Resident Evil 5: outrage over Koran lying on the floor .

Resident Evil 5: outrage over Koran lying on the floor.(EN).By Tobias Ritter.[GoogleTranslate]The zombie action game Resident Evil 5 has at one point in the game world seems to be a copy of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, lost onto the ground.Or so suggests a currently circulating in Santander on various social networking channels screenshot that Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, the two protagonists of the game, before lying on the floor of the issue also shows God's revelation of the Qur'an mentioned to the Prophet Muhammad.What now for many more may not cause as a shrug, currently set to panic, some Muslims outraged about this disgraceful treatment they consider their Holy Scriptures - and partly to a rather extreme way.Insults were directed to the responsible developer of the variety 'bastards' and 'dog' and these are the harmless variety. Some will even demand that one should bring the makers of Resident Evil 5 kindly to justice. Others call for the death penalty openly.The scale of the riots surrounding the Mohammed cartoons the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten will accept the outrage while not well, an unpleasant aftertaste brings the whole discussion in the way the supposed other side several times with the Koran and Islam insults over the strands suggests, however, still with them. It is not yet even proved that the screenshot is authentic at all.Hmmm......Read the full story here.

The 'Monsanto Rider': Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law?

The 'Monsanto Rider': Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law?(AN).While many Americans were firing up barbecues and breaking out the sparklers to celebrate Independence Day, biotech industry executives were more likely chilling champagne to celebrate another kind of independence: immunity from federal law.

A so-called “Monsanto rider,” quietly slipped into the multi-billion dollar FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill, would require – not just allow, but require - the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed. All the farmer or the biotech producer has to do is ask, and the questionable crops could be released into the environment where they could potentially contaminate conventional or organic crops and, ultimately, the nation’s food supply.

Unless the Senate or a citizen’s army of farmers and consumers can stop them, the House of Representatives is likely to ram this dangerous rider through any day now.

In a statement issued last month, the Center For Food Safety had this to say about the biotech industry’s latest attempt to circumvent legal and regulatory safeguards.

The Monsanto Rider is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers. Judicial review is an essential element of U.S. law, providing a critical and impartial check on government decisions that may negatively impact human health, the environment or livelihoods. Maintaining the clear-cut boundary of a Constitutionally-guaranteed separation of powers is essential to our government. This provision will blur that line.
· Judicial review is a gateway, not a roadblock. Congress should be fully supportive of our nation’s independent judiciary. The ability of courts to review, evaluate and judge an issue that impacts public and environmental health is a strength, not a weakness, of our system. The loss of this fundamental safeguard could leave public health, the environment and livelihoods at risk.Read the full story here.

Two Russian nuclear-capable 'Bear' bombers intercepted near West Coast in second U.S. air defense zone intrusion in two weeks.

Two Russian nuclear-capable 'Bear' bombers intercepted near West Coast in second U.S. air defense zone intrusion in two weeks.(FB).By Bill Gertz.Two Russian strategic nuclear bombers entered the U.S. air defense zone near the Pacific coast on Wednesday and were met by U.S. interceptor jets, defense officials told the Free Beacon. It was the second time Moscow dispatched nuclear-capable bombers into the 200-mile zone surrounding U.S. territory in the past two weeks. An earlier intrusion by two Tu-95 Bear H bombers took place near Alaska as part of arctic war games that a Russian military spokesman said included simulated attacks on “enemy” air defenses and strategic facilities. A defense official said the Pacific coast intrusion came close to the U.S. coast but did not enter the 12-mile area that the U.S. military considers sovereign airspace. The bomber flights near the Pacific and earlier flights near Alaska appear to be signs Moscow is practicing the targeting of its long-range air-launched cruise missiles on two strategic missile defense sites, one at Fort Greely, Alaska and a second site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. In May, Russian Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, said during a Moscow conference that because missile defense systems are destabilizing, “A decision on pre-emptive use of the attack weapons available will be made when the situation worsens.” The comments highlighted Russian opposition to planned deployments of U.S. missile defense interceptors and sensors in Europe. The U.S. defense official called the latest Bear H incident near the U.S. West Coast “Putin’s Fourth of July Bear greeting to Obama.” Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a former Alaska commander for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the latest Bear H intrusion appears to be Russian military testing. “It’s becoming very obvious that Putin is testing Obama and his national security team,” McInerney told the Free Beacon. “These long-range aviation excursions are duplicating exercises I experienced during the height of the Cold War when I command the Alaska NORAD region.The Alaska bomber flights coincided with a summit between Obama and Putin in Mexico June 18. According to U.S. officials, some 30 bombers and support aircraft took part in the war games, including the Bear Hs and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers. Russian Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Vladimir Deryabin, told reporters in Moscow last month that the arctic strategic war games “practice destruction of enemy air defenses and strategic facilities.”Hmmmm............"ИЗМЕНЕНИЕ" a.k.a. CHANGE!Read the full story here.

