Sarkozy: Israeli attack on Iran would be 'catastrophe'And what would an Iranian attack on Israel be?
Terrorist group still allowed to join US-backed government
Hamas not even asked to recognize Israel
"We are not demanding Hamas recognize the state of Israel. It's not even part of the talks. Even we as the Fatah movement didn't recognize the state of Israel," said the PA negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity.Abbas says no preconditions on talks with Hamas
State, Mitchell were in the loop on Syria
I'm told the recommendation came in a memo from Mitchell to Clinton and Obama after his mid-June meeting with Syrian President Assad. The decision was discussed in a Deputies Committee that included the powerful Deputy Secretary of State, Jim Steinberg as well as a Mitchell aide, Fred Hoff. Clinton's personal staff on the seventh floor was aware of the recommendation before it was announced, as was the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman.New chapter for Syria-Saudi relationsHoagland's column suggests that others in Foggy Bottom were taken aback, but both Clinton and Mitchell -- the central negotiator on the ground in the Middle East -- were in the loop on this one.
Netanyahu aide: No Golan pullout for peace
Azerbaijan agrees to sell to Syria up to 1 billion cubic units gas per year
The official Baku visit of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has led to Azerbaijani-Syrian arrangements in the area of natural gas supplies. When visiting Baku the Syrian President stated that the gas matter was one of the key priorities of two countries’ negotiations.Azerbaijan says it has not given anyone priority for gas
Hamasshole Party on Gaza BeachNO FUN FOR YOU! BEATINGS!
Miss al-Ghoul was picked up by police on charges of indecent clothing and behavior. On the night of the arrest, she was wearing jeans and T-shirt - attire that is considered fairly provocative in Gaza’s conservative society and which could have easily attracted the attention of the plain-clothed Hamas vice police who patrol the beaches. She also swam in pants, fully dressed, with a girlfriend. Al-Ghoul’s male friends were beaten by Hamas police, kept in jail for several hours and asked to sign statements saying they would not violate public moral standards again, she said. The incident came as a surprise, worst yet, as shock to Palestinians who, for the first time were told about the news and apparent new Islamic law imposed by Hamas on the coastal area.Amnesty International says Hamas and Israel guilty of war crimes
The report condemned unjustified Hamas rocket fire against Israeli civilians, which violated the laws of war and drove thousands of Israelis from their homes.Aid to Israel passes House
The report condemned the IDF “unprecedented” scale and intensity of attack, which, it claimed, took hundreds of civilian lives. A.I. also accused Israeli soldiers of forcing civilians to stay in houses they took over for military purposes, but exonerated Hamas of using human shields. The IDF did not comment on the houses.
Gee that's too bad. IMO the best thing that could happen to Israel is they take noone's money and tell the world to shove their endless meddling right up their Glow Ballin' asses.
Israel Expelled by International Journalists Union
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have removed the (read expelled) the Israeli branch of the organization. The IFJ say it is because Israel refused to pay the dues it owed. Israel had been withholding payments asking that it be charged the same rate as neighboring country Jordan, not the higher rate the IFJ was demanding. Many believe it has more to do with an anti-Israel bias then the dues, the pattern of which is evident.Religious Jews stabbed in Jerusalem fight
Two religious Jews were stabbed and another beaten in a Saturday altercation with secular Jewish residents of Jerusalem.Religious and secular Jews brawl in Jerusalem
Make that three....
Three haredim wounded in fight with secular men in Jerusalem
The Palestinians' man in Jerusalem
But naturally they don't want him.
"This is not a power struggle between good guys and bad guys," he said in a recent speech. "It is a struggle between bad guys and bad guys." He wishes they were fighting over what would be best for Palestinians. "But they're only fighting over money and power."
Britain offers Nuke Deal as Tehran BurnsBRITAIN'S nuclear stockpile could be reduced as part of a global initiative to persuade Iran and North Korea to give up the arms race, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday. Speaking at the G8 summit in Italy, Mr Brown said US-brokered talks next year could pave the way for Britain to reduce its warhead numbers in return for Tehran and Pyongyang abandoning their nuclear programs.Iran protests continue despite Government crackdown
And US President Barack Obama, in a move designed to increase the pressure on Iran, called for the biggest summit ever flagged to stop the spread of atomic weapons. Up to 30 countries will be invited to Washington next northern spring for a nuclear security conference. Mr Brown suggested that as part of the process, Iran was likely to be forced to prove it did not have a nuclear weapons program.
