuesday. It includes a caption indicating that the Marines were members of Scout Sniper Team 4, a Marine Corps unit that has served on the front lines of the war in Afghanistan this year.

The footage, lasting just 39 seconds, shows four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men, bearded and dressed in traditional Afghan garb. The Marines can be heard laughing and joking. "Have a great day, buddy," one says.

The desecration of corpses during wartime violates military law and can lead to court-martial. Read more, watch video;

In one African nation, a giant American brand may be bringing corporate influence to a whole new level.

Coca-Cola accounts for as much as 40 percent of Swaziland's gross domestic product, according to activists cited by the Guardian. Coke owns a plant in Swaziland, a nation ruled by Mswati III -- Africa's last absolute monarch who many blame for human rights violations as well as stealing the country's wealth.

     Swaziland Dictator Mswati III ------->

Swaziland is the lead exporter of Coke in Eastern and Southern Africa and close to half of the country's exports are based on sugar and drink concentrates,Foreign Policy reports. While it may be hard to verify the activists' numbers, statistics from other organizations still indicate that Coke controls a staggering amount of Swaziland's economy. Read more;

KEREM SHALOM CROSSING, Israel—Each day, dozens of trucks move food, consumer products and industrial materials into the Gaza Strip at this heavily fortified crossing, in an odd arrangement that has turned Israel into a key supplier to a territory governed by its bitter enemy Hamas.

"These people have been connected to us for many years, with economic and business ties," he said. "For humane and humanitarian reasons, we think we must let them get what they need."

Increased prosperity in Gaza could also reduce militant activity, he said. "I believe that people who can make a decent living think about making a living and not about other things," he said.

The camp in eastern Iraq houses Iranians dedicated to the overthrow of the Iranian government. Members of the group won refuge at Ashraf decades ago during the regime of Saddam Hussein, who saw them as a convenient ally against Tehran.

Since Saddam’s fall in 2003, the exiles have become an irritant to Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which is trying to bolster ties with Iran. A deadly April raid on the camp by Iraqi forces drew international criticism of Baghdad’s treatment of the group.

An important story-- yet many westerners are unaware of this.

CAIRO — Egypt has seen an alarming rise in violence this past week between protesters and security forces — a stark illustration that the army has botched the country’s political transition.

Since President Hosni Mubarak left power in February, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has refused to open Egypt’s political system, creating dangerous incentives for groups to resolve their differences in the streets instead of the halls of power.

An illegal immigrant who raped a nanny and decapitated his neighbour had his life sentence cut by six years today.

Algerian Mohamed Boudjenane, 49, assaulted the Filipina woman and shaved off her hair before killing Lakhdar Ouyahia, 43, in the belief the two were having an affair.

Boudjenane was captured on CCTV carrying the head of Mr Ouyahia in a plastic bag on a bus to Regents Canal in Maida Vale, West London.

Photo caption: Boudjenane casually strolls through West London with his victim's head in a plastic bag

An Afghan immigrant allegedly murdered his three daughters because they wore short skirts and flirted with boys. "They betrayed everything," he said.

The alleged “honor killing” of three teenaged daughters by their Afghan-born parents has shocked a country that prizes multiculturalism and sparked debate about the integration of immigrants.

Turkey halted diplomatic consultations and military dealings in a major rupture with France on Thursday after the lower house of the French Parliament approved legislation making it a crime to deny that the Turkish Army committed genocide against Armenians in the early 20th century.

More than 15 countries have officially recognized the slaughter of about 1.5 million Armenians in the chaos surrounding World War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire as genocide, and its denial is already a crime in Switzerland and Slovenia.

By Charlie Smith, December 3, 2011

Last night, I had the misfortune to endure a dreadful editorial  by right-wing talk-show host Charles Adler on the topic of climate change.

The head of Adler Nation, who's given a big platform every night on CKNW Radio by Corus Entertainment, compared David Suzuki to a sleazy television evangelist who was only interested in draining the pockets of naive widows. Adler also had had this to say:

Global warming “science” is nothing more than a faith-based religion with a doomsday prophecy. All those who question their faith are heretics. Thankfully they don’t yet have the power to launch an inquisition.

The faithful ignore the latest studies from their own commune that take dire global warming projections off the table. “Green” technologies have all proven both expensive and even environmentally hazardous.

The facts bear repeating. There is no proven connection between man-made CO2 and global temperatures. Their shaky system of fear can’t hold up to scrutiny.

I've heard similar rubbish from Rex Murphy, who is given a national platform by the CBC to host the Cross Country Checkup show and to appear every Thursday night onThe National.

Over at the National Post, Murphy offers more of this nonsense, as do a fleet of other columnists, most notably Peter Foster. Read more;

As Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar on Wednesday, the neighbors were watching closely.

The trip to the usually closed-off nation, the first by a U.S. secretary of state in more than half a century, boosted suspicions in China that the United States is pursuing a strategy of encirclement to blunt China's rise.

An editorial in the English-language edition of the Global Times, a Chinese state-controlled tabloid with nationalist leanings, said Clinton's appearance in Myanmar "raised speculations that the U.S. is trying to win the former British colony over from China, since it appears that China's neighboring countries have become increasingly pro-U.S."

That worry is sharper in conservative circles than it is among other Chinese observers. But the questions about the purpose of Clinton's visit are being asked by a wide range of China foreign-policy observers. Read more:

 Oil headed for its first weekly gain in three as the clash between Iran and the West heightened speculation that Middle East supply may be at risk, countering concern of faltering demand in the U.S., China and Europe.

Futures were little changed near $100 a barrel, heading for a 3.5 percent gain this week. The U.K. ordered Iran, the second- biggest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, to close its embassy in London yesterday after a mob attack on the British legation in Tehran bought international condemnation. European governments tightened sanctions in a clampdown on the Persia Gulf country’s nuclear program.

“We have a dangerous possibility of a war, at the worst, so we always have to put some premium in this market,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity sales manager at broker Newedge Group in Tokyo, who sees New York oil futures trading between $98.50 and $101.50. “Even though the economic situation is worse than at the beginning of the year, the oil price will be staying at this high level.” Read more;

WikiLeaks is expected to unveil a new online system on Monday to allow whistleblowers to pass secrets to its website, as Julian Assange tries to reboot his campaign for transparency under a barrage of legal, financial and technical challenges.

For more than a year, WikiLeaks’ electronic submission system has been offline, impeding its mission to blow open government secrets. Mr Assange and his team have had to “re-engineer from scratch” its submission system because existing security technology “could not be trusted”, he said last month.

But ahead of what WikiLeaks has described as a “dramatic month” in prospect, would-be whistleblowers may need more than a new submission system to reassure them that WikiLeaks can make a big impact and protect its sources. Read more;

       Julian Assange ------->

Six children were among seven civilians killed in a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Thursday.

