Saturday, February 25, 2012
MFS -The Other News - What the main papers don't say.
Morning Posting.
- Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Fiiji 5.5 - 5.1 ; Russia 5.3 - 5.2 - 5.1 !More info here.
- Two Americans, four Afghans killed on 5th day of Qur’an burning protests.(BM).Kabul (dpa) – Two foreign military advisors, reportedly United States nationals, were killed in a gun fight inside Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry on Saturday, as scores of Afghans took to the streets for a fifth day over the desecration of the Koran by US troops.At least four demonstrators were also killed in a day of violent protests across the country, officials told dpa.“Initial reports indicate an individual turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in Kabul City today, killing two service members,” NATO said.The Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed that “two international colleagues were murdered” inside the building, adding that an investigation was underway.Saturday’s incident came just days after two US soldiers were killed by an Afghan turncoat inside a military base in eastern Afghanistan.Local media said the latest casualties were also American, while the suspect shooter was thought to be an Afghan policeman. It was not immediately clear whether the shootout was directly related to the Koran burning incident.In the latest protests, at least four Afghans were killed and 51 others, including several policemen, injured during a demonstration in the northern city of Kunduz, an official said.Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, a spokesman for the police in Kunduz, said the protesters had tried to storm a United Nation’s office and the local police’s headquarters, but had failed to get inside.Read the full story here.More here.
- More Stimulus Money Blowing in the Wind.(BG).By Scott G. Erickson.Then-candidate Barack Obama made many promises while on the campaign trail for the presidency in 2008; however, few remain as dubious as his declaration that an America under his leadership would see the creation of a robust “green” economy, ready to power America into the twenty-first century.Promising to create millions of “green” jobs, Obama stated during his campaign that, “We’ll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced and help end our dependence on foreign oil.”So where exactly are all those “green” jobs?A Wall Street Journal investigation into the relationship between job-creation claims by the Obama administration and stimulus money targeted toward the development and expansion of our nation’s “green” energy sector has revealed an apparent disconnect between rhetoric and reality.Specifically, the Journal report focused on funds apportioned to companies developing renewable energy from with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). According to Section 1603 of ARRA, allocated resources should be dispensed to create jobs and renewable energy such as wind, geothermal, and solar, exclusive of oil and fossil fuel sources.Since the passage of ARRA, over $10 billion in stimulus funds have been distributed through the 1603 program, which expired in December 2011. According to the Obama administration, this has been a boon to America’s renewable energy sector.Money allocated through the 1603 program “has played a central role in the dramatic expansion of renewable energy generation in the United States, with energy generated from wind and solar set to double in the president’s first term,” a White House spokesman said to the Wall Street Journal.But where, again, are all those “green” jobs?Although recipients of 1603 funds claimed to have created over 100,000 jobs as a direct result of the stimulus money, little evidence exists to back those claims.In one example cited by the WSJ, Raser Technologies received a $33 million grant to develop a geothermal plant in Beaver County, Utah. In the year following receipt of the grant, Raser’s workforce dropped from 42 employees to 27.Raser subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection and now employs less than 10 individuals.Perhaps the example of Raser Technologies is an anomaly in an otherwise successful program? Perhaps not.Again, the WSJ found discrepancies in the stated amount of jobs “created” among 1603 recipients focusing on wind power development and actual employees still working in the field.Although nearly $5 billion was allocated to wind farm development, of the 7,200 workers employed at the height of construction only 300 remain employed today. It appears that whatever employment may have been generated through the 1603 program was often temporary at best.In fact, many of the jobs purported to have been created through 1603 funding were actually ancillary to the energy programs themselves. Many companies cited work in the fields of hospitality management and retail as jobs “created” through 1603 funding because the presence of renewable energy construction projects helped to sustain these industries within the local economy.This type of data manipulation undermines any attempt to accurately quantify the extent to which 1603 funding “created” jobs.As our nation’s unemployment rate continues to hover around 9 percent, with a more expansive underemployment rate of over 15 percent, common sense suggests that, insofar as job creation is concerned, the 1603 program has been yet another stimulus failure on the part of the Obama administration.Undeterred, however, President Obama has requested that Congress reinstall the 1603 program into the 2013 budget.Read the full story here.
- U.S. Per Capita Debt Worse than Greece.(FB).U.S. per capita debt is larger than that of Europe’s most financially distressed countries, including Greece, a new analysis reveals.U.S. debt per capita is nearly $45,000, approximately 15 percent higher than that of Greece ($38,937), and more than double that of Portugal ($19,989).Republican analysts on the Senate Budget Committee calculated the figures using the most recent data available from the International Monetary Fund.Under President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget, U.S. debt per capita is projected to reach $75,000.As the Free Beacon noted on Wednesday, Americans born today will owe more than $1.5 million to pay off the national debt, which is currently about $16 trillion, and growing.Read and see the full story here.
- Harry Reid and Senate Democrats Are Holding Up 24 ‘Jobs Bills’ Passed By the House.(BG).With Gallup’s recent report that the U.S. underemployment rate now stands at a jaw-dropping 19 percent, Speaker John Boehner wants to know why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have yet to take action on the 24 jobs bills passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives. If the president really wants to get the economy moving again, maybe he’ll pick up the phone and call Senator Reid and ask Senate Democrats to get off their rear ends.Some political analysts believe Speaker Boehner’s comments may forecast the Republican Party’s congressional election strategy. According to Reuters, everywhere Speaker Boehner goes, he now carries in his left breast-coat pocket a four by eight card that lists the two dozen jobs bills that have passed the House but lay dormant in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Boehner’s card, says Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report, may presage a broader electoral strategy: “If they can demonstrate what they are for, they can rebut Obama’s charge that they are ‘obstructionists’ who aren’t for anything,” Gonzales said. “But we have to see to what extent Republicans are willing and able to follow this playbook.”All 242 House Republicans have been urged by leadership to flash these cards at Washington news conferences as well as town-hall meetings and campaign events back home.For his part, Sen. Reid has met Speaker Boehner’s jobs challenge with derision: Reid has called the Republican proposals “subterfuge” and said that cutting regulations would “make people sicker, our air dirtier and our food less safe.”“That’s what they’re doing to create jobs,” Reid scoffed a day after Boehner touted the jobs bills on a TV talk show.Speaker Boehner’s move to go on offense about jobs will prove critical in an election likely to center on America’s stagnant economic growth and persistently high unemployment numbers. Democrats need to win 25 seats to regain majority control of the House of Representatives.Read the full story here.
