Must Read ! London Daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Attacks Obama: The Weakest President In The History Of The U.S.

Op-Ed In London Daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Attacks Obama: "The Weakest President In The History Of The U.S."HT: Memri.

"The problem of U.S. President Barack Obama can be summed up in a single word: hesitation. The man is short-sighted, confused and diffident. It seems that the gist of his policy is disagreeing with every position of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and that is quarrelsomeness, not policy.

"This assessment of Obama's policy is not voiced only by his Republican rivals in the U.S., or by those who hate some [aspects] of his global [foreign] policy, but also by some proponents of his own school of thought, like the well-known American author David Ignatius, who recently wrote a critique of the Obama administration's policy that was not confined to foreign [policy] affairs... Summarizing the problematic aspects of Obama's conduct, he said that the public is more afraid of a weak administration than a strong one!

"We are not talking [only] about harsh critics of this administration, inside or outside the U.S. This is apparent from a recent article by Lebanese-American writer Fuad 'Ajami, who slammed Obama for his feebleness, his lack of leadership, and his inability to take bold decisions under difficult circumstances, especially when it comes to his position on the Syrian catastrophe. Nor is it only Republicans who attack [Obama]. [Criticism is also voiced] by people who were overjoyed by the arrival [in the White House] of a black Harvard graduate with African and Islamic roots, the son of Hussein Obama. [They expected him] to have a better understanding of the Islamic and Arab societies and their nature. But eventually, as the helplessness of the international community [to address the situation] in Syria increased due to the [conduct of] the U.S. and Obama, it became apparent that this man is unable to lead and that he hides his failure and ignorance behind a lot of hypothetical talk about red, green and purple lines..."

"Perhaps he is sincere in his belief in democracy and has [genuine] sympathy for other nations, especially those of Asia and Africa, [and perhaps he really believes that] America's problems in the world can be eliminated by improving its image and expressing appreciation for other cultures. Perhaps he really feels that way, but feelings are one thing and reality is another. I wish matters could be resolved through good intentions [alone]...

"Evidence of Obama's narrow approach to the Syrian crisis can be found in statements he made to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in their meeting several days ago. [He said that] there was no 'magic solution' to the escalating Syrian crisis and that a realistic solution was needed, [namely] a non-ideal political solution. [But Obama] is the one who complicated the Syrian problem and caused the wound to grow deeper, the bloodshed [to continue]... the voices to grow louder and the thugs to interfere, from Hassan Nasrallah's militia... to the young men who come from all over [the world] to fight jihad in [the ranks of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated organization] Jabhat Al-Nusra.

"[Obama] is responsible for the fact that Syria has reached this level of confusion and loss. Were it not for his hesitancy, his weak approach, his lack of determination and his eagerness to [gain] popularity on Twitter... the Russian 'Snow Emperor' Vladimir Putin wouldn't have dreamt of attaining the role [he has attained], with the Western world ready to charge him with the task of solving the Syrian problem. [Were it not for Obama's weakness,] Bashar Al-Assad would not have said in a recent interview with the Argentinean paper [Clarin] that he felt he was beginning to overcome the intense pressures that have been exerted upon him. [Moreover,] Iran's arrogance and contempt wouldn't have grown to the point of making a public announcement that the war in Syria is its own war and [to the point of] ordering its [operations] officer in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, to declare war and launch resistance [actions] – not on the Israeli border but against the Syrians in Al-Qusair, which has been besieged by Assad's shabiha[5] and by Nasrallah's fighters for a while, right in front of Obama!

"The U.S. is currently living under one of the weakest leaders in its [history]... while Russia has a firm and determined leader. This becomes even sadder when you realize that the U.S. is believed to be supporting the Syrian rebels while Russia [is considered] a supporter of the [Syrian] regime. In this situation, the alliance [between the U.S. and the rebels] is a liability more than an asset...

"The most acute [aspect of] the problem is that Obama is laying down the systematic groundwork for the development of extremism and sectarian violence that will make us miss the Al-Qaeda of George W. Bush's era, while deluding himself that he eliminated Al-Qaeda when he killed Osama bin Laden!"

Iraq, Syria, Lebanon And Perhaps Also Turkey Face "Great Danger" Because Of Obama's "Policy Of Wholesale Retreat"

"There is great danger in what is happening in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and may soon also happen on Turkey's southern border because of the policy of wholesale retreat that Obama is employing without any deep consideration.

These countries – and probably also Egypt and North Africa, in a different way – are about to enter a terrifying era of religious terrorism, sectarian war and civil strife that will harm everyone. 

The Al-Qaeda attacks of the recent years pale beside what might happen in the future and what is already happening: [the fighting] in Homs and its rural area, the attacks on mosques and Husseiniyyas [Shi'ite cultural and religious centers] in Iraq, and [the attacks of] the Turkish 'Alawite fighters [of the Popular Front for the Liberation of] Alexandretta,[6] who are coming to the aid of the 'Alawites in Syria.

Al-Qaeda's former attacks were high-quality and were carried out be elite squads of fighters, [but these fighters] did not represent broad sectors of Arab society. The wars currently being waged in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, on the other hand, are frightening because they rely on [entire] social [sectors] that support [the fighters] and shelter them.