OPEC President Iran Consulting with Members on Holding Emergency Meeting.

OPEC President Iran Consulting with Members on Holding Emergency Meeting.(Fars).Iran's Governor at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Mohammad Ali Khatibi announced that OPEC president Iran is in talks with other member states to hold an emergency meeting following the recent slide in oil prices. "Following the falling world oil prices, OPEC presidency is consulting with the member countries to hold the emergency meeting as soon as possible," Khatibi told FNA on Saturday. He noted that a number of members are eager to hold an emergency meeting due to the decline in oil prices, and said, "To hold an emergency meeting, all members should be present and the meeting will be held once all members agree with it." Khatibi reiterated that consultations still continue with the oil ministers of the member states on this topic. Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had said earlier this week that many OPEC members have voiced their agreement with Iran's call for holding an emergency meeting. "Fortunately OPEC members, like Algeria, agree with holding this extraordinary meeting," Qassemi told FNA on Tuesday, and added that Algeria has even offered to host the meeting. He reminded the decreasing oil prices in the last few days, and said although the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has not yet sent a reply to Tehran's request, "it seems that OPEC agrees with holding this extraordinary meeting, given the current conditions of oil price". Qassemi called on the members of the oil cartel on Sunday to convene in an emergency meeting, warning that the current market value of oil has gone "illogical". "In 161st OPEC meeting it was agreed that fall of oil prices below $100 per barrel would mean prices have violated the critical line, so we have demanded OPEC secretary general...to make preparations for holding an emergency meeting," Qassemi told the oil ministry's website at the time. Referring to overproduction by some OPEC members and rising inventories in oil consuming countries, the minister told Shana that "if OPEC members don't observe the agreed production ceiling, the oil market will experience disorder". "All members have agreed to respect the organization's production ceiling in a bid to keep the market balanced," he reminded. Qassemi went on to say that prior to the recent OPEC meeting, the cartel's total output had hit approximately 33 million barrels per day which was agreed to scale back to 30 million barrels per day with reasonable prices. "Following the recent OPEC meeting, the supply conditions have improved to some extent,"(Lower production due to Summer hours working in SaudiArabia) Qassemi said, and expressed the hope that members would comply with their commitments. On falling oil prices in recent days, Qassemi said at this time of year falling oil prices originates from seasonal reasons and falling demand but it is expected to go up in winter provided that the level of oil production is reasonable.Hmmm.....Get ready for higher Gas prices.Read the full story here.

Iranian Analyst "Iran Oil Ban Fatal Blow to EU economy".

