Overnight Music video - "Exodus" by Henry Mancini

Video - 'Apocalyptic' island of waste in the Islamic Maldives.

The Maldives are known as an unspoilt, paradise island destination for upmarket tourists but the BBC's Simon Reeve has paid a visit to a part of the Maldives that tourists do not see - a huge island waste dump.
He was accompanied by local conservationist Marie Saleem who explained how the country struggles with waste management.
The Maldives' government told the BBC they were looking at ways to tackle their waste problem.Source BBC.

Diplomats: 'Defiant' Iran installed more enrichment centrifuges.

Diplomats: 'Defiant' Iran installed more enrichment centrifuges.(JPost).VIENNA - A UN watchdog report is expected to show that Iran has installed more uranium enrichment centrifuges at an underground site, potentially boosting output capacity of nuclear work major powers want it to stop, Western diplomatic sources say. Two sources said the Islamic state may have placed in position nearly 350 machines since February - in addition to the almost 700 centrifuges already operating at the Fordow facility - but that they were not yet being used to refine uranium.If confirmed in the next quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, tentatively expected on Friday, it is likely to be seen as a sign of continued defiance by the Islamic state of international demands to suspend such activity.
Iran is currently engaged in high-level talks with the P5+1 powers, who are focused on stemming the advance of Tehran's contentious nuclear program. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano flew into Iran earlier this week, saying he was expecting to sign a deal with Iran soon to unblock an investigation into suspected work on atom bomb. Getting Tehran to halt its enrichment of uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent - which it started in 2010 and has since sharply expanded - was a key priority for world powers in their talks with Iran in Baghdad on Wednesday. Progress in Iran's nuclear program is closely watched by the West and Israel as it could determine how much time it would need to build nuclear bombs, should it decide to do so.
Fordow, estimated to be buried beneath 80 meters (265 feet) of rock and soil, gives Iran better protection against any Israeli or U.S. military strikes and the shift of nuclear work to the site is of particular concern for the West.The last IAEA report, published in February, said Iran had trebled output of 20 percent uranium since late 2011 after starting up production at Fordow near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom and later increasing it. The new report is not expected to show Iran increasing production. But the installation of possibly hundreds more centrifuges could set the stage for that ahead. Such machines spin at supersonic speed to raise the concentration of the fissile isotope of uranium.Iran has earlier suggested it would close down the production of 20 percent at Natanz - where the work started in 2010 - once Fordow was up and running. But it has yet to do so, Western diplomats say. Hmmmmm.......My thoughts on the P5+1 talks: "much bleating......very little wool".Read the full story here.

Marriage nothing else but a Gold Chain around your neck?Saudi Wife gets one kg of golden chain to approve husband’s marriage.

Marriage nothing else but a Gold Chain around your neck?Saudi Wife gets one kg of golden chain to approve husband’s marriage.(E24/7).A Saudi man who desired to marry again tried to bluff his wife with an expensive gift to agree to his marriage. The clever woman decided to call his bluff and chose one kg of gold, which he did buy. The Saudi wife had been opposed to the idea for weeks before he made the attractive offer-- just choose what you want and I will get it for you. The woman thought a gift at an exorbitant price could shoot two birds with one stone-- she will get what she desires and at the same time it will drain her husband’s financial resources so his marriage project might fail. After striking a deal, she asked him to take her to the gold market in Riyadh. At the shop, she asked the jeweller to give her the “heaviest item he has.” The goldsmith quickly went to his desk, opened a large drawer and pulled out a box containing a massive gold necklace. He told the woman the item is exactly one kg and that it is the heaviest he has. She quickly agreed to buy it as her husband stared in horror. She then asked her husband to pay and also told him to carry the item to the car because it is too heavy for her. The item was priced at SR150,000 (Dh148,500) and the husband had no choice but to pay. He gave the goldsmith an advance payment of SR10,000 and returned on the next day to pay the rest.“Hey man, my wife asks you for a necklace and you give her that massive chain of gold…have mercy on me…why didn’t you give her something for SR20,000,” the husband told the goldsmith, Badr bin Saleh Al Ukaily, on the next day when he returned to pay the remaining sum The Saudi Arabic language daily Anaween said Ukaily replied:”Your wife did not mention the value of what she wanted but the weight…my task is to satisfy the demand of my respected customers.”Hmmmm.....Makes you wonder what he gave his new bride?Read the full story here.