"This leads us to a frustrating conclusion about Obama's precise and rigid implementation of his bad and superficial policy of retreating [from the Middle East] at any cost, even in the face of new developments. [We must conclude that] this is not a skilled statesman and politician with creative solutions, but an ordinary academic who repeats meaningless slogans and does not possess the political sensitivity to give each factor the weight it deserves, to take bold [action] when necessary and to refrain [from action] when necessary..."

Hmmm.......Hear , Hear !Read the full story here.

Video - Time to Sequester Air Force One Vacation Flights.

Air Force One costs taxpayers $179,750 per hour. It's time to sequester President Obama's use of Air Force One and limit it to official business rather than vacations and sight seeing tours. 

Related:  "Sequester Pains" - Michelle Obama Said to be Considering an Extended Vacation.

You think it's "Sweden's Colonial Past?" - Fourth night of youth rioting rocks Stockholm.

You think it's "Sweden's Colonial Past?" - Fourth night of youth rioting rocks Stockholm.(RT). On the fourth night of violence, youths torched over 30 cars in 15 neighborhoods along with a restaurant in Skogas, south of Stockholm. Three law enforcement officers were injured, police spokesperson Kjell Lindgren reported.

Stockholm firefighters were busy throughout the night, saying they had “never before seen so many fires raging at the same time.” Some 90 blazes were reported in total, most of them reportedly caused by the rioters. Still, the fourth night of violence was relatively quiet compared to the previous three, RT's Peter Oliver reported from Stockholm.

Leaders of immigrant communities were out on the streets in a bid to stop young people from rioting. Despite their efforts, as soon as the night fell, groups of arsonists took to the streets to set cars on fire. RT's Peter Oliver witnessed rioters throwing stones at police and journalists alike.

Civil disorder in Stockholm started on Sunday, when police shot and killed a 69-old-man in his apartment after he confronted officers with a machete; the unrest has since continued throughout week.

Community leaders insist that a main reason for the violence is the high rate of unemployment in immigrant communities, particularly in the suburb of Husby near central Stockholm, one of the worst affected by the nighttime violence, Peter Oliver reported.

Although Sweden’s unemployment rate is below the EU average, joblessness among those under 25 has reached nearly 25 percent. The RT crew in Stockholm noted that a majority of those taking part in the violence are young.

Parents of the rampaging teenagers and community religious leaders are now spending sleepless nights on the street in an effort to prevent their children from wreaking havoc.

For years, Sweden – one of Europe’s most tranquil countries, famous for its attractive immigration policies and generous welfare system – has been accepting an influx of immigrants, which now make up about 15 per cent of its population. These migrants have failed to integrate into Swedish society, and are only in the country to enjoy the country’s social benefits system, Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist told RT.

“The problem is not from the Swedish government or from the Swedish people,” the editor in chief of Dispatch International said. “The last 20 years or so, we have seen so many immigrants coming to Sweden that really don’t like Sweden. They do not want to integrate, they do not want to live in [Swedish] society: Working, paying taxes and so on.”

“The people come here now because they know that Sweden will give them money for nothing. They don’t have to work, they don’t have to pay taxes – they can just stay here and get a lot of money. That is really a problem,” Carlqvist added.

“The police could do so much, [instead] they have told the public that they mean to do as little as possible. But they could go there and use water cannons, they could not let people out onto the streets at night. There are so many things they could do within the law – but they don’t do it,” she said.

Young Muslims who enjoy tolerance, social institutions and welfare while living in Sweden nevertheless refuse to integrate into the West, Gerolf Annemans told RT. Annemans is the parliamentary leader of Vlaams Belang (‘Flemish Interest’), a Belgian far-right nationalist political party.

“They [Muslim youths] have always sought excuse to show that they are not agreeing with the basic values of Western society,” Annemans said, pointing to the recent cases of the Boston Marathon bombing in the US and yesterday’s beheading of a British soldier in the UK.

“It’s always the same problem. There is a massive refusal by Muslim youngsters of the basics of Western society... and they take any excuse whatsoever to show that with violence – that is where the problem is,” he said.Hmmmm.....“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” - Pope Benedict XVI.Read the full story here.

Related: 'Sherlock Holmes Country' - UK’s colonial past a possible factor in brutal Woolwich killing.

Thousands of years old conical Submerged structure weighing hundreds of tons stumps Israeli archaeologists.

Thousands of years old conical Submerged structure weighing hundreds of tons stumps Israeli archaeologists.(Yahoo).

TIBERIAS, Israel (AP) — The massive circular structure appears to be an archaeologists dream: a recently discovered antiquity that could reveal secrets of ancient life in the Middle East and is just waiting to be excavated.

It's thousands of years old — a conical, manmade behemoth weighing hundreds of tons, practically begging to be explored.The problem is — it's at the bottom of the biblical Sea of Galilee. For now, at least, Israeli researchers are left stranded on dry land, wondering what finds lurk below.

The monumental structure, made of boulders and stones with a diameter of 70 meters (230 feet), emerged from a routine sonar scan in 2003. Now archaeologists are trying to raise money to allow them access to the submerged stones.

"It's very enigmatic, it's very interesting, but the bottom line is we don't know when it's from, we don't know what it's connected to, we don't know its function," said Dani Nadel, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa who is one of several researchers studying the discovery. "We only know it is there, it is huge and it is unusual."