- US preacher demands Obama act on “Muslim war against Christians”.(BM).American preacher Franklin Graham called on US President Barack Obama to act on the “war on Christians” in the Islamic world being conducted by Muslims.Graham, the son of famous evangelist Billy Graham, made the comments in response to the ongoing case against a 34-year Iranian pastor who is threatened with execution for his conversion to Christianity when he was 19-years-old.“There’s millions of Muslims out there that don’t agree with this — they’re wonderful people, Greta — but they’re under the system of Sharia law [that] they can’t get out from under because the law — the Quran — demands if a person leaves Islam, they are to be killed,” Graham told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.“They’re given a chance to recant . . . but if they don’t recant, if they don’t denounce their faith, like this man was told to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, but he refused to do it. And so therefore, they’re going to hang him.“According to the court records, what we can determine, he never was a Muslim — his parents were Muslim and he [became] a Christian — I think it was at age 19 — and what they have charged him on is apostasy under Islamic law,” Graham said. “But since he hadn’t been a Muslim, they are going hang him anyway because his parents were Muslim.”The Fox News host then said that Obama and the US administration is unlikely they could do much to intervene in the pastor’s situation. Graham, however, disagreed.“The president could call for a prayer meeting at the White House. He could make a statement. We apologized to the Afghans because a Qur’an was mistakenly burned . . . and he apologizes to the Afghans after an Afghan soldier killed two Americans,” Graham said. “But why doesn’t he speak out? He could. He could use the power of the White House to call pastors together at the White House and have a prayer meeting for this guy, but he hasn’t done it.”The statements haven’t gone over well in Egypt, where Christians continue to struggle to ensure full citizenship in the country.Read the full story here.
- Muslim Judge Dismisses Assault Case; Muslim Perpetrator Caught on Tape and Confessed to Crime.(BP).By Diana West.Think you’ve heard it all? Think you’re shock-proof? Read the following report by on a recent trial in Pennsylvania in which an apparently Muslim judge (he states, “I’m a Muslim” while pronouncing his judgement) dismissed harassment charges against a Muslim defendant (despite witness and police corroboration) due to “insufficient evidence” while reading the riot act to the plaintiff for having “trashed the essence of [Muslims'] being” by dressing up as “Zombie Mohammed” for a Halloween parade. First Amendment? What First Amendment? This judge has a copy of the Koran on the bench.From the blog Opposing Views: By Al Stefanelli. The Pennsylvania State Director of American Atheists, Inc., Mr. Ernest Perce V., was assaulted by a Muslim while participating in a Halloween parade. Along with a Zombie Pope, Ernest was costumed as Zombie Muhammad. The assault was caught on video, the Muslim man admitted to his crime and charges were filed in what should have been an open-and-shut case. That’s not what happened, though.The defendant is an immigrant and claims he did not know his actions were illegal, or that it was legal in this country to represent Muhammad in any form. To add insult to injury, he also testified that his 9 year old son was present, and the man said he felt he needed to show his young son that he was willing to fight for his Prophet.The case went to trial, and as circumstances would dictate, Judge Mark Martin is also a Muslim. What transpired next was surreal. The Judge not only ruled in favor of the defendant, but called Mr. Perce a name and told him that if he were in a Muslim country, he’d be put to death. Judge Martin’s comments included, “Having had the benefit of having spent over 2 and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam. In fact I have a copy of the Koran here and I challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. I think you misinterpreted things. Before you start mocking someone else’s religion you may want to find out a little bit more about it it makes you look like a dufus and Mr. (Defendant) is correct. In many Arabic speaking countries something like this is definitely against the law there. In their society in fact it can be punishable by death and it frequently is in their society. Judge Martin then offered a lesson in Islam, stating, “Islam is not just a religion, it’s their culture, their culture. It’s their very essence their very being. They pray five times a day towards Mecca to be a good Muslim, before you die you have to make a pilgrimage to Mecca unless you are otherwise told you can not because you are too ill too elderly, whatever but you must make the attempt. Their greetings wa-laikum as-Salâm (is answered by voice) may god be with you. Whenever, it’s very common when speaking to each other it’s very common for them to say uh this will happen it’s it they are so immersed in it. Judge Martin further complicates the issue by not only abrogating the First Amendment, but completely misunderstanding it when he said,“Then what you have done is you have completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very very very offensive. I’m a Muslim, I find it offensive. But you have that right, but you’re way outside your boundaries or first amendment rights. This is what, and I said I spent about 7 and a half years living in other countries. when we go to other countries it’s not uncommon for people to refer to us as ugly Americans this is why we are referred to as ugly Americans, because we are so concerned about our own rights we don’t care about other people’s rights as long as we get our say but we don’t care about the other people’s say”But wait, it gets worse. The Judge refused to allow the video into evidence, and then said,“All that aside I’ve got here basically.. I don’t want to say he said she said but I’ve got two sides of the story that are in conflict with each other.”And,“The preponderance of, excuse me, the burden of proof… “And,“…he has not proven to me beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant is guilty of harassment, therefore I am going to dismiss the charge”.Local ABC affiliate coverage here.Audio excerpts of the trial proceeding, including the judge’s ruling, here.Read the full story here.
- Spain: Pakistani Refugee Calls for Koran to be Banned.(IVE).A Paki living in Spain named Imran Farasat has launched a petition calling for the Koran to be banned. He has sent it to numerous government officials, ministries and organisations.The Koran is a major threat to the free society of Spain. A book which clearly offers a message of jihad, killing, hating, discrimination and vengeance for that reason cannot be compatible with the Spanish system in any sense. It is a book totally contrary to what the law and constitution of Spain say. And it is inciting hatred and violence in our country. Farasat is a Pakistani citizen with legal residence in Spain as a political refugee. He has his own blog called World Without Islam. It's mostly in Spanish but there is some material in other languages, including English.Read the full story here.