The deaths occurred on Wednesday in the Zhare district of Kandahar Province, an area described by coalition forces as largely pacified in recent months, and two insurgents were also killed, the Afghan officials said.

   Afghan War AP File Photo ----->

Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said that a NATO reconnaissance aircraft spotted five militants planting mines in the village of Siacha, in the Zhare district, on Wednesday. The plane targeted the insurgents, killing two and wounding a third, and then pursued the other two suspects as they carried their wounded comrade away. Read more;

Iran is as close to a nuke as Saddam was! Ironically it is too far. Iranian mullahs' grandstanding vis-a-vis their arch ideological rivals and allies to achieve credibility amongst her enemies and continue the knack to punch above their weight will cost Iran very very dear. I hope some sense prevails soon and Iranians are spared of undeserving treatment that it does not in any way merit. 

In a six-month period between late 2009 and last spring, U.N. officials watched in astonishment as Iran dismantled more than 10 percent of the Natanz plant's 9,000 centrifuge machines used to enrich uranium. Then, just as remarkably, hundreds of new machines arrived at the plant to replace the ones that were lost.

"They have been able to quickly replace broken machines," said a Western diplomat with access to confidential IAEA reports. Despite the setbacks, "the Iranians appeared to be working hard to maintain a constant, stable output" of low-enriched uranium, said the official, who like other diplomats interviewed for this article insisted on anonymity to discuss the results of the U.N. watchdog's data collection. They are still enriching low grade uranium not weapon grade. 

The tragedy is that for the sake of sham arrogance in showing false nuke muscles and subject the nation to be bombed for low grade enrichment is so irrational and grossly stupid. It is time to act for Iranian leadership, will it opt for dogma or pragmatic realities and save the nation from devastating attacks?  Last week's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) highlighted Iran's apparent determination to build a nuclear warhead, but did not indicate how long it might take. Some in Israel, however, believe it is very close.

"It is my personal opinion that, if the Iranian regime decides to do so, it can produce a nuclear explosive device within a year, plus or minus a few months," said Ephraim Asculai, a former IAEA official and leading Israeli expert on Iran's nuclear programme. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said he had written to the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month to suggest the visit, which would air issues raised by the IAEA's latest report on Iran. This report presented the agency's clearest findings to date that Iran has been conducting research and experiments relevant to developing a capability to build nuclear bombs, and that some activities may continue. Iran denies that it is seeking atomic weapons, dismissing intelligence information in the IAEA report as fabricated. The report prompted Israel to urge the international community to act at once to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions using harsher sanctions, with some estimating that the report gave Israel the backing it needed to undertake a military strike of Tehran's nuclear facilities.

The present  leadership's collision course is based on imprudence and total thoughtlessness. Iranian is a mother civilisation of mankind, it has a 5000-year-old history, it has a big mark on the idealistic undercurrents that is the foundation of western philosophy. This nation should not be subject to the horror of a leadership's deliberate disasters. Incubation of Global Chaos is the cornerstone strategy of Iranian clergy and its dogma of 'Mahdiviat ' not its people.  It is argued that "Presidential obsession" with 'mahdaviat' leads Mr. Ahmadinejad to "a conviction that leaves little room for compromise. He thinks that the Mahdi will come in the near future as his knight in shining armour? The only missing link that in the President's opinion delays Mahdi's arrival is that the world is still far too peaceful, the degree of clash and disasters that will set the chain of celestial events of 'mahdaviat' have to gather speed.

The global odds are stacked against Iran to continue to pursue this perverted logic of designing a nuke bomb and subject Iran to destruction of her infrastructure that may lead to a bloody dirty fallout in the region is nothing but intense expression of Shiite orthodoxy and their natural inclination towards self-flagellation.

Autopsy of Iranian mullah-led theocracy leads me to an anatomy of a mind that is deranged and obsessed with self-destructive way of thinking. Millions of people, misguided and lost, are the sad remainder of a corroded revolution that has turned a great nation into a wasteland of ideas. That is how leadership destroys ingenuity, initiative, creativity and skill which is an art that can only come through as genius if a leadership promotes concord, amity, harmony in the region. The calls of eternal Jihad are disparaging and annihilates human novelty.

Jewish people in general believe that statements emanating from Iran reflect that Iran's leadership has genocidal aspirations in mind for the Jewish people. They simply do not have the means yet to realize them but once they will the threat should not be dismissed as mere rhetoric. The word is the father to the deed. Jews take Iran's anti-Semitic and anti-Israel obsessive preoccupation very seriously. How would Mullahs feel if the Jewish leadership in power declares Iran to be obliterated?

Nuke bombs never make a nation politically stable, look at USSR! Nuke bombs are great responsibility and are not toys to be dangled as tools of intimidation. You cannot demand 'merg bey Israel' and have a nuke bomb too, if you do that, the one you want 'merg' off will hit hard before you achieve the capability.

It is subjective bravados like on 14th Oct, Thursday, 2010 Ahmadinejad told Lebanese at a rally near Israel border: The Zionists will disappear, while they would thrive. "You are the heroes that guard Lebanon's sovereignty," he told them. "You have proven that there no force in the world can beat you. The resistance of the Lebanese nation, drawn from faith in God, can stand up to any Israeli force – planes, tanks and ships."

The U.S. and Israel had called Ahmadinejad's visit to Bint Jbeil, located just a couple miles of the Israeli border, an intentionally provocative move. "The Zionists planned to destroy this village, but it stood strong against the occupiers," Ahmadinejad said. "The world should know the Zionists are mortal ... today the Lebanese nation is alive and is a role model for the regional nations," Ahmadinejad said. After all this provocation Ahmadinejad wants a Nuke bomb too! That is rosy expectation indeed; why would Israel let him have one? Is it any worth putting the Iranian nation in the line of fire for the sake of hurting Israeli interests when the chances of enormous devastation exist so clear and visible? Why to choose the route of self-obliteration of the entire Iranian infrastructure for the sake of freedom of Palestine and Lebanon. Palestinians glowingly have handled their own freedom well.

'The 'Arabs' (now Iran) never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.' As quoted in The Jerusalem Post (18 November 2002); often misquoted as "Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." The quote is attributed to Abba Eban after the Geneva Peace Conference with Arab countries (21 December 1973).

Iran ideologue hardliners' failures to bring peace to the Middle East is reflected by self-consuming devastatingly morose state of mind that defies the ingenuity of man. On 26th October 2005, President Ahmadinejad declared  'Israel to be wiped off the map.' by 26th Aug 2006 after a useless 34-day war in 2006 he declared 'Iran no threat to Israel.'(President Ahmadinejad). Some do argue however that destruction of Israel is outside a military context. If so a rebuttal would be welcome by the world and lower the heat.