Archaeologists said the only way they can properly assess the structure is through an underwater excavation, a painstakingly slow process that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if an excavation were to take place, archaeologists said they believed it would be the first in the Sea of Galilee, an ancient lake that boasts historical remnants spanning thousands of years and is the setting of many Bible scenes.

In contrast, Israeli researchers have carried out many excavations in the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

Much of the researchers' limited knowledge about this structure comes from the sonar scan a decade ago.

Initial dives shortly after that revealed a few details. In an article in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology published earlier this year, Nadel and fellow researchers disclosed it was asymmetrical, made of basalt boulders and that "fish teem around the structure and between its blocks."

The cone-shaped structure is found at a depth of between three and 12 meters (nine and 40 feet) beneath the surface, about half a kilometer (1,600 feet) from the sea's southwestern shore. Its base is buried under sediment.

The authors conclude the structure is man-made, made of stones that originated nearby, and it weighs about 60,000 tons. The authors write it "is indicative of a complex, well-organized society, with planning skills and economic ability."

The rest is a mystery.

Yitzhak Paz, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority who is involved in the project, said that based on sediment buildup, it is between 2,000 and 12,000 years old, a vast range that tells little about it. Based on other sites and artifacts found in the region, Paz places the site's origin some time during the 3rd millennium B.C., or about 5,000 years ago, although he admits the timeframe is just a guess.

"The period is hard for us to determine. No scientific work was carried out there, no excavations, no surveys. We have no artifacts from the structure," Paz said.

Archaeologists were also cautious about guessing the structure's purpose. They said possibilities include a burial site, a place of worship or even a fish nursery, which were common in the area, but they said they wanted to avoid speculation because they have so little information.

It's not even clear if the structure was built on shore when the sea stood at a low level, or if it was constructed underwater. Paz reckons it was built on land, an indication of the sea's low level at the time.

In order to fill in the blanks, archaeologists hope to inspect the site underwater, despite the expense and the complexities.

Nadel noted that working underwater demands not only a skill such as scuba diving, but also labor-intensive excavations that are particularly difficult in the Sea of Galilee, which already has low visibility and where any digging can unleash a cloud of sediment and bury what's just been uncovered.

Also, divers can remain under water only for a limited amount of time every day and must choose the best season that can provide optimal conditions for excavating.

"Until we do more research, we don't have much more to add," Nadel said. "It's a mystery, and every mystery is interesting."Read the full story here. More here.

"I'm Not A Dictator" - Obama's Energy Secretary says Climate Change not Debatable.

"I'm Not A Dictator" - Obama's Energy Secretary says Climate Change not Debatable.HT: Breitbart.

Ernest Moniz, Barack Obama’s new Secretary of Energy, is making it clear there is no room for dissent regarding climate change.

Speaking to his department’s employees after he was sworn in, Moniz said, “Let me make it very clear that there is no ambiguity in terms of the scientific basis calling for a prudent response on climate change. I am not interested in debating what is not debatable. There is plenty to debate as we try and move forward on our climate agenda.”

There it is, ladies and gentlemen, another intransigent pronouncement from the Obama Administration.

Moniz also slowed down any attempt by U.S. companies to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), which would benefit the economy. In Europe and Asia, prices for LNG are high, and selling LNG to those continents could create thousands of jobs. But Moniz is holding up roughly 20 applications to sell LNG to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the U.S.Read the full story here.

Related:  Anchorage sets new record for longest snow season


ALASKA - 232 days – it took over 30 years for Anchorage to set a new record for the longest snow season on record.

Disqualified ex-president Rafsanjani slams Iranian authorities, calls them "narrow minded".

Disqualified ex-president Rafsanjani slams Iranian authorities, calls them "narrow minded".(TI).

Iran's former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has recently slammed the Iranian authorities, after he was not permitted to participate in the upcoming presidential elections in the country, opposition website Kalemeh reported.

"The Iranian authorities are narrow minded. Those who voted for my disqualification lack knowledge of the current situation in the country, and I don't know where they're going with this kind of approach," the former president said during the meeting with his supporters.

He went on to say that there are plans under discussion in the U.S. aimed at separating Azarbaijan and Sistan & Baluchestan provinces from Iran, and mentioned that the U.S. wants to support Israel in case of strikes on Iran, because of the nuclear dispute.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.

"The authorities of Iran don't know about these processes, they are unaware of the situation that is going to get worse," Rafsanjani said, adding that the UK and the U.S. are waiting for the results on the elections in Iran.

Rafsanjani noted that Iran is experiencing economic crisis under the paralysing sanctions, which damage industries and agriculture. He noted that Iran currently has a 30 percent inflation level and the 50 percent-drop in national currency value.

Rafsanjani was a speaker of the Iranian parliament for 10 years, then served 8 years as country's president, and is currently the head of the Expediency Council of Iran.

He was not qualified by the Guardian Council of Iran to participate at the upcoming presidential elections in the country.

After the news became public, the immediate negative reaction followed, mostly by the family members of the family of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with whom Rafsanjani was close.

"I didn't have any desire to participate in the elections, and I told that to Supreme Leader Khamenei clearly, before the registration," Rafsanjani underscored. "However the demands from both clerics and ordinary people made me submit my candidacy."

Iran will hold the 11th presidential election on June 14, 2013.