"The Gutsy Photoshop" - The illusion of Obama's bin Laden raid situation room leadership.

"The Gutsy Photoshop" - The illusion of Obama's bin Laden raid situation room leadership.(TOF).Mara Zebest says apparently, my previous article on the famous "Situation Room" photo tapped a nationwide nerve. The response ranged from some eye-opening tips on other photos to a few perplexed criticisms as to the motivation for Photoshopping a Situation Room photo.

The answer to that latter question can be summed up in one simple thought: To hide the truth. Obama was out golfing while the OBL mission was unfolding, and the administration needed the Situation Room photo op for public perception -- to give the illusion that he's presidential. Obama's entire "Composite Presidency" and administration are orchestrated in this fashion. Not only is the photo's legitimacy in question, but so is the narrative illusion behind it. Obama knew of OBL's location for a year and refused to act. The CIA admits that there was "no live video feed," as implied by the iconic White House photo. It is anyone's guess what the captive audience was looking at, but it wasn't the OBL raid. It was recently reported that a highly lawyered CYA memo was drafted that made it clear that the military would take all blame for any errors, while Obama would claim all glory for successes. Not surprisingly, the real heroes seem to have a problem with this form of spiking the ball and using our brave SEALs for political gain. Why would Obama need to Photoshop the Situation Room photos? For the same reason behind everything else he does: to influence perception in which everything is about Obama.

As a follow-up to the previous article, a second "Situation Room" photo will be the target of discussion here. For those who would like to download the image, a high-resolution version can be found here. This White House Flickr link is a great place to check for high-resolution sizes of many of the White House photo sets released.

At first glance, the image overwhelms the viewer with a massive backside of Obama's jacket -- oddly oversized shoulders and arms supporting another small-head redux. Any more photos like this, and one might start speculating that Jeebs is the inspiration.
In all fairness, the initial impression leads the eye to believe that the beige fabric under the right armpit belongs to Robert Gates' pants (standing near Obama on the right). However, if that were the case, then who would be attached to the pant leg under the left armpit? It's not intuitively obvious, and it takes the viewer a little time to eventually come to a conclusion that these fabric strips are side panels built into the jacket design. Maybe the New York Times found the presence of this fabric an odd distraction as well -- and the reason behind their cropped version.

Even with this oddity solved, the image is not without significant problems. Moving up the Iron Man-like shoulders to the blurry Jeebs-sized head, zoom in for an extreme close-up of the right neck edge and ear. The right edge of the neck is missing a small but important piece -- it suffers a disappearing act as it approaches the jacket edge and displays a transparent gap (where a phone sitting on the desk can be seen through the neck).

The right ear is also inconsistent along the defining edge. The top ear rim edge is blurry but still clearly visible (similar to the left ear edge), but as the eye travels down around the right ear edge, an abrupt chunk is taken away from the outer ear rim, and the remaining pixel edge transition is significantly sharper (less blurry) for the lower portion.
Shifting to a different image section, it appears that there is a floating hand among the Situation Room attendees. Just to verify that a body wasn't being eclipsed by the folks in front, it seemed reasonable to obtain some answers by examining the reflections in the monitors on the wall behind them. By applying an image adjustment to lighten all the color values in the monitors, the reflection detail becomes more pronounced and easier to discern. Keep in mind that the adjustment applied to the monitors will distort color values -- thus the shirt that appears white could be the blue-shirted man seen in the photo. That said, the man in the reflection has his hand in front -- near his chin -- not at his back. The curvature of the fingers appears different from that of the floating hand's, as well as the fact that it is a man in the reflection, while the floating hand displays feminine characteristics.

The blue-shirted man standing in the room does not appear to be a match for the man in the reflection. So if the reflection is not the blue-shirted man, but rather an eclipsed individual, then where is the blue-shirted man found in the reflection? Wouldn't he be seen in front of the eclipsed individual (within the reflection)? Conversely, if the floating hand does not match the reflected man's hand, then where in the room is the reflected man (whose hand is near the chin)? Not to mention that the body for the floating hand has still not been accounted for via the reflection (more on floating hands in next item).
In case you were wondering how the people in the room translate to the rear monitor reflections, a capture is provided for your evaluation. Keep in mind that the reflections are at angles similar to looking in a mirror and viewing information at the opposing angle.Hmmmm......Another 'production' by "The Make Believe Presidency".Read and see the full story here.