The village of Bint Jbeil where he revisited on the 14th Oct, Thursday, 2010 is a bastion of Iran's ally Hezbollah that witnessed fierce battles between the Shiite group and Israel during their 34-day war in 2006, and oil-rich Iran has invested heavily in helping to rebuild it after the 2006. 34 days war. Instead of : 'The Zionists will disappear, while they would thrive.' A message of reconciliation and cohabitation would have gone a long way, but he remains a proponent of obliteration and destruction, a character that learns nothing from the mistakes of the past. They cannot annihilate a nation, the capacity to do that does not exist, yet to continue fanning hatred amongst people is profound. This is the defeatist mindset that has brought the nation of political Islam to a juncture of self-defeatism and low self-esteem. This is the same Iran that was the only nation not to invade Israel in '48', '67' and '73' and used to sell oil to Israel before it was an Islamic Republic.

When the Iranian president acts like a loose canon why would he not invite the wrath of firepower on his people? Why does he not realise that this is going to be calamitous for the Iranian nation. Peace is the luxury of a brave and pragmatic leadership; only the brave make peace.  Skunks miserably duck on opportunities with poor eyesight and huge confidence in their chemical defence, they will stand their ground in the face of an oncoming vehicle rather than flee. Iranian mullah leadership seeing and reading events poorly is leading an entire nation to a heart-rending finish. This is the time to behave wisely. Ali Khamenei or Ahmadinejad could on any day correct a transliteration if a mistranslation had occurred. 

 Unfortunately it is so true for we men ''History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. '' (Eban)

The U.S. and Israel have not ruled out conducting military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, some of  which are located in fortified underground locations. The US leader was rebuffed last month when he demanded private guarantees that no strike would go ahead without White House notification, suggesting Israel no longer plans to "seek Washington's permission", sources said. The disclosure, made by insiders briefed on a top-secret meeting between America's most senior defence chief and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hawkish prime minister, comes amid concerns that Iran's continuing progress towards nuclear weapons capability means the Jewish state has all but lost hope for a diplomatic solution!

Mr Panetta has warned during a Pentagon briefing last Thursday, such a strike would also have a "serious impact" on the region. Iran could blockade the Straits of Hormuz, through which 25 per cent of the world's oil exports are shipped, sending energy prices soaring. US military assets in the Gulf could come also come under attack from Iranian Scud missiles.

Iran would almost certainly fire its Shahab ballistic missiles at Israeli cities and press Hizbollah and Hamas, the militant Islamist groups it funds and equips, to unleash their huge rocket arsenals from their bases in Lebanon and Gaza. Last week Mr Barak - making a rare venture in such sensitive territory - predicted that fewer than 500 fatalities would arise "if people stayed at home". If any of these missiles end up in a territory that is civilian populated and result in big causalities the retaliation would be massive. The equation of 1 Israeli for more than 1000 gentiles was recently signed and sealed by no less than Iranian mullahs' best friend the Islamist Hamas. The Daily Beast reported on Thursday, amid ongoing fallout from a damning report by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have risen after the IAEA report. Israel intends to cyber/electronic warfare on Iranian civilian infrastructures in the case of a hit against the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities, 

U.S. Air Force has received new 15-ton bunker buster bombs. The U.S. Air Force reportedly started accepting the bombs. The bombs are six times bigger than the U.S. Air Force's current bunker-busters. According to the Bloomberg report, the Boeing company in August received a $32 million contract for eight of the bombs. The U.S. Air Force has received new 30,000-pound bombs capable of destroying deep underground bunkers, the Bloomberg news agency reported. The bombs, designed to be delivered by B-2 stealth bombers, "will meet requirements for the current operational need," U.S. Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller said in a statement to Bloomberg. According to western intelligence assessments, Tehran is preparing to move the bulk of its nuclear production to a plant beneath a mountain near the holy city of Qom that would be far harder to hit from the air.

If Israel is to attack Iran, many in the country believe time is running out. Though not everyone agrees. Some dispute and argue that a clandestine intelligence operation has caused such delays that Iran still needs another three years to construct a bomb. Sabotage efforts by Israeli intelligence have successfully slowed Iranian progress, most notably via the Stuxnet computer virus that caused the centrifuges at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant to exceed their speeds far above the designed capacity.

The Daily Beast quoted U.S. security officials as claiming that a possible Israeli strike would go as far as targeting Iran's civilian infrastructure, including the country's internet and cell phone networks, as well as its electrical grid. The Daily Beast, quoting what it said "current and former U.S. intelligence officials," claimed that Israel has developed weapons that could reproduce a protection cell phone signal that orders a cell set of connections to go dormant, "successfully stopping transmissions." In 2007, a suspected Syrian nuclear site was shattered in what many guesstimate was an attack by Israel Air Force warplanes. A report in Aviation Week & Space Technology not long after the supposed attack claimed that Israeli forces had invalidated Syria's entire radar system as a lead up to the attack. According to the report, the Syrian radar site was hit with an amalgamation of electronic attacks and meticulous aimed bombs to permit the IAF to enter and exit Syrian airspace unnoticed.

Though U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned on the eve of talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that a strike on Iran could harm the world economy, saying the U.S. focus was on diplomatic pressure and sanctions.

"There are going to be economic consequences to that (an Iran strike), that could impact not just on our economy but the world economy," Panetta told reporters travelling with him on Thursday to Canada, where he will attend a security forum and hold bilateral talks with  Barak. In spite of diplomatic sabre rattling  the United States does what Israel wants and  Obama kow-tows completely to the Israelis! When it comes to Israel, he has no backbone what-so-ever. The reason is the political clout of the Jews. To get elected to Presidency/Congress one should have enough money to outspend their opponents and they get that money from Political donations from individuals, corporations and lobby groups; AIPAC being the fourth largest lobby group in the US.

The attack against Iran is unwarranted, the propensity of enrichment of weapon grade Uranium and design of weapon at their uranium enrichment plants and weapon factories will unquestionably engulf Saudis and the Gulf region. Any attack will come with the tacit approval of Gulf's main power brokers. Iran will not be able to hit Israel, it will retaliate for years to come in the peninsula, a birth of a new schism; for military industrial complex nations that is not a bad transaction, they love to see a petro-rich region ready to use their hard earned reserves to self obliterate. But should Mullahs not avoid this self-destructive proclivity?

This predisposition of securing sovereignty by obtaining weapons of mass destruction to extend their message all across and become the bastion of Shiite revolution a la Imam in the region is so reckless. Hezbollah is effectively an arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and now that Lebanon is under effective Hezbollah control Iran alongside with Syria has an 'axis' that is finely tuned to escalate evil. With Assad their key ally soon to be replaced Iran has to seek new pragmatic thinking to live without political leverage of an unholy alliance with Hezbollah. 

Mullahs will do well if instead of opting the route of intransigence they opt for an open ended examination of their nuke facilities. Alas, Iranian mullah pride will come in the way of sensibilities that are much required now. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday it wants to send a special high-level mission to Iran to address mounting concerns the country may be seeking to design nuclear weapons. Start talking now and don't act stubbornly like Saddam. Learn from contemporary history, Iran does not deserve this cavalier treatment of incessant bombing and disasters. Pragmatism for a change instead of constant ideologically-oriented self-destructive insurrection.