Iranian Analyst "Iran Oil Ban Fatal Blow to EU economy".(Fars).The US-led EU oil sanctions against Iran strike a fatal blow to Europe, a senior analyst said, adding that Washington is sacrificing its European allies for the sake of its own foreign policy.Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, a Public Diplomacy Scholar, independent researcher and blogger with a focus on US foreign policy and the role of lobby groups, believes that the US-driven pressures and sanctions on Iran will have dire repercussions for the green continent, specially if Iran reciprocates the European move and blocks the Strait of Hormuz to tankers carrying crude to the EU. "Although American-led Western allies are flexing their muscles by sending battle ships to the Persian Gulf, Washington's own war game exercise, The Millennium Challenge 2002 with a price tag of $250 million, underscored America's inability to defeat Iran. Oblivious to the lesson of its own making, by sending more warships to the Persian Gulf, the United States is inching towards a full scale conflict. The inherent danger from the naval buildup is that unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis, the forces in the Persian Gulf are not confined to two leaders who would be able to communicate to stop a run-away situation. Nor would the consequences of such a potential conflict be limited to the region," Sepahpour-Ulrich said in an article in Global Research. "Given that 17 million barrels of oil a day, or 35% of the world's seaborne oil exports go through the Strait of Hormuz, incidents in the Strait would be fatal for the world economy. While only 1.1 millions barrels per day goes to the United States, a significant amount of this oil is destined for Europe. Surely, one must ask why the United States demands that its "European allies" act contrary to their own national interest, pay a higher price for oil by boycotting Iranian oil and running the risk of Iran blocking the passage of other oil-tankers destined for them? "Again, history has the straight answer. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the United States and not the oil-producing countries has used oil as a weapon. Some examples include the pressure the United States put on Britain in the 1920s to share its oil concessions in the Middle East with US companies. Post World War II, the United States violated the terms of the 1928 Red Line Agreement freezing the British and the French out of the Agreement," she added. "In 1956, the United States made it clear to Britain and France that no oil would be sent to Western Europe unless the two aforementioned countries agreed to a rapid withdrawal from Egypt. The US was not opposed to the overthrow of Nasser, but as Eisenhower said: "Had they done it quickly, we would have accepted it"3. "Demonstrably, although Europe is a major trade partner of the United States, the US does not concern itself with Europe's well being when it comes to executing its foreign policy. This should come as no surprise, especially since the United States sacrifices its own national interest to promote the Israeli agenda and that of the military industrial complex. But this does not explain why Europe would shoot itself in the foot at a time when its economical woes have passed the crisis point." "It is possible that the leaders of Western European countries are beholden to special interest groups - the pro-Israel lobbies, as the United States is, or they believe Iran will not call their bluff by ratifying the bill passed by Majlis and their oil will be delivered unhindered; perhaps both. Either way, they are committing financial suicide and their demise may well come before Iran's resolve is shaken," she concluded.Hmmmm.......Sadly he is right the European Economy will receive the heaviest blows by high oil prices.Read the full story here.

Campaigner-In-Chief Uses First-Person Pronoun “I” And “Me” 117 Times In A Single 25 min Speech.

                                                         Leading By EXAMPLE!