- Canada - Maid of the Mist replacement Hornblower talks future plans, its Canadian connection.(Yahoo).When Niagara Parks Commission awarded the lease for its boat tour operations to a California-based Hornblower Canada, many started wondering about the company that will soon be ferrying passengers through the Niagara Gorge.Hornblower Canada replaces Maid of the Mist Steamboat Company, the Canadian-run, American-owned ferry service that has operated at the base of the Falls since 1846. The new tour boats are scheduled to start running in 2014.Reader reaction indicated that many felt the Parks Commission should have given the new contract to a Canadian company, even though the Glynn family of Lewiston, NY, has owned Maid of the Mist since 1971.On the phone from the San Francisco headquarters, Hornblower spokesperson Tegan Firth hoped to clarify some of those details."The parent company is based in California, but Hornblower Canada is a Canadian company," she told Yahoo! Canada News. "The vessels will be Canadian vessels and all of the economic benefit, all of the taxes we pay, all of the people we employ are Canadian.""One of the things we're trying to do is make sure that we [are] going to return a fair economic benefit to [Canada] and to the community and that's really important for us," she added. Janice Thomson, chair of the Niagara Parks Commission, said they evaluated each bid based on a set of criteria that included everything from safety, ticket pricing and innovation, to the lease amount payable to the commission.A team of outside evaluators scored the criteria and verified the sustainability of each bid. Hornblower came out with the highest overall score. Thomson addressed criticism that the contract should have gone to a Canadian company by noting that Maid of the Mist was also owned by an American parent company, so the new situation would be no different. She added that the commission awarded the contract to the bid that would "offer the best value to Ontarians.""It's a company that's obviously going to hire Canadians because the business happens in Canada, so the employees will be from the area and all the materials they use in the course of their business are going to be sourced in Canada," she said.Firth said the company's first step is to modernize the tour infrastructure all the way through, from upgrading the ticketing service to building a mobile website that people can access through their smartphones.The new 599-passenger vessels will also be designed to accommodate different types of cruisers, with more seats for those who want to enjoy the view from a more comfortable vantage point, "dry zones," and an enhanced viewing deck for the more adventurous.Hornblower's expansion into Canada follows the 32-year-old company's recent move toward America's East Coast. In 2008, Hornblower Cruises began operating ferries to New York's Statue of Liberty and Ellis Islands.Read the full story here.
- Foreign ‘hands’ attacking Islam, region, says Saudi King.(BM).CAIRO: Foreign and “unnamed hands” are targeting Islam, the Islamic world and Arabs in the recent events in the region, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said.The king, who was giving a televised address Friday night to a conference of prominent Saudis, did not name any country in particular.But Saudi officials have used similar terms in recent weeks to suggest a connection with Iran, a Shia country at odds with Sunni Saudi Arabia.“There were hands that are known to you all … behind what has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he said.Sunni Saudi Arabia is wary of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in nearby Bahrain, where a Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from its Sunni rulers.However, the king said that the kingdom strongly backs the uprising in Syria and supports all action against Syria’s President Bashar Assad.It is not the first time leaders in the region have referred to “unnamed hands” being behind events on the ground. In Egypt, the military junta has numerous times accused “invisible hands” of being behind the violent clashes in the country in recent months.Hmmm.......And who has forgotten the king's call "To cut of the head of the snake"?Read the full story here
Muslim screaming "Allahu akbar" on Continental flight tried killing people with his car the day before.
Muslim screaming "Allahu akbar" on Continental flight tried killing people with his car the day before.(JW).--The man who repeatedly yelled “Allah is great” as he was removed yesterday from a plane that was forced to make an emergency landing due to his unruly behavior is a 19-year-old Saudi Arabian who was arrested Sunday night after he led Oregon police on a drunken car chase that saw him ram two cop cars and attempt to run over pedestrians, The Smoking Gun has learned. According to investigators, Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan was smoking an electronic cigarette on a Continental Airlines flight traveling from Portland to Houston. When a flight attendant directed Abunayyan to stop smoking (or relinquish the device), he refused and began “yelling profanities and swinging his fist at the flight attendant,” according to an indictment filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland.Abunayyan, also hit or attempted to hit other passengers and was “speaking or singing about Usama bin Laden and his hatred of women,” the indictment charges. Abunayyan, who reportedly has been in the U.S. visiting relatives, was charged with a felony count of interfering with flight crew members.Male passengers on the Boeing 737 helped a flight attendant subdue Abunayyan, who was removed from the plane in plastic handcuffs and turned over to FBI agents. The Continental flight returned to Portland 20 minutes after departure.Abunayyan, who is scheduled to appear later this afternoon before a federal magistrate, was arrested Sunday evening by cops after a wild car chase in Medford, an Oregon city 275 miles south of Portland.Police reported that the intoxicated teenager led them on a 20-minute chase that ended after his Ford sedan got stuck on a dirt embankment. During the chase, Abunayyan was spotted driving in circles, attempting to run over pedestrians, and driving the wrong way on a street. He also rammed two patrol cars."It was like ‘Grand Theft Auto',” a witness told a local newspaper.Abunayyan was booked late Sunday into the Jackson County jail on a variety of charges, including driving under the influence of intoxicants, assault on a police officer, criminal mischief, hit and run, and reckless endangerment.He was freed from custody Monday around 6 PM after posting $65,000 bond. Which allowed him, a day later, to board Flight 1118, albeit briefly. A man who was just freed on a $65,000 bond should not have been allowed to board any flight.More: Saudi teen pleads not guilty to disrupting US flight, support for Bin Laden.(BM).A lawyer for 19-year-old Yazeed Mohammed A. Abunayyan told a judge his client suffers from “unspecified mental illness” that requires care at the Multnomah County Detention Center.US Magistrate Court Judge Janice Stewart ordered Abunayyan held in jail as a flight risk and set a trial date of April 24, saying she believes Abunayyan’s mental health issues will be dealt with “in due course.”According to court records, an attendant aboard a Continental Airlines flight to Houston on Tuesday asked Abunayyan to stop smoking an electronic cigarette, but he refused. He’s also accused of yelling profanities and throwing punches at the flight attendant and several passengers. Authorities say Abunayyan also was “singing or speaking about” Osama bin Laden and his hatred of women.“When they asked him to stop the cigarette … he just went crazy, I couldn’t stop him,” Abunayyan’s cousin Fahad Alsubaie told the Medford Mail Tribune.Alsubaie told the paper that Abunayyan suffers from schizophrenia and hadn’t taken his medication for about three weeks.Hmmmmm.....Surely there are a lot of 'mentally ill' Admirers of Osama Bin Laden around, is this contagious?If so how does it spread?Read the full story here.