A short time after UNESCO, the UN's organization for education and science, accepted the Palestinian Authority as a full member despite strong U.S. and Israeli opposition, it is now Syria's turn to receive a present from the organization.

Syria's president faced a growing challenge to his iron rule from home and abroad Wednesday, with renegade troops launching their most daring attack yet on the military and world leaders looking at possibilities for a regime without Bashar Assad.

France recalled its ambassador to Damascus in the wake of recent attacks against diplomatic missions and increasing violence stemming from the 8-month-old uprising. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned that "the vise is tightening" around Assad, and a government spokeswoman said Paris is working with the Syrian opposition to find an alternative to the regime.

The move comes as the 22-member Arab League formally suspended Damascus over the crackdown, which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 3,500 people, and threatened economic sanctions if the regime continues to violate an Arab-brokered peace plan. Read more;

American leaders have traditionally explained the foundations of the U.S.-Israel relationship by citing shared democratic values and the moral responsibility America bears to protect the small nation-state of the Jewish people.

Although accurate and essential, this characterization is incomplete because it fails to capture a third, crucial aspect: the many ways in which Israel advances U.S. national interests.

 Iraq’s foreign minister on Monday insisted his country was not pressured into abstaining from a vote to suspend Syria from the Arab League, saying Baghdad does not take orders from others.

Iraq was the only country to abstain when the Arab League voted Saturday to suspend Syria because of its bloody, 8-month-old crackdown on protesters calling for reforms. Iraq’s relationship with neighboring Iran, a Shiite-majority country with close ties to Syria, has sparked questions about whether Iraq’s abstention was due in part to Iranian pressure. Read more;

 Authorities say a surprise search at an Acapulco prison has netted two peacocks, 100 fighting cocks, 19 prostitutes and two sacks filled with marijuana.

Police in the Mexican resort city also found dozens of televisions, several bottles of alcohol and knives.

Guerrero state spokesman Arturo Martinez says federal and state police searched the prison before dawn Monday.

Martinez didn't say how the women, birds and the other banned objects got into the prison. He referred to the peacocks as "pets."

The resort city has been plagued by crime since last year when gangs began fighting for control after the arrest of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, also known as "La Barbie."

Cock fighting is popular in parts of Mexico. See News Video

Opinion (Published 10 months ago):

Damage from the Stuxnet virus has apparently set back the Iranian nuclear program by as much as two years, according to a German security expert . . .

This makes the virus as effective as a military strike—but without loss of life or risk of full-blown war.

If progressives cannot see Israelis as people, if they - we - cannot summon up the same compassion and concern for unarmed combatants on both sides of a battle front, it's time they checked their ideology for holes.

The cathedral's namesake was a sucker for authority – as the church is and ever was

'I could imagine Jesus being born in the camp," mused Giles Fraser, the departing canon chancellor of St Paul's who so rebelliously made the church relevant this week. For my part, I could imagine St Paul siding with health and safety.

Forgive the lapse into theological technicalese, especially from a pagan such as myself, but the cathedral's namesake was a bit of an arse. For St Paul, established authority took precedence over even moral authority. The New Testament reverentially preserves a letter in which our hero writes that he is sending a runaway slave back to his master, specifically violating an Old Testament command. "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee," runs the relevant passage in Deuteronomy. "He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him." Read more;

[Article history]

A Bahrain court has opened proceedings in a closely watched retrial for medical staff convicted of serious crimes arising from the country's massive spring protests, a case that has attracted international criticism.

   Doctors form a human chain at Salmaniya Hospital    fearing an attack by riot police in Manama, Bahrain ---> 

The 20 doctors and nurses, who appeared before the High Court of Appeals on Sunday, were convicted on September 29 on charges of weapons possession, inciting sectarian anger and hatred against the regime, obstructing the law, destroying public property, jeopardising general security and "forcefully occupying" the capital Manama's main Salmaniya Medical Complex, where they worked.

The medics have argued that they were simply doing their jobs when they treated scores of injured protesters who were brought to the hospital over the course of weeks of demonstrations centred in nearby Pearl Roundabout.

Bahraini security forces eventually stormed and occupied Salmaniya Medical Complex on March 16.

A number of the convicted medical personnel, including some who have spoken to Al Jazeera, have described abuse and torture while in prison. Read more;

When Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he bluntly told the committee: “There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”

It was a blunt assessment of the president’s pragmatic foreign policy vision, and one which has become increasingly apparent this year.

This comes on top of a good few months for Mr Obama in the foreign policy sphere. The president, who has variously been accused of “leading from behind” and dithering, ordered a brazen raid that took out Osama bin Laden and another that killed al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen.

The events have raised the question of whether a distinctive Obama approach is emerging – and possibly working.

Administration officials shy away from the D-word, but some foreign policy experts say something that might one day be called the “Obama doctrine” is taking shape: a new form of high-tech, low-budget and politically astute intervention, one that maximises America’s influence while minimising the costs for the cash-strapped government. Read more;

The former President of Mexico has told the BBC that he holds the United States responsible for the violence in his country.

Vicente Fox, who was president from 2001 to 2006, said consumption of drugs in the US was at the root of the problem and he called for the legalisation of drugs in America.

Forty-five thousand people are estimated to have been killed since Mexico's current President Felipe Calderon launched his war on the drug cartels five years ago.

(This article from August provides some excellent background information that helps put current events in the region into perspective):

Ever since the UK government installed King Faisal as the first ruler of modern Iraq 90 years ago Kurdistan has been touted as the oil province of tomorrow. The industry's interest is obvious: Kurdistan's fabled soils hold some 45bn barrels of oil and between 100,000bn-200,000bn cubic feet of gas, according to estimates by Ashti Hawrami, natural resources minister in the Kurdistan regional government (KRG).

Jamie Hubley, a gay 15-year-old from Ottawa, Canada, committed suicide on Friday.

The 10th grade student documented his life, including his depression and the hardships of being a gay teen, in a blog, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

The blog, called "You Can't Break... When You're Already Broken" featured posts with numerous references to and photos of self harm and cutting, pictures of guys kissing and mentions of wanting a boyfriend, and bleak, ominous messages like "Sometimes I wish the breeze would just take me with it,...." Read more;

Despite the cartoonish nature of Mansour Arbabsiar's plot, the Saudis are convinced that the threat was real. And it seems to show a deepening post-Arab Spring rivalry between predominantly Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia - champions of the two often violently antagonistic strands of Islam.

To those who knew Mansour Arbabsiar during his 30 years in Texas, he was a struggling former second-hand car dealer and kebab shop owner with a string of debts and a weakness for whisky.