Campaigner-In-Chief Uses First-Person Pronoun “I” And “Me” 117 Times In A Single 25 min Speech.(CNSNews).Speaking in Sandusky, Ohio on July 5, President Barack Obama used the first-person pronouns “I” and “me” a combined 117 times in a speech that lasted about 25 minutes and 32 seconds.
Obama used “I” 98 times and “me” 19 times, according to a transcript of the speech posted by the White House. A videotape of the speech posted on YouTube shows that Obama spoke for about 25-and-a-half minutes.
During this speech, Obama used “I” or “me” approximately once every 13.09 seconds.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also frequently used the first-person pronoun in his most recent speech that has been posted in its entiretyon C-SPAN. Speaking in Salem, Va., on Jun 26, Romney used the first-person pronouns “I” and “me” a combined 55 times in a speech that lasted about 18 minutes and 13 seconds.Near the end of his talk in Sandusky, Ohio, Obama told his audience he had made a commitment to think about them every morning when he arises.Hmmmm.........Herr Doctor Freud would have written several books on him .Read the full story here.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders brings his crusade against Islam to Colorado conservative confab.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders brings his crusade against Islam to Colorado conservative confab.(TCS).By Ernest Luning. Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders brought his crusade against the Islamic religion to Denver last weekend, warning an audience at the Western Conservative Summit that Europe and the United States are vulnerable to an insidious takeover by what he termed a “dangerous, totalitarian ideology” masquerading as a religion. “If we do not stop the Islamization, we will lose everything: our identity, our culture, our democratic constitutional state, our freedom, and our civilization,” Wilders told an audience of roughly 1,000 gathered in the main ballroom at the downtown Hyatt Regency Denver on Saturday. The annual summit, in its third year, is sponsored by the Lakewood-based Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute and had an estimated 1,300 attendees over three days. While the reaction to Wilders was mixed — he received repeated standing ovations during his 45-minute talk, but perhaps a third of the audience members remained planted in their seats throughout — one Colorado lawmaker said Americans should take the Islamic threat seriously and consider prohibiting the construction of mosques in the state.
Wilders, the founder and head of the far-right Party for Freedom, now the third-largest political party in the Netherlands, has lived under constant guard since 2004 and is the author of the recently published “Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me.” He has been targeted “for criticizing Islam,” he told the avid crowd after describing some of the security measures required to protect him and his wife. “My view, in a nutshell, is that Islam, rather than a religion, is predominantly a totalitarian ideology striving for world dominance,” he said. “I believe that Islam and freedom are incompatible.” CCU president and former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong launched the summit on Friday by proclaiming it open to members of all faiths. “Of course, those of us at CCU are followers of Jesus, but in the room tonight are men and women of not only the New Testament but the Old Testament, and of other religious and philosophical traditions as well. You’re all welcome, we’re delighted you’re here,” Armstrong said.Former radio talk-show host and Denver attorney Craig Silverman introduced Wilders, but first told the crowd that he stood before them “in all humility to you conservatives for confession and forgiveness,” and admitted that he voted for Obama in 2008. Silverman said he has since seen the error of his ways. “I thought Barack Hussein Obama was ideally situated to speak simple truths to the Islamic world,” Silverman said, adding that instead, the president “wouldn’t do it, he did not do it, and he will not do it.” Saying he feared for America’s safety and for the very survival of Israel, Silverman declared that he has read few books in recent years that affected him as profoundly as Wilders’ memoir. “Geert Wilders is a great man,” Silverman said. “He refuses to be intimidated. He is a profile in courage.” Hmmmm.......Wilders “I believe that Islam and freedom are incompatible.” he might be right when it comes to 'Democracy and Islam' - Fatwa issued February 28, 2010 by Sheikh Nasser Al-Din Al-Baghdadi, a member of the shari'a committee: "The elections are based on the system of democracy, and democracy is a religion that is not the religion of Allah... [Participating in them] is blatant heresy... It is [our] duty to eliminate [the system of] democracy, which contravenes our religion, and cleave to the real and pure monotheistic faith."Makes you wonder why they vote?Read the full story here.

Video: Dick Morris – Obama Will Sign Gun Control Treaty on July 27 2012.

Dick Morris is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant.

"No Child Left Behind Obama Style" - Michigan test scores reveal a country in steep decline.

"No Child Left Behind Obama Style" - Michigan test scores reveal a country in steep decline.(TT).Racial gaps in Michigan exam results a concern.Michigan educators have spent years trying to address the persistent gap in achievement between white and minority students, but Michigan Merit Exam results released Thursday provided troubling news: The gap keeps widening.
“Results in Detroit Public Schools were grimmer. Just 205 students — or 6% of the 3,418 who took the math exam — passed. In science, 104 students — or 3% of the 3,477 students who took the exam, passed. Only 1.8% DPS students were deemed college ready. “

The State Board of Education and the Michigan Department of Education recently set closing the achievement gap — the difference in percentage of students passing the exam — as a key goal for the 2012-13 school year.

• Database: Find 2012 Michigan Merit Exam results for your district or school

The gaps, State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said in a statement, are “shameful.”

“We need to end this disparity in education, and we need to do this together as a state,” Flanagan said.

Overall, Thursday’s release of MME results was mixed. Average ACT scores are up. So is the percentage of students considered college-ready. But students struggled against a higher standard for passing the exams, with only about a quarter of them passing in math and science.

The achievement gap between white and black students widened in reading, math, science and writing on the MME, and narrowed in only social studies. The gap between white and Hispanic students widened in math and science, but narrowed in other subjects.

The gap also widened for both groups in the percentage of students considered college-ready.

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools leaders have worked for several years to address the achievement gap.