The voters will select the successor of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is not able to participate in the elections for the third term according to the country's constitutional laws.

The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.Read the full story here.

'Sherlock Holmes Country' - UK’s colonial past a possible factor in brutal Woolwich killing.

'Sherlock Holmes Country' - UK’s colonial past a possible factor in brutal Woolwich killing.(RT).

Citing police sources, Reuters reported on Thursday morning that officers were examining possible links to Nigeria in the attack. Nigeria was a British colony for over a century before gaining independence in 1960. The UK now has a large Nigerian immigrant population numbering 174,000, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Brian Becker from anti-war coalition ANSWER told RT that the UK’s neo-colonial approach to the Middle East, along with its NATO and US alliance, was leading to an “escalating cycle of violence.”
“The British colonial past and its current legacy of intervention and war is undoubtedly a factor,” Becker said.

“The British government joined George W. Bush in the invasion of Iraq and supported the war in Afghanistan.” UK politician George Galloway also intimated that the attack could have been a consequence of British actions abroad, drawing a parallel with Syria:

“This sickening atrocity in London is exactly what we are paying the same kind of people to do in Syria.” But Defense Consultant Moeen Raoof told RT that the nature of the attack was “bizarre,” and did not bear the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda.

“If this were an Al-Qaeda act they would have attacked many more targets,” Raoof said, describing the attack as more “opportunistic” than premeditated. Raoof added that UK soldiers were guilty of similar “appalling acts of murder,” and are “returning to the UK without any consequences.”

The UK government has stepped up security around the capital in the aftermath of the attack, and Prime Minister David Cameron has called an emergency meeting with top politicians and security officials to discuss the atrocity.

Meanwhile : "Woolwich is a lesson for us all, we must take the role of the UK in Muslim land seriously and its harsh repercussions on the streets of the UK," Choudary tweeted just hours after the attack in south London's economically depressed Woolwich neighborhood, where he spent at least part of his own young life.

Speaking to CBS News Wednesday night, after the murder, Choudary said he thought he might have recognized one of the suspects from his rallies or sermons.

The suspect seen in the video defending the attack on Wednesday may or may not have been influenced by Choudary, but the language he used was straight from Choudary's script.Hmmmm......Denial is not a River in Egypt.Read the full story here.

"CHANGE" - US Treasury secretary says he has begun tapping federal retiree pension fund to avoid default.

"CHANGE" - US Treasury secretary says he has begun tapping federal retiree pension fund to avoid default.(StarTribune).

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said late Monday he will begin tapping into two government employee retirement funds to buy more time before the U.S. Treasury is faced with the prospect of defaulting on the national debt.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Lew said that he would tap the civil service retirement and disability fund and a similar fund that covers retired postal workers. The law allows him to remove investments from these funds to clear room for more borrowing until Congress votes to raise the debt limit

Under the law, any investments diverted from the pension funds must be replaced with interest once Congress approves raising the debt limit.

Lew has said the various bookkeeping measures he is allowed to employ should provide enough maneuvering room to keep the government from defaulting on its debt until after Labor Day. Other estimates say Lew may be able to forestall a default until as late as November.

"I respectfully urge Congress to protect America's good credit and avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of failing to act by increasing the debt limit in a timely fashion," Lew said in his Monday letter.Hmmmm.... Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones"Makes a nice motto for the Post United States of America, doesn’t it? Read the Full Story here.

U.S. Special Forces Getting Constellation of Mini Satellites To ‘Hunt Down People Considered To Be Dangerous To The United States And Its Interests’

U.S. Special Forces Getting Constellation of Mini Satellites To ‘Hunt Down People Considered To Be Dangerous To The United States And Its Interests’.HT: Wired.

In September, the U.S. government will fire into orbit a two-stage rocket from a Virginia launchpad. Officially, the mission is a scientific one, designed to improve America’s ability to send small satellites into space quickly and cheaply. But the launch will also have a second purpose: to help the elite forces of U.S. Special Operations Command hunt down people considered to be dangerous to the United States and its interests.

For years, special operators have used tiny “tags” to clandestinely mark their prey — and satellites to relay information from those beacons. But there are areas of the world where the satellite coverage is thin, and there aren’t enough cell towers to provide an alternative. That’s why SOCOM is putting eight miniature communications satellites, each about the size of a water jug, on top of the Minotaur rocket that’s getting ready to launch from Wallops Island, Virginia. They’ll sit more than 300 miles above the earth and provide a new way for the beacons to call back to their masters.

Some of the beacons use infrared flashes to signal their location; in 2009, al-Qaida propagandists claimed they found them all over villages that had been hit with U.S. drone strikes. Others are implanted into seemingly-innocent commercial electronics. Under “TTL examples,” Richardson’s presentation (.pdf) showed pictures of a cell phone and a key fob, like the kind used to open a car. Still other tags are affixed to cars or people, and transmit their whereabouts using satellite or CDMA, GPRS, and other cellular networks.

EWA says its technology is being used in “real-world operations with various Department of Defense and national- level agencies.” The company won’t say which agencies or which divisions of the Pentagon, exactly, have used their technologies. But a look in a federal purchasing database shows that the company has signed multi-million dollar contracts in recent years with the Army, Navy, and, of course, U.S. Special Operations Command. Hmmmm......They might get very 'busy' over Washington DC.Read the full story here.