Google Agrees to Allow ‘Do-Not-Track’ Button in Browser.
The world’s most popular search engine will join with other Web companies to support the anti-tracking initiative, which prevents an individual’s browsing history from being used to tailor ads, according to an e-mailed statement today.
“We’re pleased to join a broad industry agreement to respect the ‘do-not-track’ header in a consistent and meaningful way that offers users choice and clearly explained browser controls,” Google Senior Vice President of Advertising Susan Wojcicki said in the statement.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, joined the initiative as the Obama administration unveiled plans to give consumers more control over their personal information online. Congress should enact a privacy bill of rights for Web users, the administration said in a report released today.
Revelations about potential privacy vulnerabilities during the past year have spurred calls from regulators and lawmakers in Washington for stronger protections of personal data online and on Internet-connected mobile devices.Hmmmm......‘If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.’ Well, in the internet world, ‘If something sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.’We'll just have to wait to see where the 'Byte' is.Read the full story here.
Obama Vows to “With or without this Congress, I’ll continue to do whatever I can....."
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“With or without this Congress, I’ll continue to do whatever I can to develop every source of American energy, so that our future isn’t controlled by events on the other side of the world,”.(CNSNews). Despite some green energy failures, such as the bankrupt Solyndra solar panel company and weak-selling Chevy Volt, President Barack Obama said that he wanted to “double down” on green energy spending, and would do what he could even without Congress to subsidize these companies.
Obama’s assertions, at the University of Miami on Thursday, come after numerous reports of green energy firms that received large sums of federal loans and grants but which have either declared bankruptcy or hit financial problems.
In his remarks, Obama sought to draw a contrast between subsidies to green energy firms and $4 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies.
“A century of subsidies to the oil companies is long enough,” Obama said. “It’s time to end taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising.”
CBS News has reported that the administration directed $6.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to a dozen different green companies that now face financial hardship.
Obama acknowledged that not all companies backed by the federal government will succeed, but said he would not be deterred.
“The payoffs on these public investments don’t always come right away. Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies will fail,” Obama said.
“But as long as I’m president, I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy,” he said. “I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because some politicians in Washington refused to make the same commitment here in America.”
“With or without this Congress, I’ll continue to do whatever I can to develop every source of American energy, so that our future isn’t controlled by events on the other side of the world,” said Obama.Read the full story here.
Summer time
Winter time frozen solid
Five Russian Backfire bombers over Black sea alert Bulgarian and Turkish air forces.
Five Russian Backfire bombers over Black sea alert Bulgarian and Turkish air forces.(Novinite).
Five Russian strategic bombers have raised alert with the Bulgarian and Turkish Air Forces after flying close by over the Black Sea on Wednesday.
The five Russian Tu-22 bombers were detected right off Bulgaria's coast, on the fringes of the Bulgarian air space, the Standart daily reported Thursday, saying that the information has been confirmed by sources from the Bulgarian Defense Ministry.
The Bulgarian military has explained, however, that the Russian bombers never entered Bulgaria's air space, even though they reached within 40 km of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, apparently bound south, towards Africa.
At the same time, however, the Russian bombers are reported to have caused alarmed the Turkish Air Force, with unofficial information saying that the Turkish military immediate flew two F-16 fighters to escort the Russian bombers.
When asked why no Bulgarian fighter jets on duty were flew off over the Russian bombers, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry is quoted as saying that it is up to NATO's southern command to decide whose fighter jets would be sent in the air in similar situations.Read the full story here.
Serbians snub Angelina Jolie’s Balkans film premiere.
Serbians snub Angelina Jolie’s Balkans film premiere.(HD).Only 12 people turned out on Feb. 23 for the Serbia premiere of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, a love story set in the Bosnian war, and some walked out before the end. Contrary to widespread rumors, “In the Land of Blood and Honey” was not banned in Serbia but the reception it got was a far cry from the 5,000 people who cheered Jolie at a gala in Sarajevo last week.Jolie’s film, shot in 2010 with actors from the former Yugoslavia, tells the story of a Muslim woman and a Serbian man who have a fling before the war and meet again when she has been taken prisoner by a Bosnian Serb army unit commanded by her former lover.
Serbs however have reacted angrily, arguing that the film portrays them only as villains.
Out of 12 viewers in Belgrade, “several people walked out before the end” of the screening, the Serbian news website Mondo reported.
Quoted in a local newspaper, Belgrade Film Academy member Mirko Beokovic charged Jolie’s film was biased because it “shows (Bosnian) Muslims as civilised people and Serbs as savage peasants.”
The 1992-95 Bosnian war claimed some 100,000 lives. Some 20,000 women were raped during the conflict.Read the full story here.
Turkey 'owes' apology for deaths of The Struma disaster.
Turkey 'owes' apology for deaths of The Struma disaster.(HD).
Ankara must show the courage to apologize for its role in the Struma tragedy in which 764 people died in the Black Sea after being neglected by Turkey while escaping from the Holocaust, a leading Jewish-Turkish business has said.
“Just like German Chancellor Angela Merkel apologized for Turks who were murdered by neo-Nazis, Ankara must have the same courage,” İshak Alaton said.“This is a kind of open secret, but Turkey must acknowledge and apologize just like other responsible states have to. Britain, Romania and Turkey share this shame. It doesn’t matter if they were Jews or Muslims; they could have any other ethnic or religious identity. We owe it to those who were killed by the states. All the people must stand together against massacres,” Livaneli said during a service in Istanbul commemorating the 70th anniversary of the tragedy.