“We are very concerned about (the gaps),” said Jeanne Farina, assistant superintendent for instructional services. District and building equity teams are looking at the gaps, she said, “and digging deep into the data to find out where did they start to fail and what we can do about it.”
More Details: EXAM HIGHLIGHTS
• At nearly 80 schools statewide, none of the students was considered college-ready. That includes 11 charter schools, 31 alternative schools and 36 traditional, comprehensive high schools. Sixteen Detroit Public Schools had no college-ready students.
• Only six schools in the state had more than half their students considered college-ready.
If America doesn’t turn around (like repeal healthcare, shun statist socialism and get back to liberty, freedom and business) it’s future is here.Hmmmm......Now if he follows the 'example of his BFF Erdogan he could start 'Religious Imam Hatip schools' the level is 'easier'.In Turkey, only 27 percent of the adult population has a complete secondary school education, compared with 65 percent in the EU, 74 percent in Korea, 82 percent in Poland, and 87 percent in the US.Read the full story here. 

Yasir Arafat Is Still Dead and We Know Who Really Did Him In.

Yasir Arafat Is Still Dead and We Know Who Really Did Him In.(RR).By Barry Rubin.Yasir Arafat is still dead. True, he was once alive. I sat across from him in his Gaza office, for example. And he even had a copy of my history of the PLO on his bookshelf so he must have been of sound mind at the time. It’s not my fault. I told him to start jogging and cut down on sweets. But he didn’t listen. On November 4, 2004, he died, a fate he previously delivered to thousands of far more innocent people.
The effort now by various Palestinian factions to imply Israel killed him is the funniest thing in the Middle East since the U.S. director of national intelligence’s congressional briefing when he said the Muslim Brotherhood was a secular democratic organization. What’s dismaying is how much play Western media are giving this charge as if it should be taken seriously. When the West behaves in this way it signals at the least a dangerously naive credulousness and at worst a profound anti-Jewish and anti-Israel complex. The New York Times and Washington Post take this nonsense seriously.
But there’s something else in this story, something very chilling indeed. Revolutionary Islamists especially, but many Muslims otherwise, believe that Jews tried to murder Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and even if they failed that the poison shortened his life. The accusation that Jews are the murderer of prophets — with Muslims throwing in the founder of Christianity also — is a phrase that derives from this story. It is frequently heard from Hamas and others.
This is a blood libel, an alleged crime that then leads to the view that Jews are absolutely evil and should be wiped out. In short, it is a rationale for genocide. When Iran, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Muslim Brotherhood say that Israel should be wiped off the map and Jews generally should be murdered, that incitement is the inevitable consequence of this line of thinking.
That Western observers are unaware of all of this history — repeated daily in inciteful sermons found in Middle East mosques — is quite evident. Such a lack of knowledge leads them to believe that the conflicts they say are easily resolvable, quickly settled by more Israeli concessions or still continuing because of Israeli actions when the causes are much deeper and the solutions far more remote. Western societies today are obsessed with searching everywhere for racism and hate speech. Well, the idea that the Jews murdered Arafat (rather than that Arafat spent most of his career murdering Jews) falls into that category.
As for the specific claims in the Arafat case, they are easily disposed of:
First of all, anyone who saw Arafat during the last year of his life knew he was seriously ill and steadily worsening. His lips trembled, he looked disoriented, and he wasn’t as articulate as usual. Even on television you couldn’t possibly miss his distress. Parkinson’s disease was a likely diagnosis though Crohn’s disease was said to be another probable medical problem for the dictator.
His doctors obviously knew that he was in bad shape. But, and this is what’s most important, they didn’t do anything about it. The prospect of Arafat’s death was so traumatic for the movement — which had known no other leader during 43 years for Fatah, 36 years for the PLO, and its entire ten year life for the Palestinian Authority. By not taking serious action and giving him better treatment, the key to the mystery is this: His own doctors and movement killed Arafat. So if Israel killed Arafat, then his own doctors and the entire PLO, Fatah, and PA leadership were in on the conspiracy. Indeed, Arafat himself, by not more actively seeking medical help or speaking about his problems, was also in on the conspiracy. This is unlikely.Of course, Arafat was a weird person and in our biography, Arafat: A Political Biography, Judith Colp Rubin and I explain his psychology and personality. One of my favorite Palestinian jokes about Arafat recounts that he is patting the head of a little girl and asks her, “Whose daughter are you?”
She answers, “Yours.” Arafat was considered by his countrymen to be so cold that he didn’t recognize his own begotten daughter. The story is almost plausible.
But I repeat: there is no reason to think Arafat was a homosexual or died of AIDS or poisoning. He was overweight, ate an unhealthy diet, worked long hours, didn’t take care of himself (he believed eating honey would keep him healthy), and had very bad doctors despite their local reputations.
So we know who killed Arafat: his doctors, entourage, movement, and of course his own body. Yet when I go to Yahoo, what do I see but Arafat’s “mysterious” death as the lead story in the entire world, as if any accusation made against Israel must be true.
Note: Here’s a history of the Israel-killed-Arafat tale in Palestinian Media Watch. For more analysis of why the claims are absurd see here and here. Note: Here’s a history of the Israel-killed-Arafat tale in Palestinian Media Watch. For more analysis of why the claims are absurd see here and here. Here’s some more information about the Israeli decision to let Arafat go to Paris. One interesting point is that it implies the French doctors took some action which might have been correct but could also imply that they are at fault for Arafat’s turn for the worse, giving them a motive for not revealing details of his treatment.Hmmmm......The main question is WHY NOW?What are they planning in the very near future, lets say after the reelection of Obama?Read the full story here.