US panel demands release of Baha'is facing trial in Iran
They have been in prison over a year now....
IRAN: Mehdi Karroubi warns of 'unimaginable consequences'
Iran to offer West 'new package'
Same as the old package.
How do you say "You are hereby cordially invited to go fuck youself with an Arab shoe, you dhimmi son of an ape" in Farsi?
Iran to hang top Sunni rebel, 11 others
"They will be hanged, inshallah, by the end of the week," said Hamidi, adding that the 12 have all been accused of being "mohareb" -- enemies of God.Iranian-American arrested in Iran
A social scientist....
An Iranian-American who was briefly imprisoned in Iran in 2007 on an accusation of endangering national security was arrested Thursday night, sources close to his family told CNN Friday.Selling the CaliphateSecurity forces took Kian Tajbakhsh, a social scientist, from his home in Tehran, the sources said. In addition, the home where he lives with his wife and year-old child was ransacked, and his computer was taken.
The reason for his arrest was not immediately known, and there was no comment from the Iranian government by late Friday. The sources said his family doesn’t know where he is.
In a recent interview with ‘AltMuslim’, Scotland’s resident entry level Islamist Osama Saeed sought to do with the Caliphate what Nick Griffin is doing with his racial prejudice, i.e. using more ‘saleable’ terms to make the idea sound more appealing to a modern Western audience. When pressed on the issue Osama said:
All that I was saying was the Caliphate can be consistent with democratic norms and human rights norms. I think to say the opposite of that is effectively saying that Islam is problematic and not compatible with these things. I also think it’s complicated internationally. I’m not advocating that we need one big superstate, because there are territorial integrities to take into account.
But if Muslim countries decided that they wanted creative cooperation, bring down trade barriers in the same way that Europeans do within the EU and the United States does [internally], that’s a laudable aim. I don’t see that there’s anything wrong with that. You’ve effectively got a significant international structure there. It’s just about talking about in modern terms...
China must end persecution of sentenced earthquake survivorThe Chinese authorities should ensure that May 2008 Sichuan earthquake survivor He Hongchun will not be subjected to any further punishment and that the conditions of his suspended sentence follow Chinese law, urged Amnesty International in a public statement on Thursday.Iran, OIC raise concerns over Muslims murder in China
At 2pm on Thursday, Beichuan County Intermediate Court convicted He Hongchun of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order” and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years. He has yet to decide if he will appeal the verdict.
He Hongchun was detained on 27 September 2008 after organizing a protest outside an insurance company in Beicuan county. He Hongchun, along with eight other individuals, were selected to represent over 500 parents of Beichuan county who lost their children when their school buildings collapsed on them during the earthquake.
Turkish PM ups rhetoric over violence in Xinjiang
Iranian FM to call China over violence in Uighur region
Just as soon as he can break away from killing rioting Muslims and others in his own country.
A Strongman Is China's Rock in Ethnic Strife
As ethnic Han gangs roamed the streets of Urumqi on Tuesday at dusk, seeking revenge against Muslim Uighur rioters who killed scores of Han two nights earlier, a balding Communist Party bureaucrat abruptly appeared on the city’s television screens to call for calm.The nine-minute speech by the bureaucrat, Wang Lequan, was mostly government boilerplate: the riots were no homegrown problem, but “a massive conspiracy” to sabotage ethnic unity; Urumqi citizens should “point the spear toward hostile forces at home and abroad,” not at their neighbors; attacks on Han or Uighurs alike were heartbreaking.
Then he turned to the Han who were on the streets, repaying the riots’ blood debt. “Comrades, to start with, such action is fundamentally not necessary,” he told them briskly. “Our dictatorial force is fully able to knock out the evildoers, so there is no need to take such action.”
Mr. Wang, 64, the Communist Party secretary and absolute power in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, is largely unknown outside China, and until lately stayed in the shadows even at home. But China’s leadership elite, and perhaps especially his patron, President Hu Jintao, have put their faith in him: they have let him run Xinjiang for 15 years, well beyond the usually strict limit of a decade in one powerful post. They have elevated him to the Politburo, the ruling party’s inner sanctum.