Report: Turkey Seeks 10 Life Sentences For Israeli Commanders For Flotilla Response

                                          Mavi Marmara armed terrorist 

Report: Turkey Seeks 10 Life Sentences For Israeli Commanders For Flotilla Response.(Ynet).A Turkish prosecutor has prepared an indictment seeking life sentences for four former Israeli military commanders over their alleged involvement in the 2010 killing of nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship, Turkish newspaper Sabah reported on Wednesday. No other source has confirmed the report. Sabah said it had seen details of the indictment prepared by Istanbul state prosecutor Mehmet Akif Ekinci and that it called for 10 life sentences to be given to each of the four commanders. It said the Istanbul chief prosecutor must approve the indictment before it is sent to the relevant court. The indictment was reported to accuse Israel’s former Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former Navy commander Eli Marom, former Air Force official Avishai Levy and former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin all involved in the raid and refers to them as “fugitive suspects”, Sabah reported.
The charges include first degree murder, assault and torture. The 144-page indictment, it said, had been prepared after testimony from some 600 people, including 490 passengers from the six-ship flotilla and relatives of those who had died. Correspondence from the Turkish prime minister’s office, the foreign and justice ministries and the intelligence service had also helped the prosecutor draw up the indictment, it said. The indictment suggests that should the four arrive in Turkey they would be immediately arrested. Sabah said that Turkey is demanding 10 life sentences (and not nine, for the nine activists who were killed) because one of the victims has been in a coma since the raid. In the indictment’s third part which details Turkey’s relations with the Jews throughout history, the prosecutor notes that the Ottomans took in the Jews that were expelled from Spain and that Turkey had accepted Jews during the Holocaust and saved some 20,000 Jews from death camps by issuing them passports. Based on this he concluded that Israel owes its very existence to the Turkish republic.Hmmmm.....Time for Israel to recognize Kurdish autonomy and the Armenian Genocide.Read the full story here.

FBI quietly forms secretive Net-surveillance unit.

FBI quietly forms secretive Net-surveillance unit.(CNET News).The FBI has recently formed a secretive surveillance unit with an ambitious goal: to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on Internet and wireless communications.

The establishment of the Quantico, Va.-based unit, which is also staffed by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace law enforcement's ability to listen in on private communications.
While the FBI has been tight-lipped about the creation of its Domestic Communications Assistance Center, or DCAC -- it declined to respond to requests made two days ago about who's running it, for instance -- CNET has pieced together information about its operations through interviews and a review of internal government documents.
DCAC's mandate is broad, covering everything from trying to intercept and decode Skype conversations to building custom wiretap hardware or analyzing the gigabytes of data that a wireless provider or social network might turn over in response to a court order. It's also designed to serve as a kind of surveillance help desk for state, local, and other federal police.Here's the full text of the FBI's statement in a Google+ post.
One person familiar with the FBI's procedures told CNET that the DCAC is in the process of being launched but is not yet operational. A public Justice Department document, however, refers to the DCAC as "recently established."
The FBI has disclosed little information about the DCAC, and what has been previously made public about the center was primarily through budget requests sent to congressional committees. The DCAC doesn't even have a Web page.
"The big question for me is why there isn't more transparency about what's going on?" asks Jennifer Lynch, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group in San Francisco. "We should know more about the program and what the FBI is doing. Which carriers they're working with -- which carriers they're having problems with. They're doing the best they can to avoid being transparent."Hmmmm......."The most transparant Admin EVAH".Read the full story here.

The British Empire Strikes Back: UK Body Rules Tel Aviv is Israel’s Capital.