Alaton said he was only 15 years old when he carried bread to the ship Struma every morning while it was anchored at the Istanbul shore. “I realized that they were sent to death when a morning came and we did not find the boat where it had been. Only the Jewish community helped out those people who were living in that old boat with diseases and hunger,” Alaton told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The Struma disaster happened following an official declaration of the British authorities that no Jews would be accepted to Palestine. As such, Turkish authorities did not allow anyone to leave the boat, according to reports. Turkish authorities cut the chain of the anchor and, due to a breakdown in the engine, tugboats attached ropes to the boat and pulled it out of the Bosphorus, leaving it in the Black Sea, where a Soviet submarine shot the boat on Feb. 24, 1942. Some 764 people died in the incident.Only one person, a 20-year-old man, was rescued – 24 hours after the event. Some 760 of the bodies were never recovered.
Alaton said the Jewish community was in fear due to the fascist atmosphere that had been created by ultranationalist Turks at the time. Read the full story here.
Yemen gets new president, suicide bomber kills 26 at presidential palace.
“The bodies of 26 soldiers were taken to the mortuary and there are many others wounded,” said a medic at the Ibn Sina hospital in the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla.“A pick-up truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the entrance of the presidential palace in Mukalla,” a military official said.“Seven of the wounded have already been hospitalized while others are on their way to hospitals.”The attack, apparently by a suicide bomber, happened in Hadramout, far from the capital of Sana’a, where Yemen’s new president took an oath of office on Saturday.Yemen’s south is a turbulent region where secessionists are seeking to revive a socialist southern state and where an active wing of al-Qaeda has taken root.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bombing came as Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi took the oath of office as the first new president in Sana’a since 1978 after a year of turmoil and bloodshed.Read the full story here, more here.
Turkey is trying to avert Syria’s division, FM Ahmet Davutoğlu says.
Turkey is trying to avert Syria’s division, FM Ahmet Davutoğlu says.(HD).If Damascus is attempting to divide Syria as a “Plan B” to deal with the current unrest, then Turkey will work to prevent that, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.
“If [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad has a plan to divide the country, we will work to prevent that. If anyone has such a thing on their mind, all our efforts are to avert that,” Davutoğlu said yesterday in response to reports that Damascus’ “Plan B” was to establish a state for Nusayris, the sectarian group from which the al-Assad family is drawn. Speaking to a group of journalists on his flight from Tunisia, in which he participated in the “Friends of Syria” meeting, Davutoğlu said one of the most important achievements of the gathering was recognizing the Syrian National Council as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The minister said he hoped al-Assad would take heed of the message that was sent at the large Tunis meeting.
Asked if Turkey would recall its ambassador to Syria, the minister said Turkey preferred in principle to keep its missions open and retain avenues of communication with the people of other countries. “But if we had to make that decision, we will,” he added. Elaborating on the possibility of military intervention in Syria, the minister said they did not want a civil war in the country but instead wanted a solution “without any division or war.” “We have not lost our hopes for a peaceful solution,” Davutoğlu said.
The minister said Turkey would keep on discussing the Syrian issue with Russia and China, the two world powers that vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Damascus earlier this month.
Ahead of second the “Friends of Syria” meeting in Istanbul, Davutoğlu said he would have meetings with Syrian opposition groups and added that a meeting would take place in Istanbul gathering the Christian minorities of the region, including Syrians.
Turkey wants all religions and sects to live together in the Middle East, Davutoğlu said.
Asked if he would visit France for the third “Friends of Syria” meeting despite the row between the two administrations due to the French Parliament’s adoption of a law criminalizing denial of the events of 1915 as genocide, Davutoğlu said, “We hope the problem will be solved before that meeting.”Read the full story here.
Admiral General Aladeen (THE DICTATOR) Releases Statement on the OSCARS Academy Awards
Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen), THE DICTATOR, gives a statement on the recent situation regarding his attendance at this weekend's Academy Awards Ceremony.Banned from the Oscars for fear of an in-character red carpet stunt, British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen has taken to Youtube to slam the Academy with an in-character viral video stunt.
Baron Cohen’s film, “The Dictator,” may prove far more relevant than first predicted. Initial reports made it seem the film would satirize Saddam Hussein, a despot long past deposed. However, between Moammar Qaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, and now Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, the film’s timing comes off as extremely prescient.
Though these are dark times in the Arab world, a satire such as this may help the situation in that area. The obvious historical corollary is Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” which lampooned Hitler far before the world knew about the horrors of the Holocaust. The importance of this film wasn’t that it provided a solution to the world’s geopolitical quandaries but that it brought a tyrant who deemed himself a god down to the level of a common man. In the same way, “The Dictator” may erode the belief that brutal rulers such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are chosen by God for their position but are as fallible–even pathetic–as any other man.HT: Big Peace.
From the Solyndra script book: " Obama: Use Algae as substitute for oil ".
From the Solyndra script book: " Obama: Use Algae as substitute for oil ".HT: CriticalAnalist..(Examiner)President Obama admitted today that he does not have a "silver bullet" solution for skyrocketing gas prices, but he proposed alternative energy sources such as "a plant-like substance, algae" as a way of cutting dependence on oil by 17 percent.
"We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance, algae -- you've got a bunch of algae out here," Obama said at the University of Miami today."If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we'll be doing alright. Believe it or not, we could replace up to 17 percent of the oil we import for transportation with this fuel that we can grow right here in America."
The Department of Energy (DOE) currently spends about $85 million on 30 research projects "to develop algal biofuels," according to the White House, which announced that Obama is committing another $14 million to the idea.Obama did not say when he expected algae-based fuel to reach that level, but the federal government has a dodgy track record with respect to developing alternative vehicle fuels.
Biodiesel, for example, accounted for less than 1 percent of the diesel fuel market as of 2008, according to the Energy Information Administration. And of course there's ethanol -- after four decades, tens of billions of dollars in subsidies, and draconian mandates that force it on unwilling consumers, ethanol was five percent of vehicle consumption (by volume) as of 2008.
Although algae-to-gas is a very different idea, it is still in its early stages.Oil industry leaders reject Obama's claim to have given significant support to oil production. "These have been the most difficult three years from a policy standpoint that I've ever seen in my career," Bruce Vincent, president of Swift Energy, an oil and gas company in Houston, said yesterday. "They've done nothing but restrict access and delay permitting."
Obama affirmed the need to protect the planet by developing clean energy alternatives, but The Washington Examiner's Michael Barone argues that he hasn't been consistent even on that front. "We’ve prohibited a pipeline, the safest way to transport oil, from Canada, but we’re aiding Mexico in offshore drilling, which is riskier, and by a firm that lacks the experience of the U.S. firms we have been trying to prevent drilling in the same body of water," Barone wrote yesterday. "Does this make any sense at all?"Hmmmm...........We've got got a whole bunch of Suckers out there.Read the full story here.