War on Terrorism: Financial Crimes Enforcement NetworkThe Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing this advisory to inform banks and other financial institutions operating in the United States of the risks associated with deficiencies in the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) regimes of the following jurisdictions: Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and São Tomé and Príncipe.New microfinance bank established in Tajikistan
On June 26, 2009 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a statement concerning these jurisdictions that reiterates previous FATF concerns and calls for action on the part of its members. The FATF statement is copied below and can be found on the FATF website.
OK, so WTF is "microfinance"?Several international finance organizations have invested in a new microfinance institution, AccessBank Tajikistan. Access Microfinance Holding AG (AccessHolding) will hold a majority stake in the new bank, and international investors including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) will invest a total of USD 11 million for equity stakes. AccessBank Tajikistan will launch operations in late 2009 in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.
Microfinance refers to the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed. The term also refers to the practice of sustainably delivering those services. Microcredit (or loans to poor microenterprises) should not be confused with microfinance, which addresses a full range of banking needs for poor people.Oy to the vey deluxe.
More broadly, it refers to a movement that envisions “a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers.”Those who promote microfinance generally believe that such access will help poor people out of poverty.
TAJIKISTAN: MILITANTS MAKE DIRECT CHALLENGE TO GOVERNMENT
That microfinance crap ain't gonna cut it with these guys.....
Armed supporters of the civil war-era commander Mullo Abdullo have clashed with government troops in southern Tajikistan and are preparing for an all-out assault on the state, a Russian newspaper claims.Mullo Abdullo? He's a jihadist.
Hey they ain't called The Stans for nothing.
Are the Afghan Taliban Using Tajikistan’s Islamist Militants to Pressure Dushanbe on NATO Supply Routes?
A new military operation in eastern Tajikistan suggests the Central Asian nation is responding to the return of such extremists under the command of veteran Tajik jihadi leader Mullo Abdullo Rakhimov, though the Dushanbe-based government says it is only conducting routine anti-narcotics operations.Another Russian base in Kyrgyzstan
During Tajikistan’s 1992-1997 civil war, Mullo Abdullo was an important Islamist commander, operating as part of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), an awkward coalition of liberal democrats and Islamists. If Abdullo has returned, it would mark his first known presence in Tajikistan since September 2000, when a government offensive in the Darband region destroyed most of his group, with over 40 fighters captured. Mullo Abdullo himself was reported captured in this encounter. He is supposed to have been sent on to Dushanbe, but was apparently amnestied and released, taking advantage of his unexpected freedom to leave for Afghanistan whereby according to some accounts, Ahmad Shah Masoud made him a commander in the Northern Alliance. Other reports say he joined the Taliban and was captured by government forces in Kandahar province in 2002, after which little was heard of him (Asia Plus, May 23; RFE/RL, May 21). Tajikistan authorities were unable to confirm reports of Abdullo’s detention in Afghanistan (Interfax, May 22).
The Legacy of Tajikistan’s Civil War
Government troops are currently at work in the Rasht Valley, in the western part of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). The Garm district of the Rasht Valley has a long history as a center for Islamist militancy, dating back to its days as an important center for the anti-Soviet Bashmachi rebellion of the 1920’s. During the civil war the Garmis sided with the Islamists and suffered severe retribution for their efforts. The Rasht Valley was also the main operational base for Mullah Abdullo’s forces during the war.
SNIP
Russia will open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan in what would be a major expansion of its military presence in Central Asia, said a media report.Kyrgyz president: Continued American use of Manas base benefits US, Russia & KrygystanThe base will be located in the strategic Ferghana valley in southern Kyrgyzstan, close to the borders with China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, said the Interfax news agency quoting a military-diplomatic source.
Russia already has an airbase at Kant, a few kilometres from the U.S. Manas airbase, which Kyrgyzstan decided to close earlier this year but last month allowed to continue as a “transit centre.” The new base will be used by rapid reaction forces that are being set up by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation , a Russia-led defence pact which unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Russia will supply the bulk of troops for the new base. Their task will be to “control drug-trafficking and fight extremist groups operating in the region,” said the source.