The British Empire Strikes Back: UK Body Rules Tel Aviv is Israel’s Capital.(HR).By Simon Plosker.Nearly a month ago, The Guardian posted a photo of passengers on Jerusalem’s light rail observing a minute’s silence for Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. The caption, however, prompted a correction from The Guardian, which had originally (and correctly) referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital: The caption on a photograph featuring passengers on a tram in Jerusalem observing a two-minute silence for Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust, wrongly referred to the city as the Israeli capital. The Guardian style guide states: “Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel; Tel Aviv is” (Eyewitness, 20 April, page 24).
Irrespective of whether the international community recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it is simply inaccurate to unilaterally confer capital city status on Tel Aviv. Believing The Guardian to be in clear breach of the UK Press Complaints Commission clause on accuracy, HonestReporting submitted an official complaint. Ironically received on Jerusalem Day, this was the outrageous PCC ruling:

"The terms of Clause 1 (i) of the Code make clear that newspapers “must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information”, and the terms of Clause 1 (ii) state that “a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected promptly and with due prominence”. In this instance, the Commission noted that the correction published had been a clarification of the newspaper’s earlier claim that Jerusalem was the Israeli capital. The Commission was mindful that while it is correct to say that Israel classes Jerusalem as her capital city, this is not recognised by many countries and those nations enjoying diplomatic relations with Israel have their embassies in Tel Aviv. As such, the Commission was of the view that the newspaper was entitled to refer to Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel. There was no breach of the Code in this instance."

This is astonishing and outrageous. Aside from a sovereign state’s right to determine its own capital, international convention maintains that a capital city is usually where a state’s central political institutions reside.
The UK Foreign Office itself states: Capital City: Israel maintains that Jerusalem is its capital city, a claim not recognised by the UK and the international community. The UK locates its embassy in Tel Aviv.
Unlike The Guardian and the PCC, it does not designate Tel Aviv as the capital.We believe that this flawed ruling has the potential to further delegitimize Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital, giving the British media a carte blanche to follow The Guardian’s lead. And furthermore, the PCC accepts no appeals or complaints on the substance of its rulings, effectively slamming the door in our face.
HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams said in response: 64 years after the end of the British Mandate, it appears that imperialism is alive and well. This ruling is an absolute outrage. The PCC’s role is to maintain standards of media accuracy, not to make political and politicized rulings. That this has been released on Jerusalem Day adds insult to injury and is yet another example of how contaminated with anti-Israel bias, British officialdom has become. Convention has it that the location of national legislatures, judiciaries and other formal institutions of state make a capital city. What mandate does the PCC, or Britain for that matter, have in deciding that the location of foreign embassies determines a host nation’s capital status? We will continue to work behind the scenes to bring pressure to bear on this issue. This is certainly not the end of the matter as far as HonestReporting is concerned.Read the full story AT Honest reporting here.

Rabbis to EU Ambassador: Torah Doesn’t Allow Giving Up Land.

Rabbis to EU Ambassador: Torah Doesn’t Allow Giving Up Land.(INN).A senior delegation of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP) met on Tuesday with Ambassador Andrew Standley, the Head of the European Union in Israel, to present the Torah view on the issue of giving up land to the Arabs. The rabbis made it clear that the majority of rabbis in Israel and abroad are of the opinion that it is absolutely forbidden to give up an inch of land to the Arabs. The rabbis cited the Halakha in the Jewish Code of Law Chapter 329, that the sanctity of life overrides all other considerations and giving up land has proven more than once that it leads to violence, bloodshed and instability.
“As rabbis we are committed to peace and to promoting peace, but a true and lasting peace, not one that will blow up in our faces before the ink of the agreement has a chance to dry,” they told the ambassador. Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Lewin, Director-General of the RCP, asked the ambassador how long the EU will continue the futile exercise of supporting a “territory for peace” formula, which has proven over and over again that it is really “territory for terror.”
“The EU is urging Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders. We did that in Gaza and what did we get? 10,000 missiles. Do you want that to happen in Judea and Samaria too?” Rabbi Lewin asked Standley. Rabbi Shlomo Rosenfeld, the Rabbi of Shadmot Mehula in the Jordan Valley, emphasized that it is precisely the EU, that represents the European countries where the Holocaust took place, must feel the responsibility for a secure Israel.
“What is happening today in Israel is an extension of the Holocaust,” he told Standley. “The Jewish people are again being made a scapegoat for the lack of world peace while the Palestinian terrorists and murderers are depicted as innocent peace seekers. I want to state in no uncertain terms that the EU’s one sided support of the Palestinian demands is an extension of the Holocaust.”
Rabbi Abraham Shreiber, the rabbi of the community of Kfar Darom in Gush Katif, which was evicted during the 2005 disengagement, related that before the disengagement from Gaza local Gaza residents and the Jewish neighbors lived in peace and harmony. He said that the vegetables and crops grown in Gush Katif were the best in the country and the Arabs learned how grow them too. “We still get calls today from many former Arab neighbors complaining that situation has become much worse for the Arabs themselves as a result of the disengagement. They are pleading with us to come back,” he said. Ambassador Standley listened attentively to the rabbis and thanked them for coming to present the Torah view. He said that it is hard to argue with the rabbis, since they live in Israel and feel the heat on a daily basis, while he will only be in Israel for a few years before moving on to another country. Standley added, however, that while the Jewish people are bound by the Torah which is eternal, he and the EU are bound by international law which has not yet accepted laws of the Torah. Last month, Standley made it clear that the EU continues to regard Israel’s presence in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland as “occupation.” 
“They [Judea and Samaria] are indeed occupied territory under international law, where Israel is the occupying power,” Standley told Arutz Sheva. “Under international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, the occupying power has certain obligations and certain prohibitions, including having its population settle the occupied territory,” he added. “And this is why, under international law, including the interpretation of the European Union, it has,… there should not be settlement by Israel or by Israelis in the occupied territory.” At the same time, Standley denied that the EU takes an anti-Israel position, saying that his opinion is that Europe was solicitous over Israel’s security. The EU is not anti-Israel and views the two state solution as the best way out, he said. Last week, as part of EU’s assessment of its partnership with 12 neighboring countries, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton listed a set of characteristically harsh ‘recommendations’ regarding relations with Israel.Read the full story here.