UN’s World Health Org adopted a resolution demanding urgent action on “inhuman Israeli practices” that target “the health of Syrian citizens.”

UN’s World Health Org adopted a resolution demanding urgent action on “inhuman Israeli practices” that target “the health of Syrian citizens.”HT: UNWatch.

GENEVA, May 22 – The annual assembly of the UN’s World Health Organization adopted a resolution (pages 2-4 — see full vote count below) and held a special debate today criticizing Israel — the only specific country on the organization’s agenda — with Syria demanding urgent action on “inhuman Israeli practices” that target “the health of Syrian citizens.” Click here for links to relevant WHO documents.

Observers of the world body in Geneva said the annual hypocrisy reached a new low this year.

“To see the Assad regime point the finger at Israel out of professed concern for the health of Syrians is, frankly, a sick joke,” said Hillel Neuer, exectuive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, a non-governmental monitoring group accredited to the UN.

“They’ve slaughtered 80,000 of their own people, and are now busy destroying the lives of millions more. The real question is this: Why is the UN allowing mass murderers to deflect attention from their crimes by scapegoating democracies?”

“A world health assembly should be about Hippocrates, not hypocrisy,” said Neuer.

Syria’s report expressed concern that “the health conditions of the Syrian population in the occupied Golan continue to deteriorate, as a result of the suppressive practices of the Israeli occupation.”

Neuer noted that “out of 25 agenda items on the WHO’s conference agenda, all but one address global themes.”

“The exception, today’s Item No. 20, turned a spotlight on one specific country: Israel. No other country in the world — not Mexico, Russia, Syria, or anywhere else — is treated this way.”

“Despite what’s being said at the UN, the Palestinians’ own health minister recently acknowledged Israel’s extensive medical care for Palestinian children and its training of Palestinians doctors.”

“The UN debate also failed to mention that only last week, an Israeli hospital saved the life of a four-year-old Syrian girl, in a successful operation for a deadly heart condition. What we heard at the UN today was pure political fiction, and contrary to the simple facts.”Read the full story here.

Video - ISLAM VS. ISLAMISM.

Video - ISLAM VS. ISLAMISM.HT: SunNewsNetwork.

Middle East expert Daniel Pipes joins Ezra Levant to discuss the difference between Islam and Islamism as well as the issues surrounding the US senate vote to arm Syrian jihadists.

Muslim religious leaders deliver emotional prayer at Auschwitz for Holocaust dead

Muslim religious leaders deliver emotional prayer at Auschwitz for Holocaust dead.(HD).

Muslim religious leaders from across the globe knelt in solemn prayer for Holocaust dead at Auschwitz on May 22, before the notorious Wall of Death at the former Nazi German death camp in southern Poland.

Thousands of Auschwitz prisoners perished at the wall, grey and still riddled with bullet holes. Adorned with flowers, it is a stone's throw from the infamous wrought iron "Arbeit macht frei" (Work makes you free) gate at the camp's entrance.

Imams from Bosnia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States offered traditional Muslim "salat" prayers.

The emotional visit was part of a Holocaust awareness and anti-genocide programme organised in part by the US State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom. Of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II, a million were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau, mostly in its notorious gas chambers, along with tens of thousands of others including Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war.

Operated by the Nazis from 1940 until it was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz was part of a vast and brutal network of death and concentration camps across Europe set up as part of Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution" of genocide against an estimated 10 million European Jews.

Once Europe's Jewish heartland, Poland saw 90 percent of its 3.3 million pre-war Jews wiped out under Nazi German occupation between 1939-45.

Some of the imams wept at an emotional meeting May 21 with Jewish Holocaust survivors and their Polish Catholic saviours who told stories of their war-time sacrifice and survival at Warsaw's Nozyk Synagogue.

Earlier May 22, the group visited the Polish capital's new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, in the heart of city's pre-war Jewish community which became the infamous Warsaw ghetto under the Nazis.

The sprawling venue highlights nearly a millennium of Jewish life in Poland obliterated by the Holocaust. A soaring rupture opening on to undulating walls marks its facade, an allusion to Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea, through which Moses led the Jews fleeing slavery in Egypt to freedom, a narrative shared by the Torah, the Bible and the Quran.Hmmmm.......I would love to know the name of the 'Palestinian' Mufti who was there at Auschwitz.Read the full story here.

Palestinian Grand Mufti Al-Husseini visiting Reichmarshall SS Himmler.

Video - Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: The European Races Are Barbaric Races.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: The European Races Are Barbaric Races.

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at a conference for women and aired on Channel 1, Iranian TV, on May 10, 2013:

Ali Khamenei: The European races are barbaric. They wear freshly pressed suits and ties, and they smell of eau de cologne, but deep down, they still have the same barbaric nature known from history. 

They kill with ease. They murder people without any problem. Therefore, beating women in their homes is of no consequence to the [Europeans] and Americans, whereas in an Islamic environment, it is unimaginable.Source: Memri.

"Amnesty International" - ‘Turkey shows little progress in freedom’.

"Amnesty International" - ‘Turkey shows little progress in freedom’.(HD).

Amnesty International has criticized Turkey for lack of progress in its human rights issues in its annual report, while praising the “little progress” in freedom of expression.