The decision to allow the United States to continue using a Kyrgyzstan air base as a transit center for its operations in Afghanistan benefits Washington, Moscow and Bishkek, the Kyrgyz president said Friday.Kyrgyzstan lets Russia in on their defense enterprises, in exchange for a loan"I consider the decision taken by us as a crucial precedent in international politics, when all the parties concerned manage to overcome the inertia of confrontation and to begin realizing the possibilities and prospects of their partnership," President Kurmanbek Bakiyev told Russia's Izvestia newspaper.
"It is a joint success of Russia, the United States, and Kyrgyzstan, diplomats of the Central Asian countries, as well as European politicians," he said.
Bakiyev said his country showed its willingness to fight international terrorism and extremism by allowing the transit of U.S. military supplies to Afghanistan via its territory.
Russia receives large blocks of shares in a number of Kyrgyz military-industrial complexes in exchange for previously allocated to the Republic of credit, told Interfax-AVN an informed source in Moscow.TURKMENISTAN: TOP-TIER US DIPLOMATS IN ASHGABAT FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT
Uzbekistan arrests 10 after suicide bombingUS Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William J. Burns is in Ashgabat to meet Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. "Negotiations [will focus on] the expansion of interstate dialogue," the state news agency reported on July 10.
Burns met Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on July 9. On July 11-12 he will visit Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, before traveling to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on July 13-14.
Burns is accompanied by a "high-level American delegation" and will discuss "a range of bilateral issues with Kyrgyz government leaders," the US Embassy in Bishkek said in a press statement on July 10.
The CA-News.org news agency said the delegation includes Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake; the National Security Council’s Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs, Michael McFaul; and the State Department’s Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Richard Morningstar.
Girls sold into slavery for $2,000
Two 22-year-old girls from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan who have been “prepared” to become prostitutes are now released from slavery in the Russian city of Novosibirsk.
KAZAKHSTAN: WORKERS COMPLETE SECTION OF TURKMENISTAN-CHINA PIPELINERussia Threatens to Revoke Coal Mine's Licenses
Russian regional authorities are threatening to revoke licenses for two of ArcelorMittal's coal mines in Siberia without compensation because they are concerned the world's largest steelmaker may close them down, leaving thousands unemployed.ArcelorMittal coal miners protest in KazakhstanAs Russia struggles to contain its worst economic crisis in a decade, officials are putting pressure on local companies not to close factories or lay off workers.
In the most high-profile example to date, Russia's powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin, last month criticized tycoon Oleg Deripaska on television over unpaid wages at a cement plant near St. Petersburg. President Dmitry Medvedev has also threatened to ax regional bosses who fail to tackle unemployment.
A group of coal miners working for the Kazakh unit of global steel maker ArcelorMittal refused to leave the mine at the end of their shift on Friday, the company said, without elaborating on the workers' demands. ArcelorMittal said the protest took place at the Tentekskaya mine, where three workers died last month after part of the mine collapsed.Zijin (CHINA) terminates talks to buy Kazakhstan gold firm
Senior Ingushetia Official Dies After Attack
Ukrainian Police Intercept Russian Missile Convoy
The trucks contained an unspecified number of SS N-2 short-range and SS N-9 medium-range missiles, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. SS N-9 missiles were used by the Russian Black Sea Fleet against the Georgian Navy during last year's war.Russia renews threats over US missile shield
"If we cannot agree on this question (missile defense), then you know the consequences," said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Friday, after a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations (G8) in the central Italian city of L'Aquila, reports AFP.US General Promotes Missile Defense "Partnership" With Russia
Moscow has threatened to install the potent systems in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave near Poland which together with the Czech Republic is expected to host elements of the US shield.
"I have nothing to add, and what I said in my address to the nation remains valid," said Medvedev, referring to a late 2008 speech in which he had introduced the possible Russian response.