Iran TV halts 2 polls on nuke activities, Hormuz closure after voting opposed this path.

Iran TV halts 2 polls on nuke activities, Hormuz closure after voting opposed this path.(AA).Iran’s state-run TV was forced to cancel two polls after the majority of voting came against the policy of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The first poll, launched by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, was about how the Iranians regarded a possible halt in the uranium enrichment operations, which would accordingly halt the whole nuclear project in the country, in return for stopping the international economic sanctions imposed against Tehran. But the gambit turned into a spectacular own goal after two days of voting when IRIB’s news channel screened results showing 63% of respondents in favor of suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for the gradual easing of sanctions.
The TV quickly stopped the poll and replaced it with one seeking viewers’ opinions on an Iranian parliament proposal to close the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital waterway in the Arabian Gulf that is the passageway for about one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies. But that too appeared to backfire when 89% of respondents opposed closing the strait. It was subsequently replaced by another survey about the popular Iranian football club, Persepolis.Hmmmm......Must be a 'Zionist plot'?LOL.Read the full story here.More here.

Iran Inaugurates Production Line of New domestic made Anti-Armor Missile System.

Iran Inaugurates Production Line of New domestic made Anti-Armor Missile System.(Fars).Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Saturday inaugurated the production line of a new home-made anti-armor missile system named 'Dehlaviyeh'."The Dehlaviyeh missile is one of the most hi-tech anti-armor missiles designed for destroying different advanced tanks which are equipped with reactive armor," Vahidi said at the inauguration ceremony of the missile system.
He also reiterated that the missile has been equipped with a special guiding system (which is resistant to different types of enemy's electronic warfare), a warhead and a missile-launcher and a portable engine-propeller.
"The missile system has been designed in a way that it can hit both fix ground targets and mobile armored targets," Vahidi said. Last August, the Iranian Defense Ministry started mass-production of 73-mm anti-armor rockets capable of piercing and destroying armored vehicles from a 1,300-meter distance. "The weapon is mobile and due to its low weight, it can be carried by an individual trooper," Vahidi told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony held to launch the production line of the rocket at the time. Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes. Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country. Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran's wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor, specially at a time of heightened threats by the US.Read the full story here.

The U.N. Never Ceases to Amaze" - UN Conference on Arms Trade Treaty Selects Iran as Vice-Chairman