Eurogeddon 'The Sky Is Falling' - German Central Bank Issues Zero-Rate Bonds.

Eurogeddon 'The Sky Is Falling' - German Central Bank Issues Zero-Rate Bonds.(Spiegel).For the first time in history, Germany issued long term bonds with a zero percent coupon rate on Wednesday. The demand reveals the deep concerns investors have about the euro zone and their desire for a safe place to park their capital -- even if it costs them money to do so.For now at least Germany and Greece share the same currency. But don't tell that to investors. On Wednesday the German Finance Ministry pulled off a remarkable feat for a country in a threatened currency union: It issued €4.6 billion of two year bonds with a rate of zero percent. In other words, once inflation is factored in, investors are essentially paying to park their money with the German government. Because of the strength of its economy, Germany has emerged as a significant benefactor from the problems being experienced by Greece as well as Spain, Italy and Portugal. In Greece worries that a government uncooperative with the European Central Bank could come to power after next month's election forcing an exit from the euro zone has investors as well as ordinary citizens pulling their money out in droves. In Spain concerns over the health of the banking sector have driven up borrowing costs.
According to German officials on Wednesday, demand for the zero percent bonds was robust and added that Germany does not intend to offer up bonds with a negative interest rate. "As such, a coupon of zero percent is the lower limit," Reuters quoted a finance official as saying. Still, it seems likely that, with investors looking for safe havens for their money, even negative interest rate bonds might sell. "Many investors are putting their money only in places where they are guaranteed to get it back," Commerzbank analyst Alexander Aldinger told the Berliner Morgenpost. "For a large degree of security, investors are willing to give up returns."Read the full story here.

“A ‘Gutsy Call’: Judicial Watch Obtains DOD and CIA Records Detailing Meetings with bin Laden Raid Filmmakers.

“A ‘Gutsy Call’: Judicial Watch Obtains DOD and CIA Records Detailing Meetings with bin Laden Raid Filmmakers.(JW).(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regarding meetings and communications between government agencies and Kathryn Bigelow, Academy Award-winning director of The Hurt Locker, and screenwriter Mark Boal. According to the records, the Obama Defense Department granted Bigelow and Boal access to a “planner, Operator and Commander of SEAL Team Six,” which was responsible for the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, to assist Bigelow prepare her upcoming feature film.The records, obtained pursuant to court order in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed on January 21, 2012, include 153 pages of records from the DOD and 113 pages of records from the CIA (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense (No. 1:12-cv-00049)). The documents were delivered to Judicial Watch late last Friday (May 18). The following are the highlights from the records, which include internal Defense Department email correspondence as well as a transcript from a key July 14, 2011, meeting between DOD officials, Bigelow and Boal:

A transcript of a July 14, 2011, meeting between DOD officials, including Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers, Bigelow and Boal indicates that Boal met directly with White House officials on at least two occasions regarding the film: “I took your guidance and spoke to the WH and had a good meeting with Brennan and McDonough and I plan to follow up with them; and they were forward leaning and interested in sharing their point of view; command and control; so that was great, thank you,” Boal said according to the transcript. Vickers asks if the meeting was a follow-up, to which Boal responds, “Yes correct; this was a follow-up.” The documents seemingly reference John O. Brennan, Chief Counterterrorism Advisor to President Obama and Denis McDonough, who serves as President Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor.

Judicial Watch launched its investigation of Bigelow’s meetings with the Obama administration following press reports suggesting that the Obama administration may have leaked classified information to the director as source material for Bigelow’s film.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that the information leak was designed to help the Obama 2012 presidential reelection campaign: “The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama’s growing reputation as ineffectual. The Sony film by the Oscar-winning pair who made ‘The Hurt Locker’ will no doubt reflect the president’s cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds. Just as Obamaland was hoping, the movie is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, 2012 — perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher.”
In addition to Judicial Watch’s pursuit of the bin Laden film records, the organization continues to fight in court for the release of the bin Laden post-mortem photos and video. The Obama administration continues to withhold these records citing national security concerns.“It is both ironic and hypocritical that the Obama administration stonewalled Judicial Watch’s pursuit of the bin Laden death photos, citing national security concerns, yet seemed willing to share intimate details regarding the raid to help Hollywood filmmakers release a movie ‘perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost’ to the Obama campaign.”Hmmmm.......They had to drag him from the Golf court....."Gutsy call' my .....Read the full story here.

President Ahmadinejad: Iran-Turkey Close Ties to Benefit Region.

President Ahmadinejad: Iran-Turkey Close Ties to Benefit Region.(Fars).TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lauded the close ties between Iran and Turkey, and stated that the strong ties between Tehran and Ankara will serve the interests of the two neighboring countries and the region.The issue was raised by President Ahmadinejad in a meeting with visiting Turkish Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz here in Tehran on Tuesday evening. Ahmadinejad said the two countries should use opportunities to deepen their brotherly ties. The two countries have common enemies who do not want promotion of ties between these two countries, but, undoubtedly, wisdom of Iran and Turkey will increase and expand mutual ties, the Iranian president noted. President Ahmadinejad referred to the recent visit of Turkish premier to Tehran and said that the visit was in direction of promotion of sincerity and friendship governing on mutual ties and very constructive decisions were taken, which open new chapters in common goals of both nations. During the meeting, Cevdet Yilmaz said that in his meetings here with Iranian related officials and businessmen, a roadmap and a comprehensive working plan for expansion of relations and acceleration of implementation of common agreements has been prepared. Iran and Turkey are determined to boost their trade exchanges to $30bln in the near future. Iran and Turkey have in recent years increased their cooperation in all the various fields of economy, security, trade, education, energy and culture.Hmmmmm.......With 'allies' like this NATO doesn't need enemies.Read the full story here.

Obama vetoed deployment of third US aircraft carrier to Arabian Gulf.

Obama vetoed deployment of third US aircraft carrier to Arabian Gulf.(IsraelMatzav).Eli Lake reports exclusively for the Daily Beast that President Obama turned down a request earlier this year from General James Mattis to deploy a third aircraft carrier in the Persian Arabian Gulf. Mattis is the commander of Centcom, the United States' central command.

Mattis wanted to send a third aircraft-carrier group to the Persian Gulf earlier this year, The Daily Beast has exclusively learned, in what would have been a massive show of force at a time when Iranian military commanders were publicly threatening to sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The four-star Marine Corps general and CentCom commander believed the display could have deterred Iran from further escalating tensions, according to U.S. military officials familiar with his thinking.

But the president wanted to focus military resources on new priorities like China, and Mattis was told a third carrier group was not available to be deployed to the Gulf.

The carrier-group rebuff in January was one of several for the commander responsible for East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Working for the Obama administration, Mattis has often found himself the odd man out—particularly when it comes to Iran.