“Taboo issues now are being debated. I cannot say this new situation is at the level of international freedom of expression, but its progress,” the director of AI’s Turkey branch, Murat Çekiç, told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

He emphasized that investigations were still being opened into individuals who voiced challenging opinions.

Çekiç also praised Turkey’s newly adopted law on “Foreigners and International Protection,” which introduced significant changes in terms of the human rights of immigrants and foreigners.

The Turkish police use excessive force to break up peaceful demonstrations; and investigations and prosecutions into alleged human rights abuses by state officials are flawed, the human rights group said in its 2013 report that is aired today.

Allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention places persisted, according to the report, which added that the national human rights institution lacked guarantees of independence. “Independent mechanisms promised by the government, such as a police complaints procedure, were not established,” the report stated.

Unfair trials persisted, particularly with respect to prosecutions under anti-terrorism legislation before Special Heavy Penal Courts, the report says. Secret witness statements that could not be challenged have been used in court and convictions continued to be issued in cases lacking reliable and substantive evidence.

Conscientious objectors

Meanwhile, the report also said that no reforms had been introduced to recognize the right of conscientious objection or to prevent the repeated criminal prosecution of conscientious objectors for their refusal to perform military service. “People publicly supporting the right to conscientious objection faced criminal prosecution,” it said.

The report also touched upon gay rights in Turkey. The government rejected civil society calls to include sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited discrimination grounds in the new Constitution, the report said. “No progress was made in adopting comprehensive non-discrimination legislation.” it read.

Turkey ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, passing a law that strengthened protections and allowed for direct application of the Convention. At the end of the year there were only 103 shelters for survivors of domestic violence, far below the number required by law, the Amnesty report claimed. Hmmmm......And they want to have the 'Leadership' of the European Union?Read the full story here.

Video - Rome the scene for the next Woolwich? Long islamic procession chants Allah Akbar in central Rome.

Hmmmm.....As i said earlier in a comment today: "This is just the beginning expect similar ' attacks' in Paris , Brussels and all the main European capitals. When we warned about the potential danger we were called 'Islamophobes , racists , Crusaders'...... But who's doing the killing?"

"INCOMING" - Here comes Sequester: Part 2.

"INCOMING" - Here comes Sequester: Part 2.(TheHill).By Erik Wasson.

An unwelcome sequel is scheduled for January release and it’s titled Sequester: Part 2.

It is increasingly likely that this second round of indiscriminate cuts will reprise the first sequester, with concomitant public frustration about Washington’s inability to budget rationally.

The first sequester, triggered by the 2011 Budget Control Act, required agencies to cut $80 billion equally from across their operations.

Lawmakers in both parties said they wanted to avoid using this blunt fiscal ax and criticized it for cutting the good with the bad. Agency heads decried worker furloughs and warned of economic pain.
The second year of the 2011 Budget Control Act was supposed to be easier.
From 2014 on, the act imposed spending ceilings on the government that were meant to force appropriators to make considered decisions on spending cuts instead of across-the-board slashing.
But it appears likely that Congress will fail to agree to specific cuts, and will punt the decisions to agencies.
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday adopted top-line figures for each of the 12 appropriations bills. These are so different from the Senate’s likely bills that it will be all but impossible to reconcile them, lawmakers say.
“It is too early in the year to condemn us to an inevitable CR [continuing resolution] — it’s progressing in that direction. That’s the message we have been putting out loud and clear,” Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said Tuesday, adding, “We don’t want a long-term CR. We are boxed in, which I don’t like.”
Unless President Obama and congressional leaders reach a deficit grand bargain, experts say Congress is on track to put most spending on autopilot with another continuing resolution.
The government is operating under a continuing resolution set at $1.043 trillion, but the Budget Control Act would set the fiscal 2014 spending level at $967 billion. That would require a cut of about $76 billion across the government.
That cut would need to be made 15 days after Congress adjourns at the end of the year. Implementing it without furloughs or layoffs could be very tough for agency heads, who have already struggled to find one-time savings this year, aides said.
Rogers called the sequester situation “idiotic” but said his hands are “tied” by the Budget Control Act, the House-passed budget and House rules.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who heads the Senate Appropriations Labor subcommittee, argued the cuts would be devastating.

“Do they intend to eliminate the entire National Institutes of Health? That wouldn’t be enough to achieve their proposed cut,” he said. “Do they plan to eliminate all funding for special education, Title I, after-school centers, and teacher quality? Again, that wouldn’t be enough to achieve their proposed cut.”

Rogers said producing some of bills, such as the noncontroversial Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs spending measures, is better than producing none.
Ranking member Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)  pointed to confusion among Democrats on how to handle the train wreck.
“We don’t know what the president is thinking, we don’t know what [the Office of Management and Budget] is thinking,” she said.Hmmmm.....Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones".  Read the full story here.

The U.S. Senate unanimously pledged today to stand by Israel should it take military action against Iran.

The Clock is Ticking!