The U.N. Never Ceases to Amaze - UN Conference on Arms Trade Treaty Selects Iran as Vice-Chairman.(Fars).The Iranian delegation attending the United Nations Conference on Arms Trade Treaty was elected as the vice-chairman of the meeting being held in New York. The month-long talks were scheduled to kick off July 2 but were delayed until the night of July 3 after a dispute over whether non-members Palestine and The Holy See would be allowed voting rights. The main goal of the conference is compiling a treaty to legalize the trade of all conventional weapons. It is expected that the participants discuss the possible challenges facing the conventional weapons' transfer at the international level and compile a treaty to counter the phenomenon. Calling it a "disgrace" that there is no international agreement regulating global arms sales, the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon yesterday opened a month-long conference that aims to negotiate one to curb black markets and deny weapons to repressive regimes, terrorists and nations at war.
"It is ambitious, but I believe it is achievable," Ban told the delegates in New York representing more than 150 countries. "Our common goal is clear." Such unregulated weapons kill 1,500 people each day, up to 750,000 a year, according to Amnesty International USA. The proposed Arms Trade Treaty, in the works for six years, requires 65 nations to ratify it before it is legally binding on those countries. It would cover all conventional weapons, from small arms to tanks, warships and missile systems. It would require ratifying countries to regulate imports, exports and weapons passing through their territories. Countries would have to publish their sales yearly and register arms brokers, according to the draft treaty. The treaty asks countries to decide on sales, based on certain criteria. Arms deals contributing to human-rights violations, including terrorism, genocide or other war crimes, should not be authorized. Other criteria include whether arms would undermine peace or prolong a conflict, be diverted to the black market, hurt the economy of the purchasing nation or if the sale involved corruption.Hmmmm.....No matter what being discussed at the UN you can be sure they'll  target Israel....one way or another.Read the full story here.

In other Iranian terror news, there are Iranian Missile Sites in Venezuela.Comforting, no?

Does it look like a 'mini sub' in the right hand corner 'decorated' with 'revolutionaries'?

In other Iranian terror news, there are Iranian Missile Sites in Venezuela.Comforting, no?(JawaReport).The Astinave shipping website posts a photo of Iranian delegates visiting the Guayaquil Shipyard. Days ago, Mr. General Manager received EP ASTINAVE facilities, 12 industrial technical delegates from different areas of the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The meeting was intended to meet the technical capabilities of the institution and later establish the possible areas of cooperation for further exchange between the parties on information regarding logistics and technology.Astinave and Iran have a business relationship verified on the company’s website along with this undated photo of the Iranian delegation visit. The website also contains information that Astinave cooperates with Israeli Aerospace Industries to improve its surface radar aboard Ecuadorian naval vessels. The unusual client pairing suggests strategic competition between Israel and Iran in gaining contracts with Ecuador. The Iranians reportedly obtained exclusive use of the Astinave pier near Santa Cruz de los Taques in 2010 . Accounts in the Venezuelan media report the Iranian personnel arrived in Santa Cruz in 2010 to sign the contract with Asdrubal Chavez and have remained there since that time. The agreement falls under the jurisdiction of Venezuela’s navy and the recent reporting of the contract serves Iran’s message that it can operate freely in the near region of the United States. Iranian news articles repeatedly state Iran’s military capabilities and readiness against any foreign threat. It could be said that the rhetoric is for the benefit of Iran’s population more than Western strategists, but it does influence international policy toward Iran that has a reputation of operating through proxies and threatening its regional neighbors. Sanctions against Iran are the result of not only Iran’s message but actions. The reporting of the Astinave-Iranian agreement for the Santa Cruz port may be timed to demonstrate Iran’s ability to resist the limitations of sanctions and still carry on with missile bases in Latin America. Until Iran and Venezuela acquire missile inventory capable of reaching the US from Paraguaná.the construction of missile sites serves largely as posturing. The ground work and relational ties are sufficient concern for the US intelligence community, despite the lack of progress on the actual bases. Support from China or Russia could accelerate the work if either of those countries feels the need to leverage the US, NATO or the West. Iran and Venezuela are keen to draw surveillance attention toward Venezuela and maintain a tempo of threatening rhetoric, along with meetings between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez in Caracas. By doing so Iran and Venezuela fashion danger into a commodity for trade. An evolving South America designed to buffet the US reshapes power internationally under this strategy. The Iranians are eager to do so with missile sites on Paraguaná whether the sites are complete or in progress. At present, the sites appear to be far from completion.Hmmm....."Yes we Can?"Read the full story here.

Day Three: At the Arms Trade Treaty Conference, the U.S. Speaks.