But to the Islamic generals in Tehran, he was an Iranian-born US citizen with American business acumen and excellent English. And, crucially, he was also family - his cousin is a Revolutionary Guards commander who co-ordinated lethal militia attacks on US forces in Iraq.

And in the tale of the two cousins, it was those characteristics and connections that carved Arbabsiar out for an implausible lynchpin role in an international terror plot outlined in a New York court filing that even US investigators called outlandish. Read more;

The United Nations' top human-rights official assailed the Syrian government Friday for a campaign of “ruthless repression and killings” and called for the international community to take steps to prevent the nation from plunging into “full-blown civil war.”

U.N. condemnation came as activists said thousands of demonstrators took to Syria's streets Friday (see video below) in weekly after-prayer protests, with some reportedly carrying signs backing soldiers who have reportedly switched sides and clashed with security services.

Navi  Pillay, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, presented a version of events that essentially agreed with anti-government activists, who say Syrian authorities have routinely attacked protesters without provocation. The administration of President Bashar Assad has blamed the violence on terrorists armed from abroad and seeking to overthrow the government. Read more;

An elaborate Iranian-backed plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States was disrupted by FBI and DEA agents, officials said Tuesday.

Members of an elite Iranian security force planned to detonate a bomb at a busy Washington restaurant, killing Adel Al-Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. and possibly over 100 bystanders, according to documents filed in New York federal court.

The plot was infiltrated by a Drug Enforcement Agency informant posing as a member of a Mexican drug cartel, officials said. The plotters planned to pay a member of the Zetas cartel $1.5 million to carry out the attack, and two advance payments of nearly $50,000 each were wired to an FBI-controlled bank account in August, they said.

An Iranian American, Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, has been arrested in the case. Read more;

A mock-up "checkpoint of the future" could spare air travelers the hassle of TSA liquid checks, shoe removal and pat-downs, while speeding up security for almost all fliers.

Those wishing to see the system, first introduced in June, can now catch a glimpse at an aviation security conference in Amsterdam. The hi-tech set up retains the familiar lane set-up -- but the similarities end therereports the Daily Mail.

The new system has passengers walking through one of three 20-foot tunnels, marked "enhanced," "normal" or "known traveler," a reference to programs in which fliers submit personal data before flying in exchange for lighter scrutiny at checkpoints. Equipment in each tunnel would scan passengers as they walk through -- meaning no more x-ray machines, emptying of pockets or removing of shoes and jackets. Read more;

 French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Turkey to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide in remarks Friday that drew sharp criticism from Ankara.

"Turkey, which is a great country, would honor itself by revisiting its history like other countries in the world have done," Sarkozy said during his visit to the Armenian capital, Yerevan

This week in Washington started with three foggy questions: Was it really Vice President Joseph Biden who blocked clemency for Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard? What actually happened to U.S. aid to the Palestinians? And what will the U.S. do with the Middle East peace process after commending Israel on accepting the Quartet call for the renewal of talks and noting that the Palestinians also expressed their support.

First Biden. The vice president told a roomful of Jewish leaders he had personally demanded Pollard stay in jail after Israel made a clemency request, backed by a number of prominent former U.S. officials and congressmen. The statement raised questions among some bloggers as to whether Biden, who had previously expressed support for freeing Pollard, was actually just trying to make his boss look better in the run-up to the 2012 elections.

President Barack Obama publicly and proudly confirmed the death in Yemen Friday of one of the most prominent leaders of Al Qaeda, American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

“The death of al-Awlaki is a major blow to Al Qaeda’s most active operational affiliate,” Obama said. “The death of Awlaki marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat Al Qaeda and its affiliates.”

“Make no mistake, this is further proof that Al Qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world,” Obama declared. “We will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans.” Read more: 

Jamie Haller, 17, told CTV B.C. she was being chased by gang members on Sept. 10 when she stopped a passerby and asked her to call police.

The officers quickly arrived on the scene, but instead of helping Haller, she claims they quickly placed her in handcuffs, "roughed" her up and placed her in the back of a police cruiser.

Haller admits she became angry and started kicking the cruiser's window.

"One guy jumped in and was holding my legs down, the other guy was holding my upper body and he was punching me in the face, I know he must have punched me more than six times," Haller told CTV British Columbia.

She added: "I felt so afraid of the cops, .... more than I was of the people who were chasing me." Read more;

As the U.S. government begins regulating tobacco, a new study says tobacco companies knew for decades that cigarette smoke was radioactive and potentially carcinogenic but kept that information from the public.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

In late 2009, the Obama administration transferred 55 so-called bunker-buster bombs to Israel. The 5,000-pound bombs conceivably put Israel in the position to attack Iran's buried nuclear facilities--or to target Hezbollah's buried bunkers in Lebanon.

Israel had earlier requested the deep-penetrating bombs from the Bush administration, Lake reported. But according to Lake's report, Bush had deferred the Israeli request . . .

Vladimir Putin's decision to reclaim the presidency next year sets up the possibility that he could rule Russia until 2024 and foreshadows a continuation of the strongman rule that many in the West have called a retreat from democracy.

Although Putin departed the Kremlin in 2008 due to term limits and moved about two kilometers (1.5 miles) down the road to the prime minister's office, in a sense he never left at all. He cannily used Russia's state-controlled national TV channels to remain the country's pre-eminent political figure, with appearances portraying himself as a bold adventurer in Russia's wilderness, a vigorous advocate of the country's global importance and, occasionally, as a bit of a rogue consorting with scruffy motorcyclists.

His hand-picked successor as president, Dmitry Medvedev, appeared as little more than a tame youngster in comparison – enthusing about Twitter and issuing earnest statements about the need for reforms, but achieving few tangible results.

Last year, the Washington Post reported that the United States had deployed special operations forces in seventy-five countries, from South America to Central Asia. Recently, however, US Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye told me that on any given day, America's elite troops are working in about seventy countries, and that its country total by year's end would be around 120. These forces are engaged in a host of missions, from Army Rangers involved in conventional combat in Afghanistan to the team of Navy SEALs who assassinated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, to trainers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines within US Special Operations Command working globally from the Dominican Republic to Yemen.

 

More Seeds :: JCAtom

So just tool around this collection of interactive maps showing the march of drug-resistant germs across North America and Europe. The global health nonprofit Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy came up with the ResistanceMap.

 

More Seeds :: JCAtom

Social media users who denounce drug cartel activities along the Mexican border received a brutal warning this week: Two mangled bodies hanging like cuts of meat from a pedestrian bridge.

A woman was hogtied and disemboweled, her intestines protruding from three deep cuts on her abdomen. Attackers left her topless, dangling by her feet and hands from a bridge in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. A bloodied man next to her was hanging by his hands, his right shoulder severed so deeply the bone was visible.

Signs left near the bodies declared the pair, both apparently in their early 20s, were killed for posting denouncements of drug cartel activities on a social network.