The U.S. Senate unanimously pledged today to stand by Israel should it take military action against Iran.HT: UskowiOnIran.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee today passed a strong new package of sanctions against Iran. The Nuclear Iran Prevention Act (H.R. 850) significantly expands current U.S. sanctions to more strategic sectors of the Iranian economy and grants the president specific authorization to bar companies from doing business in the United States if they carry out virtually any significant commercial trade with Tehran. The House is expected to pass the bi-partisan sanctions legislation soon. It already has 344 co-sponsors.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate unanimously pledged today to stand by Israel should it take military action against Iran. The resolution specifies that the United States should provide diplomatic, military, and economic support to Israel “in its defense of its territory, people, and existence.” 
The resolution also reiterates that the policy of the United States is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability and to take such action as may be necessary to implement this policy. Hmmmm......Alea iacta est, May God have mercy.Read the full story here.

Related: Warning to Russia ? After delay, U.S. Air Force test-launches Minuteman 3 missile in California.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base on Wednesday, a month after the test flight was postponed because of tensions with North Korea. The Minuteman 3 lifted off at 6:27 a.m. PDT (1327 GMT) Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It splashed down less than 30 minutes later and 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometres) away at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, Air Force officials said.

It was the first Minuteman test-launch of 2013. Several missiles are launched from Vandenberg each year to verify the weapon system's accuracy and reliability.

The U.S. has 450 nuclear-armed Minuteman 3 missiles ready for combat use, if directed by the president. They are in underground silos in five states.

Israel preparing for protracted war on three fronts.

Israel preparing for protracted war on three fronts.HT: IsraelMatzav.

Reuters' Dan Williams reports that Israel is preparing for a protracted war on three fronts in the event that Syria's Bashar al-Assad falls. Major-General Amir Eshel also said Israelis should brace for a protracted and painful conflict should their forces engage in combat with Hezbollah or its main backer, Iran.

"If Syria collapses tomorrow, we will need to take action to prevent a strategic looting of advanced weaponry," he told the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Studies near Tel Aviv.

"We have to be ready for any scenario, at a few hours' notice," Eshel said. He assumed fighting could escalate on to three fronts at once and require the Israeli air force to employ "the full spectrum of its might".

Beset by the more than two-year-old insurgency, Assad has not retaliated for the air strikes.

But some Israeli experts worry his forbearance could wear out - especially if he believes new Russian-supplied air defences will let him fend off his militarily superior foe.

Eshel said the most formidable of the Russian systems, the S-300, was "on its way" to Syria and that Israel could not afford to see its air superiority dented given what he predicted would be the need to hit the other side intensively.

"If we want to prevail within a few days, we need to use a lot of firepower, and quickly," he said. "Air superiority is critical, and we must contend with a new generation of capabilities."Hmmmm......May God protect the people of Israel and slay their enemies.Read the full story here.

Claim: chief investigator behind the Obama Administration's ever widening IRS scandal once dated Michelle Obama

Claim: chief investigator behind the Obama Administration's ever widening IRS scandal once dated Michelle Obama.HT: Examiner.

The man who is making his face well known to Americans as the chief investigator behind the Obama Administration's ever widening IRS scandal very well may have once been the beau years ago to a young law student by the name of Michelle Robinson, better known nowadays as Michelle Obama, as reported by Shane Goldmacher of the National Journal on May 22, 2013. 

J. Russell George is the man assigned as the Inspector General to the Department of the Treasury, and within his purview falls the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Much of that has been to the chagrin of more than a few within the IRS. George is viewed by many as the man who at least has been the catalyst for blowing the lid off the admitted IRS targeting of conservative groups with delays and harassment in their collective quests to gain charity (tax-exempt) status. 

Far from being a liberal Democrat, it turns out that the registered Republican has a bit of a history with the current First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS). While enrolled at the Harvard Law School during the 1980s, George eventually graduated alongside the current FLOTUS, and possibly more than just as friends and colleagues. 

The Inspector General has already admitted that besides the both of them being members of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) at Harvard University, not that there should be anything exceptional or noteworthy of that.

 But the man who got his start in the world of politics working for the former Republican Senator from Kansas Bob Dole, did state: Michelle was a lovely person, and down to earth. The BLSA went out for pizza; we would go out together. Then after pausing for a moment, George interjected "Don't get me in trouble."

"I think he actually dated Michelle at one point," said the Republican former Congressman from Virginia Tom Davis who worked with George when he was assigned as the staff director for one of the many House oversight subcommittees in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Davis went on to describe George's temperament as "perfect" for the current crisis enveloping the Obama Administration's IRS. As Davis said: You couldn’t ask for a more fair umpire in this. He’s not a fiery Republican type, but obviously he’s not beholden to the administration.Hmmmmm.........Who would have guessed Karma is a B Women.Read the full story here.

Video - Darrell Issa to haul Lerner back before Comittee.

Video - Darrell Issa to haul Lerner back before Comittee.HT: InfidelBloggers.
"Mr. Issa, Mr. Cummings said we should run this like a courtroom and I agree with him. She just testified. She just waved her Fifth Amendment rights. You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross examination. That’s not the way it works. She waved her right to Fifth Amendment privilege by issuing an opening statement. She ought to stand here and answer our questions. (Applause)”

A “secret” Facebook group of AP, AFP foreign correspondents and human rights activists trash Israel.

A “secret” Facebook group of AP, AFP foreign correspondents and human rights activists trash Israel.(FreeBeacon).By: Alana Goodman.

A “secret” Facebook group of foreign correspondents and human rights activists quickly devolved into an anti-Israel hate-fest on Tuesday following the release of a new Israeli government report that cleared the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of wrongdoing in the 2000 death of a Palestinian boy. 