"The (new) approach is to lay out ideas, and not to have a fully developed plan," Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly told Reuters in reference to U.S.-Russian missile defense talks. "You need to move forward at a prudent pace so that there are collaborative decisions, intermediate decisions made along the way, so that there is true partnership," O'Reilly added.A Threatening Farewell from U.S.-Russia Summitry
Most of the time we prefer to believe them when the Kremlin says they want improved relations, but time, patience, and excuses are running out for self-sabotage. Today's news doesn't help much. Just in case anybody thought the summitry was going a little too well, Medvedev concluded his affable week with Obama by resurrecting a threat to place Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad (as though the regular threats to bomb Warsaw weren't enough).Medvedev backs away from joint WTO bid
Take a moment to recall the original embarrassingly timed and tactically miscalculated threat from November, 2008, way back when Obama had just won his historic election, with world leaders from Iran to Zimbabwe to Venezuela expressing (at minimum) cautious goodwill and congratulations that a new chapter might open in relations. Then, like a lightning bolt struck into the middle of America's short-lived euphoric picnic, came the Kaliningrad move. The siloviki can be such party poopers.
Medvedev clashes with Putin
Not so smart.
Vladimir Putin visits Petrozavodsk
And the people swoon at his glory!
It is no accident Karelia became the place chosen for carrying out of the session of the State Border Commission. The republic shares 700 kilometers of the border with the European Union and, in this respect, is one of the key regions of the country acting a great strategic part.Transcript: Putin-Perminov Discuss Russian Space Program
Vald is master of threatening brevity!
“Symbolic” World Currency Coin Unveiled At The G-8
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a “united future world currency.”“Here it is,” Medvedev told reporters today in L’Aquila, Italy, after a summit of the Group of Eight nations. “You can see it and touch it.”
The coin, which bears the words “unity in diversity,” was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.
The question of a supranational currency “concerns everyone now, even the mints,” Medvedev said. The test coin “means they’re getting ready. I think it’s a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.”
The Continued Fleecing Of America And Its Citizens By The Financial EliteCIT Group, Chevron, AIG are big movers
Middle East dealmaking continues to contract
BTW...HOPU investment is Goldman Sachs China, Fang's Division.
The largest transaction by value for the first six months of 2009 was the $13.9bn purchase of IndyMac Federal Bank FSB's assets by a consortium of private equity and hedge fund firms. Completed in March, it was the only deal worth more than $10bn.'Pharmerging' markets and the new world order
Its closest rival was the sale of a six per cent stake in China Construction Bank Corporation to a group of investors including Hopu Investment Management and Temasek of Singapore for $7.32bn.
STFU you crazy spleen, none of this is happening!
The Dicey Politics of a Second StimulusCollectively, these seven countries — Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Russia, Turkey, South Korea — are predicted to enjoy a CAGR of 13–16% by 2013. Very healthy figures, and perhaps not totally surprising, but they prompted David Campbell, IMS's senior principal for emerging markets, to declare that what we're about to see is the emergence of a 'new world order.'
"Thinking back to 2006, I don't think that anyone would have guessed that, based on the data we had then, we'd see the 52% growth in the pharmaceutical sector coming from the US market turning into a -19% contribution to global pharmaceutical growth based on IMS’s expectations for 2009," said Campbell. "That 52% growth provided by the US market has effectively transferred, according to our expectations, to the 51% growth now coming from those seven pharmerging markets."
Stimulus? Back in the neighborhood we used to call this shit grand theft.
Ex-Goldman Programmer Described Code Downloads to FBI“The reason I uploaded to svn.xp-dev.com was because it was not blocked by Goldman Sachs security policy,” Aleynikov wrote. The phrase, “not blocked by Goldman Sachs security policy,” was crossed out and he added: “I wanted to inspect the work later in a more usable environment.”Web manager won't say if others saw Goldman code
Barclays Hires Goldman Sachs Japan Stock Analyst Yuji Fujimori
Bank of America: "Amazed by Goldman Sachs' Unmatched Risk Taking
Bank of America Poaches a Gold Man
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?
17 members seek Fed probe over BofA
Seventeen House members from both parties are calling on the Obama administration to investigate the Federal Reserve over its role in Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch at the height of the financial crisis.Obama nominates former Goldman Sachs exec as ambassador to Germany
He was also a fundraiser for the Democratic Party
DNC fundraiser tapped as ambassador to Germany
Goldman Sachs profit bonanza could stoke anger
Ya think?