"This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet," one sign said. "You better (expletive) pay attention. I'm about to get you."

The gruesome scene sent a chilling message at a time when online posts have become some of the loudest voices reporting violence in Mexico. In some parts of the country, threats from cartels have silenced traditional media. Sometimes even local authorities fear speaking out. Read more

At least 35 human bodies were found in a roadway during rush-hour traffic in the Mexican coastal state of Veracruz Tuesday, the state attorney general said.

Police in the eastern state found two trucks carrying the bodies near a shopping mall in the municipality of Boca del Rio, Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez said.

¨An event like this is unprecedented," he said. ¨It hasn't happened before in the state of Veracruz.¨

Seven of the dead had been identified by Tuesday evening. A government database indicated that they had criminal backgrounds including extortion, homicide and drug trafficking, he said.

A radio station run by Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist group has awarded weapons to children who won a Koran-reciting and general knowledge contest.

Four children, aged 10-17, were chosen to represent each district in the competition held during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in August.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

US researchers say they have demonstrated how cells fuelled by bacteria can be "self-powered" and produce a limitless supply of hydrogen.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

The U.N. health agency says a genetic link has been confirmed between wild poliovirus type 1 detected in China and a strain circulating in Pakistan .

More Seeds :: JCAtom

 More than 2 million anti-government protesters gathered on Friday in Changes Squares across Yemen calling on revolutionary forces to take decisive action against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime and at any costs.

Protests took place in 16 of Yemen's 21 provinces.

Youth protesters in Sanaa chanted, "Escalation is a must for a quick ending of regime," and "Yemen will follow Libya's footsteps." Read more;

South Africa's minister of land reform says black farmers have resold nearly 30 percent of the white farmland bought for them by the government -- often back to the previous white owners.

A torrent of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks has been published in the last few days, with at least 170 of them naming sources whose identity was meant to be protected, according to an analysis of the documents by CNN.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

Some virulently antigay U.S. Christian conservatives are joining Glenn Beck for events on his Restoring Courage tour of Israel.

They include Mike Evans, who organized the Jerusalem Prayer Team to lobby against gay pride events in the city, calling them “a moral outrage”; John Hagee, who considered Hurricane Katrina divine punishment for New Orleans’s hosting of the Southern Decadence gay festival; and David Barton, who has called for regulation of homosexuality as a health risk and found “substantial merit for maintaining the ban on homosexuals in the military.” (Israel, by the way, has allowed gay soldiers to serve openly for years.)

Beck’s tour has been controversial for several reasons.

The audience at a Beck rally Wednesday in Jerusalem, reports London’s Guardian, “included representatives of Christian Zionism whose ardent support for Israel is derived from the belief that the Jewish people’s return to the holy land is a prerequisite of the second coming of the Messiah. 

But the accompanying belief that Jews must then convert to Christianity in order to be saved has prompted widespread opposition to Christian Zionism — and Beck’s rally — within Israel.”

The Guardian also notes, “From the left, opposition stemmed from Beck’s rejection of a Palestinian state on the basis that it would cut off the holy sites of Jerusalem ‘from the rest of the world.’”

Read its full report here and the Media Matters report on Beck’s antigay companions here.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Masked gunmen severely beat Syria’s best-known political cartoonist on Thursday, breaking his hand and leaving him to bleed on the side of a road in Damascus, activists said.

The attack came days after the artist, Ali Farzat, published a cartoon showing President Bashar al-Assadhitching a ride out of town with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, who was toppled from power this week.

Since the start of the Syrian uprising in March, Mr. Farzat, whose cartoons are renowned through the Arab world, has aimed his pen at Mr. Assad and his crackdown on protesters.

John Maynard Keynes, the great economist, once said in a debate: "When the facts change I change my mind, what do you do, sir?"

Well, like it or not, the facts are changing. From the Sinai in Egypt, a country that has a signed peace treaty with Israel, terrorists are entering Israel and killing Israelis. And the Egyptian government, the military junta that has replaced Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship, is unwilling or incapable of assuring peace on the Israeli-Egyptian border. There may be more acts of terror emanating from Sinai to follow.

Diamonds may be forever, but treaties with dictators are not. They are of limited duration, they last as long as the dictatorship lasts, and in this day and age that is well short of forever. Read more;

With the media having been focused on barnstorming buses crisscrossing Iowa, you may not realize that events in the Middle East have recently become dicier.

While these events don't involve the throngs of demonstrators that dotted the Middle East in the Arab spring, they just might raise crude prices, along with the amount you're forced tocough up at the gasoline pump, while ultimately affecting the cost and value of your energy stocks. It is incumbent upon serious investors to keep up with changing Middle East geopolitics.

Here we go again
There was relatively little coverage of Monday's 42 coordinated attacks across Iraq. The attacks, which resulted in a death toll approaching 100, along with additional hundreds wounded, made for the deadliest day of the year for the country. According to The New York Times, .... Read more;

 MK Ahmed Tibi: "Glenn Beck is a ‘bizarre, neo-fascist comedian."

Glenn Beck’s "Restoring Courage" rally at the Southern Wall excavations site next Wednesday could spark a conflagration of violence in Jerusalem, Arab Knesset members and activists warned Wednesday.

The Jerusalem mass rally will be the central event of the American broadcaster’s three-night attempt to demonstrate to Israel and the world that the Jewish state does not stand alone. There will also be a rally for Christian leaders Sunday in Caesarea and a Holocaust-related event on Monday.

 “There are enough racists in Israel without importing them from the US,” Hadash MK Muhammad Barakei said.

Syria

• Diplomatic pressure is growing on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. The Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, writes that the United States is poised to shift its position by calling for Assad to step down because of the violence he has inflicted on his own people and his failure to implement meaningful reforms for the last five months.

Barack Obama could issue the demand as early as Thursday in a speech that will mark a dramatic departure in the Syrian crisis. Until now US policy — echoed by Britain and its EU partners — has been that Assad must lead a transition or get out of the way. Now, for the first time, the US president will tell him bluntly to go ... 

Read more;

Libya

• Nato has said a Libyan claim of civilian casualties in an airstrike near the western front-line town of Zlitan "was not corroborated by available factual information at the site."
Nato aircraft hit a staging base and military accommodation 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Zlitan, Colonel Roland Lavoie said from the operational command in Naples, Italy. Four buildings and nine vehicles within the compound were struck with precision-guided munitions, he said.

With our surveillance capabilities, we monitored this military compound very carefully before striking it. A number of military or mercenary casualties were expected due to the nature of the activity we monitored. Our assessment, based on the level of destruction of the buildings, confirms the likelihood of military and mercenary casualties.