"ACT(A) with a Vengeance" - ACTA 2.0: The Trans-Pacific Partnership.
"ACT(A) with a Vengeance" - ACTA 2.0: The Trans-Pacific Partnership.(AP).By Stephen Lendman.The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calls the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "a secretive, multi-nation agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property laws across the globe."
It replicates its worst features. Nine nations are negotiating it secretly, plus Japan, without formal status. They include America, Australia, Malaysia, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, and Brunei.Though provisions aren't known, Article 1.1.3 states:
The Parties seek to support the wider liberalisation process (read corporate control) in APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) consistent with its goals of free and open (not fair) investment.APEC includes 21 members. Major Asian ones include China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea among others. Non-Asian ones include America, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile. Four countries (Singapore, New Zealand, Brunei and Chile) negotiated an initial agreement. On June 3, 2005, it was signed and took effect on May 28, 2006. Six other countries joined negotiations.
Ten previous negotiating rounds occurred beginning from March 15 - 19, 2010. An 11th is scheduled for March 1 - 9, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia.
At issue is agreeing on unrestricted trade in goods, services, rules of origin, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers, government procurement and competition policies, and intellectual property (IP).
EFF urges: "Don't Let TPP Become the New ACTA: Contact Your Lawmakers and Demand Transparency," saying:
Like ACTA, TPP negotiations are secret "and on a fast timetable. We don't know what's in the TPP IP chapter, and that's what worries us." Entertainment industry executives are involved. It's one of corporate America's most corrupt.
Intellectual property (IP) includes copyrights, trademarks, patents, and related considerations. One-sided structuring for business harms ordinary citizens' rights. In addition, at stake is "the future of the Internet's global infrastructure and innovation across the world."
A leaked February TPP version showed US negotiators pressuring for far more restrictive IP provisions than ACTA and other international treaties. It stated:
This document must be protected from unauthorized disclosure....It must be stored in a locked or secured building, room, or container.
Declassification would be authorized "four years from entry into force....or, if no agreement enters into force, four years from the close of the negotiations."
In other words, power brokers want secretive provisions established with no public knowledge of their destructive harm. TPP aims to rewrite global IP enforcement rules. All signatory countries will have to change domestic laws, regulations, and other policies to comply.
In America, controversial copyright laws will be further hardened. For example, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "broad ban on circumventing digital locks and frequently disproportionate statutory damages for copyright infringement."
Moreover, Congress will be prevented from reforming domestic law to assure Internet freedom and innovative technology protections.
Leaked TPP provisions subvert US laws. As a result, significant issues are raised, including free expression, privacy, and due process. From what's known, TPP will require signatories to:
(1) "Treat temporary reproductions of copyrighted works without copyright holders' authorization as copyright infringement." Earlier this was discussed and rejected.
(2) "Ban parallel importation of genuine goods acquired from other countries without the authorization of copyright owners."
(3) Establish copyright provisions well beyond current norms. For example, the US - Oman Free Trade Agreement enforces rights 95 years after publication or 120 years after creating corporate owned works.
(4) "Adopt laws banning circumvention of digital locks (technological protection measures -- TMPs) that mirror the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and treat violation of the TMP provisions as a separate offense, even when no copyright infringement is involved."
As a result, signatories would have to rewrite or reverse existing laws to comply. Enormous public interest harm would result. Business would benefit at the expense of the greater good.
(5) Impose copyright infringement criminal sanctions.
(6) "Adopt the US DMCA Internet Intermediaries copyright safe harbor regime in its entirety." Again, fundamental protections would end.
Overall, signatories would be forced to adopt harmful provisions. Sovereignty issues and consumer protections are at stake, as well as the ability of governments to prioritize domestic needs. Like ACTA, negotiations are secret behind closed doors. Transparency demands by prominent civil society organizations were ignored. They include Public Citizen, Global Exchange, Friends of the Earth, Earthjustice and others.
If adopted, non-signatory countries will be affected, including all 21 APEC members. Pressure will be applied globally to comply with anti-populist provisions.
TPP Watch
It's "a network of concerned unions, groups and individuals formed to organize and support initiatives to oppose" TPP. "Beware the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement," it highlights.
At issue is "almost every area of policy you can think of,” including labor laws, subsidy protections, and regulations covering GMO and other foods, drugs, tobacco, mining, the ability to reverse privatizations, foreign investments, hot money, and IP protection.
Investor rights are prioritized at the expense popular ones. For example, foreign investors would be able to sue governments for hundreds of millions of dollars for breaching their TPP rights. Corporations now rule the world. Imagine doing it more than ever with an unchallengeable iron fist. Incrementally, free societies are at risk.Unless ACTA, TPP and similar measures are stopped, they're heading for the dustbin of history practically everywhere. If that's not worth fighting to stop, what is? Source .
Hmmmm......."Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty". ~ Plato.
Quod facimus in vita resonat in aeternum. (What we do in life, echoes in eternity).
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
" Kill switch Inside " Windows 8: Millions of PCs Will Get Kill Switches for the First Time.
" Kill switch Inside " Windows 8: Millions of PCs Will Get Kill Switches for the First Time.(BB).Janne Kytömäki, a Finnish software developer, was cruising Google’s (GOOG) Android Market for smartphone apps last year when he noticed something strange. Dozens of best-selling applications suddenly listed the same wrong publisher. It was as if Stephen King’s name had vanished from the covers of his books, replaced by an unknown author. Kytömäki realized the culprit was a piece of malware that was spreading quickly, and he posted his findings online.
Google responded swiftly. It flipped a little-known kill switch, reaching into more than 250,000 infected Android smartphones and forcibly removing the malicious code. “It was sort of unreal, watching something like that unfold,” says Kytömäki, who makes dice simulator apps.
Kill switches are a standard part of most smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Google, Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN) all have the ability to reach into devices to delete illicit content or edit code without users’ permission. It’s a powerful way to stop threats that spread quickly, but it’s also a privacy and security land mine.