Military sources close to the general tell The Beast that Mattis was worried that the president’s decision, announced in November, to fully withdraw from Iraq would leave the U.S. military without access to the country’s bases and with few options to project power in the region. The military had been negotiating with the Iraqi government for continued access to bases there for some intelligence, training, and counterterrorism missions until Obama announced his decision to the press in November.

Obama has no intention of stopping Iran. None whatsoever.Read the full story here.

‘Atomic weapons against Islam,’ says Ahmadinejad.....just look at Islamic Pakistan?

‘Atomic weapons against Islam,’ says Ahmadinejad.....just look at Islamic Pakistan?(AA).Islam forbids atomic weapons and other arms of mass destruction, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Wednesday ahead of his country’s nuclear talks with world powers in Baghdad, as Israel urged world powers not to waver in key talks with Iran. “Based on Islamic teachings and the clear fatwa (edict) of the supreme leader, the production and use of weapons of mass destruction is haram (forbidden) and have no place in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense doctrine,” he said. Ahmadinejad’s message was read out at a conference in the western city of Borujerd to commemorate Iranian victims of chemical weapons during a 1980-1988 war against Iraq, the official news agency IRNA reported. World powers were to hold crunch talks in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday with Iran to try to persuade Tehran to suspend sensitive nuclear work. Ahmadinejad’s mention of a fatwa against nuclear weapons by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referred to an edict which officials say he laid down in either 2004 or 2005. Though no published fatwa exists, Iranian scholars point out that declarations by prominent ayatollahs can later take on the weight of a fatwa. Khamenei has spoken out against nuclear weapons on several occasions, most recently on Feb. 22 when he said that possessing an atomic bomb “constitutes a major sin.”
“The Iranian nation has never been seeking an atomic weapon and never will be,” while developing nuclear energy was in Iran's interest, he said. The United States has seized on Khamenei’s stance as a possible basis to resolve the dangerous standoff with Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that Iranian officials “point to a fatwa that the supreme leader has issued against the pursuit of nuclear weapons.” World powers expect Tehran to back up that position by demonstrating “clearly in the actions they propose that they have truly abandoned any nuclear weapons ambition,” she said.“Without strengthening the current painful sanctions, Iran will continue towards a nuclear capability,” the defense minister told Israel’s public radio. “We must not blink, give up or capitulate until the very last minute,” he said. “If they let them continue, Iran will keep on enriching uranium from 20 percent to 60 percent and 90 percent and they really will get a nuclear weapon. I don’t know exactly when but it will happen,” he warned. “Now is the time for the entire world to stop them,” said Barak.Hmmmmm......A fatwa a day makes you , work, rest and fool the whole world.Read the full story here.

President Abdullah Gül :"A Turkish secretary- general of NATO? Why not?".

President Abdullah Gül :"A Turkish secretary- general of NATO? Why not?".(TZ).President Abdullah Gül said Turks could undertake more important posts in NATO, given that the Turkish army is the second-biggest army within the alliance after the US. “Consultations with the Turkish Foreign Ministry on the eve of critical decisions, Turkish generals assuming key posts within NATO -- these have become routine developments lately,” he said at a news conference in Chicago after attending a NATO summit. “So, of course it [a Turkish secretary-general for NATO] is possible. Why not? Turkey could undertake more important responsibilities within NATO, including assuming the post of secretary-general.” Gül, however, said there have been no talks on a Turkish official becoming a candidate for the top NATO post.Gül also revealed that he had told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Turkey might seek alternatives to reunification of the divided Cyprus if the current stalemate in UN-backed efforts to reunite the Turkish and Greek sides of the island persists. Gül said he has asked the UN secretary-general to assume a more active role. “I said this openly as well: ‘If this policy is bound not to work, you should be prepared [for the possibility] that we, through negotiations, put into action other alternatives’,” Gül said, without elaborating. Gül said the issue of relations with Israel came up during the meeting with Obama. “If someone tells us to fix our relations with Israel, we interrupt, even if this is US President Obama. We tell them to tell Israel to fix its relations with us,” he told the press conference. He said the recent establishment of a new government in Israel, supported by a record-high number of Israeli lawmakers, is a positive development because the Israeli government will at least not be able to present internal political rifts as an excuse for not taking certain foreign policy measures. “We prefer strong governments everywhere in the world,” he said.Hmmmm......Israel and Cyprus be forewarned.Read the full story here.