Former Napolitano aide gets Obama's nod for US attorneyPresident Barack Obama on Friday announced his intent to nominate former Gov. Janet Napolitano's former chief of staff for the post of Arizona U.S. attorney. Phoenix lawyer Dennis Burke, 46, who has held positions in each of the three branches of federal government, got a unanimous nod last month from Arizona's House Democrats. Burke was one of six attorneys in five states that Obama said he would nominate on Friday. The others were in Alaska, Hawaii, Ohio and South Dakota.Agreement reached on police immigration law role
Napolitano also unveiled a standardized agreement for any local jurisdiction that wants to deputize police to act on behalf of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.Napolitano Announces New Agreement for State and Local Immigration Enforcement Partnerships & Adds 11 New Agreements
Homeland Security Unveils New Immigration Plan That Limits Officers' Powers
The agency reworked the program, which had been criticized by the Government Accountability Office and led to a Justice Department investigation of the Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff's office.Feds OK Morristown cops as agents
The federal Department of Homeland Security approved Morristown's application to join a program that will allow local police officers to be trained as de facto immigration agents — although it was unclear Friday when or if the program will be implemented.Why the FBI Squelched an Investigation of a Post-9/11 Meeting Between White Supremacist and Islamic Extremists
Morristown's police department is one of 11 law enforcement agencies whose applications were approved Friday for the controversial 287(g) program, which deputizes local police officers to enforce federal immigration laws, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday.Immigration advocate Diana Mejia called the decision "a sad day for Morristown." Mejia is the founder of Wind of the Spirit, a Morristown-based immigration resource center.
"This new agreement supports local efforts to protect public safety by giving law enforcement the tools to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens," Napolitano said. "It also promotes consistency across the board to ensure that all of our state and local law enforcement partners are using the same standards in implementing the 287(g) program."
If the leader of the White Supremacist Organization was uncomfortable meeting the brown-skinned supporter of the Islamic terrorist group in Florida, he tried not to show it. After all, the two men had a common agenda, and in the up-coming War Against the Jews, the Islamic Extremist had agreed, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." It was January 2002 -- a mere four months after 9-11 -- and both men were intent on following up on that deadly terrorist attack with a "summit meeting" to discuss how their respective organizations could cement an alliance to cause more death and destruction in the United States and around the world.
It was the first meeting between the men. To break the ice, the White Supremacist mentioned his admiration for Adolf Hitler. The Islamic Extremist readily agreed that he shared that admiration and looked forward to joining with the White Supremacist in the goal of fomenting civil war in the USA. They both approved of suicide bombings. And they discussed how the White Supremacist Organization could launder money and provide financial assistance to the Islamic Terrorist Organization, which had already received arms shipments from Iran.
Perhaps, the Islamic Extremist suggested, they could begin by killing journalists that support the State of Israel. He was warming up quickly to the White Supremacist, untroubled by the latter's conviction that inferior brown-skinned people were destined to serve the Master White Race. "Anyone willing to shoot a Jew is a friend", the Islamic Extremist told the White Supremacist.
The first meeting went well, with neither man knowing that their friendly conversation had been recorded by a third person in the room, an informant working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Soon, a transcript of this nasty conversation lay on the desk of the proto-terrorists' formidable opponent, FBI Special Agent Michael German, a blond-haired sixteen-year veteran of infiltrating white supremacist organizations, whose dedicated work had disrupted several attempted bombings, including an attempt to bomb a prominent African-American church in Los Angeles in the early 1990's.
Special Agent German was determined to investigate this incipient alliance before any great damage occurred to Americans. Keeping in mind Coleen Rowley, the FBI Special Agent whose detailed evidence that terrorists planned to fly airplanes into buildings before September 11th was ignored by her supervisors, German intended to make sure that his case, unlike hers, would not be ignored. If he had to, he would go all the way to the very top -- all the way up to FBI Director Robert Mueller himself.
Yet German's insistence on protecting American citizens from terrorists -- and doing it legally by the book -- eventually cost this venerable Special Agent his job. Director Mueller allowed the investigation to be squelched, with no evidence he ever reviewed the transcript of the murderous conversation between the White Supremacist and the Islamic Extremist.