• Libyan state television has broadcast images of a man it said was Muammar Gaddafi's son Khamis, who rebels claimed was killed in an airstrike in Zlitan. Read more;

Yemen

• A nephew of the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has called for talks to end Yemen's political stand-off but threatened to "break the necks" of any faction that seeks again to remove Saleh by force. Brigadier General Yehia Mohamed Abdullah Saleh, an important power broker as head of the central security forces, said:

There is no solution other than dialogue to put an end to this crisis ...Some forces are pushing for confrontations. I reassure the Yemenis that this will not happen. The concerns about a civil war in Yemen are false, God willing. But if they resort to arms or force, they know we will break their necks. And we will break the neck of anyone who tries to damage or harm the security and stability of the nation.

 Read more;

Police were ordered to 'stand and observe' rioters as they laid waste to London's streets instead of confronting them, it was claimed today.

Scotland Yard insiders have revealed teams were frustrated at their inability to wade in and arrest troublemakers while they looted and burnt out shops.

They had apparently been told to try and contain any violence but not to haul away offenders who would instead be identified through video footage later, according to The Times.

London is burning - along with many other parts of England - and the United States may want to take note.

More than 560 people have been arrested in London alone after the past three nights of violence. The city's jails are full.

And when you look at these pictures, it's hard to believe this is London, one of the world's great cities, and not some third world country with a ragtag government.

Looting, fires, rioting, attacks on police officers: Residents say it's like a "war zone" and that there's a "carnival atmosphere" among the gangs of hooded youths.

This all started after the shooting death of a 29-year-old black man at the hands of the police in London last week. It's still under investigation. But it's almost like that was the spark that ignited an explosion of anger and frustration from Britain's young and unemployed.

There are reports of children as young as seven participating in the violence and looting.

Are England's riots a sign of things to come here?

East Africa is experiencing what U.S. State Department officials say is quickly becoming one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. Several seasons of drought have decimated crops and livestock in Somalia, forcing tens of thousands of refugees to seek help in camps in neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya. Rains are not expected until October at the earliest. This means that prolonged support is needed.

When you donate money during a crisis, you want to make sure that most of the dollars get to the people who need the help. The link will take you to a list of some of the organizations working right now, on the ground, to save lives. 

Each of these has low administrative costs meaning that most of your money will reach people in need.

Right now Kenya has the largest refugee camp in the world (it can be seen from space) and it is growing by over 100,000 people a EVERY DAY!

Debbie Schlussel is a first rate bigot, but only second or third rate as far as income and prestige within the Islamophobia Industrial Complex.  Her rhetoric gets more and more hateful, and I can’t help wondering if this isn’t a bid to be noticed for out-hating even Pamela Geller.  Glenn Beck and Pamela Geller made truly cruel and hateful statements about the victims of the Norway terrorist attack.  Schlussel goes beyond cruel and hateful into territory that doesn’t even have a name.

Her most recent hate-mongering is beyond the pale.  She wrote an article Karma?: Norway Camp Breivik Shot Up Celebrated HAMAS, Jew-Hatred that is cruel and vicious.  

Here are a few passages

About the size of Texas, the Darfur region of Sudan is home to racially mixed tribes of settled peasants, who identify as African, and nomadic herders, who identify as Arab. The majority of people in both groups are Muslim.

In the ongoing genocide, African farmers and others in Darfur are being systematically displaced and murdered at the hands of the Janjaweed, a government-supported militia recruited from local Arab tribes. The genocide in Darfur has claimed 400,000 lives and displaced over 2,500,000 people. More than one hundred people continue to die each day; five thousand die every month.

Government neglect has left people throughout Sudan poor and voiceless and has caused conflict throughout the country. Read more;

 Police in the Montreal suburb of Longueuil are investigating after a 57-year-old woman alleges she was thrown to the ground by several police officers during a fireworks show.

Marie Brais’s face is peppered with cuts, bruises and welts after she says she refused to present ID on Saturday to an officer for an alleged jaywalking offense.

She was walking towards a bridge near her home to get a better view of the pyrotechnics when a male officer gestured to her as she crossed on a red light. Read more;

A new five star hotel,the Movenpick Gaza built at a cost of $ 45 millionis opening later this month. It has 225 rooms and suites,restaurants, galleries and swimming pools. It is expected to employ around 100 people.

As the media mogul gave evidence to the culture, media and sport committee, a protester broke into the hearing and attacked the News Corp CEO.

Asked outside the hearing about security by the BBC, Labour MP Chris Bryant said "I guess they weren't looking for shaving foam". Mr Bryant indicated the man was in contempt of parliament.

      Attacker, Jonathan May-Bowles, about to throw a
      plate of shaving foam at Murdoch --------->    

This is a copy of the Stratfor Global Intelligence article article; "The U.S.-Saudi Dilemma: Iran's Reshaping of Persian Gulf Politics

Something extraordinary, albeit not unexpected, is happening in the Persian Gulf region. The United States, lacking a coherent strategy to deal with Iran and too distracted to develop one, is struggling to navigate Iraq’s fractious political landscape in search of a deal that would allow Washington to keep a meaningful military presence in the country beyond the end-of-2011 deadline ......

          Anti-US poster hangs high on Iranian building ----->

A juror in the Casey Anthony trial has told how she received death threats and has been unable to work since she was cleared of murder.

The woman, known only as juror number 12 left her job and went into hiding fearing co-workers would 'want her head on a platter'.

Her husband said before leaving she told him: 'I’d rather go to jail than sit on a jury like this again.'

 

According to findings of a UN Commission headed by Geoffrey Palmer, a former New Zealand prime minister, leaked in Turkey and Israel, the military operation was "premature" and the deaths "unacceptable".

However, in what Israel is already hailing as a vindication, Israel is only asked to express regret and not to apologise. Turkey is also criticised for not doing enough to stop the flotilla and for its links with IHH, an Islamist group which helped organise it.

The report also concludes that the blockade of Gaza is not illegal and that Israel is justified in stopping vessels even outside its territorial waters.

MOSCOW — A court in a Moscow suburb has banned works by the founder of the Church of Scientology, officials said Thursday.

The Shchyolkovo court ruled that “What is Scientology?” and other books by L. Ron Hubbard “contain calls for extremist activities,” the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors have serious questions about the credibility of a hotel housekeeper who has accused former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn of raping her, and they are taking the extraordinary step of seeking a substantial reduction in his pricey bail, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.

A separate law enforcement official who is familiar with the case, but not authorized to speak about it publicly, told the AP that the issue was not necessarily about the rape accusation itself, but about troubling questions surrounding the alleged victim's background that could damage her credibility on the witness stand. The official refused to elaborate.

A resolution authorizing American intervention in Libya was approved on Tuesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

The resolution was passed just hours after committee members skeptically grilled the administration’s legal adviser over his assertion that airstrikes and other military measures did not amount to hostilities.

      JUNE 28: U.S. State Department legal advisor      Harold   Koh testifies before the Senate Foreign  Relations     Committee about the War Powers Act June  28, 2011 in Washington, DC ------>

In testimony before the committee Tuesday, Harold H. Koh, the legal adviser to the State Department, insisted that the resolution did not apply to Libya, a position that the administration has expressed repeatedly.