With the rollout of the Windows 8 operating system expected later this year, millions of desktop and laptop PCs will get kill switches for the first time. Microsoft (MSFT) hasn’t spoken publicly about its reasons for including this capability in Windows 8 beyond a cryptic warning that it might be compelled to use it for legal or security reasons.
The feature was publicized in a widely cited Computerworld article in December when Microsoft posted the terms of use for its new application store, a feature in Windows 8 that will allow users to download software from a Microsoft-controlled portal. Windows smartphones, like those of its competitors, have included kill switches for several years, though software deletion “is a last resort, and it’s uncommon,” says Todd Biggs, director of product management for Windows Phone Marketplace.
Microsoft declined to answer questions about the kill switch in Windows 8 other than to say it will only be able to remove or change applications downloaded through the new app store. Any software loaded from a flash drive, DVD, or directly from the Web will remain outside Microsoft’s control.
Hmmmmmm.......in the coming months unveiling of the Internet ID card...is it 'connected' with the 'kill switch' system?Read the full story here.
“Act of outrage”? Navy SEALs Movie’s "Act of Valor" Terrorist is . . . JEWISH .
“Act of outrage”? Navy SEALs Movie’s "Act of Valor" Terrorist is . . . JEWISH . (Tortures, Murders CIA Agents, Smuggles Jihadists into U.S.)(DS).Film packaged in a “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” label. (BW).
Here’s the deal. There are two chief baddies in the movie: A crazed Islamic Chechen (who is actually Russian convert) and another guy who is introduced to us as Christo, a drug smuggling billionaire, presumably Slavic, who kills a CIA agent, orders the brutal torture of another (female) CIA agent, and uses his money to fund, and his smarts to facilitate, a massive terror attack on the United States. The actor who plays him, Alex Veadov, He has sort of a hippie, geek, scholar look, right? You’d see him in Starbucks, sipping a Chai Latte.Interestingly, Veadov/Christo, despite being the chief bad guy in the movie, is absent from the trailers, something that’s rather peculiar. Usually, part of the trailer’s allure is to show the bad guy, so that you know precisely who the good guys are going after. It’s part of the audience’s anticipation. Maybe the movie-makers thought that Veadov’s character was too ugly to show in a trailer. I can’t find any pictures of him in the role but, with his beard, greasy hair, shiny face, and hook nose
From the moment he appeared on-screen, I was struck by Veadov’s similarity to the propaganda images. I assumed that the film-makers were trying to make him look like this, a familiar face to all of you, one that is both Semitic and one that is attached to one of America’s greatest enemies.I was wrong in that assumption. Halfway through the movie, in a very exciting action scene, the SEALS capture Christo and the Team’s senior commander interviews him. Christo is oozing greasy sweat and even more greasy arrogance. At any moment, one expects him to call his interrogator “infidel” or say “Allah is Great,” two things we hear with great frequency from those fighting against Americans in Afghanistan, those who fought against Americans in Iraq, and those who blow up Americans on 9/11. Instead, though, what we hear the is the Senior say “But you’re Jewish!”
Here’s the deal: Our “brave” SEALS flinched. Tasked with making a movie that could have shown Americans who the real heroes and the real enemies are, they chose, instead, to tear a page out of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and promote, very heavily (and especially heavily to Israel’s political friends), a movie that makes its greasy, ugly, rich, manipulative, American-hating bad guy . . . a Jew.Read the full story here.
Debbie Schlussel has a lot less flattering 'judgement' :
It’s official: “Act of Valor” is anti-Semitic tripe wrapped in the American flag with a Navy SEAL cherry on top. The movie, which debuts in theaters today, goes to great pains to tell you that the largest terrorist plot against America is perpetrated by a Jew. Did the Stormfront guys write this crap? In case there’s any doubt, “But you’re Jewish!” is shouted by a real-life Navy SEAL interrogator who heads SEAL Team 7 featured in the movie and goes by the nickname, “Senior.” Apparently “Senior” forgot this, but the last time I checked, the guys behind 9/11 were not named Osama Bin Cohen and Khalid Sheikh Horowitz. Ditto for the guys behind every major terrorist attack against Americans, whether on U.S. soil or abroad. The Beirut bombing and murder of over 300 U.S. Marines and civilians? Here’s a tip, Navy SEALS: It wasn’t perpetrated by HezboLox and Bagels. And the guy just sentenced for trying to blow up a plane full of Americans with his underwear isn’t Umar Farouk AbdulEpstein.
Debbie Schlussel sent Amanda Greenberg, the Navy press person who is handling all inquiries regarding “Act of Valor.” And, yes, I see the irony in her apparently Jewish surname. But I’m sure you’ve heard the term, “kapo.” The e-mail went unanswered, after Navy personnel assured me she would respond.Read and see the full story here.
Public Outrage growing, Anne Frank allegedly baptized by Mormon church after her death
Public Outrage growing, Anne Frank allegedly baptized by Mormon church after her death.(NP).(Yahoo). Anne Frank, the famous diarist and Holocaust victim, was put to death on account of her Jewish faith. But earlier this month, she was nonetheless secretly co-opted into the Mormon Church.Helen Radkey, a Mormon researcher, told the Associated Press she located Frank’s name in records from a Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic.
The proxy baptism, whereby someone else stands in for the deceased, was apparently performed on Feb. 18.So claim researchers investigating the US-based Church’s practice of posthumously baptising dead people - sometimes without the knowledge and almost always against the will of surviving friends and family members.
Ms Frank was “christened” at a Mormon temple in the Dominican Republic, in apparent violation of a pact between the Church and Jewish leaders. A local child, acting as her spiritual proxy, is believed to have been dunked in a font during the ceremony.
Computer records of the event register Ms Frank under her full name, Annelies Marie Frank, and say that she lived from 1929 to 1945. The baptism was “completed” at a temple in Santo Domingo on 18 February.
The allegations come after an apology was issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last week for baptizing the parents of Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate who died in 1995.It was revealed that Wiesenthal’s parents were baptized in January during rituals at temples in Utah, Arizona and Idaho.Wiesenthal’s mother Rosa died at the Belzec concentration camp in Poland in 1942. His father, Asher Wiesenthal, died during the First World War.Simon Wiesenthal hunted down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals after the end of the Second World War.