SNIP
Raytheon-Lockheed venture snags $299M contractRaytheon wins $98M Air Force contract
CACI Awarded New $34 Million Prime Contract to Continue Supporting Army Database
White House Kept Justice Lawyers in Dark on Warrantless Wiretapping
Obama claims right to imprison “combatants” acquitted at trial"Extraordinary and inappropriate" secrecy about a warrantless eavesdropping program undermined its effectiveness as a terrorism-fighting tool, government watchdogs have concluded in the first examination of one of the most contentious episodes of the Bush administration.
A report by inspectors general from five intelligence agencies said the administration's tight control over who learned of the program also contributed to flawed legal arguments that nearly prompted mass resignations in the Justice Department five years ago.
The program "may have" contributed to successful counterterrorism efforts, some intelligence officials told the investigators. But too few CIA personnel knew of the highly classified program to use it for intelligence work, the report stated, while at the FBI, the program "played a limited role," with "most . . . leads . . . determined not to have any connection to terrorism."
This assertion of sweeping, extra-constitutional powers is only the latest in a long series of decisions by the Democratic administration demonstrating its essential continuity with the Bush White House on questions of militarism and attacks on democratic rights.Secret Program Fuels CIA-Congress Dispute
The testimony, given to the Senate Armed Services Committee by the top lawyer for the Pentagon and the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, came in the context of a congressional bid to reconfigure the military tribunal system set up under the Bush administration.
Four months after he was sworn in, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta learned of an intelligence program that had been hidden from Congress since 2001, a revelation that prompted him to immediately cancel the initiative and schedule a pair of closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill. The next day, June 24, Panetta informed the House and Senate intelligence committees of the program and the action he had taken, according to Democratic and Republican members of the panels. The incident has reignited a long-running dispute between congressional Democrats and the CIA, with some calling it part of a broader pattern of the agency withholding information from Congress.I am thinking this secret program may relate to government policies outsourcing interrogative torture, which is being discussed openly in the UK right now....
As evidence mounts that UK authorities exploited the torture of terrorism suspects by foreign intelligence agencies, Amnesty International has reiterated its demand that the British government conduct a full public inquiry to identify and hold to account those responsible.
Speaking during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday, former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis described a series of actions by British authorities which he said led to the torture of British citizen Rangzieb Ahmed by Pakistani intelligence agents.
David Davis said that the UK authorities deliberately allowed Rangzieb Ahmed to travel from the UK to Pakistan in 2006, despite having sufficient evidence to charge and try him for serious terrorist offences, and that the UK government warned the Pakistani authorities of his arrival.
He further alleged that British intelligence agencies wrote to their opposite numbers in Pakistan "suggesting" that they arrest Rangzieb Ahmed, and that this information led directly to the arrest and interrogation of Rangzieb Ahmed. According to David Davis, British police and intelligence officers co-operated in drawing up a list of questions to be used during the interrogation, and supplied them to the Pakistani authorities.
Who's More Catholic: President Obama or Pope Benedict XVI?LOL. Their headline, not mine! Again, why let a little thing like the Word of GOD stand in the way of your "Catholicism"? These assholes need to stop calling themselves CATHOLIC if they do not like the rules. The Pope included!
Pope presses Obama on abortion, stem cell researchNewsweek guest columnist Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is suggesting President Obama is more Catholic than the pope.
In a column on Newsweek's Web site, the former Maryland lieutenant governor and member of the Kennedy clan says Obama's agenda reflects the views of American Catholics "much more closely than those vocal bishops and pro-life activists."
Townsend continues that Catholics in the U.S. aren't bothered by disagreements between the White House and the Vatican over reproductive rights and homosexuality because "they know Obama's on their side... [his] agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's."
Afterward, the Vatican said the leaders discussed immigration, the Middle East peace process and aid to developing nations. But the Vatican’s statement also underscored the pair’s deep disagreement on abortion."But the Vatican’s statement also underscored the pair’s deep disagreement on abortion"
SNIPL’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s daily newspaper, gave Obama a positive review after his first 100 days in office. In a front-page editorial, it said that even on ethical questions Obama hadn’t confirmed the “radical” direction he discussed during the campaign.
Tensions grew in the spring when Obama was invited to receive an honorary degree at the leading U.S. Catholic university, Notre Dame. Dozens of U.S. bishops denounced the university, and the local bishop pointedly declined to attend the ceremony.