A BITTER row has broken out over a documentary film on the building of Donald Trump’s controversial new £750 million golf course and resort near Aberdeen in Scotland.

"You’ve Been Trumped", by film director Anthony Baxter – had its UK premiere at a film documentary festival in Sheffield June 10th, having already been shown in Toronto. 

   A Scene from "You've Been Trumped" ---->

The film, which includes footage of Baxter being arrested, is very critical of the behaviour of the Trump organisation.

“Water and power is cut off, land disputes erupt, and some residents have thousands of tonnes of earth piled up next to their homes,” the storyline runs.

“Complaints go ignored by the police, who instead arrest the film’s director, Anthony Baxter. Local exasperation comes to a surreal head as the now ‘Dr’ Trump scoops up an honorary doctorate from a local university, even as his tractors turn wild, untouched dunes into fairways.”

Multiple sources have confirmed she wants the job, an Obama is reportedly said to support the move.  

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been in discussions with the White House about leaving her job next year to become head of the World Bank, sources familiar with the discussions said on Thursday.

The former first lady and onetime political rival to President Barack Obama quickly became one of the most influential members of his cabinet after she began her tenure at State in early 2009.

She has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the State Department for more than four years. Associates say Clinton has expressed interest in having the World Bank job should the Bank's current president, Robert Zoellick, leave at the end of his term, in the middle of 2012.

“The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress, and in the American body politic writ large, to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources . . . to be serious and capable partners in their own defense,” he said in an address to a think tank in Brussels.

 

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Iran will shift its production of higher grade uranium to an underground bunker and triple its production capacity, it said on Wednesday in a defiant response to accusations it is trying to produce atomic bombs.

 

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A Neighbor of Donald Trump's golf course was stunned when the tycoon put a fence around his house - then billed him for it.

David Milne, 46, has been at loggerheads with the billionaire after refusing to sell up to him.

Without warning, Trump's contractors erected the new boundary and planted dozens of trees then sent an invoice for £2820 ($4600) - half of the total bill.

But David said: "There is no way I'm going to pay it. As far as I'm concerned it's just another attempt to intimidate and bully me. "But it's not going to work. I'm not paying any attention to it at all."

     The Donald likes it done his way ------->

Trump is building the "best golf course in the world" (Trumps words) on the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire in Scotland, he's decided he also needs the adjoining land and has applied for planning permission for properties he doesn't own.

Open up the Russellville Middle School yearbook. You'll see the students' pictures, the administration, and a pretty controversial list that's supposed to be covered with a piece of black tape.

"My problem is the tape can be removed easily," said School Board Member Chris Cloud. Cloud has two kids in the Russellville School District and one brought home the yearbook.

"I'm furious as a parent and as a board member and as a tax payer and as a resident of Russellville," he said. "It's wrong."

The list is titled "Top 5 worst people of all time." The top two are Adolph Hitler & Osama Bin Laden, ......

Nigerian police raided a so-called baby factory in the south-eastern city of Aba, rescuing 32 pregnant teenage girls who were allegedly being held captive in order to have their babies bought, the AFP reports.

Authorities claim the raided home in Aba was used to lock up the teenagers, force them to get pregnant and then sell their babies to be trafficked and used for ritual witchcraft or illegal adoption.

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"The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world," a high-powered commission whose members include former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warns today.

 

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How about some accountability for the false prophets, gross opportunists, and irresponsible rumor-mongers who threaten society with truth decay?

After his End Times prediction failed last week millionaire radio prophet Harold Camping eventually came up with an excuse. During his show "Open Forum" in Oakland on May 23, he explained that the world will still end in October. It's a process and we're just getting started.

That's a relief. At first I thought millions of people had just wasted days of time and energy fussing over some hairbrained idea.

"Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," he said.

"There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5000-6000rmb a day.

"We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."

 

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Accusations of virginity tests surfaced after a rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plain clothes attacked protesters and the army intervened forcefully to clear the square.

One woman who was arrested spoke out about her treatment, and Amnesty International further documented the abuse allegations in a report that found 18 female detainees were threatened with prostitution charges and forced to undergo virginity tests. They were also beaten up and given electric shocks, the report said.

Egypt's military rulers have come under heavy criticism from the youth protest movement, which is upset at the pace of reforms that they hope will lead Egypt to democracy.

Egyptian women protesters outside polling center, denied right to vote --------->

When Kathy Witterick gave birth to her third child in January, friends and family knew not to send blue or pink balloons.

The Toronto Star reports that, following their home waterbirth, Witterick, 38, and her husband, David Stocker, 39, sent a simple email to everyone in their social network, explaining that they planned to keep their child's biological sex a secret.

"We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now -- a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)," the Toronto-based couple wrote.

At only 4 months old, Storm has already lived up to his or her name, birthing a tempest of controversy. The story has made international headlines, was featured on "Today" and "The View" and has spurred ethical debates throughout the parenting blogosphere.

The National Security Council has accused Syria of "brutal violence" against its citizens, calling it "completely deplorable." It's tough talk - much tougher than what President Obama had to say on Friday. When he learned that 70 unarmed Syrian protesters were murdered by government security forces, the president issued a statement calling on "all sides to cease and desist."

Huh?

NATO jets pounded Libyan ports overnight, destroying eight of Moammar Gadhafi's warships, an alliance spokesman said Friday.

NATO targeted the ships in Tripoli, Al-Khums and Sirte after it was apparent that Gadhafi's forces were increasingly using naval vessels to launch attacks on civilians, said Mike Bracken, NATO's military spokesman. He said Gadhafi was indiscriminately mining waters in Misrata and hampering the flow of humanitarian aid.

 

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Al Qaeda has chosen Egyptian Al Qaeda member Saif al-Adel as interim leader while it decides on a more permanent successor to Osama bin Laden, according to independent but unconfirmed reports. While Mr. Adel has long been a senior member of Al Qaeda, his appointment comes as a surprise to many. It may signal a rift in the organization, which many expected would now be led by Mr. bin Laden's longtime No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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Two years ago, when President Barack Obama spoke to the Muslim world in Cairo, he devoted 12 paragraphs totaling more than 1,000 words to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Promoting democracy in Muslim countries mustered a mere three paragraphs totaling 375 words.

When Obama delivers an address at the State Department on Thursday that many are billing as “Cairo II,” his text is expected to reflect how much the Mideast has changed. The urgent need for democratic change in the Arab world will stand front and center, while the foundering peace process recedes in prominence, White House officials signaled. The president and his aides are eager to capitalize on the burgeoning Arab Spring pro-democracy movement and the killing of Osama bin Laden as promising opportunities to wrest young Muslims from the path of radicalism.

 

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Osama Bin Laden's death may come to be seen as a precedent for "targeted killings" by states in the future, a report written for MPs has suggested.

 

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