After the accusation that Ms. Frank was baptized, the church released a statement, although they did not name the teenager who penned her famous diary while hiding from the Nazis in an attic with her family in Amsterdam.“The Church keeps its word and is absolutely firm in its commitment to not accept the names of Holocaust victims for proxy baptism,” the Salt Lake City-based church said. “It is distressing when an individual willfully violates the Church’s policy and something that should be understood to be an offering based on love and respect becomes a source of contention.”
The Mormon Church said it's considering taking disciplinary action against the people who performed the proxy baptism for Frank.Read the full story here.
Hmmmm......Makes you wonder did they 'convert' Hitler, Himmler, Stalin and others to the Mormon faith ?
Syria: Qatar calls for Arab force to impose peace
Syria: Qatar calls for Arab force to impose peace .(Guardian).The Syrian Revolution Co-ordinators Union has named 66 people it says were killed today. The Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria says 51 people were killed. These figures cannot be independently verified. Syrian security forces lined up and shot dead at least 18 people in a village in central Syria today, including seven members of the same family, according to activists quoted by Reuters.
The international Friends of Syria conference has reportedly been criticised by the head of the Syrian National Council. Burhan Ghalioun was at the meeting in Tunis today to represent the Syrian opposition, but Reuters reported him as saying the conference had met the ambitions of the Syrian people.
The Saudi delegation walked out of the conference, complaining of inaction.
The European Union plans to freeze the assets of the Syrian Central Bank from Monday 27 February. French foreign minister Alain Juppé made the announcement at the Friends of Syria conference in Tunis. "On Monday we will take strong new measures, notably freezing the assets of the Syrian Central Bank," Juppe told delegates.
Meanwhile the State Department is quietly warning region on Syrian WMDs.(FP).This week, the State Department sent a diplomatic demarche to Syria's neighbors Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, warning them about the possibility of Syria's WMDs crossing their borders and offering U.S. government help in dealing with the problem, three Obama administration officials confirmed to The Cable. For concerned parties both inside and outside the U.S. government, the demarche signifies that the United States is increasingly developing plans to deal with the dangers of a post-Assad Syria -- while simultaneously highlighting the lack of planning for how to directly bring about Assad's downfall.
Syria is believed to have a substantial chemical weapons program, which includes mustard gas and sophisticated nerve agents, such as sarin gas, as well as biological weapons. Syria has also refused IAEA requests to make available facilities that were part of its nuclear weapons program and may still be in operation.
Today, in response to inquiries from The Cable, a State Department official offered the following statement:"The U.S. and our allies are monitoring Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. These weapons' presence in Syria undermines peace and security in the Middle East, and we have long called on the Syrian government to destroy its chemicals weapons arsenal and join the Chemical Weapons Convention," the State Department official said. "We believe Syria's chemical weapons stockpile remains under Syrian government control, and we will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to prevent proliferation of Syria's chemical weapons program."
The demarche made four specific points, according to other U.S. officials who offered a fuller account to The Cable. It communicated the U.S. government's recognition that there is a highly active chemical warfare program in Syria, which is complemented by ballistic-missile delivery capability. It further emphasized that that any potential political transition in Syria could raise serious questions about the regime's control over proliferation-sensitive material.
Third, the State Department wanted Syria's neighbors to know that should the Assad regime fall, the security of its WMD stockpile -- as well as its control over conventional weapons like MANPADS (shoulder-fired rocket launchers) -- could come into question and could pose a serious threat to regional security. Lastly, the demarche emphasized that the U.S. government stands ready to support neighboring countries to provide border-related security cooperation.
Concern about a gap in planning for how to oust the Assad regime is shared by some in Congress, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who issued a statement today urging the administration to start directly aiding the Syrian rebels and protecting Syrian civilians."Unfortunately, speeches and meetings by themselves will do nothing to stop the unacceptable slaughter in Syria, which is growing worse by the day," the senators said. "We remain deeply concerned that our international diplomacy risks becoming divorced from the reality on the ground in Syria, which is now an armed conflict between Assad's forces and the people of Syria who are struggling to defend themselves against indiscriminate attacks."Read the full story here.
Hamas dumps Assad.... backs Syrian revolt.
Hamas dumps Assad, backs Syrian revolt.(Reuters).Leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas turned publicly against their long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, endorsing the revolt aimed at overthrowing his dynastic rule.
The policy shift deprives Assad of one of his few remaining Sunni Muslim supporters in the Arab world and deepens his international isolation. It was announced in Hamas speeches at Friday prayers in Cairo and a rally in the Gaza Strip.Hamas went public after nearly a year of equivocating as Assad's army, largely led by fellow members of the president's Alawite sect, has crushed mainly Sunni protesters and rebels.
In a Middle East split along sectarian lines between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam, the public abandonment of Assad casts immediate questions over Hamas's future ties with its principal backer Iran, which has stuck by its ally Assad, as well as with Iran's fellow Shi'ite allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
"I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, visiting Egypt from the Gaza Strip, told thousands of Friday worshippers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque.
"We are marching towards Syria, with millions of martyrs," chanted worshippers at al-Azhar, home to one of the Sunni world's highest seats of learning. "No Hezbollah and no Iran.
But as the Sunni-Shi'ite split in the Middle East deepens, Hamas appears to have cast its lot with the powerful, Egypt-based Sunni Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose star has been in the ascendant since the Arab Spring revolts last year.
Shi'ite Hezbollah still supports the Assad family, from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, which has maintained authoritarian rule over Syria's Sunni majority for four decades but now may have its back to the wall.
Hamas, however, has been deeply embarrassed among Palestinians by its association with Assad, as the death toll in his crackdown on opponents has risen into the thousands.In Gaza, senior Hamas member Salah al-Bardaweel addressed thousands of supporters at a rally in Khan Younis refugee camp, sending "a message to the peoples who have not been liberated yet, those free peoples who are still bleeding every day.""The hearts of the Palestinian people bleed with every drop of bloodshed in Syria," Bardaweel said. "No political considerations will make us turn a blind eye to what is happening on the soil of Syria."Hmmmm......Following Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi his orders.I fear for the Syrian christians the day Assad is gone, what happened to Christians in Egypt will be nothing compared to what will follow in Syria.Read the full story here.
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