Day Three: At the Arms Trade Treaty Conference, the U.S. Speaks.(Heritage).By Ted R. Bromund, Ph.D.After the dictatorial circus of the morning, the afternoon session of the ATT Conference was comparatively calm.
The lowlight was the address by Saudi Arabia, which seemed to be doing its best to outbid Egypt in the “we support Palestine” sweepstakes. No demand was too extreme: Palestinian state membership in the U.N., nuclear disarmament, no parallel meetings at the conference, an attack on Israel for not respecting the right of Palestinian self-determination in the “Occupied Territories” (someone needs to tell the Saudis that Hamas, not Israel, controls Gaza), a demand that the treaty respect the “rights of importing states” (i.e., the rights of autocracies to buy the guns they want), and the need for states to be able to import arms for “internal security” (a demand that is wide open to abuse by authoritarian regimes).
The highlights of the session were, thankfully, more numerous. Spain and New Zealand made solid statements urging that the ATT apply strictly to genuinely international arms traffic. Canada’s statement, too, was helpful on what in the U.S. would be Second Amendment grounds, though regrettably it chose to defend the legitimacy of hunting and sport shooting in the context only of the treaty’s preamble, not its scope.
And then there was the U.S. statement, made by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Thomas Countryman. As in July 2011, the U.S. spoke on behalf of the Permanent Five (P5) Members of the Security Council. The statement was banal but obviously important.
The U.S. and the rest of the P5 want an ATT that is based fundamentally on “effective systems [of national control] based on common international standards,” with authority for approving transfers remaining the right and responsibility of sovereign nations. The scope of the treaty should be as broad as possible—so long as it is practical. An Implementation Support Unit in the U.N. “could” be created to facilitate information exchange, match needs for foreign aid with those supplying it, and “promote the value” of the ATT.
Finally, the ATT should not enter into force until a reasonable number—Countryman suggested 65—states had ratified it, and he “expects” this number to include the main arms trading states.
Little if any of this is shocking—most surprising was the U.S. support for U.N. propaganda, i.e. activities to “promote the value” of the ATT—but a few points are worth making.
First, Countryman did not mention including small arms, light weapons, or ammunition in the ATT. Second, he made no reference at all to domestic constitutional protections or the need for the ATT to respect hunters and sport shooters and the right of personal self-defense. Finally, he emphasized the need for the national definition of the goods and services covered by the ATT.The U.S. is kicking the can down the road. But in so doing, it’s moving ever closer to a treaty that will be bad for U.S. interests and will keep U.S. diplomats busy fending off more bad ideas for years to come.Read the full story here.

"May the power of the Cloud be with you?" - Power Outages a Sign of Cloud Computing’s Achilles Heel?

"May the power of the Cloud be with you?" - Power Outages a Sign of Cloud Computing’s Achilles Heel?(Heritage).By David Inserra.Last Friday, storms knocked out power for many in the D.C. metro area. Disruptions didn’t end there. Amazon Web Services, a cloud service provider, went down in the storm, taking several major companies’ websites and businesses offline.
Netflix, Instagram, and Pinterest, among others, also lost access to e-mail, applications, data, and other business services. 
While the disruption was brief, bugs in the system caused Amazon servers to spread the problem, leading to delays and disabling of services beyond the affected region.
Cloud computing is the movement of IT capabilities away from individual computers and servers to centralized providers that manage IT resources for their users via the Internet. But if the cloud cannot survive a thunderstorm, can it survive a dedicated cyber or physical attack?
There are good reasons to keep some services off the cloud, but worrying about disasters is not one of them. The Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and other security services would be wise to keep highly sensitive information on their own servers. Even with the most secure cloud, the risk of losing even a small amount of information outweighs the benefits.
On the other hand, there are significant benefits to cloud computing. For most government agencies, the cloud would likely improve security, and any potential risks could be managed through proper contracts with the cloud provider.
Another major benefit is increased flexibility. Amazon shifted data and services to different cloud servers, albeit imperfectly, and restored most services within a few hours. If a normal server lost power, it would simply turn off, leaving employees without access to data or applications found on that server.In the cyber realm, there will always be failures and breaches; even without cloud computing, the federal government has its share of problems . Ultimately, whether it is on the cloud or on a private server, strong cybersecurity and a resilient electric grid are needed to keep computers going.Hmmmm......"May the power of the Cloud be with you?"Read the full story here.