Former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, who now heads a Vatican tribunal, accused Obama of pursuing anti-life and antifamily agendas. He called it a “scandal” that Notre Dame had invited him to speak.
BUT NOT ON ISRAEL....NU?
What a load of shit all of it is. I mean really.
Obama and the Pope: Agreeing to Disagree on "Life" Issues
Oh yes agreeing to disagree is all the rage today. Confronting evil, not so much.
Obama Tells Pope He Wants Fewer Abortions
He's such a fucking liar.
John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar, says: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet
Book he authored in 1977 advocates for extreme totalitarian measures to control the population
Harper to partake in rare audience with Pope
Here he is openly recognized as a political leader NOT a religious one by a person other than myself...
Text of Obama's news conference on FridayHarper's first-ever meeting with the pope -- the first for a Canadian prime minister since 2002 -- will come at a time when the pope has visited with several world leaders who took part in the recent G8 summit meeting in nearby L'Aquila, Italy.
"It would be publicly discourteous for a leader not to pay a visit to the head of the Vatican city state," Higgins said, pointing to other G8 leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who will visit the pontiff before the end of the weekend.
For that reason, Harper's visit will be with the pope's role as head of Vatican City, rather than as a spiritual leader, Higgins said.
Utilities Seek to Halt Nuclear Waste FeeUS helps Romania repatriate uraniumThe nuclear industry is contemplating something akin to a rent strike.
Since the early 1980s, utilities have been paying the Energy Department a fee of one tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour generated in reactors, to pay for a nuclear waste repository. In exchange for the payments, the department signed contracts promising to take the wastes beginning in 1997.
That, however, has not happened, and the goal is getting further away, with the Obama administration having declaring that it won’t use the Yucca Mountain facility — the planned destination for the waste.
Now the power-generation industry wants to stop paying the fee — which would amount to about $769 million for 2009. Some $29.6 billion has already been paid though the end of last year, according to a Bloomberg report.
The law requires the energy secretary to determine every year the “adequacy” of the fee, the industry’s trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, pointed out in a letter on Thursday.
It is now well beyond adequate, according to utilities, since the government is spending very little money on the project.
NNSA's Global Threat Reduction Initiative Assistant Deputy Administrator Andrew Bieniawski, who was in Bucharest for the moves, said the quantity of HEU repatriated to Russia was enough to produce two nuclear bombsSouth Africa: Kazakh Boost for Uranium One
URANIUM producer Uranium One's share price leapt 7,7% to R19 on the JSE yesterday after it announced an 18% rise in uranium output from its Kazakhstan mines in the June quarter over the March quarter. The company's stock fell to a six- month low of R13 last month after reports that it was one of several foreign investors implicated in the misappropriation of state assets by a Kazakhstan official. The share price has not yet recovered to its previous level of R28 before the news, despite the Kazakh government confirming later it would enforce contracts with foreign mining companies.Why We Don't Want a Nuclear-Free World
In other words: Go ahead and wish for a nuclear-free world, but pray that you don't get what you wish for. A world without nukes would be even more dangerous than a world with them, Mr. Schlesinger arguesN.Korea to build even more nuclear bombs after UN vote
A defiant North Korea on Saturday vowed to build more nuclear bombs and to start enriching uranium for a new weapons programme after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions over last month's nuclear test.
HHS releases $350M in local government swine flu preparedness grantsSO GET SICK NOW!
NOW! It's patriotic!
Chinese Anti Communist Activist Beaten in Queens NY
Vice President and spokesperson of the China Interim Government (CIG), Tang Boqiao, was assaulted on Monday night in Flushing, New York, a locale which has become a flashpoint for attacks against critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).Plan Offered to Finance WTC
Tang, a resident of Flushing’s Chinatown, said he was jumped by a group of at least four men at the Hollywood Karaoke Center on College Point Boulevard. The first assailant, a Chinese man 45-50 years old, speaking with a northern Chinese accent, punched Tang in the eye. A second Chinese man of a similar age, said Tang, punched him in the nose and threw a beer bottle at him. Tang said he suspects that there were at least two other accomplices. The police arrived at the scene, but none of the suspects were apprehended.
Costa Rica: Experts Find a Fissure on the Turrialba Volcano
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