The Israeli government report contests the claim that the IDF killed a Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, in a famous 2000 incident in Gaza that helped ignite the Second Intifada.
Journalists and activists mocked the report, attacked the IDF, and claimed pro-Israel lobbyists were influencing the media coverage, in a private Facebook group for foreign correspondents known as the “Vulture Club.”
Peter Bouckaert, a senior official at Human Rights Watch, dismissed the report as “typical IDF lies.” “As usual, it takes them a long time to really build up the falsehood,” wrote Bouckaert. Bouckaert also blasted the New York Times for its coverage of the report. “It really isn’t good journalism to write this up as if these are credible allegations when it is a pack of lies,” he wrote.
Correspondents from numerous outlets, including the Associated Press and the Agence France-Presse, also piled on. “[T]he lobby uses all its strength and is able to push anything in majors [sic] English newspapers or in the NYT[imes],” wrote El Mundo reporter Javier Espinosa. “Israeli embassies call their contacts in all those newspapers and they agree to publish that information.”

“That reinforces lack of media credibility and conspiracy theories as we are being used as mouthpieces for propaganda,” Espinosa added.

Associated Press photojournalist Jerome Delay wrote, “The IDF thinks the earth is flat, btw.”

The journalists also took shots at Philippe Karsenty, a French media analyst who was sued by France 2 television after he accused the network of airing staged footage of the al-Durrah incident.

“And fuck no, it’s not true that ‘Everyone in France knows the footage is a hoax,’ as Karsenty says,” wrote AFP reporter Marc Bastian. “Everyone here knows that [France 2 journalist Charles] Enderlin is an honest man, and Karsenty is an extremist.”

“That’s about the kindest way to describe Karsenty,” replied Bouckaert. “I would add a few descriptive words after extremist.”“I know, I’m always too polite,” responded Bastian.

Andrew Ford Lyons, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, which has supported anti-Israel terrorists, called the al-Durrah report “a feeble attempt at historical revision, at best.”

Bouckaert, who is currently the emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, declined to discuss his comments to the Vulture Club on the record when contacted by the Washington Free Beacon.
“The group is a secret FB group, and our discussions are confidential,” Bouckaert said.

Human Rights Watch’s founder, Robert Bernstein, publicly broke with the group in 2009 and said the group’s anti-Israel activism was distorting the issue.

Human Rights Watch did not comment.The Vulture Club has around 3,500 members.Hmmmm.......AA.....'Antisemites Anonymous'?Read the full story here.

Carl in Jerusalem points out the following fact:

According to my sources, Bouckaert was the direct supervisor of Marc Garlasco at 'human rights watch.' Garlasco was the organization's senior military analyst until he was suspended in September 2009 after his hobby of collecting Nazi memorabilia was uncovered by bloggers.

The Washington Post’s Pinnochios on Terror Training.

The Washington Post’s Pinnochios on Terror Training.HT: TheCounterJihadReport.


 A letter to the Editor of the Washington Post, By Frank Gaffney:

Glenn Kessler recently awarded Rep. Louis Gohmert “four Pinnochios,” asserting that that Texas Republican legislator had “invent[ed] his own facts” about the Obama administration’s ties to Islamists.  

Actually, Mr. Gohmert is on solid ground with his warnings about Muslim Brotherhood influence operations inside the U.S. government that have contributed to the dumbing-down of the FBI’s and other agencies’ understanding of the threat thus posed. 
Such penetration has indeed contributed, among other things, to the purging of official training materials the Brotherhood and its fellow Islamists find “offensive.”

Mr. Kessler wrote that, “We are open to altering this ruling if more evidence is provided” in support of Rep. Gohmert’s allegations. 
Happily, such evidence is readily available in a free, 10-part, online video-based course posted last year by the Center for Security Policy at MuslimBrotherhoodinAmerica.com. 

This course offers six examples of individuals with documented ties to the Brotherhood who have served as officials of the Obama administration or as key advisers concerning “Muslim-outreach.”

For instance, the course chronicles the role one such individual, Mohamed Elibiary, appears to have played in the elimination of training materials used by the FBI that connected the proverbial dots between the Islamic supremacist doctrine of shariah, jihad and terrorism.

It also describes the role of Mr. Elibiary and others with Islamist associations in the adoption by the administration of guidelines that effectively require future training materials and trainers in “countering violent extremism” to be vetted by “community partners.” 
The latter seem to be drawn exclusively from Brotherhood front groups or their surrogates, which can only make matters worse.

Finally, Mr. Kessler faults Rep. Gohmert for pointing to the Obama administration’s elimination of words like jihad, shariah and Islam from key documents.  While President Bush began this practice, it has been enshrined in the Obama presidency to the point where, for example, the 2009 National Intelligence Strategy and even the 2010 after-action report on the jihadist attack at Fort Hood make no mention of such terms. 

Rep. Gohmert is right to worry that such willful blindness can only interfere with our government’s understanding of the dangers we face and its ability to protect us against them.

I hope that, on the basis of such additional evidence, Mr. Kessler will, indeed, “alter this ruling” and the serious disservice it does to one of the most knowledgeable and truthful Members of Congress, Louie Gohmert.

Frank Gaffney

Center for Security Policy.

Related: Jihad experts decry White House terror training guidelines (counterjihadreport.com)